Podcasts about defense department

The Defense Department has identified two of the three US service members killed in the Middle East this weekend. Andy Burnham officially takes over as UK Prime Minister. A CNN investigation has found the government's reaction to the cyclospora outbreak has been undermined by massive budget and staffing cuts under President Donald Trump. Russia launches a barrage of missiles against Ukraine. And, tiny bottles are becoming big business for liquor brands.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Defense Department identified two of the soldiers killed this weekend; Andy Burnham is now Prime Minister of the UK; The US is losing teachers and nurses, as DACA renewals lag; Michigan Line 5 opponents vow to fight recent tunnel permit; In Wisconsin, Medicaid now offers postpartum coverage for a year.

Allen covers Energy Capital Partners buying TPI’s blade factories, GE Vernova’s $1.7 billion rescue of LM Wind Power, offshore wind cutting oil burn during a heat wave, Scotland’s Caledonia approval, and 19 states suing the Pentagon over stalled wind reviews. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Good Monday everyone. A few months ago, we told you about a Houston bankruptcy court carving up TPI Composites. Well, that story just got a whole lot bigger. On July sixth, TPI walked out of Chapter Eleven. Zero debt. New owners. A private equity firm called Energy Capital Partners picked up TPI’s blade factories in Iowa and Juarez, Mexico for about twenty million dollars. Twenty million, against more than a billion dollars in liabilities. ECP did not stumble into wind blades. They bought Calpine back in twenty eighteen, inherited seventy-seven power plants, and became GE’s biggest private gas turbine customer in the Western Hemisphere. That relationship, forged in gas turbine halls, is what brought them to composite factories. GE Vernova signed a five-year supply deal requiring it to send blade orders to ECP’s factories. GE is ECP’s partner, its customer, and was even the backup buyer if the deal fell through. So TPI lives on, leaner, debt-free, with locked-in demand from one of the biggest turbine makers on earth. But now, the other side of that coin. While ECP picked up two blade factories for twenty million dollars, GE Vernova recently pumped one-point-seven billion dollars into its own blade company, LM Wind Power. LM’s equity had fallen to negative 575 million euros. Revenue dropped ninety-six percent in one year, from 2.1 billion Danish kroner down to just ninety-three million. The Danish workforce, cut to about twenty-five people. LM Wind Power has lost money every single year since GE bought it in twenty seventeen. Nine straight years of red ink. So think about that. Two American blade factories now serve GE Vernova’s onshore business. One in Grand Forks, North Dakota, owned by GE, inside a division losing four hundred million dollars a year. The other in Newton, Iowa, owned by ECP, zero debt, five-year supply deal. The independent contract blade business that TPI Composites built is gone. Vestas took the India and Mexico plants in-house. GE’s supply is locked to ECP. The OEMs and their financial partners now own the factories directly. And that is a new era for wind manufacturing. Now, let us talk about what those blades are doing once they are spinning. Earlier this month, a brutal heat wave hit the eastern United States. Air conditioners running full blast. Grid operators scrambling to keep up. And off the coast of New England, two offshore wind farms stepped up. Vineyard Wind, eight hundred and six megawatts off Massachusetts. Revolution Wind, seven hundred and four megawatts near Rhode Island. Together they pushed hundreds of megawatts into the grid right when people needed it most. And here is the number that matters. Oil-fired power plants met about ten percent of peak demand on July second this year. Last summer, at the height of a similar heat wave, oil plants covered nearly fifteen percent. That is more than a gigawatt less oil burned. The projects that survived lawsuits, survived construction shutdowns, survived lease freezes, are now keeping the lights on in New England. Across the Atlantic, Scotland just approved two massive offshore wind farms. The Caledonia North and South projects in the Moray Firth, up to one hundred and forty turbines spread across one hundred and sixty-five square miles. Enough power for two million homes. Ocean Wind is leading the development with a commitment of about 1.7 billion pounds. And here is what makes this project different. Caledonia South will mix fixed-bottom and floating turbines, up to thirty-nine floaters. That blend of proven and next-generation technology on a single project is something to watch. Back in the United States, nineteen state attorneys general are suing the Department of Defense. The reason, wind project reviews. Federal law says any wind turbine taller than two hundred feet must go through a Defense Department check, to make sure it does not interfere with military radar or flight paths. Last August, the Pentagon stopped reviewing those projects. No explanation. No timeline for starting again. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is leading the coalition, joined by attorneys general from eighteen other states including California, New York, and New Jersey. They want a court to force the Defense Department to start doing its job again. And finally, a story from the sea floor. Down in southern New England, lobster populations have been falling for decades. Back in nineteen ninety-eight, there were about fifty million lobsters in those waters. By twenty twenty-two, fewer than ten million. But something else is moving in. Jonah crabs. Fishermen used to throw them back. Now they are hauling them in by the thousands, selling them as a cheaper option to lobster. And researchers at the University of Rhode Island are finding that offshore wind foundations are acting like artificial reefs. Algae grows first, then barnacles and mussels, then fish and crabs follow. The question scientists are working to answer is whether these structures create new marine life, or just pull it in from the surrounding ocean. Either way, the turbines are not just making electricity. They are making habitat. Now, here is what to watch. This Wednesday, July twenty-second, GE Vernova reports second quarter earnings. And the numbers we just talked about will be in the room. One-point-seven billion dollars pumped into LM Wind Power, a blade company that has lost money nine years straight. Twenty million dollars to let ECP walk away with two factories and a five-year supply deal. GE Vernova is guiding for four hundred million dollars in wind segment losses this year. Meanwhile, its Power and Electrification divisions are printing money, nearly five billion dollars in free cash flow last quarter alone. So the question on that earnings call is simple. If you are spending eighty times more to keep your in-house blade maker alive than a private equity firm paid to buy your contract supplier, how long do you keep doing both? Watch for what GE Vernova says about LM Wind Power’s future, about North American onshore blade strategy, and about whether that 1.7 billion dollar injection was a rescue, or a goodbye. The answer could reshape who makes blades in this industry for the next decade. And that is the state of the wind industry for the 19th of July, twenty twenty-six. Join us for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast tomorrow.

