Fdd's overnight brief

February 9, 2026

FDD Research & Analysis

In The News

Israel

President Trump’s new “Board of Peace,” which he says intends to resolve global conflicts, is scheduled to meet in Washington in the coming weeks, according to a U.S. official and a Board of Peace official. – New York Times

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, where they will discuss negotiations with Iran, Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday. – Reuters

Israel ’s security cabinet on Sunday approved measures that aim to deepen Israeli control over the occupied West Bank and weaken the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority. – Associated Press

A limited number of Palestinians traveled between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday as the Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media reported. – Associated Press

The brother of Israel’s security chief was arrested along with 14 others in a major police bust of an alleged smuggling ring accused of shipping crates of illegal goods into the Gaza Strip. – CNN

IDF troops carrying out a targeted raid on a structure in the Har Dov area apprehended a senior operative from the Jamaa Islamiya -a Sunni Islamist group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood – the military said on Monday. – Jerusalem Post 

A short while ago, early on Monday morning, four armed terrorists exited an underground tunnel shaft and fired towards IDF soldiers in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip. – Israel National News

Neomi Neumann writes: Furthermore, international actors led by the United States, as well as key regional actors like Egypt, the Gulf states, and Turkey, will be judged on several criteria: their ability to sustain meaningful political engagement; their capacity to mobilize significant economic resources to advance the transition process; and their ability to build a coordinated system of incentives and pressures that reduces each side’s capacity and motivation to deviate from agreements or seek exit ramps. Only a joint effort by all actors will give phase 2 a chance to succeed. – Washington Institute

Iran

Iran’s missile program was born of weakness in the early years of the Islamic Republic. Now the question is whether it is formidable enough to head off a military confrontation with President Trump. – Wall Street Journal

Tehran stuck to its refusal to end enrichment of nuclear fuel in talks Friday between senior U.S. and Iranian officials, but both sides signaled a willingness to keep working toward a diplomatic solution that could head off an American strike. – Wall Street Journal

Iranian authorities have sentenced the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to a second prison sentence even before she had completed her last jail term, her family and lawyers said on Sunday. – New York Times

Recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium is key for nuclear talks with the U.S. to succeed, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday. – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that may impose a 25% tariff on countries that do business with Iran. – Reuters

The Islamic Iran Nation’s Union Party sought the release of secretary-general Azar Mansouri, the Shargh newspaper said on Monday, after her arrest along with other members of the Reform Front, an umbrella body of Iranian reformists and moderates. – Reuters

Iran continues to escalate its rhetoric toward Israel and the United States: a new and threatening sign was erected in Falastine Square in central Tehran, bearing the words “Rain of Missiles” alongside a map of central Israel. – Israel National News

Editorial: Mr. Trump said Wednesday that Iran had sought to restart its nuclear program, at an old site and a new site. It has rapidly restored its ballistic-missile program. It sent Hezbollah a billion dollars to rebuild in 2025, even as the Iranian people suffered more privation. It defied Mr. Trump’s warnings and massacred those people by the thousands when they spoke up. This is a picture of a regime digging in, not changing its ways. – Wall Street Journal 

Babak Seradjeh writes: Neither the failures of his father nor the sacrifices of my mother should define where we stand in the transition to a free Iran. Through our own choices and actions, each of us must earn our place in Iran’s unstoppable freedom movement. In his support for human rights and with his blueprint for a path to democracy, Mr. Pahlavi speaks for me. His leadership, focused on dignity and freedom for Iran, has earned the trust and respect of millions of Iranians. It’s time the world showed him the same. – Wall Street Journal

Russia and Ukraine

In this corner of southeast Ukraine, Russian forces are pummeling rear areas with drone attacks, seeking to sap the strength of Ukrainian defenders by cutting their supply lines. Snow-covered roads are littered with burned-out pickup trucks. – Wall Street Journal

A Russian general with a crucial role in the country’s intelligence services is in a hospital after being shot by an unknown assailant at an apartment block in Moscow, the country’s investigative committee said, in the latest example of a targeted attack against a top-ranking military official inside Russia. – Wall Street Journal

