Fdd's overnight brief

January 29, 2025

In The News

Israel

President Trump repeated his proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt, expanding on a controversial idea that was rejected by the Arab states and would represent a significant shift in U.S. policy. – Wall Street Journal

Across swaths of the Gaza Strip, the extent of destruction from 15 months of war is so vast that many Palestinians, able to survey the damage for the first time since the fighting stopped, say they don’t think they will be able to return to their homes soon. – Wall Street Journal

President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy is back in the region this week as his administration pushes to capitalize on the early success of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Steve Witkoff will travel to Israel on Wednesday and said he has plans to visit the Palestinian enclave, where a truce between Israel and Hamas has held for more than a week. – Washington Post

With only two days before Israel outlaws operations on its soil of the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday took up the issue at a meeting where the United States was Israel’s sole defender. – New York Times

Eight of the 26 hostages that Hamas is expected to release in the coming few weeks are no longer alive, according to Israeli officials. Late on Sunday, Hamas provided Israel with long-awaited information about the status of the hostages listed for release during the first phase of the cease-fire agreement in the Gaza war. – New York Times

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 4, the two governments said on Tuesday. – Reuters

Displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza City this week found a city in ruins after 15 months of fighting, with many seeking shelter amongst the rubble and searching for relatives lost in the chaotic return march. – Reuters

Jordan’s air force launched on Tuesday the biggest air bridge so far to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza under a U.S.-sponsored deal to step up deliveries following a ceasefire, officials said. – Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Egypt’s foreign minister on Tuesday it was important to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza again, the State Department said, with their call coming after President Donald Trump suggested Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians. – Reuters

Israel banned two NGOs operating in the north with relations to Hamas and an outlawed organization from 2015. According to a statement by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Defense Ministry, following prolonged activity, the “Ifshaa’ Al-Salam” committees (the Peace Spreading Committees), belonging to the outlawed Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, have been outlawed, and their offices were closed on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post

A contractor employee operating for a company that carries out engineering operations for the IDF died in the central Gaza Strip, the military announced on Tuesday. The IDF added that an investigation had been opened into the incident. – Jerusalem Post

Editorial: The stakes for Israel’s new ambassador to the US have rarely been higher. As Leiter himself put it, “Our strength comes from unity, and that’s the message I intend to carry forward in my work as ambassador.” But unity cannot simply be declared – it must be earned through action. Building bridges across divides, whether within the Jewish community, between political parties, or with younger generations, requires patience, empathy, and a willingness to listen. – Jerusalem Post

Scott Cohen writes: Israel’s exclusion from the Tier 1 list is particularly baffling in a post-Oct. 7 world, since the ensuing combat has led Israel to develop homeland-security applications that the U.S. needs. Israel has been piloting drone-detection systems that use AI to geolocate and track threats in real time. That’s exactly the type of AI that the U.S. Defense Department said it needed in a December counter-drone strategy document, which promised the Pentagon would “fully incorporate allies and partners.” The Trump administration should respond by immediately adding Israel to the Tier 1 list, eliminating any restrictions on AI chips to Israel. – Wall Street Journal

David Makovsky writes: In short, the implementation of Israel’s new laws will have far-reaching consequences for the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and addressing this brewing crisis requires collaboration between the United States, UN, and regional actors to establish a mechanism that fills the UNRWA void. If the United States and Israel hope to stabilize the volatile situation, they will need to balance their security concerns with the area’s very real humanitarian needs—a balance that has been compromised by a lack of focus on key questions such as who will govern postwar Gaza and whether a less controversial institution can mitigate the likely turbulence caused by UNRWA’s absence. – Washington Institute

Amos Harel writes: During the last five years, Israelis have endured the COVID-19 pandemic, five election cycles, an attempt to pass very aggressive judicial reforms, and a war that began with a horrific massacre and spread to several arenas simultaneously. According to all indications, the coming year will not be any calmer. But during this time, it will likely become clear not only what Gaza’s fate will be but also what Israel’s role will be in the new Middle East envisioned by the incoming American president, even as that vision itself, like many of Trump’s ideas, is hard to figure out. – Foreign Affairs

