The Threat of Insurgency in India’s Assam Continues

Sanjay Sarmah

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On August 15, an email citing bomb threats was sent to several media houses by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam Independent (ULFA-I) group led by Paresh Baruah. The group claimed that they had planted bombs at 24 locations across Assam, which were supposed to explode between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. on August 15, India’s Independence Day. However, fortunately, due to what ULFA-I called “technical failure,” the bombs did not explode.

Following this, the state police was soon mobilized into action and multiple special investigation teams were formed. Upon inspection, IED-like material along with some chemicals and circuits were recovered from some 10 sites among those listed by ULFA-I. Since then, two of those cases have been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) by the state police and a few arrests have also been made.

This incident poses a significant setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had claimed to make Assam an insurgency-free state. Additionally, it also raises several questions about the credibility of the state’s intelligence agencies. The Press Trust of India reported that the “police had no clue on the existence of the bombs until ULFA-I itself informed about these, despite the entire state being on high alert on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations.”

Modi’s Kyiv Trip Signals a Subtle Shift - Analysis

Sumit Ganguly

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In July, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Moscow and greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin with a bear hug. The same day, Russia launched deadly airstrikes across Ukraine, hitting the country’s largest children’s hospital and killing at least 41 people. Although Modi made a veiled reference to the strike and the casualties, his anodyne remark failed to deflect international criticism of his trip and his apparent bonhomie with Putin—especially from the United States.

India Fills Security And Geopolitical Gaps For Malaysia – Analysis

Collins Chong Yew Keat

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to India is long overdue and timely, in elevating a new way forward of a strengthened Kuala Lumpur-New Delhi ties, which forms one of the most strategic and critical bilateral relationships in the region for both economic and geopolitical domains.

Anwar’s three-day visit is also a chance to reset Malaysia’s relations with India, following a hangover from a spat with New Delhi previously. There has not been a visit by a Prime Minister to India for the last six years, and this is a critical and strategic time for Malaysia to reset and enhance its vital ties with New Delhi.

It reaffirms the commitment to elevate and reset the ties based on mutual trust and understanding and the steadfast shared values of democracy and rule of law in a values-driven approach.

Areas of joint interoperability and cooperation to tackle other non-traditional maritime and transboundary threats will provide a positive chain impact on both players’ readiness and mutual trust.

Both Kuala Lumpur and Delhi remain strategically interlinked in security assurances and positive returns.

Filling the Void Left by Great-Power Retrenchment: Russia, Central Asia, and the U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Charles E. Ziegler

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The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending in August 2021, created favorable conditions for Russia to reassert itself as a regional hegemon in broader Central Asia. Historically, as great powers retrench from a territory, the resulting void can be filled either by rival powers or by friendly successor states responsive to the retrenching power’s agenda. While the United States has lacked reliable successors to take its place in the region, Russia has asserted itself in a number of ways to boost its own power and influence. Moscow has not only cultivated bilateral ties with each of the five Central Asian states, but it has also instrumentalized regional security organizations to advance its interests. However, the full-scale assault against Ukraine beginning in 2022 has undermined Russia’s initiatives in Central Asia and its aspirations for regional hegemony. The Central Asian countries fear Moscow’s apparent neo-imperial ambitions and prefer to develop multi-vectored foreign relations. In this situation, China is poised to supplant Russia as the dominant power and security provider in the region, which could create tensions within the so-called partnership without limits between Moscow and Beijing.

As a continental land power, Russia historically has aspired to exercise hegemony in four bordering regions: Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Pacific littoral. Initially weakened after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia’s limited military and economic capabilities constrained its influence among the newly independent former Soviet republics throughout the 1990s. Upon taking office in 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin initially focused on reasserting Russia’s position in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Moscow then announced a “pivot” toward Asia in Putin’s third presidential term from 2012 to 2018. In the following years, however, Russia has struggled to expand its influence in the Pacific littoral.1 Nonetheless, the close strategic partnership with China, which is the most important component of the pivot, has secured Russia’s strategic backyard and enabled it to concentrate on Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Iran and Pakistan Cooperate on Counter-Terrorism Amid Jaish al-Adl and Baloch Separatist Attacks

Osama Ahmad

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Following the visit of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Pakistan in April, both Pakistan and Iran decided to appoint colonel-rank liaison officers at their mutual border to coordinate joint counter-terrorism efforts. Per the bilateral agreement, Pakistani liaison officers are stationed in Zahedan, Iran, while the Iranian officers are stationed in Turbat, Pakistan (The Nation, April 29). This development is the result of years-long efforts to achieve an ideal counter-terrorism framework between the two countries.

