Tag: National Security

President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago.

Beltway Confidential

Seizing sanctioned ship, Trump shows how to break Russian brinkmanship

Tom Rogan · January 9, 2026 12:58 pm

A boy holds a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on January 08, 2026. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows not to yield after U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to come to the aid of protesters, as rights groups report a sharp rise in arrests following days of unrest sparked by soaring inflation. Meanwhile, Iran's top judge warns protesters on Wednesday there is ''no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,'' while accusing Israel and the U.S. of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country. (Photo by Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

My part in the ayatollahs’ downfall

Hugo Gurdon · January 9, 2026 6:10 am

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, left, and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez hold up vote tally sheets from the top of a truck during a protest against the official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, two days after the election. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Maduro operation shows Trump administration wasn’t planning wholesale regime change

Mike Brest · January 9, 2026 5:00 am

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, President Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Molly Riley/The White House/AP)

Why Trump trained his sights on Venezuela

Sean Durns · January 9, 2026 4:05 am

Atomic bomb explosion over Nagasaki, 1945. (trumanlibrary.gov)

A Nuke Hope: Review of ‘The Nuclear Age’ by Serhii Plokhy

Andrew Fagal · January 9, 2026 3:57 am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Lebanon claims progress in Hezbollah disarmament, as Israel calls it ‘an encouraging beginning’

Mike Brest · January 8, 2026 4:01 pm

President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Trump tries to whip the defense industrial base to his will while urging increase in spending

Mike Brest · January 8, 2026 1:23 pm

The oil tanker Nord Star, Panama.

How Trump’s oil tanker seizures fit in the US-Venezuela strategy

Mike Brest · January 8, 2026 9:35 am

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House.

The rewards and risks in Trump’s growing use of military force

Tom Rogan · January 8, 2026 8:00 am

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, right, receives Cuba's President Miguel Diaz Canel at the start of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) Summit, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jesus Vargas)

How Maduro’s fall will hit Cuba

Mike Brest · January 7, 2026 6:00 am

Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran.

Trump should bolster support for Iranian protesters

Washington Examiner · January 7, 2026 5:00 am

A collage of President Donald Trump and former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Why the Trump administration is calling the Maduro mission a ‘law enforcement operation’

Mike Brest, Kaelan Deese · January 6, 2026 3:05 pm