Know What's Happening in Defense
Know What's Happening in Defense
U.S. IDFC boosts reinsurance guarantees for Hormuz shipping to $40 billion
The U.S. International Development Finance Corp has doubled its reinsurance guarantees for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to $40 billion, adding major insurers such as AIG and Berkshire Hathaway. The step is intended to reinforce maritime security amid escalating regional tensions.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Kraken Robotics acquires Colvya Group for $615M
The Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are issuing an Area of Interest for a modular "harness" that can evaluate any AI model against mission‑specific benchmarks. The system must test isolated AI performance, human‑AI team outcomes, and resilience under chaotic, low‑information conditions. It will also incorporate automated red‑team adversarial testing and enforce vendor‑agnostic scoring. Proposals are due by March 24, signaling a rapid push for standardized AI assurance in defense operations.
Satellite imagery shows China rapidly expanding Antelope Reef in the Paracel Islands, deploying more than 30 dredgers and construction vessels. The reclamation effort, the first major South China Sea project since Beijing announced a halt over a decade ago, appears...
This is just my wild guess: If the IRGC continues to block the Strait of Hormuz and begins targeting China-linked vessels, Beijing may not rule out the possibility of deploying naval forces to escort commercial ships through the strait. That said, naval...
Did B-2s Just Drop GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators On Another Iranian Nuclear Site? Satellite imagery shows a prized hardened facility at Iran's Parchin military complex with three massive impact points in a neat row on top. https://t.co/iqrFn2XO2R
The UN sanctions committee warns that global jihadism has rebounded, with Al‑Qaeda’s core network now estimated at 25,000 members and its affiliates operating across the Sahel, Horn of Africa, and South Asia. Extremist groups are exploiting cheap commercial technology—satellite links,...
The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for nearly a month after a February continuing resolution expired without a new funding deal. Congressional attempts to pass a bipartisan funding bill have stalled, with the House approving a measure...
In this episode of Inside Counter‑Terrorism Policing, hosts discuss a harrowing incident where a young male planned a live‑streamed school massacre in Ukraine and even attempted to use a burning bomb. The team assembled an intelligence package, shared it with...
The Malta-flagged 50k ton Greek-owned tanker and Marshall Is-flagged 74k ton American-owned tanker is on fire in the anchorage off Iraq. It is suspected the ships were hit by Iranian unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The ships were involved...
President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing broke diplomatic isolation and used the Sino‑Soviet split to gain strategic leverage against the USSR. The move opened a channel that later presidents expanded into full diplomatic ties, WTO membership, and deep economic...
JTBC an Iranian Shahed drone has a range of about 2000 km For one to hit California, it would have to be launched from the middle of the ocean. Even smuggled into Hawaii, it wouldn't make it to CA. The only way...
U.S. defense contractor L3Harris, through its Trenchant surveillance‑tech division, was identified as a developer of the Coruna iOS exploit kit. Former employees disclosed that the kit, comprising roughly two dozen components originally built for a government surveillance client, has been...
The U.S. Marine Corps has issued a Sources‑Sought notice for a Multispectral Camouflage Overgarment (MCO) that can obscure Marines across visual, near‑infrared, short‑wave infrared, mid‑wave infrared and long‑wave infrared bands. The program targets delivery of 13,000 cloaks by 2027 and...
The FBI circulated a late‑February bulletin warning that Iran may attempt a surprise Shahed drone strike on California, potentially launched from an unknown vessel offshore. Shahed “suicide” drones, already deployed by Russia in Ukraine, represent a low‑cost, high‑impact weapon that...
I'm no Middle East expert, but looking at how Ukraine, without a Navy, destroyed the Russian Black Sea fleet using cheap drones, I would expect Iran, which is 3x larger than Ukraine, will find a way to block the Strait...
