Should the deployment of National Guard forces and about 700 Marines extinguish the chaotic situation in California quickly and with no loss of life, there’s little apparent risk of political fallout for either Mr. Hegseth or Gen. Caine.

But the volatile situation conjures memories of 2020, following the murder of Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police. Demonstrations in Washington at the time had an immediate impact on Mr. Trump’s relationship with then-Defense Secretary Esper, who publicly pushed back on the idea that Mr. Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act and send in active-duty troops. The situation marked the beginning of the unraveling of Mr. Trump’s relationship with then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley, who publicly apologized after walking onto the streets in uniform alongside the president during the height of the unrest.

Neither Mr. Hegseth nor Gen. Caine appears likely to break with the administration in any way that’s comparable to those incidents in 2020. Specialists say the most important consideration now is that the American troops on the ground in the nation’s second-largest city do not cause any deaths or injuries to protesters.

The Chinese Communist Party is “building a navy to challenge American dominance,” U.S. Navy Secretary John C. Phelan warned during testimony Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticizing what he described as years of bureaucratic inertia, overseas combat commitments, misplaced priorities and limited defense spending that have put American maritime superiority at risk.

“The Chinese Communist Party continues to expand its fleet, build more advanced submarines and operate more provocatively and aggressively in contested waters,” Mr. Phelan testified. “If we fail to respond with urgency and resolve, we invite instability and risk ceding the seas to authoritarian influence.”

He stressed that in addition to a Chinese navy that will soon have 400 warships, China’s nuclear forces are expanding with Beijing deploying an estimated 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, a major portion that would be mounted on ballistic missile submarines. “The bill has now come due,” Mr. Phelan said. “We cannot deter authoritarian regimes with red tape.”

Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the top commander for U.S. forces in the Middle East, testified to the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he has provided the president and the defense secretary with a “wide range of options” and cautioned that U.S. service members would be put at risk if Israel were to carry out a unilateral strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure.

The comments follow reports that Mr. Trump has warned Israeli leadership not to strike Iran as Washington and Tehran continue to pursue talks aimed at containing Tehran’s nuclear activities. The president has said Israel would be a part of any U.S. military action against Iran if the diplomatic track collapses.

In his testimony Tuesday, Gen. Kurilla emphasized the instability that Iran has caused in the Middle East through proxies. He said that while Hezbollah — one of Tehran’s most valuable proxies in resisting Israel’s influence in the region — has been severely weakened, Tehran’s support for Houthi militants in Yemen remains consistent. “The biggest challenge with the Houthis is that they are being provided with Iranian weapons,” the general said.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, more than 100 monuments to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin have been erected across Russia, writes Clifford D. May, a Washington Times columnist and Threat Status contributor, who says the monuments “should tell President Trump all he needs to know about Mr. Putin.”

“Most obviously, a life-size bas-relief that depicts Stalin standing beneath a portrait of Lenin, surrounded by worshipful Russians, is now on display in the Moscow Metro because that’s what Mr. Putin wants,” writes Mr. May. “[It] indicates that he reveres Stalin, one of the great tyrants of the 20th century, right up there with Mao and Hitler.”

The transition from a conservative to a relatively liberal administration in Seoul comes at a “pivotal time” for South Korea and others in the region, writes Joseph R. DeTrani, a former U.S. intelligence official and opinion contributor to Threat Status.

“China is South Korea’s leading trading partner, with more than 26% of Korea’s exports going to China and more than 21% of imports coming from China,” writes Mr. DeTrani. “The U.S. is a distant second major trading partner with South Korea, with exports to the U.S. at about 18%. But it’s more than trade — and tariffs — that truly reflects U.S.-South Korea relations.”

The U.S. has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea, and Mr. DeTrani notes how Mr. Lee, South Korea’s newly inaugurated president, has emphasized the need to reinforce the Korea-U.S. alliance, strengthen trilateral cooperation with the U.S. and Japan, and approach relations with neighboring countries through the lens of practicality and national interest.

• June 12 — A Future Without Nuclear Weapons, Stimson Center

• June 12 — What is the Opportunity Cost of State AI Policy? Cato Institute

• June 16-18 — International Paris Air Show, Government of France

• June 25 — The New IC, Intelligence and National Security Alliance

• June 17 — 15th Annual South China Sea Conference, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• June 26 — The Realities of an Invasion of Taiwan, Stimson Center