Threat Status for Monday, January 20, 2025. Share this daily newsletter with your friends, who can sign up here. Send tips to National Security Editor Guy Taylor.
Trump administration sources say the new president will launch a blizzard of more than 100 executive actions by the time he settles into the White House Monday night.
… While the first will be the declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border, several others are expected to be intertwined with national security.
… Donald Trump says an executive order will give TikTok’s China-based parent company time to find an approved buyer before the platform is banned.
… It’s unclear how quickly Mr. Trump will carry out his promise to raise tariffs on China. He struck a conciliatory tone toward Beijing after speaking Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
… The fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire is so far holding.
… Poland has made dramatic moves to strengthen the European Union’s border with Russian ally Belarus.
… Questions swirl around what Belarus’ role will be in the Trump push to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. North Korea, which sent troops to help the Russian war effort against Ukraine, is rejecting reports it seeks a summit with Belarus.
… And Mr. Trump has tapped an ousted Space Force officer and anti-woke activist for a senior Air Force post.
The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that began Sunday with the Palestinian militant group’s release of three Israeli hostages is holding, although uncertainty hangs over whether Hamas will honor the terms of the deal — and who will govern the Gaza Strip during the months to come.
The focus over the weekend in Israel was on the three prisoners freed after 471 days in Hamas captivity: Romi Gonen, 24; Emily Damari, 28; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31. They were taken prisoner during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, rampage that killed 1,200 Israeli civilians. Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners in exchange on Monday.
The ceasefire is projected to be a three-phase arrangement. The first phase is scheduled to last for 42 days. In exchange for the release of hostages, Israeli forces would pull back to a buffer zone in Gaza, potentially allowing tens of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians to return home.
Negotiations over the second phase are expected to begin soon. Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog said over the weekend that implementing the remaining phases will be challenging. Al Jazeera reported Monday that Palestinians hoping to return to Rafah have found the southern Gaza city in ruins.
Mr. Trump opened the door to an acceleration of leader-level diplomacy with China by speaking via telephone Friday with the Chinese president. Despite tensions in recent months over Beijing’s military muscle-flexing in the South China Sea — and toward the U.S-backed island democracy of Taiwan — Mr. Trump claimed the two leaders will work together to solve problems confronting both nations.
“The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A.,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok and many other subjects.”
During his first presidency, Mr. Trump launched a trade war against China, with both sides raising tariffs on the other’s exports. While the Biden administration retained most of the U.S. tariffs, Mr. Trump has threatened to increase them dramatically going forward. He has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and contributing to America’s fentanyl crisis.
Many officials across Europe see Mr. Trump’s inauguration as a shared victory. Count George Simion among them. The conservative Romanian figure is in Washington to celebrate Mr. Trump’s return to the White House, saying that throughout his country and the European continent shared core values on both sides of the Atlantic are politically ascendant like never before.
Mr. Simion, of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other key Republicans on Sunday. He said he came to the U.S. with a “mandate” to represent the continent’s conservatives at Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang goes inside Mr. Simon’s visit with an exclusive interview, exploring the political turmoil currently gripping Romania, where a court recently annulled the results of the country’s November presidential election amid allegations that a well-orchestrated Russian political interference campaign helped long-shot conservative populist Calin Georgescu finish in first place.
When she was a member of the House of Representatives, Tulsi Gabbard fiercely defended personal privacy rights protected by the Fourth Amendment, according to Andrew P. Napolitano, who writes that Ms. Gabbard “consistently opposed permitting federal agents to spy on Americans without search warrants and voted against the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.”
In recent weeks, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Trump’s nominee to become “the director of national intelligence — the head of all known American spying agencies — changed her mind on Section 702 and no longer believes that the Constitution means what it says,” writes Mr. Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey.
“To win the votes of Republican senators who hate the Fourth Amendment, Ms. Gabbard has told them she now favors Section 702 warrantless spying,” he writes. “This is the very same Section 702 used to justify spying on Donald Trump before his election in 2016 and during his first term as president.”
President-elect Trump, a “proven leader who prioritized America First while fostering global stability, has signaled a return to strength and pragmatism in foreign policy. His administration understands that problems in countries like Venezuela don’t just remain confined to their borders,” writes Jorge Martinez.
“They spill over, affecting American citizens through weakened regional stability, increased illegal immigration, and threats from regimes aligned with U.S. adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran,” writes Mr. Martinez, president and CEO of Design One Group and a former U.S. Department of Justice press secretary.
“The Trump-Vance administration can take decisive action by championing comprehensive sanctions that target the [Venezuelan] regime’s financial lifelines while also rolling back Biden-era oil deals that sustain [President Nicolas] Maduro’s oppressive rule,” he writes. “By closing loopholes in European sanctions, Trump can help ensure that the regime’s elites no longer profit from corruption or maintain their brutal grip on power. The time is now for a bold, unwavering commitment to democracy and freedom in Venezuela and the rest of Latin America.”
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