Iran

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that Gaza had brought Israel “to its knees,” in a reference to the recent ceasefire in the Palestinian territory. – Agence France-Presse

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Israelis should be sent to Greenland, in response to US President Donald Trump suggesting Palestinians from Gaza be relocated to Jordan or Egypt. – Jerusalem Post

Iran’s foreign minister said in comments aired Tuesday that an attack on the country’s nuclear facilities would be “crazy” and badly harm the region, but also put dampers on the possibility of negotiations with the US, demanding Washington first curry favor with Tehran. – Times of Israel

Russia & Ukraine

For nearly three years, distressed Ukrainian troops, veterans and their families — including some soldiers on the brink of suicide — have relied on a U.S.-funded hotline to connect with trained psychological, legal and medical experts. But after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week suspending almost all U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days, the line went dark. – Washington Post

A nuclear power plant was among the targets of a massive Ukrainian drone attack against Russian oil and power facilities, Russian officials and media outlets reported on Wednesday. – Reuters

Ukraine needed broader security guarantees and Russian President Vladimir Putin was not afraid of Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Fox News in an interview in which he urged U.S. President Donald Trump to be on Ukraine’s side. – Reuters

Russia would like to see a resumption in the transit of gas via Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, after the European Commission issued a statement saying it planned to continue talks with Kyiv on natural gas supplies to Europe. – Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine could find a legal way to hold peace talks with Russia on ending their nearly three-year-old war, but Moscow sees no willingness on Kyiv’s part to engage. – Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he had had a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss bilateral matters. – Reuters

Russian prosecutors are seeking to recover nearly $33 million of funds that they say were allocated for the defence of the western Kursk region, invaded by Ukraine last year, but stolen instead by corrupt officials. – Reuters

The United States transferred some 90 Patriot air defense interceptors from Israel to Poland this week to then deliver them to Ukraine, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three sources with knowledge of the operation. – Reuters

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed on the need to keep maximum pressure on Russia to move toward a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine, according to an EU official familiar with the phone conversation. – Bloomberg

The European Union is proposing a phased ban on imports of Russian aluminum as part of a broad sanctions package ahead of the third anniversary of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg

Andrew Chakhoyan writes: Ukraine’s fight today is a battle not for territory, but for historical justice and for truth. A little boy wearing nothing but underwear was never crucified, and the Russian people must learn this. Moscow’s criminal war has forced the world — and Russians themselves — to confront the delusions that have sustained the empire. What this aggressive re-colonizer requires, more than anything, is a resounding defeat. – The Hill

Syria

A top Russian delegation arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for the first time since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government last month, as Russia looks to negotiate the future of its military bases in Syria with the country’s new leadership. – New York Times

Israeli troops who seized strategic ground in southern Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad will remain on the summit of Mount Hermon indefinitely, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday after visiting troops there. – Reuters

The discovery adds to the growing tally of mass graves unearthed since the fall of the Assad government in December. The remains, which are believed to include men, women and children, showed evidence of gunshot wounds and burning. – Associated Press

Turkey

Turkey removed another elected pro-Kurdish provincial mayor on Wednesday over convictions on terrorism-related offences, the interior ministry said, temporarily appointing a state official in her place amid a widening opposition crackdown. – Reuters

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will name its presidential candidate for the next election in coming months, its leader said on Tuesday in what he called a move to counter a judicial crackdown on his party. – Reuters

Turkey said on Tuesday it had killed 13 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and two in Iraq, a sign that Ankara has pressed on with its campaign against fighters, some with possible links to U.S. allies, since Donald Trump took office in the White House last week. – Reuters

Lebanon

Like many Lebanese whose homes and businesses suffered damage during more than a year of war between Israel and Hezbollah, Mr. Mehdi, 20, and his family are eager to start repairs, but they cannot do much until the rubble is cleared. “That is our biggest problem: Where do we put the debris?” he said. – New York Times

Israeli airstrikes in Nabatieh, a major town in southern Lebanon, injured 24 people on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said. The Israeli military said in a statement it had attacked Hezbollah vehicles that were transporting weapons on the edge of Nabatieh. – Reuters

Fadi Nicholas Nassar writes: A reimagined Lebanon, sovereign and accountable, would herald the rebirth of the Levant as a space for progress, pluralism, and reform — a powerful rejection of Iran’s vision of constant war and state failure. Such a transformation would not only close one of the region’s darkest chapters but also light a new path forward — one in which states are accountable to their people. Much like the United States’ own experiment with democracy, it is the promise of Lebanon and what it can be that has been its most valuable, if underappreciated, asset. Now is the time to fulfill that promise and ensure Lebanon’s story is one defined by a politics of hope — the only antidote that can defeat the Iranian regime’s narrative of endless despair. – Middle East Institute 

Gulf States

Thirdeye Systems, an Israeli military supplier, said it has sold a 30% stake to Emirati state-owned defense conglomerate EDGE for $10 million, in a rare public investment by an Emirati firm in Israel since the Gaza war began 15 months ago. – Reuters

Qatar and Turkey are slated to host the Palestinian murder convicts who were released and subsequently deported to Egypt as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, two officials tell The Times of Israel. – Times of Israel

Javier Blas writes: Trump knows that OPEC+ is both a foe and a bogeyman — but it can also be an ally. After all, it was Trump who brokered a deal in 2020 between Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut production that lifted oil prices. At the time, Trump recognized that for many years he had “hated OPEC,” but that he’d changed his views to save the American oil industry. For now, however, OPEC+ — and the bulls — will have to contend with lower prices. The same bullish voices that heralded triple-digit prices in 2025 now talk about $70 a barrel as an acceptable target. It’s a start — but I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of the market for crude yet. – Bloomberg

Middle East & North Africa

The crew of the Hong Kong-flagged ASL Bauhinia have abandoned the container ship in the Red Sea after it caught fire on Tuesday, two maritime sources said, adding the cause of the incident was not immediately clear. – Reuters

Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said that export activity was running normally after it held talks with protesters at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports on Tuesday. – Reuters

Algerian lawmakers condemned the European Parliament for a resolution criticizing the arrest of French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal. – Associated Press

Korean Peninsula

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for bolstering nuclear forces this year during a visit to a nuclear material production base and nuclear weapons institute, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday. – Reuters

An Airbus plane belonging to South Korean carrier Air Busan caught fire on Tuesday at Gimhae International Airport in the country’s south while preparing for departure to Hong Kong, fire authorities said. – Reuters

North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia near the Ukrainian border have temporarily withdrawn following weeks of heavy losses, Kyiv’s military has claimed. – The Independent

China

Inside China, it was called the tipping point for the global technological rivalry with the United States and the “darkest hour” in Silicon Valley, evoking Winston Churchill. It was possibly a breakthrough that could change the country’s destiny. – New York Times

China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research centre in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organisations say, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. – Reuters

On the campaign trail last year, President Donald Trump talked tough about imposing tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods and threatened to renew the trade war with China that he launched during his first term. – Associated Press

Scott B. MacDonald writes: The recent loan to Guyana provides the type of support that countries like Suriname need, and which, in the past, China has been willing to supply. If the United States wants to be in the game, it needs to fight fire with fire. Suriname may currently not be all that important to Washington, but its geoeconomic profile is rising, and it faces substantial challenges. The United States can assist the country in reaching its potential or allow China to gain a stronger position. – The National Interest