Senate lawmakers are calling for an independent audit of the Defense Department's multibillion-dollar TRICARE pharmacy program amid concerns that its longtime contractor, Express Scripts, may have a financial incentive to steer beneficiaries toward its own pharmacies. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis has more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Pete Hegseth wants a manly military. And he really, really wants you to know how badly he wants a manly military. In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors, Hegseth worried that the military risked becoming “effeminate, and apologetic”; he insisted that what liberals really want is “soft men, and a weak military,” and he scolded “Pentagon pussies” who refuse to stand up for soldiers on the battlefield. As secretary of defense, Hegseth has blocked the promotion of female military officers, removed the first woman to lead the Navy, and ordered a review of women's “effectiveness” in ground-combat roles. He has also used the Defense Department's social-media channels to post a steady stream of tougher-than-thou videos." Mr. Mo'Kelly and David Katz will join us to discuss the top stories of the week. The Mark Thompson Show 7/16/26

New Sikorsky Marine One helicopters damage the White House lawn, the airports renamed for U.S. presidents, airline consolidation, DCA crash safety recommendations, controversy over ADS-B In regulations, Air France and Airbus manslaughter verdict, passengers sue Delta over turbulence injuries, a Ryanair window ruptures, and a seaplane makes a hard landing in New York's East River. Also, interviews from the Spurwink Farm fly-in. Aviation News Lockheed Martin Is Covering the Cost of Trump's White House Helipad President Trump said that Sikorsky, part of Lockheed Martin, would cover the cost of building a new helipad at the White House. Lockheed Martin confirmed the report. Sikorsky helicopters have been used to transport the president since the 1970s.  The new VH-92A Patriot helicopter has propulsion exhaust vents located toward the rear of the airframe and pointed downward, unlike the VH-3D’s configuration. Also, with much more powerful engines, the VH-92A generates significantly more downwash than the VH-3D. The hot exhaust gets combined with the intense rotor downwash at touchdown, and the combined heat-and-airflow effect scorches the turf and can physically rip sod loose. Airline consolidation now rules the skies. Has it been good for passengers? Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and US Airways are gone. Spirit Airlines is gone as well. Now, the Big Four U.S. airlines control roughly three-quarters of the U.S. market. Has this been good for the flying public? It depends on who you ask. Former governor Chris Sununu, now the head of Airlines for America, said at a Capitol Hill hearing, “We have more competition per route than ever before. When I go to buy a ticket, I have four, five, or six carriers going from Wichita to Dallas. So now they’re all competing on that exact same route.” There are six airlines serving Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, but there’s only one that flies nonstop to Dallas. Past guest Ganesh Sitaraman, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School and the author of the book Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It said, “From the airlines’ perspective, it makes sense. Bigger is better, and it’ll be more efficient for them, even if there’s a lot of drawbacks for communities and passengers.” A Florida airport is officially renamed for Trump. What does he stand to gain? FAA Details First Official Response to DC Crash Safety Recommendations After the January 2025 midair collision near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, the NTSB issued nearly three dozen recommendations. As is always the case, the FAA is not obligated to implement the NTSB’s recommendations. Earlier this year, the FAA said it had fully addressed seven of the recommendations and that it would evaluate the others, with further updates to come by May 31, 2027. The Air Current reported that the FAA indicated it is evaluating whether the number of arrivals permitted per hour at DCA is appropriate. This is a key metric that the NTSB said contributed to the airport’s congestion at the time of the crash. Also, any adjustments will be determined after an official analysis in 2027. This $50,000 Safety Fix Is Dividing the Aviation Industry and Washington This could be characterized as a conference-committee fight over how strong an ADS-B In mandate should be, not whether there will be one. ALPA and NTSB are on one side (ROTOR Act), and industry groups like A4A/AOPA/NBAA on the other (ALERT) side.  Senate: ROTOR Act (Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act) Would require all aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B In and repeal certain military exemptions from the technology requirements. Passed the Senate by unanimous consent in December, with strong support, including from ALPA. The House rejected it on February 24, 2026, falling one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed after the Defense Department raised national security concerns House: ALERT Act (Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act) House lawmakers revised the bill to explicitly include an ADS-B In mandate after the earlier version was criticized for failing to clearly require it. The updated version requires that aircraft carry both ADS-B In and ACAS X (Airborne Collision Avoidance System X), integrated so ADS-B In data feeds the alerting function. Opposition: ALPA doesn’t endorse it, arguing that ACAS Xa (the large-commercial-aircraft variant) isn’t yet commercialized, that no integration standards exist, and that the system suppresses alerts below 1,000 feet when situational awareness matters most. The NTSB also declined to support it, saying it falls short of requiring ADS-B In for all aircraft operating in airspace where ADS-B Out is already required, even though it allows compliance via portable receivers with line-of-sight limitations. Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 plane crash A Paris Appeals Court found Air France and Airbus “solely and entirely responsible” for the 2009 AF447 accident, which killed 228 people when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The companies were cleared in April 2023 but were found guilty after an eight-week trial. Both Air France and Airbus have denied the charges and say they will appeal. In 2012, French investigators found a combination of technical failure involving ice in the pitot tubes and pilot confusion over faulty air-speed readings. Pilot training has since been modified, and pitot tube sensors have been replaced. 20 Sue Delta Over 2.5 Minutes of Terror on Flight Out of Utah A lawsuit has been filed against Delta Air Lines on behalf of 20 passengers of Delta Flight 56, claiming that pilots “recklessly flew” too close to thunderstorms, where severe turbulence caused multiple injuries. The turbulence lasted 2 1/2 minutes over Wyoming, and the flight was diverted to Minnesota. Twenty-five people were transported to local hospitals. The NTSB said the pilots were caught by surprise. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the National Weather Service issued an advisory warning that turbulent conditions were present in the mountains east of Salt Lake City and that thunderstorms were present along portions of the flight path. Apparent engine fan blade failure preceded rupture of Ryanair 737 window The Air Current reports that the rupture of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 window resulted from a fan blade failure on the right CFM56-7B engine. Fan blade failures are serious but rare. Aircraft engines are designed to contain fan blade failures and are tested during the certification process.  The FAA issued airworthiness directives to mitigate the risk of fan blade failure through inspections and an engine inlet redesign to ensure containment. The FAA set a July 31, 2028, deadline for compliance. Small plane makes hard landing into New York's East River, officials say A Kodiak 100 seaplane with eight people on board made a hard landing in the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. There was “substantial damage” to the plane, but there were no injuries. The plane bounced three times, and the pilot subsequently told the passengers that a pontoon had broken. A pattern of progressive porpoise leading to structural failure appears in NTSB seaplane accident reports across various types, including Cessna 206 and 208 Caravan floatplanes, de Havilland Beavers, and Twin Otters on floats. A few East River/urban seaplane-specific factors that might be in play: Wake and chop from harbor traffic (ferries, tour boats) create a much less predictable water surface than open lake/bay operations. Confined approach corridors near Skyport limit go-around and abort options if the pilot senses a bad touchdown developing. The area has had at least one other recent seaplane mishap (a two-seater damaged by a wave three weeks prior), suggesting water-surface conditions have been a recurring operational challenge this season. The NTSB and FAA will be looking at whether this was primarily a pilot technique issue (porpoise recovery), an environmental factor (wake/wave state at touchdown), or a mechanical issue in the float attachment itself. Spurwink Farm International Fly-In From the fly-in, Micah brings us interviews with Spurwink Farm Manager Christina Mitchell, listener Tad Yergey, and Cessna 185 Floatplane Pilot John Hartz. John Hartz, one and a half of his children, and his Cessna 185. Micah at the Spurwink Farm Fly-In, Mentioned Ever wonder if pilots become frightened during an emergency? In the Stories About Flying podcast, Rob looks at the topic through the lens of a near catastrophe: “Aircraft Emergencies and the Saga of Speedbird 009.” NightSide with Dan Rea, WBZ NewsRadion, Not Just A Plane Topic. Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, David Vanderhoof, and Erin Applebaum.

