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defense
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.
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.
The trick is not getting caught: Before The Atlanticposted receipts for its original article, Hegseth flatly denied that anyone had been “texting war plans.” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the chat didn’t contain any “intelligence equities.” After the screenshots dropped, Gabbard denied lying to senators, telling a House hearing on Wednesday that her Tuesday testimony “was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof, on the details that were posted there.”
Deflect, deflect: President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said Wednesday that the intense focus on this chat group was “all a witch hunt.” He also suggested that the Signal messaging app was faulty and that his predecessor, Joe Biden, was to blame for not having struck Yemen earlier – but the US under Biden did lead allied strikes against the Houthis in Yemen last year.
Legal tactics: Rather than punish someone inside the government ranks, the Trump administration may instead go after The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was inadvertently added to the chat and published the screenshots.
“The Trump administration is very likely to target Goldberg with some legal repercussions, though runs the risk of keeping the story in the headlines as new angles emerge,” according to Eurasia Group US Director Clayton Allen.
For more insights on Signal-gate, check out Ian Bremmer’s latest Quick Take here.
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
Israel gets “budget of war” amid new plans for Gaza and West Bank
It also included a series of tax hikes that were heavily criticized by opposition parties. Outside the Knesset, demonstrators protested the government’s failure to secure the release of the remaining 59 Israeli hostages as well asrecent moves by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss the head of Israel’s intelligence agency and its attorney general.
For all the protests, the budget’s passage represents “a significant political win for Netanyahu,” according to Eurasia Group managing director Firas Maksad.
“With greater room to maneuver politically from here on, the big question is if the prime minister will be more flexible on moving towards phase two of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, thereby beginning to bring the conflict with Hamas to close,” Maksad added.
A fund for war? Israel is reportedly preparing amajor ground offensive in Gaza after the end of the recent two-month ceasefire, includingseizing additional territories and potentially occupying the enclave. “If there are not renewed hostage negotiations, then the only alternative left is to resume the fighting,” warned Eyal Hulata, former head of Israel’s National Security Council. “And there are serious plans.”
Other plans include creating new settlements on the West Bank. Last week, Israel’s security cabinet greenlit a decision to split off 13 “neighborhoods” of existing West Bank settlements, established decades ago without authorization, from their “mother settlement,” creating independent settlements. The Palestinian Authority condemned the move as well as increased Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank as “an unprecedented escalation in the confiscation of Palestinian lands.”
Tensions in the West Bank have been escalating for months. On Monday, the Oscar-winning Palestinian director of “No Other Land,” Hamdan Ballal, was detained by Israeli forces on accusations of “rock throwing,” which he denied, after being attacked by settlers in the village of Susya. Ballal was released Tuesday and said he was beaten and blindfolded for 24 hours while in custody, and the Israeli military has not responded to the allegation.
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz speaks at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, March 7, 2025.
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.
Was it genuine? Yes, a spokesperson for the National Security Council confirmed that the exchange was authentic. In a statement Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also appeared to confirm the story but said at the time that US President Donald Trump remained confident in his national security team.
Still, Waltz may have broken the law by including Goldberg, and the use of Signal for official communications may have violated the Espionage Act. Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress condemned the mistake, with Democrats calling for Waltz to be dismissed and demanding an investigation.
When he first heard about the incident from reporters, Trump appeared unconcerned, quipping that he wasn’t a big fan of The Atlantic. But later, White House officials said an investigation was underway and that Trump would decide Waltz’s fate in the next day or two as he took in reports of the incident.
When asked about the chat on Monday, Hegseth referred to Goldberg as a “discredited, so-called journalist,” adding that “Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say about that.”
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.
And if you look forward, I think there's a division between, say, Germany, Poland, Nordic Baltic states. You will see substantial further increases in defense spending there. There's more a question mark in the Mediterranean region, Greece support, where there is more hesitancy to do the rapid buildup of forces that is required.
Then, there is the problem of integrating defense industries and integrating command and control efforts. But we are undoubtedly at the new stage when it comes to developing serious integrated European defense capabilities, hopefully, to operate them together with the United States. But, as things are, also have the ability to operate them in the future more independently.
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.
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.
The Tesla CEO was, according to the NYT report, invited to visit America’s five-sided symbol of strength by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who will lead a slide presentation detailing the operational plan, aka O-plan, from early indications of a possible threat from China through to full-on engagement.
Is there a conflict of interest? Good question. Pundits are wondering whether Musk, who helms both SpaceX and Tesla and has plenty of financial investments in China, should be let in on state secrets about how the US might fight a hypothetical war with China. Should Beijing get wind of the plans, it would help China prepare, giving it the advantage.
But, on the other hand ... the man who’s driving bids to reduce the federal deficit may need to know how much money is required to keep American war-fighting capabilities afloat. The White House has noted that Musk would recuse himself in the case of such conflicts of interest.
We’ll be keeping an eye on Musk’s visit and any fallout.
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?
What is the debt brake? A measure that requires the federal and state governments to maintain balanced budgets, effectively prohibiting them from borrowing a penny more than they can repay.
This is a big deal historically in a country that has been committed to fiscal responsibility and pacifism since its out-of-control defense spending in the run-up to World War II. The package does not give an exact figure for funding but says “necessary defense spending” above 1% of GDP should be exempt from debt limits.
Intense negotiations are underway. The center-left Social Democratic Party and the center-right Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union — the likely pillars of the next government — are aligned in favor of scrapping the debt brake. This is due largely to the perceived need to boost military spending as the US sends worrying signs about its commitment to European defense.
But there is strong opposition from the AfD and the socialist far-left party, Die Linke, which argue that it is “deeply undemocratic” to pass such a sweeping fiscal measure before the new government — in which they will wield greater influence — is in place.
That means the narrow pathway to dumping the debt brake runs through the Green Party, which appears cautiously open to a deal but is pushing for stricter regulations on how the money will be used.
A Ukrainian serviceman searches for a target with a US Stinger air defense missile launcher on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.
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.
Is this mainly a hardball negotiating tactic that might force Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to offer Trump the ceasefire terms he wants, a better deal on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, or both? US National Security Advisor Mike Waltzsignaled as much in an interview with Fox News. “I think if we can nail down these negotiations … put some confidence-building measures on the table, then the president will take a hard look at lifting this pause,” said Waltz.
In the meantime, France on Thursday offered to supply more of l’intelligence to Kyiv, but this simply can’t match what the US has provided until now.
There’s another reason we’re closely tracking this story. Trump has said repeatedly that he wants a ceasefire deal to end the war in Ukraine. But why would Russian President Vladimir Putin agree to stop fighting at a moment when Ukraine is losing access to its most important source of weapons and intelligence?
A low-angle view of a video camera.
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.
300 million: The private equity giant Blackstone invested $300 million in an AI data company called DDN, valuing the firm at $5 billion. DDN provides specialized data analytics for businesses developing and running AI models, helping them process and store large amounts of data.
32 million: The defense tech startup Overland AI raised $32 million in venture capital as the Pentagon ramps up demand for artificial intelligence. The company’s OverWatch software specializes in “ground autonomy” to help unmanned vehicles navigate off-road terrains.
10,000: Adobe’s new AI suite, called Firefly, can perform edits on 10,000 images at once. For example, it can resize tons of pictures or replace their backgrounds in one fell swoop.