Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, vice chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force and the administration’s point man on the proposed Golden Dome missile shield, told an audience at the Reagan National Defense Forum that he’s had private talks with more than 300 companies about the cutting-edge project and what it will entail. National Security Editor Guy Taylor tracked Gen. Guetlein’s comments, which represented a small crack in what has otherwise been a tight gag order instituted by the Pentagon on the Golden Dome.

Gen. Guetlein said his conversations with top defense businesses and with up-and-coming companies that could play key roles in the project have centered on the secretive architecture that will undergird the futuristic missile defense shield. The administration is determined to put the Golden Dome into operation over the entire U.S. homeland by mid-2028.

Speculation over the technology involved — specifically the extent to which it will be space-based or revolve mainly around more conventional ground-based missile interceptor systems — has been rampant for months. Gen. Guetlein offered some clues during his Reagan speech, suggesting broadly that the system will integrate existing ground-based missile defense assets with space-based assets, including missile interceptors.

The president is taking heavy criticism for his strikes on alleged drug boats moving narcotics from South America to the U.S. But from a body count perspective, Mr. Trump’s anti-drug campaign pales in comparison to then-President Obama’s war on suspected terrorists abroad.

The exact death tolls are difficult to determine. But Mr. Obama’s death toll, figured to be in the high hundreds or even low thousands, is well above the 83 presumed kills from strikes on suspected drug boats, though Mr. Trump is quickly adding to his numbers. 

The two campaigns also share one key element: Both are backed up by classified intelligence that the respective administration insists proves the targets are in fact terrorists — of the more traditional extremist variety or Mr. Trump’s new category of “narco-terrorists” — and must be eliminated.

And don’t forget that Mr. Obama didn’t exactly shy away from the killings.

“Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine,” Mr. Obama told senior aides in 2011, according to the book “Double Down” by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.

Pointing out Mr. Obama’s past use of highly classified intelligence to launch mysterious strikes against terrorist targets abroad isn’t blunting the criticism from Democrats aimed at Mr. Trump, Mr. Hegseth and other key figures in the administration. 

The highly controversial “double tap” strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel in September, in which the U.S. military struck the boat a second time after two individuals survived the initial strike, has sparked allegations that Mr. Trump has sanctioned war crimes. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Democrat and a military veteran, made that allegation during an appearance on CNN on Sunday.

Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had a much different view. He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it was entirely appropriate to strike the boat again to make sure that its cargo was destroyed.”

Their starkly different reactions underscore the wide gap between how Republicans and Democrats reacted after a classified briefing about the strike last week from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command. On the heels of that briefing, there is growing pressure on the Pentagon to release the full, unedited video of the Sept. 2 double tap attack.

Washington Times Asia Editor Andrew Salmon offers a deep dive into China’s use of its naval forces and information warfare aimed at Japan’s strategic southwestern island chain, the Ryukyus. As “unsinkable aircraft carriers,” the islands would present a major risk to Chinese naval forces seeking to encircle or blockade Taiwan from the north.

The importance of the island chain is coming into sharp focus. Over the weekend, Chinese carrier-borne J-15 aircraft twice locked their radars onto Japanese F-15s monitoring the Chinese force. The incidents took place over international waters southeast of Okinawa, the main island of the Ryukyu Chain, and east of Mikayo. Chinese carrier drills in the area continued Monday.

At the same time, Mr. Salmon reports, China is unleashing a barrage of reports from state-owned media questioning Japan’s sovereignty over the Ryukyus, a tactic aimed at stoking political divisions inside Japan.

The shocking attack on two members of the West Virginia National Guard last month, allegedly carried out by Afghan immigrant Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has sparked political outrage and a full review of the programs that brought Lakanwal and other Afghan immigrants to the U.S. in recent years. But Mr. Trump can and should go much further, Threat Status contributor Jed Babbin writes in a Times op-ed.

Mr. Babbin makes the case that the president should use his broad authority to ensure that dangerous individuals from countries with clear ties to terrorist outfits aren’t allowed into the country.

“Mr. Trump has already paused all immigration applications from Afghanistan. He can do more,” Mr. Babbin writes. “No one from any nation controlled by terrorists or terrorist sympathizers should be allowed into the United States. Mali is a perfect example because it is governed by al Qaeda. Others, such as Syria, are questionable at best. The president could bar all visas from those nations, as he has for Afghanistan.”

• Dec. 9 — Building a Golden Age for the U.S.-Japan Economic Partnership: Ensuring Security, Stability and Prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Dec. 9 — Twisted Sisters: Biodefense Supply Chains and Stockpiles, Atlantic Council 

• Dec. 10-12 — Spacepower Conference 2025, Space Force Association 

• Dec. 11 — NATO and the Cloud: A Conversation with Assistant Secretary-General Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe, Royal United Services Institute

• Dec. 11 — Building U.S.-Taiwan Defense Supply Chain Collaboration: Opportunities for Codevelopment and Coproduction, Hudson Institute 

• Dec. 12 — The Energy Challenges of Taiwan and Asia’s Artificial Intelligence Ambitions, Brookings Institution