With multiple rounds of U.S. airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen over the past two weeks, President Biden has succeeded in committing the U.S. to combat in yet another Middle East nation.

We’re pondering America’s role as the world’s policeman. The Yemen strikes come in response to repeated Houthi missile attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea in recent weeks. But the exercise has inspired some major hand-wringing, because successive U.S. administrations have attempted to untangle American forces from expensive quagmires in that volatile part of the world — and failed.

Times National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang has a deep dive, noting how President Obama sought to “pivot” to Asia and President Trump pledged to get out of “endless wars” in the Middle East. Now comes President Biden, promising to radically reduce America’s military footprint in the region after more than two decades of continuous war — most notably overseeing the disastrous troop withdrawal from Afghanistan (a place now run by the Taliban).

Let’s be clear: The Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas terrorists and the subsequent Gaza war have inevitably drawn American diplomatic and military resources back to the region, where U.S. interests are now on a mounting collision course with Tehran. Whether the U.S. ends up in a war with Iran or not, the current situation means Washington’s other strategic priorities — ensuring Ukraine has the resources to turn back Russia’s invasion, or the need to build up forces and alliances in the Indo-Pacific to confront China — are on the back burner for now.

The next stage of the Biden administration’s collaboration with private cyber firms could involve giving certain tech executives special investigatory powers. In essence, the administration wants Congress to make a federal board of cyber investigators permanent.

The Times’ Ryan Lovelace dives into the sensitive implications surrounding this concept, including the sticky question of exactly how much authority to give the investigators — some of whom work full-time in the private sector at such powerful tech giants as Google and Palo Alto Networks.

The whole issue of U.S. government collaboration with sensitive private cyber companies is something we’re watching closely, especially since the U.S. intelligence community’s top cyberwarrior — Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, who heads the NSA and the Pentagon’s Cyber Command — touted the growing cohesion between U.S. government cyberintelligence operations and the private sector during rare public remarks last year.

The federal agency responsible for busing, sheltering and supporting the largely unauthorized immigrant population pouring across America’s borders spent nearly $20 billion over the last two years, according to a new report by OpenTheBooks.com.

The Times’ Stephen Dinan examined the report’s assertion that most of that money was spent on sheltering and caring for immigrant children who are in the U.S. illegally, with other funds also going to help new arrivals from Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti and other nations favored by Mr. Biden’s immigration policies. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Health and Human Services Department, is expanding the type of assistance it offers to include helping migrants access loans, build credit or collect direct cash payments.