The Defense Department is pausing the roll-out of contractor cybersecurity requirements. DoD's top IT official says the current iteration of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program is too onerous on small businesses. She's now leading a review of the CMMC program to consider the next steps. For the latest, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department is providing little guidance on how firms are expected to comply with a series of restrictions aimed at severing ties with companies the Pentagon says support Beijing's military. A new class deviation the department recently issued significantly broadens the definition of "Chinese military company" but it's unclear how exactly it impacts defense contractors. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis spoke with Tracye Howard, government contracts partner at Wiley Rein LLP.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new Defense Department inspector general report finds that the military services have policies for reviewing allegations of abuse at on-base child development centers, but they don't always carry them out the same way. Investigators found inconsistent communication between Family Advocacy Programs and child care officials, leaving some installations without timely information needed to make staffing decisions or update parents. The watchdog warns those gaps can keep classrooms understaffed, reduce child care capacity and ultimately affect military readiness. Joining Eric White now to break down the report and what it means for military families is Federal News Network's Rachel Cohen.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Greg Barbaccia is stepping down as federal CIO and leaving government at the end of August, he said in an email to the CIO Council Tuesday. “I'm writing to share that I've made the difficult decision to leave government, and my time as Federal CIO is coming to an end,” Barbaccia wrote to CIOs on the council in his email, obtained by FedScoop. Barbaccia, who joined the Trump administration as its top IT official in January 2025, said his last day in the role will be Aug. 31. Barbaccia's departure comes just months after he brought on former Department of Education CIO Thomas Flagg to be his deputy. Flagg would be the default acting official with Barbaccia's departure, a government chief information officer told FedScoop on the condition of anonymity to be more candid. As federal CIO, Barbaccia has also served as the federal chief AI officer of the U.S. government, playing a pivotal role in shaping AI policy, oversight and adoption across federal agencies. The Defense Innovation Unit is undergoing a major reorganization effort that will overhaul and collapse its operational portfolios from seven to three technology priorities “where speed, scale, and lethality intersect,” two sources told DefenseScoop on Monday. One senior defense official and one defense official familiar with this realignment said the Pentagon would likely reveal DIU's near-term plans and new internal structure publicly this week. The officials requested anonymity to speak freely ahead of the Defense Department's official, forthcoming announcement. But they suggested that this shake-up and reset is intended to concentrate DIU's experts and resources on a smaller, more focused set of real-world problem areas so the hub can deliver outcome-driven, reportable combat power to the U.S. military at faster and less expensive rates. DIU's recently installed director under the second Trump administration, Owen West, initiated the reorg. The three new portfolios and priority topics that the unit will be structured around, according to the two officials, are drones and autonomous warfare, kill webs, and "10x" technologies. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Defense Department significantly reduced the size of its civilian workforce in 2025. The department however, started shedding its employees prior to 2025. A government watchdog found that the Pentagon didn't consistently analyze the impacts of these reductions, either during the 2025 downsizing or in prior years. It also found that the Pentagon has no plan to assess lessons learned from its 2025 workforce reduction efforts. For more, Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis spoke with Government Accountability Office's director of defense capabilities and management Kristy Williams.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Le Podcast on Emerging Leadership, I sat down with Jon Kern, aerospace engineer turned software architect and co-author of the Agile Manifesto.Jon shares his fascinating journey from testing jet engines for the Defense Department to pushing back against heavyweight, bureaucratic software processes. We explore the original intent behind the Agile Manifesto, the misconceptions that led to overly rigid frameworks, and how leaders can embrace the concept of "being lazy" to deliver true business value.Finally, Jon dives into the frontier of "Vibe Coding," sharing how he uses AI to automate rigorous testing, compliance, and architecture without losing the foundational discipline of software engineering.

Today's West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy Podcast for our especially special Daily Special, Smothered Benedict Wednesday is now available on the Spreaker Player!Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, Stephen Miller and Trump's argument against birthright citizenship is “unhinged and racist.”Then, on the rest of the menu, the East Wing has been demolished, so the ominous new scaffolding erected at the north portico of the Trump White House is raising questions about what his next demo job is; the deaths of three US government firefighters in the Colorado wildfire over the weekend are casting a spotlight on the Trump administration's revival of a previously discredited policy; and, a federal judge ordered the Defense Department to temporarily halt its requirement that New York Times journalists be accompanied by an official escort.After the break, we move to the Chef's Table where self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui was sentenced to thirty years in a US prison for a massive worldwide financial fraud; and, hospitals in Europe are gearing up for the next heat wave armed with lessons from this one.All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.Bon Appétit!The Netroots Radio Live PlayerKeep Your Resistance Radio Beaming 24/7/365!“It may be safely averred that good cookery is the best and truest economy, turning to full account every wholesome article of food, and converting into palatable meals what the ignorant either render uneatable or throw away in disdain.” – Eliza Acton ‘Modern Cookery for Private Families' (1845)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/west-coast-cookbook-speakeasy--2802999/support.

The Secret Service has serious gaps in its mobile device management and security practices, leading to heightened risks for the nation's leaders, other protectees and its employees, according to an inspector general report published Thursday. Those security and management gaps included a culture of using personal devices even in protective operations, a lack of security software on government-issued devices and the approval of apps containing vulnerabilities, among others. Much of the blame, per the report, lies with the Department of Homeland Security unit's Office of the CIO, which is responsible for establishing security standards and ensuring compliance with policies. Employees pointed to issues with their government-issued devices as the reason for the lapse in protocol, citing technical limitations and diminished reliability. Government-issued devices, for example, would “frequently” disconnect from the virtual private network and couldn't download “essential” apps to conduct investigations and communicate with local law enforcement. Records revealed employees were claiming reimbursement for use of personal devices after traveling internationally, illustrating the practice was “routine” and “expected,” per the watchdog. President Donald Trump's new supplemental spending request includes $67.1 billion to support the Defense Department, featuring funds to advance new capabilities and offset the cost of operations in the Middle East. The Office of Management and Budget sent the spending package to Congress on Wednesday, requesting a total of $87.6 billion. While the lion's share of the funds would cover the mounting costs of Operation Epic Fury, the White House is also seeking money for other issues — such as aid to American farmers and responses to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa. In a letter sent to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., OMB Director Russell Vought urged lawmakers to approve the additional funding as a way to reimburse the Pentagon for the war in Iran. The biggest ticket item in the supplemental is a $21 billion request for munitions, which would likely support the Pentagon in replenishing weapons that have been spent during Operation Epic Fury. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reorganizing its long-standing value engineering program by shifting it from a separate activity and folding it into existing project delivery processes. Critics warn the move would increase the risk of waste, cost growth and schedule overruns and one organization has urged the Defense Department to immediately reverse the decision. For more, Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis spoke with Rob Stewart, SAVE International immediate past president.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing today to consider four nominees for senior Pentagon and intelligence positions, key jobs given that the Defense Department is managing a record $1.5 trillion budget request with big plans for its space and intel capabilities. The four nominees are Jay Hurst, tapped to be the Pentagon's comptroller; Matt O'Malley, nominated as the deputy overseeing defense acquisition and sustainment; Roger Mason, who would lead the National Reconnaissance Office, the spy agency that builds and operates America's intelligence satellites; and Erich Hernandez-Baquero, who would become the Department of the Air Force's top official for space acquisition. Today's hearing helps move the needle on the many national security vacancies that persist across the Trump administration. Federal News Network's Rachel Cohen joins me with more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For review:1.  The U.S. government on Tuesday hit Cuban state companies with new sanctions.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions target five Cuban entities, including three linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. 2. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Washington would not accept Iranian tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, as disputes over the vital waterway, nuclear inspections, and missiles exposed early strains in negotiations to end the Middle East war. 3. Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Wednesday that the IDF will not withdraw from its southern Lebanon security zone, “even if there is an American demand,” while adding there was no such demand at this time. 4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel needs to be “free” from military dependence on the United States and develop its own weapons-production capabilities, arguing that this is needed to support the ongoing fight with Iran and its terror proxies. 5.  A senior Islamic State leader was killed by an airstrike last week, Central Command announced on Wednesday,. Ali Husayn al-Ulaywi was killed in a precision airstrike on June 19.6.  U.S. President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Group of Seven summit in France that he would consider letting Ukraine build its own Patriot interceptor missiles.7.  The Missile Defense Agency today awarded Lockheed Martin a $35 billion undefined contract action (UCA) to quadruple production of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors over a seven-year period, the company and the Defense Department announced. 

