Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Netanyahu says Trump is in full control of Iran war, denies influencing strikes after DC meeting IDF reservist in classified unit indicted with charges of spying for Iran US sanctions Iran’s ‘Extortion Network’ over Hormuz tolls Trump says he’d be ‘Disappointed’ if China sends weapons to Iran Forum for Foreign Relations’ Catherine Perez-Shakdam: Britain bans the IRGC, but leaves Tehran a wide-open visa door Russia charges Telegram founder Durov with aiding terrorism Iraqi PM Zaidi condemns US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militias Two ships hit in apparent drone strike at Egyptian port Yemen's Houthis considering fees for ships sailing through Red Sea, sources say AEI’s Michael Rubin: The US should embrace Somaliland to break Iranian and the Houthi trade chokeholds Two New Jersey men accused of supporting Islamic State plead guilty Pentagon awards mega contracts to firms amid Iran war strainsIn The News
Israel
The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah had launched an explosive drone at one of its vehicles on a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, raising fears of a renewed escalation on one of the most volatile front lines in the Middle East. – New York Times
Israelis are due to hold a national election on October 27. It will be the first since the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that shook the country and plunged the Middle East into turmoil as Israel went to war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear program in their meeting, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Israel plans to make a pilotless warplane with capabilities akin to the US-supplied F-35 stealth fighter, a senior official said, as the country turns toward independent military production amid growing isolation over its wars. – Bloomberg
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday struck a mosque in Gaza City, saying Wednesday that it was one of several Hamas weapons depots in the central and northern Gaza Strip that it destroyed this week. – Agence-France Presse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US President Donald Trump is in full control of the war with Iran after disclosing that the two leaders discussed options to resolve the conflict in their recent meeting in Washington, in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
A soldier serving in a classified IDF unit was indicted on July 16 on charges of contact with a foreign agent and attempting to transmit information liable to benefit the enemy. Details of the case were cleared for publication on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
The Israel Electric Corporation has begun implementing a project to connect 12 IDF outposts along the Syrian border to the national electricity grid, after electricity at the sites had previously been supplied by generators. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF detained three Israeli activists from the “HaBashan Pioneers” settler movement after they breached the Syrian border in the Mount Hermon area on Tuesday, the military announced on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
The vetting process has been completed for an initial group of some 5,000 Gazans slated to be trained for an emerging Palestinian police force under Washington’s 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip, an official from the US-backed Board of Peace said Tuesday. – Times of Israel
Intensive talks are taking place in Cairo, aiming to push the Hamas terror group into promising to disarm and transfer governance of the Gaza Strip to an international stabilization force, two regional sources said. – Arutz Sheva
Iran
American forces carried out strikes against Iran on Wednesday night, in what the U.S. military called a “powerful response” to Iran’s missile attacks on U.S. forces in Jordan. – Wall Street Journal
The US imposed sanctions on two Iranian companies that charge for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, an attempt to loosen Tehran’s grip on the vital waterway as hostilities between the countries resume. – Bloomberg
The US’s conflict against Iran looks set to drag on, possibly for months, with the sides unable to break a deadlock over the Strait of Hormuz and achieve a lasting ceasefire deal, according to several current and former officials from the US, Iran and Europe. – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump said he would be “disappointed” in China if they provided weapons to Iran, repeating assurances he said Xi Jinping had made to him that Beijing would not sell arms to Tehran. – Bloomberg
Over 1,500 death row inmates at a prison in the Tehran area have been on a hunger strike, according to a report on Tuesday citing Iranian human rights groups, with some of the prisoners going as far as sewing their mouths shut. – Agence-France Presse
Iran is storing centrifuges at Pickaxe Mountain, a senior Israeli diplomatic source said Wednesday […] “There are centrifuges at Pickaxe Mountain even if enrichment is not currently taking place,” the source said, and Israel would not hesitate to act again against any attempt to rebuild Iran’s nuclear program or its ballistic-missile array. – Jerusalem Post
Catherine Perez-Shakdam writes: The Home Office should suspend the Islamic Center of England’s sponsorship license pending a national security review. That review should extend to every organization with documented connections to hostile states, sanctioned officials or extremist propaganda. Britain cannot designate the IRGC while leaving administrative side doors open to institutions once tethered to the authority that commands it. The new Prime Minister now faces a simple test. Is antisemitism a national emergency, or merely an electoral inconvenience? Tehran will understand the answer. – Jerusalem Post