North Korean forces deployed to help Russia’s war against Ukraine are now operating surveillance drones, removing mines and executing artillery strikes, roles that illustrate the advancement in their combat skills after roughly 15 months of involvement in the conflict. – Wall Street Journal

Days after negotiations to halt Russia’s war in Ukraine ended inconclusively in Abu Dhabi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia and the United States were discussing bilateral economic agreements worth some $12 trillion, including deals that would affect Ukraine. – Washington Post

Russia’s Federal Security Service said on Monday that the men suspected of shooting one of the country’s most senior military intelligence officer had confessed that they were carrying out orders from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). – Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he was imposing sanctions on some foreign manufacturers of components for Russian drones and missiles used against Ukraine. – Reuters

Russia launched more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles on Saturday to attack Ukraine’s energy sector, targeting the power grid, generation facilities, and distribution substations, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. – Reuters

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators have discussed an ambitious March goal for Russia and Ukraine to agree on a peace deal, though that timeline is likely to slip given a lack of agreement on the key issue of territory, according to three sources familiar with the matter. – Reuters

The European Commission on Friday proposed a sweeping ban on any services that support Russia’s seaborne crude oil exports, going far beyond previous piecemeal EU sanctions in its effort to stunt Moscow’s key source of income for its war on Ukraine. – Reuters

The U.S. has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a deal to end the nearly four‑year war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters, as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure forced nuclear power plants to cut output on Saturday. – Associated Press

Ukrainian negotiators expect to meet with their American counterparts in Miami next week for talks intended to help bring about a breakthrough to end the war that began with Russia’s invasion four years ago this month, according to a Ukrainian official. – Bloomberg

Editorial: The collapse of the Russian nuclear pacts show again the limits of arms control. Such deals work only when both sides want to abide by them. The hope, in the late 1980s, was that a reforming Russia would see no need for nuclear expansion. Nuclear treaties would calm tensions. But then came Mr. Putin, who resumed the Soviet practice of cheating while the U.S. followed the rules. The best way to prevent nuclear blackmail or war is a credible deterrent force with capable missile defenses. – Wall Street Journal

Hezbollah

Lebanon’s Hezbollah accepted the resignation of senior security official Wafiq Safa on Friday, the first time an official of his rank has stepped down, sources familiar with the group’s thinking told Reuters. – Reuters

Families of the victims of Hezbollah’s July 2024 rocket strike that hit Majdal Shams filed a lawsuit in the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday, demanding NIS 80 million in compensation. – Jerusalem Post

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday morning struck a Hezbollah terrorist operative near Yanouh in Southern Lebanon’s Tyre District. – JNS

Syria

Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday sweeping investments in Syria’s telecommunications, energy, and aviation sectors, the latest sign of a deepening relationship between the two countries. – New York Times

Syria’s authorities have arrested an internal security officer as a suspect in the killing of four civilians in the majority-Druze Sweida province, the local internal security chief said. – Agence France-Presse

Iraq has so far received 2,225 Islamic State group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday. – Agence France-Presse

Lebanon

France said on Friday that Lebanon’s recovery remains precarious despite positive signs following a ceasefire and government transition, and it stood ready to support the country’s reconstruction if it continues with reforms. – Reuters

Lebanon accused Israel on Wednesday of spraying herbicide on the Lebanese side of their shared border, with President Joseph Aoun decrying a “crime against the environment.” – Times of Israel

The death toll from the collapse of residential buildings in the Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 14 after search and rescue operations ended, Lebanon’s National News Agency said on Monday citing the civil defence chief. – Reuters

Middle East & North Africa

Algeria has begun the process of cancelling its air services agreement with the United Arab Emirates, signed in Abu Dhabi in May 2013, state media said on Saturday. – Reuters

France and Bahrain have signed a bilateral deal on defence which includes strategic information sharing, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday. – Reuters

Some UAE companies have pulled out of a major defence show taking place in Saudi Arabia, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, the latest sign that a rift between the two Gulf oil powers is seeping into business interests. – Reuters

