Today’s D Brief: Russia’s barrage; India-Pakistan ceasefire; SOCOM gear; Qatar’s proposed gift; And a bit more.
Russia barrages Ukraine as West turns up pressure for talks. AP: “Russia launched more than 100 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, after the Kremlin effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in the more than three-year war, but reiterated that it would take part in possible peace talks later this week without preconditions.” A “flurry of diplomatic developments” over the weekend saw Russia reject a ceasefire proposal pushed by the U.S. and European leaders but did apparently agree to negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday. A challenge: On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him face-to-face. “France added its voice to that offer Monday, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urging Putin to accept — though Barrot repeated the European position that a truce must be in place before the talks.” Russian officials have not responded directly to Zelenskyy’s challenge, but did suggest they would send representatives to Istanbul for talks on Thursday. AP has more, here. EU plans $935M boost to Ukrainian defense industry. Defense News: “Denmark will allocate €830 million ($935 million) to the Ukrainian defense industry in 2025 on behalf of the European Union, using windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to buy Ukraine-made weapons,” according to a Friday statement by the Danish Ministry of Defence. “The Danes have been frontrunners in investing Western military aid in Ukraine’s defense manufacturing, using funds to buy locally produced weapons rather than foreign equipment through what is known as the Danish model.” Read on, here. Welcome to this Monday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1938, USS Enterprise (CV-6) was commissioned. The aircraft carrier would become the most decorated warship of World War II. U.S diplomats have helped bring about a ceasefire in the India-Pakistan skirmishes, BBC reports. After four days of border clashes, the sides agreed on Saturday to stop firing, an agreement that appears to be (largely) holding. “Behind the scenes, US mediators, alongside diplomatic backchannels and regional players, proved critical in pulling the nuclear-armed rivals back from the brink, experts say.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio added some details in his own statement. Read on at the BBC, here. What SOCOM wants, at least in terms of gear. A large part of the annual SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida, is the exchange of ideas between vendors, who offer state-of-the-art products, and operators, who lay out their wishlist. This year, many requests from Special Operations Command centered on “making big things small,” like a DNA forensics lab or an emergency room; or “make a small thing large”: the amount of data that troops can transmit on battlefields where emissions can get you killed. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker has this report from Tampa. Additional reading: “Post-Signalgate, Pentagon CIO prioritizes secure platforms for sensitive instant messaging,” Defense Scoop reported on Thursday off Capitol Hill testimony by Katie Arrington, who is performing the duties of DOD CIO. Hegseth bans affirmative action at military academies. In a Friday memo, SecDef Pete Hegseth ordered the schools to no longer consider race, gender or ethnicity in their admissions processes—an order made legal by a 2023 Supreme Court decision. Instead, Military Times reported Friday, “Hegseth directed the schools to rank applicants by an aggregate score factoring in athletic ability, past military experience and other qualifications. ‘It is the department’s expectation that the highest-ranking candidates within each nomination category should receive appointments,’ Hegseth wrote,” giving the academies until the end of the 2026 admissions cycle to comply. More, here. Lastly today: Qatar is trying to give an airliner to President Donald Trump. On Sunday, news broke that the royal family of Qatar was planning to provide a “super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet” for Trump’s use. Officials and “persons familiar” said the transfer would officially be a loan to the Pentagon that would become a gift to the foundation handling Trump’s future presidential library. The Secret Service views the gift as a “security nightmare,” a law enforcement source told CNN: “The [US Air Force] would have to tear it apart looking for surveillance equipment and inspect the integrity of the plane.” The aircraft would also consume untold millions of dollars to retrofit it for the communications needs of a president, including nuclear command and control. The proposal was widely denounced as a “bribe” whose alleged illegality would reach all the way to the Constitution’s prohibition against public officia
A “flurry of diplomatic developments” over the weekend saw Russia reject a ceasefire proposal pushed by the U.S. and European leaders but did apparently agree to negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday.
