Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Trump says FlyDubai pilot in incident was ‘perhaps a terrorist’ Saudi Arabia turned down Israeli request to allow its planes to pick up Israeli passengers, security sources say WSJ Editorial: Passengers defeat a would-be hijacker U.S. pressure campaign leaves Iranian tankers stranded in Asian waters Mounting pressure on Iran could lead to attack on Israel, ex-national security council head warns NATO alliance is defensive, Russia should stop nuclear threat, Rutte says US sees Chinese invasion of Taiwan unlikely next year despite 2027 timeline, sources say U.K. says it has ‘strong indications’ Iran is linked to foiled attack on air base U.K. accuses China of operating institute as front for espionage Ethiopia plans Somalia troop pullout to fight rebels back home US says it conducted experiment aimed at improving ability to detect nuclear blast Hudson Institute’s Peter Rough and Tomas Pojar: The case for US-European defense base integrationIn The News
Israel
Israel is set to ramp up security checks on pilots flying into the country, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said, after it said a co-pilot on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv had stabbed the pilot and attempted to crash the plane. – Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel will get to the “root” of the co-pilot who engaged in a foiled attempt to crash an Israel-bound flydubai flight and that Israel will “possibly” be participating in the probe into the incident. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia turned down a request by Israel to allow its planes to bring back Israeli passengers from a flydubai flight that made an emergency landing in the kingdom, two security sources said on Wednesday. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said a pilot who stabbed a colleague in the cockpit of a FlyDubai flight en route to Israel was “perhaps a terrorist” and said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the incident. – Bloomberg
Some 20 Israeli citizens who were stuck in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region amid a rebel advance in the area have been rescued after three days of “intensive efforts,” the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. – Agence-France Presse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed on Wednesday evening amid the fallout caused by the alleged attempted deliberate crashing of a flydubai flight FZ1073 to Tel Aviv by the copilot on Wednesday morning. – Times of Israel
Ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government called for increased military action on all regional fronts following what Israeli officials described as an attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight carrying more than 100 Israeli passengers on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: One way of viewing the hijacking is as an attack on that route and the Abraham Accords behind it. It failed and, other than vigilance, the best response will be more flights, tourism, diplomacy and commerce. The threat from Islamic terrorism isn’t over. But on their way home to Israel at last, survivors of the hijacking could be seen on video breaking into an old Jewish song: “The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge / and the main thing—is to have no fear at all.” – Wall Street Journal
Ronen Itsik writes: We will continue to confront violence and extremism within our own society as well, because a moral society is measured by its ability to criticize itself. But anyone who looks at Israel fairly must understand this: our strength does not stem from a lust for power, but from a resolute decision to live. No longer led like sheep to the slaughter. A free people in its land. A people that seeks peace yet is prepared to fight for the very right to live. – Jerusalem Post
Barry Shaw writes: The Palestinian Arabs and those who sympathize with them have a unique hold on plane hijackings. Although the attempted Fly Dubai hijacking of a plane from the UAE to Israel today, 30 September 2026 was undertaken by an Islamic airline pilot, it was inspired by the Palestinian Arab aerial history of death targeting Israelis and Jews. – Arutz Sheva
Iran
Dozens of Iranian or Iranian-linked tankers that had participated in the shadowy trade of getting sanctioned oil to China have been stuck in the waters near Asian countries like Sri Lanka and Malaysia since July, when the U.S. reimposed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. – Wall Street Journal
Three Liberian-flagged oil tankers were struck by unknown projectiles when transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping intelligence service Marisks said. – Reuters
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iran’s foreign minister and his delegation to the U.N. General Assembly to leave New York earlier than they had planned, two U.S. officials said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Iran’s judiciary announced that two men were hanged on Wednesday over charges relating to anti-government protests that peaked in January, having begun a month earlier over economic grievances. – Agence-France Presse
Former national security council head Meir Ben-Shabbat warned that mounting pressure on Iran could still push Tehran toward a direct attack on Israel, while arguing that a future agreement between Washington and Tehran could provide the Iranian regime with a strategic lifeline, he told Maariv in a Wednesday interview. – Jerusalem Post