The head of Yemen’s ruling leadership council has named a new cabinet, weeks after deadly clashes in the country’s south and the dissolution of a separatist group. – Associated Press

Britain will this week unleash one of its most potent diplomatic assets as it seeks to push a long-coveted trade deal with the Gulf over the line. – Politico

Korean Peninsula

A South Korean Army AH-1S Cobra attack helicopter crashed on Monday during a training flight in the northern county of Gapyeong, killing both crew members on board, the country’s military said. – Reuters

South Korea’s parliament voted on Monday to form a special committee to accelerate legislation tied to Seoul’s $350 billion investment commitments in the United States under a trade agreement between the countries. – Reuters

South Korea’s financial market watchdog said on Monday local exchange Bithumb’s unintentional giveaway of more than $40 billion in bitcoin to customers raises the need for tougher regulations to address the vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies. – Reuters

North Korea will convene a major political conference later this month, the country’s state media said Sunday, where leader Kim Jong Un is expected to outline his domestic and foreign policies for the next five years. – Military

China

A Hong Kong court sentenced former tycoon Jimmy Lai, an outspoken 78-year-old critic of China’s Communist Party, to 20 years in prison, a ruling that adds further friction in U.S. relations with China. – Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration on Friday alleged that China has conducted nuclear tests with low explosive power, challenging Beijing’s claims that it has upheld an international agreement that prohibits all nuclear tests. – Wall Street Journal

China’s top court has overturned a Canadian man’s death sentence on drug charges, his lawyer said on Monday, marking a breakthrough in a case that has strained diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Beijing for years. – Reuters

China’s policy towards Japan will not be changed by one particular election, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday. – Reuters

China used this week’s Singapore Airshow to flex its military and aviation muscle, drawing heavy attention from regional delegations as Beijing sharpens its bid for influence in Southeast Asia. – Reuters

Chinese military flights into a sensitive area near Taiwan in January fell to the lowest level of Lai Ching-te’s presidency, an indication it is tweaking its training focus. – Bloomberg

Chinese-funded infrastructure projects across the Pacific Islands may appear civilian on the surface but could provide future military access for Beijing, senior members of a bipartisan congressional advisory commission warned in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. – FOX News

Editorial: Becoming the world’s reserve currency would come with costs China is unwilling to bear. The biggest is making the renminbi freely convertible. China’s central bank tightly controls the value of the yuan, and the government strictly limits the amount of renminbi allowed to leave the country. It would also require more transparency and predictability around rulemaking and market interventions. That’s anathema to Xi. – Washington Post

South Asia

A suicide bomber killed 31 people at a mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad and injured at least 150 others, according to the police and hospital officials, adding to worries that the militant groups active in Pakistan’s border areas are increasingly targeting the capital. – New York Times

For years under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s opposition had little presence on the streets during elections, either boycotting polls or being sidelined by mass arrests of senior leaders. Now, ahead of Thursday’s vote, the roles have reversed. – Reuters

President Donald Trump eliminated the extra 25% tariff he had imposed on Indian goods over the country’s purchases of Russian oil, the first step to cement the terms of a trade deal the two nations announced earlier this week. – Bloomberg

India is deepening one of its most important defense partnerships, turning to Israeli firms for aircraft, sensors, and weapons that now sit at the center of several major modernization efforts. – Military

Alexander Palmer and Alexander Margolis write: No matter the Pakistani response, terrorist violence is almost certain to continue at high rates in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the most terrorism-affected countries in the world, and the situation has been consistently deteriorating for several years. In its counterterrorism operations, the Pakistani government has largely abandoned community engagement, a core component of effective counterterrorism. – Center for Strategic and International Studies

Asia

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led her party to a thumping victory in parliamentary elections, handing her a powerful mandate to deepen ties with the U.S. and rev up Japan’s economy. – Wall Street Journal

The conservative party of Thailand’s current prime minister surged to a surprise victory in Sunday’s national elections, riding a wave of nationalist sentiment set off by two rounds of deadly border clashes with Cambodia last year. – Wall Street Journal

