A top U.S. spy agency has turned to a cutting-edge artificial intelligence product developed in the private sector to help hunt cyberattackers and understand leaks of classified information. Representatives at the San Francisco-headquartered company Primer say it’s a point of pride that the company’s AI-powered platforms are being used by analysts deep inside the National Security Agency.

In an exclusive interview at the Pentagon’s recent AI symposium, Primer Federal President Mark Brunner told National Security Tech Reporter Ryan Lovelace that the platforms help NSA analysts “connect the dots as they’re trying to understand what’s happening in cybersecurity and any potential attack vectors.”

Recent history explains why the intelligence community wants such tools. Last year, classified intelligence documents splashed across Discord, a platform popular with online gamers. Photos taken from above a suspected Chinese spy balloon also appeared across social media platforms, from Telegram to X.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has taken action against two former senior leaders who disappeared suddenly several months ago, as part of an apparent political purge by President Xi Jinping.

Former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, once a rising party star, was ousted from the party’s rubber-stamp parliament this week. Former Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu was also removed from a seat on the CCP’s most powerful military structure.

With Mr. Xi at the helm, Beijing has tightened control over politics under the guise of an anti-corruption drive. National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz reports the corruption accusation is used by the Chinese leader to purge potential rivals and cement his hold on power. Some suspect the removal of Gen. Li and Mr. Qin is also part of a crackdown on foreign national security threats.

Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought to position himself as a potential mediator to end the Ukraine war during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit on Tuesday — even though Riyadh remains aligned with Moscow on energy policies.

Mr. Zelenskyy’s trip came as Ukrainian forces are being pushed back in eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian military’s improvements in drone technology, electronic warfare and the use of “loitering” munitions — aerial weapons with built-in warheads that can remain on or near the front lines until needed.

Pentagon Correspondent Mike Glenn reports the U.S. Army is closely studying Russia’s tactics. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters Tuesday that the course of the fighting in Ukraine shows the Army is on the right path by investing in integrated air and missile defense systems and long-range precision artillery.

The Pentagon is not the only agency studying the conflict, the largest land war in Europe since World War II. The head of the CIA’s strategic investment fund In-Q-Tel says “everyone is looking” at the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza for “clues as to what the next generation of conflict looks like.”

In-Q-Tel President and CEO Steve Bowsher made the comment during an exclusive video interview with Threat Status, during which he observed that “Ukrainians are using commercial, off-the-shelf drones to disrupt very high-priced, very expensive, very exquisitely capable Russian airborne platforms.”

Defeating Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine should be the goal of U.S. liberals and conservatives alike, according to regular columnist Clifford D. May, who argues a future Trump administration would have more leverage to negotiate an end to the war if Congress ends its current stalemate and moves now to supply Ukrainian forces with much needed weaponry. 

Mr. May notes that a bipartisan bill to “authorize new military assistance — old ammunition made in America, which we’d replace in U.S. war stocks with new ammunition made in America — passed 70-29 in the Senate.” He laments that a “faction of Republicans in the House is blocking a vote in that body — a vote that would easily garner a bipartisan majority.” Meanwhile, the “rulers of Iran, China and North Korea — an axis of anti-American tyranny — are sending Mr. Putin an abundant supply of missiles, drones and other weapons.”