Evergreen argument. Unfortunately, I've heard this same argument many times on Russia ("Beijing should pressure Moscow" to deescalate with Ukraine), North Korea ("Beijing should coerce and pressure for denuclearization"), and Pakistan ("Beijing should press its partner" in at least two...
The U.S. Air Force captured its first public glimpse of a B‑21 Raider linking up with a KC‑135R Stratotanker for mid‑air refueling, a risky maneuver that validates the bomber’s operational envelope. The test, part of a series of flight trials,...
An oil tanker near Iraq's Umm Qasr port caught fire, with early reports indicating a possible direct attack on the vessel. Witnesses said multiple tankers were ablaze, suggesting a coordinated incident. The event adds to a series of recent assaults...
The Trump administration is reportedly weighing a covert special operation to seize any remaining enriched uranium in Iran’s stockpile. The plan, still under discussion, would involve a rapid raid on Iranian nuclear facilities to physically remove the material. Non‑proliferation experts...
The U.S. Air Force has positioned eight B‑1B Lancer and three B‑52H Stratofortress bombers at RAF Fairford, UK, to conduct Operation Epic Fury strikes against Iran. Forward‑based aircraft cut flight times to Iranian targets by more than half, enabling a rapid, high‑tempo...
Rheinmetall AG announced it will not submit a formal bid for laser‑communications specialist Mynaric AG, ending a brief period of speculation about a German “national solution” to block Rocket Lab’s $150 million acquisition. The withdrawal leaves Rocket Lab as the sole...
U.S. President Donald Trump told a Kentucky rally that the United States has "won" the war against Iran, claiming the destruction of 58 Iranian naval vessels. He emphasized that the U.S. will stay engaged to "finish the job" and avoid...
The U.S. Army has added Elbit Systems of America to the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC) development team, joining Anduril Industries and startup Rivet. Elbit will deliver and test its prototype hardware later this year as part of the SBMC...
President Donald Trump announced that the United States will draw 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next four months, the first release since 2022. The move comes as the U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran has pushed...
U.S. MQ‑9 Reaper drones are conducting persistent ISR and precision strikes against Iranian missile and drone launchers as part of Operation Epic Fury, having hit more than 5,500 targets since the conflict began. Iran’s air defenses have managed to down...
Former Trump deputy special envoy Morgan Ortagus defended the February 28 U.S.–Israel strikes on Iran, arguing they were a necessary response to a cumulative threat from Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and regional destabilization. She claimed the Trump administration had repeatedly offered...
G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to Russia sanctions while confronting the ripple effects of the U.S.–Israeli conflict on Iran and global energy markets. They agreed to deepen coordination with Gulf partners to safeguard shipping lanes and stabilize oil supplies. A...
The Michael V. Hayden Center at George Mason University is hosting a live‑streamed and in‑person webinar on March 11, 2026, featuring intelligence veteran Dr. Mark Lowenthal. Lowenthal will discuss his new book, Vigilance Is Not Enough: A History of United...
The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) released a short video titled “Chinese Influence and Cognitive Warfare,” examining how Beijing designs and deploys influence campaigns against adversaries. The piece outlines China’s long‑standing focus on controlling narratives both at home and abroad,...
Ukrainian drone and defense firms are rapidly localizing component production, now achieving 80‑90% domestic content for first‑level parts and aiming for 100% on‑shoring of critical systems. Companies such as The Fourth Law and Unwave are building a semiconductor fab to...
Global shipping’s reliance on Chinese Tier‑1 shipyards is simultaneously financing the People’s Liberation Army Navy. CSIS data shows these yards produce 40% of China’s commercial tonnage while building virtually every major warship, generating $165 billion in export revenue from 2019‑2024. Freight‑rate...
For decades, US military doctrine meant: if you break a country, you own the reconstruction. General "Spider" Marks says that calculus is gone. "We're just going to break it. And if you get back on that horse and you think...
How AI is turning Iran conflict into theater There’s a confluence of factors at play. AI coding tools mean people don’t need much technical skill to assemble open-source intelligence anymore, and chatbots can offer fast, if dubious, analysis of it. Yup.....
