OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman says humanity is close to reaching superintelligence, and he believes ChatGPT is in some ways “already more powerful than any human who has ever lived.”

Artificial intelligence agents that “can do real cognitive work” will arrive this year, Mr. Altman wrote in a recent blog post, saying that systems that “can figure out novel insights” will emerge in 2026 and that by 2027, society “may see the arrival of robots” doing physical tasks.

The OpenAI CEO’s views carry major national security consequences as his company is making products for U.S. intelligence and military customers. The implications at play are also tethered to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that’s working its way through Congress. Senate Republicans have pushed language into the bill that would prevent state and local governments from regulating artificial intelligence for the next decade.

The Telegram messaging app is disputing allegations that its data and infrastructure were ever accessible to outsiders with connections to Russia’s intelligence services. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project alleged on Tuesday that Telegram has connections to Russia’s Federal Security Service, FSB, through network engineer Vladimir Vedeneev. 

OCCRP’s Russian partner, Important Stories, said Mr. Vedeneev owned a company that maintains Telegram’s network equipment and that Mr. Vedeneev’s other companies have a history of collaborating with Russia’s government. OCCRP’s investigation also cast doubt on the strength of Telegram’s encryption and the platform’s statements about its security. 

Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn told Threat Status that the platform has contracts with “dozens” of service providers worldwide, but none has access to the platform’s data or sensitive infrastructure. 

Navy Secretary John C. Phelan testified to the House Armed Services Committee this week that current Pentagon-funding shipbuilding programs “are a mess,” with the best of the programs running six months behind schedule and 50% over budget.

Mr. Phelan said he’s meeting with officials from U.S. shipyards to get them moving, especially for critical weapons systems such as the Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines. He also said he is exploring whether foreign shipyards can fill the gap in the short term.

His testimony comes as the Trump administration weighs whether to partner with U.S. allies such as Japan for support. During negotiations over tariffs the administration has imposed on Tokyo, the Japanese government has proposed setting up a joint fund to help revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

Discussions on the issue are likely to continue on the sidelines of this weekend’s Group of Seven summit in Canada, where top officials from the world’s largest economies will have a chance to negotiate face-to-face with Mr. Trump over tariffs.

China has deployed two aircraft carriers deep into the Pacific Ocean for the first time in an action regional officials and China analysts say highlights Beijing’s expansionist military goals.

The carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, were spotted in the western Pacific, and one of the warships, the Liaoning, sailed past the U.S. island of Guam — 2,800 miles from the Chinese coast. Previous Chinese carrier deployments to the western Pacific kept their distance from Guam, a major U.S. military hub in the Pacific.

Chinese media called the dual carrier operation an unprecedented show of force in what is called the second island chain — a string of north-to-south islands located far from the Chinese coast.

Mr. Trump “cannot be so naïve as to believe that Tehran will agree to an unlimited — anywhere, anytime — inspection of its suspected nuclear weapons development facilities,” writes Jed Babbin, who says that any agreement with Tehran that lacks such conditions “will be a sham.”

“The Israelis will act if they are convinced by their intelligence services — which are certainly better than ours — that Iran will soon deploy nuclear weapons,” writes Mr. Babbin, a columnist for The Washington Times and contributing editor for The American Spectator.

“Mr. Netanyahu will not strike Iran without American permission or at least acquiescence,” he writes, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “He will not risk a breach of his relationship with Mr. Trump, who is the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. Nevertheless, at some point Mr. Netanyahu will have to order a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites and Mr. Trump will not object.”

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

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

• June 14 — U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Celebration, U.S. Army

• June 16-22 — International Paris Air Show, Government of France

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

• June 17-18 — Confidential Computing Summit 2025, Opaque

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