A challenge: On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him face-to-face. “France added its voice to that offer Monday, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urging Putin to accept — though Barrot repeated the European position that a truce must be in place before the talks.”
Russian officials have not responded directly to Zelenskyy’s challenge, but did suggest they would send representatives to Istanbul for talks on Thursday. AP has more, here.
EU plans $935M boost to Ukrainian defense industry. Defense News: “Denmark will allocate €830 million ($935 million) to the Ukrainian defense industry in 2025 on behalf of the European Union, using windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to buy Ukraine-made weapons,” according to a Friday statement by the Danish Ministry of Defence. “The Danes have been frontrunners in investing Western military aid in Ukraine’s defense manufacturing, using funds to buy locally produced weapons rather than foreign equipment through what is known as the Danish model.” Read on, here.
Welcome to this Monday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1938, USS Enterprise (CV-6) was commissioned. The aircraft carrier would become the most decorated warship of World War II.
U.S diplomats have helped bring about a ceasefire in the India-Pakistan skirmishes, BBC reports. After four days of border clashes, the sides agreed on Saturday to stop firing, an agreement that appears to be (largely) holding. “Behind the scenes, US mediators, alongside diplomatic backchannels and regional players, proved critical in pulling the nuclear-armed rivals back from the brink, experts say.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio added some details in his own statement. Read on at the BBC, here.
What SOCOM wants, at least in terms of gear. A large part of the annual SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida, is the exchange of ideas between vendors, who offer state-of-the-art products, and operators, who lay out their wishlist. This year, many requests from Special Operations Command centered on “making big things small,” like a DNA forensics lab or an emergency room; or “make a small thing large”: the amount of data that troops can transmit on battlefields where emissions can get you killed. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker has this report from Tampa.
Additional reading:
- “Post-Signalgate, Pentagon CIO prioritizes secure platforms for sensitive instant messaging,” Defense Scoop reported on Thursday off Capitol Hill testimony by Katie Arrington, who is performing the duties of DOD CIO.
Hegseth bans affirmative action at military academies. In a Friday memo, SecDef Pete Hegseth ordered the schools to no longer consider race, gender or ethnicity in their admissions processes—an order made legal by a 2023 Supreme Court decision. Instead, Military Times reported Friday, “Hegseth directed the schools to rank applicants by an aggregate score factoring in athletic ability, past military experience and other qualifications. ‘It is the department’s expectation that the highest-ranking candidates within each nomination category should receive appointments,’ Hegseth wrote,” giving the academies until the end of the 2026 admissions cycle to comply. More, here.
Lastly today: Qatar is trying to give an airliner to President Donald Trump. On Sunday, news broke that the royal family of Qatar was planning to provide a “super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet” for Trump’s use. Officials and “persons familiar” said the transfer would officially be a loan to the Pentagon that would become a gift to the foundation handling Trump’s future presidential library.
The Secret Service views the gift as a “security nightmare,” a law enforcement source told CNN: “The [US Air Force] would have to tear it apart looking for surveillance equipment and inspect the integrity of the plane.”
The aircraft would also consume untold millions of dollars to retrofit it for the communications needs of a president, including nuclear command and control.
The proposal was widely denounced as a “bribe” whose alleged illegality would reach all the way to the Constitution’s prohibition against public officials’ use of their positions for private gain. Trump has long been noted for his refusal to follow his White House predecessors in limiting the potential for conflicts of interest—particularly, in the ways that foreign actors might influence him—and for opening various pathways to profit from the presidency.
The Government Accountability Office has been asked to investigate the matter by Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who wrote on Sunday that the plane would be the most expensive gift ever received by a U.S. president.
Trump struck out against Democratic critics, calling them “World Class Losers” in a Sunday evening post.
Talks continued on Monday between U.S. and Qatari officials, the Washington Post reported. “The president is scheduled to visit Qatar this week during a trip to the Middle East. He will also go to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.” Read on, here. ]]>
