Middle EastReimagining U.S. Strategy in the Middle East Published 12 March 2021 U.S. policy toward the Middle East has relied heavily on military instruments of power and has focused on regional threats—particularly the Iranian threat—with the goal of keeping partners on “our side.” These long-standing policies have largely fallen short of meeting core U.S. interests,

3/12/21 Middle East Enable IntenseDebate Comments:  Enable IntenseDebate Comments Over the past decade, hospitals across Syria have been attacked more than 400 times. Data obtained by DW suggests the attacks formed part of a larger strategy to cripple access to medical facilities in rebel-held areas. The Kafr Zita Cave Hospital was built nearly 20 meters (65

Science of securityEmploying Science to Secure the Homeland Published 12 March 2021 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently outlined the various scientific initiatives and project it has been engaged in to improve homeland security and bolster national security. The brief makes for an interesting reading. The Department of Homeland Security

3/12/21 Public health Enable IntenseDebate Comments:  Enable IntenseDebate Comments More than a half-million Americans are exposed to oil and gas “flaring” events — the burning off of excess natural gas at production sites — resulting in potentially serious health risks, according to new research from USC and UCLA. “Our findings show that flaring is an environmental

Water securitySustainable Water Management Key to Scaling Up Bioenergy Production Published 12 March 2021 To avoid a substantial increase in water scarcity, biomass plantations for energy production need sustainable water management, a new study shows. Bioenergy is frequently considered one of the options to reduce greenhouse gases for achieving the Paris climate goals, especially if combined

3/12/21 Our picks Enable IntenseDebate Comments:  0 DOJ Seeks to Build Large Conspiracy Case against Oath Keepers for Jan. 6 Riot  (Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu, Aaron C. Davis and Tom Jackman, Washington Post) read more Hits: 0

ExtremismGermany’s Spy Chiefs Urge Court to Agree on Monitoring of Far-Right AfD By Jamie Dettmer Published 11 March 2021 Germany’s domestic intelligence agency says there’s sufficient evidence to warrant labeling the country’s main opposition party, the populist far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, as “anti-constitutional” and an organization hostile to democracy. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency says there’s

CybersecurityTwo R&D Projects to Enhance Mobile Network Traffic Security Published 11 March 2021 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are jointly announcing the final two research and development (R&D) awards for the newly launched Secure and Resilient Mobile Network Infrastructure (SRMNI) project. The

ARGUMENT: Cyber strategyHow Biden’s Cyber Strategy Echoes Trump’s Published 11 March 2021 On March 3, the Biden administration released its Interim National Security Strategic Guidance. Herb Lin writes that the interim guidance document is, by definition, a work in progress, and one would expect a final guidance document to be roughly consistent with the interim

Nuclear powerHow Fukushima Triggered Germany’s Nuclear Phaseout By Christoph Hasselbach Published 11 March 2021 The Fukushima disaster shook the belief in safe nuclear power to its core. For Germany, it marked a historic turning point for environmentalism. On March 11, 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded triggered a tsunami off Japan’s Pacific coast. The