Russia responded with threats Monday to Mr. Biden’s decision over the weekend to let Ukraine use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred journalists to a statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would mean “NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long lobbied for greater freedom to use U.S. weaponry. He says his forces are at a distinct disadvantage trying to hit back at Russian forces that have steadily been expanding their hold in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine. In allowing Ukrainian strikes deeper into Russia, Mr. Biden lifted a long-standing ban that had been in place for fear such strikes would provoke the Kremlin to respond. 

The deployment of thousands of North Koreans this month to drive back a Ukrainian invasion force in Russia’s Kursk region played a role in Mr. Biden’s about-face on the issue, according to background sources cited by The Associated Press. Mr. Trump, who takes office in roughly two months, has sparked doubts about whether his administration would continue the United States’ vital military support for Ukraine. He has also vowed to quickly end the war.

Rep. John Moolenaar, the Michigan Republican who heads the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, tells Threat Status he’s optimistic about the panel’s prospects in the next Congress, especially given some of Mr. Trump’s early appointments to his national security team.

In an exclusive interview with National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz, the congressman cited three Republican lawmakers in particular with reputations for being tough on Beijing: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida as a national security adviser and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York as ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Moolenaar said he was also encouraged by the bipartisan nature of the committee’s work in its first two years.

Threat Status sat down with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee’s ranking Democrat, for a wide-ranging exclusive video interview in June. He also praised the panel’s bipartisanship on issues such as legislation to ban or force a sale of the China-owned social media app TikTok — which faces a Jan. 19 deadline.

The select committee, whose members are handpicked by Republican and Democratic House leaders, was established in December 2022 and now includes 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats. Its economic and security activities aim to prevent China from stealing advanced American technology and block Chinese companies from obtaining goods that can boost Beijing’s large-scale military buildup.

Mr. Moolenaar tells Threat Status that the committee in the new year will seek to “make sure we reset this relationship with China with respect to trade and economic policy, looking at ways to make sure that we prevent critical technologies from getting there, as well as areas where they’re treating our companies unfairly.”

Japan and South Korea are U.S. treaty allies in an unsettled region and both industrial powerhouses, with the United States as their leading export market. But Tokyo and Seoul were shaken during the first Trump administration when the iconoclastic president questioned the value and return on investment of the military presence in Asia and demanded higher financial payments for their U.S. garrisons.

Washington Times Asia Editor Andrew Salmon reports from the region that Mr. Trump’s “America First” mantra and campaign promises of widespread tariffs on allies and adversaries alike have put the two export-based economies on notice. Both are vital players in semiconductors, and chip trade with China became contentious during Mr. Trump’s first administration. Seoul and Tokyo also provide the first two lines of the Pentagon’s network of regional allies, while hosting U.S. troops on the doorsteps of China, North Korea and Russia.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba are both conservatives with solid security stances as the U.S. looks primed to re-pivot toward Asia. Still, clear sailing is not guaranteed. Mr. Trump has claimed a solid mandate to govern with Republicans who will be in charge of the White House and Congress. Mr. Ishiba and Mr. Yoon, on the other hand, are unpopular at home and govern without clear parliamentary majorities.

Mr. Homan, the president-elect’s new border czar, says he is preparing to work around any state governors who attempt to block the incoming administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants living in sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. “If they don’t want to help, then get the hell out of the way, because we’re coming,” Mr. Homan told “The Dana Show with Dana Loesch.” 

“We’re going to do this job. President Trump has a mandate from the American people to get this done,” he said in a wide-ranging podcast interview that aired Nov. 15. “It’s amazing to me that these left-leaning people, they’ve got the world upside-down, because, you know, all of a sudden, the people who enforce the law are the bad guys, and the people who break the law are the victims. I don’t get it. Their world’s upside down,” Mr. Homan told the show. “I would love to have their help, but if they can’t help us, then we’re gonna have to move forward on it.”

He also suggested the incoming administration plans to beef up immigration security along both the northern and southern borders, asserting that during the Biden administration, a significant number of Border Patrol agents were moved from the Canadian  border to the U.S.-Mexico border and that some who remained on U.S.-Canada border were tasked with “processing illegal aliens from the southern border virtually.” During the interview, Mr. Homan declined to comment on whether Mr. Trump had asked him to consider the post of Department of Homeland Security secretary.

• Nov. 18 — U.S. Election: Where to Now? Lowy Institute in Australia

• Nov. 18 — ROK-U.S. Strategic Forum 2024, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Nov. 19 — The End of UNRWA? Then What? — Gaza: The Human Toll, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Nov. 21 — Strategic Challenges Facing the U.S.–South Korea Alliance, Hudson Institute

• Nov. 22-24 — Halifax International Security Forum

• Dec. 7 — 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute