During my final overseas CIA assignment as a station chief in a South Asian war zone, our team was ruthlessly focused on detecting and preempting terrorist threats long before they could inflict harm on the U.S. homeland. We conducted plenty of clandestine operations unilaterally, but we also worked in close partnership with the host government’s intelligence service. We did not always agree on everything, but we enjoyed a robust exchange of intelligence on our mutual adversaries, shared analytical judgments and collaborated on a number of joint tactical counterterrorism operations.

On one occasion, our CIA team successfully found and fixed the location of a senior al Qaeda terrorist on the FBI Most Wanted list for having planned terrorist attacks. We shared our sensitive intelligence with the host government, whose military launched a well-planned raid and killed the al Qaeda terrorist during a firefight.

If there was one thing I learned at CIA, especially when it came to counterterrorism operations, it’s that our allies can be a tremendous force multiplier for our sacred mission of keeping our country safe from those who seek to do us harm.

Today, the Trump administration is applying a similar strategy for ensuring secure critical minerals supply chains and de-risking from Communist China, which is the world’s leading miner and processor of rare earths. China has made it a practice of extorting its commercial adversaries by restricting its exports of critical minerals.

Rare earth minerals are essential for making semiconductors, motors and fighter jets, all critical for our national security. The last thing we would want is to have to rely on Communist China for the supply.

China’s brazenly unfair trade practices involve dumping on the global market its massive, excess production of rare earths deliberately to drive prices down and force competitor mining companies out of business, thereby eliminating any long-term competition.

But the Trump administration has deployed a counter playbook to reduce China’s influence over rare earth markets. Rightly concerned that China is seeking to control the global economy by imposing its will on the high technology supply chain, Trump recently signed an $8-billion rare-earth mineral deal with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And during his recent trip to Asia, Trump signed rare earth deals with Thailand and Malaysia.

The Trump administration also deftly applies the same principle of de-risking to critical materials and minerals including polysilicon, a pure form of silicon essential for the production of microchips and integrated circuits. Seeking to minimize the risk of China’s dominant global market share of polysilicon, the Trump administration smartly relies on NATO member Germany for the bulk of our polysilicon imports.

Further, the Trump administration is investigating national security threats posed by imports from other countries, including, but not exclusively, those linked to China. China dominates global polysilicon through state subsidies, deliberate overproduction and other nefarious trade practices — a familiar Chinese Communist Party playbook used on strategic materials.

‘If an enemy has alliances,’ Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, ‘the problem is grave and the enemy’s position strong.’

The U.S. is leading the way by building a global network for key technology components, which are vital to protecting our national security from Communist Chinese mercantilist aggression.

Dictators like Chinese President Xi Jinping want their enemies to be weak and divided. That’s because together the U.S. and our commercial partners are stronger and more able to protect internationally recognized borders, freedom of navigation and free trade on which the U.S. and global economy rely.

President Donald Trump indicated that he did not direct the Justice Department to target former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

During ’60 Minutes’ interview, CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell noted the three figures have been indicted and asked Trump whether those are cases of ‘political retribution.’

‘You know who got indicted? The man you’re looking at. I got indicted. And I was innocent,’ Trump fired back.

O’Donnell pressed Trump on the matter, asking whether he directed the Department of Justice to target those people.

‘No. You don’t have to instruct ’em because they were so dirty, they were so crooked, they were so corrupt, that the honest people we have — Pam Bondi’s doing a very good job, Kash Patel’s doing a very good job — the honest people that we have go after ’em automatically,’ he said.

The president called out Comey, James and Senate Democrat Adam Schiff in a September Truth Social post highlighted by ’60 Minutes.’

‘Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” the president declared in part of the post.

‘We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!’ he asserted in another portion of the post.

The Senate returns to Washington, D.C., this week as the government shutdown nears a record-shattering milestone and as lawmakers remain entrenched in their positions.

Come late Tuesday night, the government shutdown will officially become the longest on record, at 36 days, smashing through the previous record etched into the history books in early 2019. And while that record approaches, and payday deadlines are missed and federal benefits dry up, the Senate is still largely in a holding pattern.

Still, there was newfound optimism among some lawmakers as bipartisan talks increased last week, and many hope that same momentum carries into this week.

But for now, neither side is budging from the positions they’ve maintained since Oct. 1, when the shutdown officially began.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his Democratic caucus want a deal on expiring Obamacare premium subsidies before they agree to reopen the government. Saturday was when open enrollment officially began nationwide.

