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November 4, 2026 DHS’s Ban on Chinese Biodata Firm Addresses Human Rights but not Bioweapon Threat China has a major stake in the genetic data of millions of Americans. It is using that data to further the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions of engineering a military super soldier or targeted bioweapon... November 4, 2026 Canceled Briefings Underscore CISA’s Departure From Election Security Efforts Foreign adversaries have long been targeting the U.S. midterm elections — but instead of rising to the challenge, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has taken a step back. Just... November 2, 2026 Trump Risks Violating U.S. Law by Giving Russia Even More Sanctions Relief The basic rule of negotiation is to get more than you give. With Russia, the Trump administration is taking the opposite approach. On October 27, The New York Times reported the Trump administration... October 29, 2026 The U.S. Must Crack Down on Houthi Human Rights Abuses in Yemen At least one hospital in Taiz — Yemen’s third-largest city, which Houthi forces have besieged for almost a month — has had to dramatically limit the number of incubators in operation because of a... October 29, 2026 Washington Should Not Push Europe Back Toward Russian Gas Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to recover the revenue Russia lost from its decline in gas exports to Europe. In a reversal of longstanding U.S. policy, Washington is trying to help him. At the... October 28, 2026 Jordanian Strikes Lay Bare Security Vacuum in Southern Syria Jordan’s response to a deadly church attack at home has triggered a new confrontation with neighboring Syria. On October 26, the Jordanian Air Force launched multiple strikes across southern Syria... October 27, 2026 Jordan’s Crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood Is Far From Over Jordanian authorities are tightening the screws on the country’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. On October 25, a Jordanian court sentenced seven Brotherhood... October 26, 2026 Russian Operatives Plant Deepfake Targeting U.S. Midterm Elections One day after Texans began voting in the 2026 midterm elections, a Russian AI deepfake surfaced, accusing a U.S. Senate candidate of sexually abusing a child. Private researchers named the culprit behind... October 26, 2026 A Ban on Georgia’s Opposition Would Complete Georgian Dream’s Capture of the State Georgia’s ruling party is moving to take its most serious challengers off the ballot before the next parliamentary elections in 2028. On October 21, the Constitutional Court began hearings on Georgian... October 23, 2026 The U.S. Should Back Israel’s Push for Advanced Space Technology When a Hezbollah missile damaged Israel’s Elah Valley satellite communications station in March, it showed that space power can be threatened on Earth. The IDF’s announcement on October 19 that... October 23, 2026 Turkey and Pakistan Loop Qatar and Indonesia Into Burgeoning Defense Axis The Mecca Pact gained a cousin on Wednesday when two of its signatories — Turkey and Pakistan — announced a new defense agreement with Qatar and Indonesia. The Badr Memorandum of Understanding (MOU),... October 22, 2026 Washington Should Resist Russia’s Gulf Mediation Bid As Iranian attacks in the Persian Gulf return to wartime highs and Saudi Arabia faces deadly strikes on its infrastructure from the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states... October 22, 2026 U.S. Must Cut Off Chinese Firms That Profit From Stolen American AI The evidence of Chinese intellectual property theft emerged in federal court, but the U.S. government turned to sanctions to punish the companies that received the illicit files. On October 19, the State... October 22, 2026 Eastern Libya’s Endorsement of Maritime Agreement With Turkey Undermines U.S. Allies in the Mediterranean At the beginning of this year, the speaker of eastern Libya’s parliament described a proposed maritime border deal with Turkey as “built on illegality.” However, on October 20, the same parliament... October 22, 2026 Egypt May Finally Step Up Against the Houthis After nearly three years of staying out of the wars in the Middle East, Egypt may finally be ready to engage. On October 18, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged to provide Saudi Arabia with... October 21, 2026 Turkey’s Justification for Military Presence in Syria Doesn’t Hold Up “We are maintaining our military presence in Iraq and Syria,” Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler declared on October 20. Reprising comments he made in February, when he asserted that Turkey “doesn’t... October 20, 2026 Qatar’s Lebanon Assistance Cannot Excuse Beirut From Disarming Hezbollah Qatar is preparing — for the second time this year — to help Lebanon turn the lights back on. On October 16, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced plans to modernize Lebanon’s... October 20, 2026 The Thaw in U.S.