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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 4h

People say the Air Force has the weirdest institutional culture in the services but my god the Navy's claim to lore is unparalleled

Why is a ship referred to as "she?"
It has always been customary to personify certain inanimate objects and attribute to them characteristics peculiar to living creatures. Thus, things without life are often spoken of as having a sex. Some objects are regarded as masculine. The sun, winter, and death are often personified in this way. Others are regarded as feminine, especially those things that are dear to us. The earth as mother Earth is regarded as the common maternal parent of all life. In languages that use gender for common nouns, boats, ships, and other vehicles almost invariably use a feminine form. Likewise, early seafarers spoke of their ships in the feminine gender for the close dependence they had on their ships for life and sustenance.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 20h

bsky.app/profile/andr...

Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · Jul 24

*air deploys your Tomahawk*

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

Scripps Institution of Oceanography @scrippsocean.bsky.social · 2d

🌿 🌊 Kelp forests are vital habitats that support marine life, buffer our coasts, and keep our oceans healthy, and Scripps Oceanography scientists are dedicated to protecting them!

🌏 This #WorldHabitatDay, thank #KelpForests for all they do for our planet.

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

Dr. K @kurleymcd.bsky.social · 2d

So when the primary candidates were being asked would they visit you know where first, Eric was thinking "fuck that, ALBANIA BABY!"

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 2d

Lmao what???

Chris Sommerfeldt @c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social · 2d

Around 11:30 p.m. last night, Mayor Adams' office announced he's going to Albania this week.

On "day one" of his trip, Adams is meeting with the country's prime minister and will also "visit local businesses and factories."

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 2d

President attempts to send troops from loyal regions into dissident cities while both governing chambers have been suspended is a Clancy-ass macguffin

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 3d

Liberals and Democrats will call for "funding local police" as a way to solve the problem of DHS/ ICE and no one will think about the fact that this is how we got here.

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 5d

anyways, let us take a moment to recognize great moments in bob peters's insanity:

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 5d

Heritage was always a weird mix of semi-serious policy analysis in FP stuff (outside like, uhhhh the nuclear insanity of Bob Peters) and absolutely deranged domestic FP takes

unfortunately i think the latter has basically eliminated most of the people who do good work on the former

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 5d

this is Heritage's former DPRK guy

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

Brian Mann @brianmannadk.bsky.social · 5d

My dream: The internet fills with AI kudzu and milfoil. Social media is choked out by machines babbling to each other. Humans will be forced back into analog spaces - especially radio and print - to share information, music and ideas. Serious newsrooms will build audience with a promise: Zero AI.

Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 5d

Well gang, it's happened: OpenAI has built a platform filled exclusively with fake, AI content.

I've been playing with it for a few days, and I think it's safe to say we're basically kissing reality goodbye.

Here's the story: www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

And some thoughts 🧵

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 5d

Noooo

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 5d

Well gang, it's happened: OpenAI has built a platform filled exclusively with fake, AI content.

I've been playing with it for a few days, and I think it's safe to say we're basically kissing reality goodbye.

Here's the story: www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

And some thoughts 🧵

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 5d

What the fuck?

NPR @npr.org · 5d

As President Trump ramps up efforts to send federal officers and troops into cities, criminologists are watching closely. Are the feds doing this in a smart way?

National Guard presence may deter crime, but experts warn of the long-term costs

As President Trump ramps up efforts to send federal officers and troops into cities, criminologists are watching closely. Are the feds doing this in a smart way?

n.pr

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 6d

*lively street corner, slow walk toward camera*

You know when I walk these streets, fellow New Yorkers are always asking me, "what's up with Minuteman upload?"

*camera change, across street*

It's a great question.

*inside bodega, holding up dollar limes*

Imagine each of these is a thermonucl-

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 6d

omg

"Banana use #3: “As with the Able Archer incident, today’s leaders must ensure we don’t create a situation where AI mistakes a weather balloon — or a banana-shaped data packet — for a nuclear launch signal.”"

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 6d

Out: begging students to not write their assignments with AI

In: including invisible instructions for the copy-pasters

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Reposted by Andrew Facini

“Hey man did you get QA to sign off?” Gigan @gigansprogress.bsky.social · 7d

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

Well 🎉😒

Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 23d

Not seeing nearly enough realignment among serious defense thinkers on how each and every weapons system or budget request now needs to be weighed against the fact that the president is using these weapons illegally, and potentially against the US itself.