They’ve long warned that unless a deal was made before open enrollment, Americans that rely on the subsidies would see their premiums spike, despite the subsidies not expiring until the end of this year.

‘People are going to see drastic, drastic increases in their healthcare costs,’ Schumer said last week. ‘People are going to sit at the dinner table Friday night with a pit, with a hole in the pit of their stomach, and say, ‘How are we going to do this?’’

Senate Republicans largely agree that there needs to be an extension of some kind to the subsidies, but they also want a host of reforms made to the program that was enhanced under former President Joe Biden.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has offered Senate Democrats a vote on the Obamacare subsidies, but they say that’s not enough and demand that President Donald Trump get involved.

Trump officially returned to the country after a near weeklong trip to Asia but still appears to be keeping the shutdown at an arm’s length.

While Schumer and his Democratic caucus’ demands have remained laser-focused on expiring Obamacare subsidies, they have also blamed Trump for not funding federal food benefits as he did in 2019, and Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have called for a meeting with the president.

But Trump won’t meet with the top congressional Democrats until the shutdown ends — a point he and Republicans have made time and time again.

And he won’t budge on healthcare negotiations until the government reopens, either.

‘I’m not going to do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way,’ Trump said on CBS’ ’60 Minutes.’ ‘There’s something wrong with these people.’

Meanwhile, Trump has urged Senate Republicans to get rid of the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber. Doing so is a proverbial third rail for Senate Republicans and a longstanding priority for Senate Democrats.

He renewed that call over the weekend in posts on Saturday and Sunday to his social media platform Truth Social.

‘Republicans, you will rue the day that you didn’t TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!! BE TOUGH, BE SMART, AND WIN,’ he said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright revealed the U.S. will not be testing nuclear explosions, putting to rest questions over whether the Trump administration would reverse a decades-old taboo.

Testing will instead involve ‘the other parts of a nuclear weapon,’ Wright told Fox News’ ‘The Sunday Briefing.’

‘I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,’ he explained. ‘These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.’

His comments came after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would reignite ‘nuclear testing’ because other nations were doing so. The president made the announcement on the way to a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He didn’t specify whether he meant explosives, which haven’t been tested by the U.S. since 1992, or the weapons that carry them.

The only nation to conduct a detonation test in the last 25 years is North Korea in September 2017.

The president said he’d directed the Pentagon — which is responsible for testing nuclear-capable vehicles — to resume testing. The Energy Department would have jurisdiction over testing explosives.

‘We’ve halted it years — many years — ago,’ Trump said last week. ‘But with others doing testing, I think it is appropriate that we do also.’

Asked on Friday to clarify whether the U.S. would begin ‘detonating nuclear weapons for testing,’ the president responded, ‘I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do.’

Trump claimed in a CBS ’60 Minutes’ interview over the weekend that U.S. adversaries were secretly testing nuclear weapons.

‘Russia’s testing nuclear weapons, and China’s testing them, too,’ he said. ‘You just don’t know about it.’

China is rapidly expanding its nuclear silo and is expected to have nearly 1,000 warheads by 2030, according to Pentagon assessments. But Beijing has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1996. Russia has not been confirmed to have tested a weapon since 1990, but last week did claim to test two delivery vehicles: an undersea torpedo known as Poseidon and a nuclear-powered cruise missile.

In 1996, the United Nations adopted a nuclear test ban treaty. The U.S. signed the treaty, but the Senate rejected its ratification. Most other nuclear-armed states also did not ratify the document.

Still, it created a global norm against nuclear weapons testing.

The U.S. regularly tests unarmed nuclear-capable weapons.

Additionally, non-explosive or ‘subcritical’ tests, which involve fissile materials but stop short of producing a chain reaction, have been conducted at the Nevada National Security Site for years. Officials say these experiments help validate computer models that simulate how aging warheads behave, allowing scientists to verify performance without explosive testing.

The U.S. has conducted more than two dozen such tests since the late 1990s.

‘And again, these will be nonnuclear explosions,’ Mr. Wright said. ‘These are just developing sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons are even better than the ones they were before.’

Washington is currently undergoing a three-decade, $1.7 trillion transformation effort to replace aging warheads with updated versions.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republicans are considering pushing back the House-passed government funding extension in a bid to give lawmakers more time to pass spending bills.