-Ethiopia Relations Has Gone Far Enough Ethiopia’s domestic war with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has now become an international conflict involving Eritrea. These actors are old rivals — all three participated in the Tigray... October 20, 2026 Washington Reportedly Limits Funding to Key WMD Verification Agencies Two leading international nonproliferation agencies identified by the State Department as directly advancing “U.S. national security, economic interests, and global stability” are nonetheless facing... October 20, 2026 UN Provides Expansionist Russia With a Platform To Condemn ‘Colonialism’ The United Nations has turned moral inversion into an art form. The UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, which handles decolonization, passed a Russian-sponsored resolution on October 15 that seeks... October 20, 2026 Lebanon’s Call for Another Extension of UNIFIL’s Mandate Won’t End Hezbollah’s Threat Lebanon’s government is becoming increasingly nervous as the expiration date for the mandate of UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, draws closer. Meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel... October 16, 2026 Lebanon Revokes Bank Saderat’s License, but Hezbollah’s Financial Network Remains Lebanon has revoked the operating license of Bank Saderat, an Iranian lender implicated in financing Hezbollah. Karim Souaid, the governor of Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s central bank, confirmed the... October 15, 2026 Sporadic Weapons Seizures Won’t Stop Hezbollah’s Rearmament Hezbollah is still smuggling weapons across the Syrian-Lebanese border. On October 12, the Lebanese army seized approximately 200 kilograms of explosives being transported from Syria into Lebanon... October 14, 2026 Bank of America Hit With Historic $1.2 Billion Fine for Illicit Finance Failures The U.S. financial system is the envy of the world. It’s also a major hub for illicit finance. Protecting the former requires confronting the latter, including when the failures occur at the nation’s... October 14, 2026 AI-Assisted Bank Hacks Expose a Blind Spot in South Korea’s Cyber Defenses AI-assisted hackers are exposing a dangerous gap in South Korea’s financial sector defenses. Banks walled off their core systems, yet attackers still stole their customers’ most sensitive data. As... October 14, 2026 Bogus Bylines: AI Lets One Iran-Origin Operation Run the Full Influence Playbook Seven self-described Western journalists, none of whom exist, have placed nearly 100 articles in online outlets since July 2025. On October 8, OpenAI disclosed that it had banned ChatGPT accounts originating... October 13, 2026 Russia’s Leading Sanctions Evasion Tool Is a New Kind of Illicit Finance Threat In a blow to Russia’s economy and war effort, on October 8, the United Kingdom sanctioned 38 entities that are helping to prop up the Kremlin. That includes two oil companies, 12 ships trafficking... October 13, 2026 Mental Health Support for Cyber Operators Is Critical to U.S. National Security Many Americans can picture the movie Top Gun’s dogfights, but cyber battlefields and their stresses are harder to envision. The majority of personnel work long shifts in front of computer monitors in... October 9, 2026 Iranian Airlines Expand Trips to Iraq Despite U.S. Sanctions Operation Economic Outcast has disrupted Iranian aviation, prompting major regional hubs, including the United Arab Emirates and Oman, to suspend flights by Iranian carriers for fear of facing U.S. sanctions.... October 9, 2026 Hezbollah’s Financial Lifeline Extends Beyond Iran’s Cash Transfers U.S. sanctions have strained Iran’s finances and disrupted some funding channels to its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Yet sanctions have not eliminated the group’s access to outside funding, including... October 9, 2026 Time for Europe To Stop Funding Islamist Networks Europe’s Parliament wants to close the public purse to Muslim Brotherhood networks. Its recent vote challenges a funding system that risks subsidizing organizations whose political agenda undermines... October 8, 2026 Back-to-Back Drone Strikes off the Coasts of Romania and Bulgaria Test NATO’s Resolve Within 24 hours, drones struck commercial ships near two NATO members: a Turkish-owned grain ship near Romania and two vessels in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Neither Bucharest nor Sofia... October 7, 2026 The Mecca Pact Won’t Deter Yemen’s Houthis Less than two months after its signing, Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia activated the Mecca Pact for the first time. On October 5, during an emergency meeting held in Riyadh, the three countries... October 7, 2026 Europe’s Hardening Stance Against China Is Washington’s Opportunity Europe is beginning to confront the economic costs of China’s market-distorting practices