Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel says it destroyed Hezbollah underground complex at Lebanon's Ali al-Taher Iranians are running out of gas as economic squeeze takes hold Iran is producing ballistic missiles again UN Nuclear watchdog confirms activity at Iran's Pickaxe Mountain WSJ Editorial: Trump eyes Pickaxe Mountain, again Washington Examiner Editorial: There is no ‘win-win’ with Vladimir Putin Iranian arms and advice helped Yemen's Houthis seize key Red Sea city, sources say Algeria cuts diplomatic ties with the UAE Saratoga Foundation’s Glen E. Howard: North Korea is backing Putin’s war at an unprecedented scale In a club of emerging powers, China and India vie for influence Putin’s bot army is targeting German and French elections, Sweden warns 25 Years after 9/11, Al Qaeda still has a home in AfghanistanIn The News
Israel
The Israeli military destroyed Hezbollah underground infrastructure at the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday, adding that the operation completed the consolidation of a security zone in the area. – Reuters
Israel opened its first embassy in Slovenia on Wednesday, boosting relations with the small European Union nation even as ties sour with some longtime allies over its policy on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. – Associated Press
From blocking a mammoth Turkish flotilla to new explanations about how the navy’s secret Shayetet 13 has radically changed how it operates, to a sword of Damocles that the Navy holds over Lebanon and Syria, to new details of naval attacks and intelligence versus Gaza, Iran, and Yemen, The Jerusalem Post has recently heard a host of revelations. – Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed that Iran would not obtain nuclear weapons as long as he remains prime minister, after US President Donald Trump said that Tehran was attempting to rebuild its nuclear weapons capabilities. – Jerusalem Post
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to set Iran back decades if the Islamic regime attacked Israel in a Rosh Hashanah message to Iranian civilians on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
From the mid-1990s until August 2024, a running line of top Mossad and IDF officials made it their mission to block Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. – Jerusalem Post
Somaliland is willing to contribute up to 2,000 soldiers to the International Stabilization Force planned for Gaza but is waiting for the US or Israel to ask, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
Israel’s new top diplomatic envoy to Turkey, Joel Lion, presented his credentials to the Turkish foreign ministry in Ankara on Wednesday, Jerusalem announced Thursday. – Times of Israel
Ariel Harkham writes: So the strategic question is not how Israel preserves the military superiority it demonstrated in this war. It is how Israel prevents that superiority from becoming the mythology that blinds and invites the next one. That means adapting doctrine to a simple truth: fortresses invite siege, while maneuver creates uncertainty. Israel learned after 1967 how quickly victory can harden into complacency, and in 1973 how brutally an adapting enemy can exploit it. For a small country that cannot afford major mistakes, initiative is not merely an operational advantage. It is Israel’s most important doctrinal asset, and complacency its mortal vice. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
The economic fallout from the war and the American blockade is adding to the pain facing ordinary Iranians who are already struggling with a plunging currency, worsening joblessness and rising prices for everything from food to trash bags. – Wall Street Journal
Iran has resumed its production of ballistic missiles using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities, officials from the U.S. and Middle East familiar with the matter said, eroding what the U.S. and Israel have touted as a major achievement of the war. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. government announced new sanctions on Thursday against firms and individuals that it says are aiding Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in the Middle East as it intensified its campaign to isolate Iran economically. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said he did not regret going to war against Iran despite the impact the conflict may have on the November U.S. midterm elections. – Reuters
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday the Trump administration will sanction a large bank next week as it continues to apply economic pressure on Tehran to end a more than six-month U.S. conflict with Iran. – Reuters
Mohsen Rezaei made his comments a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board of governors passed a resolution reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council for breaching its non-proliferation obligations. – Reuters
Iran has temporarily suspended a 10% charge on freight fees for foreign vessels carrying imported or exported oil, gas and liquid petroleum products to and from Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday. – Reuters
Vessel transits via the Strait of Hormuz fell on Wednesday to seven from 12 the previous day, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Thursday, with levels also below the 10-day average of 14. – Reuters
The United Nations atomic watchdog said it’s observed construction activity at Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily-fortified site suspected of housing nuclear-related activities. – Bloomberg
