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PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – An 18th-century war power has drawn interest to possibly give private firms more leeway to fight state-backed hackers.
Trump administration and industry officials have discussed whether modern-day letters of marque—once used to deputize privately owned ships to lawfully attack other vessels during wartime—might enable private-sector retaliatory offensive hacking operations against unfriendly nation-states.
Letters of marque played a major role during the War of 1812, when the U.S. issued them to private ship-owners to capture British vessels. Earlier, they were used to convert pirates into privateers, acting on behalf of their governments to raid enemy ships.
Privateering was broadly outlawed by the U.S. and other signatories to an 1858 treaty, although the Confederacy used it during the Civil War.
Senior U.S. officials believe a more modern, tailored version might arise as the administration seeks ways to even the fight against Chinese-backed cyber groups.
Hacking units tied to Chinese intelligence have compromised troves of U.S. critical infrastructure. The Volt Typhoon group has accessed systems with no military intelligence value, like electric grids and water treatment plants, with the aim of sabotaging them if the U.S. intervenes in a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:
NATIONAL SECURITY
From Star Wars to Golden Dome: Trump pushes US missile shield despite funding and technology hurdles. President Trump made it clear: He’s setting out to finish what former President Reagan started.
Trump’s Golden Dome raises major questions: Can it be built? Should it be built? What’s Canada’s role?
AI ‘unchained’: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA’s) Maven tool ‘significantly’ decreasing time to targeting, agency chief says.
Autonomous weapon systems: No human-in-the-loop required, and other myths dispelled.
HOMELAND SECURITY
DOD is sending 1,100 more troops to the southern border mission.
For the first time at a New England-based cyber exercise, National Guardsmen recently received a threat briefing from a utility company that was compromised by China’s Volt Typhoon hacking group.
GOP spending bill heads to Senate with $150 billion for defense programs. Republicans aim to funnel billions of dollars into some of the Air Force’s top-priority programs as part of a divisive bill the GOP may be able to enact without Democratic support.
GOP’s ‘big beautiful’ bill with $8.5 billion for military quality-of-life boost passes house.
LOL! – Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has sent a letter pressing Defense Secretary Hegseth for answers about how potentially ending fluoride use in drinking water could undermine military readiness.
Ramaphosa tells Trump more US trade is the solution to white farmer attacks. A rainbow-colored South African delegation hopes to shift the White House narrative from ‘genocide’ to crime and unemployment.
Trump administration ends Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, escalating a standoff with our oldest university.
US POWER OVERSEAS
B-52H Stratofortress bombers have arrived in Spain to kick off a new European deployment as the Air Force looks to make its nuclear-armed fleets more flexible.
Air Force prepares to retire the UH-1N Huey helicopter after more than six decades of service, phasing out the remaining birds based in Tokyo.
UK and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports and airfield at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under new deal between the UK and Mauritius.
Army Reserve gears up for the ‘Super Bowl’ of all exercises, its largest-ever beginning in late May that will include 9,000 soldiers deployed across multiple states and locations coast-to-coast.
Muddy wheels, foggy lenses: Army 25th Infantry Division tests new vehicles, drones on the kind of island terrain that might be a future battlefield during Philippines exercises.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68), along with destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), docked at the Port Klang Cruise Terminal in Malaysia.
USS Mount Whitney: The indispensable ship that Navy wants to mothball is the only ship in the fleet that allows a commander to simultaneously lead U.S. and NATO forces in Europe and Africa.
Marine Corps is buying a pair of new medium landing craft from an Australian firm to help the service continue to refine its new expeditionary and distributed concepts of operations.
See paratroopers file out of a cargo plane during training over Norway.
CHINA THREAT
China’s infiltration of U.S. systems needs new attention. The markets are sharing a collective — if temporarily — sigh of relief as China and the U.S. reached a 90-day tariff deal. What cannot be avoided, however, is China’s unrelenting pursuit of U.S. sensitive data and technologies.
Trump created consternation in Taiwan last week when he said that a successful trade deal with China would help with “unification.”
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
U.S., allies warn Russian cyber hacker group targeting Western IT, defense and transportation firms to hamper aid to Ukraine.
Russian forces are creating ‘buffer zone’ along Russia-Ukraine border, Vladimir Putin says.
IRAN THREAT/MIDEAST
Israelis have a skewed view on Gaza’s hunger plight driven by censorship and media that downplay humanitarian crisis.
Killing babies “as a hobby.” “Expelling a population.” “Fighting against civilians.” It is some of the harshest language against Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza and from a prominent Israeli politician, sparking a domestic uproar.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
Aftermath of disastrous North Korean frigate launch seen in satellite image.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
U.S. will impose sanctions on Sudan after determining that the country’s military used chemical weapons last year while fighting against rebel paramilitary forces.
Philippine Navy commissioned its first guided-missile frigate and showcased U.S.-provided unmanned surface vessels at Naval Operating Base Subic.
Rebels fighting Myanmar’s junta say they used a first-person view (FPV) drone to down an Mi-17 Hip transport helicopter attempting to land with supplies, a tactic developed by Ukraine against Russia.
Decisions pending on jointly developed, 2,000km-range, UK-German strike missile.
French Navy’s broad plan for the country’s carrier air wing includes a significant drone component, alongside advanced crewed aircraft. France has a single nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, but is planning a more capable flattop to replace it, by 2038.
New Zealand eyes cargo planes, helicopters, and Javelins in new $2.4 billion 2025 budget.
US MILITARY
Air Force’s acquisition strategy shift on the F-47 sixth-generation fighter will give the service greater ownership of the jet’s technology and allow quicker and easier future upgrades, avoiding F-35 mistakes.
CCA sticker shock: When it comes to Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), the Air Force’s program to acquire thousands of lower-cost autonomous unmanned “loyal wingman” drones to provide “affordable mass,” with an emphasis on “affordable.”
Army is heading for a major reorganization that includes eliminating at least 2,000 positions — civilian and troops — and cuts to planned purchases in various drone and vehicle programs that are considered outdated.
Navy ramps up unmanned systems procurement and weapons tests, calls for industry push.
Navy and Marines’ plan to drastically consolidate legacy and standalone IT networks by late 2027 as part of a large-scale modernization campaign to reduce the cyber-attack surface.
The naval reactors program for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and updated Virginia-class attack boat are “in progress.”
World’s most secretive 737, RAT55, Air Force Materiel Command’s extremely shy jet converted into a grotesquely modified radar cross-section measurement platform just flew across country for an unknown reason, stopping in Arkansas and Texas.
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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