Policy Analysis

Art Harman: Policy VP TCC, analyst, IWP, advised Trump16 & admin, Fmr Congress Legis Dir. Bill author, space/border/China/Taiwan, awarded filmmaker & photog

[Policy Analysis @PolicyArt]

Contact for compelling radio, TV, podcast, Xspaces interviews on key issues, including Domestic and Foreign Policy, Grassroots Action, Border Invasion, Voting Integrity, China, Taiwan, Iran, Asymmetric Deterrence, Human Rights, NASA/SpaceX/Moon/Mars, Photography. Senior V.P. for Policy, The Conservative Caucus; President, The Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration.

[OSINT_Strong @OSINT_Strong]

@mrbcyber Notice that NONE of the so-called leftist corporations want to make zero profits. They talk a good game though.

[Michael Ron Bowling @mrbcyber]

For far to long, US corporations have looked the other way on China's human rights abuses. The Chinese government is using slave labor in 'XinJiang', forcing the territories original inhabitants to work in factories.

Companies like Starbucks present this ethical front in the west, while enabling oppression in authoritarian countries like China.

[Aric Chen @aricchen]

The surveillance footage that has now surfaced for the first time shows Malaysian police vehicles and plainclothes individuals outside the family home of a Malaysian citizen known online as Yang Jia. The images, timestamped late September 2026, align with his account of sustained intimidation after he administered Telegram groups that shared criticism of Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. A formal police report he filed documents a threatening call, delivered in Mandarin, warning him to delete posts and sever contact with overseas dissidents or face violence.

What the footage captures is not an isolated local dispute. Callers already possessed his real name, address, parents’ names, and school details, information that ordinary private actors would struggle to obtain so precisely. Combined with the physical presence of officers and unidentified Chinese-speaking men at his residence, the episode fits a documented pattern of the CCP’s transnational repression: the use of host-country institutions, community networks, and direct threats to silence critics living abroad. Yang Jia, a Malaysian national, has reportedly left his registered address and is moving within the country to avoid further contact.

The arrogance on display is the assumption that criticism of the Party, even by a foreign citizen on foreign soil, can be treated as an internal security matter subject to extraterritorial enforcement. Democratic governments have repeatedly catalogued similar operations targeting Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, and Chinese dissidents in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. When local police appear alongside individuals delivering political ultimatums, the distinction between routine policing and coordinated pressure collapses.

International human-rights bodies, foreign ministries, and legislatures should demand a transparent accounting from Malaysian authorities and place the incident on the public record of CCP overseas coercion. Silence rewards the tactic. Naming the responsible party, the Chinese Communist Party, and conditioning engagement on an end to such operations remains the minimum response consistent with the protection of free expression beyond China’s borders.

ACI — Aric Chen | Insights

[Policy Analysis @PolicyArt]

@JMichaelWaller Chinese AI will be/is weaponized against their own people and against the US and the free world. That said, perhaps their AI might undermine the CCP.

[Mick Ryan, AM @WarintheFuture]

2/ It has been clear for some time that the pace of technological development, particularly with drones and AI, has sped up the pace of modernisation in military organisations at war. This has included Ukraine and Russia since 2022. But this potential speed of modernisation has not always been realised in the Western military organisation that remain in peace time settings.

[Military Times @MilitaryTimes]

The new Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom, aims to address an acquisition system that isn't keeping pace with the speed of technological change. https://t.co/FJOBFjKHPr

[Urgent Intel @urgentintel]

DOW UPDATES 2026 NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION –– Under Sec. of War for Policy, Elbridge Colby, submitted an unclassified implementation update to the Senate Armed Services Committee. It tracks 4 lines of effort: Homeland defense, deterrence of China in the Indo-Pacific, allied burden-sharing, and the defense industrial base.

The classified NDS is longer. This text is the public version. Colby says it was written in tight alignment with the 2025 National Security Strategy and received near-unanimous concurrence from the Dept’s senior uniformed and civilian leaders.

1️⃣ –– LINE OF EFFORT 1: HOMELAND

🔸 Border: 16 consecutive months of 0 releases. Daily apprehensions down 94% from the prior admin.

🔸 National Guard Safe Task Forces: homicide down more than 42% in D.C., nearly 43% in Memphis, 32% in New Orleans (lowest murder rate in 50 years), 18% in Los Angeles.

🔸 Operation ABSOLUTE RESOLVE: apprehension of Nicolas Maduro on US cocaine-trafficking charges.

