Threat Status for Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Share this daily newsletter with your friends, who can sign up here. Send tips to National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang.
President Trump landed in South Korea for a state visit and a packed summit with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung Wednesday, while North Korea fired cruise missiles.
… The Trump administration faces growing backlash over the secrecy of its military campaign targeting alleged drug boats off the coasts of the Americas.
… The latest strike killed at least 14 people. But analysts and former intelligence officials say the administration needs to explain how it’s picking targets and must more fully justify why U.S. service members are being put in harm’s way.
… The Israel-Hamas ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is back on. Israeli forces said they struck “dozens of terror targets” in the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday. Palestinian authorities say more than 100 people were killed.
… Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane flying over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday.
… A federal appeals court late Tuesday erased a ruling that would have allowed the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.
… And the U.S. is expected to reduce the number of troops stationed on NATO’s eastern flank.
Mr. Lee and Mr. Trump shared more details on the billions of dollars in Korean investment in the United States demanded by the American president.
In exchange, Mr. Trump has agreed to drop tariffs on South Korean imports from 25% to 15%.
A much-discussed potential meeting between Mr. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un apparently will not happen — and Pyongyang noted the South Korean summit with a Tuesday cruise missile test in the Yellow Sea.
The Times’ Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward has exclusive reporting on the proposed Golden Dome and its status on Capitol Hill, where members of the Senate Armed Services Committee received a classified briefing recently from U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, who is overseeing the cutting-edge missile shield project.
One of the biggest questions centers on funding. Congress has approved $24.5 billion for development of the missile shield, but multiple sources have told The Times that none of the money has been allocated for contracts and that the White House Office of Management and Budget is currently holding the funds.
The initial $24.5 billion was included in the passage of H.R. 1, the passage of the One Big Beautiful Act in July. At the time, Mr. Trump touted the money as an initial down payment for the Golden Dome.
Estimates for the full cost of the program, including its proposed space-based missile interceptors, are well into the hundreds of billions of dollars. That’s one reason why there’s growing concern in national security circles that Democrats, especially if their party retakes control of the House in next year’s midterm elections, could pump the brakes on the Golden Dome.
Military Correspondent Mike Glenn has more details on the campaign targeting alleged narco-terrorists in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. Mr. Glenn spoke to Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, who broke down the military assets that appear to have been used in the latest operations.
Mr. Sadler said the explosions shown in video footage released on social media appeared to have been caused by an AGM-114 Hellfire guided missile, which is often used against tanks, bunkers and buildings. They can be fired from several platforms, including helicopters and drones.
One of the recent strikes against an alleged drug boat looked to have been carried out by a chain gun, a type of machine gun that uses an external power source to cycle the weapon’s actions. The Bell AH-1 Sea Cobra, flown by the Marine Corps, fires the M197 electric cannon, a Gatling-type rotary weapon.
The U.S. is in the midst of a significant military buildup in the region. The USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, guided missile destroyers, a submarine, and about 6,500 troops have been dispatched to the theater as the U.S. ramps up its operations there.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, now in office for three years, is facing unprecedented pressure that could force a rare political recalibration.
Correspondent Eric J. Lyman has this in-depth dispatch from Rome. He reports that massive pro-Palestinian protests and nationwide strikes, including one earlier this month estimated to have involved 2 million protesters, are designed to push Ms. Meloni to join other European nations and formally recognize a Palestinian state.
Ms. Meloni — who often invokes Italy’s Christian roots — has held pro-Israel views dating back years, and since taking office, she has been accused of implementing anti-Islam policies at home. But public opinion in Italy seems to be headed in the other direction, with polls pointing to growing anti-Israel sentiment across the nation.
Robert C. O’Brien, White House national security adviser during Mr. Trump’s first term, believes the president’s bold vision for the Americas will pay dividends for the U.S. and the entire Western Hemisphere in the coming decades.
Mr. O’Brien argues in a Times op-ed that the president is right to clamp down on China’s expanding influence in the Americas. And, he writes, Mr. Trump’s tough stance on Venezuela and the president’s targeting of alleged drug boats in and around the Caribbean will help stop the spread of deadly narcotics into the U.S.
He also gives a nod to the administration’s coming National Defense Strategy, which is widely expected to emphasize protection of the Western Hemisphere from outside influences as the nation’s top priority.
“Keeping China out of the Western Hemisphere is imperative. Mr. Trump’s Venezuela policy, targeting of cartels, bounty on Mr. Maduro and forthcoming National Defense Strategy form a cohesive bulwark,” Mr. O’Brien says, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “America’s security interests are at stake in the hemisphere; it’s time we act like it.”
The Chinese Communist Party’s war on religious freedom should worry Americans for reasons beyond sympathy. There’s a strategic imperative for the U.S. to ensure religious freedom abroad, as it’s an effective — and affordable — example of soft power that helps maintain stability abroad.
Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey Republican, and Sam Brownback, a former Republican senator and ambassador for international religious freedom, make that case in a new op-ed for The Times. They argue that China’s recent detention of pastor Jin “Ezra” Mingri of the Zion Church network is an ominous sign. They say the Trump administration should treat the matter very seriously.
“Diplomats should say Mr. Jin’s name in every high-level exchange with Beijing until he and his colleagues are free,” they write. “Don’t stop there. The larger point is this: Defending the freedom to pray, teach and gather without permission is not only who we are but is also a low-cost, high-impact way to keep the world more stable and prosperous. That message should resonate in Washington and in Beijing. It should be impressed on CCP leaders that their war on religion is counterproductive.”
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