The U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned Friday that an extremist attack in Russia could be “imminent” and alerted American citizens they may be in danger. The warning comes a day after the Kremlin’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Russian authorities had killed militants from the Islamic State terror group who were plotting to attack a Moscow synagogue.

Threat Status is tracking potential links between the FSB revelation and the U.S. Embassy warning, which said American officials are “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts.” FSB officials reportedly said an Islamic State cell had plans to kill worshipers at the synagogue.

The Moscow developments come a day after the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East sounded the alarm that Islamic State-Khorasan operatives in Afghanistan and Syria have the capability and the will to launch a strike in six months with “little to no warning.”

Army Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, said such an attack would be more likely against the U.S. and its allies in Europe, and it would take “substantially more resources” to hit the U.S. homeland. The general gave the assessment in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also asserted that Iran is behind a wave of violence throughout the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, arming and encouraging proxy groups like the Houthis in Yemen and increasing the risk of direct attacks on U.S. and Western interests in the region.

The Chinese government is intent on developing mind-reading technology, according to a key House Democrat, who warns that Beijing isn’t limiting its experiments to its soldiers and officials. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi urged Americans to take the threat seriously this week as he detailed work by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party to expose Beijing’s human experiments. The Illinois lawmaker is the committee’s ranking Democratic member. 

National Security Tech Reporter Ryan Lovelace covered the Illinois Democrat’s assertion that Chinese scientists are conducting a range of research to create biologically enhanced soldiers and are even experimenting with mind-control tools. “By some reports, [they are] even researching mind-reading software to ensure [Chinese Communist Party] officials remain loyal to the party. You can’t make this stuff up,” Mr. Krishnamoorthi said at a committee hearing Thursday.

The U.S. Army intelligence analyst arrested Thursday on charges of selling military secrets to China sought documents related to hypersonic weapons and information on the Army’s HIMARS artillery system, including how the weapon could be integrated into combat operations, according to court documents.

Pentagon Correspondent Mike Glenn reports Sgt. Korbein Schultz of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division was allegedly asked by his Hong Kong-based handler to cull through U.S. government computer records for information about Russia’s war with Ukraine and how the information could be applied to the situation in Taiwan. In exchange for documents, prosecutors allege the handler made at least 14 payments to Sgt. Schultz totaling about $42,000.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a Mexican man who was holding a gun on a group of migrants, foiling the attack and sending other bandits running back into Mexico, The Washington Times’ Stephen Dinan reports.

Mr. Dinan also has a deep dive on how the GOP-controlled House made sure that Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student whose killing has been blamed on an illegal immigrant, would be part of Mr. Biden’s State of the Union day. Hours before his speech, the House passed the Laken Riley Act, which blames the president for Riley’s death and imposes rules that could have prevented the catch-and-release treatment of the Venezuelan migrant accused in her slaying.

Russia has caused tens of thousands of deaths, billions of dollars worth of damage and committed war crimes in Ukraine, but the resilience of the Ukrainian people is on display and the conflict has resulted in measurable victories for Kyiv and NATO, argues regular columnist and former CIA Clandestine Services Officer Daniel N. Hoffman.

“Ukraine has made Russia’s invading army pay a steep price already, with hundreds of thousands of casualties and thousands of destroyed tanks. Kyiv and some 80% of Ukrainian territory remain firmly in Ukraine‘s control. And U.S. support for Ukraine, which amounts to less than 5% of the Pentagon’s budget, is turbo-boosting America’s own defense industrial base, just when we need it most to deter other adversaries such as China and Iran,” Mr. Hoffman writes. He adds that the Ukraine invasion awakened NATO from its post-Cold War slumber, with European NATO members finally increasing their military spending to meet alliance targets; in some cases, such as Estonia, going well beyond the 2% of GDP threshold.

 “With Finland and Sweden joining the alliance in direct reaction to Russian aggression, NATO today is stronger and more cohesive than ever before,” Mr. Hoffman argues. “That’s winning.”