Tit-for-Tat Strikes

On January 16, Iran launched ballistic missiles and suicide drones into Pakistan’s Balochistan Province in an attempt to target Jaish al-Adl’s hideouts in a border town, Panjgur (Dawn, January 17; see Terrorism Monitor, January 31). In retaliation, Pakistan launched its own missiles into Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province, claiming to target the hideouts of Baloch separatists, such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF). These attacks fell primarily on the town of Saravan along the Iran–Pakistan border (Dawn, January 19). While it was feared at the time that the incidents would permanently damage relations between the two countries, in the weeks that followed, both governments signaled that relations between them were surprisingly friendly, considering the recent exchange of missiles (see Terrorism Monitor, May 30). It may be the case that the rapid degrading and immediate improvement of relations was intentional. This would suggest that Iran and Pakistan were engaged in a joint counter-terrorism operation and that the cross-border strikes and counterstrikes were coordinated in advance.

Why Thaksin Could Help Hasten a Middle-Class Revolution in Thailand

Jason Johnson

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In Thailand’s history, only two large-scale democracy movements were successful in toppling military-led regimes. And significantly, both the 1973 and 1992 pro-democracy movements included widespread support from the Bangkok middle class, which has proven in the past to be a pivotal factor in determining the staying power of royal-military-backed governments and elected governments alike.

In 2020 and 2021, many pro-democracy advocates who desired the removal of the royal-military backed regime of General Prayut Chan-o-cha had become hopeful that democratic change was on the horizon. At the time, Thailand saw an eruption of large student-led protests that took place in the capital Bangkok and many major provincial centers. The protests were catalyzed by a Constitutional Court ruling that disbanded the progressive Future Forward Party, which had come in third in elections held in March 2019, over an alleged campaign financing violation. However, the movement ultimately petered out due in part to security measures and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in severe restrictions on public gatherings.

Those student-led protests both reflected and prompted a significant shift in Thai political culture. For the first time, younger middle and upper-class Thais all but uniformly opposed the traditional hegemonic political culture centered on the monarchy. There had been previous instances of Thai students opposing military dictatorships, but anti-monarchy political stances had never been so dominant and open among younger generations of Thais, and students had not been at the forefront of change since the 1970s.

Can the Bangladesh Police Recover?

Mehedi Hasan Marof and Saqlain Rizve

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On August 11, a high official in the Bangladesh police resigned, noting the force has transformed into a “public enemy.”

In his resignation letter, Md Moniruzzaman, an additional deputy inspector general with the Tourist Police in Khulna-Barisal, said, “Over the past 10 years, I was compelled to carry out illegal orders from ministers linked to the Awami League (AL) government.”

These orders, he added, were “brutal and barbaric,” designed to protect an unlawful regime and extend the power and financial gains of certain high-ranking officials.

Moniruzzaman’s resignation came at a time when Bangladesh was grappling with the aftermath of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. Hasina had been in power since 2009, becoming Bangladesh’s longest-serving premier amid accusations of a growing authoritarian streak.

Hasina’s resignation and self-exile on August 5, driven by a massive student-led movement that started over the resurrection of quotas for government jobs, unleashed a wave of unrest across the South Asian nation. Amid the protests, not only Hasina’s government but also Bangladesh’s police force, long seen as an instrument of political repression, crumbled under the weight of public anger.

Bangladesh’s New Democracy Under Threat From Flood of Misinformation

Farhana Sultana

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A secular student-led mass uprising overthrew the dictatorship of India-backed Sheikh Hasina on August 5. Hasina had ruled with an iron fist for over 15 years; her ouster has been hailed as Bangladesh’s Second Independence. On August 8 a new, diverse, and progressive interim government, headed by Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, was inaugurated.

As the interim government and the nation attempts to rebuild and renew, it is already facing significant threats. A judicial coup attempt, orchestrated by loyalists of Hasina’s party Awami League, was thwarted by students on August 10. Rumors are flying of another coup allegedly planned for August 15 in an attempt to regain power.

