Nuclear smuggling

Finding a Nuclear Weapon: Hope Beyond the Screwdriver

In 1956, the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, suggested to Congress a reliable means of detecting nuclear weapons within a suitcase destined to be detonated in an American city. It was a screwdriver. Prying open and inspecting each and every case or container capable of concealing a nuclear weapon is obviously an impossible task, which was precisely Oppenheimer’s point; that nuclear weapons are hard to detect. They remain so today.

Fortunately, science and technology have improved since Oppenheimer’s day, but could authorities find a nuclear weapon smuggled into an American city today? Maybe, though existing technologies are only marginally better than Oppenheimer’s screwdriver. 

Nuclear smuggling

Scientists have found a way to spot nuclear smugglers—by looking at their nail clippings

Even if you remove yourself from the scene of the crime, you can’t always take the crime scene out of you.

As our nails and hair grow, they carry clues about our health: medical professionals can examine them for signs of illness or poor nutrition. They can also contain traces of the chemicals we’ve touched or ingested long ago—including enriched uranium used in nuclear power or weapons. Researchers from the University of Missouri have demonstrated (paywall) that different ratios of the radioactive element in hair and nails can distinguish people who have handled the material recently from those who haven’t.

Radiation safety

Little-Known US Nuclear Site Is 'Chernobyl Waiting to Happen'

 Experts have called the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington state "the most toxic place in America" and "an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen." In an extensive investigative piece, NBC News sat down with 11 current and former workers at the site, which is currently undergoing a 50-year, $110 billion cleanup. They complained of dementia, nerve damage, pain so bad they "just pass out," memory loss, difficulty breathing, and more from exposure to dangerous vapors arising from leaking tanks containing 56 million gallons of chemical and nuclear waste. Employees say they are discouraged from requesting safety equipment, such as air tanks. "We're told daily that it's safe," one current worker says.

But two-dozen studies have found otherwise, and a watchdog group says at least three deaths have been linked to time spent at Hanford. 

Arms smuggling

Border Police bust gun trafficking ring

According to the police, two of the men arrested, both residents of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, acquired military grade weapons and ammunition used by the IDF and smuggled them to the West Bank, where they were subsequently sold to various sources, including the Palestinian Authority.

The weapons and ammunition sold by the suspects were allegedly used in terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces. The police did not specify which shootings the weapons and ammunition were used in, or whether the guns and bullets used were supplied to the attackers by the Palestinian Authority.

The police said that the two men from Hebron were arrested while illegally staying in Israel, while another two of the detainees are residents of Israel’s south.

Immigration security

Grounded Surveillance Operation Nabbed 110,000 Illegal Immigrants at Border

While surveillance helicopters were grounded in Texas, the head of Customs and Border Protection called the flights critical to “countering illegal immigration” from Mexico.

Records bear that out: A government report credited Operation Phalanx with apprehending 110,000 illegal border crossers.

CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske stated in a Nov. 16 letter that Phalanx “provided tangible benefits to border security.” His letter to the Department of Defense was sent two days before it was revealed that CBP’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, had quietly halted border surveillance flights in Texas’ Laredo district.

Election security

Election Security is a Matter of National Security

State-sponsored cyber-attacks seemingly intended to influence the 2016 Presidential election have raised a question: Is the vulnerability of computerized voting systems to hacking a critical threat to our national security? Can an adversary use methods of cyber-warfare to select our commander-in-chief?

A dedicated group of technically sophisticated individuals could steal an election by hacking voting machines key counties in just a few states. Indeed, University of Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman says that he and his students could have changed the result of the presidential election. Halderman et al. have hacked a lot of voting machines, and there are videos to prove it. I believe him.

Human smuggling

2 Fort Bliss soldiers plead guilty to smuggling immigrants

Prosecutors say two Fort Bliss soldiers face up to 10-year prison terms for trying to smuggle two immigrants through a South Texas border checkpoint.

Marco Antonio Nava Jr. and Joseph Edmond Cleveland pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy-related human smuggling counts. A federal judge in Corpus Christi allowed the soldiers from El Paso to remain free on bond pending sentencing next year.

Investigators say Nava and Cleveland in June, while wearing civilian clothes, tried to drive through the Falfurrias checkpoint with two men seeking to enter the U.S. illegally.