Russia and Ukraine
Russian authorities issued formal charges Wednesday against Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, accusing him of aiding terrorism by turning a blind eye to how Ukraine uses the platform to plan attacks in Russia. – Wall Street Journal
Russian air strikes killed at least 13 people in Ukraine on Thursday, including one in Kyiv, in attacks extending as far as the western city of Lviv, forcing neighbouring Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its airspace. – Reuters
Ukraine’s Air Force said on Wednesday that one of its F-16 fighter aircraft had crashed, but that the pilot was safe after ejecting. – Reuters
Russian forces have struck two vessels carrying weapons and military equipment to Ukrainian ports near Odesa, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukrainian drones hit oil refineries and logistics facilities in the Russian cities of Perm, Ryazan and Taganrog, as well as the Crimean peninsula overnight, with the country’s top online retailer Wildberries evacuating its Ryazan warehouse. – Reuters
Russian journalist Darya Shipacheva was convicted of treason by a Moscow court and sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years in a penal colony, the Interfax news agency reported. – Reuters
Russian defense and security firms are using supply chains in India to import thousands of security-linked goods originally made in Europe, new data tracking the scale of the trade shared with POLITICO shows. – Politico
Ilan Berman writes: It is also militarily significant. TrophyLab could provide NATO nations with vital data. Across Europe, NATO members are increasing their defense spending, spurred by Russian aggression against Ukraine and the potential for further incursions into NATO’s “eastern flank.” Ukraine’s new information platform reveals the limits and vulnerabilities of the military systems NATO nations may confront someday. All of which makes TrophyLab a potent strategic tool, and a way for Kyiv to attack what the Kremlin can ill-afford to lose: its military mystique. – Wall Street Journal
Alexandru Coita writes: Washington is right to review its military posture in Europe. American taxpayers should not indefinitely carry a disproportionate share of the conventional defense of a prosperous continent, especially while the United States must deter China in the Indo-Pacific and retain the ability to respond in the Middle East. But reducing manpower need not mean surrendering strategic reach. A withdrawal that weakens American access would create openings Russia could test, and China could exploit. – Washington Examiner
Iraq
Iraq is home to dozens of armed militias, a legacy of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country and the war against the extremist group Islamic State. Now, some of those militias have once again been drawn into the broader conflict engulfing the Middle East. – New York Times
Iraq’s National Security Council condemned the US and Saudi Arabia’s joint overnight strikes against Iran-backed Iraqi militias, after an emergency meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
About 20 Iranian advisers, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and technical personnel, were killed overnight Tuesday in joint U.S.-Saudi strikes in Iraq, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing a U.S. official. – Ynet News
Turkey
Turkish authorities detained an opposition Istanbul district mayor and five others on Wednesday over alleged irregularities in building and occupancy permits, broadcaster NTV reported. – Reuters
Turkish police detained the opposition mayor of Ankara’s Etimesgut district and 51 other suspects on Thursday in a graft investigation, the Interior Ministry said. – Reuters
The Turkish government gave the green light to milling wheat exports after a year-and-a-half pause. – Bloomberg
Lebanon
A group of Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint with the country’s top prosecutor on Wednesday requesting an investigation into banker Antoun Sehnaoui over a dinner he allegedly co-hosted in Washington that was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. – Reuters
The meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and US President Donald Trump in Washington last week carried substantial symbolism, but the more difficult test is unfolding far from the White House: across southern Lebanon and along the regional corridors that have historically supplied Hezbollah with weapons. – Jerusalem Post
Or Horvitz writes: Israel and the United States should therefore combine incentives with pressure. Israel should undertake phased, verifiable withdrawals wherever the Lebanese Armed Forces establish effective control. Washington should sustain military and economic assistance conditioned on measurable progress toward the state’s monopoly on arms. Both countries should maintain pressure on Hezbollah while avoiding steps that publicly humiliate Aoun or allow his opponents to portray him as Israel’s instrument. In the Middle East, opportunities rarely remain open for long. Israel and the United States should seize this one before Hezbollah closes it. – Jerusalem Post
Gulf States
QatarEnergy (QE) has bought 33 spot LNG cargoes this year from the U.S. for delivery to South Korea, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India and Japan, four trade and industry sources said, as it tried to reduce disruption to key customers after Qatari gas exports through the Strait of Hormuz were halted by the Iran war. – Reuters
A QatarEnergy-controlled liquefied natural gas tanker exited the Strait of Hormuz overnight, the first such vessel recorded by ship-tracking data leaving the waterway since July 11, data from analytics firms showed on Thursday. – Reuters