The Department of Energy is kickstarting a quantum computing effort tied to the Genesis Mission following a pair of quantum-focused executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. The newly launched Quantum Genesis initiative aims to develop and deploy a more resilient quantum computing capability by 2028. Darío Gil, under secretary for science and Genesis Mission lead, told FedScoop that the new initiative serves as a foundation for the charges Trump issued in his directives for “challenging America's quantum information science community and industry to build the world's first fault-tolerant quantum computing capability that will transform scientific discovery, strengthen national security, and power the next era of American innovation.” To reach that goal, DOE has three main priorities: set up a competition to accelerate quantum system development, conduct targeted research to advance high-impact, scientific quantum use cases, and build a supercomputing facility for engineers to access the new capabilities. The facility, along with DOE's existing high-performance computing systems and the Genesis Mission's in-progress American Science and Security Platform, will form a unified high-performance computing, AI and quantum computing ecosystem. The Pentagon's workforce shrank by roughly 10.7% during the height of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency implementation efforts, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. That decrease represents 82,940 employees — from a baseline 778,188 civilian employees at the Defense Department in December 2024 near the end of the Biden administration, down to 695,248 in January 2026. Outlining governmentwide workforce contractions across 2025 that were sparked by multiple presidential directives, GAO's report offers a fresh, data-driven look at DOGE's downsizing impacts inside the Pentagon. It indicates that, while DOD remains America's largest employer of federal civilian personnel, the department's workforce is now substantially smaller in volume than it was in prior years. Dawn Locke, director with GAO's Strategic Issues team and lead on the review, told DefenseScoop: “A key takeaway for DOD is the role the Deferred Resignation Program played in the agency's efforts to reduce the size of its civilian workforce.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Department of Veterans Affairs hosted an IT industry day last week with a specific takeaway from the agency's deputy CIO: incumbency itself is not enough. Zack Schwartz, principal deputy assistant secretary in the VA's Office of Information and Technology, said he's made it clear that tech contractors need to bring their “A-game when it comes to supporting the veteran,” and the VA is open for business with whoever can do it best. “Incumbency is not a guarantee, incumbency is not an advantage,” Schwartz said in an interview with FedScoop. “We will not settle just because you've supported the VA in the past.” Schwartz said last Wednesday's private IT Advanced Planning Brief to Industry was a breakthrough between the agency and industry, as he made it clear that the “massive organization” is “moving extremely fast” to modernize and integrate AI with governance. LOGZONE, an Alabama-based logistics services provider, has agreed to pay more than $507,000 to resolve allegations that it misrepresented its compliance with Pentagon cybersecurity requirements while doing work with the Navy. According to a settlement agreement published last Thursday, the Justice Department alleged that LOGZONE failed to fully implement required security controls under NIST Special Publication 800-171 despite its contract mandating compliance. While not an explicit violation of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, the suit highlights the Defense Department's increasing scrutiny of the defense industry not implementing required cybersecurity measures for sensitive information. The settlement stems from two contracts awarded by the Navy between 2021 and 2022 for logistics, inventory management and facility support services for the Naval Oceanographic Command located at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. According to the settlement agreement, LOGZONE received more than $682,000 under the contracts through March 2025. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Today's Headlines: Trump attended the G7 in France while touting his Iran deal as a global security breakthrough, despite refusing to release the actual terms — which Iranian state media helpfully shared anyway: Iran gets $24 billion in unfrozen funds plus a $300 billion reconstruction fund, the Strait reopens in 30 days under Iranian arrangements, and the US commits to full withdrawal and non-interference, which Netanyahu is reportedly furious about across every dimension. The deal is technically a nonbinding "memorandum of understanding," not an actual agreement, and the real terms won't be released until it's signed in Switzerland on Friday, so we're essentially taking Iran's word for it. Markets didn't care — stocks shot up and oil fell — which is the most functional thing to happen all week. The Kennedy Center, now controlled by Trump's handpicked loyalists, announced a new endowment in Trump's name to honor his "significant contributions," which is one way to get around a court order removing it from the facade. In revenge lawsuits news, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the DOJ is investigating him, his wife, family, and former staff, calling it political retaliation for considering a 2028 presidential run — and separately, DOJ antitrust lawyers who spent months scrutinizing Paramount's Warner Brothers acquisition and were leaning toward challenging it were blindsided when senior DOJ leadership suddenly closed the investigation and approved the merger on Friday. Anthropic disabled its new Mythos and Claude Fable 5 models less than a week after release, following a Trump administration order citing national security concerns and a claimed jailbreak vulnerability — this comes after the Defense Department designated Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company refused to let the government use its AI for mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The UK banned children under 16 from all social media platforms effective spring 2027, though Australia enacted a similar ban seven months ago and found 70% of kids under 16 just used VPNs to get around it, so. Finally, Mitch McConnell was hospitalized again on Sunday, is apparently doing better, and remains the only missing congressman anyone notices. Resources/Articles mentioned: The Hill: Kennedy Center establishing new endowment in Trump's name AP News: Trump heads to G7 summit with wind at his back after announcing agreement aimed at ending Iran war NBC: Trump and Iran reach tentative deal to end war, reopen Hormuz WSJ: Israel Is Alarmed by Trump's Deal With Iran AP News: Stocks leap worldwide, and oil prices drop after the US and Iran reach a tentative deal on their war Axios: California Gov. Newsom says he's under investigation by the Justice Department WSJ: Justice Department Decision to Allow Paramount Deal Surprised Staff Investigators WIRED: Anthropic Says It's Taking Claude Fable 5 Offline to Comply With US Government Order WIRED: The UK Places a Sweeping Ban on Social Media for Kids Under 16 WDRB: Sen. Rand Paul says Mitch McConnell is ‘doing better' in the hospital Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office has been in a period of transition lately. Several years after its creation, Pentagon leaders decided last year to fold the CDAO into the Office of the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering. Before that, the CDAO reported directly to the deputy secretary of Defense. Andrew Mapes is the acting principal deputy chief digital and AI officer. He talked with Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis about the realignment and how it's positioning CDAO to deliver AI capabilities at scale.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is a thought-provoking discussion about the intersection of politics, economics, and entrepreneurship, featuring a listener's insightful text message that sparks a lively debate. The speaker delves into the world of government contracts, subsidies, and the valuation of companies like SpaceX and Tesla, raising questions about the role of the Federal Reserve in the economy.The conversation centers around a listener's critique of Elon Musk's wealth, specifically how much of it came from government contracts and subsidies. The speaker breaks down the arguments, pointing out that SpaceX's contracts with NASA and the Defense Department are actually a result of the company beating out the competition and offering a better deal for taxpayers. He also argues that Tesla's subsidies helped the entire industry, not just the company, and that the company's valuation is based on its future earnings potential, not just its assets.The discussion touches on the topic of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and its impact on the economy, with the speaker suggesting that the central bank's actions have inflated asset prices and pushed ordinary people into speculative bets. He also highlights the importance of distinguishing between envy and analysis, and encourages listeners to follow the thread of suspicion back to the source of the problem.If you're interested in a nuanced discussion about the economy, entrepreneurship, and the role of government in shaping the business world, tune in to this episode to hear the full conversation and learn more about the topics that were raised.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump is all over the place on Iran. After insisting a deal was imminent, he's now threatening more full-scale bombing. He just claimed that “I love the inflation” caused by the war. And in several rants, he insisted that the United States has secretly smuggled 100 million barrels of oil out of Iran and on to the world market (the whole thing appears mostly invented). In an extraordinary exchange, Representative Emilia Sykes sharply confronted Energy Secretary Chris Wright over Trump's “love” of inflation. Wright finally blurted out: “I would prefer lower inflation.” And Wright stammered before admitting that “um, I'm unaware” of Trump's oil smuggling scheme. We talked to former Defense Department official Ariane Tabatabai, who's now at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She parses through what we know now, explains why Wright's public meltdown captures the very worst of the Trump administration, and charts what's next. (After we recorded, Trump resumed bombing.) Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department recently created a controversy by revising its list of religious affiliation codes for service members and failing to designate the LDS Church as Christian. After objections, DOD removed the Christian designation from the list altogether. In this Legal Spirits Short Take, Center Director Mark Movsesian explains how the episode reveals a deeper problem of liberalism in a religiously diverse society: government must frequently classify religion, but no classification can be completely neutral. Listen in! The post Legal Spirits 078: A Short Take on Religion in the Military appeared first on LAW AND RELIGION FORUM.

