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Israel says it has uncovered several tunnel shafts near Rafah, while heavy fighting with Hamas militants on the Gaza city’s outskirts has left aid crossings inaccessible and caused more than 100,000 Palestinians to flee north.
…U.S. spy agencies are crafting new rules for how they use artificial intelligence and personal data harvested by private companies.
…The Chinese Communist Party is waging a “bitter information war” and “we are losing,” warns retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Wallace “Chip” Gregson, one of America’s most experienced and battle-hardened Marines.
…A leading Chinese media outlet says President Xi Jinping just inked a new “comprehensive strategic partnership” with Hungary on a visit to Budapest.
…The ruler of the military junta in Chad has been declared the winner of a presidential election that opposition figures in the African nation say was rigged.
The “incredibly complex” threat environment facing the U.S., combined with the proliferation of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence, are forcing the Pentagon to make tough choices, Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the major Special Operations convention in Tampa, Fla., this week.
Some corners of the Pentagon and companies within the U.S. military industrial base represented at the convention won’t agree with those choices, Gen. Brown indicated in a speech Thursday. “We’re often talking to the same companies and we confuse them because they don’t understand what our priorities are. … I might piss some people off, but I’m OK with that,” the joint chief’s chairman said. “We need to do what’s right for the Joint Force and what’s right for our allies and partners to make sure we have the combat capability I require.”
His comments reflect the reality facing the U.S., its military contractors and its allies: The number of American adversaries, along with the technologies many of them could bring to a fight, call for a new approach to the development and fielding of virtually every military tool. National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang is at the Special Operations convention and has an in-depth look at Gen. Brown’s remarks, as well as those from other top Pentagon officials, including Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, director for joint force development for the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
The U.S. spy agencies are crafting rules for how they use artificial intelligence and commercially obtained data, according to revelations by top intelligence officials at this week’s Special Competitive Studies Project’s AI expo in Washington.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Science and Technology Chief John Beiler told the expo that officials are “still figuring a lot of this stuff out,” but will start at a “very high level.” Mr. Beiler separately told Threat Status that the intelligence community is not forecasting a deadline for the release of the new AI rules. But hints are evident in the major defense bill President Biden signed in December.
Speculation swirls around regulations on how spy agencies use commercially available data, including personal information harvested and put on the open market by private firms accessing people’s phones, cars and other devices. Jason Barrett, ODNI’s Open Source Intelligence Executive, told the AI expo that the intelligence community will soon share new information about its policy for using such commercially available information.
The Pentagon says no final decision has been made about a large shipment to Israel of 2,000 and 500-pound bombs that Mr. Biden put on hold over concerns they could be used in a ground operation inside the densely populated city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that Washington opposes.
The U.S. has supplied Israel with weapons and ammunition regularly since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7. But the White House has made no secret of its opposition to an Israeli move into Rafah, citing fears of mass civilian casualties.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the top Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Thursday that the administration is “continuing to discuss with Israeli officials their plans” for Rafah. “We’ve been very clear,” he said, “that as Israel contemplates its operation … we would expect it to be done in a way that takes civilian safety into account.”
Elbridge Colby, who served as deputy undersecretary of defense for strategy and force development in the former Trump administration, sent ripples of fear across South Korea this week by asserting that Washington should not “break its spear” fighting for South Korea against the threat from North Korea while China poses the main challenge to U.S. interests in the region.
High-level South Korean security analysts responded with outrage to the comment that Mr. Colby made in an interview with South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. “Unbelievable,” said Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean general. “If the U.S. is really thinking this, it’s ‘Thanks very much, United States, for helping us for the last seven decades.’”
Mr. Colby’s remarks could foreshadow new monetary demands on South Korea for stationing U.S. troops in the nation in a potential new Trump administration. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sidestepped questions about that at a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. When asked whether a reelected Mr. Trump might demand more money from Seoul, Mr. Yoon instead talked up the strength of the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
Former Vice President Mike Pence writes that Washington delivered a rare and much-needed bipartisan win when Congress passed the $95 billion defense aid package for American allies fighting on the front lines to defend democracy — legislation that also cracks down on China-owned TikTok.
“Despite the rising tide of isolationism that has led some to call for abdicating America’s responsibility to lead the free world, Republicans and Democrats set aside the politics of the moment,” Mr. Pence writes. “They delivered urgent military support to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.”
“At a time when Washington seems more divided than ever, it’s important for Americans to remember that bipartisan cooperation is still possible,” he writes, adding that “members of both parties deserve praise” and have “shown that America remains the indispensable leader of the free world.”
A primary requirement of an America First national security approach is a competent and decisive president who exercises strong leadership, names exemplary national security officials, and implements a coherent and effective foreign policy to protect the United States from foreign threats and promote its interests abroad, write retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg and Center for American Security Chair Fred Fleitz.
It also “requires a strong military, the prudent use of military force, and keeping U.S. troops out of unnecessary and unending wars,” they write. “It means working in alliances and with partners to promote regional security while requiring alliance members and allies to carry their full weight in defending security in the region.”
“Contrary to claims by some pundits and journalists, this America First approach is neither isolationist nor a retreat from the United States serving as the leader of the free world.”
• May 15 — U.S.-Nigeria Partnership in the Changing Global Arena: A Conversation with Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, Wilson Center.
• May 15 — The Pernicious Impact of China’s Anti-Secession Law, Hudson Institute.
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