Erfan Fard writes: Now is the time for the White House to put aside this vicious and futile cycle of dialogue and diplomacy and not allow itself to be humiliated any further by a rogue regime. If there is a serious and genuine will, the groundwork for regime change should be prepared with the help of Israel. And dialogue should take place with the sole alternative of the Iranian nation, Pahlavi. Gradually, the CIA and Mossad should also begin preparing the groundwork for once again rebuilding the security organization, so that after the collapse, the fabric of the country of Iran does not fall apart and the transitional period begins without bloodshed and a bloodbath. – Jerusalem Post
Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar writes: Iranian officials are no doubt proud of how their country has fared against Israel and the United States. They have publicly bragged about their success and even declared victory. But in private conversations, the regime’s elites remain quite nervous. They know that the United States has many tools and tactics it can use to increase the pressure on Iran, and they are concerned that the factors that seem to be holding Washington back—dwindling stockpiles of ammunition, domestic public opinion, and international opposition—could go away, grow manageable, or otherwise become unimportant to American officials. – Foreign Affairs
Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian naval drones ply the Black Sea with surface-to-air missiles, ready to shoot down enemy warplanes. They ferry aerial attack drones closer to targets. And this month, a Ukrainian drone was filmed in a drone-on-drone water battle with a Russian counterpart. – New York Times
Russian air strikes have injured one person in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv and another in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, emergency services and an Odesa city official said on Thursday. – Reuters
Factories in Europe producing arms for Ukraine are legitimate and potential military targets for Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. – Reuters
NATO is a defensive alliance and Russia should stop nuclear threats, NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday, in response to Russia’s nuclear warnings to NATO over the Kaliningrad exclave. – Reuters
Russia unleashed a widely anticipated air campaign against Ukraine’s energy grid on Wednesday, hitting power facilities and infrastructure around Kyiv and other regions in the heaviest combined attack on energy sites in months. – Reuters
Ukraine is urging the United States to impose sanctions on several Russian entities that it says are helping develop Moscow’s Rassvet satellite network as a domestic alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink, its acting ambassador said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited a military command post near the eastern frontline on Wednesday and praised what he said were gains against Russian forces during a counteroffensive operation. – Reuters
Ukraine’s total war costs will reach $155 billion this year and the government is struggling to close a $27 billion funding gap to ensure it can still conduct combat operations at the start of 2027, Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech in newly-elected parliament later on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. – Reuters
Jillian Kay Melchior writes: The Russians are adjusting to the midrange strikes, in part by moving men and munitions stealthily in civilian vehicles. They also have increased the number of mobile fire groups that try to shoot down Ukrainian drones. The Unmanned Systems Forces has identified thousands of potential Russian targets, and it has crews ready to take them on. But Ukraine’s most acute problem remains supply. Leon estimates the Unmanned Systems Forces has only 14% of the midrange drones it needs. – Wall Street Journal
Mariam Mumladze writes: European allies are already adapting to this shift. In late September 2026, the United Kingdom secured a first-of-its-kind arrangement for its defense sector. Up to 12 British defense companies were granted access to Avengers Labs, Ukraine’s secure platform for training AI models for uncrewed systems. This partnership opens up a repository containing more than 5 million annotated battlefield images, featuring everything from tanks and air defenses to infantry and reconnaissance drones. – Washington Examiner
Dmytro Kuleba writes: Many of the drones have been shot down, but not all, and the ballistic missiles have largely gotten through, destroying buildings and killing civilians; so far, roughly 100 have died. The bombardments have become so intense that, in recent weeks, Ukrainians have been posting a grim joke on Instagram and TikTok: “Thank God I live in Kyiv, so I do not have to plan for the future.” – Foreign Affairs
Syria
At least seven people were killed and four wounded after a bus was targeted by gunfire on Misyaf Bridge in Homs, a source in Syria’s Homs health directorate told state news agency SANA. – Reuters
The Trump administration is removing Syria from a list of countries that are not allowed to purchase or import U.S. weaponry, a step that is part of a monthslong process of easing sanctions on the new government in Damascus and its leaders. – Associated Press
Hezbollah denied on Wednesday any connection to a cell that Syrian authorities said they had dismantled in the country’s south the day before and which they accused of being affiliated with the Iran-backed terror group. – Agence-France Presse