Editorial: That sense has been reinforced by the lack of U.S. action against the site in this war and during the 12-Day War in June 2025. Mr. Trump has threatened the Pickaxe Mountain facility, and CNN reports signs of U.S. work on weapons to overcome the granite shield. “We’ll be hitting that area pretty soon,” the President said this July. “There’s not a thing they can do about it.” Yet the strike never came. […] The President seems to want to limit escalation with Iran, preferring to squeeze the regime via blockade while limiting the rise of oil prices. But advances at Pickaxe Mountain undermine Mr. Trump’s message that the war must continue to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. What are we doing about the regime’s most dangerous facility? – Wall Street Journal
Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his government needs tens of billions of additional dollars to keep fighting and pay bills through the end of the year. – Wall Street Journal
Since the start of his full-scale war, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has tried to drive wedges between Ukraine and its Western backers, warning of possible grave consequences as they supplied Kyiv with money and weapons. – New York Times
An incursion by a Russian drone into Moldova’s airspace this week forced the authorities there to temporarily ground several flights, including one carrying President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the Moldovan government said on Thursday. – New York Times
As relations between Moscow and Berlin reached their lowest point since the Cold War, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia stood before reporters last week and ripped into his German counterpart, Chancellor Friedrich Merz. – New York Times
At least two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Tula region, while eight people were injured in Russian air strikes which caused a fire in a nine-storey apartment building in Kyiv on Friday morning, the authorities said. – Reuters
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday there would be no trilateral meeting on how to end the war before the elections in Russia. Zelenskiy said Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators were in constant contact and he hoped for progress in talks on energy and grain at the end of September after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. – Reuters
Yuri decided to stick shatter-resistant film onto the windows of his Moscow home in August after a drone blast blew shards of glass into his friend’s apartment, causing minor injuries to those inside. – Reuters
Canada has agreed a C$350 million aid package for Kyiv to acquire air defense interceptors, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. – Reuters
Russia’s recruitment of foreign nationals to fight in its war against Ukraine amounts to “human trafficking,” according to a report published Thursday by Amnesty International. – Politico
Editorial: But that is not true. There are inescapable political, cultural, and ideological differences between America and its foreign opponents, Russia today as much as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran in recent decades. The United States must be clear-eyed. Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has posed the greatest challenge to NATO since the end of the Cold War more than three decades ago. The Trump administration should make more trips to Kyiv and fewer to Moscow. Its envoys should abandon the idea that Putin’s Russia may have objectives similar to our own and those of our allies. Wars have winners and losers. Putin intends to win and make both Ukraine and NATO lose. It’s the job of American foreign policymakers to ensure that he doesn’t succeed. – Washington Examiner
Luke Coffey writes: Moldova has been one of the few European countries to answer the Trump administration’s call to reduce tariffs on American imports to 0%, for example, while simultaneously taking important steps to diversify its energy supplies. It does not take much imagination to see how a localized confrontation over a Moldovan town or village along the Dniester could rapidly become a major geopolitical crisis in Europe. While policymakers debate where Russia might test NATO, they should also think more creatively about where Moscow might escalate without directly confronting the alliance. The warning signs are there. Now is not the time to look away. – Washington Examiner
Andrew Ryvkin writes: Russia’s hybrid war has not succeeded in its likely purpose: stopping weapons, money, and intelligence from flowing into Ukraine from Europe. Kyiv has more arms, funds, and—judging by its strikes on Russian soil—intelligence than ever before. Neither has the Russian campaign taken out a European satellite that supplies Ukraine with intelligence, say, or destroyed a shipment of Patriot missiles. But Putin persists in this campaign for a reason. Through inexpensive means, expendable operatives, and a steady stream of chilling leaks, the Kremlin has millions of Westerners braced for it to wage a full-scale war against Europe. Regardless of whether that war is likely, Putin will be demanding concessions in exchange for bringing it to an end. – The Atlantic
Yemen
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen seized a key port city on the Red Sea on Thursday, providing what could be substantial leverage for the Iranian regime in the ongoing U.S.-Iran war. – Washington Post