Donald Trump is all over the place on Iran. After insisting a deal was imminent, he's now threatening more full-scale bombing. He just claimed that “I love the inflation” caused by the war. And in several rants, he insisted that the United States has secretly smuggled 100 million barrels of oil out of Iran and on to the world market (the whole thing appears mostly invented). In an extraordinary exchange, Representative Emilia Sykes sharply confronted Energy Secretary Chris Wright over Trump's “love” of inflation. Wright finally blurted out: “I would prefer lower inflation.” And Wright stammered before admitting that “um, I'm unaware” of Trump's oil smuggling scheme. We talked to former Defense Department official Ariane Tabatabai, who's now at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She parses through what we know now, explains why Wright's public meltdown captures the very worst of the Trump administration, and charts what's next. (After we recorded, Trump resumed bombing.) Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is all over the place on Iran. After insisting a deal was imminent, he's now threatening more full-scale bombing. He just claimed that “I love the inflation” caused by the war. And in several rants, he insisted that the United States has secretly smuggled 100 million barrels of oil out of Iran and on to the world market (the whole thing appears mostly invented). In an extraordinary exchange, Representative Emilia Sykes sharply confronted Energy Secretary Chris Wright over Trump's “love” of inflation. Wright finally blurted out: “I would prefer lower inflation.” And Wright stammered before admitting that “um, I'm unaware” of Trump's oil smuggling scheme. We talked to former Defense Department official Ariane Tabatabai, who's now at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She parses through what we know now, explains why Wright's public meltdown captures the very worst of the Trump administration, and charts what's next. (After we recorded, Trump resumed bombing.) Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a little-known organization under the Defense Department's purview that provides geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) to the spy community. Now it is moving from providing maps to focusing on analysis. Sadly, Americans are being distracted by the media with tabloid news as a distraction due to increased spying by the alphabet agencies. On this episode of Ground Zero, Clyde Lewis talks with Intelligence analyst Scott Rickard about NGA: FULL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE. The original broadcast was on April 3, 2017.

Defense Department

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department issued an advisory – eight days before the first World Cup match. The warning to fans is to not to “let scammers steal World Cup experience. Tara Copp and Salvador Rizzo reported for The Washington Post on Tuesday that Elias Irizarry was hired to work in the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict and internal alarms are going off, according to four people familiar with the situation. Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone feature designed to make splitting restaurant bills easier. The feature, part of the upcoming iOS 27 update, will allow users to take a photo of a receipt, assign items to different people and automatically calculate how much each person owes. Police are investigating but say there’s no immediate danger to the public. The most likely explanation is people searching for valuables underground. Still, authorities warn it’s illegal and extremely risky behavior. Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department issued an advisory – eight days before the first World Cup match. The warning to fans is to not to “let scammers steal World Cup experience. Tara Copp and Salvador Rizzo reported for The Washington Post on Tuesday that Elias Irizarry was hired to work in the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict and internal alarms are going off, according to four people familiar with the situation. Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone feature designed to make splitting restaurant bills easier. The feature, part of the upcoming iOS 27 update, will allow users to take a photo of a receipt, assign items to different people and automatically calculate how much each person owes. Police are investigating but say there’s no immediate danger to the public. The most likely explanation is people searching for valuables underground. Still, authorities warn it’s illegal and extremely risky behavior. Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

