India and Israel: Natural Partners or Strange Bedfellows?

National Interest | Mohammed Ayoob

India elevated its relationship with Israel to a special strategic partnership in February 2026, cementing a major geopolitical shift. This growing intimacy persisted despite the devastation in Gaza and New Delhi's historic support for Palestinian statehood. Historically, Indian leaders opposed a Jewish state, viewing Zionism through the lens of anti-colonialism and fearing it validated the ethno-religious partition that created Pakistan.

Pragmatism eventually drove a diplomatic reassessment. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party aligned ideologically with the Israeli Right, viewing military assertiveness as a model. Consequently, New Delhi became Jerusalem's largest defense customer, accounting for 29 percent of Israeli major arms exports between 2021 and 2025. This defense cooperation includes acquiring Heron drones, Phalcon systems, and SPICE weapons, alongside joint development of the MRSAM air-defense system by the DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries. Bilateral cooperation has now expanded into cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors, establishing deep institutional links that transcend individual governments.

The Scam Industry Is Becoming a Big Problem in India

The Diplomat | Saqlain Rizve

Indian investigators from the Enforcement Directorate on September 15 raided three illicit call centers in Pune and Patiala, disrupting a major transnational cyber-fraud syndicate targeting United States citizens. The coordinated law enforcement operation led to the seizure of dozens of digital devices and exposed sophisticated calling scripts used to systematically defraud foreign victims.

This enforcement action addresses the growing systemic challenge of cyber-enabled financial crime operating from Indian soil. During the raids, authorities found approximately 220 employees actively engaged in fraudulent operations. The illicit network spanned multiple states. Officers also searched a connected property in Chandigarh linked to a suspected organizer, confiscating 66 mobile phones, 13 laptops, and critical operational records. The agency is currently analyzing internet telephony systems and payment routes to trace the illicit financial flows. These measures aim to protect bilateral relations and restore international confidence in India's digital service economy.

Story Warfare: How Taliban Propaganda Sabotaged America’s Campaign in Afghanistan

SOF News | Jessica L. Walton

Taliban information operations exploited structural vulnerabilities in the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, turning tactical coalition actions into decisive strategic messaging victories. Operating across indigenous communications channels including local mosques, traditional taranas, and mobile networks, the Taliban framed foreign military operations, civilian casualties, and night raids as existential threats to Afghan honor and Islam.

This asymmetric narrative strategy neutralized superior Western military technology by capitalizing on coalition cultural missteps and rampant Afghan government judicial corruption. Tactical victories regularly produced strategic setbacks. While U.S.-backed messaging relied on synthetic paid advertisements, insurgent narratives drew authenticity from local mullahs and deeply rooted community structures. External support from Pakistan and amplifying anti-Western messaging from China further reinforced the group's domestic legitimacy. Ultimately, the Taliban’s ability to weaponize local grievances and command the information environment eroded public trust, degraded host-nation institutional governance, and systematically dismantled the political foundations of the two-decade U.S. campaign.

Pakistan enters Yemen war? PAF jets reportedly used in strikes against Houthis

Times Now

Pakistan Air Force fighter jets have reportedly commenced offensive air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, marking a direct escalation in Islamabad's military involvement alongside Saudi Arabia. The reported aerial deployments follow newly activated collective defence arrangements with Riyadh and Ankara after Houthi missile and drone strikes killed three people at Abha International Airport and targeted King Khalid International Airport.

This air support operation focuses on neutralizing Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and missile infrastructure rather than deploying ground forces into the theater. Displacement figures in Yemen have surpassed 200,000 people. Saudi-backed forces are concurrently advancing along the Red Sea to secure the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Although Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed existing Pakistani force presence in Saudi Arabia, official military spokespersons maintain operational secrecy regarding direct offensive combat operations against Houthi positions to avoid jeopardizing delicate diplomatic and security ties with neighboring Iran.

TTP’s Technological Advancement and Pakistan’s Counterterrorism Challenges

GNET Research | Sadia Sulaiman

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has escalated its aerial insurgency against Pakistani security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by deploying modified commercial quadcopters for reconnaissance and precision bombing operations. In the first half of 2026 alone, police foiled 341 drone attacks across 13 districts, underscoring the militant group's rapid technological evolution.