After four years of stalemate, Yemen is teetering on the verge of all-out war again, further threatening the stability of the Middle East. Fighting is escalating inside the impoverished country between the Iran-backed Houthi militia and Yemeni government forces — as well as across its borders, between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. Analysts say that all sides have an incentive to ramp up the conflict. – New York Times
The lightning Houthi advance down Yemen’s Red Sea coast this week came with direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Iran’s war with the U.S., according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
Algeria abruptly severed diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, citing what it described as a series of “provocative or hostile” actions by Abu Dhabi but giving no specific reason for the move. – Reuters
The United Arab Emirates has pledged to invest €40 billion in Germany to support its industry, following a meeting between the countries’ leaders on Thursday to strengthen ties amid economic uncertainty and conflict. – Reuters
Iranian strikes damaged multiple American military aircraft this week on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, a U.S. official told Reuters. The U.S. military, the highest-funded in the world, suffered material damage even before Iran’s strikes on Tuesday. This includes the destruction of more than two dozen drones, Iran striking fighter jets, and aircraft being lost to accidents. – Reuters
Morocco’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that no evidence established involvement of Rabat in the mass crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July, adding it rejected being drawn into Spain’s domestic political battles. – Reuters
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) called President Trump twice Thursday, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as the Iran-backed group closed in on a vital Red Sea chokepoint, two U.S. officials told Axios. – Axios
Cudi Zerey writes: Sinjar suggests a different standard. Success should be measured by whether vulnerable communities receive protection before mass violence begins, whether they have a voice in decisions affecting their future and whether they can return home safely after conflict ends. The Yazidi genocide was not only a tragedy of the past. It remains a warning for the future. The lesson of Sinjar is that warning signs are often visible long before mass violence begins. Governments and international organizations already possess many of the tools needed to protect vulnerable communities. What remains missing is the political will to act before catastrophe unfolds. Ten years after Sinjar, preventing the next atrocity will require moving protection from rhetoric to action. – The Hill
Korean Peninsula
The South Korean government is nearing the announcement of a major energy investment project in the U.S. to support America’s artificial-intelligence build-out, a long-awaited development of the trade deal struck between Washington and Seoul last year. – Wall Street Journal
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun discussed the situation in the Middle East, including freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, in a telephone call on Friday with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, Seoul’s foreign ministry said. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday he would host the first South Korea-Central Asia summit next week, bringing together the leaders of five Central Asian countries as Seoul seeks to deepen economic and strategic ties with the resource-rich region. – Reuters
Glen E. Howard writes: The U.S. should embrace such initiatives. And it should stop undermining its existing alliances in the region. Recommitting to exercises with South Korea would be a good first step. As then-U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned when North Korean troops first arrived in Kursk, co-belligerency in Europe “will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific.” Indeed, the front lines of both theaters are now one and the same: For both Kim and Putin, the Indo-Pacific begins in Ukraine. – Washington Post
Syrus Solo Jin writes: Of all U.S. allies over the last two turbulent years, South Korea, along with Japan, has been among the most reliable and cooperative, willing to increase its financial and military contributions and take on responsibilities of regional leadership. Whether the United States wishes to retrench responsibly or eventually seek to try to hold on to its old mantle as a global leader, it will need Korea on its side. If Seoul does deploy forces to Hormuz, it is likely to further inflame anti-U.S. attitudes among Koreans, which have already shot up rapidly in the past year. In other words, Washington may very well be squandering a valuable alliance in pursuit of a futile war. – Foreign Policy
China
Twenty-five people were killed on Thursday after a fire broke out on a cargo ship that was docked in Qingdao, China, state media outlets reported. – New York Times
A Hong Kong court sentenced two pro-democracy activists to seven years in prison on Friday after they were convicted for inciting subversion, with judges highlighting their use of the phrase “end one-party dictatorship” in their political activities. – Reuters
China has bought around 1 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this week, four traders told Reuters, as the world’s top oilseed buyer steps up purchases ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month. – Reuters