However, another significant threat comes from pervasive disinformation and propaganda that attempts to destabilize Bangladesh. This has also played a central role in continued efforts to discredit Bangladesh’s new interim government. This propaganda, widespread and multipronged, has spread across social media platforms since Hasina fled. The false narratives have been so widespread that international media, pundits, intellectuals, influencers, and the general public have unwittingly propagated them.

Singapore’s Path Forward Amidst US-China Geopolitical Tensions – OpEd

Simon Hutagalung

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Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s National Day Rally address emphasized Singapore’s concerns regarding the escalating tensions between the United States and China and the profound implications these tensions hold for the island nation. As a small, trade-dependent country with strong diplomatic ties to both superpowers, Singapore faces the challenge of delicately balancing its position amidst this geopolitical turbulence.

The Prime Minister’s speech not only reflects the immediate anxieties felt by Singapore but also presents a broader strategic assessment that aims to preserve the nation’s long-term stability and prosperity. This analysis argues for a multifaceted response from Singapore, one that addresses both economic security and social aspects to cultivate resilience in an increasingly polarized world.

To fully comprehend Wong’s concerns, it is crucial to consider the historical context of U.S.-China relations and Singapore’s role within this geopolitical dynamic. Since the conclusion of the Cold War, the United States and China have held central positions in the global economic order, exerting significant influence over international trade, finance, and security frameworks. Singapore, strategically positioned at the intersection of East and West, has greatly benefited from this established order, flourishing as a global financial hub and a vital node in global supply chains.

Stopping the Next China Shock

Aaron L. Friedberg

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Twenty-five years after the beginning of the first so-called China shock, when a surge in Chinese exports disrupted manufacturing and industrial sectors worldwide, Beijing has again begun to flood global markets with a wave of heavily subsidized manufactured goods and materials—including everything from metals and textiles to more cutting-edge products such as electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and semiconductors. In more economically advanced countries, this influx threatens to upend emerging technology sectors and derail post-pandemic plans to “de-risk” economies by shifting supply chains away from China. In the developing world, a new tsunami of cheap imports could disrupt plans for industrialization and modernization.

According to the theories of economics and trade that are prevalent in the West, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has little choice but to pull back: China’s economy has become dangerously imbalanced. In 2022, according to the World Bank, the country accounted for 30 percent of global manufacturing value added but only 13 percent of global consumption. But it is a mistake to presume that Xi and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) think about the Chinese economy the same way Western economists do. The key to understanding Xi’s economic policies is to recognize that they are principally about power, not prosperity. He will almost certainly forge ahead toward concentrating the world’s industrial power within China, even at the risk of provoking a cataclysmic trade conflict with other countries.

Exploring a PRC Short-of-War Coercion Campaign to Seize Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands and Possible Responses

Matthew Sperzel and Daniel Shats

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Introduction

The archipelagos of Kinmen and Matsu are uniquely vulnerable among Taiwan’s territories. Both island groups are located over 100 miles from the main island of Taiwan but just off the PRC’s coast: the westernmost of the Matsu islands is around six miles from the PRC, while Kinmen’s main island is as close as two miles from the PRC city of Xiamen. The islands have remained under Republic of China (ROC) control since the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) under Mao Zedong failed to conquer them at the end of the Chinese Civil War. Kinmen and Matsu remained the primary arenas of PRC–ROC armed conflict from 1955 to 1979. The PRC heavily bombed Kinmen and Matsu during the Taiwan Strait Crises of 1955 and 1958, and both sides intermittently exchanged volleys of both lethal and nonlethal artillery fire until the United States normalized relations with the PRC in 1979.

The PRC continues to claim the islands as its own, as it does with all ROC territories. Its approach to these islands looks very different today, however. The PRC of Xi Jinping is an aspiring superpower whose development is deeply integrated with the global economy; it is far more cautious about military conflict than was the isolated and fanatical regime of Mao Zedong. Beijing’s contemporary efforts to annex Kinmen and Matsu blend economic enticements, nonviolent coercion, legal warfare, information operations, infrastructure construction, and miscellaneous “gray zone” lines of effort to manipulate public opinion on the islands and erode Taiwan’s control of its territories. These efforts are sophisticated and long-term in outlook. They show a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) willing to wait patiently to achieve its goals, but nonetheless making gains that are difficult for Taiwan to reverse.