Turkey
Turkey blocked access to at least 147 more X accounts that shared content about the country’s fund crisis, internet censorship monitoring initiative EngelliWeb said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Turkish authorities ordered the detention of 34 more suspects as part of an investigation into alleged market manipulation and funds, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on Wednesday. – Reuters
A Turkish court has ordered access to the website and social media accounts of independent news portal T24 to be blocked over content deemed “LGBT propaganda”, the Justice Ministry said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
While Iraq has gained more control over its financial affairs since the early years of the occupation, the link highlights the enduring influence of the US on the economic landscape of Iraq, even as the latter seeks to assert sovereignty and independence. – Reuters
The US delay in confronting the Houthis in coordination with Saudi Arabia “is a grave mistake that will cost dearly later,” Yemeni politician, writer, and former Houthi spokesperson Ali Al-Bukhaiti told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Yemen’s armed forces announced late Tuesday they had conducted 414 coordinated attacks on Houthi military installations and reinforcement columns across multiple battlefronts within a 24-hour span. Military spokesman Majed al-Nuzaili said the operations specifically targeted Houthi capabilities and troop concentrations, according to the official Saba news agency. – Yeni Safak
Ahmed Khuzaie writes: Given Tehran’s established operational doctrine of exploiting gray-zone ambiguity, GCC’s and Israel’s security planners cannot afford a purely reactive stance that absorbs initial tactical hits before adjusting defense perimeters; strategic prudence demands anticipating worst case Iranian intent and hardening potential targets proactively. By implementing this counter infiltration roadmap, GCC leadership can systematically close emerging vulnerabilities, deny hostile actors the leverage of grey zone disruption, and ensure that Gulf airspace remains an unassailable pillar of regional stability and economic resilience. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
The Republican chair of the congressional committee focused on China is calling on the Trump administration to scrutinize US ally South Korea’s warming ties with China, which he said pose “significant risks” to the United States. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday called on North Korea to help restore trust and resume dialogue, a day after Seoul and Pyongyang traded barbs over a landmine incident that South Korea’s military and the UN Command said amounted to an armistice violation. – Reuters
South Korea has been ordered to pay Elliott Investment Management about $48.49 million plus interest after an arbitration tribunal ruled the government’s involvement in the 2015 merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries was causally linked to the US fund’s losses, Seoul’s Justice Ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
South Korea’s exports jumped 83.5% in September from a year earlier to a record $120.9 billion, government data showed on Thursday, as semiconductor shipments more than tripled on global spending on artificial intelligence. – Reuters
China
US officials believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan before 2028 is increasingly unlikely despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s instructions for his military to be ready by 2027 to take the democratically governed island by force, if needed, people familiar with US thinking said. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he discussed the release of political prisoners with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders met last week. – Reuters
China’s commerce ministry has decided to extend two probes into US trade practices it launched in March by three months until December 27, according to ministry statements. – Reuters
Chinese refiners have suspended exports of oil products to regions beyond Hong Kong and Macau until further notice from Beijing, four people briefed on the matter said on Thursday. – Reuters
Hong Kong police on Wednesday arrested a journalist from an online news outlet on suspicion of incitement by spreading disinformation, local media reported, raising concerns about the city’s press freedom. – Associated Press
South Asia
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump agreed to maintain close engagement to advance the countries’ strategic partnership, New Delhi said on Wednesday, as India’s trade minister holds talks in the United States aimed at securing an interim trade deal. – Reuters
Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan hit three houses on Thursday, killing 9 people, the Afghan Taliban government said, while Islamabad said the strikes killed 22 “terrorists” after targeting their hideouts, amid an escalation in fighting between the neighbours after three months of relative calm. – Reuters
Afghanistan’s defense ministry says its forces have killed more than 40 fighters it described as insurgents who crossed into the country from neighboring Pakistan, and captured dozens more over three days amid repeated clashes along the tense border. – Associated Press
India’s opposition parties said they will organize protest marches across the country in October as they step up pressure to remove the top election official over a controversial overhaul of electoral rolls. – Bloomberg