Rowena He writes: Last week another injustice occurred: Joshua Wong, the young democracy leader who is already serving a prison sentence, pleaded guilty in a separate national security case. In 2012, Wong — then 16 — led resistance against Beijing’s attempt to impose Chinese nationalist education in schools. With media tycoon and activist Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in February, the alliance leaders convicted in August and Wong now awaiting sentencing, the CCP is crushing three generations of Hong Kong’s democracy fighters within a matter of months. – Washington Post
South Asia
Leaders of a group of emerging economies will gather in New Delhi on Saturday as wars and soaring oil prices test the unity of their coalition that seeks to reshape a global order dominated by the United States. – New York Times
Who speaks for the developing world: President Xi Jinping of China or Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India? That is the question that will hang over a sprawling convention hall in New Delhi this weekend as leaders of nearly a dozen emerging-market countries convene for the annual BRICS summit. – New York Times
India is pushing to link central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) across BRICS nations for cross-border payments at a summit later this week, despite political and technical hurdles that could limit progress, two sources familiar with the discussions said. – Reuters
In the last 15 months, India curtailed nearly 11 terawatt-hours of solar generation — enough electricity to power about 10 million homes, according to government data and research by energy think tank Ember. That solar power went unused even as extreme heat and poor monsoon rains drove up demand for power in India for cooling and pumping groundwater for agriculture. – Associated Press
Asia
Japan aims to firmly address the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago at a summit meeting planned to be organised with North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Thursday. – Reuters
Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim is making a rare visit to Europe, attending a forum on democracy in Italy along with Taipei’s foreign minister, the presidential office said on Friday. – Reuters
Hundreds of people demonstrated outside Israel’s embassy in Bangkok on Thursday to demand foreigners show more respect for Thailand’s laws and culture as public discontent over bad behavior by visitors has increasingly focused on Israeli tourists. – Associated Press
A Sydney businessman was sentenced to three years and six months in jail after becoming the first person in Australia to be convicted of reckless foreign interference under laws introduced in 2018. – Bloomberg
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev appointed his eldest daughter to lead the Tashkent International Financial Center while remaining chief of his administration, further strengthening her political clout. – Bloomberg
Joseph Damond writes: Tariffs or other trade barriers on these imports would simply raise consumer prices and make U.S. AI companies less globally competitive. The administration has said recently it is considering new trade initiatives to promote semiconductor and electronics investment to relocate to the United States, aimed at reducing import reliance. Both the specifics of such a plan and its impact on the United States’ voracious appetite for imports in this sector remain to be seen. But blaming Vietnam or other neighboring countries of China for the these imports, or for the bilateral trade deficits that result, is clearly wrong-headed. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Europe
Britain’s sanctions against Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have sparked public division among British rabbis, with many framing their reaction in terms of their own fears about threats against Jews in Britain. – New York Times
Swedes will vote on Sunday in a tight election that has effectively become a referendum on whether the far-right Sweden Democrats should join the government and cement their journey from pariahs to trusted partners in a country once seen as one of Europe’s most liberal. – Reuters
Spain’s lower house voted on Thursday to grant citizenship to Sahrawis born when Madrid administered the North African territory of Western Sahara as a colony, a move that could inflame delicate relations with Morocco. – Reuters
Britain has spent nearly $40 million on SpaceX satellite services, deepening its reliance on Elon Musk’s company for military communications despite growing European concerns about dependence on U.S. security infrastructure. – Reuters
A British man plotted with Russian spies to sabotage a drone factory in England, prosecutors said Thursday in a London court. – Associated Press
Scottish First Minister John Swinney called for new talks with the UK government about Scotland’s constitutional future after Prime Minister Andy Burnham appeared to soften Westminster’s longstanding opposition to a second referendum on leaving the UK. – Bloomberg
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a ‘direct threat’ was averted at a border crossing with Ukraine on Wednesday night and warned of further incidents linked to Russia in the near future. – Politico
German officials must do more to convince voters of continued support for Ukraine and the country’s commitments to NATO, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. – Politico
Russia poses a threat to upcoming elections in Europe’s biggest democracies and social media platforms must “step up” the fight against Moscow’s networks of bots, Sweden’s disinformation defense chief has warned. – Politico
