Curated news, analysis, and commentary on special operations, national security, and global conflicts.

Executive Summary

This weekly briefing summarizes developments in special operations forces (SOF), global conflicts, intelligence, and national security from the past week. There is a lot happening in the special operations world – modernization, deployments, and technological innovation. Information and influence operations continue to expand as instruments of state power. The Iran conflict has highlighted gaps in U.S. naval mine countermeasure capacity compared to Cold War force levels. Iran’s use of low-cost sea mines can severely impact the global economy. Iranian drone employment highlights continuing challenges in U.S. counter-UAS force structure and procurement timelines. A $25,000 drone can take out a $500 million E-3 Sentry AWACS plane; and Iran has thousands of $25,000 drones. The U.S. had 17 E-3 Sentry aircraft in the beginning of 2026; it now has 16. The pivot to Asia keeps getting put on hold by other priorities – Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, and . . . coming soon . . . Cuba.

Photo / Image: Aircraft are staged for flight operations on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 3, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo)

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Key Outlooks

• Key SOF officer nominations
• SOF testimony before House of Representatives
• Russia-Ukraine War – now in its fifth year and continues to grind on
• Iran War – Operational success but what is the endgame?
• The 31st MEU has arrived in the CENTCOM AOR
• Ukrainian SOF is much more diverse than western special operations forces
• The intel communities annual intel threat assessment outlines current and future threats