Health security

The billion-dollar business to sell us crappy food

At the turn of the last century, the father of public relations, Edward Bernays, launched the Celiac Project, whose medical professionals recommended bananas to benefit celiac disease sufferers. Those pitched on the sweet fruit’s miraculous properties didn’t know the project was actually created for the United Fruit Co., the largest trader of bananas in the world.

The creation of front groups — independent-sounding but industry-backed organizations — as a public relations strategy dates at least as far back as Bernays’ day.

Military

Army kills controversial social science program

The Army has quietly killed a program that put social scientists on battlefields to help troops avoid unnecessary bloodshed and improve civilians' lives, an Army spokesman said Monday.

The initiative, known as the Human Terrain System, had been plagued by fraud and racial and sexual harassment, a USA TODAY investigation found.

International security

To Save NATO, Don't Enlarge It

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter embarked on a weeklong European tour on June 21 to reaffirm America’s commitment to the NATO alliance. The critical transatlantic security relationship currently faces strains from within and without, ranging from increased Russian military activity in Eastern Europe to intra-alliance disputes over burden sharing and debates over arming non-member Ukraine.

Military

THE FUTURE OF WAR

When the Cold War ended, the world changed fundamentally. For most of the 20th century, conflicts between great powers—two world wars and the specter of a third—defined our global politics, as well as science and technology. Almost overnight, that dynamic shifted.

Terror threat

There’s no such thing as a lone wolf in cyberspace

“Lone wolf” terrorism is often cited as the biggest terrorist threat today. The problem with this label is none of the assailants act alone. They all belong to virtual wolf packs.

Law enforcement authorities in Boston, for example, described Usaamah Abdullah Rahim’s scheme to behead random police officers as the plot of a lone wolf. Police also applied the term to other recent terrorist assaults, among them the brutal attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that left 12 dead and the Boston Marathon bombing. In all these incidents, the assailants used traditional terror tactics, such as targeting civilians, but appeared to be acting independently of any organization.

Nuclear security

It seems the Pentagon can never have enough deployed nuclear warheads

Rhetoric about nuclear weapons is heating up between Washington and Moscow, but there is no need to reinstate the foolish and wasteful arms race that dominated the Cold War period...

International security

Who Lost Iraq?

For a brief, happy—and misguided—moment, most Americans stopped thinking about Iraq. After withdrawing the last U.S. troops in 2011, President Barack Obama declared the country “sovereign, stable and self-reliant.” No such luck. Iraq plunged back into chaos as the Islamic State stormed the region last year, and the fall of Ramadi in May revived questions about how, and whether, the country can be salvaged.

Main battle tanks

Russia Is Making Tanks Stylish Again

Tensions between Russia and the West continue to build, as the US announced last Tuesday that they would be moving tanks and heavy artillery to strategic locations across Eastern Europe. The decision comes only weeks after Russia debuted a new fleet of armored vehicles, including the much-hyped T-14 Armata main battle tank (MBT), which represents a major jump in MBT design. Together, these are among several leading indicators that heavy armor may be coming back into style after decades of post-Cold War neglect.

Yemen knot

Yemen Is Another Nice Mess the Saudis Got Us Into

The U.S. is perfectly capable of getting into its own messes without much help from its friends. (See the mother of all mishaps, the U.S. invasion of Iraq.) But what’s more intriguing is how Washington tends to buy into policies that appear to serve its friends’ agendas while undermining America’s own.   

Personal data security

Union sues feds over hack, says agency had ample warning

The largest federal employee union filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the federal personnel office, its leaders and one of its contractors, arguing that negligence contributed to what government officials are calling one of the most damaging cyberthefts in U.S. history.

The suit by the American Federation of Government Employees names the Office of Personnel Management, its director, Katherine Archuleta, and its chief information officer, Donna Seymour. It also names Keypoint Government Solutions, an OPM contractor.

International security

John Boehner: U.S. committed to countering Russia

Speaker John Boehner completed a three-day tour of Lithuania on Monday, during which the Ohio Republican stressed the nation’s commitment to countering Russia’s growing strength and political influence.

The trip comes as Russia has flexed its muscles by annexing Crimea and tightly controlling access to energy supplies. But Boehner stressed during meetings with senior Lithuanian officials that Congress is committed to countering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strength through expanded trade, energy independence and defense assistance to Ukraine.

Weapons

US Army to ramp-up Hellfire production

The US Army has ordered an increase in production of the AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missile from the current 500 all-up rounds (AURs) per month to 650 AURs per month, the Department of Defense (DoD) disclosed on 25 June.

The USD18 million contract awarded to original equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin will see an incremental rise to 550 AURs in the first instance, before ramping-up again to 650 AURs. This final rate will be achieved by 30 November 2016.

Weapons

USAF’s ultra-lethal carbon fibre bomb approved for export

The United States plans to export an advanced, tungsten-laden bomb that is designed to cause less collateral damage than its predecessors, but be more lethal.

The 227kg (500lb) BLU-129/B was originally produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne as a quick reaction capability for the war in Afghanistan as a way of reducing civilian deaths by using a cabon-fibre-wound composite shell casing to limit the blast radius. Its development followed one particularly disastrous airstrike on a wedding party in 2008 that killed dozens of women and children along with a number of Taliban insurgents.