The House’s continuing resolution (CR) would reopen the government until Nov. 21. That bill has been blocked by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats 13 times so far and has pushed the shutdown into record-breaking territory.

Given that the original seven-week plan has now shrunk to just three weeks as the shutdown drags on, Thune and the Senate GOP realize that more time will be needed to pass appropriations bills.

‘The House-passed CR is, you know, the idea that we could get any appropriations bills done, you know, by November the 21st now, that date’s lost,’ Thune said.

The objective now is to produce a CR that extends the funding deadline, possibly into January. Thune said that he was ‘certainly open’ to extending the deadline into next year. Senate Republicans tried to get a package of three bills on the floor, along with possibly more, late last month. But that move was blocked by Senate Democrats.

‘As you look at the calendar, if you want to do normal appropriations work, you look at how long it takes to get bills across the floor in the Senate and through the House,’ he said. ‘It’s, you know, the longer sort of runway there is better.’

To do so would either require a fresh CR, or the House-passed bill could be amended. Still, anything that Republicans hash out will need to break through the 60-vote threshold in the Senate and require support from Democrats.

Any changes to the House’s bill, or a new bill, would also need to be sent back to the House, which House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has kept out of session now for over six weeks.

Johnson, when asked about time running out on the House-passed CR, didn’t say whether lawmakers would need to craft a new one or extend the Nov. 21 deadline. He blamed Senate Democrats, however, for running out the clock. 

‘We’re very mindful of the clock,’ Johnson told Fox News’ Will Cain on ‘The Will Cain Show.’ ‘And the great irony here is the Democrats are the ones that are taking the time off that clock. We needed it.’

But lawmakers in the lower chamber already expected that more time would be needed given the blockade in the upper chamber.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital in an interview late last month that he believed a new CR would be needed, ‘having wasted this much time.’

Asked about what timing he believed would be realistic, Cole said he could see a short-term measure ‘probably into early January’ in a bid to avoid a colossal, year-end funding bill known as an omnibus where all 12 appropriations bills and numerous spending and policy riders are crammed into one bill.

‘In both chambers, both parties, there’s a dread of what’s called the Christmas omnibus, where we put you right up to the edge of Christmas, and they don’t let you go home to your family until you pass a God awful omnibus bill. We don’t want to do that to our members,’ he said.

But there’s another faction within the GOP calling for a longer-term bill. A source familiar with the House Freedom Caucus told Fox News Digital last month that its chairman, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., would advocate for a bill extending into December 2026 — provided he agreed with the details in the measure itself.

Meanwhile, Thune said that he was optimistic that the shutdown could end this week. The Senate is nearing yet another scheduled recess, this time for Veterans’ Day next week, that could see lawmakers leave Washington, D.C., with the government still closed.

He wasn’t ready to outright cancel the recess, but noted that ‘if we don’t start seeing some progress or some evidence of that by at least the middle of this week, it’s hard to see how we would finish anything by the end of the week.’

‘I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp here, but, you know, this is unlike any other government shutdown,’ he said.

President Donald Trump is ordering the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to head to the Caribbean as he ramps up his crusade against drugs — marking the first time a carrier has conducted an operational deployment in the region in more than 30 years.

Trump has built up naval assets in the region as attacks against alleged drug boats have increased since September, but sending an aircraft carrier is an unprecedented move. A warship like the Ford hasn’t participated in military operations in the region since 1994, when two carriers were dispatched to respond to political unrest in Haiti for Operation Uphold Democracy, according to U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) records shared with Fox News Digital. 

The Ford’s deployment comes as Trump has signaled that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may not be in office much longer. The Trump administration has conducted 15 strikes in the Caribbean, while U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about their legality and a broader conflict in the region.

During Operation Uphold Democracy, aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS America headed to the region as part of a multinational intervention, after Haitian Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras led a military coup in 1991 that ousted the island’s first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In July 1994, the United Nations passed a resolution authorizing the use of military force to restore democracy in Haiti, paving the way for Operation Uphold Democracy to launch in September 1994 as a military buildup designed to pressure Cedras’ regime to step down, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian.

At the time, President Bill Clinton justified the intervention, which involved nearly 25,000 U.S. troops, as necessary to remove the Cedras regime after employing ‘every diplomatic avenue possible.’

Clinton said in a radio address Sept. 17, 1994, that the Cedras regime had two options: either leave peacefully or be ousted forcefully.