June 2, 2026 5pm; Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also up on Capitol Hill today, appearing before Congress for the first time publicly since the conflict with Iran began. For more, follow us on Instagram @deadlinewh For more from Nicolle, follow and download her podcast, “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace,” wherever you get your podcasts.To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's Headlines: The Department of Agriculture is dealing with a bedbug infestation in the offices of the agency responsible for containing invasive pests. Yes, you read that right. Todd Blanche confirmed to Congress — not under oath, refusing to put it in writing — that the DOJ is dropping the Traitor Fund, while clarifying that the part protecting Trump and his family from IRS audits remains in effect, which was clearly the point all along, and a federal judge revived Trump's IRS lawsuit to investigate whether the whole arrangement was "premised on deception." The Trump administration hired a convicted January 6th rioter — 19 when he stormed the Capitol — to work in the Defense Department's irregular warfare and counterterrorism section, one of the most sensitive portfolios in the government, and named Bill Pulte — a family friend with zero government experience whose father is in the Epstein files — as acting director of national intelligence, using "acting" specifically to skip Senate confirmation. New Jersey's attorney general sued GEO Group, the private contractor operating Delaney Hall detention center, over inhumane conditions and demanding health inspections — GEO holds a $1 billion ICE contract. The Kushner family is planning a $1.4 billion luxury hotel complex off the Albanian coast, which the prime minister loves and locals are actively protesting. And finally, Democratic congressman Jimmy Gomez — chairman of Congress's "Dad Caucus" — admitted to cheating on his wife after the New York Post outed him, he denied it, and CNN reported the House Ethics Committee is already investigating him for sexual misconduct, completing a full humiliation arc in under 48 hours. Resources/Articles mentioned: Not Us: The Federal Government's Insect-Defense Agency Is Infested With Bed Bugs NBC News: Todd Blanche says DOJ ‘not moving forward' with ‘anti-weaponization' fund NYT: Order Shielding Trump Family From I.R.S. Audits Will Remain, Blanche Says WaPo: Pentagon hires convicted Jan. 6 rioter for sensitive counterterrorism job The Guardian: ‘Americans will be less safe': alarm as Trump picks loyalist as intelligence chief | Trump administration The Guardian: New Jersey sues Geo Group, private operator of Delaney Hall ICE facility NYT: Protests Grow in Albania Over Kushner-Linked Project CNN: Exclusive: House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez over sexual misconduct allegations, sources say Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The summit in Beijing produced a "constructive strategic stability" framework and a warming of tone between the two presidents. But heads of state can announce a multi-year horizon; somebody else has to operationalize it. Does the United States have the people — the linguists, the regional experts, the long-haul institution-builders — to do that work?This week, I chatted with two Texans answering that question from very different directions. David Firestein is the inaugural president and CEO of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations in Houston. A career State Department officer who served four administrations and spent five years in Beijing, he's one of the few Americans concurrently affiliated with both a Republican and a Democratic presidential legacy institution. Eddie Conger is a retired Marine major and the founder and superintendent of International Leadership of Texas (IL Texas) — a public charter network of 26 campuses serving 26,000 K-12 students and now the largest K-12 Chinese language program in the country. In January, IL Texas became the first-ever K-12 recipient of the Bush China Foundation's George H.W. Bush Award for Educational Excellence in U.S.-China Relations, joining past honorees including Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger.The conversation tackles what David calls the Texas paradox: the same state that just forced its cities to dissolve their sister-city ties with China, that pioneered the closure of Confucius Institutes, and that has restricted Chinese land purchases is also where the country's deepest K-12 Mandarin pipeline is taking root — and where the most institutionally Texan China foundation has chosen to plant its flag. David and Eddie talk through engagement honestly (no straw-man Jeffersonian-democracy fantasies), the erroneous strategic assumptions undergirding U.S. China policy, what real national-language capacity would look like operationally, what they each saw in the Trump–Xi summit, and what 5,000 IL Texas graduates are already doing in the world.05:40 — Eddie's path: Marine infantryman to fifth-grade math teacher to the country's largest K-12 Mandarin program09:12 — David on when the Nixon-through-Obama engagement consensus broke (fall 2017) and how the lexicon shifted13:30 — Engagement honestly defined: what its architects actually believed vs. the Jeffersonian-democracy straw man18:30 — The Texas paradox: HB 128, sister cities, Confucius Institutes — and the country's biggest Mandarin program in the same state31:26 — Texas business, Tim Dunn, faith, and the gap between political rhetoric and where Texans actually are41:54 — The Defense Department safety/security story: when one Chinese word ate an entire bilateral agreement46:16 — David's six (or seven) erroneous strategic assumptions: China doesn't want to be us, and it has benefited more than anyone from the current order52:28 — What real national-language capacity would actually look like: NSLI, WALARA, and why the pipeline still runs through one Marine major in Texas01:06:07 — Reading the Beijing summit: the warmth, the "constructive strategic stability" framing, and whether Trump's Taiwan call could blow it all up01:17:10 — Where 5,000 IL Texas graduates are now — White House interns, service academies, doctors, entrepreneurs, and one high-schooler who pulled a stranger out of the surfPaying it ForwardEddie: Carlos Carrasco; Emily, who is heading to Taiwan this fall on a one-year high-school program; and another student bound for the University of Texas at Austin who will be sent to South Korea for a semester as a freshman — a rarity at UT. And he closes with Miles, a high-school senior and Marine scholarship recipient who, just weeks ago at a national competition in Florida, heard someone screaming for help in the ocean, called for a boogie board, and swam out to save a drowning swimmer while a crowd of adults stood on the beach. "Others before self," as Eddie puts it — the IL Texas mission statement made flesh.David:Frank Zhou, who just graduated from Harvard and chaired the Harvard College China Forum; Selina Gong, a recent graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School involved in its annual China conference; and Dean Dai, a recent graduate of Columbia's SIPA who has been deeply involved in many of the most significant student-run China conferences in the country — and who, as it turns out, was one of the organizers of the University of Chicago U.S.-China Economy and Business Summit where Kaiser spoke earlier this month.Recommendations:Eddie: John Pomfret, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present (Henry Holt, 2016)David: Stephen Roach, Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives (Yale, 2022)Kaiser: David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Doubleday, 2023)Also mentioned: Stephen R. Platt, The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II (Knopf, 2024) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Earlier this year, the CIA issued a new acquisition framework that it hopes will “turbocharge” collaboration with industry by proritizing the adoption of commercial products. Along with the framework, the agency released new processes for centralized vendor vetting and streamlined IT authorization. In her first interview as the CIA's chief procurement officer, Effie Frangogiannis joins the Daily Scoop to break down the new framework, how interested industry partners can get involved and what's coming next. The Trump administration issued a revised executive order Tuesday focused on artificial intelligence, offering a significantly pared-back vision for the federal government's role vetting AI systems compared with a draft version that was spiked weeks ago. The order keeps in place the administration's largely voluntary framework for companies to engage with the federal government around testing new models before release, but appears to considerably weaken or loosen provisions that had been opposed by industry. Under the order, AI companies would voluntarily provide the federal government access to frontier models before release, but now it will be for “up to” 30 days instead of the 90-day timeline included in previous drafts. It also explicitly states that nothing in the program will be construed as mandatory or part of a federal licensing or permitting regime, and gives AI companies significant influence to help define what models would and would not be covered under for testing. Under the order, all federal testing and access to the models would be subject to “confidentiality, cybersecurity, insider-risk, and intellectual-property protection, use, and nondisclosure requirements.” The Pentagon's next iteration of the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract would establish a cloud marketplace for military users while expanding support for artificial intelligence, edge computing and cross-domain operations, according to a draft solicitation. On May 20, the Defense Information Systems Agency published a draft performance of work statement for the upcoming JWCC Unified Cloud Marketplace (UCM) contract on Sam.gov. Previously known as JWCC Next, the program is intended to create a single marketplace through which Defense Department organizations can access authorized cloud services from a broad range of vendors. Under the proposed structure, the UCM would be organized into three tiers. The first would consist of hyperscale cloud service providers delivering core infrastructure and platform services. A second tier would encompass “Everything-as-a-Service” (XaaS) offerings — including software-, platform- and infrastructure-as-a-service capabilities. A third tier would be dedicated to commercial innovators and small businesses offering cloud-based technologies that meet the department's security requirements. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense and former Fox News weekend co-host, is facing mounting scrutiny across three major stories that broke in a single day. Hegseth has classified the Pentagon press area, effectively barring journalists from accessing public affairs officials, a move that is expected to face legal challenges after courts have already ruled against him multiple times for restricting press access. A federal appeals court blocked Trump and Hegseth's transgender military ban in a scathing 107-page opinion written by Judge Robert Wilkins, who found the policy arbitrary, demeaning, and unsupported by any factual basis, noting that transgender service members have served honorably and pose no threat to national security. The New York Times reported that Hegseth personally intervened in a slate of 22 Navy admiral promotions, blocking candidates who are disproportionately Black and female, actions that current and former defense officials say appear to violate the merit-based, apolitical promotion process. SUPPORT & CONNECT WITH HAWK- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mdg650hawk - Hawk's Merch Store: https://hawkmerchstore.com - Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mdg650hawk7thacct - Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hawkeyewhackamole - Connect on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mdg650hawk.bsky.social - Connect on Substack: https://mdg650hawk.substack.com - Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawkpodcasts - Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdg650hawk - Connect on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mdg650hawk ALL HAWK PODCASTS INFO- Additional Content Available Here: https://www.hawkpodcasts.comhttps://www.youtube.com/@hawkpodcasts- Listen to Hawk Podcasts On Your Favorite Platform:Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3RWeJfyApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/422GDuLYouTube: https://youtube.com/@hawkpodcastsiHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/47vVBdPPandora: https://bit.ly/48COaTB

