The download: foreign disinformation, gene-edited pigs and intel.
A previously unreported document distributed by senior US State Department official Darren Beattie reveals a sweeping effort to uncover all communications between the staff of a small government office focused on online disinformation and a lengthy list of public and private figures–many of whom are longtime targets of the political right.
The document, originally shared in person with roughly a dozen State Department employees in early March, requested staff emails and other records with or about a host of individuals and organizations that track or write about foreign disinformation–including Atlantic journalist Anne Applebaum, former US cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, and the Stanford Internet Observatory–or have criticized President Donald Trump and his allies, such as the conservative anti-Trump commentator Bill Kristol. One official said that the requests for information without redactions felt like “a witch hunt” and could threaten the privacy and security many individuals and organizations. Read the full story.
–Eileen Guo
The US has approved CRISPR pigs for food
Most pigs in the US are confined to factory farms where they can be afflicted by a nasty respiratory virus that kills piglets. This illness is known as porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
A British company named Genus began working on creating pigs that were immune to the virus using CRISPR gene-editing a few years ago. The pigs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week. Read the complete story.
