Critical Releases in Homeland Security: July 15, 2020

From the Overview: "Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has tried to frame the issue of reining in mis- and disinformation as not wanting to be 'the arbiter of truth'. This entirely misses the point. The point is not about truth or falsehood, but about algorithmic amplification. The point is that social media decides every day what is relevant by recommending it to their billions of users. The point is that social media has learned that outrageous, divisive, and conspiratorial content increases engagement. The point is that online content providers could simply decide that they value trusted information over untrusted information, respectful over hateful, and unifying over divisive, and in turn fundamentally change the divisiveness-fueling and misinformation-distributing machine that is social media today. By way of highlighting the depth and breadth of these problems, I will describe two recent case studies that reveal a troubling pattern of how the internet, social media, and more generally, information, is being weaponized against society and democracy. I will conclude with a broad overview of interventions to help avert the digital dystopia that we seem to be hurtling towards."

From the Document: "Communities and local governments across the country face a period of extreme uncertainty. Whether or not COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] is quickly contained, changes in consumer demand, supply chain structure, business practices, and regulation will reshape some of the economic life that makes cities what they are. The prospect of rapid, unplanned change is daunting, and many of the potential changes are unwelcome, but cities can make the best of this evolving situation by providing flexibility for residents and businesses to experiment, adjust, and find new patterns of specialization and trade that can be sustainable in the postcoronavirus world. In the best-case scenario, a rapidly deployed vaccine will remove the immediate public health threat of COVID-19, and preexisting patterns of economic activity will resume along familiar lines. Other, less optimistic possibilities abound, though. Two companion papers specifically address possible changes in housing needs and commuting patterns. This policy brief is more general and, unlike the two companion papers, assumes that some previously profitable economic arrangements will become, perhaps drastically, less common, and that others--some of them new and unforeseen--will gain prevalence."

From the Overview: "The U.S. economy is reopening after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE) resulted in Federal, State, and local mandated closures and restrictions across many sectors in the first half of 2020. A safe, secure, efficient, and resilient air transportation system that addresses the threat of COVID-19 is critical to reducing the public health risk and supporting the United States' critical infrastructure needs. Government, aviation, and public health leaders must work together to meaningfully reduce the public health risk and restore passenger, aviation workforce, including crew, and public confidence in air travel."

From the Document: "Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions need to be made in a highly uncertain, complex and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, we argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking more a responsible and transparent process."