The United Arab Emirates, thanks to years of anticipatory planning, is not in a position where it will need to bow to Iran’s demands to administer and charge fees for the crossing of the Strait of Hormuz, Emirati political analyst Obaid al-Zaabi told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
Two ships, one of them a U.S.-owned natural gas storage tanker, caught fire after an explosion at an Egyptian port on Wednesday, broadening the conflict in the Middle East. – New York Times
Yemen’s Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, regional sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, two people familiar with the deliberations said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Michael Rubin writes: The reason why Somaliland is crucial to winning the war is its strategic geography. It has a 530-mile coastline on the Gulf of Aden. Its deepwater port at Berbera and neighboring airfield are both recently renovated and among Africa’s best-equipped. Running anti-piracy, anti-Houthi operations from Berbera could keep the Bab el-Mandeb. The port could also help resupply U.S. Navy ships at sea closer to Hormuz. Given Somaliland’s preference for investment over aid and its rich, rare-earth reserves, embracing Somaliland could reap American companies windfall profits. Rubio may default to State Department groupthink, but that has never won a war. Embracing Somaliland will. – Washington Examiner
Richard Nephew writes: Others in the region would also benefit. The United Arab Emirates can renegotiate its 123 agreement with the United States if another country in the region gets a better deal from the United States, and its relationship with Saudi Arabia is rocky. Turkey and Egypt have often been mentioned as potential nuclear competitors, should a nuclear race erupt in the region. Iran’s nuclear program clearly needed no inspiration from Saudi action, but it will look at the U.S.-Saudi agreement and cherry-pick from it as it looks to cement its nuclear status in future negotiations. – War on the Rocks
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s parliament passed a bill on Thursday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate irregularities at June 3 local elections, which raised questions about the competence of the National Election Commission and whether fraud was committed. – Reuters
South Korean exports likely extended robust growth in July, with the pace weakening from a near-half-century high but posting the second-strongest gains in the current winning streak led by surging AI chip demand, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. – Reuters
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission has fined telecoms company KT Corp 54 billion won ($37.43 million) for a leak of customer personal information, the commission said on Thursday. – Reuters
China
China aims to match the U.S. as the world’s leading space power and is catching up fast, especially when it comes to satellites—giving Beijing the potential to impair rival networks and blunt U.S. military might. – Wall Street Journal
China will “resolutely retaliate” and safeguard its interests if the United States insists on acting unilaterally over an import ban on new Chinese robots and power inverters, the commerce ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
Chinese and Russian naval warships have completed a joint patrol lasting more than two weeks and arrived in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported. – Reuters
James Leibold and Tenzin Dorjee write: But as Beijing eliminates the possibility of meaningful autonomy for minority nationalities inside China, demands for independence are likely to grow among Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur activists in exile. On July 2, one day after China’s new law took effect, Tibetan independence activist Lobga Rangzen set himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York to protest Chinese rule over Tibet. A single tragic act does not make a trend, but the self-immolation captures the polarizing effect of destroying the middle ground between assimilation and separation. By dismantling autonomy, Xi may find that his only option for preserving national unity is a state of permanent coercion. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
Protests during regional elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have turned deadly, with leaders of a banned Kashmiri group saying on Wednesday more than 30 people had been killed around one town in clashes with security forces ahead of the second round. – Reuters
Sadanand Dhume writes: The war in Iran drags on India’s energy import-dependent economy. And the Trump administration has cracked down on immigration from India, effectively closing an escape valve for ambitious young people. The Indian journalist Varghese George describes the BJP’s confrontation with the cockroach protesters as a face-off between India’s older “WhatsApp generation” and the “Instagram generation.” As these protests have shown, the Instagram generation has both numbers and energy on its side. – Wall Street Journal
Andy Mukherjee writes: Relying on state contracts, monopolistic control, data harvesting, and suppressed wages is no longer a strategy. That model may not survive an encounter between a retreating government and young graduates battling 40% unemployment. India’s business community may think it can ride out a possible political storm from their boardrooms. But if Modi’s political legitimacy erodes, corporations will have to deal with the fallout, and the cockroaches may just scatter away. – Bloomberg
Asia
The 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Japan toppled houses and split open streets in the small city of Yatsushiro, but town official Akio Matsushita is most worried about the invisible threats from the lack of water and power amid the punishing summer heat. – Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is fighting a losing battle in the polls, making a retreat from promised tax cuts more difficult and denying her officials the political backup they need to talk down yen and bond market bears. – Reuters
