Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, is greeted by Army Soldiers while visiting the Mexico-U.S. border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on February 3, 2025. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE WATCH STAFF On a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on February 3, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that full control of the southern border is the goal of the Trump administration and all agencies working to enforce border security. Asked what mission accomplishment looks like, he said: “Mission accomplishment means 100% operational control of the border.” “Right now, that means a surge of manpower. … We’ve seen thousands of active-duty and National…
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Andøya Spaceport is located at Nordmela on the Norwegian island of Andøya. Norway and the United States have signed a technology safeguards agreement that provides a legal and technical framework for U.S. commercial space launches from Andøya while ensuring proper handling of sensitive U.S. technology. ANDØYA SPACEPORT THE WATCH STAFF Norway and the United States have signed a deal that greenlights the export of U.S. space equipment to Norway for launches there. The technology safeguards agreement, or TSA, announced on January 16, 2025, protects the high-tech hardware of U.S. launch vehicles and payloads and is an essential milestone toward the…
The U.S. Coast Guard surged aviation assets beginning in late January 2025 to support border security efforts at the Mexico-U.S. frontier. U.S. COAST GUARD The U.S. Coast Guard began deportation flights in late January 2025 to support security efforts at the Mexico-U.S. border. The Coast Guard began “alien expulsion flights” on January 25, 2025, with the 11th Coast Guard District in California leading the effort. “Through these ongoing operations, the Coast Guard is detecting, deterring and interdicting aliens, drug smugglers and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border. The Coast Guard continues to surge…
Sweden seized a vessel suspected of cutting undersea cables in the Baltic Sea in January 2025, the latest in a string of apparent sabotage incidents in the region. NATO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Swedish prosecutors announced in late January 2025 that they have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated sabotage and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber-optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland. “Several authorities, including the National Police Operations Department, the Coast Guard and the Armed Forces, are involved in the investigation,” said Mats Ljungqvist, senior…
Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commander Commodore Raymond E. King , center, said migrant apprehensions dropped by 37% in 2024. Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard in January 2025 announced a surge of assets to deter illegal migration in the region. ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE The Bahamas saw a marked decrease in migrant apprehensions in its sprawling territory of sea lanes and islands in 2024, the country’s top military official said in January 2025. Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) Commander Commodore Raymond E. King said migrant detentions had decreased by 37% over the previous year, a significant reversal of migrant traffic through…
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…
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,…