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From left, FBI Director Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, testify during the House Select Intelligence Committee hearing titled “Worldwide Threats Assessment,” in Longworth building on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. The witnesses fielded questions on the Signal chat, about attacks against Houthis in Yemen, that accidentally included a reporter.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA

Will Trump find a fall guy for Signal chat revelations?

The drip, drip, drip of revelations about the Trump administration’s Signal chat continued Wednesday as The Atlantic published screenshots that showed senior officials sharing military plans on the messaging app. “1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets),” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote at 11:44 a.m. on March 15, two hours before the United States bombed the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

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Israel Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir shake hands as the Israeli government approve Netanyahu's proposal to reappoint Itamar Ben-Gvir as minister of National Security, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusaelm, March 19, 2025

REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon

Israel gets “budget of war” amid new plans for Gaza and West Bank

Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday approved its 2025 budget by a vote of 66 to 52, days before a March 31 deadline that would have otherwise triggered an election. Described as a “budget of war, and with God’s help … a budget of victory,” by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the bill includeda 21% increase in spending over 2024, with a record defense budget of 110 billion shekels (US$30 billion) out of a total budget of 756 billion (US$205 billion).
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National Security Advisor Michael Waltz speaks at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Chris Kleponis/Pool/Sipa USA

Signal failure: Trump team includes journalist in top secret plans

Washington is buzzing over a major security breach that saw the editor of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, mistakenly added to a Signal group chat that included US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, VP JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The group coordinated a war plan and sent real-time operational details about US strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, sharing classified information on an external app without noticing that Goldberg was on the chat.

The account seemingly associated with Vance wrote: “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,” with Hegseth’s apparent account replying, “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC.” But Vance’s account also suggested that US strikes on the Houthis were a “mistake.” “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” the account explained.

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- YouTube

Is Europe finally ready to defend itself?

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Tabiano, Italy.

How serious is Europe about really beefing up its defense and rearming?

It is very serious indeed, although it's different in different parts of Europe. If you look at the EU countries, they have been increasing their defense spending over the last few years by roughly a third. That's a hell of a lot of money.

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President Donald Trump talks to the media next to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with a Tesla car in the background, at the White House on March 11, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Report: Pentagon set to reveal secret China war strategy to … Elon Musk

Elon Musk may have a big day ahead. On Friday, according to the New York Times, he’ll reportedly be made privy to war plans for a US military conflict with China. But President Donald Trump has notably denied that Musk will be briefed on China during the visit.

While discussions about such a confrontation within the walls of the Pentagon are nothing new — defense officials have been war-gaming such a scenario for years — this would be a novel and expanded advisory role for the man at the helm of DOGE, the agency that has federal workers dodging pink slips.

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Lars Klingbeil (l), Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, and Friedrich Merz, CDU Chairman and Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, talk at the end of the 213th plenary session of the 20th legislative period in the German Bundestag.

Will Germany dump its debt brake?

Germany’s government is in a state of uncertainty as the outgoing government races to push through a huge, and highly controversial, new spending package before its term ends early this spring. The bill includes hundreds of billions of dollars for defense spending and would require Germany to reform its constitutionally mandated “debt brake,” which limits how much the government can borrow. Changing the constitution requires approval from two-thirds of the Bundestag and the approval of the Constitutional Court.
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A Ukrainian serviceman searches for a target with a US Stinger air defense missile launcher on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Andriy Andriyenko/SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

US cuts off intelligence sharing with Ukraine

The US cut off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine this week, officials announced Wednesday. This move, which follows an announcement from President Donald Trump that halts US weapons provision to Ukraine’s military, will cripple Ukraine’s ability to monitor Russian troop movements and defend against missile and drone strikes on its cities. Unlike the weapons cutoff, the loss of US intelligence will have immediate battlefield effects.

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A low-angle view of a video camera.

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Hard Numbers: Cash for footage, Blackstone bets on AI data, Military tech is thriving, Adobe’s AI powers

4: Social media creators are selling their unused video footage to AI companies hungry for content to train their generative AI models. OpenAI, Google, and others are reportedly paying up to $4 a minute to license this footage.

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