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has publicly endorsed a proposed space venture between Airbus, Leonardo and Thales — a rare intervention by a top EU official in an ongoing competition matter — as the satellite-makers seek Brussels’ approval for the deal. – Politico
Joseph C. Sternberg writes: Europe’s real challenge is to reform its welfare state, unleashing entrepreneurship and restoring fiscal sanity. Whatever else you can say for them, Europe’s insurgent parties invariably dodge these challenges. The Vance conceit is that Europe requires some grand (and preferably transgressive) movement like the AfD to shake it from its slough. The Continent instead needs politicians capable of hammering out settlements on immigration and social welfare that can restore some element of social stability and strengthen economic growth. Whatever else Sunday’s state election portends, it probably delays rather than accelerates these vital moments of reckoning for Germany. – Wall Street Journal
Africa
Ghana’s mining regulator is developing minimum wage and tender benchmarks for contract mining firms, seeking to curb aggressive underbidding as the country pushes miners to outsource more operations to local contractors, a senior official said on Thursday. – Reuters
Chad is lifting import duties on some grains and banning exports of other agricultural products to avert food shortages after intense heat and drought damaged harvests across the country. – Reuters
A fire in Congo’s rebel-controlled city of Bukavu killed at least 24 children as it destroyed two schools and burned down around 300 wooden houses, an official from the rebel administration told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
South Africa must enshrine its reform process in law to guarantee the momentum gained under President Cyril Ramaphosa endures after he leaves office, said the head of a key business lobby group. – Bloomberg
Justice Malala writes: EU President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce a deeper relationship with Canada, ranging from trade to security, at her state of the union address on Sept. 16 that Carney will attend, Bloomberg News reported this week. The new strategy is born of necessity, given recent hostility from the US despite South Africa being the country’s largest trading partner in Africa and Canada coming second in the Americas, after Mexico. Ramaphosa and Carney have been forced to pivot from decades-old trade and diplomatic ties to the US and embrace a diversified, still-evolving “multipolar” world. While Trump renames old lakes, these leaders are giving us a glimpse into what the future of globalization might look like. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Cryptocurrency billionaire Fred Ehrsam spent months living in a luxury hotel in Caracas, building a rolodex of connections in a long-shot bid to become one of Venezuela’s biggest oil producers. – Wall Street Journal
When Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada gathers his cabinet in Banff, Alberta, on Thursday, two questions are likely to loom over the semiannual retreat: whether the country should keep answering President Trump’s trade retaliation with more tariffs of its own, and how to help the hardest-hit businesses and workers. – New York Times
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the United States would work with the new leader of Peru to crack down on organized crime groups in the country, but gave no details on any plans for cooperation. – New York Times
New Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella should fully implement the peace accord signed with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas a decade ago to help unite a divided country, his predecessor Juan Manuel Santos said. – Reuters
Thousands of Brazilians rallied in Sao Paulo on Monday to boost right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro, just weeks before the country’s October 4 election. But the presidential hopeful may not have been the most consequential figure there. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday he believes it is necessary to discuss term limits for Supreme Court justices. – Reuters
Brazil’s Federal Police started an operation Thursday to investigate the alleged misuse of public funds involving a film about former President Jair Bolsonaro. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Even if there’s no revolt, raising the necessary private capital will be a challenge for a company with a controversial leader, pitching to investors who’ll have to stand in line behind the US and Venezuela for their share of the profits. In addition, plans for new investment by Chevron Corp. and others might stall if the outlook deteriorates. In the end, this supposed breakthrough could serve to cut oil supplies, not expand them. Polls say that Venezuelans overwhelmingly supported the US operation to remove their former leader, Nicolas Maduro. That gave Washington a chance to guide their country to a brighter future and a lasting alliance with the US. This deal puts it all at risk — and quite likely for nothing. – Bloomberg
United States
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was given access to military aircraft for his travels across the country, including as part of Republicans’ push ahead of the midterm elections, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss his travel. – Washington Post
