CGM Insights

Quiet sites needed for radio astronomy are chosen for their remote locations and minimal radio interference and thus have been situated on lands traditionally inhabited by Indigenous communities. The needs of Native Nations are often overlooked, and consideration is necessary to assess whether radio astronomy sites in the United States are subject to trust or treaty agreements established between governments and Indigenous nations. Government or government-adjacent administrative entities such as the National Radio Astronomy Observatory may need to fulfill obligations to protect tribal sovereignty and uphold Indigenous rights.

The radio astronomy community can and should do more to acknowledge the rights of Native Nations because many of the telescopes are on Indigenous homelands, and Native Nations are important rightsholders that have generally been excluded from decision-making regarding radio astronomy. Furthermore, government entities in the radio astronomy field may have trust and treaty obligations to Native Nations that have long been ignored. These issues must be addressed as plans are made to expand radio astronomy’s frontier in the United States.

Afghanistan remains stuck in political deadlock under Taliban control—no inclusive governance, no discernible pathway for reform, and limited if any progress toward peace. This brief outlines how Afghanistan’s post- 2001 experience produced valuable democratic lessons, even amid dysfunction, and offers a way forward: a transition led by a new generation of educated, exiled Afghan technocrats. These individuals, untainted by past political failures, are best positioned to help build an inclusive government through a decentralized model that reflects Afghanistan’s diversity and reduces ethnic tensions. The international community, especially the United States and its partners, must play a key role in facilitating this transition.

Limitations in the prevailing measures hamper the accurate evaluation of the domestic artificial intelligence (AI) workforce. Accelerating the timeline for revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to create a technical AI occupational category could increase the prospects that AI policies will improve AI competitiveness, especially through more granular measures of the way AI is changing the nature of jobs. While AI is unquestionably a future foundation for national security and economic competitiveness in the United States during the digital era, American interests will be best served by a deliberate, measured, and data-driven workforce policy that builds on national strengths.