Asia
The Philippines’ coast guard said on Thursday that it has deployed its largest vessel and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship operating off northern Batanes province near Taiwan, adding that a Chinese coast guard vessel had also moved in. – Reuters
A senior Taiwan naval commander has been transferred to the Coast Guard to boost coordination at a time China has ramped up its maritime presence around the island, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te announced on Thursday. – Reuters
Republican US Senator and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker said Washington’s security commitments to Taiwan must be upheld, following a meeting on Tuesday with Alexander Yui, the democratically governed island’s representative to the US. – Reuters
New Zealand’s Parliament was dissolved on Thursday, marking the official start of campaigning for next month’s national election, which is shaping up to be a tight contest between the ruling centre-right coalition and a Labour-led left bloc. – Reuters
David Fickling writes: At this point, the best argument for LNG in emerging Asia is that it isn’t an energy source at all. Instead, it’s best seen as a raw material for fertilizer and oil refining, and a source of heat for products like glass and ceramics that are hard to electrify. What looks increasingly implausible is the vast new market in power generation that producers have spent a decade waiting for. Emerging Asia can remain the future of LNG for only so long. Eventually, a fuel that is dirtier, dearer and less secure than the alternatives runs out of tomorrows. – Bloomberg
Europe
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” that Iran played a part in a foiled attack on RAF Fairford last weekend, when five masked men were arrested next to the air base which has been used by the U.S. as a staging post for bombers striking Iran. – Wall Street Journal
For more than a decade Marine Le Pen has sought to distance her party from its antisemitic past, elevating her fresh-faced protégé Jordan Bardella to the highest ranks of the National Rally. – Wall Street Journal
A prominent Chinese research institute based in Beijing secretly operates as a front for the country’s main spy agency, aiming to acquire sensitive technologies and expertise from Western universities and laboratories, British intelligence officials said Wednesday. – Washington Post
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Wednesday Britain should consider options for its future relationship with the European Union, including rejoining the bloc, doubling down on his message that Brexit had “done more harm than good”. – Reuters
Dozens of people have been injured and hundreds arrested, most of them teenagers, officials said, in a wave of French student protests against teacher shortages and dilapidated buildings that on Wednesday spread to more schools across the country. – Reuters
Thousands of protesters camped out on Madrid’s main square and in other Spanish cities demanded on Wednesday that parliament swiftly approve new measures to protect tenants and curb the country’s acute housing crisis. – Reuters
Romania’s Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan failed to win a parliamentary vote of confidence on Wednesday, extending a political crisis that threatens the country’s investment grade rating. – Reuters
Spain’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it had alerted prosecutors to an Amnesty International report alleging the military tortured or mistreated migrants in Ceuta, and ordered an internal probe into whether any personnel were to blame. – Reuters
A Paris court found six men guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday over the drowning of more than 30 people in the Channel five years ago, the worst disaster on record involving migrants in the narrow seaway separating France and Britain. – Reuters
France and Britain are discussing ending their “one in, one out” Channel migration deal, a French interior ministry source said on Wednesday, with Paris unwilling to extend a pilot scheme due to expire on Thursday. – Reuters
Sweden will from October deploy Gripen fighter jets to Poland as part of a NATO airspace surveillance mission, the Nordic country’s government said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Air operations at airports in Lublin and Rzeszow have resumed after temporary closures due to military aviation operations, Poland’s Air Traffic Authority said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Trump administration is excluding several major allies from a gathering of NATO members next month — after previous threats to deploy a “naughty and nice list” against governments that have run afoul of the president’s priorities. – Politico
Peter Rough and Tomas Pojar write: A stronger European defense industry can reinforce American leadership and strengthen Europe by increasing the overall power of the alliance. A larger Western defense ecosystem and a stronger NATO can better deter Russia, compete with China globally, and enable Europe to shoulder more of its own defense burden. Europe’s leaders, therefore, should not view defense investment as a competition with the United States, but as a joint venture that can make both partners stronger. – The National Interest
Africa
