The first bomb detonated March 2 on the front porch of Anthony Stephan House, who was killed in the explosion. This first death was initially believed to be related to gang violence in the area before later being investigated as suspicious.

On March 12, the second and third bombs detonated, prompting police to investigate the three bombings as related incidents. The second bombing killed 17-year-old Draylen Mason when his mother brought the package into their kitchen. His mother was also injured in the explosion. The third bomb exploded about 15 minutes from the location of the second bomb. A 75-year-old lady was injured and taken to the hospital after handling the bomb.

After the third bomb, law enforcement began reaching out to the bomber through media channels.

On March 18, the fourth bomb exploded and injured two men walking on a sidewalk in an Austin neighborhood. The explosion was triggered by a tripwire. The two men, 22- and 23-years-old, sustained “significant injuries” but were reported to be in stable condition in the hospital.

The fourth bombing prompted the police to increase the reward for information on the bomber to $100,000. The fourth bomb was later reported by Austin Police Chief Brian Manley to indicate a higher level of sophistication than previously thought. Additional law enforcement officers came to Austin to aid the investigation.

On March 20, a fifth package exploded at a FedEx sorting facility in Schertz, Texas. The package was delivered from and addressed to addresses in Austin yet was at the sorting facility outside of the city. One person sustained a small injury but was not taken to the hospital.

Later that day, another package was identified at a different FedEx sorting facility near the Austin airport. The suspicious package was determined by law enforcement to contain an explosive and was subsequently removed. FedEx confirmed that the two packages were sent by the same individual.

On March 21, law enforcement identified a suspect and traced him to a hotel parking lot in Round Rock, Texas. The suspect’s car was followed from the parking lot, but it was driven into a ditch where it exploded. The suspect, Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, died from the explosion.   

At a press conference that evening, Manley says that Conditt left a video confessing to the bombings. He claimed to have made seven bombs. Including the bomb that detonated Conditt’s car, all seven were identified.

After criticism of the police department for their handling of the investigation, Manley called Conditt a domestic terrorist during a press conference March 29. Some of this criticism was due to a perceived lack of police and media attention regarding the initial bombings believed to be because the first victims of the bombings were black and Hispanic. The first victims were prominent members of the African American and Hispanic communities, so this interpreted lack of attention has been especially criticized. It was only once a bomb exploded in a prominent, white neighborhood that the bombings received national attention.

Critics speculated that Manley hesitated to call Conditt a domestic terrorist because he was white. Manley attributes his hesitancy to use the term to “domestic terrorist” having a legal definition Manley was not comfortable with using without more information.

Despite speculation about the bombings being hate crimes, due to the racial makeup of the victims, or politically motivated crimes, Conditt’s confession did not mention a motive. Manley claimed the bomber’s motives may never be known.

Photo credits to CNN.

This threat has several severe consequences. The EMP has a destructive power similar in magnitude to that of an atomic bomb. The higher the detonation altitude, the more destructive it is. An EMP attack acts over a wide area up to hundreds of miles. Consequences of an EMP can include long lasting power outages in houses and health care facilities and damage to properties, including cars and stores. Sensors, monitors and other electronics that restart power after an outage would also be wiped out. The radioactive waves in an EMP can also kill up to millions of people, depending on its size. The radiation would also severely increase cancer cases.

“The biggest danger would be shorting out of the power grid, especially on the East Coast. Imagine a situation where large sections of the U.S. had no power. Imagine New York or Washington, D.C. with no power for just a week. The implications would be hard to fathom. The casualty rates would be off the charts,” said Harry Kazianis, Director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest.

Despite the possible threat, little efforts have been made to address the issue. The federal government did not implement any recommendations to prevent power outages the EMP would cause. They also claimed that securing the power grid is not one of their current priorities. On the other hand Richard Schoeberl, a terrorism analyst, believes that an EMP attack is a possible threat that requires immediate action.

“Most of our East Coast grid has a lot of older equipment that could be vulnerable. We should work quickly to make the necessary upgrades to ensure North Korea can’t catch us by surprise,” Kazianis added.

“We are highly vulnerable to such an attack. Considering that if North Koreans are able to pack enough destructive power into such a nuclear device they could fry countless electrical grids and equipment. If they use a big enough device, the damage could be beyond belief,” said Schoeberl.

Photo courtesy of matti.frisk / Flickr.

The White House has denied these claims. On March 15, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted, “Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster – contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC.”

However, several senior White House officials did not dispute the claim that the president has made a decision to fire McMaster. Most speculate that McMaster’s ouster will come as soon as a transition plan is formulated.

Trump reportedly wants McMaster fired because his briefings are too long and he is too rigid.

The prospect of another Trump administration staff change has prompted the discussion of alternatives to McMaster for national security advisor.  

There are three primary contenders to replace McMaster: Keith Kellogg, John Bolton and Steve Biegun.

Kellogg is currently the chief of staff of the national security council and a retired Lieutenant General.

