Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, have fundamentally reshaped modern conflict, transforming the skies into a perpetual zone of surveillance and lethal action.
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Tech Billionaires Making a Killing on AI War Machines (Technology Policy Brief #165)
The Pentagon is enriching the pockets of the tech billionaire owners of AI companies. While the Department of Defense/War has broken its contract with the company Anthropic, other AI companies are signing large contracts, such as Open AI and Palantir.
Undersea Internet Cables Are Becoming the Front Line of Climate Monitoring (Environment Policy Brief #163)
Scientists are exploring ways to turn the world’s submarine internet cables into climate-monitoring infrastructure. The infrastructure will be capable of detecting changes in ocean temperature, earthquakes, and deep-sea pressure shifts linked to climate change. The use of existing global infrastructure gives this idea added potential but also raises security concerns when modifying critical internet systems.
The Department of Justice’s Inconsistencies Regarding the Release of the Epstein Files (Social Justice Policy Brief #189)
On July 23rd, 2025, a House Subcommittee voted to subpoena the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the Epstein files. During that time, the Subcommittee agreed to redact the names and personal information to protect the victims. However, in January 2026, with the release of more than 3 million more documents, that agreement was not fulfilled.
The Illusion of Global Data Privacy Standards (Technology Policy Brief #165)
A single, binding global data privacy standard does not yet exist. Instead, governments and companies operate under regional systems with different priorities.
The Problem With DOJ Requesting Voter Roll Information From States (Civil Rights Policy Brief #251)
Starting in May 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) proceeded to request from nearly every state and the District of Columbia (D.C.) access to each state’s un – redacted and complete voter rolls. Each state’s voter rolls contain the list of every registered voter in the state.
The First Global Rules for Carbon Removal Credits Are Being Written Right Now (Environment Policy Brief #191)
Governments and climate regulators are currently trying to determine how engineered carbon removal technologies should qualify for international carbon credit markets. Currently, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is developing and updating the technical standards to align with GHG reporting and climate management. The publication of the revised ISO 14001:2026 standard is planned for April 2026 with a transition period of three years.
36 States Move to Block Federal Preemption of AI Laws, Setting Up Major Court Fight (Technology Brief #164)
On November 25, 2025, the National Association of Attorneys General, led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, sent a letter on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of 36 state attorneys general to Congress. The letter urged Congress leaders to reject the proposed ban on state-level artificial intelligence (AI) laws. The attorneys general argue that a broad federal law would prevent individual states from addressing and responding to AI risks quickly.
How Will Tech Money Influence the California’s Governor’s Race (Technology Policy Brief #163)
Tech billionaires are spending at historic levels to influence politics in California. Google and Facebook, and their CEO’s, are donating heavily to key races in November 2026, as are venture capitalists, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, and Palantir’s co-founders. Whether or not the candidates they are backing win, they will have an impact.
The Week That Was In Review (Foreign Policy Brief #228)
On February 28 2026, Israel and the United States engaged in joint attacks on Iranian territory, far larger and more devastating in scale than the first direct attacks on Iran in June 2025. Secretary of War, (Defnse) Pete Hegseth has said the US is only “accelerating, not decelerating” its war on Iran, with more assets heading to the region as the conflict ricochets from Dubai, to Saudi Arabia, Turkey to Sri Lanka where an Iranian ship was recently sunk using torpedoes.