Short Takes – 8-8-23

Sea Transportation: Militarized Cruise Ships. StrategyPage.com article. Pull quote: “For the moment China depends on militarized, but more vulnerable, RoRo ships to deliver most of the troops and vehicles during an amphibious operation and that plan is in trouble because the enemy has the means to damage or sink the RoRos as well as destroy the Taiwanese docks needed to unload the RoRo. There are not enough ports available to load all the RoRos and Taiwan has been practicing airstrikes on some of these ports, using new air-to-surface missiles. Taiwan is following Chinese efforts in this area with great interest and responding with their own disruptive ideas.”

The impeachment effort losing steam in the House GOP. Politico.com article. Pull quote: “A GOP lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly, said the effort to impeach Mayorkas had died down “some.” The Republican added that while they remained undecided on impeaching Mayorkas, and believe the administration has made bad policy choices on the border, “incompetence isn’t an impeachable offense.””

Our Galaxy Is Home to Trillions of Worlds Gone Rogue. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “Przemek Mróz, an astronomer at the University of Warsaw who was not involved in the work, said that the group’s results strengthened earlier hints about rogue worlds from observations made with the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and the Korean Microlensing Telescope Network. “So now we have three independent studies and three independent lines of evidence that low mass free-floating planets are very common in the Milky Way,” he wrote in an email.”

How do chemical manufacturers avoid the nightmare cyberattack scenario? TechNative.io article. Short on action suggestions. Pull quote: “Some of the reasons are obvious. For example, chemical manufacturers know how bad the worst-case scenario could be. As a result, when a cybercrime syndicate takes over a plant, they’d probably be more inclined to meet any of the demands that come with a ransomware attack.”

The Mystery of Chernobyl’s Post-Invasion Radiation Spikes. Wired.com article. Pull quote: “If Santamarta is right, his finding could have far-reaching implications for radiation-monitoring systems around the world, says a former nuclear safety official who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely about the matter. If the data was manipulated, it could undermine trust in radiation-monitoring systems or change how data from them gets reported publicly. Data from radiation monitors is often distributed publicly in near real time so that governments and nuclear experts can actively monitor conditions in populated cities and around nuclear facilities. But this creates a risk that hackers or others could alter data to trigger public alarm before proper verification can occur.” Yet another important article from Kim Zetter

New SARS-CoV-2 variant gains dominance in US amid mild summer COVID wave. ArsTechica.com article. Pull quote: “But SARS-CoV-2's seasonality is still unclear, and researchers don't know exactly what's driving the summer waves, which often start in the southern part of the country. A leading hypothesis is that the upticks coincide with summer vacations, travel, and get-togethers.”

Starliner undergoing three independent investigations as flight slips to 2024. ArsTechica.com article. Pull quote: “In addition to the hardware work, Boeing must also comply with three separate investigations. According to Stich, there is an "independent team" at Boeing reviewing the company's actions. In addition, NASA's chief engineer, Joseph Pellicciotti, has interviewed every one of Starliner's subsystem managers to ensure there are no other potential surprises looming. Finally, Pellicciotti, his deputy, and the NASA Engineering & Safety Center have been conducting their own independent review of Starliner's soundness.”

As drone popularity grows, government considers how to safeguard the skies. NextGov.com interview with Dedrone CMO Mary-Lou Smulders. Pull quote: “Counter-drone security also thinks beyond just bad drone mitigation. To even mitigate a drone in the first place, a system must be able to detect, track and identify the drone itself to confirm its presence, follow its flight path, understand a specific drone model’s capabilities (like top speed, payload, range, etc.) and, most importantly, locate the pilot — which is the heart of the issue.  Without locating the pilot, the issue can’t actually be solved under current regulations.”

Nominations for Substances To Be Evaluated for Toxicological Profile Development. Federal Register ATSDR notice. Summary: “The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announces that it is soliciting nominations of substances to be evaluated for an upcoming set of toxicological profiles. ATSDR is opening a docket for the public to submit nominations and provide comment on which toxicological profiles are developed next. Members of the public, government agencies, or private organizations may comment on which substances they are concerned about so that ATSDR may take this information into consideration when developing future toxicological profiles.” Comment close date – September 7^th, 2023.

Opening of Opportunity for Shippers To Register as Certified Cargo Screening Facilities. Federal Register TSA Notice. Summary: “The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is announcing an opportunity for qualified, interested shippers who agree to implement certain security controls to join the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP). This notice provides the procedures necessary to initiate the registration process.”