The President had Kellogg travel with him on many domestic trips, and the two get along well. Trump thinks that Kellogg is fun and enjoys spending time with him.  

Bolton is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He regularly meets with Trump and speaks highly of the president on television interviews.  

However, many are fearful of Bolton’s appointment, since Bolton has advocated hawkish policies before. Bolton is in support of preemptive war with North Korea and Iran, leading many to fear these interventionist views.   

Bolton recently met with the president in the Oval Office but denies the allegations that this meeting was about replacing McMaster.

Biegun is currently the vice president of international governmental affairs for the Ford Motor Company. Biegun has previously served on the national security council staff.

Biegun is not well-known in foreign policy circles, but his views are similar to President Trump’s. Biegun shares Trump’s skepticism of global trade deals.

On March 15, President Trump responded to questions of firing McMaster, saying, “There will always be change, but very little. I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas.”

Photo courtesy of AP.

Flynn’s actions allegedly violated the Logan Act, a law that makes it a felony for private citizens to to negotiate with foreign governments. Whether or not Flynn violated the Logan Act is the subject of an ongoing investigation by U.S. officials. The FBI, which regularly monitors communications between Russia and the U.S., did not find any wrongdoing when it intercepted the communication last year. However, as of Feb. 9, the FBI is continuing to investigate the series of communications Flynn made. Among the subjects discussed were President Obama’s harsh response to Russia’s influence in the 2016 Election. Flynn later gave Vice President Mike Pence, among others, “incomplete information”—translation: he lied—regarding what he discussed.

The revelations should come as no surprise. Flynn has long had close ties with Vladimir Putin and his oligarchy. He regularly appeared on “Russia Today,” one of Putin’s many propaganda outlets, as an analyst. During one of his appearances, he stated “Russia has its own national security strategy, and we have to respect that.” The existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization begs to differ. Flynn also famously appeared at a 2015 Russia Today Gala with Putin and Jill Stein, another hypocritical, self-proclaimed “people’s hero” who cozies up with autocrats. He’s even given paid speeches at these galas. It should come as no surprise, then, that many Russian lawmakers were upset with Flynn’s resignation Feb. 13 and swiftly came to his defense even after he left office.

Guilty or not, Flynn’s removal from office is a victory for Americans and global security. During Trump’s campaign, he regularly led “lock her up” chants, a reference to Secretary Hillary Clinton’s alleged crimes committed while mishandling emails, having a foundation for global health or whatever people think happened during the Benghazi attack. Flynn said that Clinton “does not know the difference between a lie and the truth.” Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, so it might be time for “lock him up” chants.

Flynn also supported the hateful speech by members of the alt-right on Twitter, along with the furthering of conspiracy theories. Keep in mind, Michael Flynn was once the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency as a U.S. Army Lieutenant General. To list off all of Flynn’s offensive or downright false tweets would take too long (though CNN put together a nice anthology), but many of them include equating Islam with terrorism. One particular tweet includes a link to a video in which Flynn calls the ridiculous assertion that the terror group ISIS is practicing Islam the “most powerful message I’ve heard in a long time.” Flynn also famously tweeted “Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL” with a link to a video falsely claiming that Muslims want 80 percent of the world exterminated or enslaved. Off Twitter, Flynn has also called Islam “a cancer.” It’s disappointing, especially coming from someone who was once part of the U.S.’s titan intelligence community in which patriotic American Muslims regularly put away a lot of terrorists. Perhaps it shouldn’t too disappointing, since Flynn was fired from that post.

Flynn also furthered fake news from champions of Nazism and other taboo societal views. One such champion was Mike Cernovich, who once tweeted “Have you guys ever tried ‘raping’ a girl without using force? Try it. It’s basically impossible. Date rape does not exist.” Cernovich later deleted the tweet like the coward he is. Flynn also retweeted posts by Milo Yiannopoulos, another alt-right closet Nazi who got himself banned from Twitter and enjoys a disturbingly large numbers of shares on Facebook. In Flynn’s defense, his posts were often made to disparage Muslims or attack Clinton and not explicitly espouse other alt-right ideas like anti semitism or white nationalism, but our political apparatus should include figures who reject falsehoods, conspiracy theories, hate speech and the comments of ideologies like Nazism, anarchy and fascism that have no place in our society.

And that’s why Flynn’s resignation is a victory. Trump’s inner circle of crazy ladies, shady businessmen and vaguely evil propagandists has taken a hit with the fall of Michael T. Flynn. Trump’s easily-convinced ears now have fewer people telling him, among other things, that American Muslims aim to kill us all. But it’s only a drop in the bucket: Steve Bannon still holds a permanent seat on the National Security Council while General Joseph Dunford, a modern McCarthy and the highest ranking member of the military, is left in the dark. But seeing how we’re only a few weeks in, the quick collapse of Trump’s circle of cronies is off to a good start. The sooner it’s gone, the sooner the United States can get back on-track.