Across the U.S., there’s a growing grassroots backlash against the construction of new data centers, which are vital to powering today’s AI models and other 21st-century technology. But that backlash could directly impact an increasingly data-driven American military, which relies on massive server farms to handle huge amounts of data critical for many missions.

In fact, some key retired military officers said the U.S. could eventually be forced to relocate some military functions if, for example, Colorado or some of its major municipalities follow Denver’s lead and ban new data centers, even temporarily.

“Data is going to come in mountains into this area, and we have to be able to deal with it,” said retired Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of U.S. Strategic Command and in other prominent military roles.

Gen. Hyten told The Washington Times that the military could begin building data centers on military property at scale. That’s already happening at two military sites.

And remember: Companies believe they’ll soon be able to build and operate data centers in space, perhaps even on the moon. Back on Earth, Congress is considering whether some data centers should be deemed critical national infrastructure.

Key military and Trump administration officials this week offered new details about plans for the Golden Dome missile shield and the array of capabilities it will use to defeat potential hypersonic or ballistic missile attacks against the U.S.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz is following this story and reports the Golden Dome will employ advanced ground-based interceptors, space-based missiles, laser guns and cyberattacks as defensive weapons against enemy missiles. The new information about the Golden Dome came from Marc J. Berkowitz, assistant defense secretary for space policy, and Space Force Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, director of the Pentagon’s Golden Dome program, both of whom testified before a key Senate subcommittee at a highly anticipated hearing this week.

Gen. Guetlein also said the project aims to lower the “cost-per-kill” equation in modern missile defense, meaning the U.S. military will be capable of eliminating missile threats without spending exorbitant amounts of money shooting down every theoretical incoming ballistic or hypersonic missile.

The Army’s fiscal year 2027 budget request includes $4 billion for its biggest modernization project: The Next Generation Command and Control system, or NGC2, which is expected to become the communications platform for the military’s largest force.

NGC2 is attempting to replace a patchwork of legacy systems across the service, Army and defense industry officials tell Threat Status. It’s expected to replace or upgrade everything from soldiers’ radios to vehicle computers and logistics planning. NGC2’s goal is to combine all available battlefield data and make it accessible to commanders. 

Anduril leads a growing team of defense industry contractors building the new capabilities. Other major defense industry players, from rising powers such as Palantir to mainstays such as Microsoft and tech firms such as New York-based Persistent Systems, are involved with the project.

Next month, NGC2 will undergo its most demanding tests to date at Fort Carson, Colorado. The testing exercises will pit Army units against one another in an attempt to train with and stress the new technology, including using electronic warfare and cyberattacks.

Chinese AI companies are able to track U.S troops in the Mideast via satellite imagery and share that information with America’s adversaries, according to key aerospace security analysts.

Kari A. Bingen, director of the aerospace security project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told a House subcommittee that while U.S. commercial satellite companies have withheld imagery that details military movements, Chinese firms have not done the same. Ms. Bingen specifically named the Chinese AI company MizarVision, which has publicly demonstrated its ability to track U.S. military assets and movements using satellite imagery.

It’s a key piece of a broader Chinese military plan. As Beijing develops more sophisticated and dangerous space-based weapons, a large number of satellites support those weapons. These satellites are being integrated into military operations and “kill chains” for advanced weapons that have been observed practicing targeting of U.S. warships, airfields and ports.

It seems most stakeholders, including the Trump administration, want an end to the U.S.-Iran war as soon as possible. But it’s crucial that the conflict ends on the right terms — and with concrete mechanisms in place to ensure Tehran doesn’t continue its pursuit of nuclear weapons, fund violent proxy groups across the Mideast, or otherwise act as one of the planet’s most dangerous and destabilizing forces.

Threat Status contributor Joseph R. DeTrani lays out that case in a new op-ed for The Times, detailing decades of Iran-backed violence and destruction and providing examples of how the U.S. and global bodies such as the United Nations failed to constrain the Islamic republic.

“What we shouldn’t forget is the sick behavior of the mullahs who, for nearly half a century, have killed Americans and innocent Iranians while pursuing programs for nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. We all want a peaceful end to the war. We also want some indication that the theocracy ruling Iran will change its egregious behavior,” writes Mr. DeTrani, former associate director of national intelligence.

• April 30 — Korean Messiah: The Religious and Ideological Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult, American Enterprise Institute

• May 4 — What’s Next for Japanese Security Policy and U.S.-Japan Relations? Perspectives from the Diet, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• May 4 — How are Ukraine’s New Partnerships and Drone Innovations Changing the War? Atlantic Council

• May 4 — Economic Security and Mega Choke Points: Japan’s Strategic Reset, Brookings Institution

• May 6 — A Conversation with Japan’s Former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Policy Outlook and Solutions, Hudson Institute

• May 6 — U.S.-Japan-Philippines Trilateral Cooperation, Center for a New American Security 

• May 7-9 — The AI+ Expo, Special Competitive Studies Project