Election security

The Latest: Wis. judge rejects request for recount by hand

A Wisconsin judge has refused to order local officials to conduct the state's presidential recount by hand.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested the recount last week. She alleged — without evidence — that the state's voting equipment may have been hacked.

The state Elections Commission has ordered the recount to begin Thursday but rejected Stein's request that county clerks conduct the recount entirely by hand. Stein filed a lawsuit seeking an order for a statewide hand recount.

Stein's attorneys argued during a hearing Tuesday evening that the best way to determine if a cyberattack occurred is to check ballots by hand against electronic tabulations from Election Day. State lawyers countered there's no evidence to suggest any attack took place.

Innovations & technologies

Radioactive diamonds are turned into batteries that last for thousands of years

As it's said, a diamond lasts forever. So why not transform that diamond into a super long-lasting battery?

That's the idea behind a new technique developed by University of Bristol researchers that transforms nuclear waste into diamond form. These radioactive diamonds are capable of generating their own electrical current, and since the half-life of their radioactive material lasts for thousands of years, so does the power source.

When you think of radioactive diamonds, you're probably more likely to imagine some sort of elaborate Cold War assassination plot from a James Bond movie than you are to think of a battery. At the very least, it sounds like an extremely pricey method for the rich and famous to keep their smartphones charged. But the technique has a less-nefarious, less-highfalutin application too: transforming leftover nuclear waste into clean energy.

Weapons

POLITICAL AIRPOWER, PART II: THE SEDUCTIVE ALLURE OF PRECISION WEAPONS

Airpower advocates are often accused of treating all warfighting problems in the same way — wielding a hammer against challenges, even (and especially) when a hammer is not the right tool. Accordingly, a large part of the history of airpower has encompassed the quest for precision bombing, so that the hammer might be more appropriately applied with less risk to the wielder. Now that we have finally reached an enviable level of precision, we have found our arrival at airpower Nirvana postponed indefinitely. Unrealistic expectations surrounding the application of force are making the strategic utility of precision far less than it ought to be — ultimately hindering both strategy and operational utility of the U.S. military. The ubiquitous nature of precision has resulted in the growth of a generation of policymakers who misunderstand the nature of warfare.

Missile defense

Get Ready Russia, China, Iran and North Korea: America's Missile Defense Program Is Going 'Star Wars'

The Multi-Object Kill Vehicle can simultaneously destroy ICBMs and decoys with a single interceptor.

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency is in the early phases of engineering a next-generation “Star Wars”-type technology able to knock multiple incoming enemy targets out of space with a single interceptor, officials said.

The new system, called Multi-Object Kill Vehicle, or MOKV, is designed to release from a Ground Based Interceptor and destroy approaching Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs -- and also take out decoys traveling alongside the incoming missile threat.

Innovations & technologies

Biometric Dehydration Sensor – Solution for Athletes and Soldiers

Athletes have been guessing how much water they need to drink for decades, and getting it wrong, with significant consequences to performance and safety. Now, a new technology has been developed at the Harvard School of Engineering, with the world’s leading hydration experts and physiologists. Nix is developing a single use hydration sensor that informs athletes’ hydration strategy: when to drink, what to drink, and how much to drink.

Although the initial product is for endurance athletes including runners and cyclists, future uses that the system is being adjusted to is first of all – millitary units. Other than that also team sports and manual laborers.

Today, there is no better method to determine a hydration status in real-time other than thirst and estimated sweat rate, which are notoriously poor and delayed indicators of fluid needs. Even mild levels of dehydration can initiate a cascade of physiological changes that impose cardio-respiratory stress, compromise thermoregulation, and significantly impair physical and cognitive performance.

Airport security

New Berlin Airport Aquires High Level Security

Many new security systems are developed for airports over the backdrop of the U.S. Safety Act which encourages companies to develop anti-terrorism technology. One of these is the HI-SCAN 10080 XCT.

Germany’s Procurement Agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior recently signed a contract with Smiths Detection that will provide baggage-screening equipment for the German Police at the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

The HI-SCAN 10080 XCT system utilizes a high-resolution x-ray scanner, computed tomography and advanced detection algorithms to detect contemporary explosive threats. The system can also be upgraded to identify additional threats such as homemade explosive devices. The system also operates with a low false-detection rate.

The combination of belt speed and tunnel size provide baggage handling systems the capability to process a throughput of up to 1800 bags/hour with object sizes of up to 1000 x 800 mm (39.4 x 31.5in), according to the company’s website.