A new investigation by ProPublica reports that the White House asked the Pentagon to give a $620 million dollar loan to a company with ties to President Trump's oldest son. The investigation is based on interviews with Pentagon officials and reviews of Defense Department documents.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Tucked into the Pentagon's budget materials for fiscal 2027 is a request for more than $2 billion to purchase command-and-control technology licenses and engineering support for the U.S. combatant commands, Joint Staff and National Guard Bureau. That total includes more than $1.5 billion to expand defense users' access to Palantir's Maven Smart System in support of the Defense Department's “Joint Force AI-Enabled Headquarters initiative” and $60 million for the “Virtual Joint Operations Center (VJOC) initiative.” Little has been disclosed publicly about those two efforts to date, and a Pentagon spokesperson declined to share more information about them with DefenseScoop this week. However, the budget documents indicate that the department is looking to swiftly consolidate “software-centric C2 onto a single pane of glass” over the next fiscal year. The DOD's foundational concept for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), which broadly involves breaking down long-standing boundaries between the military services to enable a unified network where all sensors and shooters can seamlessly connect, started to take clear shape in the early 2020s. A House subcommittee will hold an open hearing next week on how frontier artificial intelligence models are shaping the cybersecurity landscape, for good and for ill. The June 4 hearing will be the second the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection has held that was focused at least in part on the subject, following a similar hearing held in December. But unlike at that joint subcommittee hearing, where members also examined other emerging technologies, AI takes center stage next week. It caps a series of closed-door meetings of the Homeland panel where members and staff have been evaluating the intersection of AI and cyber. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Defense Department is requesting close to $30 billion in fiscal 2027 to purchase and enable next-generation AI supercomputers and modernize the military's computing infrastructure to power them. According to recently published budget documents, the Pentagon aims to build out its portfolio of highly secure data centers, and ultimately centralize and scale supercomputing assets across the joint force through its new “AI Arsenal initiative.” The fiscal 2027 proposal comes with a $29.5 billion spending plan. This proposed funding increase is up for consideration as DOD is hustling to integrate commercial AI models into battle management and warfare operations, threat detection and analyses, supply chain logistics and more. A Pentagon official told DefenseScoop: “The department's AI Arsenal initiative is an investment in foundational, government-owned AI infrastructure to maximize federal buying power and build the strategic advantage we need.” The House Small Business Committee continued its push last week to make the agency it oversees embrace artificial intelligence in its work, advancing a new AI-focused bill aimed at more transparency around those efforts. In a Wednesday markup, the committee unanimously approved the SBA Artificial Intelligence Utilization Act (H.R. 8881) from Reps. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., and George Latimer, D-N.Y. The legislation would require the Small Business Administration to provide a yearly report to Congress on its use of AI and machine learning, detailing the benefits, risks and related issues. Additional oversight on SBA's AI program from the committee comes in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report this month that called attention to years of SBA failures to comply with federal requirements on AI use case inventories. In March, the agency publicly posted its inventory — two months past the Office of Management and Budget deadline, but for the first time in SBA history nevertheless. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The debut edition of THE NONSENSE TIMES hits the press — Trump pays himself $1.776 billion to apologize for being the government, a 94-year-old gets indicted as a pretext for war, and the Defense Department drops UFO files while the country quietly fights two wars.Then: Trump's six-level subterranean palace, Iran handing out AK-47s on state TV, the IRGC busting US arms shipments into Iraqi Kurdistan, Tulsi Gabbard resigning as DNI, the Strait of Hormuz blowup, and a Creative Solutions blueprint introducing the Mega-Fan 9000 and the Trump Docking Station.Plus Jim Jordan grilling the SPLC over $3 million in funds to white supremacist groups, Washington DC at Pubkey this Sunday, May 24.Tickets and the full tour: porchtour.comMerch: RobBernsteinMerch.com

At least a dozen more wildfires broke out in Southern California over the last 24 hours, prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people. Matt Gutman reports. "CBS Mornings" offers some tips to avoid spending extra on vacation amid inflation concerns. Kris Van Cleave reports. The Defense Department says it wants to be "AI-first," but some service members are concerned about how quickly the technology is developing. Chris Livesay reports. Court records reveal more details about the Mango founder's son, Jonathan Andic, who was arrested Tuesday in connection to his father's 2024 death. Leigh Kiniry reports. Actress Michelle Monaghan joins "CBS Mornings" to talk about her 24-hour wellness cycle and why it's important to get quality sleep and consistent energy. (Sponsored by Natrol) Noah Wyle, who stars in HBO's "The Pitt," joins "CBS Mornings" with Dr. Elisabeth Potter to discuss their push to improve mental health and quality of life for healthcare workers. Comedian and media mogul Byron Allen sits down with "CBS Mornings" to discuss his show "Comics Unleashed" and its transition into the CBS late night spot. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pentagon analyst Sarah Gamm dives deep into the 28 declassified UFO files Trump just released. In this exclusive interview with Matt Ford, she breaks down the science, metadata analysis, and what her years at the Defense Department reveal about government transparency on unidentified flying objects—and what's still hidden. Sarah also shares her unique perspective as a medium and recounts her near-death experience, offering profound insights into otherworldly perceptions and witness accounts that deepen our understanding of extraterrestrial life and UAP phenomena.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-good-trouble-show-unidentified-flying-objects-ufo-disclosure--5808897/support.Sponsorship Inquires:  sponsors@thegoodtroubleshow.comSubstack:  https://substack.com/@thegoodtroubleshowLinktree: https://linktr.ee/thegoodtroubleshowPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheGoodTroubleShowYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGoodTroubleShowTwitter: https://twitter.com/GoodTroubleShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegoodtroubleshow/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@goodtroubleshowFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Good-Trouble-Show-With-Matt-Ford-106009712211646Threads: @TheGoodTroubleShowBlueSky: @TheGoodTroubleShow

The Virginia Supreme Court is blocking a voter-approved, Democratic-drawn congressional map, ruling the amendment process used to approve it violated state procedure. It's a decision that could blunt Democratic hopes and give Republicans a redistricting edge heading into the 2026 midterms. We'll look at the legal arguments over early voting and the constitutional amendment process and the likely impact on the balance of the U.S. House. A shaky ceasefire is compromised by an escalation between the U.S. and Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. We'll look at U.S. Defense Department and CENTCOM statements on self-defense strikes against missile, drone and small-boat threats and Iran's response accusing the U.S. of violating the ceasefire and attacking an Iranian tanker and coastal sites. We also examine the immediate impacts on maritime traffic and the implications for ongoing peace talks. This Week in Politics with Michael Shure & Mo Kelly brings a review of the top stories making an impact. The wild streets of Florida come to life with Friday Fabulous Florida. Culture Blaster, Michael Snyder, takes us to the movies and right into the weekend.