This asymmetric escalation builds upon the group's acquisition of leftover US military hardware and Chinese commercial quadcopters following the 2021 Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Pakistani forces remain largely reactive. Under the leadership of Maulvi Saleem Haqqani, the militant organization established a dedicated drone wing named 'Air Force' in December 2025, integrating long-life Honda motorcycle batteries and thermal camera modifications to enhance strike ranges. These low-cost aerial operations circumvent traditional counterinsurgency fortifications, causing 29 security fatalities and 89 injuries across more than 100 strikes in 2026. Consequently, the proliferation of uncrewed systems across the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border severely complicates regional counterterrorism doctrine and public attribution efforts.

In Race With U.S., China Struggles to Recruit Foreign A.I. Researchers

The New York Times | Zeyi Yang

China continues to face severe challenges in recruiting foreign artificial intelligence researchers despite national priorities, lucrative research grants, and new visa offerings aimed at winning the technological competition against the United States. A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study led by Damien Ma revealed that for every 30 Chinese-origin artificial intelligence researchers working in the United States in 2025, only one made the reverse journey to China.

Despite heightened U.S.-China geopolitical tensions and Trump administration visa restrictions targeting foreign hires, the proportion of Chinese-origin researchers operating in America grew by four percentage points over the past three years. This widening talent deficit persists even as prominent domestic firms like Deepseek and Moonshot gain global recognition. Deep structural barriers hamper Beijing’s talent acquisition drive. Analyzing author affiliations from the NeurIPS machine learning conference, researchers tracked global educational and employment mobility trends across top-tier talent. The persistent outflow underscores Beijing's operational vulnerability in long-term technological competitiveness.

Evaluation of U.S. Policies to Increase Domestic Access to Critical Minerals

RAND Corporation | Tom LaTourrette, Omar Aboulezz, Scott Behmer, Tom Blaubach

China currently controls more than 70 percent of the global supply of several critical minerals, leveraging this dominance through export controls that threaten United States defense and energy manufacturing. In response, Washington has deployed industrial policy tools including tax credits, loans, stockpiles, and tariffs to secure domestic supply chains.

However, a RAND Corporation analysis reveals that these policy interventions involve severe economic trade-offs and varying operational timelines. Stockpiling represents the only rapid mechanism to build near-term resilience. Other tools require years to yield results. Furthermore, policies that artificially stimulate domestic production frequently lower market prices. This dynamic inadvertently undercuts private sector incentives to develop alternative materials or technological substitutes. Process failures also hinder progress. Regulatory uncertainty, opaque capital allocation, and protracted permitting timelines actively deter private investment across the value chain. Ultimately, downstream manufacturers face increased costs if import tariffs are applied before domestic refining capacity is established.

Five Ways to Make the New AI Task Force a Success

Council on Foreign Relations | Vinh X. Nguyen

The White House recently launched the Super Intelligence Force, a new artificial intelligence task force designed to secure American leadership in the global technology race while protecting national security. This unified initiative operationalizes the White House Accord on Super Intelligence signed by President Donald Trump and six leading AI firms.

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton will likely oversee an industry-led self-regulatory organization to coordinate safety specifications and incident-response standards. To succeed, the task force must navigate five critical challenges, including standard-setting, public legitimacy, and open-weight model security. It must also counter Chinese competition. By leveraging federal research centers like Sandia National Laboratories and establishing clear incident-response protocols, the United States can build a durable AI safety industry. Ultimately, establishing credible standards allows Washington to capture the global safety layer, forcing foreign rivals to comply with American-led benchmarks to compete internationally.

Hegseth’s Vision for a New American Military

The Cipher Brief | Walter Pincus

Walter Pincus examines prospective national security directions under anticipated leadership, focusing on structural shifts within the United States defense apparatus. The analysis explores how proposed administrative changes could reshape force posture, institutional priorities, and military effectiveness. Such transitions involve complex internal adjustments across the Department of Defense. Observers debate whether proposed reforms will strengthen strategic readiness or introduce friction into traditional command relationships.