The Trump administration on Wednesday will end U.S. global health funding to Zimbabwe, including support for efforts to fight HIV and other infectious diseases, after the government in Harare rejected Washington’s attempts to strike an “America First” foreign aid agreement. – Washington Post
South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry called in US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III on Tuesday for a third time over what it described as “undiplomatic conduct”, a senior government official told Reuters, but did not elaborate on what the conduct was. – Reuters
A US ceasefire proposal to pause Sudan’s civil war could push the country towards a Libya-style partition in its current form, a top adviser to Sudan’s army-led authorities told Reuters, in some of the strongest criticism by a Sudanese official of the plan so far. – Reuters
Burundi has agreed to join a clutch of other African nations in receiving migrants from other countries deported from the US under President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy. – Reuters
A Nigerian man accused of illegally creating a government agency, installing himself as its boss and securing federal budget allocations for it was charged in court on Wednesday with forgery and impersonation, in a case that has exposed gaps in the checks governing the country’s public institutions. – Reuters
Ghana’s draft mining bill would allow the mines minister to require mining companies to issue the state a free special share with veto rights over key transactions, according to a copy reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Wednesday eased penalties under a cybercrime decree that human rights groups had said was designed to muzzle dissent […] Under the decree amendment, prison terms of up to 10 years in some cases will be replaced by financial penalties ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 Tunisian dinars ($3,370 to $6,740) for first-time offences. – Reuters
Two explosions were heard in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, overnight amid growing unrest in the country’s northern Tigray region […] Orders have been issued by the government suspending the issuance of permits for all drone flights in the capital and surrounding areas in an effort to protect the nation’s leaders and critical infrastructure, the National Intelligence and Security Service said in a statement late Wednesday. – Bloomberg
Ethiopia is planning to withdraw thousands of troops from neighboring Somalia as escalating fighting at home forces Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government to redirect military resources toward a widening conflict with rebel groups. – Bloomberg
The Americas
A French and German delegation travelled this month to Brasilia, where intelligence officials briefed them on alleged US and Russian interference before Brazil’s election, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters. – Reuters
Brazil is seeking a “full tariff reduction” in talks with the US, Trade Minister Marcio Elias Rosa told reporters on Wednesday after he met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Milwaukee. – Reuters
Venezuela’s main opposition bloc demanded the repeal of a law used to prosecute dissidents and silence critics, rejecting acting President Delcy Rodríguez’s proposal to merely reform it. – Bloomberg
Dan Restrepo and Ricardo Zuniga write: A populists who promise to impose order and security in their countries. Some observers have read this development as a sign of a regional swing to the right, but there is little evidence of a durable shift in that direction. Rather than ideology, what seems to be driving voters is a frustration with traditional politicians’ failure to solve everyday problems. Some observers have read this development as a sign of a regional swing to the right, but there is little evidence of a durable shift in that direction. Rather than ideology, what seems to be driving voters is a frustration with traditional politicians’ failure to solve everyday problems. – Foreign Affairs
North America
Overhauling environmental reviews and accelerating approvals of oil pipelines and mines. Massive increases in military spending. Mending ties with China, India and Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Mark Carney is barreling forward with a rewiring of Canada’s economic, national-security and foreign policies that, in some cases, would once have been unthinkable and unpopular. – Wall Street Journal
The multinational owners of Canada’s first large-scale liquefied natural gas export terminal agreed Tuesday to a C$33 billion (US$23 billion) expansion in British Columbia that will double the facility’s capacity and expand Canada’s exports to overseas energy markets. – Associated Press
The EU and Canada will use a landmark summit next month to announce an expansive new partnership, ranging from breaking down digital trade barriers to joint support for Ukraine and investing in fighting wildfires. – Politico
Chad Wolf and Daniel Fata write: America and Mexico are standing at a historic crossroads. North American economic integration is no longer an abstract geopolitical theory but a physical reality unfolding daily on the highway between the Texas border and Mexico’s “golden triangle” of trade: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. If the two countries continue to rely on mid-20th-century transportation modes to carry 21st-century commerce, supply chains will continue to fracture, jobs will remain unfilled, security issues will persist, and both national economies will suffer. Now is the time to fully realize North America’s unbridled competitive potential. – The National Interest
