Inside the Pentagon plan to Americanize drone warfare. Years of talk about rapidly scaling up drone forces have produced interesting prototypes and lively experiments with relatively small numbers of drones—but no clear sense of how the United States would conduct the kind of sustained drone warfare pioneered in Ukraine. A combination of recent developments, tech breakthroughs, and policy changes suggests that could soon change.
The T-REX event in Indiana brought together drone makers, AI, data, and communications software companies to show off not just how well new autonomous drones can hit targets, but also next steps for mass, coordinated drone warfare. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker was there, and pulls the strings together in this report.
The Army is equipping its Black Hawks to launch drones. Helo maker Sikorsky will make software and hardware upgrades under a $43 million contract that will also give the venerable rotorcraft a “more powerful engine, airframe enhancements and a main fuel upgrade,” reports Defense One’s Meghann Myers.
Black Hawk crew will be able to launch and operate drones in flight, part of a larger push toward so-called “launched effects,” one of the cornerstones of the Army Transformation Initiative.
But how long will the UH-60 be central to the Army’s operations? Myers wraps up the signs of a decline in importance, here.
Developing: The U.S. military is “preparing target sets” for strikes against alleged drug cartels in Mexico, independent investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reported Thursday.
“The strikes were discussed at a July meeting at NORTHCOM HQ in Colorado Springs led by Colby Jenkins, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations,” he writes. “Within days, Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of NORTHCOM, hosted the two highest ranking Mexican military officials: Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Secretary of National Defense, and Adm. Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, Secretary of the Navy.”
Targets allegedly include the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. “Direct attacks could also involve air and drone strikes,” Klippenstein writes.
It’s unclear just yet how Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum would respond. She’s said recently she’s flatly opposed to U.S. troops on the ground inside Mexico. However, “Trump, military sources also tell me, is focused on results, willing to ignore law, rules, and even policy recommendations in his zeal to have ‘progress’ towards his goals with regard to national security,” Klippenstein says. More, here.
- ICYMI: We discussed strikes against cartels in a recent podcast conversation with special operations author Kevin Maurer. Find that discussion, here.
Also: Drug traffickers in Colombia allegedly used a drone to shoot down a Black Hawk helicopter carrying a dozen police Thursday morning, the Wall Street Journal reports. All 12 passengers perished in the attack.
Notable uptick: “Since the first attack by drone in Colombia in April of last year, the military here says there have been 301 strikes with unmanned aerial vehicles,” the Journal’s Juan Forero reports from Bogota. “At least 22 soldiers and police officers have died in the attacks.”
The U.S. military says it killed an ISIS official during a raid in northern Syria on Tuesday. Neither militant was named, but Central Command officials described them as “a senior ISIS member and key financier who planned attacks in Syria and Iraq.”
The Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister says the man killed was Saleh Nouman, who was allegedly spotted by Syrian forces “in al-Dana, but he fled to Atmeh—where a joint US airborne raid was planned.” Tiny bit more from CENTCOM, here.
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Insider POV: Allvin’s surprise exit signals a pivot for the Air Force, not Hegseth pressure, sources say. On Monday, Allvin announced his plans to retire after serving just two years as the service’s highest-ranking officer, typically a four-year job. No reason was given in the Air Force press release that contained his announcement. Allvin’s abrupt retirement wasn’t driven by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but by growing frustration with the service’s priorities, multiple people familiar with the decision told Defense One’s Audrey Decker.
Welcome to this Friday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1844, U.S. Navy officer George Francis De Long was born in New York City. In the fall of 1879, De Long led an expedition searching for a way to the North Pole via the Bering Strait. Nearly two years into the quest, his ship was crushed in an ice pack in the East Siberian Sea. De Long, 37, died of starvation about four months later.
Deportation nation
The Pentagon is offering its civilians a chance to work for ICE. “Volunteers will serve in critical support roles up to 180 days at an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or [Customs and Border Protection] facility,” the online alert reads. The offer extends to civilians of “any grade,” and notes, “Travel, lodging, and per diem may be reimbursed by the receiving agency.”