CNN @cnn.com · 23d

The US military killed three people in another deadly strike on a vessel in international waters around South America allegedly "transporting illegal narcotics" from Venezuela, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post. https://cnn.it/4na60EM

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

Much more detail in the briefer available today (pdf link here councilonstrategicrisks.org/wp-content/u...)

And check out the Nolan Center for more on our work across nuclear and biosecurity policy: councilonstrategicrisks.org/nolan/

The Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons - The Council on Strategic Risks

The Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons is a non-partisan institute of CSR that explores threat reduction opportunities related to the development, diffusion and use of strategic weapons in a c...

councilonstrategicrisks.org

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

And, many of these issues are ones that need be solved over a longer term. For stability, investments must be separated from the political churn.

We heard a consensus that for all things related to delivering on nuclear policy, if funding does not come ahead of needs, then we are already late.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

On workforce, many snags turned out to be hyperlocal concerns—from housing to aging lab spaces to competing industry.

The opportunities to craft one's career both within and outside the Labs can also be improved, with benefits for both sides.

And, a particular yikes on training pipeline:

Screenshotted text: The success of the nuclear deterrent mission also requires that the US government continue to incentivize people pursuing the training and education needed for them to contribute at all levels. In one telling sign, a 2022 study from the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education indicates that “The number of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students who graduated in 2022 with degrees in health physics dropped to the lowest level in decades, while six schools in the survey have either phased out or are in the process of phasing out health physics programs entirely.”11 Given the importance of health physicists for functions like the safe handling of radioactive materials and preventing accidents, achieving the nation’s nuclear enterprise goals clearly warrants the government incentivizing a strong workforce pipeline in this field. The US nuclear S&T base would likely benefit from collectively mapping out its combined specific skill set requirements and its associated pipelines, to help focus recruiting efforts and adjust incentives to fill gaps.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

On the deterrence side of production, if a design cannot reliably be manufactured, then it can't serve its intended deterrent effect.

As we say, adversaries are watching, especially when the USG doesn’t deliver on stated goals. This is one reason we recommend the Program of Record be kept tight.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

For manufacturing & production, navigating the need to update machinery and processes is a specifically sensitive risk.

Innovations like advanced CNC and 3D printing can bring better/safer automation and shore up vulnerable supply chains, but must be brought along with the talent pool to use them.

Screenshotted text: To modernize in ways that enhance nuclear supply chain and manufacturing strength, one expert who took part in CSR discussions proposed a new approach of keeping production lines and a skilled workforce fully employed through more frequent upgrades—for example, shifting to certain weapons components having a shorter service life (e.g., 10 years or other durations that are less than multi-decade). Centering plans around relatively shorter design-verify-manufacture processes for weapons components would enable production lines to stay warm and the design and production workforce to keep honing their skills. Components could still be designed for longer lifespans with proper maintenance, safety, and security measures in place, but with the added agility of fresher expertise and supply chains.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

Nonproliferation tech, too, including devices & methods which enable treaties/agreements, is a huge research win that often gets overlooked.

Being able to offer an administration a set of verification options is a direct path to the possible. This will be v important in the age of AI tools.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

For early-stage research, including the kinds of basic science that take years to bear fruit, successes must be spotlighted (and specifically sought).

NVIDIA's economic boon made possible by EUV lithography—first struck at Sandia in 1996!—is a loud example. As is NIF's fusion work, started in 1997.

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Andrew Facini @andrewfacini.com · 7d

This summer, the Nolan team held focused interviews with current + former leaders across the nuclear enterprise.

What we heard, along with our long view on the potential needs of various nuclear strategies, reveals smart ways to shore up strategic advantages and reap benefits beyond just weapons.

Council on Strategic Risks @councilonstrategicrisks.org · 7d

🆕 The nuclear S&T base represents an essential edge for the US, far beyond simply enabling weapons production. From R&D to the talent pipeline and funding, learn how the US can better invest for myriad benefits.

📑 Read the latest from @clparthemore.bsky.social, @andrewfacini.com, and John Moulton:

Investing in the Future of Nuclear Deterrence - The Council on Strategic Risks

The S&T base must be viewed as a tool of deterrence and national strength in and of itself—and there are multiple ways that it should be bolstered and evolve.

councilonstrategicrisks.org

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