🔸 Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR: up to 60% reduction in vessels moving US-bound cocaine through major maritime corridors.

🔸 Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C): 19-nation partner-led coalition against narcoterror networks. Early activity cited in Ecuador, Colombia, and El Salvador.

🔸 Panama Canal access held. PANAMAX 2026 expanded. New military partnerships listed with Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic.

NUCLEAR AND AIR DEFENSE

🔸 Inert Sentinel missile vertically integrated at Vandenberg for flight testing in 2027.

🔸 B-21 Raider production increased 25%. First aircraft still on track for Ellsworth in 2027.

🔸 Dedicated SLCM-N program office stood up. NNSA project started to adapt a warhead for that missile.

🔸 Classified review of US nuclear employment guidance is underway.

🔸 Stated policy remains: nuclear employment only in extreme circumstances to defend vital interests of the United States, allies, and partners.

🔸 Golden Dome for America: first live-fire event completed under Gen. Guetlein. Integrated multi-threat demonstration targeted for FY2028.

🔸 Counter-UAS: policy and authority gaps for the National Airspace System closed over 18 months. Coverage expanded to more than 150 additional facilities and assets.

CYBER AND COUNTERTERROR

🔸 Cyberspace treated as a warfighting domain. CYBERCOM 2.0 implementation is underway.

🔸 Operation INHERENT RESOLVE military mission in Iraq and Syria concluded. Iraqi Security Forces now lead remaining ISIS work in Iraq. June 19 strike on ISIS leadership in Syria.

🔸 Operation GALAVINIC COBRA in Nigeria: killed ISIS’s second in command and emir for Global Operations, Abu Bilal al-Minuki, his inner circle, and 199 additional ISIS-West Africa fighters.

🔸 American citizen Kevin Rideout released from ISIS captivity after pressure in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel.

🔸 Somalia: more than 80 strikes against Islamic terrorists with regional partners.

2️⃣ ��– LINE OF EFFORT 2: INDO-PACIFIC

Goal stated as a favorable balance of power, not regional domination. Deterrence by denial along the First Island Chain. Hegseth’s line: aggression infeasible, escalation unattractive, war deemed irrational.

Capabilities prioritized for denial along the First Island Chain:

🔸 Undersea forces
🔸 Long-range, long-endurance air
🔸 Ground-based mobile long-range fires
🔸 Resilient proliferated space and counterspace
🔸 Special operations and stand-in forces
🔸 Naval mines and delivery systems
🔸 Integrated air and missile defense
🔸 Magazine depth, contested logistics, cyber-hardened C2

Munitions Acceleration Council stood up in FY2026. FY2027 request directs nearly $53 billion to the council’s prioritized munitions.

Other milestones listed: second phase of converting US Forces Japan into an operational headquarters. First live-fire of the Typhon missile system during an exercise along the First Island Chain. Agreed Facilities and Access MOU with Australia.

3️⃣ –– LINE OF EFFORT 3: BURDEN-SHARING

EUROPE

Hegseth’s stated aim: NATO 3.0. Allies take the lead in Europe’s conventional defense. Model cited is Cold War NATO 1.0 hard power.

🔸 Manned brigade combat teams assigned or allocated to EUCOM cut from five to three, back to the 2021 level.

🔸 Six-month formal review of US force posture and basing in Europe is underway.

🔸 Germany cited as moving early on Hague Summit spending pledges, before the 2035 deadline.

🔸 Allied buys of US-produced Tomahawk and Barracuda missiles. New industrial cooperation on missile production and sustainment.

🔸 Allies increased their own NATO Force Model contributions after the US contribution was adjusted.

🔸 Ukraine: allies now cover costs of US-provided aid through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List. They also increased their own military support. Colby says the front line has held and further Russian advances have been denied.

INDO-PACIFIC ALLIES

🔸 South Korea: first non-NATO ally to adopt the 3.5% of GDP core-military standard. Agreed to take primary responsibility for conventional defense against North Korea. Wartime OPCON transition used to push ROK capability upgrades.

🔸 Japan: Prime Minister Takaichi committed last year to accelerate the defense buildup. Colby says significantly more remains to be done.

🔸 AUKUS: Trump directed “full steam ahead.” Submarine Rotational Force-West starts rotating US Virginia-class boats to Western Australia next year. May 2026 cost-sharing deal: more than $5 billion in Australian infrastructure for that presence.

