The forced resignation of the Nvidia CEO is a mixed win for China’s Ministry of State Security, Beijing’s civilian intelligence service, which was able to plant a suspected spy in the bed of the chief of a world leader in cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology.

U.S. federal and congressional investigations are probing the case to determine whether China was able to both shape American policy by loosening export controls on advanced AI goods — a policy shift that occurred twice under the Trump administration — and gain important information about Mr. Huang and Nvidia.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz examines the situation, reporting that the loss of Mr. Huang as Nvidia’s chief, however, likely will diminish MSS operations aimed at influencing American policy on AI microchip export controls to China, which the Chinese Communist Party has criticized as “economic containment.”

Former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to exercise restraint and avoid nonessential military operations during the country’s delicate political transition period, as Mr. Eisenkot attempts to assemble a governing coalition in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Mr. Netanyahu has not explicitly announced an imminent attack against Iran, but reports from Israeli and international media indicate that his government, currently in a caretaker role, is stepping up military preparations for a potential strike. Mr. Eisenkot, who leads the centrist Yashar Party, wrote in a letter to Mr. Netanyahu on Wednesday that “deploying the security forces without a direct and immediate threat that brooks no delay could have devastating consequences for Israeli democracy and citizens’ trust in the institutions of government.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz dismissed the letter, saying the government doesn’t require the approval of opposition politicians to launch military operations in the Gaza Strip, maintain a security buffer zone in Syria or clear a terrorist neighborhood in the West Bank. “Israel’s security is not on hold and is not waiting for the political processes taking place in parallel,” Mr. Katz said in a statement.

U.S. Central Command on Friday rejected Iran’s assertion that its forces destroyed an American early warning radar system in Bahrain. 

“The IRGC launched two one-way attack drones toward Bahrain and both were shot down by U.S. forces. There were no injuries or damage,” Central Command officials said in an official posting on X.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier in the day that the facility was targeted as part of a retaliatory attack for a U.S. strike on a telecommunications tower in the Iranian city of Sirik.

The State Department circulated a report Thursday stating the Trump administration has returned some 99% of revenue that has been obtained from sales of Venezuelan oil since the U.S. Special Forces raid in January that ousted then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Nearly all of the $12 billion in Venezuelan oil proceeds has been returned under a broad energy deal with the South American country’s interim authorities, according to the State Department report.

The Associated Press reports that, under the terms of the deal, Venezuelan crude is sold on the open market, with proceeds going into a U.S.-managed account. Venezuelan officials then seek approval for those funds to be returned to the country to pay for infrastructure and humanitarian needs.

The founder and CEO of a South Korean defense startup that engaged in AI artillery software trials with Ukrainian Armed Forces became the target of an apparent media psyop operation this month by Russian, or possibly North Korean, sources in the hybrid domain.

Asia Editor Andrew Salmon offers a deep dive on the case of Cho Seng-won, CEO of Newtype Industries, the first known South Korean defense startup to conduct product testing on the Ukrainian battlefield. 

The case involves a report by The Diplomat, a respected online magazine, that apparently included made-up quotes by Mr. Cho and claimed the Newtype testing was being ended due to a diplomatic spat between Seoul and Kyiv. Mr. Cho, working in concert with other global companies supporting Ukraine, reached out to The Diplomat. The magazine conducted a probe and retracted its article.

• Nov. 16 — The Black Sea Blueprint for Taiwan: Lessons in Asymmetric Naval Warfare, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Nov. 16 — The Strategic Implications of the Russia-North Korea Axis, Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Nov. 17 — Special Threat Status Event: The Golden Age of Space, Threat Status

• Nov. 18 — Rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom and Reindustrializing America, Hudson Institute

• Nov. 20-22 — Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, HFX

• Dec. 4-5 — 2026 Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif. — The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute