Newton Lee

"Morning newspapers are yesterday's news; social media news are the now moments."

"In the digital world, delete does not always delete."

"Online births and deaths in Facebook Nation made me question why people could not live without borders. Birthright citizenship is like being baptized into a religion as an infant. Taking a page from Veronica Roth’s novel Divergent, people should be free to choose where they belong when they grow up."

"Cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility. ... In the spirit of President John F. Kennedy, one may proclaim: "Ask not what cybersecurity can do for you, ask what you can do for cybersecurity.""

"No single countermeasure or mitigation service is 100% efficacious. It requires the entire international community to ACT — Achieve Cybersecurity Together. As the world is increasingly interconnected, everyone shares the responsibility of securing cyberspace."

"Journalists should be watchdogs, not lapdogs."

"An open internet is an open platform for debating opposing views. It allows both popular and unpopular voices to be heard. It is a civilized outlet for frustrated individuals to express themselves without resorting to violence or terrorism."

"The two-way street of Total Information Awareness is the road that leads to a more transparent and complete picture of ourselves, our governments, and our world."

"While information is the oxygen of the modern age, disinformation is the carbon monoxide that can poison generations."

"American civil rights activist and U.S. Army Sergeant Medgar Evers once said that "you can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea." His statement applies to both good and evil. Drones are powerful assassination weapons that offer short-term fixes. Drones kill terrorists, but not the idea of terrorism in the long term."

"War is legitimized state-sponsored terrorism in a grand scale."

"The enormous amount of financial resources and creative energy that nations have spent on wars and weapons could have been redirected to curing deadly diseases, feeding the hungry, eliminating poverty, promoting art and culture, investing in renewable clean energy, and solving a host of other important challenges facing humanity."

"The U.S. government needs to learn from successful private businesses that run an effective and efficient operation in serving their customers and outwitting their competitors."

"There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence."

"Illegal spying happens more often than not, but to various degrees depending on the perpetrators and the persons of interest. Besides being morally wrong, unsanctioned or extracurricular spying activities risk the unnecessary exposure of technological apparatus and the potential compromise of the espionage network. When a covert action is not fully supported by a spying organization from top to bottom, an unintentional domino or butterfly effect can jeopardize ongoing and future legitimate operations (to the happy tune of counterintelligence)."

"The Sony saga has brought to light a hidden sinister: Cyber terrorism has reached a whole new level by combining cyber attacks and threats of physical terrorism."

"Cyber attacks and terrorist threats are a lethal combination that can only be resolved by aligning conscientious counterterrorism policies with cybersecurity technologies."

"The most effective propaganda is a mixture of truths, half truths, and lies."

"Trying to get rid of the symptoms (terrorists) without paying attention to the root cause (terrorist motives) does not eradicate the disease but may instead exacerbate it."

"Drugs and terrorism are both mind-altering and deadly."

"While there are a number of ways to combat terrorism, attempting to cure the symptoms without tackling the root causes is like waging a losing war on drugs."

"Terrorism is metastasizing like cancer in the global body of humanity."

"A man who is at peace with himself is less likely to turn into an extremist or a terrorist."

"1/2 cup of hope and 1/2 cup of kindness seem like a litmus test by asking "Is the glass half empty or half full?" Nature shows us in every waking moment that where there is life, there is hope. And to quote the movie Horns starring Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple, "Man is not born evil. The Devil himself was a fallen angel," there is kindness in everyone if you dig deep enough."

"It would make a positive difference in world security and counterterrorism by setting our mind on pursuing peaceful solutions rather than escalating the war on terror. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.""

"Satire in media such as The Interview and Charlie Hebdo walk a fine line between freedom of speech and dangerous incitement."

"It will make a positive difference in world security and counterterrorism by setting our mind on pursuing peaceful solutions rather than escalating the war on terror."

"Mahatma Gandhi once said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Besides, two wrongs do not make a right. President Obama is right: Peace is the only path to true security."

"It is conceivable that AI will be able to understand all the news and investigative reports in all languages from both traditional and social media, connect the dots, predict imminent dangers, and identify long-term concerns."

"To err is human. AI software modeled after humans will inevitably make mistakes. It is fine as long as the software learns from its errors and improves itself, which is something that humans ought to learn from AI. Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, wrote in "Case of Voluntary Ignorance" in Collected Essays (1959): "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.""

"Finger-pointing can derail progress and incite revenge."

"Media manipulation is commonplace. For people who do not look outside their comfort zone, they will never learn the whole truth. If scientists had not challenged the status quo, we would not have enjoyed modern medicine and technological innovations today."

"It is pointless to debate which religions promote peace or violence. Even Buddhist monks who are widely regarded as pacifists have taken up arms in strife-torn regions ... Religious experiences are, by nature, emotional and subject to interpretations by clergy and believers throughout history."

"Regardless of how secure a communication line is and how unbreakable a cryptographic algorithm seems to be, the weak links are often the endpoints - the sender (before encryption) and the recipient (after decryption) - unless they are code talkers using a language more obscure than Navajo."

"Too many people prefer to stay inside their own comfort zones with a one-sided liberal or conservative sentiment."

"American musician and activist Henry Rollins once said, "A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others." Murdering innocent people who are defenseless is a cowardly act. Standing up to difficult life circumstances and oppressive regimes is bravery."

"Deadly weapons as big as a missile-equipped drone and as small as a .50-caliber bullet are now under software control, which could be disastrous if they were hacked."

"One should not underestimate the power of persuasion by well-crafted propaganda films. D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation in 1915 helped to resurrect Ku Klux Klan in Georgia; and Leni Riefenstahl's award-winning Triumph of the Will in 1935 helped fuel the rise of Nazism in Germany."

"Give a human face to drug users and understand why they need narcotics is the only chance that we have to win the war on drugs. ... Give a human face to terrorists and understand why they resort to violence is the only chance that we have to win the war on terror."

"Although our every move may be monitored and recorded, we feel complete freedom to do whatsoever we want other than causing harm to others or damages to properties."

"Temporary safety is not the same as long-term security. A false sense of security is like the calm before the storm."

"Peace is the only path to true security; and peace requires both free speech and willingness to listen."

"The "need to know" syndrome had reached epidemic proportions within the U.S. government, all the way to top including the Presidents of the United States (giving them the benefit of the doubt)."

"Each and everyone on Earth can make one small step, which will cumulatively result in a giant leap for mankind towards world peace."

"World peace is as simple and elegant as E=mc2. Peace is not a mystery. We know what peace is. The questions are: How do we get there? How long does it take to get there? Do we need another Einstein to help figure this out?"

"Humankind too often cooks up an excuse to start war instead of making peace. Rather than developing better strategies to win wars, we should focus on better recipes to attain peace."

"There is nothing like having a United Nations at home."

"In ancient times, countries and tribes form alliances through arranged marriages. Nowadays, it is up to eligible bachelors and bachelorettes to forge friendship, peace, and understanding among nations and races through civil unions."

"With over a billion active users, Facebook is in a unique position to influence the world by enabling Facebook users to create grassroots movements for peace."

"Learning is an innate human behavior. A healthy baby is happy and excited to learn to speak, play and express itself. Why should learning stop being fun? The human race cannot survive without continuous learning. Let us impart the enthusiasm and creativity of learning in the classrooms."