Defense planners continue assessing the long-term implications for global deterrence and alliance management. Policy shifts of this magnitude regularly generate intense scrutiny regarding resource allocation and operational focus. Future developments will depend heavily on congressional oversight and budgetary execution during the implementation phase. Meanwhile, military leadership must navigate ongoing geopolitical challenges while preparing for potential institutional overhauls. These prospective changes highlight enduring debates over civilian control, modernization priorities, and the optimal structure of modern armed forces.

Pete Hegseth’s ‘Vast Overcorrection’

The New York Times | David French, Mike Nelson

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is fundamentally reshaping military culture during an active conflict with Iran by prioritizing tactical warrior archetypes and purging senior general officers. This political restructuring comes as prolonged strike operations severely deplete advanced missile interceptor stockpiles and strain troop deployment morale. Policy shifts toward strict physical standards and personal loyalty have abruptly replaced previous administrative directives regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This sets a dangerous institutional precedent. Dismissing experienced commanders for carrying out lawful civilian orders weakens civil-military norms while suppressing essential technological innovation. Furthermore, prioritizing elite Special Operations physical standards over technical domain expertise risks ignoring operational lessons from Ukraine, where unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, and specialized technical analysts redefine modern combat. Failing to balance tactical cultural reforms with broad strategic modernization jeopardizes long-term American deterrence and sustained wartime readiness against evolving global adversaries across multiple operational theaters.

The Pentagon’s autonomy command should draw on lessons old and new

Defense One | Patrick Tucker

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to launch the Autonomous Warfare Command by next October in a recent memo to accelerate the deployment of adaptable combat robotics. The initiative aims to field uncrewed systems capable of rapid operational adaptation against realistic opposition within weeks rather than traditional multi-year procurement cycles.

Pentagon leaders are looking to successful programs like the Maven Smart System alongside lessons from electronic-warfare environments in Ukraine and the Middle East. Strategic integration requires decoupling platform manufacturing from software development, prioritizing modular open architecture demonstrated during recent NATO maritime unmanned exercises in Portugal. Human trust cannot be automated. Historical safety failures, including a 2003 Patriot missile system friendly-fire incident in Iraq, highlight the operational risks of ambiguous command authority in automated engagements. Success for the command depends on establishing reliable human-machine interfaces and data networks before deploying autonomous systems into communications-denied operational environments.

Congress wrote this rule for radio. Write it again for social media platforms

Foundation for Defense of Democracies | Jacob Breach

On September 22, War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command and the Defense Intelligence Enterprise to defend American election infrastructure against foreign malign influence. However, existing statutory limitations restrict defense authorities to targeting overseas infrastructure while leaving domestic social media networks vulnerable to covert state-sponsored propaganda. Under 1927 broadcast regulations updated by the Federal Communications Commission in 2021, radio and television stations must identify foreign government sponsors.

Social media platforms face no equivalent statutory mandate to detect or report covert foreign operations, such as Russia's Matryoshka campaign or Iranian proxy networks recently uncovered on Meta. Congress must close this gap by enacting disclosure requirements and establishing mandatory reporting obligations modeled on financial suspicious activity reports. Capability exists, but regulatory incentives remain absent. Establishing these transparency standards ensures voters know who sponsors online political messaging without infringing upon platform content moderation decisions or free speech rights.

Democracy Dies in Darkness

Washington Post | Greg Miller

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently declared to U.S. forces that Washington has completely destroyed Iran's navy, air force, leadership, and defense base while leaving its nuclear ambitions exposed. These triumphalist claims mirror President Donald Trump's narrative of a thoroughly vanquished adversary in an ongoing conflict. Underlying such public pronouncements is a persistent divergence between official assertions of total military dominance and the reality of enduring regional tensions.

Tehran continues to navigate significant security pressures amid escalating exchanges across the theater. The administration's framing seeks to project decisive strategic overmatch despite the complex, asymmetric challenges persisting across the Middle East.

What is pneumonic plague and how does it spread?

BBC | Dominic Hughes

The World Health Organization has requested detailed information from Russia following the death of a researcher at a Siberian plague laboratory, sparking international concerns over biosafety protocols. While Russian officials report that contacts of the deceased tested negative for pneumonic plague, the incident has drawn scrutiny from the United States and United Kingdom regarding potential exposure risks.