Economic security

Oil prices surge as OPEC reaches deal to cut production by 1.2 million barrels

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has agreed to cut supply by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 32.5 million barrels, the head of the organization announced.

Ahead of the official announcement, Bloomberg broke the news, quoting an unnamed delegate in Vienna. Crude prices soared more than 7 percent on the report.

As of 16:29 GMT, Brent crude was trading at nearly $50 per barrel, while US crude benchmark WTI was above $48.

Calling the decision "historic," the organization said the output cut would be in effect from January 1, 2017.

The deal was reached after weeks of negotiations, as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran fought for the very last barrel of production. This is the first coordinated cut from OPEC in eight years.

According to the new agreement, Saudi Arabia will reduce its production by 486,000 bpd, the official announced.

Ministers of Iraq and Kuwait said their countries would reduce supplies by 209,000 bpd and 130,000 bpd respectively.

Energy security

Brexit puts Europe’s nuclear fusion future in doubt

Brexit puts the future of the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor, based in Oxfordshire, in doubt. By leaving the European Union the UK might also exit Euratom, the EU’s framework for safe nuclear energy.

“It would be bizarre and extreme for the UK, which has been at the forefront of fusion research for 50 years, to just leave these projects,” says Ian Chapman, CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. “It would make no sense strategically.”

The UK government has yet to say what its plans are for cooperating with Euratom, but part of the Brexit negotiations will have to include the nuclear fusion experiment JET. Decommissioning JET is expected to leave around 3000 cubic metres of radioactive waste, which would cost around £289 million to deal with, according to the UKAEA.

At the moment, JET hosts 350 scientists and is funded by 40 different countries. Its aim is to commercialise nuclear fusion, which releases energy by forcing atoms together in the same process that powers the sun.

Intel warning

CIA chief warns Trump: Scrapping Iran deal 'height of folly'

The director of the CIA has warned US President-elect Donald Trump that ending the Iran nuclear deal would be "disastrous" and "the height of folly".

In a BBC interview, John Brennan also advised the new president to be wary of Russia's promises, blaming Moscow for much of the suffering in Syria.

In his campaign, Mr Trump threatened to scrap the Iran deal and also hinted at working more closely with Russia.

Mr Brennan will step down in January after four years leading the CIA.

In the first interview by a CIA director with the British media, John Brennan outlined a number of areas where he said the new administration needed to act with "prudence and discipline" - these included the language used regarding terrorism, relations with Russia, the Iran nuclear deal and the way in which the CIA's own covert capabilities were employed.

Statecraft

Trump says will leave business to focus on running country

Under pressure to avoid any conflict of interest, President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will be leaving his far-flung business "in total" to focus on running the country and scheduled a Dec. 15 news conference to lay out his plan.

Trump announced his plans in a series of tweets but did not explain exactly what he would be doing with his assets.

A variety of critics have raised questions about how he would avoid a conflict of interest between the presidency and a real estate empire with properties around the world.

"I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump said.

Electronic surveillance

UK green-lights mass spying, hacking and bulk collection of your internet records

The UK Investigatory Powers Bill (IPBill), also known as the Snoopers' Charter, has been granted royal assent, officially giving police departments and intelligence agencies enhanced bulk surveillance and hacking powers.

On 29 November, the Home Office marked the passing saying that security officials will now have "the powers they need in a digital age to disrupt terrorist attacks." The UK Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, praised the bill as a piece of "world-leading legislation."The law gives officials the legal backing to collect – in bulk – metadata about your phone calls, text messages, internet browsing habits and social media data. It forces telecommunications and internet providers to store this for 12 months.

By bringing together past pieces of legislation, it puts into law many of the surveillance programmes leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013 that were already in use by GCHQ, MI5 and MI6.

Such powers include bulk interception, bulk computer hacking and bulk collection of personal datasets from UK citizens not suspected of any crime.

Intel history

London's most infamous spy locations (that are hiding right under your nose)

This building became MI5’s headquarters in early 1945, and has since been modernised and refurbished. Its original structure had specially devised windows to support machine guns – just in case the Germans ever reached London. Also inside was an MI5 bar called the "Pig and Eye". Many famous names from the Service drank here, including Peter Wright, author of one of the world’s greatest espionage books, Spycatcher.

