Trump’s Caribbean Strategy Sparks Capitol Hill Showdown

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – U.S. is releasing and repatriating two survivors of latest airstrike on drug boats in the Caribbean currently held by the Navy to their home country to face charges.

A bipartisan group of senators is planning to force a vote on a resolution to block President Trump from carrying out hostilities against Venezuela without the explicit approval of Congress.

Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced the establishment of a new Joint Task Force (JTF) under II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) today to synchronize and augment counter-narcotics efforts across the Western Hemisphere.

Trump accused Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, of being an “illegal drug dealer” and threatened to immediately cut U.S. funding to the country, as a Republican senator said the U.S. would soon announce “major tariffs” on the country.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:

DEFENSE POLITICS

A board of Air Force Academy graduates withdrew both of the motions on whether to extend an honorary degree and honorary membership into the academy’s alumni association to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

US POWER OVERSEAS

Four B-1B bombers from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas have deployed to Misawa Air Base, Japan, in a Bomber Task Force. The aircraft are likely to participate in exercises with Japan in the coming weeks.

CHINA THREAT

China’s economy slows as trade war, weak demand highlight structural risks.

Worried by China’s growing arsenal of ballistic missiles, India is responding with a plan to create a joint rocket force that would control and expand the country’s non-nuclear missiles.

Chinese forces deployed maritime security officers, fighter jets and new buoys to Scarborough Shoal following Philippine fishery support efforts at disputed maritime features across the South China Sea.

China’s huge ‘GJ-X’ stealth ‘cranked kite’ flying-wing drone appears to have been spotted in the air for the first time.

RUSSIA THREAT

President Trump has called for Russia and Ukraine to “stop where they are” and quit fighting after concluding talks in Washington Friday with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

NATO vows stronger, more predictable support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president has urged allies against appeasing Russia after returning from a trip to the U.S., where he failed to secure long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

‘Shoot down Russian, drones, period!’ Europe’s noisy effort to unify against Russia. Russian incursions into NATO allies’ airspace are causing rare public disagreements between treaty allies. Is this the disarray that Moscow wants, or a sign of healthy debate, or both?

Ukrainian drones struck a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, sparking a fire and forcing it to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan.

MIDDLE EAST THREATS

Israel launched waves of lethal airstrikes and cut off all aid into Gaza “until further notice” after an attack by Hamas, in escalations that marked the most serious threat so far to the increasingly fragile ceasefire.

As Israelis and Palestinians wait to see what comes after a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, the experience of the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s may offer lessons in the thorny process of moving from seemingly intractable conflict to enduring peace.

If the war in Gaza had dramatic consequences across the Middle East, overturning long-held assumptions, resetting the geopolitical map and provoking massive shifts in public opinion, any durable peace is likely to have equally momentous effects.

Yemen’s Houthi authorities have detained about two dozen UN employees after raiding another UN-run facility in the capital Sanaa.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

South Korea has taken a North Korean soldier into custody after he crossed the country’s heavily guarded border.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Coalition deal puts Takaichi on brink of Japan’s first female premiership.

At NATO’s largest unmanned maritime exercise, Astrolight’s POLARIS laser communication terminal kept a jam-proof ship-to-ship link through rain and fog over horizon-limited distances, proving a secure, undetectable solution for radio-silent, GPS-denied environments.

Thieves Grab ‘Priceless’ Jewels From Louvre.

Air Force initiative to develop advanced drones that can operate alongside manned fighter jets is adding the Netherlands to the mix.

Mayor of Okinawa prefecture’s capital city has rejected U.S. military plans to expand joint police patrols into his municipality.

Royal Navy said its Wildcat HMA2 helicopters and the Martlet lightweight multirole missile successfully engaged a variety of uncrewed aerial and surface targets during Exercise Wildfire, a French-led maritime exercise.

US ARMY SPECIAL REPORT

As the Army examines how to transform its armor formations, it wants to avoid placing them in a potential stalemate, similar to what is being seen in the war in Ukraine.

Army is working on a new technology that can transform air into potable drinking water for troops.

Army secretary’s top advisor on cyber issues has now also been tasked with providing advice on electronic warfare and information advantage, elevating the focus on those topics at the highest level of the Army.

Army is formulating a vision for fleets of advanced and highly autonomous helicopter wingman drones similar to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy are now developing.

Army ‘hitting stride’ with 155mm production, but general worries over what’s needed next. After decades of stagnation, America’s ammunition industry is beginning to boom again.

Army selects Lockheed Martin’s Spike Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) missile for its Mobile-Long Range Precision Strike Missile (M-LRPSM) competition.

US MILITARY

Special Operations Command wants a small, jam-proof, fire-and-forget missile that can be launched from medium-sized drones.

What’s old is new again. The possibility of resurrecting battleships as a potent symbol of naval power is back as a popular topic of discussion in the nation’s capital. Does it make sense?

Air Force has scrapped its outgoing chief of staff’s plan to create an independent command focused on developing the service’s future requirements into new systems.

Space Force’s much-touted plan to create a new Futures Command is on the chopping block, and as of yet there is no formal plan for any replacement organization.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has gotten the Navy contract to develop conceptual designs for a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to support the carrier air wing of tomorrow.

National Guard has exceeded its fiscal 2025 recruiting goals with the Air National Guard and Army National Guard combined to recruit nearly 50,000 new enlistees.

END of PDB

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