Short Takes – 10-22-22

Hurricane Ian damage leads to spontaneous combustion of EVs in Florida. TheHill.com article. And it has become a political issue. Pull quote: “The saltwater flooding of a fully charged electric battery can create a dangerous “salt bridge” between the positive anode and negative cathode. This can create the ingredients for a sudden, uncontrolled transfer of energy — creating a short circuit and, sometimes, a persistent fire.”

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $28 Million to Advance and Deploy Hydropower Technology. GovDelivery.com notice. Three hydropower grant programs. Pull quote: ““Hydropower has long provided Americans with significant, reliable energy, which will now play a crucial role in achieving energy independence and protecting the climate,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “President Biden’s Agenda is funding critical innovations to capitalize on the promise of hydropower and ensure communities have a say in building America’s clean energy future.””

The Intelligence Community Doesn’t Warn About All Attacks Against the US Homeland. Why Not? DefenseOne.com opinion piece. Glosses over means and sources problem. Pull quote: “The duty-to-warn policy and its implementation mechanisms are governed by Intelligence Community Directive 191. The Director of National Intelligence, or DNI, has the authority to modify ICD 191. Expanding it to nonviolent threats could create a policy environment for providing intelligence as a service to the American public. This policy change could allow the DNI to signal that the IC is attempting to address the plight of the commercial and nongovernmental sectors as the targets of persistent attacks from foreign actors. The DNI could then tell intelligence analysts to nominate intelligence warning products for release to specific entities or the public at large.” Details in Rand Study.

The Promise and Peril of Guyana’s Oil Boom. HomelandSecurityNewsWire.com article. Pull quote: “He notes that for the last seven years, oil companies have discovered oil reserves off the Guyana coast which are estimated to be in the range of 11.2 billion barrels. This is almost a third of all new oil discoveries in the world since 2015.” Looks at internal political issues but ignores external sources of conflict.

Starlink signals can be reverse-engineered to work like GPS—whether SpaceX likes it or not. TechnologyReview.com article. Alternative PNT network? Pull quote: “Each [synchronization] sequence also contains clues to the satellite’s distance and velocity. With the Starlink satellites transmitting about four sequences every millisecond “that’s just wonderful for dual use of their system for positioning,” says Humphreys.” No specific discussion about timing accuracy.

Preparations for the 43rd Session of the UN Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. Federal Register meeting notice.

The Emerging Cyber Threat to the American Rail Industry. LawfareBlog.com article. Pull quote: “While the elimination of these accidents will be a great leap forward in rail safety, the technology behind PTC increases the danger of a fairly new vulnerability for the rail industry: cyber threats. The first major events have already occurred—in Iran in 2021 and Belarus in 2022—both carried out by non-state actors.”