Alexander J. Potcovaru is a former National Security Intern at the Brookings Institution. A senior in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, he studies International Politics with an International Security concentration. He is particularly interested in the interaction of law, security, and religion.
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In another provocative warning to the Kim Jong Un regime, President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning that the U.S. is “locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely,” The New York Times reports. This is just the latest in a string of reciprocal warnings between Washington and Pyongyang, which threatened to attack Guam, a U.S. territory.
To better understand Russian interference in the 2016 election, Benjamin Wittes recommended watching the movie "Icarus," a documentary that focuses on Russia’s Olympic doping program and that details Russian covert actions used to corrupt neutral international processes.
FBI agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller executed a search warrant against the home of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort early in the morning of July 26, the day after Manafort met privately with Senate Intelligence Committee investigators, The Washington Post reports.
U.S. analysts believe that North Korea has produced miniaturized nuclear warheads capable of fitting inside its missiles, The Washington Post reports. Intelligence officials reached the conclusion in a confidential assessment dated July 28.
North Korea tested a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4, rushing closer to posing a major nuclear threat to the United States. Just a few weeks later, on July 28, the Kim Jong Un regime tested another ICBM, this time with a range that may include major cities in the continental U.S.
North Korea pledged Monday to take “thousand-fold” revenge against the United States and to increase its nuclear arsenal in response to the U.N. Security Council’s unanimous approval of a new sanctions package against the regime, the AP reports. The sanctions, passed on Saturday, aim to cut about $1 billion in North Korean exports.
Jack Goldsmith reflected on the increasingly fractured nature of the executive branch: key administration officials frequently oppose or contradict President Donald Trump despite his considerable power to fire them. In a telling example, Benjamin Wittes noted acting DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg’s willingness to speak out against Trump’s abusive vision of law enforcement.