NATSEC-TECH THURSDAY — November 13, 2025: Every Thursday’s edition of Threat Status highlights the intersection between national security and advanced technology, from artificial intelligence to cyber threats and the battle for global data dominance.
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Nuclear threats from China and other adversaries are “unprecedented” and growing, according to Vice Adm. Richard A. Correll, who is slated to be the next commander of U.S. Strategic Command.
… China’s “ambitious expansion … has heightened the need for a fully modernized, flexible, full-spectrum strategic deterrence force,” the admiral said recently in written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
… The comments were made public late last month, just as President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed the Pentagon “to start testing our Nuclear Weapons” on an equal basis as other nations.
… Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells Threat Status that Mr. Trump may be justified in resuming detonation tests after a three-decade moratorium.
… Mr. Trump signed legislation late Wednesday ending the record-long government shutdown.
… The Council on Foreign Relations warns: China has spent $900 billion over the past decade on artificial intelligence, quantum and biotech, “working to indigenize tech and dominate key sectors,” while developing a willingness to “weaponize chokepoints.”
… Beijing is reportedly working on a plan to block U.S. defense contractors from accessing rare-earth metals, despite efforts to ease import restrictions for other Western companies.
… Virginia-based data intelligence platform Obviant has received a prototype award funded by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.
… And United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V launch of the ViaSat-3 Flight 2 ultra-high-capacity broadband spacecraft for the global tech company Viasat is slated for Thursday night.
Mr. Trump’s recent threat to resume U.S. nuclear weapons tests after a three-decade moratorium has sparked unease in Moscow and Beijing and triggered frustration among some U.S. nonproliferation experts who say the administration is sending mixed signals on an intensely sensitive global security issue.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the nongovernmental Arms Control Association, tells Threat Status that he and his colleagues are seeking more information on the extent to which Mr. Trump’s threats signal a major policy shift. Mr. Seward, The Washington Times’ lead tech correspondent, offers a deep dive on growing uncertainty about the future of global nonproliferation standards amid concern that the world is heading into a new era of great power nuclear detonation tests.
Mr. Pompeo tells Threat Status that Mr. Trump may be justified in raising the specter of new U.S. tests. “The principle must be: We need to do everything necessary to convince our adversaries that we know our stuff will work,” Mr. Pompeo said in an interview. “That would include testing of the weapons themselves, if that’s what’s required.”
An online aviation enthusiast has captured the first unofficial images of the Air Force’s new Long Range Standoff nuclear cruise missile, designated the AGM-181. Aviation photographer Ryan Watamura spotted the new missile known as the LRSO strapped beneath the wing of a B-52 bomber as it made a low-level pass over California last week.
A 2022 Pentagon report described the LRSO as a long-range, survivable standoff cruise missile “capable of delivering lethal nuclear effects on strategic targets.” The new missile will replace the current Air Launched Cruise Missile and can be delivered by both B-52s and the forthcoming B-21 bomber.
The Air Force plans to buy 1,087 LRSO missiles and included $1.1 billion for the missiles in its fiscal 2026 budget. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration is conducting a life-extension program on the W-88 nuclear warhead that will be outfitted on the LRSO.
The Ukraine war has shown how AI is changing how modern conflict is fought, with the software now built directly into deadly drones that patrol the battlefield, scanning terrain and processing videos as they search for enemy positions. Integrated computers analyze that footage in real time, identifying vehicles, trenches and targets almost instantly, even when communication is jammed.
A mission that used to take 40 hours of analysis now takes seconds with AI. This means that the pace of combat is changing. The side that processes information fastest now holds the advantage, and the cost of falling behind is measured in lives. Guillaume Ptak, The Times’ special correspondent based in Ukraine, examines the situation in a new exclusive video, showing how targets are tagged automatically, verified by humans and relayed to artillery within seconds.
For operators, that means less time staring at screens and more time reacting to threats. Twist Robotics, the Kyiv-based maker of the Saker Scout drone, calls its software a co-pilot, not a commander. It assists in detection and navigation, but it never fires automatically. Safeguards such as restricted flight zones and mandatory human approval ensure the final decision stays with operators.
The United States has been slower to adapt. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Shanahan says the Pentagon still spends too much on big hardware and not enough on code, while Ukraine’s front lines now rely on both.
Ukrainian forces for years have turned commercial products such as off-the-shelf consumer drones into weaponry and battlefield equipment to gain an edge over the conventional military hardware of Russian invaders. But that edge is at risk of crumbling, according to Andrey Liscovich, who has gained international recognition for directly supplying front-line Ukrainian units with dual-use technologies sourced from civilian markets around the world.
Mr. Liscovich, president of the Ukraine Defense Fund, tells Threat Status the dual-use technologies Kyiv has deployed so effectively in the war are at risk of maxing out amid Russia’s own innovative advances. It’s a sobering assessment that may surprise observers in a war where most conventional artillery — a core strength of the Russian military — has been shoved out of range by the expanded kill zone of innovative Ukrainian drones.
But Russia is now engaged with its own “reinvention of military-grade equipment,” says Mr. Liscovich, who referred to dedicated military technology — hardened, jamming-proofed — being developed and deployed by Moscow in response to Ukraine’s battlefield innovations. Russian engineers are communicating with front-line end-users and learning from what the Ukrainian side has shown to be effective.
The Coast Guard has exceeded its recruiting goals this year, ending a personnel drought that had forced the service to shutter bases and temporarily beach some of its vessels. Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, says the service now needs “more space, and that’s why we are looking for locations across the country.”
More than 5,200 active-duty Coast Guard personnel were recruited in fiscal 2025 versus 4,300 the previous year. The service is looking for a home for at least 1,200 recruits and 400 staff members. The training center should be in an area of 150-250 acres, have at least 14 classrooms, hold a cafeteria for 400 people and be no more than 30 miles from an airport.
The Coast Guard has several training centers, including in Cape May, New Jersey, for basic training; Mobile, Alabama, for aviation; and Yorktown, Virginia, and Petaluma, California, for more training. The service’s new Force Design 2028 initiative aims to eliminate the deficit of training space. The initiative projects a workforce growth of up to 15,000 additional personnel by the end of 2028.
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