Whistleblowing

'CIA created ISIS', says Julian Assange as Wikileaks releases 500k US cables

On the sixth anniversary of the first infamous "Cablegate" by WikiLeaks, when it releases its first batch of sensitive US files, on November 28 2010, it has expanded its Public Library of US Diplomacy (PLUSD) with 531,525 new diplomatic cables from 1979.

In a statement to coincide with the release of the cables, known as "Carter Cables III", Mr Assange explained how events which unfolded in 1979, had begun a series of events that led to the rise of ISIS.

He said: "If any year could be said to be the "year zero" of our modern era, 1979 is it."

Mr Assange said a decision by the CIA, together with Saudi Arabia, to plough billions of dollars into arming the Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan to tackle the Soviet Union, had led to the creation of terror group al-Qaeda.

This, in turn, he said led to the 9/11 terror strikes, the invasion of Afghanhistan and Iraq by the US, and the creation of ISIS.

Extremism

Germany extremism: Intelligence agency employee arrested over Islamist comments

An employee of the German intelligence agency (BfV) has been arrested after making Islamist statements and sharing agency material, German media report.

A BfV spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency did not confirm a report in Die Welt newspaper that the man was suspected of planning a bomb attack on the BfV's Cologne office.

"There is no evidence to date that there is a concrete danger," he added.

The BfV said the man, a German, had previously "behaved inconspicuously".

"The man is accused of making Islamist statements on the Internet using a false name and of revealing internal agency material in Internet chatrooms," the spokesman added.

Politics

Dutch far-right Party for Freedom tops polls as Europe’s ‘populists’ gain momentum

The far-right Dutch anti-immigration Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders, would become the largest party in the parliament and beat the prime minister’s ruling conservative liberals if elections were held today, according to a new poll data.

The Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) would win 33 seats in the 150-seat lower chamber of the Dutch parliament if elections were held today, according to Maurice de Hond, the Netherlands’ most reputed pollster. 

In that case, Wilders would become the Netherlands’ next prime minister as chairman of the biggest parliamentary party, according to the PJ Media news outlet. Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would finish second, securing 25 seats.

International security

Will new American & French leadership reduce NATO pressure on Russia?

US President-elect Donald Trump has a mandate to reduce tensions with Russia, while Francois Fillon, who is predicted by some to be the next French president has also called for better relations with Russia, Daniel Kawczynski, UK Conservative MP, told RT.

The UK's Defense Secretary Michael Fallon stirred up controversy when he said he expects Donald Trump's administration to be tough on Russia, a comment that points to a possible clash between Washington and London over foreign policy.

“In practice, every American administration has always stood up to Russia. We’re not suggesting you shouldn’t talk to Russia but what you can’t do is treat Russia as business as usual, as any kind of equal partner.”

Electoral battles

Under the Hood: How Donald Trump Has Cut Around Corporate Media to Reach Millions Directly Online

Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino, who is now running social media operations for the presidential transition team, provided Breitbart News with the core statistics on the Trump team’s massive social media reach.

His Facebook page reached more than 21 billion impressions—21,031,446,611 to be exact—from the day Trump launched his campaign until November 22, 2016. There were more than 485 million engagements on his Facebook page during that timeframe, and nearly 50 million “likes.” On videos his team posted on Facebook, they have had, Scavino told Breitbart News, more than 1.3 billion views.

On Twitter, Trump achieved similar numbers. Scavino told Breitbart News that between June 2015 and November 2016, Trump’s Twitter posts have had nearly 9 billion impressions and more than 400 million engagements.

Trump’s Twitter account now has 16.2 million followers, and his Facebook account has 15.6 million likes. His Instagram account has 4.2 million followers. Between the three, that’s 36 million people his personal social media accounts reach.

Cybersecurity

Trump visits with national security nominees as his cyber defense plan raises legal questions

 One of Donald Trump’s plans for improving America’s cyber defenses could run afoul of a 14-year-old law and an even older prohibition on the military operating on domestic soil. The president-elect vowed in a Nov. 21 video message that he would “ask the Department of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a comprehensive plan to protect America’s vital infrastructure from cyberattacks.” But according to its 2002 founding statute, the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for helping the private sector protect infrastructure like airports, hospitals and power plants. The Pentagon, through U.S. Cyber Command, only defends military networks. There is also the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits using the military “to execute the laws” unless specifically permitted by the Constitution or Congress — a restriction that could apply to civilian infrastructure. Asked about the potential conflicts on Monday, Trump spokesman Jason Miller told MC simply: “DoD and Joint Chiefs are responsible for national security. This is a national security issue.”