South Asia

Just a week into Donald Trump’s presidency, India has signaled it is ready to adapt to his transactional style of diplomacy. Indian officials have zeroed in on two of Trump’s top priorities — the economy and immigration — indicating an openness to increased U.S. investment in the country, more imports of American oil and gas, and the return of Indian nationals staying illegally in the United States. – Washington Post

Many people were feared to have been killed early Wednesday after millions of Hindu pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela, a huge festival in the Indian city of Prayagraj, rushed to bathe in holy river waters on what is considered one of the most auspicious dates in the Hindu calendar. – New York Times

India and China have agreed to resume direct flights between the two countries after nearly five years, the latest thaw between the two Asian giants that until recently were on war-footing over a deadly border dispute. – New York Times

U.S. President Donald Trump stressed the importance of India buying more American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship in a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the White House said. – Reuters

India successfully launched into orbit on Wednesday a new navigation satellite aboard a home-grown rocket, strengthening its independent satellite positioning system at a time when space-based technologies are becoming increasingly critical. – Reuters

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may seek to shore up faltering economic growth, placate a middle class squeezed by high prices and low wage growth, and prepare for an uncertain year of global trade in the nation’s budget this week. – Reuters

Islamist militants in an explosive-laden vehicle were thwarted in their attempt to overrun a Pakistani security post near the border with Afghanistan, the army said on Tuesday. – Reuters

Hundreds of Pakistani journalists rallied on Tuesday against a proposed law to regulate social media content that they say is aimed at curbing press freedom and controlling the digital landscape. – Reuters

Asia

“The government wants to proclaim that the accident is over, but it isn’t,” said Ms. Kobayashi, 72, who reopened her inn, Futabaya, seven years ago, after the evacuation order in Odaka was lifted. The inn has been in her family for four generations and she grew up here, never imagining she would one day have to master an arcane knowledge of microsieverts and atomic half-lives. – New York Times

Healthcare centres serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after U.S. President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. – Reuters

Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned antisemitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives in an outer Sydney suburb in New South Wales state. – Reuters

Thailand expects its 609-km (378 miles) portion of a high-speed railway that will connect it with China through Laos to begin operations in 2030, its government said on Wednesday, nearly a decade later than originally planned. – Reuters

Europe

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday that she and other top government officials were being investigated over the release last week of a Libyan brigadier general wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. – Washington Post

Britain’s populist party, Reform U.K., was expected to bring in more than $1.25 million dollars at a glitzy fund-raiser on Tuesday, a party official said, an extraordinary amount for a party that six months ago was on the fringe of national politics. – New York Times

Battered by weeks of student-led street demonstrations, Serbia’s strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday sacrificed his prime minister in an effort to calm protests that had engulfed towns and cities, posing a major challenge to his decade-long grip on power. – New York Times

Germany needs to overcome its structural weaknesses if it wants to keep its AAA credit rating in the long term, Eiko Sievert, executive director at European ratings agency, Scope Ratings, told Reuters in an interview. – Reuters

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen agreed at a meeting on Tuesday that allies need to focus on strengthening defences in the Arctic, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters. – Reuters

A senior member of the Polish government accused Russia on Tuesday of attempting to recruit Poles on the dark net to try to influence Poland’s presidential election campaign. – Reuters

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that political leaders in Europe and beyond have given full backing to maintain respects for international borders. – Reuters

Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia’s defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches. – Reuters

Katja Hoyer writes: Across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump has begun to enact his plans to deport millions of migrants. Trump has criticized Europe’s and especially Germany’s liberal asylum policies for years and is unlikely to oppose Merz’s plans that mirror his own in their promise to bring radical change from day one in office. If Merz has the stomach to withstand protestations from political rivals, he should find that a stricter immigration policy — which polls say the majority of German voters want — is also palatable to many allies. Germany wouldn’t be going it alone. Many of its partners are well down the road on a path Berlin hasn’t dared contemplate until now. – Bloomberg