‘The remaining question is not whether they will leave but how they will leave,’ Clinton said in a radio address Sept. 17, 1994. ‘They can go peacefully and increase the chances for a peaceful future and a more stable future for Haiti in the near term, not only for all those whose democracy they stole but for themselves as well. They can do that, or they will be removed by force.’

In addition to military forces, Clinton also announced that former president Jimmy Carter, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., had departed for Haiti in a final attempt to secure a peaceful transfer of power.

U.S. forces started to arrive in Haiti Sept. 19, 2024, while diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. delegation and Cedras’ regime were underway, ultimately prompting Cedras’ regime to surrender and allowing Aristide to return to power.

Since Operation Uphold Democracy, carriers have sailed through SOUTHCOM’s waters for several exercises and supported humanitarian efforts. For example, the USS George Washington completed exercises in the region as part of the Southern Seas 2024 deployment aimed at facilitating maritime partnerships with allies as part of a homeport change from Norfolk, Virginia, to Yokosuka, Japan.

The carrier participated in these exercises in 2008 and 2015 during homeport changes between the East Coast and Japan. Altogether, there have been a total of 10 Southern Seas missions since 2007, according to SOUTHCOM.

Additionally, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson also assisted with humanitarian relief efforts in 2010 after Haiti suffered a massive earthquake as part of Operation Unified Response, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.

Meanwhile, Trump is ramping up strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean — totaling 15 strikes since the beginning of September — stoking concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about whether they are legal. For example, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a war powers resolution prohibiting U.S. armed forces from engaging in ‘hostilities’ against Venezuela.

‘The Trump administration has made it clear they may launch military action inside Venezuela’s borders and won’t stop at boat strikes in the Caribbean,’ Schiff said in a statement Oct. 17.

However, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Oct. 26 that the Trump administration has the authority it needs to conduct these strikes, and that Trump has decided its ‘time’ for Maduro to go.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The Trump administration repeatedly has stated it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, and claims he is instead a leader of a drug cartel. Likewise, the Trump administration increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million in August, claiming he is ‘one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.’

After the Trump administration announced the Ford would head to SOUTHCOM’s area of operations, Maduro accused Trump of ‘fabricating a new eternal war.’

‘They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war,’ Maduro said in a national broadcast on Oct. 24.

Meanwhile, Trump said Sunday in an interview with CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ that although he doesn’t expect a war with Venezuela, he believes Maduro’s days are limited when asked about ordering the carrier to the region.

The Ford may be the Navy’s newest carrier, but it’s already been quick to respond to several significant conflicts since its first full-length deployment in 2023. For example, the Pentagon sent the Ford to the Eastern Mediterranean in October 2023 after Hamas’ initial attack on Israel.

While in the Caribbean, the Ford is expected to conduct strike operations on land, and provide close air support for special operations troops, according to experts.

‘I estimate the FORD will be doing strike operations against narcotics trafficking and manufacturing sites ashore as well as providing close air support to special operations troops,’ Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute think tank’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, said in a Monday email to Fox News Digital.

Brent Sadler, a senior fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said that the carrier’s deployment seeks to put additional pressure on Venezuela, so Caracas doesn’t retaliate following the U.S. military strikes in the region. 

‘The Ford’s arrival in SOUTHCOM area is not unprecedented but given the ongoing attacks on Cartel boats significant. I see this move as intended to deter Venezuela from escalating the crisis and providing the President extra options should he want to increase the attacks on the Cartels,’ Sadler said in an email to Fox News Digital on Monday. ‘That said, I would anticipate the Ford’s air wing being very active in air surveillance and defense.’

President Donald Trump issued scads of Truth Social posts on Sunday backing politicians for re-election, including GOP Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and a slew of House Republicans.

‘Sarah Huckabee Sanders has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election — SHE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!’ the president exclaimed in one post. 

Sanders, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary during a portion of his first term, is the daughter of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor.

She thanked Trump.

‘Thank you, President @realDonaldTrump! It’s an honor to have your endorsement, and Arkansas stands with you in the fight to Make America Great Again!’ she declared in a post on X. 

Trump also expressed his support for many House Republicans, including Reps. Jim Jordan and Warren Davidson of Ohio, James Comer of Kentucky, and many others.

‘Jim Jordan is a very good friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!’ the president declared in a Truth Social post.

The GOP will be trying to maintain its majorities in the House and Senate during the 2026 midterm elections. Election Day will be exactly one year from today, on Nov. 3, 2026.