National security

What to know about KT McFarland, Trump's national security pick

McFarland was deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs under President Ronald Reagan. She compared Trump's foreign policy views to Reagan's "peace through strength" mantra.

"I'd put him smack down in the middle where Ronald Reagan was," she said on Fox Business. "Have a strong military, but you don't use it, and you have such a strong military that nobody picks a fight with you. But then if they're dumb enough to do it, then you respond."

McFarland also ran for Senate in New York in 2006 but failed to win the Republican primary.

According to her bio, McFarland also served in national security posts in the Nixon and Ford administrations, as an aide to Henry Kissinger and as senior speechwriter to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. In 1985, she received the Defense Department's highest civilian honor, the Distinguished Service Award, for her work in the Reagan administration.

Statecraft

Heavy lifting ahead as Trump builds national security team from ground up

Donald Trump's Cabinet-level choices have the nation's attention, but the president-elect must fill roughly 1,100 other administration posts that also require Senate confirmation - and none are more important than those involving national security.

The high-profile picks offer hints about how Trump might govern, but his transition team's toughest task could be hastily vetting the vast national security team that will serve under his Department of Homeland Security secretary, a post that has not yet been filled.

“It’s the largest, most complex operation on the planet,” said Max Stier, founding president of the Partnership for Public Service, the nonprofit, nonpartisan group that started the Center for Presidential Transition.

Drug smuggling

Casey Anthony's disbarred lawyer jailed in cocaine smuggling case

Todd Macaluso, a California lawyer who was one of several defense attorneys in the Casey Anthony murder case, is now jailed on charges that two weeks ago, he conspired to fly at least 3,300 pounds of cocaine from Ecuador to Honduras for eventual distribution in the U.S., according to a federal complaint.

Macaluso, 54, who has a pilot's license, was captured on a secretly-made recording in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, telling two co-defendants that the corporate jet he had just arrived in from Orlando had the cargo space and heft to carry the 3,300 pounds, the complaint said.

Macaluso and the other two were arrested by Haitian authorities on Nov. 14, the same day as that meeting, the complaint says.

They have since been flown to New York, where a U.S. magistrate in Brooklyn on Nov. 19 ordered them held without bail.

They're accused of conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine.

Immigration security

Homeland Security Report Shows Thousands of Green Cards Sent in Error

A new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) shows alarming errors in the processing and distribution of green cards. In the past three years, at least 19,000 cards have been sent out either with incorrect information or in duplicate.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been using an Electronic Immigration System (ELIS) to process new and replacement green cards since May 2013. The OIG’s report found that there are “design and functionality problems in ELIS.” The system is meant to automate processing, but there are significant errors and “USCIS’ efforts to address the errors have been inadequate.”

Health security

Baby Boomers, Relax. It Probably Isn’t Dementia

Memory loss, a possible symptom of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, is usually associated with old age. But as a geriatric psychiatrist and head of a memory center, I am seeing more patients age 50 to 65 who complain of increasing memory lapses and other cognitive issues.

These people are in the prime of their lives, and the very thought of having dementia is causing them to panic. They are particularly fearful of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, knowing it is incurable and difficult to detect early on.

Everyone needs to take a deep breath.

While possible signs of cognitive decline or dementia certainly warrant careful assessment, in patients of this age, such symptoms are more likely the result of a relatively benign and eminently more treatable 21st-century ailment that one might simply refer to as brain fog.

Citizenship

Trump Calls for Revoking Flag Burners’ Citizenship. Court Rulings Forbid It.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, politicians have periodically announced with fanfare that they would introduce a bill to strip the citizenship of Americans accused of terrorism. The idea tends to attract brief attention, but fades away, in part because the Supreme Court long ago ruled that the Constitution does not permit the government to take a person’s citizenship against his or her will.

But on Tuesday, President-elect Donald J. Trump revived the idea and took it much further than the extreme case of a suspected terrorist. He proposed that Americans who protest government policies by burning the flag could lose their citizenship — meaning, among other things, their right to vote — as punishment.

