On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump rally turned into a violent mob of protesters with the intent of disturbing the United States’ electoral process to formalize Joe Biden as the next president. The four years leading up to this day were a culmination of conspiracy theories, propaganda, and misinformation enabled...
Ransomware, a cybercrime in which attackers remotely compromise computer systems until a ransom is given, is posing an increasing risk to national security. These attacks can potentially cripple critical government infrastructure, disrupt schools and businesses, shut down hospital systems and other institutions, withhold and/or expose private data, and are on...
For two decades there has been a bipartisan effort to tackle systematic problems in America’s criminal justice system. Although U.S. crime rates have fallen to 50-year lows, recidivism rates remain high, and racial/ethnic minority communities continue to suffer from higher rates of crime and police violence which often ends in...
RAND has released Superspreaders of Malign and Subversive Information on COVID-19: Russian and Chinese Efforts Targeting the United States. This report describes COVID-19 information manipulation by Russia and China targeting U.S. audiences for the first half of 2020. Although the two countries differ in their principal goals; Russia aiming to...
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has released its eighth annual Statistical Transparency Report Regarding the Intelligence Community Use of National Security Surveillance Authorities. The report provides summary statistics and contextual information explaining how the Intelligence Community (IC) uses the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). As the document explains, “FISA is divided into...
“What can neuroscience contribute to peacebuilding?” NeuroPeace asks and aims to find answers to this question in their collective research on Neuroscience and Peacebuilding. The inaugural volume is a three-part series, the first of which focuses on Individual Aggression (NeuroPeace no. 1), the second of which focuses on Group Dynamics...
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue has released Recommended Reading: Amazon’s Algorithms, Conspiracy Theories and Extremist Literature, a report examining how Amazon’s algorithm can spread disinformation and extremist ideology via literature recommendations. Aside from continuously suggesting more literature based on previously read extremist or misleading content, Amazon also outright suggests such...
According to the report, Audit of Antisemitic Incidents: Year in Review 2020, released by ADL (Anti-Defamation League)’s Center on Extremism, the United States has seen a large uptick of reported antisemitism and related hate crime incidents since 2017. In 2020, ADL tabulated 2,024 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States […]...
The Soufan Center has released Quantifying the Q Conspiracy: ‘A Data-Driven Approach to Understanding the Threat Posed by QAnon,’ a special report demonstrating QAnon’s potential to threaten national security and encourage domestic violence. At the core of this organization is the belief that “the ‘Deep State,’ led by a cabal...
How have digital media platforms contributed to anti-government rhetoric? Digital Citizens Alliance and Coalition for a Safer Web teamed up to answer this question in their report, “The Domestic Extremist Next Door.” The report analyzes some of the most popular social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok) and...
