Starlink internet terminals have become the latest tool of choice for terror groups in Africa, according to a new report, marking a significant security concern for the Elon Musk-led company as it looks to expand its services on the continent. 

Extremist groups across West Africa have been exploiting the mobility and high-speed internet capabilities of Starlink’s terminals. The French newspaper Le Monde reports that a Starlink device, mounted on a white tripod, was noticed in a June 2024 video from al-Qaeda affiliated terror group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin in Mali.

Nigerian authorities also have seized several Starlink devices during counterterrorism operations in the western regions of Tillabéri and Tahoua. The groups are reportedly using the devices to coordinate attacks on government forces, evade detection and disseminate propaganda. Outside of Africa, Indian authorities have found Starlink terminals among the possessions of rebel and smuggling groups. Police say criminals use the technology to avoid detection and move quickly. 

A surge in Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas, including a massive assault this week in which 728 drones targeted the city of Lutsk and other areas, is unfolding against the backdrop of Mr. Trump’s public frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mr. Trump’s ramping up of U.S. weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

Specialists say Mr. Trump’s reversal of a Pentagon decision to halt some military aid to Kyiv — deliveries of the defensive weapons have resumed — highlights a philosophical divide within the administration over how much direct assistance to provide. The next several weeks could be key to determining the broader long-term trajectory of the conflict, with U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, or the lack thereof, a key factor in the equation.

The White House seems to recognize that reality despite apparent tension inside the administration about what should be the U.S. posture toward Ukraine. Mr. Trump this week escalated his criticism of Mr. Putin, accusing him of deception and not dealing in good faith when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine. Mr. Trump has pushed hard for a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire, but there is no deal on the horizon. He increasingly blames the Kremlin for that.

Chinese and Russian bombers that conducted a joint patrol near U.S. territory in November for the first time represented practice for conducting a strategic nuclear attack on the United States, according to a joint report by the U.S. Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute and the Japanese Air Self Defense Force’s Air and Space Studies Institute.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz examines the report, which says nine joint Chinese-Russian bomber flights since 2019 were mostly non-threatening, including a July 2024 strategic bomber patrol near Alaska. But that changed dramatically in November when China’s People’s Liberation Army air force used H-6N bombers with Russian Tu-95 bombers within range of Guam in what the report said was “a clear threat against the USA.”

“On the second day of patrols, November 30, the PLAAF for the first time formed a strike package and sent the strike package to the western Pacific Ocean,” it states, adding that “it is likely that the combined patrol of November 30 also represents the first serious training to conduct a nuclear strike against Guam from the air.”

Joseph R. DeTrani writes that “more countries aspire to be nuclear-weapons states, and we should prepare for this eventuality. That’s why the Golden Dome missile defense initiative is timely and needed.”

“Deploying space-based sensors and interceptors is no longer the Star Wars [Strategic Defense Initiative] that President Reagan pursued in 1983,” writes Mr. DeTrani, a former high-level U.S. intelligence official and opinion contributor to Threat Status.

“We now have the technology and a budget of $175 billion to establish a viable missile defense capability hopefully within three years,” he writes. “We owe the American people security from the threat of a bad actor using nuclear weapons to attack the U.S.”

Given that the United States has the best military on Earth, “one might think that America has a great Arctic fleet and that Russia has a few rusting tramp steamers. That guess is exactly backward,” retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. David S. Jonas writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times.

“Russia has seven nuclear-powered icebreakers in operation and is building a massive new one. China also has a major program to deploy nuclear-powered icebreaker ships,” Mr. Jonas writes. “The United States? We have no nuclear-powered icebreakers. While it is true that the Arctic is warming, icebreakers are still required to plow through very thick ice. Nuclear-powered icebreakers can break through thicker ice that conventionally powered icebreakers simply cannot traverse.

“By investing in our own nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, the U.S. can begin to close this strategic gap, assert our sovereign interests and prevent potential adversaries from monopolizing critical passages and Arctic resources,” he adds.

• July 10 — Federal IT Efficiency Summit, GovCIO Media & Research

• July 11 — The Han Kuang Exercise and the Taiwanese Military’s Road to Readiness, Hudson Institute

• July 13-17 — GenAI Summit, GenAI Week

• July 15 — Rare Earth Mining and Conflict Economies in Northern Myanmar, Stimson Center

• July 15-18 — Aspen Security Forum, Aspen Institute

• July 16 — Global Swing States and the New Great Power Competition, Center for a New American Security