A small California-based drone maker says one of its sea vessels sailed close enough to a Chinese warship operating in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone to capture what it believes is the first footage of its kind recorded by a private U.S. firm. – Reuters
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Myanmar has agreed to take 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers currently in Malaysia, where there has recently been tension between the refugees and local communities. – Reuters
Malaysian authorities have released more than 100 Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers who were detained earlier this week, with the group being sent to various locations across the country, a police official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Gearoid Reidy writes: If her popularity continues to dip, market focus will shift to what that might mean for her spending plans. With tax revenue at all-time highs, Japan can afford to spend a little more. But will increasing pressure mean she backs off, or doubles down? Watch an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle for clues. Each bill considered by parliament is a potential opportunity cost. In the autumn session, she must be seen to prioritize voters’ concerns around prices and real wages. Between now and then, she should study the tricks of her mentor Abe, whose more unifying style was able to bring most in the LDP under his control. The reaction to her sleep, or lack thereof, was overblown — Thatcher, after all, famously got by on only four hours a night for years. But if those polls continue to fall, Takaichi will have plenty more reason to toss, and turn. – Bloomberg
David Fickling writes: Regulations that on paper encourage local production of electric vehicles work in practice as a way to protect existing players. EV manufacturers must meet complex and fast-changing local content requirements, while sellers of gasoline vehicles enjoy a far more stable policy environment on top of the benefits of incumbency. The Japanese auto companies that dominate the local industry, meanwhile, have been active in lobbying the government to water down support for electrification, and bend policy in their direction. Indonesia needs an intervention to break itself out of this bind before it’s too late. It’s risking its economic and political future for the sake of a subsidy program that went out of date a generation ago. – Bloomberg
Andrew Faulhaber writes: If Taiwan meets Anthropic’s security requirements, the company may permit Taiwan to participate in future testing iterations. This may be a good low-cost way for Taiwan to gain the requisite knowledge to develop its own domestic AI cybersecurity system. Regardless of who Taiwan partners with, expanding its pool of cyber relationships and international expertise will directly set it up for future success. Given how quickly AI cyber technology is advancing, action is urgently needed. Taiwan should develop its own domestic AI cyber shield now if it wants to retain its sovereignty and become a secure digital island. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Lynn Kuok writes: Countries in the region must trust the United States to act dependably, to counter China without needless escalation, and to observe the international law it invokes. Washington must deepen its economic and diplomatic engagement across Southeast Asia and correct course on policies in the region and beyond that constrain its partners’ ability to resist Beijing. Above all, the United States and its allies and partners must see China’s advances at sea and on land for what they are and respond before the cumulative effects of individually minor acts harden into a new regional order. – Foreign Affairs
Europe
Opposition lawmakers have blamed French President Emmanuel Macron for failing to replace the country’s 12 Canadair planes, which are decades old and serve as the vanguard of its aerial firefighting response. – Wall Street Journal
BMW is looking to shed 8,000 jobs, becoming the latest German automaker to warn that plunging sales in China will hit employment at home. – Wall Street Journal
A wave of Chinese entrants into Britain’s car market is piling pressure on traditional manufacturers, forcing them to offer deeper discounts to compete with lower-cost imports, the head of the country’s main automotive industry body said on Thursday. – Reuters
Polish police found a crater and scattered debris in a field left by an unidentified object that disappeared from army radars tracking it in domestic airspace during Russian strikes on Ukraine, authorities said on Thursday. – Reuters
A Norwegian teenager was convicted on Wednesday of conspiracy to commit murder in Britain after being recruited by a Swedish organised crime group that prosecutors said was being used by the Iranian government. – Reuters
France has issued a deportation order for Russian media personality Xenia Fedorova, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Vatican announced on Wednesday the ordination of a second Chinese bishop in a week, highlighting ongoing cooperation with Beijing under a politically sensitive accord governing Catholic appointments in China. – Reuters
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced plans to convene formal talks to break years of diplomatic paralysis over the divided island of Cyprus. – Bloomberg
Africa
Congo said on Tuesday a Rwandan armed group operating in eastern Congo had signed a protocol committing to disarmament, but Rwanda rejected the move as inconsistent with a U.S.-brokered peace agreement between the two countries. – Reuters
