Wednesday, April 22, 2026
America's Laser Edge: U.S.Navy Deploys Game-Changing Drone Killer on Carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77)
This test represents the first known
case of a laser weapon physically mounted and fired from a U.S aircraft
carrier, extending prior naval laser testing that had been limited to
amphibious ships and destroyers. (Picture source: US Navy)
Apr
21
U.S. Navy conducts first-ever laser weapon test on an aircraft carrier to counter drone threats at sea
The U.S. Navy has conducted the first-ever live-fire test of a laser weapon from an aircraft carrier, proving the capability of a new layer of close air defense against drones at sea. The demonstration aboard the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) shows that directed-energy systems can operate in real carrier conditions, offering a potentially cheaper and sustainable way to counter persistent UAV threats.
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Top stories: CISA flags new SD-WAN flaw as actively exploited in attacks Cybersecurity Dive BleepingComputer
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has
given government agencies four days to secure their systems against
another Catalyst SD-WAN Manager vulnerability it flagged as actively
exploited in attacks.
CISA flags new SD-WAN flaw as actively exploited in attacks
Federal agencies ordered to patch until Friday
On Monday, CISA added CVE-2026-20133 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog, "based on evidence of active exploitation," and ordered Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies to secure their networks until Friday, April 24.
"Please adhere to CISA's guidelines to assess exposure and mitigate risks associated with Cisco SD-WAN devices as outlined in CISA's Emergency Directive 26-03 and CISA's Hunt & Hardening Guidance for Cisco SD-WAN Devices," CISA said. "Adhere to the applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are not available."
Cisco has yet to confirm the U.S. cybersecurity agency's report that the flaw is being exploited in attacks, with its security advisory still saying that its Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is "not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerabilities that are described in CVE-2026-20133."
In February, Cisco also tagged a critical authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-20127) as exploited in zero-day attacks that were enabling threat actors to add malicious rogue peers to targeted networks since at least 2023.
More recently, in early March, the company released security updates to address two maximum-severity vulnerabilities in its Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) software that can allow attackers to gain root access to the underlying operating system and execute arbitrary Java code with root privileges.
Over the last several years, CISA has tagged 91 Cisco vulnerabilities as exploited in the wild, six of which have been used by various ransomware operations.
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POLITICAL SCIENCE: Half of America sits in democratic limbo - that, is problematic because if the public isn't willing to hold its leaders accountable, then there's nothing to stop them from behaving in ways that undermine democracy.
"Not actively opposing undemocratic practices is different than actively supporting democracy," Hall said.
- Neutrality, the researchers noted, is especially concerning because it can be associated with authoritarianism, tolerance of norm violations, extremism, distrust and obscuring antidemocratic views.
- Another, equally critical point, Hall said, is that this neutrality exists at similar rates on both sides of the aisle, among Republicans and Democrats, as well as nonpartisans.
Intro: According to a recent study from the University of Notre Dame, voters
who are comfortable living in the middle — neither agreeing nor
disagreeing when asked about substantive issues relevant to upholding
democracy — might be the largest group to blame for democratic decline in
the United States.
These "democratic neutrals" are what the study's co-authors consider some of the most dangerous voters in the current political environment.
Half of America sits in democratic limbo—and that silent middle may decide what breaks next
If you were to ask democracy scholars what they consider the greatest threat to American democracy, you might assume it is voters who support undemocratic practices or policies. But the real answer may surprise you: These ...
Researchers asked participants about their attitudes toward undemocratic
practices. The questions included whether they agreed, disagreed or
felt neutral when asked about their support for four examples of
undemocratic practices: reducing outparty polling stations, ignoring
outparty court decisions, remaining loyal to the party over the
Constitution, and censoring partisan media.
REFERENCE:
- Article
- Open access
- Published:
The overlooked threat of democratic neutrality in the USA
Nature Human Behaviour (2026)
Abstract
Despite
increasing concerns about American democracy, recent studies find
little public support for undemocratic practices.
- However, these studies ignore democratic neutrality—that is, expressing neither agreement nor disagreement with undemocratic practices.
Here, integrating research on
uncertainty, indifference, ambivalence, conditionality and socially
desirable responding, we argue that democratic neutrality poses an
overlooked threat to democracy.
Reanalysing prominent survey data (N = 45,095) and conducting two original surveys (N = 3,039;
including a candidate-choice experiment), we document democratic
neutrality as
(a) prevalent (half of Americans express neutrality
towards one or more undemocratic practices),
(b) reflecting
substantively meaningful attitudes (versus inattention),
(c) correlated
with theoretically related constructs,
(d) distinct from opposition to
undemocratic practices, and
(e) as consequential as outright support for
undemocratic practices in shaping preferences for anti-democratic
candidates.
Our findings challenge optimistic empirical accounts of
Americans’ attitudes towards democracy. Democratic neutrality may help
explain, and be targeted to ameliorate, democratic backsliding.
Roughly 50% of participants checked the neutral category for at least one question.
"Regardless of why Americans express neutrality, those who do so are
just as likely to vote for authoritarian politicians as the relatively
small number of Americans (less than one in five) who explicitly support
undemocratic practices," Hall said.
==
"The problem is the people sitting on the sidelines, not paying attention or prioritizing short-term issues over the long-term stability of this country," Hall said. "This will require a completely different approach with regard to persuasion strategy when you realize that's the group we—as proponents of American democracy—need to be focusing on. Promoting democracy is going to look a little different than we thought."
What does that promotion look like then? Hall and his co-authors see the primaries for the approaching 2026 midterm elections as the next opportunity to encourage Americans to vote for candidates who will support and protect American democracy. Messaging will need to encourage voters to "vote against candidates who undermine American democracy—even (and especially) if they are candidates from their own party," emphasizing that staying neutral will no longer suffice.
"American politics have really been shaken in this last decade, particularly with regard to partisanship and polarization," Hall said.
"The elites have lost control of the throttle and the mass public is driving—and that's not necessarily a bad thing if the mass public values democracy. But if they don't value democracy, then we will spin out."
This research aligns with the University's Democracy Initiative, which aims to establish Notre Dame as a leader in the study of democracy both in the United States and worldwide, as a convenor for conversations about and actions to preserve democracy, and as a model for the formation of civically engaged citizens and public servants. The initiative also bridges research, education and policy work across multidisciplinary units.
Publication details
Matthew E. K. Hall et al, The overlooked threat of democratic neutrality in the USA, Nature Human Behaviour (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-026-02430-7
Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour
Provided by University of Notre Dame
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
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