![[Wang Son-Taek] The Hidden Cost of War: Public Diplomacy](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/03/11/news-p.v1.20260311.929efa03846b4bb2b5cbda2a4133aa61_T1.jpg)
The piece examines how prolonged conflicts impose hidden costs beyond the battlefield, focusing on public diplomacy’s role in shaping perceptions and economic stability. It cites the recent 7% plunge in the KOSPI amid Middle‑East tensions as a market signal of...
UN Security Council Condemns #Iran Attacks Against Gulf Neighbors The resolution, proposed by Bahrain on behalf of GCC, decried Iran’s retaliation against civilian targets, including energy facilities, as an international law violation. @Magdalena_971 https://t.co/P9t8JHNDMg
Russian intel recruited ordinary citizens across Europe to post packages to the UK and Poland that turned out to contain explosives. I hadn't heard about this when the couriers were arrested. Now one has spoken about how he was tricked...
Iran confirmed that Mojtaba Khamenei, named the country’s third supreme leader on March 8, was wounded in the February 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The appointment was orchestrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a...
NEW FROM WAPO: The Iranian school building where scores of children were killed as the U.S. and Israel began their massive aerial campaign was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site, multiple people...
They gutted the team that operationally helps the US military avoid civilian casualties during war. Then we killed over 150 schoolgirls by accidentally bombing their school. This administration is torching American soft power.
Xygeni’s official GitHub Action was compromised through a tag‑poisoning attack that redirected the mutable v5 tag to a malicious commit containing a command‑and‑control implant. The attacker leveraged a stolen maintainer personal access token and a compromised GitHub App private key...
Thank you to everyone who read and commented on our story about the Pentagon shutting out photographers for publishing “unflattering” photos of Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth. As always, I’m reachable on Signal at scottnover.99 if there’s anything you think I...
"Can America and Israel finish the job? A conversation with John Spencer." I had a great talk w/ my dear friend @havivrettiggur on his "Ask Haviv Anything" podcast. We talk about strategy, uncertainty, and the price of waiting too long...
The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on March 12 demanding that Iran immediately stop its attacks on Gulf states and cease any interference with navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The measure passed with 13 votes in favor...
Iran is demanding as a condition to ending the war a pledge the the U.S. and Israel stop bombing it and killing its leaders. That's... eminently reasonable. https://t.co/XZ3jlXDTIP
The last 24 hours have brought the most sustained attacks from both sides since the conflict started. We could see this escalation spill into the Strait of Hormuz with mines and further maritime disruption. Full video analysis exclusively on...
President Donald Trump gave contradictory descriptions of the U.S. military campaign against Iran, calling it a short‑term "excursion" while also acknowledging it as a war. Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy pressed Trump for clarification, prompting the president to claim the...
Bombers In England Being Loaded With Bunker Busters A Sign Of Increasing Air Supremacy Over Iran There are now 15 American bombers that are flying strike missions against Iran from RAF Fairford. https://t.co/mveSNbKWeo
FBI recently sent warning to California police about intelligence it obtained from Feb that Iran "aspired" to launch drone strikes in the event the US attacked Iran. They planned to hit unspecified targets in the state from a vessel located...
Albanian parliament email system was targeted by the Iran‑linked hacking group Homeland Justice. The attackers sought to access or leak emails of senior political figures, and some content later appeared on Telegram. Albania’s National Cyber Security Authority launched an investigation,...
Israel's bombing of Lebanon has displaced 800,000 people. 13.5% of the population. That would be like 47 million people being displaced in the US. The population of Maryland, Colorado, Minnesota, South Carolina, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Utah combined.
Iran Missile Strike on Israel’s Satellite Communications Hub. Viral Footage of SES Ha’Ela Teleport Destruction Sparks Global Strategic Alarm https://t.co/aptNPBChhA