Prominent detained Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye collapsed on Wednesday while attending a court session in the capital Kampala where he is on trial for treason, a senior official in his party said. – Reuters
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dismissed the country’s central bank governor, the latest in a series of sackings and reshuffles in senior ranks of his government. – Reuters
Amnesty International called on Wednesday for a war crimes investigation into what it described as summary killings of at least 19 Malian soldiers by members of armed groups after an ambush on July 18. – Reuters
Justice Malala writes: Godlimpi is a deputy minister of trade and industry. His appointment would adhere to the 2021 law that says the finance minister must designate his deputy, or any other deputy minister in the Cabinet’s economic cluster, as the chair of the PIC board. But no matter how strong Godlimpi’s personal credentials are, the governance shortcomings that have bedeviled the PIC for years would at best only be put in abeyance for a few months or years if he was appointed. What’s needed to fix the fund is the courage to insulate its leadership from politics — and the wisdom to put its $220 billion of assets under the stewardship of independent investment professionals. – Bloomberg
The Americas
The Paraguana Refining Center in Western Venezuela once symbolized the country’s oil wealth and its ambition to turn vast crude reserves into fuels and export revenue. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva leads a potential second-round vote in the October presidential election against opposition Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, an AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll showed on Wednesday. – Reuters
The International Monetary Fund has reached a staff-level agreement with Bolivia on a $1.9 billion financing program, the IMF said on Wednesday, as the country seeks to stabilize an economy facing its deepest crisis in decades. – Reuters
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega aims to again extend the presidential term by a year, increasing it to seven, in his latest move to cement his longstanding grip on power alongside his wife Rosario Murillo. – Reuters
Arturo McFields writes: Nicaragua represents a metastatic cancer which, if ignored, could spread to other countries in the Americas, weakening U.S. influence and empowering China and North Korea. The message must be clear: Abolishing elections and crowning oneself king will not be tolerated. It must bring with it serious consequences. With dictators like Ortega in Nicaragua — as with Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela — traditional methods never work. A proportional resolve is needed to respond to them, and even an Absolute Resolve should be considered. Hemispheric security is at stake. – The Hill
United States
Two New Jersey men and a Washington-state man accused of plotting to support Islamic State have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related offenses. – Wall Street Journal
As part of its anti-immigrant drive, the Trump administration has deported thousands of Cubans, sending some to Mexico and even African countries, and others back to Cuba. – New York Times
The United States is considering delaying, or even blocking, President Emmanuel Macron’s choice for France’s next ambassador to Washington following public French criticism of the country’s human rights record, according to four sources. – Reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled plans to revamp Dulles International Airport that would create an underground train and ditch the controversial “people movers,” the bus-like mobile vehicles that transport passengers arriving from international destinations. – Politico
Alina Polyakova and Kiana Aran write: And Washington should be coordinating with allies in Europe and across the Indo-Pacific on standards, data security and diversified supply chains, since no democracy can out-invest China on its own. The U.S. must also retain the scientists who drive innovation, many of whom are leaving research or leaving the country altogether for better-funded, more stable opportunities in China and elsewhere. A country that loses its scientists cannot expect to keep its scientific lead. Whoever carries a discovery from the lab bench to the patient fastest, at scale, and without leaning on a strategic rival to do it will win the biotech race. On its current course, the U.S. will not be that country. It still can be, but only if Washington recognizes the race it is in while the finish line is still ahead of it. – Washington Post
Jose Lev Alvarez writes: Tehran’s decentralized proxy network is no loose market; it is a deliberate weapon. By exploiting local corruption, state facilitators and Hezbollah operatives convert regional lawlessness into strategic infrastructure. This architecture grants the mullahs deniability, shields their assets, and projects rogue power straight into America’s backyard […] Washington and Jerusalem need to build a hemispheric document-denial network with Latin American allies. Under this proposal, border agents will query Israeli and Interpol databases instantly, and automated scanners would flag microscopic card irregularities and security-zone mismatches […] A fraudulent passport collapses borders, reduces sovereignty to a facade, and grants America’s adversaries their ultimate objective: penetration. – Washington Examiner
Cybersecurity
China’s cyberspace regulator on Wednesday released a draft law aimed at curbing cyberbullying, including AI-enabled abuse, as Beijing tightens oversight of online bullying in the world’s largest internet community. – Reuters
Elon Musk’s X accused Australia of trying to give its internet regulator unfair information-gathering powers and undermining U.S. law with plans for tougher enforcement of a teen social media ban. – Reuters