Pneumonic plague, caused by the bacterium *Yersinia pestis*, represents the most virulent form of the disease due to its rapid 24-hour incubation period and near-total mortality rate if left untreated. Although the pathogen persists naturally in global rodent reservoirs across Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, modern containment relies heavily on secure laboratory diagnostics and early antibiotic intervention. Early treatment remains highly effective. However, the lack of transparency surrounding Russian dual-use research facilities complicates international biosecurity monitoring and verification efforts under global non-proliferation frameworks, raising the stakes for global health security.

Marine Corps University Press

Journal of Advanced Military Studies, Fall 2026, v. 17, no. 2 

• The Domain-Based Approach to Warfare: Maximizing Warfighter Expertise
• JADO-Plus: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
• The Bankruptcy of Command Hubris: Financial Metrics, IPB Diagnostics, and Intelligence-to-Decision Failure in the 1944 European Theater
• Unified Action in the Underground: The Joint Fight in the Subterranean Urban Domain
• Defending the Seabed: Judge Advocate Authorities for Undersea Cable Protection in Hybrid Operations
• Navigating without Satellites: A Monte Carlo Feasibility Study of Star Identification for GPS-Denied Ground Vehicle Navigation
• Military‑Civil Fusion and the People’s Liberation Army’s Operational Capacity: Strengths and Vulnerabilities in Logistics, ISR, and Mobilization for a Taiwan Contingency
• Warfighting at Orbital Velocities: The Case for Combatives in the Space Domain
• Deterrence in Orbit: PLA Counterspace Doctrine, JADO, and the Vulnerability of Space-Based Nuclear Command and Control
• The Evolution of Modern Warfare

Mind Wars: The New Battlefield of Information Warfare, by Maj Gen P. K. Mallick, VSM (Retd), Pentagon Press, New Delhi, 2026, pp. 290, Rs 1,250.00

MP-IDSA | Guru Saday Batabyal

Mind Wars: The New Battlefield of Information Warfare is an ambitious, wideranging and intellectually serious work that seeks to draw attention to what Maj Gen P. K. Mallick identifies as the most consequential arena of contemporary conflict: the human mind. The book’s underlying assertion that future wars will increasingly be decided by who shapes perception, narrative and cognition rather than who merely dominates terrain runs consistently through its 18 carefully structured chapters. In doing so, the author offers one of the most comprehensive Indian treatments of information and cognitive warfare to date, and that fact alone makes this book a pioneering contribution to national strategic thought.

The opening Introduction sets the conceptual tone by arguing that the information environment is no longer a subsidiary supporting arm of warfare but a permanent and contested battlespace. Mallick underlines that conflicts today begin long before the first kinetic exchange and continue long after the last shot is fired. Information warfare, in his framing, spans peace, crisis, and war without interruption, eroding the traditional binaries on which military planning has long relied. Early in the book, the author observes—implicitly echoing classical theory—that the aim of conflict remains unchanged: to influence behaviour and compel outcomes. What has changed is the means, speed, scale and subtlety with which minds can now be shaped.

At October 7 Anniversary, Israelis Face an Election and an Unfinished Reckoning

Council on Foreign Relations | Elliott Abrams

Israel's impending national election and the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks have intensified domestic debates over political accountability and the nation's long-term security doctrine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tight legislative race as the public grapples with unresolved failures surrounding the initial Hamas incursions, highlighted by a blocked national commission of inquiry.

This political friction occurs alongside a fundamental shift in Israeli defense strategy away from deterrence toward preemptive, capability-based assessments of regional adversaries. Deterrence has largely been abandoned. While military operations have degraded Hamas and Hezbollah, disrupted Iran's nuclear program, and altered the Syrian conflict, they have also exposed Israel's critical dependence on United States military supply chains, including F-35 jets and interceptors. Consequently, any incoming coalition must address growing international political isolation, manage strategic partnerships, and resolve domestic disputes regarding the military conscription of ultra-Orthodox Haredi men to meet expanded manpower requirements.

