FOCUS
- August 25, 2022. Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense. China is now “on track” to outpace the United States as the leading space power by 2045, according to the latest version of the space industrial base workshop report spearheaded in part by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. A reason for this pessimistic viewpoint is a collective “a lack of urgency” across the US government and industry, as well as a bureaucratic environment “that is constructively delaying U.S. commercial progress through regulatory burden,” states the report, “State of the Space Industrial Base: Winning the New Space Race for Sustainability, Prosperity and the Planet.”. China sprinting ahead as a space power while US lacks ‘urgency,’ new report frets
WORLDS
China
- August 25, 2022. Yingyi Ma, Ryan Hass, and Jude Blanchette, Brookings. In the fourth episode of “Vying for Talent,” Dr. Yingyi Ma, a professor of sociology at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, shares her perspective on how China’s talent base is shaped by the nation’s educational landscape as well as social and political challenges. In discussion with hosts Ryan Hass and Jude Blanchette, Dr. Ma lays out strengths and weaknesses of China’s human talent development pipeline and shares why she remains confident in the competitive advantages of America’s higher education system. Strengths and weaknesses of China’s national human capital development
- August 24, 2022. Kenton Thibaut, Atlantic Council. As China’s military and economic power has grown, so has its ambition to shape global norms to suit its priorities. China believes that the United States currently dominates the international system, and sees growing Western opposition to China as evidence that the current order is now a threat to the continued security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As such, China’s leadership has come to see its ability to reshape the international order—or, at least, to decenter US power within it—as essential to the party’s future. Chinese discourse power: Ambitions and reality in the digital domain
Europe
- August 24, 2022. Alex Engler, Brookings. The regulation of general-purpose AI (GPAI) is currently being debated by the European Union’s legislative bodies as they work on the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA). One proposed change from the Council of the EU (the Council) would take the unusual, and harmful, step of regulating open-source GPAI. While intended to enable the safer use of these tools, the proposal would create legal liability for open-source GPAI models, undermining their development. This could further concentrate power over the future of AI in large technology companies and prevent research that is critical to the public’s understanding of AI. The EU’s attempt to regulate open-source AI is counterproductive
Russia – Ukraine (on the ground & impact)
- August 25, 2022. Patrick Tucker, Defense One. Many have speculated that recent strikes on Russian bases in Crimea are the start of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive aimed at regaining territory lost since the February invasion. But experts say the attacks are more likely a bid to prevent Russian forces from resupplying or further advancing. Ukraine’s Strikes Are Setting the Stage for a Rough Russian Winter
- August 25, 2022.
- August 25, 2022. Karolina Hird, Layne Philipson, George Barros, and Frederick W. Kagan, ISW. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s August 25 decree to increase the size of the Russian military starting in January 2023 is unlikely to generate significant combat power in the near future and indicates that Putin is unlikely to order a mass mobilization soon.The decree increases the nominal end strength of the Russian Armed Forces by 137,000 military personnel, from 1,013,628 to 1,150,628, starting on January 1, 2023. The Russian military likely seeks to recover losses from its invasion of Ukraine and generate forces to sustain its operation in Ukraine. The announcement of a relatively modest (yet likely still unattainable) increased end strength target strongly suggests that Putin remains determined to avoid full mobilization. The Kremlin is unlikely to generate sufficient forces to reach an end strength of over 1,150,000 soldiers as the decree stipulates. The Russian military has not historically met its end-strength targets. It had only about 850,000 active-duty military personnel in 2022 before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, for example, well shy of its nominal end strength target of over one million. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 25
- August 25, 2022. H. Andrew Schwartz, Seth G. Jones, CSIS. CSIS’s Seth Jones joins the podcast to assess Ukraine after six months of war with Russia, plus, the assassination of Russian nationalist Daria Dugina, and Winter is coming. Six Months of War in Ukraine
USA
- August 25, 2022. Chris Riotta, Defense One. The National Archives recovered more than 700 pages of classified material from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in January, according to a letter to a Trump attorney released by the agency on Aug. 23. National Archives Recovered More than 100 Classified Documents from Trump in January
- August 26, 2022. Lauren Bauer, Krista Ruffini, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, and Natalie Tomeh, Brookings. Too many families in the U.S. struggle to put food on the table. During the pandemic, both tried-and-true policy levers and brand-new programs and flexibilities were put in place to help families. In the aggregate, the combination of additional resources and lower administrative barriers was effective: on an annual basis, the national level of food insecurity held steady from 2019 to 2020. Food security shouldn’t take a summer vacation
- August 25, 2022. Andre M. Perry, Brookings. After months of uncertainty, doubt, and debate among pundits and policymakers, this Wednesday saw President Joe Biden finally announce the details of his administration’s long-awaited action on student debt cancellation. Biden’s student debt cancellation doesn’t solve the root problems facing borrowers—but it’s a start