🔸 Philippines: most complex BALIKATAN on record, including a historic Typhon live fire. EDCA sites being operationalized.

🔸 India: 10-year bilateral defense framework signed, plus a separate undersea cooperation framework.

MIDDLE EAST AND IRAN

Colby directly answers the claim that the 2026 NDS ignored the need to use force to deny Iran a nuclear weapon. He calls that claim inaccurate.

The NDS text, as quoted here:

🔸 “President Trump has consistently made clear that Iran will not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.”

🔸 Iran’s regime is “weaker and more vulnerable than it has been in decades” but “appears intent on reconstituting its conventional military forces.”

🔸 Iran’s leaders “have also left open the possibility that they will try again to obtain a nuclear weapon, including by refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations.”

🔸 Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER & Operation EPIC FURY
- Forward guidance: empower regional allies to take primary responsibility against Iran and its proxies. Strongly back Israel. Deepen Gulf cooperation. Enable Israel-Gulf integration. Maintain the ability to take focused, decisive action to defend US interests.
- Colby says DoW anticipated further military action if Iran refused serious nuclear talks and was ready with options to degrade Iran’s power-projection capabilities when directed earlier this year and in the months since.

🔸 Post-Epic Fury:
- Israel described as a model ally for capability and resolve.
- Arabian Gulf partners defended their citizens, infrastructure, and US personnel from thousands of Iranian aerial attacks, enabled by US intelligence-sharing, training, and FMS. They continue to work with CENTCOM to lock those gains in.

4️⃣ –– LINE OF EFFORT 4: DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE

The NDS treats the industrial base as a component of military power.

MUNITIONS AND PRODUCTION

🔸 Multi-year procurement agreements on more than a dozen critical munitions.

🔸 Investments listed in rare earths, batteries, energetics, semiconductors, and naval shipbuilding.

🔸 Systems moving: F-47, collaborative combat aircraft, lower-cost unmanned systems, low-cost containerized strike munitions.

🔸 FY2027 request numbers in the statement:
- Nearly $53 billion for prioritized MAC munitions
- $114 billion for missiles, munitions, and hypersonic weapons
- $53.6 billion for drone dominance capabilities
- Space Force topline: $71.1 billion
- Deal Teams using OTAs, Commercial Solutions Openings, and direct-to-supplier capital. Negotiation and production timelines described as compressed from months and years to weeks and months.

SHIPBUILDING GAP

Colby is blunt on submarines:

🔸 Virginia-class deliveries: about 1.1 to 1.2 boats per year since 2022.

🔸 Requirement: 2.0 per year for US needs alone. About 2.33 to also cover AUKUS Pillar I.

🔸 CBO: construction running an average of about four years late against original contract dates. Delays not materially improving despite industrial-base investment.

🔸 Two-per-year rate not now expected until about 2032.

🔸 Columbia-class remains behind schedule as Ohio-class boats age out.

🔸 Fix listed: Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Submarines running a multi-billion-dollar Submarine Industrial Base recovery. Goal stated as one Columbia and two Virginias per year while sustaining the active fleet. Fifth public Navy shipyard planned for nuclear submarine and carrier readiness.

OTHER INDUSTRIAL MOVES

🔸 Strategic reshoring of rare earths, tungsten, cobalt, aluminum, copper, antimony, and germanium.

🔸 Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network and Smaller War Plants Commission with SBA. Small suppliers described as 70% of the DIB.

🔸 Direct-report program managers for Golden Dome, submarines, unmanned systems, B-21, F-47, and Sentinel.

🔸 Critical technology list narrowed to AI, directed energy, quantum, hypersonics, biomanufacturing, and contested logistics. Lethal autonomous weapons policy 3000.09 being updated under NSPM-11.

BUDGET ASK

Colby closes by saying congressional support is required and that the President’s full $1.5 trillion FY2027 budget request is the essential vehicle to keep this going.

................................................
Comment –– This is the public scorecard for the strategy Colby has been arguing since before he took the job. Prioritize the Homeland and the First Island Chain. Make wealthy allies carry Europe and more of the Middle East. Keep the option to hit Iran when directed. Rebuild magazines and yards so the next campaign is not a one-shot inventory burn.

That last part matches what the Epic Fury IG report already showed. Heavy munitions use. Long lead times on motors, energetics, and skilled labor. The $1.5T request is the reload.

