United States Defense and Military Forces

• U.S. Kills 2 in Strike in Pacific, as Trump Pressures Venezuela - The attack was the 30th announced by the U.S. military since early September. It came days after President Trump said the U.S. had struck a coastal site related to drugs and Venezuela.
• Grim Evidence of Trump’s Boat Strikes Washes Ashore on a Colombian Peninsula - First came the scorched boat. Then the mangled bodies. Then the packets with traces of marijuana. Now, fishermen fear the ocean that feeds them.
• How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign - New details of deliberations show how aides with overlapping agendas drove the United States toward a militarized confrontation with Venezuela.
• Trump’s Second-Term Promises: What He’s Done So Far on Immigration, Trade, DEI and More - President Trump has driven illegal crossings at the border to record lows, helped bring about an uneasy cease-fire in Gaza and upended the global trading system.
• Trump Announces Strike Against ISIS in Nigeria - The attack comes after President Trump ordered the Defense Department last month to prepare to intervene militarily in Nigeria to protect Christians from Islamic militants.
• How a Scholar Nudged the Supreme Court Toward Its Troop Deployment Ruling - Accepting an argument from a law professor that no party to the case had made, the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a stinging loss that could lead to more aggressive tactics.
• Trump’s Tanker Crackdown Paralyzes Venezuelan Oil Exports - Oil exports, the country’s financial lifeblood, have plummeted after the United States took action against three ships that have been used to carry its crude.
• The Pentagon and A.I. Giants Have a Weakness. Both Need China’s Batteries, Badly. - As warfare is reinvented in Ukraine, and Silicon Valley races to maintain its A.I. lead, China’s battery dominance is raising alarms far beyond the auto industry.
• Trump Announces New ‘Trump Class’ of Warships - The president said development of the vessels would help maintain military superiority and improve the industrial base, but analysts suggested they were the wrong approach to current threats.
• Trump Administration Oil Tanker Seizures Are Meant to Force Maduro Out, Officials Say - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the ship seizures were meant to force Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro from power.