Beyond all of the military’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology is a simple question: Do troops trust it?

Defense and National Security Correspondent John T. Seward unpacks that complex, high-stakes issue in a new article for Threat Status. Mr. Seward spoke to Jake Steckler, a research scholar at think tank GovAI and author of a recent Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report on AI use in the military.

One of the big takeaways is the growing concern that without proper modernization, testing and evaluation standards for AI, soldiers’ lives could be in danger. A big part of the problem is that some AI tools struggle to be consistent in their operation, with responses or choices that can differ with small changes in the environment or in the data used. And that could make service members less likely to fully trust those tools in key moments on the battlefield.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao warned military personnel in a recent memo that the increased drone activity near U.S. military installations is part of a coordinated effort to gather intelligence and test defenses. Those incidents, he said, have increased since the start of the U.S. war on Iran.

The strategy also includes targeting Navy personnel and their families through social media and online platforms. Publishing personal information, also known as doxxing, is among the tactics being used against U.S. forces, Mr. Cao said. It seems to be an effort to gather intelligence on service members and their families and then potentially use that information to intimidate them.

Mr. Cao warned naval personnel to review all social media accounts for publicly available personal information.

Among the U.S. and its allies, hundreds of companies and universities collaborated with Chinese defense institutes engaged in developing advanced military capabilities for Beijing’s military, according to a major new report from the Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz has more on the alarming study, which lists a host of sensitive U.S. and allied technologies discussed during conferences or developed during joint research projects that could have assisted the Chinese military. The cooperation with Chinese military laboratories and companies included 731 exchanges or contacts between 2015 and 2025.

Just a few of the technologies we’re talking about: hypersonic missile propulsion; explosives; submarine acoustics and hydrodynamics; aircraft controls; jet engine development; ballistic missile penetration; anti-electronic jamming; composite materials for spacecraft; advanced semiconductor fabrication; and even the development of anti-radar stealth for surface ships.

The U.S.-Iran war has become even more personal for Mr. Trump and his family. Foreign Affairs Correspondent Vaughn Cockayne has more on the startling reports that Iranian state television broadcast a segment suggesting a $10 million reward for the death of Barron Trump, the president’s youngest son.

State-affiliated outlet IRIB TV3 aired a segment purporting to track Barron Trump’s movements on the New York University campus, where he is accompanied by escort vehicles and several Secret Service members. Iran International first reported the segment and posted screenshots from it.

The video also detailed the usernames for his Discord and Xbox accounts, according to Iran International. Liam Carter and Bo Louden, two of Barron Trump’s classmates at NYU, were also reportedly named in the video, which is one of the more explicitly violent pieces of rhetoric sponsored by Iran since the beginning of its war with the U.S.

Nearly six months into the U.S.-Iran war, a battlefield stalemate has settled in, while the Trump administration turns to economic pressure to achieve its aims. But the U.S. should instead assemble a regional military coalition and take a more aggressive approach, argues retired Army Col. L. Scott Lingamfelter.

In an op-ed for The Washington Times, Mr. Lingamfelter says that coalition could extend as far as occupying the Hormozgan Province, the coastal province bordering the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway.

“The IRGC is Iran’s remaining center of gravity and must be eliminated,” he writes, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “The coalition must be configured to apply land, air, maritime, space and cyber combat domains — the core doctrinal elements of U.S. multi-domain operations — to effect an Iranian revolt by its beleaguered population.”

• Aug. 26 — Counter UAS Summit, Institute for Defense and Government Advancement

• Aug. 27 — 2026 Navy Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Aug. 27 — AI and Autonomy on the Modern Battlefield, Atlantic Council

• Sept. 3 —The AI Open-Weight Debate: Balancing Innovation and Security, Center for a New American Security

• Sept. 9 — Bend but Do Not Break: Shaping the Future of the All-Volunteer Force, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Sept. 11 — The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks at 25: Assessing the Legacy, Addressing the Future, Brookings Institution

• Sept. 12-13 — AFA National Convention, Air & Space Forces Association