Controlling Tomorrow: China’s Dominance Over Future Strategic Supply Chains

David Song-Pehamberger

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In September 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping first mentioned the “new quality productive forces” and their centrality to advance “high quality economic development” across the country. The message of this new terminology was to prioritize the development of cutting-edge industries that produce high value-added products to spur long-term economic growth. This also included the necessity for controlling the relevant supply chains, from design to manufacturing.

Xi confirmed this new economic policy at his December 2023 speech at China’s Central Economic Work Conference, and Premier Li Qiang also focused on it in his annual work report at the National People’s Congress in March 2024. Most recently, China’s long-awaited Third Plenum in July 2024 restated this technology-driven focus to spur economic growth.

The foundation of Xi’s new productive forces is the “new three” – electric vehicles (EV), lithium-ion batteries, and solar photovoltaics (PV). These are industries that are still emerging, but already have an immense economic impact, and all three are largely controlled by Chinese companies. Going forward, Beijing wants to expand its control over these and other strategic supply chains.

The UAE accepts credentials of Taliban ambassador in a major diplomatic win for Afghanistan’s ruler

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The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday accepted the credentials of the Taliban’s ambassador to the oil-rich Gulf Arab state, the biggest diplomatic coup for Afghanistan’s rulers who are not officially recognized as the country’s legitimate government.

The development, the first Taliban ambassador since one was appointed to China last December, underscored the international divide over how to deal with the government now in Kabul.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul confirmed the news about Badruddin Haqqani in a post on the social media platform X. The ministry did not respond to requests for information about Haqqani, who was previously the Taliban’s envoy to the UAE.

Haqqani is not related to the Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who in June met the UAE leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, but he is from his team.

Sirajuddin Haqqani is the current leader of the powerful Haqqani network, a militant movement allied with the Taliban, and a designated global terrorist. He is wanted by the United States for his involvement in deadly attacks and is also on several sanctions lists.

Why Everyone’s Suddenly Talking About Iranian Election Hacking

Rishi Iyengar

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As November’s U.S. presidential election draws closer and the campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris kick into high gear, so have efforts by hackers from Washington’s adversaries aimed at disrupting or influencing the vote. One adversary in particular is playing an increasingly prominent role: Iran.

As November’s U.S. presidential election draws closer and the campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris kick into high gear, so have efforts by hackers from Washington’s adversaries aimed at disrupting or influencing the vote. One adversary in particular is playing an increasingly prominent role: Iran.

Iranian state actors have stepped up their efforts to interfere in this year’s election through online disinformation and influence operations as well as cyberattacks on both presidential campaigns, three U.S. agencies—the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—warned in a joint statement on Monday.

The Crumbling Foundations of American Strength

Amy Zegart

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When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appeared imminent in early 2022, U.S. intelligence officials were so confident that Russian tanks would roll quickly to victory that staff evacuated the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. Based on traditional measures of power, the intelligence assessment made sense. In 2021, Russia ranked fifth in the world in defense spending, whereas Ukraine was a distant 36th, behind Thailand and Belgium. Yet more than two years later, Russia and Ukraine are still fighting their brutal war to a standstill.

Ukraine’s resilience is a telling indicator that power is not what it used to be. The country’s surprise showing is in no small part a result of its highly educated population and a technology innovation ecosystem that has produced vast quantities of drones and other homemade weapons on the fly. Ukraine has even managed to wage naval warfare without a navy, using homemade drones and other devices to destroy nearly two dozen Russian ships and deny Russia control of the Black Sea.

For centuries, a nation’s power stemmed from tangible resources that its government could see, measure, and generally control, such as populations that could be conscripted, territory that could be conquered, navies that could be deployed, and goods that could be released or restricted, such as oil. Spain in the sixteenth century had armies, colonies, and precious metals. The United Kingdom in the nineteenth century had the world’s strongest navy and the economic benefits that emerged from the Industrial Revolution. The United States and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century had massive nuclear arsenals.