Israelis demand accountability over 7 October failures three years after attacks

BBC | Lucy Williamson

Israeli citizens are demanding a formal state commission of inquiry into the catastrophic security and intelligence failures surrounding the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages. This public pressure directly challenges Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he campaigns for re-election on a platform of robust national security.

The political deadlock stems from Netanyahu's persistent refusal to authorize an independent judicial probe, proposing instead a politically appointed national commission. Critics argue his pre-war doctrine of containing Hamas while facilitating Qatari financial aid directly enabled the systemic complacency that ignored warnings from border surveillance units at bases like Nahal Oz. While military leaders like Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi accepted responsibility and resigned, the political leadership denies personal culpability. The political-military rift is widening. As voters head to the polls, the legacy of the disaster remains a polarizing electoral issue, balancing Netanyahu's recent regional military campaigns against his long-term strategic failures.

Ukraine Claws Back Land in the Donbas, Thwarting a Russian Push

The New York Times | Marc Santora, Josh Holder

Ukrainian forces executing Operation Vivaldi have reclaimed dozens of square miles of territory in northern Donbas, successfully disrupting Russian efforts to encircle key fortress cities across eastern Ukraine. Kyiv reorganized its southern defensive lines to halt relentless Russian mechanized assaults, stopping Moscow from advancing toward major urban hubs like Sloviansk and Pokrovsk.

Ground operations have stalled significantly throughout 2026. Data from the Finland-based research group Black Bird Group reveals that September 2026 marked Russia's lowest net territorial gain in Ukraine since June 2023. Western intelligence assessments indicate that Russian forces have gained only marginally more territory than they lost over the course of the year. While Moscow relies on heavy missile barrages against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure to compensate for sluggish infantry progress, Kyiv's counterattacks demonstrate renewed operational resilience. The failure to secure rapid encirclements undermines Russian President Vladimir Putin's declaration that capturing the Donbas remains inevitable.

Why Fifth-Generation Terrorism (5GT) Poses a Major Security Challenge: What We Must Do

HORN Institute | Mustafa Y. Ali

Fifth-generation terrorist organizations are fundamentally transforming global security by blending religious dogma with political pragmatism to build self-perpetuating, quasi-state administrative structures. Regional affiliates like Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and Boko Haram have transitioned from relying on external state sponsors to monopolizing local economies for financial autarky.

This institutional symbiosis allows fifth-wave non-state actors to co-opt hyper-local socio-economic grievances, achieving deep political legitimacy and operational resilience across ungoverned territories. Conventional military operations alone cannot contain these bureaucratized entities. Over a decade of empirical pilot programming in Kenya and the broader Horn of Africa demonstrates that countering this decentralized threat requires integrating faith leaders, civil society organizations, and local communities into a comprehensive, whole-of-society strategy. Without adapting preventative frameworks to address the religio-political convergence of modern militancy, regional security architectures will remain vulnerable to deeply entrenched extremist networks that effectively exercise territorial sovereignty and advance protracted campaigns of violence.

FIFTH-GENERATION TERRORISM: WHY TODAY’S MILITANT GROUPS OUTLAST THE ARMIES SENT TO DEFEAT THEM

HORN Institute

Fifth-generation terrorism has emerged over the past quarter-century as an integrated threat where religious dogma, political ideology, local grievances, self-funding mechanisms, territorial control, and digital influence mutually reinforce one another. This multi-dimensional evolution directly challenges David Rapoport’s four-wave terrorism model, which framed religiously motivated transnational extremism as the definitive final phase of modern insurgency.

By integrating self-sustaining commercial enterprises with localized governance structures and global communications media, contemporary militant organizations achieve unprecedented structural resilience against traditional military campaigns. Analysts at the HORN Institute emphasize that kinetic counterterrorism interventions fail when confronting these self-funding hybrid entities. Conventional force cannot dismantle decentralized networks. Consequently, state security apparatuses must pivot beyond unilateral military strikes toward broad-spectrum operational strategies that simultaneously target financial supply chains, ideological narratives, and institutional governance deficits. Long-term stabilization depends on aligning military pressure with political reforms and economic interventions to dismantle persistent insurgencies.

