The Trump administration’s push for a next generation “Golden Dome for America” missile defense shield was the central focal point of discussions at this week’s Space & Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, despite a Pentagon order for top U.S. military officials not to talk about the initiative with journalists.

Mr. Karbler joined the Threat Status weekly podcast for an exclusive interview at the symposium, saying U.S. officials “have to be able to share with the American public what we are intending to do with Golden Dome.”

“We gotta share with the industry what the architecture is going to look like. We have to share with the services what is going to be called upon for their forces,” Mr. Karbler says on the podcast. “We have gotta do a good job at just communicating.”

Top military officials discussed the initiative in depth during a private Missile Defense Agency-sponsored meeting Thursday with contractors attending the symposium. 

An unlikely power broker has emerged in the Gaza vacuum — Yasser Abu Shabab, a tribal leader and former smuggler with a criminal past. He has emerged because of Israel’s ongoing battle against Hamas. His militia now patrols former Hamas strongholds and distributes aid, apparently with Israel’s blessing.

Washington Times special correspondents Waseem Abu Mahadi and Jacob Wirtschafter offer a deep dive, reporting in a dispatch from Cairo on Mr. Netanyahu’s public acknowledgement that anti-Hamas factions are being armed.

Mr. Abu Shabab appears to be among the local actors benefiting from the policy. His operations in southern Gaza reflect a broader Israeli strategy aimed at empowering tribal and non-Hamas forces, and some observers believe the Palestinian Authority may also be quietly backing local leaders such as Mr. Abu Shabab as a way to loosen Hamas’ grip on the region — though officials in Ramallah have yet to publicly confirm any support.

Russian military forces showed no sign of letting up in Ukraine Friday as Mr. Trump’s deadline arrived for Moscow to bring an end to the war. It remains to be seen whether the White House’s ramping up of economic pressure on the Kremlin will work to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into a serious peace negotiation and potential summit with Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian forces locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line have significant manpower shortages, according to The Associated Press, which reports that Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia looks to break out from there into the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

Mr. Trump made global headlines Thursday when he said he would meet with Mr. Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet Mr. Zelenskyy. The prospect of such a summit without the Ukrainian president has stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined as Mr. Trump pumps new energy into his pursuit of a deal to end the war.

Mr. Trump vowed to combat Chinese control of U.S. land and minerals, yet the administration is pursuing a deal to open up federal land in Arizona to a mining company linked to China. Under the deal, Resolution Copper would take control of Oak Flat, a 2,200-acre area in the Tonto National Forest near Superior, Arizona, in exchange for private lands in the U.S. owned by the foreign mining giant.

Resolution Copper is a venture between two multinational mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP. Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder is Chinalco, a Chinese state-owned company that the White House says owns roughly 15% of the company. A loophole in the deal, critics say, allows Resolution Copper to send unrefined copper overseas for processing and sale. That would put China in a position to import 40 billion pounds of American unrefined copper worth more than $160 billion.

It is somewhat surprising that the Trump administration would endorse the transfer, given its recent efforts to combat Beijing’s footprint in the U.S. Rio Tinto disputes any fears that the deal would raise any national security alarms. Washington Times White House Correspondent Jeff Mordock offers a deep dive into the mechanics of the deal and the implications associated with it.

Clifford D. May, the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an opinion contributor to Threat Status, writes that “President Trump now sees Vladimir Putin through clearer eyes.”

“I suspect first lady Melania Trump deserves much of the credit,” writes Mr. May. “As Mr. Trump has recounted, after phone conversations with Russia’s longtime ruler, he would tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She would reply, ‘Oh, really? Another city was just hit.’”

“It should come as no surprise,” Mr. May writes, “that Mrs. Trump, nee Melanija Knavs, born in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was not fooled by Mr. Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who cries no salty tears over death tolls — Ukrainian or Russian.”

• Aug. 11-13 — Ai4 2025: Artificial Intelligence Industry Event, Ai4

• Aug. 13 — The U.S. Space Force’s Jonathan Farrow on the U.S. Space Warfighting Framework, Atlantic Council

• Aug. 13 — In-Person Two-Day NetBrain Power User Training, NetBrain Technologies 

• Aug. 15 — Deterrence Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific: An Australian Perspective with Christine Leah, National Institute for Deterrence Studies

• Aug. 20 — The Future of U.S.-Australia Critical Minerals Cooperation, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Aug. 26 — The Future of Naval Aviation: A Conversation with Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cheever and Lt. Gen. Bradford J. Gering, Center for Strategic & International Studies