If the U.S. and China come to blows over Taiwan, this naval base in Western Australia offers a berth to bring American nuclear-powered submarines close to the fight—and a haven if things go wrong. – Wall Street Journal

Thousands gathered across Australia on Monday to protest the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is on a multi-city trip aimed at expressing solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community following a deadly mass shooting last year. – Reuters

Taiwan will seek an extension to the date by which an agreement must be signed with the United States for a batch of weapons deliveries given an ongoing standoff in parliament about defence spending, the island’s defence ministry said on Friday. – Reuters

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte is facing her third impeachment complaint as critics revived efforts to remove her from office, days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. survived attempts to oust him. – Bloomberg

The majority of Thais voted in favor of replacing the country’s military-drafted constitution in a referendum, a move that could open the door to deeper political reform even though the main party backing the push came second in Sunday’s election. – Bloomberg

The U.S. Army’s rotation in the Philippines is easy to overlook. Experts say that might be the point. The service confirmed this week that in July 2025, it established a rotational presence in the Southeast Asian nation. The roughly 50-person force is operating under U.S. Army Pacific with coordination through Task Force Philippines, a spokesman said Wednesday. –  Defense News

Editorial: Japan’s economic problem isn’t a lack of demand. It’s on the supply-side, in a dearth of animal spirits and domestic competition. Ms. Takaichi’s mentor, the late Shinzo Abe, pursued some deregulation that has helped growth, and that is the policy avenue the prime minister can best pursue. The best news is that the clear LDP majority will give Ms. Takaichi running room to govern with a mandate. The U.S. and the free world need a strong and confident Japan as an ally against the Chinese Communist Party’s imperial ambitions. – Wall Street Journal

Editorial: Now that the election is out of the way, the prime minister’s biggest challenge will be paying for an expansionary economic agenda. She wants to juice Japan’s long-stagnant economy with heavy spending, but aggressive industrial policy risks pushing Japan’s debt load to unsustainable levels. Austerity budgets in the past might have gone too far, but profligacy now risks undermining her promised investments in the military. – Washington Post

William DeMarco writes: The question is no longer only what triggers escalation, but what forecloses stalling. The question for the United States and its allies, then, is not simply whether they can defeat an invasion if it comes. It is whether they can prevent a slower defeat: one in which hesitation becomes habit, ambiguity becomes shelter, and delay becomes destiny. In such a contest, the absence of battle may not signal success. It may signal that paralysis has already begun. – War on the Rocks

Europe

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned Sunday, as the fallout from the Epstein files ripples through British politics. – Wall Street Journal

Portugal on Sunday elected Antonio Jose Seguro, a former leader of Portugal’s Socialist Party with wide establishment support, in a landslide victory over his nationalist opponent, Andre Ventura. – New York Times

Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said on Saturday that while it is positive that talks with the U.S. are ongoing, they are not yet where Greenland wants them to be, and it is too early to predict where they will lead. – Reuters

France and Canada will open consulates in Greenland’s capital Nuuk on Friday, deepening Arctic ties amid rising geopolitical tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed his interest in acquiring the strategically located island. – Reuters

Poland’s Lublin and Rzeszow airports reopened on Saturday after authorities said they had ended military aviation operations including flights by NATO aircraft in the country’s airspace, triggered by Russian strikes on Ukraine. – Reuters

France has uncovered a pro-Russia disinformation campaign falsely connecting President Emmanuel Macron to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a French government source said on Friday. – Reuters

A close ally of Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik declared victory in a partial rerun on Sunday of the Serb Republic’s presidential election, which was called due to irregularities in the original vote last November. – Reuters

As negotiations for peace in Ukraine gather momentum, Turkey’s potential role in the post-war order — particularly as a peacekeeper and regional powerbroker in the Black Sea —makes it a critical partner for the EU. – Politico

The UK’s top spies have warned political parties of the dangers posed by foreign interference ranging from financial donations to honey traps. – Bloomberg

