U.S. President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in May 2025. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF Days before his electoral win on April 28, 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a plan to increase Canadian defense spending by $18 billion by 2030. Carney’s plan would bring Canada in line with a long-standing NATO spending goal of 2% of member states’ gross domestic product (GDP) for defense. “It is possible we may need to do more,” Carney said at an Ontario campaign rally earlier in April. Canada has increased its force projection and upgraded…
The Watch
USNORTHCOM and NORAD Commander Gregory M. Guillot told lawmakers in April 2025 that fighter jets will remain a crucial part of missile defense as the United States develops its Golden Dome for America space-based missile defense system. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE WATCH STAFF The Golden Dome for America missile defense system, which envisions space-based technology deterring and destroying missile threats to North America, will have a large role for fighter jets, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told Congressional lawmakers in April 2025. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot,…
A senior trainer fires a Dronebuster Electronic Warfare System at the Counter Unmanned Aircraft System Training in the Rotational Unit Bivouac Area on January 30, 2020. U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is synchronizing responses to counter unmanned aerial system (cUAS) incursions in the United States after a series of incidents near military installations in recent months. USNORTHCOM has alerted base commanders across the United States of a new standard operating procedure (SOP) when small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are sighted: Notify USNORTHCOM. The directive was issued in March or April 2025, a senior Pentagon official told…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 29, 2025, in Washington. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The United States on May 1 imposed economic sanctions on three Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities involved in a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation cartel. It is one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it has about 19,000 members. The cartel developed rapidly into an extremely violent force after it split from the Sinaloa cartel after…
U.S. Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 759th Military Police Battalion, assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border execute mounted screening operations along the nation’s border near Yuma, Arizona, in April 2025. 2ND LT. ERICA ESTERLY/U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF Nearly 200 intelligence and signal corps U.S. Soldiers will be deployed to the southern border to augment a 10,000-strong force that has been tasked by the government with securing operational control of the frontier with Mexico. The deployment is the latest in a three-month buildup of military force along a border that had been overwhelmed at times in recent years with…
Ships and submarines from Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States sail together during Exercise Dynamic Mongoose 2022 on June 19, 2022. NATO ALLIED MARITIME COMMAND THE WATCH STAFF A flotilla of surface ships and submarines, as well as maritime helicopters, gathered in and around the waters of Iceland in late April for the start of NATO’s annual anti-submarine warfare exercise, Dynamic Mongoose. The vessels and aircraft alternated as hunter and hunted to test the military alliance’s warfare capabilities and trans-Atlantic cooperation. Dynamic Mongoose prepares NATO maritime forces to respond and adapt to any…
U.S. Northern Command Commander Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, center, speaks with Mexican Defense Secretary Adm. Raymundo Morales Angeles in February 2025. JOSHUA ARMSTRONG/U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE THE WATCH STAFF The leader of Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense (DEFENSA) and the commander of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) participated in a video call in April 2025 in which the leaders recognized the contributions made by both militaries in addressing border security. Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo (DEFENSA) and Gen. Gregory M. Guillot (USNORTHCOM and NORAD) also discussed strengthening educational training and military exchanges between the…
DIÁLOGO AMERICAS ILLUSTRATION DIÁLOGO AMERICAS In the information age, war is waged in the mind. Cognitive warfare seeks to influence perceptions and behaviors to obtain strategic advantages without resorting to physical force. A report in the blog of peer-reviewed European Journal of International Law, EJIL:Talk!, warns that China and Russia are manipulating narratives and weakening institutions, making human cognition a new conflict front. The report points out that this strategy goes beyond controlling information: It seeks to modify how people react to data. Unlike information warfare, which disseminates facts, cognitive warfare manipulates emotions and perceptions to influence decisions and destabilize societies and…
A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile interceptor is seen during the third annual “Made in America Product Showcase” on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Golden Dome for America project could employ several missile defense systems. REUTERS REUTERS Republicans in the U.S. Congress plan to introduce a sweeping $150 billion defense package that will give an initial $27 billion boost to President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome for America missile defense shield, according to a budget document and a congressional aide. “We’re revitalizing our defense industrial base, strengthening our ability to deter adversaries like China,…
The Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-St. Paul departs Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, for her maiden deployment on March 26, 2025. The ship deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet’s area of operations to support counter-illicit drug trafficking operations. PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS BRANDON J. VINSON/U.S. NAVY THE WATCH STAFF The littoral combat ship (LCS) has found its calling. The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul, a Freedom-variant LCS on its maiden deployment, halted two alleged drug smuggling operations in the Caribbean Sea within 72 hours. The feat showed once again that the LCS are well suited to terminating drug smuggling schemes.…