Homeland Security Newswire

A Critical Flaw Affecting 70% of All Websites Has the Cybersecurity World Panicked

Guest Writer — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:48:42 +0000

10/23/26

CYBERSECURITY

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Details have been published of a critical flaw in the programming language PHP, which is the backbone of more than 70% of all websites. Left unfixed, the flaw would allow hackers to easily take over and compromise millions of websites and the information held on their servers.

2026 Ballot Measures Are Written at a Graduate-School Reading Level, Report Finds

Staff — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:46:24 +0000

10/23/26

DEMOCRACY WATCH

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This year’s statewide ballot measures are written, on average, at a graduate-school reading level, according to a new report.

The readability of 2026’s ballot questions — which ask voters to weigh in on issues as varied as abortion, property taxes, voter ID and firearms — varies by state, political data tracking nonprofit Ballotpedia found in its newest Ballot Measure Readability Report.

On Pots Calling the Kettles Black

Benjamin Frankel — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:45:59 +0000

10/24/26

QUICK TAKES // BY BEN FRANKEL

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Parents of young children, or elementary school teachers, often run into difficulties when trying to explain complex, abstract terms or concepts to the children. Fortunately, the Trump administration offers many examples parents and teachers may use to demonstrate the meaning of the term “hypocrisy.”

Here is one of these many examples on offer:

The Unhidden Hand

Guest Writer — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:45:40 +0000

10/23/26

THE RUSSIA CONNECTION

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Editor’s Note: Ten years on, Russia’s 2016 interference operation on behalf of Trump, and the Trump administration’s dismantlement of all the U.S. federal government organs dedicated to tracking and analyzing state-sponsored efforts to interfere in U.S. institutions, elections, and society, offer two lessons, Julia Cutler writes. First, a foreign intervention pays off most durably and reliably when its beneficiary has every incentive to hide the intervention sponsor’s hand.

From Elite Spies to “Gig‑Economy” Operatives: The Changing Face of Russian Sabotage

Guest Writer — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:44:04 +0000

10/23/26

THE RUSSIA CONNECTION

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Russian hostile activity costs the UK at least £2 billion annually, according to a recent report by Scottish MP Graeme Downie, who has called on the government to measure what these actions cost Britain. But this figure is just the baseline. In reality, a profound shift in Moscow’s approach to sabotage means the true cost is set to climb higher.

Reading Russia’s Silence: A Summary of the Atlantic Council’s “Russia’s Bioweapons Legacy and the Plague Scare”

Guest Writer — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:42:17 +0000

10/23/26

BIOSECURITY

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On Monday, October 19, the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense hosted the virtual event “Russia’s Bioweapons Legacy and the Plague Scare.” The panel examined the death of a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia a

Winning the Undersea Knife Fight

Staff — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:36:12 +0000

10/23/26

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

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Under the sea’s surface, a potential battle is brewing. This battle, centered on sabotage and deception, involves energy and telecommunication infrastructure being held at risk by a mixture of adversarial, opportunistic geopolitical strategies for expansive influence and control of critical resources, trade, and core industries. The ability to observe this conflict is also more constrained. Operating below the ocean’s surface is not like operating in other domains: Maneuvering is complex, and the terrain is highly dynamic.

Why the ‘Odds of Mischief Are High’ in These Midterms | ICE Agents’ Smartphone Searches Trash Privacy Rights | To Win Its Nuclear Future, America Must Look to Its Past, and more

Staff — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:32:50 +0000

10/24/26

OUR PICKS

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Why the ‘Odds of Mischief Are High’ in These Midterms (Michael Hirsh, Foreign Policy)
Is the United States destined for a repeat of Jan. 6 every election now?

Why Putin’s Defenders Are Increasingly American | Latin America’s MAGA Wave | US Central Asia Policy Has an Afghanistan Problem, and more

Staff — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:31:51 +0000

10/24/26

WORLD ROUNDUP

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Why Putin’s Defenders Are Increasingly American (Adrian Karatnycky, Foreign Policy)
Like Joseph Stalin’s Western fans, they use a vicious foreign regime to grind their axe at home.

Analysis: Trump Deportations Near 1M, but Few Are Criminals

Guest Writer — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 22:35:03 +0000

10/22/26

IMMIGRATION

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The current Trump administration claims its mass deportation efforts have expelled nearly a million people through July of this year, but those include both voluntary returns and people turned around at the border, according to a new analysis by the former chief statistician for the Department of Homeland Security.