Brian Fung

Brian Fung is the technology writer at National Journal. He was previously an associate editor at The Atlantic and has written for Foreign Policy and The Washington Post.

How <i>Star Trek</i> Explains the NSA

How Star Trek Explains the NSA

Deep Space Nine features Section 31, a mysterious intelligence agency and special-ops team that, when you squint, resembles the U.S. National Security Agency in its opacity. More »

No 'Sharks With Lasers on Their Heads': What Protects the Internet in the Ocean?

No 'Sharks With Lasers on Their Heads': What Protects the Internet in the Ocean?

A look at the lax security of the cables that connect our global information network More »

Obama's Vaunted Ground Game Might Have Been Incredibly Overrated

Obama's Vaunted Ground Game Might Have Been Incredibly Overrated

A Harvard study finds the president only outperformed Romney by 1.6 points in swing states. But is that good or bad news for the GOP? More »

Retwact: A Tool for Fixing Twitter's Misinformation Problem

Retwact: A Tool for Fixing Twitter's Misinformation Problem

Can an enterprising developer striking out on his own solve one of the social network's biggest flaws? More »

Why Did Gabon Give President Obama a Gift Worth $52,695?

Why Did Gabon Give President Obama a Gift Worth $52,695?

A surprising heavyweight among the administration's list of dignitary offerings More »

 NASA Sends Cell Phones (Regular Old Cell Phones) Into Space

NASA Sends Cell Phones (Regular Old Cell Phones) Into Space

With just a touch of programming, NASA has turned some Nexus Ones into satellites. More »

The New House Republican Web Strategy: Copy BuzzFeed

The New House Republican Web Strategy: Copy BuzzFeed

What do cat pictures and GIFs have to do with GOP politics? Not a whole lot right now. But beginning next week, that'll change. More »

The United States Could Be Violating Its Own Iran Sanctions

The United States Could Be Violating Its Own Iran Sanctions

Oops. More »

The 6 Most Important Things Chuck Hagel Will Tell the Senate Tomorrow

The 6 Most Important Things Chuck Hagel Will Tell the Senate Tomorrow

Key statements from the Obama nominee's testimony, today More »

Iran's Terrifying Intimidation Device Will Cut Your Fingers Off

Iran's Terrifying Intimidation Device Will Cut Your Fingers Off

It's a grisly tool that the regime is using to send a message. More »

Why Has Iran Slowed Its Nuclear Program&mdash;on Purpose?

Why Has Iran Slowed Its Nuclear Program—on Purpose?

According to Israeli intelligence, cyberattacks and malfunctions were only part of the reason for the deceleration. More »

Al Shabaab Has Been Dismantled ... on Twitter

Al Shabaab Has Been Dismantled ... on Twitter

Reports of the Somali militants' digital demise are absolutely true. More »

Can Silicon Valley Save Grover Norquist?

Can Silicon Valley Save Grover Norquist?

The anti-tax crusader's new fight against an Internet sales tax could be the perfect way for him to reinvent himself as a populist for the Obama era. More »

Secret Memo: Maybe Syria Really Did Gas Its People

Secret Memo: Maybe Syria Really Did Gas Its People

The circumstantial evidence unearthed More »

How Did Algeria Screw Up Its Hostage Crisis So Badly?

How Did Algeria Screw Up Its Hostage Crisis So Badly?

Instead of resolving the incident at In Amenas, the country's armed forces just made a bad situation even worse. More »

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Terrorist Behind Algeria's Hostage Crisis

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Terrorist Behind Algeria's Hostage Crisis

Turns out the al Qaeda-affiliated militant has been on a UN watchlist since 2003. More »

A Map of the Bewildering Mali Conflict

A Map of the Bewildering Mali Conflict

Getting a handle on the scale of the conflict More »

Get Ready: The Autonomous Drones Are Coming

Get Ready: The Autonomous Drones Are Coming

And they're not very different from piloted drones. Why smart policy depends on getting this. More »

How the Death Star Petitioners Can Strike Back

How the Death Star Petitioners Can Strike Back

Everyone knows that spending bills for gigantic weapons systems originate in the House -- not the Oval Office. More »

Are China's Journalists Spying on Us?

Are China's Journalists Spying on Us?

So what if they are? It wouldn't be the first time a news organization became an intelligence service. More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

Protests Spread Across Brazil

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