Caroline Baxter
@convergingriskslab.bsky.social
Director, Converging Risks Lab, within the Council on Strategic Risks.
Former DoD and RAND policy wonk.
Come for the foresight, stay for the fun.
https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/crl/
Former DoD and RAND policy wonk.
Come for the foresight, stay for the fun.
https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/crl/
Pinned
AI’s Hidden National Security Cost
The same AI tools marketed as efficiency boosters could undermine the United States' ability to think critically and respond rapidly.
www.justsecurity.org
Bluesky! Hello! I direct the Converging Risks Lab, part of the @councilonstrategicrisks.org. I work at the intersection of emerging tech, climate change, grand strategy, and national security/defense policy. You can read my latest below. Let's talk convergence.
www.justsecurity.org/121289/ai-hi...
www.justsecurity.org/121289/ai-hi...
Nothing starts the day on a better note than having to explain a TEL to your five year old because he saw one of your challenge coins. “Well, kiddo, when two nations don’t like each other very much…” 😵💫
February 12, 2026 at 1:15 PM
Nothing starts the day on a better note than having to explain a TEL to your five year old because he saw one of your challenge coins. “Well, kiddo, when two nations don’t like each other very much…” 😵💫
Reposted by Caroline Baxter
NEW: OpenAI has disbanded its Mission Alignment team and transferred employees to other teams. Joshua Achiam, a leading voice on safety issues at the company, will become its chief futurist www.platformer.news/openai-missi...
Exclusive: OpenAI disbanded its mission alignment team
Joshua Achiam will become the company's chief futurist
www.platformer.news
February 11, 2026 at 4:26 PM
NEW: OpenAI has disbanded its Mission Alignment team and transferred employees to other teams. Joshua Achiam, a leading voice on safety issues at the company, will become its chief futurist www.platformer.news/openai-missi...
Not to be a scold, but if you had a hand in building the 20th century's most consequential technology and are now really worried about humanity, demand to be impaneled at a live televised Senate hearing about AI. Don't just give us a poem and wish us all good luck.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Anthropic Researcher Quits in Cryptic Public Letter
An Anthropic safety researcher just announced his resignation from the company in a latter warning of a world "in peril."
futurism.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Not to be a scold, but if you had a hand in building the 20th century's most consequential technology and are now really worried about humanity, demand to be impaneled at a live televised Senate hearing about AI. Don't just give us a poem and wish us all good luck.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
So, not great. But it's super not great for national security.
Why? Three reasons.
1) Our military training ranges are in the hottest areas of the US, and our force generation frameworks depend on 24/7/365 outdoor access. Too hot to be outside? Spend $ to train indoors or reduce end strength.
Why? Three reasons.
1) Our military training ranges are in the hottest areas of the US, and our force generation frameworks depend on 24/7/365 outdoor access. Too hot to be outside? Spend $ to train indoors or reduce end strength.
The Environmental Protection Agency is eliminating a Clean Air Act finding from 2009 that is the basis for much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change. n.pr/4asvw30
Trump's EPA plans to end a key climate pollution regulation
The Environmental Protection Agency is eliminating a Clean Air Act finding from 2009 that is the basis for much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change.
n.pr
February 11, 2026 at 3:37 PM
So, not great. But it's super not great for national security.
Why? Three reasons.
1) Our military training ranges are in the hottest areas of the US, and our force generation frameworks depend on 24/7/365 outdoor access. Too hot to be outside? Spend $ to train indoors or reduce end strength.
Why? Three reasons.
1) Our military training ranges are in the hottest areas of the US, and our force generation frameworks depend on 24/7/365 outdoor access. Too hot to be outside? Spend $ to train indoors or reduce end strength.
If the Trump Administration cares about America being “first” and all that connotes, then forcing the military to source its electricity from dying coal plants isn’t the way to go. The last time coal made up more than 40% of annual electricity generation was 2011. It can’t keep up with demand.
Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal to revive industry, Bloomberg News says reut.rs/46vkQiO
Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal to revive industry, Bloomberg News says
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to direct the Pentagon to use government funding and Pentagon contracts to sustain U.S. coal-fired power plants, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a White House official.
reut.rs
February 11, 2026 at 3:26 AM
If the Trump Administration cares about America being “first” and all that connotes, then forcing the military to source its electricity from dying coal plants isn’t the way to go. The last time coal made up more than 40% of annual electricity generation was 2011. It can’t keep up with demand.
Americans have tended to believe the US spends way more money on foreign aid than it does because of our effective soft power (surely we must be spending more than 1% of our budget to get this result). It was the cheapest form of influence there was. Everything else is more expensive & less durable.
people born in america probably don’t realize how cool america used to be. the death of US soft power is going to have long term consequences we are only beginning to see
February 11, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Americans have tended to believe the US spends way more money on foreign aid than it does because of our effective soft power (surely we must be spending more than 1% of our budget to get this result). It was the cheapest form of influence there was. Everything else is more expensive & less durable.
It may be small, but it's one of the consequences of I wrote about last year. "It is as impossible to perform only important experiments as it is impossible to only play winning lottery numbers. Trial and error isn't waste - it's the work."
councilonstrategicrisks.org/2025/02/26/t...
councilonstrategicrisks.org/2025/02/26/t...
February 10, 2026 at 9:39 PM
It may be small, but it's one of the consequences of I wrote about last year. "It is as impossible to perform only important experiments as it is impossible to only play winning lottery numbers. Trial and error isn't waste - it's the work."
councilonstrategicrisks.org/2025/02/26/t...
councilonstrategicrisks.org/2025/02/26/t...
Bluesky! Hello! I direct the Converging Risks Lab, part of the @councilonstrategicrisks.org. I work at the intersection of emerging tech, climate change, grand strategy, and national security/defense policy. You can read my latest below. Let's talk convergence.
www.justsecurity.org/121289/ai-hi...
www.justsecurity.org/121289/ai-hi...
AI’s Hidden National Security Cost
The same AI tools marketed as efficiency boosters could undermine the United States' ability to think critically and respond rapidly.
www.justsecurity.org
February 10, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Bluesky! Hello! I direct the Converging Risks Lab, part of the @councilonstrategicrisks.org. I work at the intersection of emerging tech, climate change, grand strategy, and national security/defense policy. You can read my latest below. Let's talk convergence.
www.justsecurity.org/121289/ai-hi...
www.justsecurity.org/121289/ai-hi...
A whole lot of people who don't understand AI telling a whole lot of other people to use AI - all the time, without guardrails - is a recipe for disaster. DoD's approach of "any lawful use” without any constraints is particularly worrying.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Trump set off a surge of AI in the federal government. See what happened.
The Trump administration is accelerating AI adoption across government, embedding the technology in policing, health care, defense and science.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:08 PM
A whole lot of people who don't understand AI telling a whole lot of other people to use AI - all the time, without guardrails - is a recipe for disaster. DoD's approach of "any lawful use” without any constraints is particularly worrying.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...