Ukraine targets Moscow in ‘one of largest ever’ drone attacks

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Ukraine has launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow, as it presses on with a major incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Russian authorities said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that air defence forces shot down 11 drones over Moscow and its surrounding region, with some reportedly downed over the city of Podolsk some 38km (24 miles) south of the Kremlin.

“This is one of the largest ever attempts to attack Moscow with drones,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app. No damage or casualties were reported.

Drone attacks on Moscow are rare. Ukraine’s latest attempt to target the Russian capital appeared to be larger than an attack in May 2023, when at least eight drones were struck down.

The barrage was part of a broader attack on Russia, with the Ministry of Defence saying its air defence units destroyed 45 Ukrainian drones in total overnight.

In addition to the 11 drones destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 drones were downed in the border region of Bryansk, six in the border region of Belgorod, three in the Kaluga region, which borders the Moscow region to its northeast, and two in the embattled Kursk region, the ministry said.

The Case for a Clean Energy Marshall Plan

Brian Deese

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For decades, global integration—of trade, of politics, of technology—was seen as a natural law. Today, integration has been replaced by fragmentation. The post–Cold War institutions are teetering, industrial strategies are back in vogue, and competition with China is growing. These dynamics are creating geopolitical friction across global supply chains, for vehicles, minerals, computer chips, and more.

Against this backdrop, the clean energy transition remains the most important planetary challenge. It also presents the greatest economic opportunity: it will be the largest capital formation event in human history. And it presents the United States with a chance to lead. Thanks to its still unparalleled power and influence, Washington maintains a unique capacity—and a strategic imperative—to shape world outcomes.

In 2022, the United States recognized these opportunities when it passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the world’s largest-ever investment in clean energy technologies. This transformative industrial strategy was a crucial first step for the United States in positioning its economy for success by accelerating the clean energy transition at home. Now is the time to take this leadership to the global stage, in a way that promotes U.S. interests and supports aligned countries. But the United States need not create a new model for doing so.

America’s Greatest Asset Has Been Our Industrial Capacity; It’s Time to Rebuild It.

Robert C. O’Brien

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For over seventy-five years, American leadership has brought an unprecedented era of peace, prosperity, and stability across the globe. When looking back on these decades, many point to our military strength, our great economic dynamism, and our technological innovations as the sources of America’s national power. These observations are true, but they miss what underpins these pillars.

Military, economic, and technological prowess are not generated out of nothing. They come from something deeper, something that we are at risk of losing: our industrial capacity. U.S. industrialization in the twentieth century is what enabled such a colossal rise in the military, economic, and technological spheres. Just after World War II, the United States made up half of the global GDP, and over a quarter of the U.S. GDP was from the manufacturing sector at the time.

Much has changed since our post-war industrial boom. China has surpassed the United States as the world’s manufacturing superpower, accounting for almost 29 percent of global manufacturing output, while the United States lags at just under 17 percent. America’s manufacturing decline is a consequence of decades of outsourcing our capacity. We naively believed that if we ceded our industrial capabilities to China, that nation would democratize and become more like us. American politicians from both parties were wrong to assume this outcome.

Ukraine’s Kursk Offensive Has Revealed Russia's Military Weakness

Elliot Petroff

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Over the past two weeks, Ukraine has taken its fight with the Kremlin onto Russian soil. Kyiv’s offensive consisted of a daring raid into Russia’s Kursk region designed to bring the fight to Russian forces and draw the Kremlin’s combat troops away from its own territory.

Aside from a few headlines, though, Ukraine’s bold strategic gamble has gone largely unnoticed. That’s a shame because Kyiv’s initiative—and Moscow’s response to it—has made clear that persistent Western fears of Russian brinkmanship are overblown.

Up until now, both U.S. and European policies have been defined by caution and fear of Russian risk-taking. While President Biden has pledged to back Kyiv’s fight for “as long as it takes,” in practice, his administration has been slow to provide Ukraine with the weaponry it needs to win the fight decisively. And even when it has, that aid has been accompanied by onerous restrictions that have had the effect of limiting Ukraine’s fighting potential. European nations, meanwhile, have taken their cues from Washington and settled in for a long campaign of incremental assistance to Ukraine. The result has been a situation that—at least until recently—had settled into a strategic stalemate and positional warfare.