Vice President JD Vance took the unusual step over the spring and summer of calling U.S. military commanders in the Middle East, Europe and Asia directly, seeking their unvarnished assessments of the Iran war, according to current and former officials. – New York Times
The recent departure of Venezuela and Chad brings the number of countries to pull out of the court in the past year to five, joining Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The surge in withdrawals comes as the ICC faces hostility from Washington and a leadership crisis after ousting its own chief prosecutor. – Associated Press
Congressional scrutiny of foreign influence operations in the United States is widening, with a powerful panel of lawmakers set to hold a hearing next week examining how nonprofits and activist networks serve as potential “Trojan horses” for foreign adversaries. – Fox News
Zainab Al-Suwaij writes: Denouncing the spiritual heritage of 1.6 billion people plays into the hands of Islamists, and overlooks the many Muslims who gave their lives in the war on terror. The first condition of making America great is safety. The U.S. government can’t keep kicking down the road the problem of Islamism in America. The American people should stop giving platforms and salaries to people who treat America as a hotel and an ATM rather than a treasured homeland. To my fellow Americans who offered solidarity after 9/11: Thank you for protecting me. Now protect our country. Please open your eyes and confront rather than coddle the extremists abusing our democratic system. – Wall Street Journal
Sean P. Duffy writes: But by leveraging public-private partnerships, our new program will facilitate the rapid build-out of this critical infrastructure at no additional cost to the taxpayer and no impact to the safety of existing transportation assets. This new initiative from the Transportation Department is an open invitation to the private sector to work with us on building the critical infrastructure our nation desperately needs. Initial feedback on the program is due Sept. 12. I hope innovators will answer this call to action and be a part of something special. This is an opportunity to solidify America as the No. 1 place in the world for the next wave of technological innovation. Under President Donald Trump, this administration will continue to slash red tape, reduce the delays, reverse skyrocketing project costs and get America building again. – Washington Post
Cybersecurity
Growing numbers of U.S. lawmakers are calling for new rules to govern AI systems after dire warnings from two Anthropic researchers that rapidly progressing artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of the human race in the not-too-distant future. – Reuters
Anthropic on Thursday said it had disrupted several allegedly malicious uses of its Claude models over the past eight months, including a suspected Russia-linked cyber espionage campaign and efforts by Chinese AI firms it accused of trying to extract and replicate Claude’s capabilities. – Reuters
The European Union’s corridors of power were one of the few places over the past 48 hours not overtaken by a frenzy after an Anthropic employee announced he was quitting, with a stark warning that the people building AI “earnestly believe” that the artificial intelligence models they’re building “could kill us all by the end of the decade.” – Politico
The United States and allied governments are “buying time for our systems to become more secure” as artificial intelligence advances and spreads, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said Thursday. – Cyberscoop
U.S. Cyber Command has a new artificial intelligence leader, as the country’s military races to integrate the transformative technology into digital operations. – The Record
The new commander of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Force (NCF) stepped into the role this week, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment. – The Record
New Zealand imposed new sanctions on Russian hackers, technology companies and Kremlin-linked organizations over their roles in supporting Moscow’s war against Ukraine. – The Record
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released an alert to the financial industry alongside a comprehensive study of more than 33,000 cyber fraud incident reports filed between September 2023 and December 2025. – The Record
David Ignatius writes: Their investigation, inevitably, was done by AI agents. But were they telling the truth? “We cannot rule out that [the model] lied or deliberately presented a misleading picture in some of its analysis. … Although we did not notice specific cases of … lying in its analysis, we are not confident we would have detected it if it occurred.” To borrow from the language of philosophy, we’ll need an AI version of epistemology, to understand how thinking machines know what they know. And we’ll need a required course in AI ethics to help these superintelligent models — to force them, if we can — to distinguish between right and wrong. – Washington Post
Steven Adler writes: The company also disclosed data about its progress toward recursive self-improvement. Those gestures need to be backed up with more aggressive action. On Tuesday, OpenAI just so happened to reveal the existence of yet another secret model that the company claimed was “significantly more capable” than Astra. The current pace of A.I. development is blistering; and yet there is so much more the A.I. companies could do to relieve imminent danger, and to lay bare the gambles they are taking with all our futures. The window to ensure we are heading to a bright future, and away from catastrophe, is closing fast. – New York Times