Flight security

Canada steps away from online redress system, but 'No Fly List Kids' parents still waiting

Canada could implement a redress system as early as spring of 2018 to make it easier for children and adults falsely flagged as security threats to get past extra airport security checks when their names match those of people on no-fly lists.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale described the future system at a town hall on national security Saturday afternoon in Markham, Ont., which he attended along with Health Minister Jane Philpott and Immigration Minister John McCallum, both MPs in Markham ridings.

Speaking to reporters outside the cafeteria of Markham District High School, Goodale pointed to the American redress model, which provides a redress number to "false-positives" on the list that can be entered online anytime they make a booking to avoid additional screening.

"That's the way the Canadian system should work," the public safety minister said, adding that once implemented, Canada's system will be interactive, automatic and done entirely online. 

Personal security

Active attacker survival tips from a national security expert

Run, hide and fight were some of the first words Ohio State University police tweeted Monday morning, alerting students and staff an active and dangerous situation was unfolding on campus.

The Department of Homeland Security developed the strategy for people involved in active shooter situations, which is what OSU police first reported.

"(Abdul Razak Ali Artan) didn't have a gun, but he still had the same intention to hurt or kill people, and his weapons of choice could easily of done that," said national security expert Timothy Dimoff.

The violence and chaos that broke out on OSU's campus was quickly brought under control, thanks to a fast response from police officers and the countless hours of training they've gone through over the years.

"(Monday) showed me that the training was really effective and it prepared them," said Dimoff.

Police said Artan ran his car into people on campus then used a butchers knife to stab other people walking near Watts Lab. It took only moments for police to respond to the scene.

Immigration security

National Security Expert: OSU Attack ‘Textbook’ Terrorism

National security expert Dr. Sebastian Gorka called Monday’s attack at Ohio State University a “textbook” instance of a “classic al-Qaida or ISIS trade craft” during an interview Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

Gorka, the author of The New York Times best-seller “Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War” and professor of strategy and irregular warfare at the Institute of World Politics, criticized the United States’ immigration and refugee policies under the Obama administration. The OSU attacker, a Somali refugee student named Abdul Razak Ali Artan, wreaked havoc on the university when he rammed his vehicle into a group of people and continued his rampage outside the car with a knife.

Weapons

20 Knives of Russian Military and Law Enforcement

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the relatively rare or new knives, bayonets and multi-tools of Russian armed forces and special police units. Some of these edged weapons are adopted in small quantities by special forces, others are newly adopted and are being widely supplied to Russian armed forces. I’ll skip the well known and old ones like AK-47 and AK-74 bayonets, about which there is a plenty of information available. Also, this post doesn’t include machetes and axes. So, without further ado, let՛s get started (in no particular order)...

National security

Serious Changes Possible for National Security Policies on Climate Change

The military and intelligence communities may soon turn a blinder eye toward some climate change-related threats, indicated by President-Elect Donald Trump’s recent choices of climate-change skeptics for  national security jobs, along with his own dismissive comments. But though experts say Trump and his team could roll back some recent initiatives, the momentum of bureaucracy, along with a military need to take the long view, mean climate-related plans are unlikely to be abandoned entirely.

The Department of Defense and the intelligence community have long considered climate change a crucial input into national security planning and policy. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said climate “can significantly add to the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict.” The Pentagon calls this a “threat multiplier.”

Immigration security

The Coming Immigration Clash

Both sides of this battle have been primed for success. Immigration restrictionists view Trump's election as national validation of their cause. Meanwhile, many of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. had expected a path to legalization or citizenship by now. The Senate passed legislation with such a path in 2013 by more than 2 to 1. 

As Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies, told the New York Times, the Trump forces and pro-immigrant activists are now engaged in a game of "chicken." If neither side veers off course, the resulting crash could rattle the nation.

Election security

PRESIDENTIAL RECOUNT: HOW IT WORKS AND CLINTON'S CHANCES OF SUCCESS

President-elect Donald Trump went on a tweetstorm Sunday morning, quoting Hillary Clinton’s debate promise to accept the election results a day after her campaign agreed to support efforts to recount votes in Wisconsin, an effort his transition team labeled a “scam.”

Razor-thin margins in key battleground states delivered the election for Trump, who stands at 290 electoral votes despite Clinton’s nearly 2-million-vote edge in the popular vote.

Last week, a group of election lawyers and computer scientists urged the Clinton campaign to ask for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where anomalies indicated either benign problems with voting machines or possible tampering or fraud. In some Wisconsin counties, for example, more votes were recorded than there were registered voters.