Meta’s Muse AI Agent Is Building a Dossier On You

Time | Harry Booth

Meta’s new Muse AI personal assistant is generating hourly behavioural dossiers on its 4 million users and their non-user contacts by actively analyzing private messages, emails, and connected accounts. Internal system instructions reveal that the application maps social dynamics, infers unspoken desires, and conducts nightly analysis of daily chats to refine psychological nudges.

Operating within dedicated cloud-based virtual machines, individual agents pool de-identified behavioural learnings back to Meta to optimize cross-user persuasion algorithms. End-to-end encryption remains unreleased. While Meta promotes system transparency through accessible session logs, instructions explicitly direct the software to obscure retained conversation records after users request data deletion. Furthermore, the agent is instructed to conceal its synthetic nature by adopting human social behaviors and rejecting AI terminology during voice interactions. These pervasive profiling practices demonstrate how corporate AI platforms harvest relational telemetry to maximize user engagement and behavioural influence across personal digital ecosystems.

The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI

McKinsey & Company | Dan Tinkoff, Lieven Van der Veken, Michael Chui

A McKinsey Global Survey on the state of AI in 2026 reveals that forty percent of large organizations with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion are scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent last year. This rapid adoption of agentic coding tools is prompting 32 percent of surveyed companies to build software in-house rather than purchasing commercial products.

Despite this operational expansion, enterprise-level financial impact remains concentrated, with only 37 percent of respondents reporting earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) gains. Individual productivity has surged. However, rising operating costs, including token expenses, now constrain usage for 20 percent of organizations. Looking ahead, 39 percent of respondents expect workforce declines in the coming year, although actual layoffs over the past year fell short of previous projections. To bridge this gap between individual efficiency and corporate returns, high-performing organizations are fundamentally redesigning workflows rather than merely inserting technology into existing processes.

Pentagon names 4 directed-energy weapons for counter-drone program at US bases

Defense News | Michael Scanlon

The U.S. Defense Department selected four directed-energy systems for a yearlong counter-drone pilot across five domestic military installations, advancing efforts to shield homeland infrastructure against unmanned aerial threats. Managed by Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the program fields AeroVironment’s Palletized High-Energy Laser, Epirus’ Leonidas high-powered microwave, Kord’s Firefly laser, and Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapon System.

Initial deployments target Fort Huachuca, Fort Bliss, Naval Base Kitsap, Grand Forks Air Force Base, and Whiteman Air Force Base. Cost remains a primary variable. The trial measures real-time performance, maintenance overhead, and per-shot expenses against cheap aerial platforms. High-energy lasers neutralize individual targets through thermal dwell, whereas high-powered microwaves disrupt electronics across whole swarms. Operational testing follows a safety protocol established with the Federal Aviation Administration after early airspace disruptions near El Paso. The initiative directly complements $4.15 billion in contract awards for domestic air defense.

The Curriculum Wars: How the Naval War College Became the Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Small Wars Journal | Col. Patrick McCarthy

The Naval War College has accumulated academic requirements through decentralized additions without enforcing overall programmatic coherence. The institution faces structural pressures similar to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle acquisition program, where numerous external mandates and internal priorities steadily expand the syllabus without prioritization. Statutory Joint Professional Military Education standards, service priorities, accreditation expectations, and departmental expertise all compete for limited student time.

This additive bias generates curriculum overload that substitutes mere material volume for true intellectual rigor. Reversing this trend requires student-centered governance, fixed curricular weight budgets, mandatory sunset clauses, periodic zero-based reviews, and unified academic leadership accountable for the complete graduate experience. Establishing strict trade-offs ensures that institutional growth does not compromise the core mission of educating strategic military leaders.

The Act Of Omitting ‘Indo’: Why Washington’s Pacific Rebranding Matters?

Eurasia Review | B.G. Surat Kiranmai, Manasi Sinha

The United States military's decision on June 16, 2026, to restore the name U.S. Pacific Command, reverting from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, alters the symbolic hierarchy of maritime security. This bureaucratic shift risks marginalising the Indian Ocean within Washington's strategic vocabulary despite intact operational boundaries stretching to India's western frontier.