Defense
A drone company backed by Erik Prince—the Blackwater founder and an ally to President Trump—is buying one of Ukraine’s leading makers of battlefield robots, an early sign of consolidation across the country’s sprawling drone industry. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps recently deployed the sea service’s long-range Containerized Launching System and Strike Master Coastal Defense System to Norway as part of Operation Atlantic City 26 and NATO’s Arctic Sentry enhanced Vigilance Activity. – USNI News
The top general in charge of securing and defending the Pentagon’s cyber infrastructure said Thursday that decades of delayed maintenance has left DOD networks increasingly vulnerable in the AI age, adding to the drumbeat of warnings across the field about agent-instigated hacks. – Defensescoop
The Defense Innovation Unit will soon sponsor approved startups and non-traditional companies with certain temporary security clearances so they can participate in classified conversations to fully grasp the U.S. military’s real demands, ahead of winning major Pentagon contracts. – Defensescoop
Following a commitment by the Army to transition to the Joint Laser Weapon System program within the next two years, the Pentagon’s critical technology chief is putting the pressure on other services to do the same. – Defensescoop
Long War
Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks, powerful agencies and vast legal authorities created to stop another terrorist catastrophe are being turned inward, with the Trump administration using many of those powers to round up immigrants, battle drug traffickers and target political dissent. – Washington Post
Twenty five years ago, Osama bin Laden led the planning of Al Qaeda’s attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, from a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan, where he lived as their guest. – New York Times
Editorial: A crucial lesson of 9/11 is that the terrorists wanted to destroy America not for what it did but for what it is. They loathed our freedom and prosperity, and our adversaries still do. One mistake that led to 9/11 was underestimating that loathing and the inhumanity it could produce. They will seek mass destruction if they gain the ability. By all means honor the firemen and police and others who gave their lives on 9/11. But honor the dead as well by recalling the horror of that day and resolving to do what is needed so it doesn’t happen again. – Wall Street Journal
Peter Bergen writes: Finally, in responding to threats, we are potentially our own worst enemy. This story is well enough known, but worth repeating. We didn’t need to go to war in Iraq. Unscrupulous politicians can exploit our lesser instincts for their own ends, often to our detriment. We can all hope that America and the world won’t face again the kind of surprise attack that Bin Laden launched against the United States on Sept. 11. But at a moment of extraordinary disruption and uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to see clearly the facts about Al Qaeda, Sept. 11 and its aftermath, in case we do. – New York Times
Sean Durns writes: Rumors were spread by the Egyptians that Azzam was guilty of mismanaging money and that he may have been a CIA plant. In Peshawar, fights broke out in mosques between supporters of the different cliques, and placards appeared demanding that Azzam be put on trial. An explosive was soon discovered under the rostrum of a mosque where Azzam led prayers. Not long after, on Nov. 24, 1989, a roadside bomb killed Azzam and two of his sons as they drove to the mosque. Azzam’s murder remains unsolved. But his bloody legacy is undeniable. We’re still living with it today. – Washington Examiner
Riley McCabe writes: A more ambitious strategy would reach even further upstream: improved access to mental health care and a greater emphasis on treatment for men, stronger support for families and students, safeguards that keep firearms from people at risk of committing political violence, and online mechanisms that make threats easier to report and content glorifying violence harder to spread. Today, 25 years after 9/11, the United States should preserve the capabilities that have made another organized attack on that scale far harder to carry out. But those tools cannot by themselves address the more diffuse threat that remains. Preventing more attacks today requires greater attention to the behaviors and circumstances that offer opportunities to intervene. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Javid Ahmad writes: Afghans have watched the United States swing for years between two extremes: trying to remake their country and trying to forget it exists. Neither approach worked. Disengagement has neither erased terrorism nor ended Afghanistan’s ability to produce threats beyond its borders. If anything, neglect has made those threats easier to miss until they return. A narrower, more realistic U.S. approach lies between those extremes, one that protects American interests without Washington trying to control everything. Through such a middle course, the United States can maintain security relationships in the country without deploying forces, dialogue with the Taliban under clear conditions without endorsing its rule, help Afghans without financing the regime, and compete with China and Russia without turning Afghanistan into another battlefield. Twenty-five years after 9/11, the hard lesson is that America still cannot afford to look away. – Wilson Center