Monthly Archives: April 2010
Documents Reveal Al Qaeda Cyberattacks
Buried inside hundreds of pages of heavily redacted court documents from the case of a man accused of being one of al Qaeda’s chief recruiters, is evidence that the terrorist group has launched successful cyberattacks, including one against government computers in Israel. This was the first public confirmation that the terrorist group has mounted...
The Fear Factor: Swine Flu, Nuclear Weapons, and Reacting to Doom
A child of the early Cold War, Robert Muthnow says he’s always had an interest in how society copes with the fear of its own extinction. His new book, Be Very Afraid: the Cultural Response to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats, offers some surprising insights into how humans think about...
A Change for U.S. Nuclear Strategy
Hans Kristensen heads the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, a group founded by some of the scientists who built the first atomic bomb in 1945. FAS keeps a running public tally of the world’s nuclear arsenals. All told, nine nations now have a combined total of more than 22,000 nuclear...
A ‘Smart’ Electrical Grid Could Secure the Energy Supply
Several years ago, the National Academy of Engineering set about ranking the 20th century’s greatest technological achievements. A group of scientists and engineers, led by the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, weighed in and came to a startling conclusion: The greatest achievement wasn’t the Apollo program, the automobile, or the...
Guantánamo Detainees Released Amid Debate Over Closing the Prison
Closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was one of the first promises made by President Obama, but that promise has proved one of the most difficult to make good on. As the White House continues to haggle with Congress over how and where to try terrorist suspects, the Department of Justice is quietly...