For New Delhi, the previous 'Indo-Pacific' designation validated its role as a critical maritime partner, particularly given that ports handle 95 percent of India's trade volume. The region remains highly interconnected, with 43 percent of global maritime oil shipments passing through the South China Sea in 2023. Bilateral defence trade exceeded $20 billion by 2020, and the Quad continues to expand initiatives like the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness. However, the symbolic omission of 'Indo' signals a potential narrative retreat. India cannot outsource its cartography. Consequently, the authors argue the nation must strengthen its own assets, including the Gurugram-based Information Fusion Centre and the Andaman and Nicobar bases.

Pakistan Army: Disappearing The Living And Raising The Dead

Eurasia Review | Nilesh Kunwar

The Pakistan Army's media wing, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), faces intense scrutiny over contradictory public narratives regarding military clashes and counter-terrorism operations. During the February 27, 2019 aerial combat with India, ISPR's shifting claims about captured pilots indirectly confirmed that a Pakistani fighter jet was downed.

This communication pattern reflects a broader institutional tendency to manipulate information to manage domestic and international perceptions. Similar discrepancies emerged when ISPR denied the existence of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, contradicting earlier admissions by Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Recently, ISPR presented a man claiming to be Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Mohammad Asif, alias Hashim Musa, to refute Indian claims of his death. This move failed. The author suggests this defensive public relations effort was timed to influence the upcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting, highlighting Rawalpindi's anxiety over international scrutiny of its counter-terrorism record and state-sponsored militancy.

Iranian Ships Test Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty Again

The Diplomat | Staff Writer

On Sept. 30, 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that United States officials threatened Sri Lanka with sanctions if Colombo continues to supply approximately 20 Iranian oil tankers currently stranded off its coast. This pressure campaign has left the vessels depleted of food, fuel, and fresh water, sparking a severe humanitarian dispute between Washington and Sri Lanka's national security establishment.

Historically, Colombo has struggled to balance its sovereign maritime decisions with Western economic pressure. While the U.S. embassy in Colombo and visiting American civilian and military officials demand compliance, Sri Lankan security officials strongly oppose leaving the foreign crews stranded. They have urged their government to formally convey its displeasure to Washington. Humanitarian concerns clash directly with international compliance. Ultimately, this diplomatic standoff risks damaging bilateral security cooperation, undermining Colombo's port authority, and disrupting broader Indian Ocean maritime trade dynamics in the region.

Emerging tech has new Army leaders warning troops can't ‘AI’ their way to victory on the battlefield

Fox News | Morgan Phillips

The United States Army is narrowing its sweeping modernization push under a new framework titled 'How the Army Fights' to prioritize command and control over simultaneous technological transformation. Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle and acting Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve announced the shift on October 5, 2026, warning that troops cannot rely solely on artificial intelligence for battlefield victory.

This strategic pivot follows years of rapid experimentation under the Army Transformation Initiative, which integrated autonomous systems and drone surveillance but created excessive organizational motion. The revised blueprint designates China's People's Liberation Army as the primary pacing threat, requiring the service to prepare for high-intensity conflict where the American homeland is no longer a sanctuary. Cyberattacks and sabotage are expected to target domestic ports and airfields. Land control still requires physical soldiers. Consequently, leadership is prioritizing command and control systems to process sensor data in seconds while integrating autonomous resupply and reconnaissance tools.

China’s Build Up of Nuclear Forces

Real Clear Defense | Dennis S. Nelson

China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and delivery systems to transition from minimum deterrence to a limited nuclear warfighting capability, threatening the United States' defense strategy in the Pacific. This strategic shift aims to deter American intervention in a potential conflict over Taiwan by establishing regional escalation dominance.

Under Beijing's evolving doctrine, the People's Liberation Army is deploying highly accurate, low-yield theater weapons like the DF-26 and DF-17 missiles to target regional bases and degrade U.S. extended security guarantees. Beijing projects 1,500 warheads by 2035. To counter this growing imbalance, the U.S. Congress has directed the integration of the W80-4 nuclear warhead onto Tomahawk Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles, aiming for initial operational capability by September 2034. These systems could also deploy via land-based Typhon launchers in the Pacific, replicating the successful 1980s Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces deployment that neutralized Soviet theater advantages.