Dalibor Rohac writes: Instead of treating Brexit as axiomatic, Britain’s political elites must refuse to continue living in the lie fabricated by its advocates. The point here isn’t necessarily to get mainstream political leaders to advocate for the U.K.’s return to the EU — that’s a story for another day. It’s simply to acknowledge the reality of how much this political gamble made the U.K. a lesser country. And until that moment comes, one must fear Britain’s relationship with Brussels will continue to be precarious, and its national politics dangerously unhinged. – Politico 

Max Bergmann writes: Europeans would do well to remember why they joined into a European Union in the first place. Although reluctant to give up sovereignty to a federal authority, Europe’s small states realized that they would not survive on their own. They were stronger together, and they needed to work with one another to protect themselves as countries. As the historian Alan Milward observed, far from eliminating each country, the European Community was “its buttress, an indispensable part of the nation-state’s post-war reconstruction.” With the United States in retreat, Europe’s nation-states are under threat. By activating what the European project was created to do—build the continent’s power—European countries can secure their future. – Foreign Affairs

Paul McCarthy writes: A Europe organized around sovereign nation-states cooperating freely—through NATO, bilateral trade, and voluntary political alignment—would be more democratic at home and more credible abroad. It would spend more on defense, act with greater strategic clarity, and negotiate with the United States as a partner rather than as a regulatory bloc hostile to American interests. President Trump was right: sovereignty is not a threat to Western unity but its precondition. A post-EU Europe of strong, self-governing nations would be less dependent on American power, more capable of defending itself, and far better positioned to sustain a durable, balanced transatlantic alliance. – National Interest

Africa

Ethiopia’s foreign minister has accused neighbouring Eritrea of military aggression and of supporting armed groups inside Ethiopian territory, according to a letter seen by Reuters and verified by the foreign ministry. – Reuters

The U.S. is using offtake deals and state-backed funding to compete in the short term with China in securing supplies of African copper, cobalt and other critical minerals, diplomats, executives and analysts said ahead of this week’s Indaba. – Reuters

Nurses at the general hospital in Fizi, a town ringed by steep highlands in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, hurried the wounded soldier into surgery after he was brought in slumped on the back of a motorbike. – Reuters

Zimbabwe has agreed a staff-monitored programme with the International Monetary Fund, a senior official said on Friday, a tentative first step on the way to a closer engagement with the Fund and an eventual loan programme. – Reuters

South Africa said on Friday that its trade minister had signed a framework economic partnership agreement on a visit to China, which it described as a step towards securing duty-free access to the Chinese market for South African exports. – Reuters

A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said, a day after a World Food Program aid convoy was targeted. – Associated Press

Gunmen killed three people and abducted a Catholic priest and several others during an early morning attack on the clergyman’s residence in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna state, church and police sources said on Sunday. – Algemeiner

The Americas

Venezuela on Sunday freed a group of prominent opposition leaders, including Juan Pablo Guanipa and Perkins Rocha, according to statements from the country’s press union, the political opposition party, and relatives of the freed prisoners. – New York Times

On the edge of Venezuela’s main oil city Maracaibo, members of a local branch of the ruling socialist party went door-to-door in the weeks after U.S. forces captured President Nicolas Maduro, asking residents if they still supported the party that has run the country for nearly 20 years. The result: about half of members said they no longer did. – Reuters

High in the Andes Mountains, more than 4,200 meters above sea level on the Argentina–Chile border, mining company Vicuña Corp. aims to double its investment this year in one of the world’s biggest copper bets, a company executive said. – Reuters

A deal on critical minerals between Argentina and the U.S. signed this week does not rule out Chinese investment in the country’s mining sector, Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said on Friday. – Reuters

Brazil is considering pushing for a partial trade agreement between the Mercosur bloc and China for the first time, senior Brazilian government officials said, in what would be a major shift for Latin America’s largest economy. – Reuters

North America

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says his country is ready to negotiate with the U.S., but only as sovereign equals. The reality is that the Trump administration has powerful tools at its disposal to extract concessions from an insolvent Communist regime facing economic calamity. – Wall Street Journal

