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September 2, 2022 Pentagon Announces Contract for Israeli KC-46s but Has More Work To Do The Pentagon announced on Wednesday an up to $927 million foreign military sale contract with Boeing to provide Israel four KC-46A air refueling aircraft, with the first currently expected to arrive in... August 19, 2022 Tehran’s $1 Trillion Deal: An Updated Forecast of Iran’s Financial Windfall From a New Nuclear Agreement European and American diplomats say negotiations over the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran have reached their final stage. As a series of previous FDD publications have shown, the new nuclear deal would... June 2, 2022 Israeli-Saudi Deal Over Two Islands Is a Step Toward Peace Israel and Saudi Arabia have reportedly agreed on a security arrangement enabling Egypt to transfer to the Saudis two strategic islands near Israel. In return for Israel’s acquiescence, Saudi Arabia is... April 12, 2022 How Russia Could Earn Billions From Biden’s Revival of the Nuclear Deal With Iran The Biden administration has two goals that are at odds with each other. It wants to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia, and it wants to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The problem is the 2015... March 18, 2022 Canada Must Bar Iranian Officials From Entering the Country It was, at first glance, an unremarkable sight. A man in his 60s, sporting a green T-shirt and blue shorts, walks on a treadmill in a Toronto-area fitness center. Younger men and women exercise on adjacent... February 21, 2022 Russia-Georgia 2008: a Blueprint for Russia-Ukraine 2022? The Olympics were about to start in Beijing. Thousands of miles to the west, Russia was wrapping up a big military exercise in a border region. Across the border, women and children were evacuated from... February 16, 2022 Investors Should Demand Transparency From ESG Research Firms End-of-year data show that in 2021, investment surged in stocks rated positively by financial research firms on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria, which include an ever-growing list of... January 30, 2022 Terrorists Benefit from Qatar’s Goodwill and Charity On Monday, President Joe Biden will have a busy meeting at the White House with Qatari ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad. Qatar hosts one of the biggest U.S military bases in the Gulf region and has been instrumental... October 26, 2021 Landmark Iran Sanctions Ruling Against Turkish Public Lender Builds U.S. Deterrence A U.S. appeals court ruled on October 22 that Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, cannot claim sovereign immunity under U.S. law to scuttle a federal criminal case... October 22, 2021 Iran’s Nuclear Extortion Continues Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), recently proclaimed that the Islamic Republic is ahead of schedule on a parliamentary mandate to enrich 120 kg of uranium to 20 percent... October 22, 2021 Turkey Lands on Anti-Money Laundering Watchlist — Again The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Paris-based global money laundering and terror financing watchdog, added Turkey to its “grey list” on Thursday, placing Ankara alongside 22 other jurisdictions,... October 21, 2021 In His Second Term, Trudeau Must Fix His Iran Policy Last month’s re-election of Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister provides an opportunity to reflect on Ottawa’s relationship with the Islamic Republic in Iran. Iran policy is an issue of great... August 31, 2021 Bipartisan Effort to Deepen Defense Cooperation with Israel Advances To strengthen bilateral cooperation on military research and development (R&D), Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) announced today their introduction of an amendment (#1197) to the... August 3, 2021 Analysis of Unilever Letter on Ben & Jerry’s BDS Activity Unilever CEO Alan Jope sent a letter to major Jewish organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 27, 2021, in an effort to defend the company’s decision earlier last month to terminate... July 20, 2021 How to Stop China From Controlling the Global Semiconductor Industry The United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) of 2021, which passed the Senate in June, calls for $52 billion in appropriations over five years to support semiconductor manufacturing as well... July 2, 2021 Add Egypt and the UAE to the Noble Dina Exercise During the conflict between Hamas and Israel last May, the terror group attempted to use rockets and an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) to attack Israel’s maritime assets in the Eastern Mediterranean.... June 23, 2021 How Deceptive Techniques Enhance the Capabilities of Cyber Defenders Introduction The Transformative Cyber Innovation Lab (TCIL) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies held a live exercise