Reactions to Britain's recent vote to leave the European Union - the so-called Brexit - have been diverse, ranging from uncertainty in the financial world to reports of increased racism on the streets in the U.K., but one thing that appears largely unchanged by the decision is Britain's intelligence and military alliance with the United … Continue reading UKUSA Intel ‘Special Relationship’ to Survive Brexit
Month: June 2016
Self-driving cars will likely soon be a common sight on roads throughout America and the rest of the world. But as these autonomous vehicles become a reality, their introduction to the market and to real-world driving situations raises safety and ethical questions. The extent to which self-driving cars will fully replace human-driven ones remains unclear. … Continue reading Complications of Letting A.I. Take the Wheel
In the wake of the massacre in Orlando earlier this month, some, including journalists and a former deputy director of the FBI, have pointed to an alleged lack of resources as the cause for the bureau's failure to stop Omar Mateen. It is difficult to judge this claim, however, due to the lack of … Continue reading FBI Failures: A Question of Resources or Priorities?
Among the greatest internally-perceived dangers to the Department of Defense, and to sensitive areas of the government more broadly, is that posed by whistleblowers and leakers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden - the "insider threat." Yet in their eagerness to root out this threat and others, military policymakers may be making the problem worse. … Continue reading Pentagon Sees ‘Insider Threat,’ Opposes ‘Fairness’
A new report from the Pew Research Center released today shows that American political partisans increasingly not only dislike those who favor the other party, but about half are actually "afraid" of them. While alarming, the finding seems fitting amidst the current atmosphere of fear-mongering and crisis exploitation coming from both sides of the aisle. … Continue reading Politicians Pander, Capitalize on Tragedy
Following an incident in May when U.S. Special Forces were photographed near Raqqa, Syria, wearing patches representing what is considered a terrorist group by Turkey - and, technically, by the U.S. as well - a representative of the international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders has been arrested by Turkish authorities on "terrorist propaganda" charges. … Continue reading Arrests in Turkey Show War on Terror Ambiguity
The Department of Defense recently announced that its "Hack the Pentagon" pilot program that invited hackers to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities was successful and the DoD will continue pursuing similar initiatives, even as reports emerge that the Islamic State group has obtained information on more than 70 US and NATO air force bases. Hack the Pentagon … Continue reading Black and White Hat Hackers Target Pentagon
With a renewed focus on countering ISIS following the Orlando massacre, new tactics are being suggested for defeating the terror network and those it inspires. Among the suggestions are technologies to allegedly predict terrorist attacks and to automatically censor social media, although neither method is fully developed. The idea of predicting terrorist attacks using an … Continue reading Anti-Terror Algorithms Raise Ethics, Effectiveness Questions
Politico Magazine featured a story yesterday titled "The FBI's Growing Surveillance Gap," arguing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is understaffed, which has led it to pursue controversial terrorism stings that some say amount to entrapment. But the Politico headline is ironic given some others this week. The author of the aforementioned article, Garrett M. … Continue reading Utility Pole Cameras: Big Brother Bureau is Watching
Although encrypted data has reportedly not yet posed a problem for investigators in the Orlando killing spree case, that didn't stop early media speculation that the investigation could reignite high-profile battles over data security. Earlier this year, Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation got into a fight over security features on a phone related to the … Continue reading Vulnerabilities Revealed Amidst Digital ‘Arms Race’
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