Samsung Electronics said on Thursday it expects chip shortages to worsen and extend into 2028, after it posted a more than 250-fold jump in chip profit, countering investor concerns that feverish AI spending by major technology firms may slow and curb growth. – Reuters
GlobalFoundries said on Wednesday the U.S. government will award $300 million to the chipmaker to bolster research and development of silicon photonics technology to power more efficient AI data centers. – Reuters
Australia’s internet regulator said on Thursday it had begun legal action against messaging platform Telegram over alleged failings to tackle pro-terror posts. – Reuters
Amazon’s security researchers say a hacking group tied to North Korea targeted small, little-noticed software packages more than a year before it struck one of the internet’s most widely used programming tools. – Cyberscoop
One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome in the quantum race will be the supply chain, given how diffuse it is, a top White House official said Wednesday. – Cyberscoop
Researchers say the Russian state-linked hacking group tracked as Laundry Bear has been more active in recent months than originally thought. – The Record
The rogue OpenAI agent that broke out of a closed test environment and hacked into Hugging Face’s platform also breached several additional third-party services, the company said Tuesday. – The Record
Angola’s largest telecommunications operator, Unitel, said Tuesday it was hit by a cyberattack in the early hours of the morning that has left millions of people nationwide without voice services, mobile data, and internet access. – The Record
Editorial: In short, orbital data centers may prove to be a completely irrational business venture. That’s no reason to oppose them. Instead, policymakers should focus on building the infrastructure to support space launch more broadly — steps that would be productive even if orbital data centers don’t pan out, and all the more so if they do. Whatever the fate of data centers, such steps will only accelerate American spacefaring and innovation. There’s little to lose and a universe to gain. – Bloomberg
Parmy Olson writes: The debate over free AI has for years been one about safety, since closed systems have guardrails that can stop bad actors from using them for harm. Now it’s becoming entangled in business interests. For the wider population, cheaper models hold genuine promise, potentially cutting cost burdens for businesses and startup founders. That’s surely a good thing if AI is meant to boost economic productivity; but it could also severely disrupt the bellwethers of a buzzy new industry that is propping up the wider stock market. As the White House decides how best to contain China, it’s also figuring out which American companies can be weaponized in that fight. It’s clear from this week’s public sparring between Amodei, Zuckerberg and Huang that Silicon Valley would rather someone else was conscripted. – Bloomberg
Defense
Now, as Trump moves to strike back after Iran’s surprise missile attack Tuesday, the president will decide how far to go. He could greenlight Cooper’s option of 10 to 14 days of intensive airstrikes intended to cripple Iran’s missile capability despite warnings that the U.S. is running low on air-defensive munitions. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain U.S. weapons stockpiles. – Reuters
The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has warned troops that cellphone videos shared online can help Iran target American bases, and sources told Reuters some deployed personnel could soon be ordered to surrender their phones. – Reuters
The Pentagon is accelerating defense production with multiyear mega contracts as the Trump administration seeks to enhance the armed forces and the Iran war intensifies demands on a dwindling US weapons stockpile. – Bloomberg
U.S. and partner forces conducted more than 35 experiments to test unmanned systems and emerging technologies, pushing interoperability among nations to new limits during the biennial Rim of the Pacific Exercise. – USNI News
The Defense Department has put out a solicitation for robot boats that are capable of launching small attack drones — with technology mature enough to be deployed to the field within 120 days. – Defense News
The Pentagon has formally launched the Europe force posture review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last month, beginning a process to examine U.S. military troop presence, force posture and basing across Europe. – Defense News
Just a little over two weeks after U.S. Central Command utilized three Corsair unmanned surface vessels to strike a submarine and ship maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base in Iran, marking the “first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations,” the Navy confirmed its first live-fire training exercise of its Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft uncrewed surface vessel. – Defense News
The Department of the Navy has appointed a new Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy for Intelligence and Security (DUSN I&S). – Military.com
Jerry McGinn and Oliver Buntin write: The DOD could also set clearer standards about the eligibility of CMMC costs for reimbursement. While CMMC’s rollout has been heavily criticized, the underlying need for cybersecurity enhancement in the defense sector is widely acknowledged and growing. To meet this strategic necessity, CMMC—in one form or another—will happen. The open questions are how and when. The current pause gives the DOD and SBA an opportunity to adequately address the small business compliance concerns that have been repeatedly raised and put CMMC on a path toward successful implementation. – Center for Strategic and International Studies