“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump declared on the platform he owns. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before—Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” he said, though it’s far from clear exactly what he was referring to, especially regarding alleged stolen land. 

“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added. “America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” the president said. 

Also unclear is “how many tankers will be affected and how the U.S. will impose the blockade, and whether Trump will turn to the Coast Guard to interdict vessels as he did last week,” Reuters reports. 

New: Another formal U.S. notice to pilots traveling over Venezuelan airspace was issued Tuesday, and this one extends for two months. The first was issued on Nov. 21 over the same sector—known as the Maiquetia Flight Information region—and lasted just 72 hours. 

Clarification: “Flight information regions are how air traffic control authority is divided around the world. They are not national boundaries,” Ian Petchenik explained for FlightRadar24, writing two weeks ago. “Venezuela manages the MAIQUETIA FIR, which includes all of Venezuelan land and extends into the Caribbean Sea,” he added.

Reminder: On Nov. 29, Trump announced in an unusual post on social media, “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” 

Venezuelan officials at the time described his announcement as a “colonialist threat” and said in a statement, “No authority outside the Venezuelan institutional framework has the power to interfere with, block, or condition the use of international airspace.” One day after Trump’s post, planes continued to fly over Venezuela, NPR reported at the time. 

Consulting history: Two months is close to the timeframe the Bush administration thought it needed before telling the world it had accomplished its mission immediately after invading Iraq in 2003. The invasion began with “shock and awe” on March 20; President Bush declared “mission accomplished” on May 1 from an aircraft carrier off the California coast, which was just 41 days later. 

Update: SecDef Hegseth has declined to publicly release the Pentagon’s boat-strike video from Sept. 2, in which the U.S. military reportedly killed two survivors of the initial strike, in possible violation of the laws of war, during counter-narcotics operations near Trinidad and Tobago. Congressional officials relayed the update to multiple news agencies Tuesday after a classified briefing with House and Senate lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Reuters reported. Lawmakers are close to approving a final version of the annual defense policy bill, which includes a provision to freeze a quarter of Hegseth’s travel funds unless he releases the full video to Congress. 

Hegseth said House and Senate Armed Services Committee members could see the video on Wednesday, but he refused broader release, as a bipartisan ensemble of lawmakers have requested. “In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course we're not going to release a top-secret full unedited video of that to the general public,” he told reporters afterward.

Second opinion: “If they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters after Hegseth’s visit Tuesday. “Every senator is entitled to see it,” Schumer said of the video. 

“I think the American people should see this video and all members of Congress should have that opportunity. I certainly want it for myself,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D.-Calif., who added of Hegseth’s briefing Tuesday, “I found the legal explanations and strategic explanations incoherent,” according to the New York Times. 

“This was not a serious intelligence briefing. This was a communication of opinion, and if this administration wants to go to war, they need to go get it from Congress,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Tuesday. 

“If you don’t like the classification, talk to the White House about it,” Oklahoma GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin told reporters.

Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. It’s more important than ever to stay informed, so thank you for reading. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1981, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Lee Dozier was kidnapped from his apartment in Italy by a far-left terrorist group known as the Red Brigades. He was held for 42 days until Italian police rescued him in late January. 

Around the Defense Department

Nearly 300 days after purge, Pentagon taps new Air Force vice chief, top JAG. The head of Air Mobility Command, Gen. John Lamontagne, has been nominated to be the service’s vice chief of staff. He has more than 4,000 flight hours as a command pilot in the C-12 aircraft, KC-135 tanker, and C-17 transport; and has served as deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa and as U.S. European Command’s chief of staff. The commander of the Oklahoma Air National Guard, Brig. Gen. Christopher Eason, has been nominated to be the service’s top judge advocate general. As a civilian, he works as a federal prosecutor.

The previous vice chief and JAG were fired by Hegseth on Feb. 21 along with other top officers, including the Joint Chiefs chair and chief of naval operations. Defense One’s Thomas Novelly has background on each of the nominees, here.

The months-old vacancy atop the National Security Agency and U.S.Cyber Command may be filled by the Army’s Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd, whose name was submitted for promotion by the White House to the Senate. Rudd, who is deputy director for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, appears to not have previously served in military cybersecurity, but a person familiar with the matter confirmed the nomination and said his background would align with U.S. goals to counter Chinese cyber threats. Nextgov’s David DiMolfetta has that, here.

Additional reading: 

• Update: “Coast Guard enacts policy calling swastikas, nooses ‘potentially divisive’,” despite appearing to have dropped the proposed change hours after it became public last month, the Washington Post reported Monday; 
• “U.S. Military Willing to Attack ‘Designated Terrorist Organizations’ Within America, General Says,” the Intercept reported from NORTHCOM Gen. Gregory Guillot’s testimony last week before the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

Around the world

Europe’s governments are issuing the kinds of warnings not heard in a generation or more. “European security officials now regularly broadcast a message nearly unimaginable a decade ago: Get ready for conflict with Russia,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Rarely a week goes by now without a European government, military or security chief making a grim speech warning the public that they are headed toward a potential war with Russia. It is a profound psychological shift for a continent that has rebuilt itself after two world wars by trumpeting a message of harmony and joint economic prosperity.” Read on, here.

The creaky ceasefire in Gaza was disrupted last weekend when two Israeli soldiers were killed by an explosive device and Israel retaliated by killing four people, including—Israeli officials said—Raed Saad, who served as the Hamas official in charge of manufacturing and previously led the militant group’s operations division. 

Trump, who was not informed of the strike in advance, reportedly complained to Binyamin Netanyahu that the Israeli prime minister was hurting “my deal” to stop the fighting and rebuild Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reports. More, here. 

Additional reading: 

• “Bondi gunmen were inspired by Islamic State, had travelled to the Philippines, Australia police say,” Reuters reported Tuesday; 
• And the “Hero who wrestled gun from terrorist says he’d do it again despite being ‘riddled with bullets,’” the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.