The Trump administration and top U.S. defense officials are weighing whether to send in ground troops to retrieve Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The Wall Street Journal first reported that such deliberations are underway. Mr. Seward reports on how a seizure of Iran’s uranium would most likely rely on elite clandestine and special operations teams already in the region that are specifically trained in the removal of radioactive material. 

The removal operation would be much larger and more difficult than past special operations missions. U.S. operators would need to remove more than 1,300 pounds of material: Nearly 440 pounds of 20% uranium fissile material and another 880 pounds of 60% highly enriched uranium. There is also the weight of the special casks needed to properly contain the radioactive yellow cake.

Analysts said such an operation would be logistically incredibly difficult and could take days or even weeks. One instance of such a radioactive material heavy lift operation took nearly a month, even with another government’s cooperation. Project Sapphire, the historic removal of 1,300 pounds of weapons-grade enriched uranium from Kazakhstan in 1991, reportedly took from Oct. 14 to Nov. 11 of that year.

U.S. and international officials and companies involved in the upcoming World Cup — dozens of games kick off in June at stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico — need to prepare for the prospect of cyberattacks aimed at derailing the global soccer spectacle. It’s a threat that has grown increasingly more complex in the AI era.

Tim Miller, field chief technology officer at the U.S-based and global AI company Dataminr, explained in an exclusive interview on the latest Threat Status weekly podcast how AI is making cyberattacks more dangerous. He breaks down the importance of the “cyber physical convergence” in preparing for how to respond to potential “wiper attacks,” or cyberattacks designed to trigger major disruption rather than financial gain.

“For a global event where the World Cup coming up, [if] there was a wiper attack, an organization can’t just plan for the cyber response, but [must also prepare] for a physical response,” he said, adding that this includes out-of-band recovery plans for critical infrastructure and stadiums, such as the ability to switch quickly to alternative networks or implement physical operations such as manual ticket checking.

A recent swarm of drones that intruded on Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, remains under investigation, according to the Air Force Global Strike Command. The base went on temporary lockdown March 9 after operations were disrupted by “several unauthorized drone incursions that varied in duration and number of drones,” the command said in a statement this week.

The action is believed to be criminal. But with the Iran war underway and threats of Tehran using low-cost Shahed strike drones, fears of an attack were heightened. Barksdale is home to as many as 40 B-52s and also houses AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, armed with W80 nuclear warheads.

The strike command said drone incursions are being countered as an “evolving threat,” with the Pentagon mobilizing a coordinated, multi-organization effort. The strike command is playing a key role in the effort, which is focused on preventing drones from intruding over strategic facilities, including what the statement said are “small unmanned aircraft system threats to our ICBM fields, weapons storage areas, weapons generation facilities and growing bomber mission.”

High-profile failures of Chinese weapons and military equipment in Iran and elsewhere have resulted in the disappearance — and likely purge — of several key military developers.

Perhaps the most glaring failure involved China’s highly touted HQ-9B long-range air defense system that Iran bought in mid-2025, reportedly as part of an oil-for-weapons deal. The system was deployed at key nuclear sites and other high-value military sites in Iran and was part of a layered integrated air defense that included domestic defenses and the Russian Pansir-S1. 

The HQ-9B was supposed to be able to knock out aircraft and missiles, but it proved unsuccessful when U.S. and Israeli airstrikes wiped them out before attacking other major targets. The system’s JY-27A long-range, VHF-band 3D active phased array radar was built for early warning and is purportedly capable of tracking stealth aircraft. But when the first missiles and bombs were fired, the Chinese system proved ineffective. 

Miles Yu, director of the Hudson Institute’s China Center and a contributor to Threat Status, says the Chinese Communist Party’s response to the weapons failures in Iran, as well as in Venezuela early this year, was not transparency but internal upheaval, with sweeping purges of military leaders and defense researchers. The number of People’s Liberation Army generals appearing at major CCP meetings fell sharply, with six of 26 senior generals appearing at the major Party session in early March, says Mr. Yu.

The global tech giant Oracle this week began laying off workers at the company’s offices in the U.S., India, Canada, Mexico and other countries. The move could become one of the largest workforce reductions in Oracle’s history, analysts say. The cuts appear to be tied to the soaring cost of building artificial intelligence infrastructure, specifically data centers.

The layoffs could target 20,000-30,000 workers worldwide, about 18% of the company’s 162,000 employees, investment bank TD Cowen estimated. Oracle has not confirmed the cuts.

The layoffs come as Oracle pursues an aggressive and expensive push into AI. The company plans to build out massive data centers — the large facilities that power AI systems — and the price tag is huge. The job cuts are expected to give the company an extra $8 billion to $10 billion to help fund the buildout, according to TD Cowen.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas expects tech companies such as Oracle to keep cutting as they move to AI.

The sector announced 52,050 job cuts in the first three months of 2026, a 40% increase from the 37,097 cuts announced a year ago, the firm said.

“Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs. The actual replacing of roles can be seen in Technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions. Other industries are testing the limits of this new technology, and while it can’t replace jobs completely, it is costing jobs,” Challenger said.

• April 3 — National Science Foundation’s National Security Mission for the 21st Century, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• April 7 — U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the Future of Trade Policy, Hudson Institute

• April 7 — U.S.-Turkish Defense Relations and the Upcoming NATO Summit, Atlantic Council

• April 7 — A Conversation with Portuguese Ambassador Duarte Lopes: Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean, Stimson Center

• April 9 — Same Engine, New Fuel? China’s Economic Model and the Artificial Intelligence Bet, Chatham House

• April 15 — Invisible Attacks: What’s Behind Havana Syndrome & Anomalous Health Incidents, Hayden Center