A fifth strike on boats near Venezuela over the past six weeks further proves President Trump is willing to use the power of the U.S. military to stop what he called “illicit narco-terrorist networks” moving drugs into America.

Mr. Trump posted a video on Truth Social that purportedly showed the latest strike, which killed six alleged narco-terrorists, the president said. The operation took place in international waters off the coast of Venezuela.

Democrats and several human rights groups have accused the Trump administration of exceeding its authority with those operations. The White House insists the strikes are justified because the cartels are “nonstate armed groups” and their actions constitute an “armed attack against the United States.”

Wherever you look at this week’s AUSA convention in downtown Washington, drones are everywhere. Military leaders say small, tactical unmanned aircraft are a central part of the future of warfare. But it may not be practical to transport tens of thousands of drone bodies, or perhaps even more than that, halfway around the world during a conflict in the Pacific, for example. 

Army Materiel Command believes it has a solution.

In an exclusive video interview with Threat Status, Gen. Mohan, the deputy commanding general and acting commander of Army Materiel Command, explains how the Army plans to use 3D printing to manufacture drone bodies and print drone replacement components near the battlefield.

“I’m talking about a global network where we have files that are uploaded on a digital repository, where people down at the tactical level can download those files on our tactical systems and then print not only replacement systems, but replacement parts forward, off of tech data that we already own,” Gen. Mohan said. “That’s the direction we’re headed.”

The Army wants to have “at least one” working nuclear reactor by next summer. It’s part of a push to ensure reliable power generation at military installations and for forward-deployed troops, who otherwise are dependent on local power grids or diesel generators.

Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the new initiative, known as the Janus Program, at the AUSA conference on Tuesday. Threat Status also has an exclusive interview with Isaiah Taylor, the founder and CEO of the California-based company Valar Atomics. Mr. Taylor says his company will soon be able to manufacture small, mobile nuclear reactors in its California factory in as little as two months.

If Monday was a day for celebration in the Middle East, the days that follow are filled with uncertainty. Times reporter Vaughn Cockayne is tracking the harsh realities of the war in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of Hamas’ release of the remaining living hostages and Mr. Trump’s celebratory signing of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal earlier this week.

Questions are swirling over whether Hamas will disarm, as the deal requires, and unease is mounting over the prospect of a new Israeli assault if the truce collapses. Videos online showed Hamas fighters carrying out executions in a Gaza public square as they look to reassert control in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel is still waiting for the return of the bodies of dead hostages. One such body returned to Israel by Hamas reportedly was not a hostage but instead an unidentified Palestinian. 

Rather than back off his aggressive tariffs on Chinese goods, Mr. Trump should get even tougher and pursue a “pollution tariff” against the Chinese Communist Party, writes Amy K. Mitchell, a former senior official at the State and Defense departments.

Ms. Mitchell argues in a new op-ed for The Times that China is waging economic warfare and processing rare earth elements and critical minerals such as samarium, terbium and yttrium, which directly contribute more than 15% of China’s emissions. The processing also adds insult to injury, as downstream pollution reaches innocent lives in neighboring countries and may soon reach America’s shores.

China, of course, is the world’s largest polluter.

“That’s why a pollution tariff is the solution to ensure that China is punished for its abuse of the international order and to solidify Mr. Trump’s promise to put American consumers first,” Ms. Mitchell writes.

• Oct. 15 — AUSA 2025 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA)

• Oct. 16 — Trump and the Middle East: A Second Term Review, Arab Center Washington DC

• Oct. 20 — Are Geopolitics Leading to Fragmentation of the International Financial System? Brookings Institution

• Oct. 21-22 — Missile Defense Agency Small Business Conference, Tennessee Valley Chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)

• Oct. 22 — Europe’s Energy Transition: From Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine to Trump’s ‘Energy Dominance’ Agenda, Brookings Institution