Africa

Since then, fighters from M23, supported by troops from neighboring Rwanda, have taken control of much of Goma itself. On Tuesday, the rebels still were exchanging gun- and artillery fire with the Congolese army in parts of the city, trapping more than a million civilians inside Goma and threatening to open a bloody new chapter in a decades-old war set off by the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. – Wall Street Journal

The United States on Tuesday advised U.S. nationals to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo on commercial flights after hundreds of protesters attacked several foreign embassies and a United Nations building in the capital, Kinshasa. – New York Times

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said he agreed with the U.S. government on the need for a ceasefire in eastern Congo but gave no indication of bowing to calls for Rwandan troops and the M23 rebels they support to withdraw from Goma. – Reuters

Rebels seized the airport of east Congo’s largest city Goma on Tuesday, potentially cutting off the main route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of displaced people, after capturing the city in an offensive that left dead bodies lying in the streets. – Reuters

The junta-led West African nations of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have formally withdrawn from the regional bloc known as ECOWAS, the body said Wednesday, the culmination of a yearlong process during which the group tried to avert an unprecedented disintegration. – Associated Press

The Americas

Exhausted and grimy after days of detention in the U.S., migrants began arriving Tuesday at their homeland’s capital aboard Colombian government jets—part of what the Trump administration calls America’s largest-ever mass deportation. – Wall Street Journal

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trip to Central America, including Panama, is partially about countering China, a State Department spokesperson told Fox Business, as new President Donald Trump is pushing to “take back” the Panama Canal. – Reuters

The Brazilian government Tuesday said it will create a reception center for deported migrants from the United States following controversy over conditions on a recent deportation flight. – Associated Press

In his first week back in the Oval Office, Trump has quickly torn up his predecessor’s alliance-driven foreign policy in favor of an even more rambunctious 2.0 version of “America First.” His provocations have raised tensions with key allies on multiple continents — and set up showdowns with other leaders that, at least politically, Trump will win regardless of how they respond. That was true of this weekend’s skirmish with Colombia, in which tensions over the return of migrants nearly sparked a trade war. – Politico

Oliver Stuenkel writes: U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated an apparent victory on Sunday when he coerced Colombian President Gustavo Petro to allow the resumption of U.S. deportation flights to the country. Petro had previously announced on X that he had turned away two U.S. military flights carrying deported Colombians, writing that the United States “must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.” – Foreign Policy

North America

Panama’s conservative government is preparing a charm offensive to defuse tensions with the Trump administration over the vital Panama Canal, offering closer alignment to curb the flow of migrants and drugs to the U.S. while working to draw American investment to offset that of China. – Wall Street Journal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government was “insufficiently transparent” about foreign interference in Canadian politics and sometimes took “too long to act” against attempts to meddle in the country’s past two general elections by foreign powers including China and India, a government commission said on Tuesday. – New York Times

General Motors executives are closely tracking President Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, but the company is not yet making any major changes to its strategy in North America. – New York Times

A legislative proposal in Mexico backed by the government would allow for public-private electricity generation projects, but only when the state holds a stake of at least 54%, according to a draft of the bill seen by Reuters on Tuesday. – Reuters

Poland and Canada have signed an agreement that provides a legal framework for more intensive cooperation on nuclear power, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday after meeting his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau. – Reuters

Ontario’s legislature will be dissolved on Tuesday and the most populous Canadian province will vote on Feb. 27 to elect its next government, Premier Doug Ford’s office said. – Reuters

Canada can work with US President Donald Trump’s administration to reshape global trade and weaken China’s dominance of supply chains, according to Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian politician who’s vying to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister. – Bloomberg

United States

The Trump administration pulled back from its order to pause nearly all foreign aid, and will now exempt “core life saving programs” that involve medicine, medical services, food and shelter, according to a Tuesday memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. – Wall Street Journal