in earnest. On October 7, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to adopt a much tougher stance on China.... October 7, 2026 Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government Launches a Serious Challenge to the Houthis The Iran-backed Houthis march down Yemen’s west coast looked easy, but holding the territory is proving more difficult. Yemen’s internationally recognized government began Operation “Dawn of Yemen”—... October 7, 2026 Turkey Maintains Extensive Presence in Iraq Despite Forthcoming Withdrawal From Key Base After 11 years of Turkish military presence, Ankara and Baghdad have agreed that Turkish troops will gradually withdraw from the Bashiqa-Zilkan camp in northern Iraq, though no firm timeline has been set. This... October 6, 2026 Treasury Sanctioned a Hamas Crowdfunding Network. Its French Front Should Be Next. U.S. and French authorities have moved against a Hamas fundraising network that allegedly raised more than $600,000 from American donors. The harder task is keeping it from rebuilding. On October 2,... October 6, 2026 Treasury Launches Assault on Russian Shadow Banking Infrastructure Supporting Iran Operation Economic Outcast has found a new target: the A7 Network. On October 1, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Russia-linked shadow-banking platform as a transnational... October 5, 2026 Federal Grant Program’s Third Lapse Endangers State Cybersecurity U.S. states are once again being left with limited access to cybersecurity resources as funding for the federal government’s State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) lapsed on September 30.... October 2, 2026 Defense Department’s Public Election Security Directive Sends Important, but Belated, Signal to U.S. Adversaries With the U.S. midterm elections fast approaching, the Department of Defense (DOD) has released an apparently unprecedented directive on election security. The directive, signed by the secretary of defense... October 2, 2026 Russian Cyberespionage Campaign Signals U.S. Should Fast-Track Lessons Learned From Ukraine Russia is testing its cyber weapons in Ukraine before turning them against the United States and its allies. Microsoft has disclosed that the Russian intelligence-linked hacking group Star Blizzard... October 1, 2026 Washington Decides Complete Ban on Iran-Iraq Flights Is Not Worth the Political Cost Iraq has received another carve out in Iran-related sanctions. After U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world,” all flights between... September 30, 2026 UN Human Rights Council, European Governments Launch Economic Warfare Against Israel International opprobrium towards the presence of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, is discernibly shifting from rhetorical condemnation to economic and legal warfare. Three... September 29, 2026 China Is the Last Major Runway Open to Iran’s Sanctioned Airlines Mahan Air, which Washington sanctioned in 2011 for ferrying weapons and operatives for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is still landing in China. On September 23, hours after the U.S. Treasury Department’s... September 29, 2026 Two Years After Nasrallah’s Death, Hezbollah Is Outsourcing its Survival and Revival Two years after Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah finds itself commemorating its dead leader from a weaker position. Israel has killed thousands of Hezbollah... September 28, 2026 Sanctioned Iranian Airlines Keep Flying to Turkey Fear of U.S. sanctions has helped stop Iranian airlines from operating in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. But in Turkey, Iranian planes are still flying. Flights from Iran continue to arrive... September 28, 2026 Leaked Roadmap Shows How Moscow Is Institutionalizing Ties With Iran Russia is transforming its partnership with Iran from a series of bilateral projects into a state-managed strategic portfolio. A nonpublic Russian government roadmap, revealed by Fox News Digital on September... September 25, 2026 Weak Sanctions Enforcement Is Fueling China’s ‘Polar Silk Road’ To be effective, American sanctions must be enforced wherever they apply — including in the High North. Early in September, two U.S.-sanctioned vessels left China carrying the last two power... September 24, 2026 New Greenland Agreement Adds Sites, Not Strategy. NATO and NORAD Must Now Connect the Arctic. Greenland is warming to the idea of an increased American military presence on the enormous Island, removing a source of transatlantic friction and bolstering NATO defenses. On September 22, the United... September 24, 2026 Is Turkey Turning on Tehran or Just Dodging the Treasury Department? Turkey’s top banking regulator withdrew the operating license of the Istanbul branch of Iran’s Bank Mellat, a major Iranian commercial bank with state ties that has long been subject to U.S. sanctions. While...

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