- August 25, 2022. John Villasenor, Brookings. Can an artificial intelligence (AI) system be a named inventor on a United States patent? No, says a federal appeals court in a decision issued earlier this month. The case, Thaler v. Vidal, arose from two patent applications filed in 2019 by Stephen Thaler, naming an AI system he calls DABUS (for “Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience”) as the “inventor.”. Patents and AI inventions: Recent court rulings and broader policy questions
- August 24, 2022. Katie Bach, Brookings. Since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic through today, news about labor shortages and missing workers has dominated headlines. The question everyone still seems to be asking is: Why? New data shows long Covid is keeping as many as 4 million people out of work
USA – Africa
- August 25, 2022. Witney Schneidman and Landry Signé, Brookings. President Biden is delivering on his commitment to make Africa a priority for the United States. Biden’s Africa strategy seeks to revitalize ties with the continent
USA – China
- August 25, 2022. Ilaria Mazzocco, CSIS. Legislative action to compete with China seems to have defined the summer in Washington this year. The CHIPS and Science Act aims to revive semiconductor manufacturing in the United States to address the risks that come from having so much manufacturing capacity concentrated in Taiwan and the gradual rise of China’s own chip production abilities. Why the New Climate Bill Is Also about Competition with China
TOPICS
Climate change & sustainability
- August 22, 2022. David G. Victor and David Dollar, Brookings. David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego and nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, joins David Dollar to discuss “Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain World,” a new book he coauthored with Charles Sabel. Victor explains why global climate diplomacy and treaties that prescribe top-down solutions to climate change are not working. He argues solving the climate crisis will require local experimentation and cooperation between governments and the private sector to push the technological frontier and identify innovative solutions. Fixing the climate crisis will require local experimentation and solutions
Defense, Military, Security, Cybersecurity
- August 26, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. One of the world’s biggest cosmetics retailers has agreed to pay $1.2 million in penalties and take corrective action after falling foul of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Cosmetics Giant Sephora to Pay $1m+ Privacy Settlement
- August 26, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. Payments giant Block is being taken to court by former customers who claim its negligence led to an insider stealing their personal information last year. Block Faces Class Action Suit After 2021 Breach
- August 26, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. Password management giant LastPass has revealed details of a security incident earlier this month in which proprietary information was stolen by threat actors. LastPass Hackers Stole Source Code
- August 25, 2022. Jaspreet Gill, Breaking Defense. The Pentagon’s chief information officer is committed to implementing a zero trust architecture across the entire department in the next five years and will be releasing a new strategy to get there as soon as next month. Five years to zero trust: Pentagon has ‘no choice’ but to sprint toward network goals
- August 25, 2022. Andrew Eversden, Breaking Defense. The US Army has officially inked the long-awaited contract with General Dynamics Land Systems to send the most advanced version of its Abrams tank to Poland, the service announced today. Poland to receive 250 advanced Abrams tanks under $1 billion contract
- August 25, 2022. Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One. The U.S. Air Force secretly test-fired a long-range variant of a stealthy cruise missile from a B-2 stealth bomber late last year, defense contractor Northrop Grumman revealed Thursday. The US Just Revealed a Secret Airborne Test of a Long-Range Cruise Missile
- August 25, 2022. Chris Riotta, Defense One. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency failed to consistently provide adequate cyber threat indicators to participants in an information sharing program, according to a new report. CISA’s Cyber Info-Sharing Program Didn’t Always Deliver, Watchdog Says
- August 25, 2022. Sebastian Sprenger, Defense News. Dollars will start flowing toward Poland’s long-planned purchase of tanks, as the U.S. Army taps General Dynamics Land Systems to make 250 Abrams in the newest configuration, the company announced. Abrams-maker GDLS announces $1.1 billion tank deal for Poland
- August 25, 2022. Megan Eckstein, Defense News. The U.S. Navy is clarifying the chain of command for fires and other emergencies that occur while ships are in port for maintenance, the head of the surface navy said, after uncertainty about who was in charge contributed to ineffective firefighting efforts on former amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard. Navy addresses chain of command for surface ship fires
- August 25, 2022. Colin Demarest, Defense News. A little more than a month after disclosing that gaps in the U.S. military’s electronic warfare toolkit are causing him to lose sleep, Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said one of the service’s premier efforts to provide jamming and sensing capabilities shows promise. Army demos aerial jammer amid push to catch up in electronic warfare
- August 25, 2022. Mike Yeo, Defense News. Fighter jets from Japan and South Korea are making their debut at a large-scale air combat exercise in northern Australia, along with F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters from the host nation and the United States. Japan, S Korea warplanes debut alongside F-35s at Exercise Pitch Black
