Ms. Manuel, the executive director of the Aspen Strategy Group and the Aspen Security Forum offered a stark warning about China’s “rapidly” advancing capabilities in the realm of advanced technology, artificial intelligence and microchips during an exclusive interview this week with the Threat Status Influencers video series.

It is important for the U.S. to maintain its lead in semiconductor production, AI and 5G telecommunications networks, Ms. Manuel said. “Historically, the country that leads in technology leads the world. Roman roads, British steamships, Chinese gunpowder — that’s always been the case,” she said. “The United States and our friends and allies for the last several decades have been the uncontested leader technologically around the world. And now, China is incredibly innovative and they are rapidly catching up.”

As China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence app stunned both the stock market and the tech world this week, Ms. Manuel said the U.S. needs to more aggressively fund domestic research to keep up, calling on Mr. Trump to put his weight behind the former administration’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The act included “$173 billion that was supposed to go into advanced government basic science R&D. That doesn’t have a lot of lobbyists for it, so the funding for that has gotten steadily lower,” she said. “One of the best things I believe the Trump administration could do coming in is reestablish that funding.” 

China is subverting the United States through multibillion-dollar influence campaigns, and U.S. political warfare operations inside China are needed to counter the activities, according to four specialists who testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

The specialists in Chinese influence and intelligence said Beijing’s operations range from recruiting university professors and corrupting American officials to cyber and internet influence operations, technology theft and coercive political activities. Jennifer Lind, a professor at Dartmouth University, said China is conducting large-scale hostile influence operations against the United States to bolster its communist system, discredit democratic government and shape global norms in line with Beijing’s interests.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz offered in-depth coverage of the hearing, which was one of the first of its kind by Congress to examine in detail the activities of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, a Chinese Communist Party organization engaged in aggressive political influence operations targeting a wide range of American institutions.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino says he will not discuss control of the Panama Canal with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his trip to Central America and the Caribbean, which begins Friday. Mr. Mulino told reporters in Panama City that the discussion over which entity controls the Panama Canal is closed. “I cannot negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal. That is sealed,” he said. “The canal belongs to Panama.”

The comments come after the State Department’s top spokeswoman indicated that a key focus of Mr. Rubio’s trip will be to counter China’s growing influence in the region. Mr. Trump made waves in his inaugural address by asserting that China has effectively taken control of the Panama Canal. Mr. Trump threatened to “take back” the canal, arguing it was a security risk and that U.S. ships were being overcharged.

Panama vehemently denied Mr. Trump’s claims and has opened an extensive audit into the Hong Kong-based port company C.K. Hutchison, which operates two ports on either side of the Panama Canal. Mr. Mulino told reporters that Panama will wait for the results of the audit before it takes any action on Chinese influence over the canal.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Mr. Trump’s nominee to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, faced almost three hours of intense questioning at a feisty and sometimes contentious confirmation hearing Thursday at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, as lawmakers from both parties peppered her with questions about her espionage bona fides and judgment on international affairs.

The hottest moments came over past statements Ms. Gabbard has made on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — as well as her past support for Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower who leaked thousands of classified documents about U.S. intelligence-gathering programs.

Sen. Mark R. Warner, the intelligence committee’s top Democrat, accused Ms. Gabbard of blaming NATO for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rejecting the intelligence assessment that the Syrian government of Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against rebel forces in the country’s civil war. Ms. Gabbard made a controversial visit to Syria in 2017 to meet with the now-ousted Syrian president. “It raises serious questions about your judgment,” Mr. Warner said.

Some Republicans on the majority GOP committee also weren’t enthusiastic about Ms. Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. Sen. Susan M. Collins, Maine Republican, is considered a possible “no” vote on Ms. Gabbard, who can’t afford to lose a single Republican vote on the committee.

Kash Patel, Mr. Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, promised during a five-hour confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday that he will not use the bureau to retaliate against the president’s political opponents, and will only pursue cases with proper legal foundation.

Democrats on the committee were determined to discuss Mr. Patel’s past, particularly a series of impolitic statements he has made over the years. Mr. Patel tried to sideline those concerns, mocking accusations that he cavorts with racists.

Lawmakers on both sides praised Mr. Patel, 44, for his personal story, including his Indian immigrant parents who fled dictator Idi Amin’s Uganda and eventually settled in New York. What Mr. Patel has done since then has sparked division. He was part of a House Republican team that discredited the Russia “collusion” allegations against Mr. Trump during the 2016 election and then joined Mr. Trump’s National Security Council. When Mr. Trump was out of the White House, Mr. Patel was a fierce loyalist.

• Feb. 3 — A European View on Intelligence Cooperation, University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project 

• Feb. 3 — Donald Trump’s Second Term: Thinking through the Transition, Wilson Center

• Feb. 3 — Security in Focus: Poland’s EU Presidency and the Transatlantic Alliance in 2025, Wilson Center

• Feb. 6 — Hearing: “Made in China 2025 — Who is Winning?” U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission

• Feb. 6 — Juche and North Korean Special Operations Forces, Institute of World Politics

• Feb. 6 — Biopower: Securing American Leadership in Biotechnology, Center for a New American Security

• Feb. 7 — China & Russia: Strategic Dynamics, MITRE