The White House gave federal workers a choice: return to the office full time or resign and get paid for the next eight months. In a Tuesday night email, the Office of Personnel Management told federal workers that they have until Feb. 6 to decide how to proceed. If they step down, they will continue to receive all pay and benefits and will be exempt from in-person work requirements until Sept. 30. – Wall Street Journal

Senate Republicans failed Tuesday, at least for the time being, to advance a bill that would impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court, after Democrats largely rejected the effort and some of Washington’s top European allies warned that it would “cripple” the world’s preeminent international court, enable war criminals to act with impunity and degrade the West’s moral authority. – Washington Post

The U.S. military said on Tuesday it will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado, further widening the Pentagon’s role in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. – Reuters

Rebeccah L. Heinrichs writes: While President Trump’s executive order requires initiating and accelerating technologies that will take time to mature, moving quickly to develop them could bolster the credibility of US deterrence efforts, help restore stability, and increase the chances of maintaining peace between nuclear adversaries. – Hudson Institute 

Cybersecurity

DeepSeek’s dramatic rise exposes the greatest risk facing Nvidia that the intense demand for its advanced chips could wane. Nvidia’s success as the computational arms dealer for the artificial-intelligence boom has made it a target for a host of rivals seeking to diminish its dominance. – Wall Street Journal

The European Union has sanctioned three Russian nationals for their alleged involvement in cyberattacks targeting Estonia in 2020, the European Council announced on Monday. – The Record

MGM Resorts International agreed to pay $45 million to settle multiple class action lawsuits related to a data breach in 2019 and a ransomware attack the company experienced in 2023.  – The Record

Defense

The Air Force on Monday greatly expanded funding for the prototype engine for the service’s planned sixth-generation fighter. General Electric of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pratt & Whitney Engines of East Hartford, Connecticut, each received modifications to their initial Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion, or NGAP, contracts that bring the maximum amount for the prototype phase up to $3.5 billion apiece. That is more than three times higher than the $975 million ceiling on the original contracts awarded in 2022. – Defense News

The U.S. Navy expanded a contract with BAE Systems, awarding the company more money to upgrade and overhaul the service’s Mk 45 naval gun systems in an effort to improve their long-range strike and air defense capabilities, the company announced Monday. – Defense News

The Marine Corps just made its recruiting goals in Fiscal Year 2024, but Col. Charles Von Bergen, chief of staff at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Western Recruiting Region, is optimistic about meeting the goals for 2025. – USNI News

The White House’s freeze on federal grants and loans that led to chaos across federal agencies after it was announced late Monday will not affect military families and veterans receiving direct public assistance such as food stamps and Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, vouchers, Trump administration officials pledged Tuesday. – Military.com

Editorial: None of this will be cheap, and Mr. Trump will have to seek much more than the $10 billion or so a year that the U.S. now spends on missile defense. He’ll also need champions in the Pentagon and Congress to push it through a bureaucracy that would prefer to spend on other things. But the first step is admitting the vulnerability and laying out a plan to address it—and kudos for Mr. Trump for doing so. – Wall Street Journal

Bret Stephens writes: All this raises the question of what a military is for. There’s no doubt the military has served to advance important moral and social values, never more so than in President Harry Truman’s 1948 order to desegregate the military or President Barack Obama’s 2010 decision to eliminate “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But those demands for equality did not require the Pentagon to lower standards or compromise lethality. The difference with D.E.I. is that, almost inevitably, it does. It asks the military to become a social justice organization that happens to fight wars. In other walks of life, adulterated standards can lead to mediocrity — bad teaching in classrooms, bad medical care. In combat, it can mean death. – New York Times

Michael P. Ferguson writes: President Donald Trump’s national defense team believes the United States is in a cold war with the Chinese Communist Party. Despite the political division in Washington, this is one point upon which the two parties seem to agree — in theory, at least. Last September, former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell made headlines with the following statement: “Frankly, the Cold War pales in comparison to the multifaceted challenges that China presents.” – Washington Examiner