Cyber Warfare Is Real War, Cyber Apocalypse Coming

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB): This is war. Criminals and state-sponsored hackers are increasingly targeting America’s economy. Americans lost nearly $21 billion to cybercrime in 2025, a new record for cyber-enabled economic losses. Private sector losses to malicious cyber activity regularly exceed $200 billion in a given year.

Anthropic Mythos – We’ve opened Pandora’s box. For a decade cybersecurity community has been predicting a cyber apocalypse tied to single event – the day a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer could break the public-key cryptography systems most of internet runs on.

It’s possible that the first cybersecurity apocalypse may have come early. Anthropic Mythos now tilts the odds in the cybersecurity arms race in favor of attackers – and the math of why it tilts, and how long it stays tilted, is different from anything our institutions were built to handle.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of the top defense news of the last couple of days from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

THE PDB – Not the President’s Daily Briefing, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Pentagon replicated Ukrainian-style drone attack in Florida. Now it’s changing its counter-drone strategy. On Florida airfield, 10th Special Forces Group launched drone assault that mirrored “spiderweb” attack t Ukraine recently staged against Russia. Defenders were counter-drone troops from across U.S. military, trained for a week on tech that Pentagon has spent billions to develop.

Army soldier involved in planning and capture of Nicolas Maduro has been charged with making $400,000 by betting on removal of ousted Venezuelan leader.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Who’s next at Pentagon? War Secretary Pete Hegseth fires Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Navy Secretary Is Fired as Infighting Roils Pentagon.

Navy reviewing cost of future Ford-class carriers it is set to procure in the coming years to ensure they ‘make sense.’

Trump picked a fight with Anthropic. Now the administration is backing off.

Pentagon closes $1 billion investment in L3Harris missile unit, giving government future ownership in Missile Solutions business.

Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes newspaper’s ombudsman. Jacqueline Smith said she had been given no reason for her dismissal.

IRAN CEASEFIRE

President Trump said Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah terrorist group by three weeks after talks at White House.

IRAN CAMPAIGN

Trump orders Navy to attack any Iranian boats mining Strait of Hormuz. His decree, on Truth Social, also claims U.S. is de-mining the strategic waterway. This comes hours after U.S. boarded another Iranian-linked vessel in Indian Ocean and day after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp fired on three ships and seized two of them in the Strait.

REGIONAL/GLOBAL IMPACT

Prices to transit Panama Canal have hit record high driven by Asian buyers looking for alternative routes and supplies amid turmoil caused by Iran war.

U.S.-backed insurance war risk cover for Hormuz will have to wait for convoys. Trump administration has worked out co-insurance arrangement to provide war risk cover for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and Arabian Gulf.

Pentagon’s rush to rearm its Mideast forces makes it less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China.

CHINA THREAT

White House accuses China of ‘deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns’ to steal U.S. AI models and said Trump administration will be taking steps to safeguard domestic artificial intelligence products.

Inside China, AI is snake eating its own tail. China’s greatest technological ambition and its greatest political obsession are quietly destroying each other.

Former Biden defense official proposed a “Pacific Defense Pact” — a legally binding multilateral treaty among U.S., Japan, Australia, and Philippines. This to counter China’s rise and its potential use of force along first island chain. The underlying diagnosis is sound: Existing U.S. alliances in region lack integrated command and control structure and collective responsiveness required to credibly deter China in high-intensity conflict. But is formal pact the right solution?

RUSSIA THREAT/UKRAINE WAR

In first, Ukraine has launched powerful new interceptor from unmanned vessel to knock down Russian Shahed drones.

As Iran saps U.S. focus, troop math for monitoring a Ukraine peace deal looks grim. Pentagon has surged tens of thousands of service members to Middle East for war with Iran, raising questions about how involved Trump administration could get in securing a peace agreement in Ukraine when time comes – even if it wanted to.

$106 billion loan reflects EU’s view that peace in Ukraine is far away. Unlike previous European assistance packages, this one is weighted toward military spending meant to put Ukraine on solid footing for long fight.

EUROPEAN DEFENSE

Will Hungary Join the Euro? It’s a Long Road After Orban.

No prospective euro members meet criteria to join Euro currency.

Delays in U.S. missile deliveries caused by Iran war pushing NATO ally Estonia to look for alternative ways to maintain its defenses.

US MILITARY

Marine Corps and Navy are collaborating to boost nation’s current inadequate amphibious fleet size.

F-35 is changing Marine airpower. After decades of flying AV-8B Harrier II and F/A-18 Hornet, Marine Corps is going all in on F-35.

Navy rushing to arm carrier strike groups with radar-guided Longbow Hellfire missiles to protect against drones. This reflects larger push to expand shipboard defenses against uncrewed aerial threats, which now includes four Arleigh Burke class destroyers sailing with new Coyote interceptors.

Air Force more than doubling planned size of its new F-15EX Eagle II fleet from 129 to 267.

Exploding shells may turn Army Apache helicopter into drone hunters.

END of PDB

FOR MORE DETAILED, UNCENSORED, INTELLIGENCE, AND ANALYSIS FROM PAUL CRESPO, SUBSCRIBE TO HIS SUBSTACK.

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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