United States
he US National Nuclear Security Administration conducted a “subsurface, non-nuclear chemical high-explosive experiment” on Wednesday that the Energy Department said aimed to improve the United States’ ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions. – Reuters
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday called for G20 major economies to refrain from coercive actions on food trade, tackle industrial overcapacity and re-examine the prevailing post-World War Two tariff system. – Reuters
The U.S. can deport the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque — an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights — on the grounds that he is a threat to national security, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday. – Associated Press
President Donald Trump signaled that his appetite to ban exports of US diesel has cooled given the risk of unintended price spikes, and one of his top deputies indicated Europe might soon put fresh supplies of the fuel on the market. – Bloomberg
Editorial: So if the economy is good, why do Americans feel so glum? The likely answer is the hangover from the Biden inflation, which continues to erode wage gains and make it hard to save. Border taxes and higher gas prices haven’t helped. Yet despite the prophecies that the war in Iran would plunge the U.S. into a recession, the evidence is that America’s economic animal spirits are alive and well. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
Ukraine aims to leverage its expertise in military technologies and digital innovation to sharply increase high-tech exports in coming years, including through the use of AI, the country’s minister for digital transformation told Reuters on Tuesday. – Reuters
The Bank of England on Wednesday warned of an increase in the risk that interconnected weaknesses in the financial system will crystallise, highlighting the re-escalation of the conflict in Iran and increased AI-related debt issuance. – Reuters
An artificial intelligence research firm said on Wednesday AI agents tried to hack into a Canadian government website, casting the effort as a failed hacking attempt, while Canada said there were no indications its systems were compromised. – Reuters
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is becoming one of President Trump’s fiercest allies on AI at a critical juncture for the industry. – The Hill
OpenAI said it disrupted a “coordinated campaign” to distill and extract reasoning capabilities from its AI models, pointing the finger at a Chinese rival. – Cyberscoop
Tom Dobbins, executive director of the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center or WaterISAC, told CyberScoop the sector’s biggest ongoing weaknesses include exposed OT, vulnerable PLCs, insecure connections through integrators and poor cyber hygiene at smaller utilities, which have pushed the center to make threat sharing faster across the sector. – Cyberscoop
Russian hackers are increasingly targeting the smartphones of Ukrainian military personnel and government officials for espionage and financially motivated attacks, according to a Ukrainian government report published this week. – The Record
The Treasury Department sanctioned 10 people for their role in a lucrative scheme involving malware that allowed people to drain ATMs of their cash. – The Record
Vulnerability disclosures doubled between January and August, reaching a new peak of 10,740 last month, Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said Wednesday. – The Record
Editorial: There is no putting the AI genie back in the bottle. Attempts to restrain the technology’s development and spread are unlikely to succeed. The better course is what the Trump administration embraced this week: Keep innovating while developing better mechanisms for human control. Innovation and control are not competing goals. Increasingly, each will depend on the other. – Washington Post
Catherine Thorbecke writes: China has burdensome regulations in place surrounding AI; using it as the boogeyman is no longer a convincing excuse for inaction from lawmakers in Washington.If Chinese AI systems are just months behind, and the country’s all-out push for agents comes to fruition, it’s likely a matter of time before more concerning scenarios emerge from the other side of the Pacific. Policymakers should act before the next incident is more than just a warning shot.- Bloomberg
Defense
US drone startup Powerus, which is set to go public by merging with a company backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, aims to bring Ukrainian and other foreign technology to the US to help meet growing Pentagon demand, company executives said. – Reuters
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new command to oversee and coordinate drone development and deployment supporting overseas operations. – Bloomberg
U.S. Marines participated in a “first-of-its-kind mission” in the remote Arctic this summer, meant to test their ability to work with Norwegian and British troops in harsh conditions. – Defense News
The White House on Tuesday nominated Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. to lead the U.S. Space Command as its general, according to a congressional notice. – Defense News
President Donald Trump has nominated Vice Adm. John “Brad” Skillman to serve as the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer and become a four-star admiral. – Defensescoop