Haiti’s presidential council stepped down on Saturday after almost two years of tumultuous rule alongside a U.S.-backed prime minister, who is expected to remain in power as the country prepares for the first general elections in a decade. – Associated Press

Cuba detailed a wide-ranging plan on Friday to protect essential services and ration fuel as the communist-run government dug in its heels in defiance of a U.S. effort to cut off oil supply to the Caribbean island. – Reuters

Nicaragua has ended visa‑free entry for Cuban citizens effective Sunday, ending a policy that allowed thousands of Cubans to transit the Central American country in recent years on their journey north to the United States. – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he met with President of Honduras , Nasry Asfura, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach. – Reuters

Mexican authorities said on Friday that at least one body matching the characteristics of one of 10 mine workers who were kidnapped from a mine in northern Sinaloa state late last month was found in a clandestine grave. – Reuters

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that her government is aiming to send humanitarian aid, including food and other basic supplies, to Cuba by Monday. – Reuters

Cuba is at risk of losing vital airline service as it prepares to run out of aviation fuel, while an allied nation cut off an important escape valve for migrants amid increasing pressure from the US aimed at toppling the regime in Havana. – Bloomberg

United States

In a world increasingly shaped by two unpredictable great powers—the U.S. and China—the world’s middle powers are boosting cooperation in areas from trade to security in a bid to ensure they don’t become roadkill in the new world order. – Wall Street Journal

Federal officials announced on Feb. 4 that approximately 700 immigration enforcement personnel would be withdrawn from Minnesota effective immediately, equating to approximately 25% of all agents deployed to the area. – Military News

Arthur Herman writes: American space dominance benefits more than the U.S. The Artemis missions take their name from the Artemis Accords, established by the first Trump administration in 2020 to create rules for international cooperation in space. Sixty countries have signed the accords. China and Russia haven’t. More than 50 years ago, America ushered in a global era of using space for communication and connectivity. Today, that U.S. dominance will produce space-based prosperity and enhance security. – Wall Street Journal

Cybersecurity

It would be “impossible” to move 40% of Taiwan’s semiconductor capacity to the U.S., the island’s top tariff negotiator said, pushing back against recent comments by American officials who called for a major production shift. – Reuters

Singapore’s four telecom companies, Singtel, StarHub, M1 and Simba Telecom were targeted by cyber espionage group UNC3886 in attacks last year, Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency said on Monday. – Reuters

Artificial intelligence is not a bubble, and 2026 AI-related order growth will be more than last year, Simon Lin, the chairman of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Wistron said on Friday. – Reuters

Intel and AMD have notified Chinese customers of supply shortages for server central processing units (CPUs), with Intel warning of delivery lead times of up to six months, people with knowledge of the delays said. – Reuters

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday he was in favour of banning the use of social media by children under 15, as a growing number of European countries consider similar restrictions. – Reuters

Turkey is laying the groundwork to restrict social media access for minors with a parliamentary report this week calling for broad measures including age verification and content filtering, joining a growing list of countries seeking tighter controls. – Reuters

The European Union’s executive arm said it detected a recent cyberattack that may have exposed limited staff contact details, but that no devices were compromised. – Bloomberg

Defense

New naval designs increasingly incorporate containerized payloads, and the commanders of the United States, Italian, Dutch and British navies cited advantages including mission flexibility, quickly getting firepower on the water, and at-sea replenishment. – Defense News

For the first time, the fiscal 2026 defense appropriations bill included problem gambling as a research topic sanctioned by the Defense Department under its Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. Gambling addiction joins more than 240 subjects authorized by Congress to receive funding under the program. – Defense News

USS Truxtun (DDG-103) was back underway Friday after an emergent equipment repair forced the destroyer back to Norfolk, Va., and delayed its deployment, USNI News has learned. The destroyer departed Friday from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., Cmdr. Dawn Stankus, a spokesperson for U.S. 2nd Fleet, told USNI News. – USNI News