Short Takes – 1-23-25

Trump’s Pentagon to begin task of crafting NORTHCOM plan to ‘seal’ US borders. BreakingDefense.com article. Pull quote: “The issue is that NORTHCOM does not have standing forces per se; rather troops are allocated to the command for exercises and any deployments deemed necessary. So shifting personnel from another military service or another combatant command “is a zero sum game,”  meaning that “someone will have to pay in readiness or future response,” said the former official, speaking candidly on the condition of anonymity.”

Turning Audit Results into Actionable Security Improvements. LinkedIn.com/Pulse article. Pull quote: “For OT Security leaders, audits are not just checkpoints—they are opportunities to drive operational resilience, enhance compliance, and secure the organization against emerging threats. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement and aligning efforts with site criticality, security leaders can ensure that audit results translate into long-term value and competitive advantage.”

Tanzania declares Marburg virus disease outbreak. CEN.ACS.org article. Pull quote: “This is the second Marburg virus disease outbreak in Tanzania. In March 2023, the country recorded nine cases, including six deaths, from the disease. “We have demonstrated in the past our ability to contain a similar outbreak and are determined to do the same this time around,” said Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, at a press briefing. These measures include quick isolation of people with suspected infections for testing and treatment, contact tracing, and community engagement, she added.”

This is what might happen if the US withdraws from the WHO. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “At the same time, the US is up against another growing threat to public health: the circulation of bird flu on poultry and dairy farms. The US has seen outbreaks of the H5N1 virus on poultry farms in all states, and the virus has been detected in 928 dairy herds across 16 states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 67 reported human cases in the US, and one person has died. While we don’t yet have evidence that the virus can spread between people, the US and other countries are already preparing for potential outbreaks.”

Trump’s Immigration Threats Are Already Wrecking the Food Industry. NewRepublic.com article. Pull quote: ““We’re in the middle of our citrus harvesting,” Casey Creamer, president of the industry group California Citrus Mutual, told CalMatters. “This sent shockwaves through the entire community. People aren’t going to work and kids aren’t going to school. Yesterday about 25 percent of the workforce, today 75 percent didn’t show up.”” And no one in the incoming administration saw this coming? Not too smart after all.

Trump's Gag Order Halts CDC Publication. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “The former CDC employee who did not want to be named told MedPage Today they suspect the administration may not have realized the full implications of this gag order on the valuable resources, and that conversations are likely happening behind the scenes to try to convince the new administration to let MMWR go out. They pointed out that MMWR staff are still working and that if this pause continues through next week as currently planned, the articles would likely be put in the Feb. 6 issue.

Cancer cells ‘poison’ the immune system with tainted mitochondria. Nature.com article. Pull quote: “The team engineered cancer cells to carry mitochondria that are speckled with a fluorescent protein. When these cells were grown alongside TILs, the immune cells started harbouring glowing mitochondria after 24 hours. By 15 days, cancer-derived mitochondria had supplanted some immune cells’ native mitochondria almost entirely.”

Scientists Invented Molecular ‘Chainmail’ That’s Way Stronger Than Kevlar, PopularMechanics.com article. Pull quote: “Unlike the metal adornments that accompanied warriors on the battlefield, this piece of “chainmail” is actually mechanically interlocked polymers linked together at an unprecedented density—100 trillion mechanical bonds per square centimeter. Incredibly, even though this is the highest density ever achieved, the material seems to be scalable and could drastically increase the effectiveness of ballistic material. The details of this new polymer chainmail were published in the journal Science earlier this week.”