The Enduring Lessons of Stalin’s Wartime Endgame

CHRIS PATTEN

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Earlier this summer, an Australian friend called to congratulate me on my “OBE.” Puzzled, I asked, “What on earth do you mean?” He replied, “I noticed in the newspaper’s birthday column that you are now Over Bloody Eighty.”

US criticises Israeli PM's 'maximalist' ceasefire stance

Tom Bateman

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A senior US administration official has pushed back at reported comments by Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli prime minister of making “maximalist statements” that are “not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line”.

It comes in the midst of an intense round of regional diplomacy by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as Washington tries to drive forward progress on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

On Monday, Mr Blinken had talks lasting three hours with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem.

He later said Mr Netanyahu had accepted Washington’s so-called “bridging proposal” aimed at trying to solve sticking points and bring Israel and Hamas closer to a deal.

According to an Israeli media report, Mr Netanyahu later told a meeting of hostage families that he "convinced" Mr Blinken that the deal must see Israeli troops remaining in areas of Gaza he described as “strategic military and political assets”, including along the southern border with Egypt.

Kyiv Keeps Russian Oil in the Crosshairs - Analysis

Keith Johnson

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While Ukraine’s surprise combined-arms incursion into the Russian oblast of Kursk gets all the headlines, Kyiv continues to carry out a parallel, deep-strike operation to target Russian vulnerabilities, with continued attacks on oil refineries and fuel depots behind the front lines.

The Financial Sector and Managing Artificial Intelligence-Specific Cybersecurity Risks

Daniel Pereira

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In March, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a report on Managing Artificial Intelligence-Specific Cybersecurity Risks in the Financial Services Sector. The report was written at the direction of Presidential Executive Order 14110 on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP) led the development of the report. OCCIP executes the Treasury Department’s Sector Risk Management Agency responsibilities for the financial services sector.

As part of the Treasury’s research for this report, it conducted in-depth interviews with 42 companies in the financial services sector and technology-related companies. Financial firms of all sizes, from global systemically important financial institutions to local banks and credit unions, provided input on how AI is used within their organizations. Additional stakeholders included major technology companies and data providers, financial sector trade associations, cybersecurity and anti-fraud service providers, and regulatory agencies. Treasury’s report provides an extensive overview of current AI use cases for cybersecurity and fraud prevention, as well as best practices and recommendations for AI use and adoption. The report does not impose any requirements and does not endorse or discourage the use of AI within the financial sector.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel to Govern AI

Jack Corrigan and Owen J. Daniels

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Recent advancements in artificial intelligence have captured the public’s attention, and debates about how to govern this transformative technology have preoccupied leaders in Washington, Brussels, Beijing, and beyond. Within the last year, policymakers have pursued a litany of AI governance measures, from the European Union’s sweeping AI Act to state- and city-level initiatives in the United States. These approaches vary widely in their scope and scale, as well as their attitudes toward balancing the often-competing goals of promoting AI safety and preserving innovation incentives.

To date, the U.S. government has yet to release any binding AI regulations—most high-level governance efforts in the United States today focus on controlling the government’s own use of the technology and encouraging AI developers to adopt voluntary compliance measures. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have batted around a variety of proposals, with some going as far as pushing for a new agency to manage the development and deployment of AI systems. These plans imply the task of regulating AI is too big and too novel for any existing federal regulator.

Army puts new unit loaded with cutting-edge tech to the tes

SAM SKOVE

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The only sign of the drone was its moped-like whine, the noise rising and falling as it circled above the 101st Airborne Division’s soldiers deep behind enemy lines in an exercise last week.

But somewhere up above, the soldiers playing the enemy—a unit dubbed Geronimo—were watching.

For most soldiers, there’d be nothing to do but sit and wait. For the 101st’s Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Company, it was an opportunity to test their gear. Within minutes, a soldier had powered up the Bal Chatri, a hand-held drone detector that was previously only given to special operations soldiers.

The only problem: the detector didn’t find anything. First Lt. Adam Hendrick, commander of a platoon within the MFRC, guessed the Bal Chatri was not picking the drone up because it was American-made, and therefore marked as safe.

That information is exactly the sort of data point the MFRC is meant to collect. The new unit—launched in March and one of just three similar units across the entire Army—is tasked with testing out new technology in real-world conditions and developing new, innovative doctrine.