Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Sri Lanka expels ship carrying undeclared nuclear material for China

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats

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Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesday expelled an Antigua-registered ship that entered the island’s territory without declaring a radioactive cargo bound for China.

The country’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Council said the MV BBC Naples was asked to leave after it was found to be in the Chinese-run port of Hambantota on Tuesday night carrying uranium hexafluoride.

“The ship failed to declare its dangerous cargo ~~uranium hexafluoride~~ and we decided to order it to leave our waters immediately,” council director general Anil Ranjith told AFP.

The ship had come from Rotterdam but authorities did not say where in China it was headed.

Ranjith said it was an offence to enter a port without declaring the material, which is used to enrich uranium, the fuel for nuclear power stations and weapons.

Sri Lanka’s opposition leader Sajith Premadasa demanded an investigation into the incident, describing it as a serious safety threat.

“The navy has not been allowed to board the vessel to carry out an inspection,” Premadasa said.

There was no immediate comment from the government.

Hambantota port was leased to China in 2017 for 99 years after the Colombo government was unable to repay $1.4 million it had borrowed from Beijing to build it.

Hambantota, about 260 kilometers (162 miles) south of Colombo, is near key Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

The entry of two Chinese submarines into Colombo in 2014 angered neighboring India, the traditional regional power which is competing with Beijing for influence in the Indian Ocean.

Since then, Sri Lanka has not allowed Chinese submarine visits.

Photo: A dome is installed over a Hualong One nuclear power unit at Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China May 23, 2018, in this picture provided by Fangchenggang nuclear power plant and released by China Daily. (File photo: Reuters)

Link: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/04/21/Sri-Lanka-expels-ship-carrying-undeclared-nuclear-material-for-China

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