Work includes: “Data Entry” and “Operational Planning Support,” as well as various processing tasks such as helping agents with the “physical flow of detained illegal aliens from arrest to deportation,” and other logistical considerations “to improve efficiencies and the effectiveness of operations.”
There are no education requirements, and applicants must have worked at “their current agency for more than 90 days and are no longer in a probationary period.”
Note: “Conditions at some locations could be austere,” and “Deployment locations are based on need and are not negotiable,” according to the bulletin. More, here.
New: A judge has ordered Florida to stop expanding its “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center because “state officials never sufficiently explained why the facility needed to be in the middle of the Florida Everglades,” the Associated Press reports. “What is apparent, however, is that in their haste to construct the detention camp, the State did not consider alternative locations,” District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida said in her 82-page order.
“Every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” Williams wrote. “This Order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.” More, here.
Related: AP also takes readers “Inside the facility where ICE is training recruits to take on Trump's deportation goals” at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia.
Developing: ICE wants to spend millions of dollars on “custom, gold-detailed vehicle wraps” (see here) for its SUVs patrolling the nation’s capital, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. Critics call it excessive and unnecessary. More, here.
Big picture consideration: Republican lawmakers’ “Big Beautiful Bill” funds an unprecedented surge in federal law enforcement. But is that even possible? Eric Katz of GovExec tallied up many of the planned personnel changes and stacked those against past pledges to boost hiring. Consulting history, he found that “Even when some agencies previously received authorization and funding to hire, they failed to do so in significant numbers.”
“Potential bottlenecks include background checks and training capacity,” Katz writes. On the other hand, “Early returns show some positive signs for the administration. ICE recently boasted it has received 100,000 job applications. CBP has seen a surge in applicants. The rate at which applicants are onboarded, however, has barely moved.” Continue reading, here.
One way to add more federal agents: Lower recruiting standards, as the F.B.I. has done in a change that is “alarming agents,” according to the New York Times, reporting Thursday.
Trump 2.0
ODNI to shrink further under new reorganization plan. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which has already shrunk its workforce by about one-quarter this year, will lose another 200 workers in coming weeks under an “ODNI 2.0” restructuring, the U.S. spy chief said Wednesday.
The office had slightly less than 2,000 employees at the start of the Trump administration and now has around 1,500. The additional cut would bring the year's total reduction to about 35 percent. In a press release this week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claimed the changes would “reduce ODNI by over 40%” by Sept. 30 and “save taxpayers over $700 million per year.” More, here.
Also: On July 20, Gabbard ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to stop sharing information with the so-called Five Eyes allies, which includes the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, CBS News reported Thursday. “The memo also limited distribution of material regarding peace talks to within the agencies that created or originated the intelligence,” Jim LaPorta writes for CBS.
Reminder: President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have long criticized the U.S. intelligence community, particularly after it concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Trump. And just last month, Gabbard issued a report that she said showed a contradiction between the IC's internal assessments and public statements about Russian interference. But in fact, the public statement matched the internal assessments.
Related commentary: Former CIA Director Bill Burns wrote “A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants” this week in The Atlantic. In short, “You all deserved better” than to be downsized under the current administration.
One week ago, Trump met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to find an end to Putin’s Ukraine invasion. Seven days later, nothing has changed. But Trump’s effort stalled out in a mere four days, according to the Wall Street Journal, reporting Friday.
What’s going on: “The failure to reach a diplomatic breakthrough stems in part from sharp differences in negotiating style between Putin and Trump,” the Journal writes. “The U.S. president, former aides said, has an improvisational approach that is heavily dependent on personal relationships.” However, “Putin is playing a longer game, calculating that Russia can gradually improve its position on the battlefield while the diplomats talk, even if it is at the expense of thousands of casualties on both sides.”
Expert reax: “We are where we were two weeks ago, we are where we were six months ago,” said Kurt Volker, who was Trump’s representative for Ukraine negotiations during his first term. “There’s never going to be an agreement. Putin will never agree.”
Read more:
Lastly this week: “The Trump White House has launched an official TikTok account, despite [Congress’] TikTok sale-or-ban law and another looming deadline,” CNN’s Brian Stelter reported this week.
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