Mexican National Guard members patrol along the Mexico-U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez on February 5, 2025. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A line of Mexican National Guard and Army trucks rumbled along the border separating Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas, on February 5, 2025, among the first of 10,000 troops Mexico has sent to its northern frontier after tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump. Masked and armed National Guard members picked through brush running along the border barrier on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, pulling out makeshift ladders and ropes tucked away in the trenches, and pulling them onto trucks. Patrols…
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Sweden will provide its first military support to a NATO mission when it sends several warships and aircraft to participate in the Baltic Sentry Mission. NATO ALLIED MARITIME COMMAND After repeated acts of sabotage in the Baltic Sea — a crucial maritime link between the Baltic, central Europe and Scandinavia — NATO announced in January 2025 a multidomain mission intended to deter future acts of sabotage in the region. The Baltic Sentry Mission will deploy warships, Coast Guard vessels, surveillance aircraft and other assets to “deter any future attempts by a state or non-state actor to damage critical undersea infrastructure there,”…
U.S. immigration authorities apprehended nearly 60 migrants in the southeastern approaches to the country in January 2025. Above, Coast Guard personnel help Cuban migrants in the Florida Straits. U.S. COAST GUARD U.S. homeland defense authorities retrieved 71 migrants involved in five separate smuggling operations in the Bahamas and off the coast of Florida in early January 2025. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) intercepted 34 of the migrants at sea and retrieved the other 37 from two uninhabited Bahamian islands where they had become stranded. The first interdiction occurred on January 3, 2025, at Cay Sal, one of the larger islands…
U.S. Marines build border fence barriers near San Diego, California, on January 31, 2025, in response to the U.S. government’s emergency declaration, sealing off the frontier between the two nations. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The U.S. has deployed more than 2,500 troops to the Mexico-U.S. southern border since President Donald J. Trump issued a national emergency declaration in January 2025. At least 15 active-duty units from the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have been activated to “support enhanced detection and monitoring efforts and repair and emplace physical barriers,” according to a January 24 news release from U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). The…
A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected onto him. REUTERS ILLUSTRATION THE WATCH STAFF A Chinese citizen has been indicted and the Chinese cybersecurity company for which he worked has been sanctioned for their alleged involvement in ransomware attacks that “could have resulted in serious injury or the loss of human life,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a news release. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana issued an arrest warrant for Guan Tianfeng, charging him with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and wire fraud. The indictment, unsealed on December 10, 2024,…
Senior military and security leaders from the United States and the Caribbean pose for a group photo during the Caribbean Nations Security Conference (CANSEC) 2024 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on December 11, 2024. CANSEC brought together defense and security leaders from 16 nations for discussions on cooperation to counter threats in the Caribbean and strengthen regional disaster response. SOUTHCOM PUBLIC AFFAIRS THE WATCH STAFF Caribbean defense and security officials and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) leaders met to discuss regional challenges and cooperation during the Caribbean Nations Security Conference (CANSEC) 2024 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,…
Employees work on a production line for drones at a factory in Anqing, Anhui province, China, on May 16, 2024. CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS REUTERS The U.S. Commerce Department said January 2, 2025, it is considering new rules on Chinese drones that would restrict or ban them in the United States, citing national security concerns. The department said it was seeking public comments by March 4, 2025, on potential rules to safeguard the supply chain for drones, saying threats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia “may offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices,…
The Eagle S oil tanker anchors near the Kilpilahti port in Porvoo, on the Gulf of Finland, on January 2, 2025. The Cook Islands-registered ship is suspected of the disruption of the Finland-Estonia electrical link Estlink 2 on December 25, 2024. Reuters THE WATCH STAFF NATO allies reacted swiftly and decisively to counter sabotage threats in the Baltic Sea in late December 2024 and early January 2025 after a vessel associated with Russia’s sanction-evading fleet cut undersea cables, at least the fourth time such an incident has occurred in a little more than a year. Finland seized the vessel and…
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced in December 2024 that it has made large-scale upgrades to federal cyber defenses since the 2020 Solar Winds hacking attack by Russian-linked forces. AFP/GETTY IMAGES A top official at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told cybersecurity professionals in December 2024 that technological and logistical upgrades over the past four years have eliminated the weaknesses exploited by Russian-linked hackers during the SolarWinds cyberattack. Jeff Greene, CISA’s executive assistance director for cybersecurity, told attendees at a cybersecurity conference that his agency can now detect state-sponsored hacking in real time after improvements…
Swedish Army Soldiers prepare for Arctic exercises in northern Sweden. A recent commentary in War on the Rocks, a military affairs website, argues that NATO should take a primary role in the region to allow the U.S. to focus more military resources in Asia. AFP/GETTY IMAGES An increased presence by NATO military forces in the Arctic could allow United States to focus its military energy on the Indo-Pacific theater, according to an analysis in War on the Rocks, a military affairs news site. The November 2024 commentary — “More NATO in the Arctic could free the United States up to…