The U.S. and Russia agreed to appoint teams to negotiate a settlement to the war in Ukraine, marking an end to three years of U.S. policy that focused on isolating Moscow and supporting Kyiv for as long as it was willing to keep fighting.
The United States has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs, part of the Trump administration’s more aggressive campaign against drug cartels, according to U.S. officials. The covert drone program, which has not been previously disclosed, began under the Biden administration, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the program.
The Air Force will send an inspection team to Space Development Agency facilities to comb through records and interview employees, according to a memo obtained by Defense One, amid growing concerns over the future of the Pentagon’s space-acquisition “constructive disruptor.”
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey has called on the Trump administration to commit to a security “backstop” for Ukraine, warning that “only the U.S.” is capable enough of stopping Russia from launching another attack on Europe. Healey said that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump will discuss the backstop plan when they meet in Washington next week.
The Department of Defense plans to decommission the online portal patients use to access old military health information and recommends patients download their digital medical records if they want to retain copies.
Elbridge Colby, President Donald Trump’s nominee for a key post at the Pentagon, is getting a boost from some of the president’s most vocal allies in an effort to undercut rumored resistance among Republican senators.
Department of Government Efficiency staffers were at the Pentagon on Feb. 18 and receiving lists of the military’s probationary employees, U.S. officials said. However, it was not clear that all probationary personnel would be let go—instead, some might be exempted due to the critical nature of their work. The military services each had until end of business Feb. 18 to identify their probationary employees.
After floodwaters trapped hundreds in their homes in Kentucky, National Guard personnel flew in and airlifted them to safety—and they did it in a single day. Airmen and soldiers with the state’s National Guard evacuated 296 people from a pair of housing complexes that had become mired by flooding in Martin County, Kentucky, according to an Air National Guard news release.