Fanell stresses the necessity of admitting strategic failure to properly address the China threat. He proposes an independent "Team B" for objective intelligence analysis, similar to Cold War practices. Recommendations include moving investment oversight to the Defense Department and adopting a "whole of society" approach. 3/47 NOVEMBER 1931

Iran has sent a new peace proposal for negotiations with the US to Pakistani mediators. The Defense Department is partnering with seven top AI companies. A suspect has been charged after two Jewish men were attacked in London. A gunmen suspected of killing two bank employees in Kentucky is now in custody. Plus, a man is celebrating a second chance at life at the 152nd Kentucky Derby. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-- On the Show: -- Dr. Frank George, who runs The Gaslight Report on Substack, joins us to discuss recent examples of Trump's cognitive decline -- The Supreme Court strikes down a majority-Black district for relying too heavily on race, which enables new gerrymandered maps in Florida -- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warns that rising gas prices and tariffs are increasing inflation and slowing economic growth -- Todd Blanche says it would not surprise him if new details emerge about who shot a Secret Service agent at the Washington Hilton -- In an event with Artemis II astronauts, Donald Trump claims he could be an astronaut and treats James Comey's “86” as a murder threat -- Defense Department official Jules Hurst refuses to say if he has Signal on his phone during congressional testimony -- A Manhattan Institute poll finds about 47% of Democrats say the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting involving Donald Trump was staged -- On the Bonus Show: Janet Mills drops out of the Maine Senate race, a California billionaire tax measure heads to the ballot, families sue ChatGPT after a mass shooter used it to plan the attack, and much more...

Tim Cook's surprise departure shakes Apple just as AI and product strategy take center stage, sending big questions through Silicon Valley about what comes next. From Toyota's camera-filled Woven City to questionable US police tracking and a Signal privacy gap, this episode digs into how quietly surveillance tech is encroaching on daily life. Toyota Woven City Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman; John Ternus to become Apple CEO Continuous glucose monitoring made me continuously crazy Meta will lay off 10% of its workforce, the company told staff today Meta projected $16 billion in scam ad revenue. Now the lawsuits are piling up. In another wild turn for AI chips, Meta signs deal for millions of Amazon AI CPUs Google is investing up to $40 billion in a company that is beating Gemini. That is the point. OpenAI Releases 'Spud' GPT-5.5 Model China's DeepSeek previews new AI model a year after jolting US rivals Now we know who paid $100,000 to unlock a Sam Altman podcast interview Scoop: NSA using Anthropic's Mythos despite Defense Department blacklist Anthropic: No "kill switch" for AI in classified settings Mozilla Used Anthropic's Mythos to Find and Fix 271 Bugs in Firefox Unauthorized group has gained access to Anthropic's exclusive cyber tool Mythos, report claims What smart people are saying about SpaceX's $60 billion deal with Cursor: 'The Hunger Games have just begun' Australia's Teen Social Media Ban Isn't Working. Half Their Teens Still Have Access, Survey Finds Apple fixes bug that cops used to extract deleted chat messages from iPhones Nevada Police Can Now Track Cellphones Without a Warrant Brussels launched an age checking app. Hackers took 2 minutes to break it 'Scattered Spider' Member 'Tylerb' Pleads Guilty Iran claims US used backdoors in networking equipment The Onion has agreed to a new deal to take over Infowars 'Hairdryer used to trick weather sensor' to win $34,000 bet To buy this Bay Area home, you'll need Anthropic equity | TechCrunch This Alberta Startup Sells No-Tech Tractors for Half Price The Hottest Phone for Kids Right Now Is a $100 Landline This pasta sauce wants to record your family Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Sam Abuelsamid, Victoria Song, and Stacey Higginbotham Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: box.com/AI doppel.com meter.com/twit Simply CX rippling.com/twit

The Pentagon has spent years building AI tools to help identify targets, speed up battlefield decisions, and make war more “efficient.” What started as an effort to analyze drone footage has grown into something bigger and much more unsettling. Sean talks with Bloomberg's Katrina Manson about Project Maven, the Defense Department's long-running push to bring AI into warfighting. They discuss how these systems actually work, what “human in the loop” really means, why autonomy is no longer some far-off sci-fi scenario, and what happens when the speed and scale of machine decision-making collide with the fog of war.  Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)  Guest: Katrina Manson (@KatrinaManson) We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show. And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday. Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Molly Roberts, Eric Columbus, and Roger Parloff to discuss Judge Friedman rejecting the Defense Department's revised press rules, the D.C. Circuit denying Anthropic's petition for a stay pending review of the enforcement of its supply chain designation, Judge Sorokin rejecting the Justice Department's attempt to obtain Massachusetts voter records, and more.You can find information on legal challenges to Trump administration actions here. And check out Lawfare's new homepage on the litigation, new Bluesky account, and new WITOAD merch.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CNN's chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto joins Preet to discuss the Iran war, Trump's psychology of force, and the return of great power conflict.  Then, Preet answers listener questions. He explains the relevance of birthright citizenship to Native American tribes and the special treatment congresspeople are receiving at airports.  In the bonus for Insiders, Preet and Sciutto discuss the controversy surrounding press coverage at the Defense Department.  Join the Insider community for access to bonus content from Stay Tuned and weekly episodes of the Insider podcast hosted by Preet and Joyce Vance. Head to cafe.com/insider to sign up. Thank you for supporting our work. Show notes and a transcript of the episode are available on our website.  You can now watch this episode! Head to CAFE's Youtube channel and subscribe. Shop Stay Tuned merch and featured books by our guests in our Amazon storefront. Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on BlueSky, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 833-997-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In recent weeks, the Defense Department has tussled with Anthropic over how its artificial intelligence could be used on classified systems. That fight became bitter and negotiations fell apart. And war in the Middle East has made it increasingly clear how much the U.S. military has been relying on A.I. Sheera Frenkel, who covers technology for The New York Times, explains the standoff and what it reveals about the future of warfare. Guest: Sheera Frenkel, a New York Times reporter who covers how technology affects our lives. Background reading:  How talks between Anthropic and the Defense Department fell apart. Here is a guide to the Pentagon's dance with Anthropic and OpenAI. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.