to demonstrate the usefulness of incorporating deceptive techniques alongside... June 17, 2021 Ali Larijani, Iran’s Rejected Hardliner It wasn’t supposed to end this way. On May 15, Ali Larijani, the former speaker of Iran’s parliament, registered to run for president. Ten days later, the Guardian Council – an unelected, 12-member... June 10, 2021 In Response to Houthi Arms Transfers, Canada Must Designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as Terror Group They lay in neat, organized rows, a colorful medley of matériel on the deck of the USS Monterey. Some 3,000 Chinese Type 56 assault rifles. Hundreds of heavy machine guns and sniper rifles. Several hundred... May 28, 2021 Biden Gets It Wrong in the Pacific and Afghanistan To support the Biden administration’s precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Pentagon plans to shift the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group from its normal area of responsibility in... May 18, 2021 The Conflict in Gaza and the Connection to Tehran and the United States This war in Gaza began like previous rounds of fighting between Israel and Hamas, but there is a chance – or a risk – of a different ending. Like before, the conflict began because of events on a different... May 14, 2021 Tehran’s Terror Proxies in Gaza Escalate Attacks on Israeli Civilians Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have targeted Israeli civilians with a greater volume of rocket fire this week than in previous rounds of conflict. A closer analysis shows why the two terror groups’... May 14, 2021 Rescinding the IRGC’s Terror Designation Would Harm American Victims of Terrorism As part of negotiations in Vienna, Iran’s clerical regime has reportedly requested that the Biden administration rescind the U.S. government’s formal designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps... April 16, 2021 Iran’s Economy Did Not Grow in 2020 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this month released a report updating its estimate of Iran’s GDP growth in 2020 from a 4.99 percent contraction (projected in October 2020) to 1.5 percent... April 16, 2021 Washington Must Confront Iran Over Sensitive Nuclear Work With Israel’s alleged covert action against Iran’s Natanz enrichment plant on April 11, Tehran’s latest breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal are in danger of premature burial by the news cycle. Yet the... April 9, 2021 Austin Makes First Trip to Israel as Defense Secretary The Pentagon announced Thursday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will visit Israel next week. Austin likely wants to reassure Israel as the White House seeks to re-enter the deeply flawed Iran nuclear... March 18, 2021 The Biden Administration’s Playbook for Lifting Iran-Related Terrorism Sanctions In his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that lifting terrorism sanctions on Iran would not advance U.S. national security interests. Weeks later, however, the Biden administration... March 17, 2021 There Is No Going Back: Xi’s Vision at China’s National People’s Congress In preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) founding in July, Chinese President Xi Jinping used this month’s National People’s Congress (NPC) to cement his... March 15, 2021 Ahead of U.S.-ROK Meeting, Unresolved Policy Disputes Still Trouble the Alliance Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will meet with their South Korean counterparts in Seoul on March 17, at which point the U.S. secretaries will likely share preliminary... March 5, 2021 Biden Must Do More to Deter Russian Aggression and Uphold Global Norms The United States on Tuesday joined its European allies in imposing sanctions in response to Moscow’s August 2020 chemical weapons (CW) attack against, and subsequent imprisonment of, Russian opposition... February 22, 2021 Biden Administration Should Not Provide Sanctions Relief for Terrorism As President Joe Biden looks to rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran is likely to pressure the Biden administration to provide broad sanctions relief,... February 19, 2021 North Korean Hackers Could Ramp Up Cyberattacks on COVID-19 Targets in Near Future During a closed-door parliamentary session on Tuesday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) informed the National Assembly that North Korea’s state-sponsored hackers are attacking South... February 18, 2021 Iran, Terrorism Finance, and Money Laundering: A Status Update Before FATF Meets Next Week When the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) convenes its plenary next week, while not formally on the agenda, buzz on the sidelines will concern Tehran’s constant push to be removed from the FATF blacklist.... February 16, 2021 Fakhrizadeh Killing Reveals Dissent Within the Regime in Iran In a revealing comment, the Islamic Republic’s intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, said