Terror threat

Panel: ISIS ‘Stronger, Tougher and Smarter’ Than Expected

Since the fall of Mosul—Iraq’s second largest city—a year ago, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) has proven to be a “stronger, tougher and smarter” adversary than the United States expected, displaying the ability to recover quickly even after suffering the deaths of key leaders and sustaining heavy casualties.

Economic security

Global economic system shows signs of weakness; Greek creditors have 'criminal responsibility'

Once again, the global economic system — one of Pope Francis’ favorite topics of discussion and criticism — is displaying signs of core fragility. 

“A sudden deterioration in Greece’s debt crisis shook global markets Monday,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

Economic security

Military Members Better At Monitoring Their Money

Members of the United States military are well versed in the importance of discipline and it seems to be having a positive impact on other areas of their lives: Compared with the rest of the U.S. population, military families are doing a better job at keeping tabs on their personal finances.

Legal aid

Criminal Bar Association may ballot for strike action in protest against legal aid cuts

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) is to decide on 30 June whether to call on its members to strike in protest at legal aid cuts, while new research warns the legal system is already under strain from a lack of resources.

Shortages in the justice system are behind a steep rise in delays to appeal court hearings during the past year, with some repeatedly postponed, according to the Law Society Gazette. 

Cybersecurity

Famed Security Researcher Mudge Leaves Google

Peiter Zatko, a respected computer security researcher better known by the nickname Mudge, says he’s leaving his job at Google to explore ways to help U.S. government make software more secure.

Corruption
Graft or Growth in China?


Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which has already brought down many high-ranking “tigers” in the government, has been widely touted as a key component of the deep structural reforms that China needs if it is to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and market-based economy. But worries abound that, in a country where government officials play a major role in promoting economic growth, rooting out corruption might undermine prosperity.

International security

Cold War Resurgent: US Nukes Could Soon Return to Europe

It's been more than three decades since the vast peace protests took over Bonn's Hofgarten meadow in the early 1980s. Back then, about half a million protesters pushed their way into the city center, a kilometer-long mass of people moving through the streets. It was the biggest rally in the history of the German Federal Republic.

Corruption

First on CNN: FBI investigating possible corruption at New York prison

What started as an investigation into how two convicted murderers managed to break out of a maximum-security prison in upstate New York has now sparked an FBI investigation into possible broader corruption and drug trafficking at the facility.

Prison employees have told investigators about heroin use among inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility, and the role of employees in the drug trade, law enforcement officials briefed on the probe told CNN on Monday.

International security

We restarted the Cold War: The real story about the NATO buildup that the New York Times won’t tell you

Have you picked up on the new trope du jour? We are all encouraged to bask in our innocence as we lament the advent of a new Cold War. The thought has been in the wind for more than a year, of course, at least among some of us. But we witness a significant turn, and I hope this same some of us are paying attention.

Gun control

Federal appeals court upholds gun ban on Postal Service property

A federal appeals court said a U.S. Postal Service regulation banning firearms on postal property is constitutional, and reversed a lower court ruling that would have let people keep weapons inside their vehicles in post office parking lots.

By a 2-1 vote on Friday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled against Tab Bonidy, a licensed gun owner who said the restrictions violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Whistleblowing

The dangerous whistleblowing websites of the U.S. government

How safe are American whistleblowers on the Internet? If you use a U.S. government system to expose illegal activity, your information may be dangerously vulnerable.

The federal government hosts numerous websites and systems made specifically for helping anyone blow the whistle that are woefully insecure, putting whistleblowers' information at risk of eavesdropping, interception, and even alteration, according to cybersecurity experts.

Religion

Historic Meeting of Pope and Russian Orthodox Head 'Draws Nearer'

An historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church is "getting closer every day," a senior Orthodox prelate has said in an interview.

The unprecedented meeting would be a significant step towards healing the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, which split in the Great Schism of 1054.

Economic security

On measures to implement the Russian President’s Executive Order “On Extending Certain Special Economic Measures in the Interest of Ensuring the Security of the Russian Federation”

The resolution provides for a one-year extension of the ban on the import of certain types of agricultural products, raw materials and foodstuffs originating from the United States of America, the EU member countries, Canada, Australia and the Kingdom of Norway.

Mass surveillance

ORWELL’S TRIUMPH: HOW NOVELS TELL THE TRUTH OF SURVEILLANCE

When government agencies and private companies access and synthesize our data, they take on the power to novelize our lives. Their profiles of our behavior are semi-fictional stories, pieced together from the digital traces we leave as we go about our days. No matter how many articles we read about this process, grasping its significance is no easy thing. It turns out that to understand the weird experience of being the target of all this surveillance — how we are characters in semi-true narratives constructed by algorithms and data analysts — an actual novel can be the best medium.

International security

The Pentagon’s Fight Over Fighting China

At first, it’s hard to see Operation Desert Storm as anything less than an unparalleled American military victory. The battleship U.S.S. Missouri began the campaign to forcibly remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait by firing four Tomahawk cruise missiles at military command and control centers in Baghdad in the early morning hours of January 17, 1991. 

Economic security


China Cuts Interest Rates to a Record Low After Stocks Slump

China’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rate to a record low and lowered reserve-requirement ratios for some lenders after stocks plunged and local government bond sales drained liquidity.

In the fourth reduction since November, the one-year lending rate will be reduced by 25 basis points to 4.85 percent effective June 28, the People’s Bank of China said on itswebsite Saturday.