On Iran, Colby is saying there's a standing order to keep decisive options ready if talks fail. Basically: try talks, set an end date, strike when the regime walks, keep the blockade on until any deal has an enforcement mechanism they cannot wait out.

In other words, despite what you read on the news, the actual defense strategy always keeps the striking capability active should Iran fail to capitulate to our demands on the nuclear issue.

Source –– https://t.co/AumJIxvFie
See also the National Security Strategy (Nov 2025) here: https://t.co/HrMicSCQbJ

[CSPAN @cspan]

Defense Secretary @PeteHegseth announces the creation of autonomous warfare command: "A new four-star combatant command with service-like authorities, built-to-scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force..."

[Office of the Secretary of the Air Force @SecAFOfficial]

A truly historic step for joint warfighting: @SecWar announced the creation of a dedicated combatant command for autonomous warfare to help meet the demands of the modern battlefield. The Air Force’s Point Defense capabilities and new career field will benefit massively from the new command’s focus on mass-produced, autonomous capabilities… it’s another step toward strengthening our ability to protect critical assets required to generate combat airpower.

https://t.co/NjypeaHEGV

[Tyler Rogoway @Aviation_Intel]

Vision For New Autonomous Warfare Command Laid Out By Pentagon

The new command, slated to stand up late next year, will focus on advancing operational autonomous and robotic capabilities across the services.

https://t.co/GJkv1hVwmk

[Sean Parnell @SeanParnellASW]

Today, @SECWAR laid out a bold vision for the future of our military.

This includes a new Autonomous Warfare Command, Project Meridian, FORTRESS America, the Next Great American Base, America’s Corps of Cadets, and the Office of Religious Affairs.

A new era for the Department of War—FOR THE WARFIGHTER.

[Policy Analysis @PolicyArt]

At last! We are being out classed by cheap, light field-modifiable drones,sea and surface robots. Learn from Skyfall.

[DOW Rapid Response @DOWResponse]

.@SECWAR “Today, at my direction��we are announcing the creation of Autonomous Warfare Command, or AutoWarCom:

A new 4-star combatant command—with service-like authorities—built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the Joint Force in the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history."

[Sean Parnell @SeanParnellASW]

Today, at Secretary Hegseth's direction, the Department of War is starting the creation of the Autonomous Warfare Command.

This will be a new 4-star combatant command—with service-like authorities—built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the Joint Force in the fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.

[Cyrus S 🇺🇸 @CyrusShares]

Additionally China purchased many of Germany's native industries (mostly small and medium companies such as robotics, chemicals, industrial machinery and component #manufacturing) and moved them to China to use as the backbone of industries that have qualitative superiority!

The EU's suicidal Net Zero energy agenda (as I've been warning since the beginning of the CCP bankrolled UN #climate change cult) was the last nail in the coffin of the European industries!

[Benjamin Weingarten @bhweingarten]

EXCLUSIVE: New polling obtained exclusively by @fdrlst shows that Americans overwhelmingly believe congressional seats should be distributed solely based on the number of U.S. citizens in each state. They also think there should be a citizenship question on the census.

Those are two of the key findings from a national survey conducted by @jmclghln @McLaughlinAssoc indicating significant public support for policies — long opposed by the left — that the Trump administration is pursuing pertaining to the crucial decennial count https://t.co/lAzKpWVeFn

[J Michael Waller @JMichaelWaller]

Politics 101.

[Policy Analysis @PolicyArt]

@mrbcyber Venezuela has rare earths. Just sayin'

[Michael Ron Bowling @mrbcyber]

China has been working to control rare earths for decades, part of its larger plan to control manufacturing.

The Chinese government intentionally flooded America with subsidized rare earth minerals in the 90's. Running all the US companies out of business. Much as they are flooding the EV market today.

All Chinese companies involved with rare earth production have been made into a conglomerate. A massive monopoly ultimately controlled by the CCP. This monopoly is being used to destroy western manufacturing.

[Jim Pfaff @jimpfaff]

💯

[J Michael Waller @JMichaelWaller]

Need to run a multibillion-dollar political warfare operation against the US with sovereign immunity?

Tiny microstate strongman who gives diplomatic passports to people like Alex Saab?

Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬 Prime Minister @gastonbrowne meets with Alex Soros.

Why? @WHAAsstSecty @SecRubio @USAmbOAS https://t.co/KVlRwfhVtq