The Russian president and the Chinese president seized the moment of Mr. Trump’s inauguration to highlight the growing power alignment between their autocratic governments — holding a high-profile video conference Tuesday during which they vowed to push a “multipolar global order” and collectively play a “stabilizing role in global affairs.”

Neither leader directly mentioned the U.S. inauguration, but their conversation loomed over the changes a Trump administration could bring to U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Trump has promised to end the ongoing war in Ukraine and take a dramatically tougher line on trade — including new tariffs — with China.

Mr Putin and Mr. Xi signed a broad cooperation pact on the eve of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and U.S. officials have watched the growing closeness of the two authoritarian powers with alarm. In televised remarks on Monday, Mr. Putin praised efforts by Mr. Trump to reopen dialogue between the U.S. and Russia.

North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine in their first major conflict since the Korean War. And now, the regime in Pyongyang has adopted Moscow’s tone in lambasting Japan over its ties to NATO, claiming Japan’s deepening military alignment with the Western alliance is “adding new instability” to the region.

“Japan set up its independent mission in NATO at a time when the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region is more seriously threatened due to the U.S. provocative military hegemony,” an article circulated by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency stated on Monday.

Japan quietly opened a dedicated mission to the transatlantic military bloc last week. Tokyo’s prior relationships with NATO had been managed through its embassy in Brussels. The move reflects wider concerns in Tokyo about regional security alliances as Mr. Trump begins his presidency.

Moscow has been a harsh critic of NATO’s post-Cold War expansion into Eastern Europe and its strong support of Ukraine in its effort to fight off a Russian invasion. Speaking to a conference of Russia experts last November, Mr. Putin called NATO a “blatant anachronism” and accused it of being subject to “the diktat of the older brother” — a veiled reference to the United States.

Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sat together at Mr. Trump’s inauguration, while their futures in Washington remain uncertain. Ms. Gabbard faces a steep climb to confirmation on Capitol Hill, where TikTok faces a ban amid national security concerns.

With Mr. Trump pledging to save the popular China-owned video-sharing app from shutting down, the juxtaposition of the spy chief nominee sitting right next to TikTok’s top U.S. executive raised eyebrows in Washington. Rush Doshi, assistant professor at Georgetown University, posted a photo on X of the duo seated together. “Is that really the CEO of TikTok sitting next to the next Director of National Intelligence — Tulsi Gabbard — at President Trump’s inauguration? Evidently, yes,” Mr. Doshi said on X. 

As the battle over TikTok heated up last year, Threat Status sat down with Foundation for Defense of Democracies China Program Director Craig Singleton for a video interview discussing how the platform intersects with wider U.S.-China intelligence wars and unpacking the basis for U.S. national security concerns over the app.

After quickly confirming Marco Rubio as secretary of state, the Senate appears poised to push ahead on processing several other top national security nominations, including Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who advanced through the Senate Armed Services Committee on a party-line vote Monday. Mr. Rubio was sworn in Tuesday morning as secretary of state.

With a full Senate vote on Mr. Hegseth unlikely until later in the week, Mr. Trump has tapped Robert Salesses, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Washington Headquarters Service, to serve as interim defense secretary. The Hegseth vote is expected to be tight amid outcry from Democrats. They say the nominee is unqualified and have raised concern over allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement — allegations Mr. Hegseth has dismissed.

Kristi Noem and John Ratcliffe, the nominees for Homeland Security secretary and CIA director, respectively, are expected to be smoothly confirmed. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence approved Mr. Ratcliffe’s nomination in a 14-3 vote. It was not immediately clear who the three opponents were, as the vote was held in private. The panel’s chair and ranking member, Sens. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, and Mark R. Warner, Virginia Democrat, issued a joint statement urging “expeditious consideration” of Mr. Ratcliffe’s nomination on the floor.

The president moved quickly Monday to sign executive orders to restore the stiff border enforcement of his first administration and blaze new ground — labeling waves of migrants an “invasion,” proclaiming a national border emergency, reviving his “Remain in Mexico” policy and ordering the Pentagon into the battle to turn the tide.

The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan looks at the new president’s moves, reporting that Mr. Trump is harnessing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a leftover from the founding era that allows detention and deportation of hostile forces — to be used specifically against the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and other violent international cartels and gangs.

Mr. Trump is also flexing executive powers to end birthright citizenship, denying U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants an automatic place in the country and removing at least one incentive that draws migrants to the country. In a separate development, a U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot and killed along the northern border Monday. Details are emerging in Vermont, where authorities say the FBI is investigating the incident.

• Jan. 22 — Strategic Competition in the Second Trump Administration, Wilson Center

• Jan. 22 — Saving Georgian Democracy: A Conversation with President Salome Zourabichvili, American Enterprise Institute

• Jan. 22 — Naval Competition in the Indian Ocean Region, Stimson Center

• Jan. 24 — Project on Nuclear Issues live debate: AI Integration in U.S. Nuclear Command, Control and Communications, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Jan. 28 — The North Caucasus and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Wilson Center

• Feb. 10-11 — Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, Government of France