Staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tell WIRED they fear the new administration will cut programs that keep the US safe—and “persecution.”

Plus: The US indicts North Koreans in fake IT worker scheme, file-sharing firm Cleo warns customers to patch a vulnerability amid live attacks, and more.

A flurry of drone sightings across New Jersey and New York has sparked national intrigue and US government responses. But experts are pouring cold water on America’s hottest new conspiracy theory.

Small, easily weaponizable drones have become a feature of battlefields from the Middle East to Ukraine. Now the threat looms over the US homeland—and the Pentagon's ability to respond is limited.

The white supremacist Robert Rundo faces years in prison. But the “Active Club” network he helped create has proliferated in countries around the world, from Eastern Europe to South America.

On Friday, a US appeals court upheld a federal law that could ban or force a sale of TikTok early next year.

Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act into law in April, and the US was soon after sued by TikTok and its Chinese owner, ByteDance, as well as a group of individual TikTok users in the US. These plaintiffs tried and failed to enjoin the attorney general from enforcing the law, which takes effect January 19, 2025—a day before Donald Trump's first day in office.

In the ruling, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected all constitutional claims, including free speech claims that had notably blocked prior TikTok bans during Trump's last administration. In siding against TikTok and its fans, the court's decision likely surprised some law professors who had warned earlier this year that TikTok seemingly had a strong First Amendment defense.

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