last week that the November 2020 assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizaded, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, was arranged... February 5, 2021 Biden Should Heed Navalny’s Call to Crack Down on Russia’s Dirty Money A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny to almost three years in a penal colony, ruling he violated parole while in Germany recuperating from a recent chemical weapon... January 22, 2021 Challenges and Opportunities Ahead for U.S. Sanctions in Yemen Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, has vowed to evaluate the recent designation of Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Pushed through... January 15, 2021 The Biden Administration and Congress Should Support the Houthi Terror Designations The Trump administration designated the Iranian-backed Houthi organization, or Ansar Allah, as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) on January 11.... January 13, 2021 Kim Jong Un Seeks to Bully Biden on the Diplomatic Stage North Korean leader Kim Jong Un finally broke his silence last week on his regime’s policy toward the incoming Biden administration, labeling the United States as Pyongyang’s “foremost principal enemy.”... January 8, 2021 U.S.-Israel Operations-Technology Working Group Authorization Provides Opportunity for Biden Administration The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021, which became law last week, includes a provision authorizing the establishment of a U.S.-Israel Operations-Technology Working Group (OTWG).... January 7, 2021 Opening of Eighth Party Congress Shows Kim Jong Un Stays True to His Roots North Korea’s ruling Korean Workers’ Party kicked off its Eighth Party Congress on Wednesday. This periodic meeting seeks to outline the North Korean government’s strategic objectives for a broad... December 11, 2020 Taking on China – Breaking Down the FY21 NDAA At its core, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), which passed the House on Tuesday by a veto-proof majority, seeks to strengthen deterrence initiatives involving China and... December 8, 2020 Congress Poised To Enact Unprecedented Cyber Defense Legislation The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) is the most significant attempt ever undertaken by Congress to improve national cybersecurity and protect U.S. critical infrastructure... December 3, 2020 Fakhrizadeh Assassination Underscores Iran’s Refusal to Come Clean About Nuclear Weapons Activities The assassination last week of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh eliminated the leading source of institutional knowledge about the Tehran regime’s once-flourishing nuclear weapons program.... November 25, 2020 Iranian Proxies in Bahrain Determined to Sabotage Peace With Israel Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani made history on Wednesday, becoming the first-ever minister from the island kingdom to conduct an official visit to Israel. The visit marked the second meeting... November 24, 2020 Follow the Money: Exposing China’s Influence Operations at Academic Institutions and Think Tanks Secretary of State Michael Pompeo issued an ultimatum last month to think tanks and academic institutions around the country: Publicly disclose funding received from foreign governments or risk losing access... November 24, 2020 Getting Erdogan’s Turkey Right: Reflections on Ambassador Jeffrey’s Exit Interview In a recent exit interview with Defense One, Ambassador James F. Jeffrey, the outgoing special representative for Syria engagement, asserted that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey poses challenges... October 30, 2020 U.S. Issues Timely Alert on Another North Korean Hacking Group The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the United States Cyber Command Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) issued a joint alert on Tuesday... October 22, 2020 The Trump Administration’s High-Stakes Gambit to Curtail Rocket Attacks in Iraq In an unexpected announcement on October 10, a group of Iran-backed Shiite militia groups declared their intention to suspend forthwith their attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq, while conditioning the ceasefire’s... October 21, 2020 Russia and China Obstruct UN Reporting on North Korea At its annual military parade this month, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) unveiled what may be the world’s largest road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as well as a... October 16, 2020 Prime Minister Suga Must Reassess His Priorities for the Korean Peninsula New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga refused to attend an annual trilateral summit with the leaders of China and South Korea until Seoul meets Tokyo’s demands regarding a disputed court case over...

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