Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said over the weekend that the Trump administration seeks to expand the U.S. military footprint in the Western Hemisphere, indicating that the Pentagon could shift resources from Europe toward Central and South America to bolster the Trump administration’s already aggressive efforts to combat drug trafficking in the hemisphere.

“Because of the bold move the president made in Venezuela,” Mr. Hegseth told reporters, “we have a whole new suite of options economically and militarily with partnerships.” He specifically cited U.S. collaboration with Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama on Mr. Trump’s national security strategy. 

The strategy emphasizes not only the importance of U.S. involvement in Central and South America but also increased “burden sharing” in Europe. Mr. Hegseth’s comments come as the Pentagon enters the final stretch of a six-month review of the U.S. military posture in Europe, aimed at finding ways to shift defense responsibilities off the U.S. and toward NATO allies. The review is expected to end in December.

The Pentagon on Sunday pulled all American bombers out of the Royal Air Force Fairford base in Britain just a week after an alleged terror plot threatened the military base that U.S. forces had used to launch raids on targets in Iran. The development comes in the wake of Iranian threats to target U.S. forces around the world.

British authorities last week arrested and then released six potential suspects as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged threat to Fairford. One of those arrested and released was a 27-year-old British-Iranian man. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week the incident “clearly” involved a foreign actor, but he did not provide details. 

The Fairford base hosts several American military units. The 501st Combat Support Wing is headquartered there. The 420th Air Base Squadron is also positioned at Fairford. 

Officials said the bombers used against Iran have been redeployed to their home bases in the United States.

Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen said Sunday they had launched several ballistic missiles and drones at oil facilities near the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. Since Saudi Arabia is a key U.S. security partner in the region, the situation is elevating concerns that Yemen’s civil war and the U.S.-Iran war are now colliding violently, raising the risk of a major new regional escalation.

Forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government — backed by an intensifying air campaign from a Saudi-led military coalition — began an offensive Monday against the Houthis on Yemen’s Red Sea coastline.

The Houthis, supplied with weapons and equipment from Iran, have recently overtaken large swaths of territory in Yemen’s west, including strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The territorial expansion has likely given the militants more options for launching strikes into Saudi Arabia.

Ukraine is on track to produce 6 million to 7 million small first-person-view drones this year. The Pentagon’s $1.1 billion Drone Dominance program expects to have ordered fewer than 200,000 by February. The gap has caught the attention of U.S. military planners, but addressing this difference might require more than a mere increase in factory capacity. 

The Pentagon has begun bringing Ukrainian companies into its own drone programs. Six Ukrainian businesses were invited to take part in the latest Drone Dominance trials at Fort Carson, Colorado, with future U.S. orders tied to partnerships and manufacturing arrangements with American companies. The aim is increasingly to combine Ukrainian designs and combat experience with American capital and manufacturing capacity.

BlueBird Tech is participating with U.S. partner Zaruba Inc. Ukrainian producer F-Drones is represented in the United States by Ukrainian Defense Drones, which has announced an $18.4 million manufacturing center near Toledo, Ohio. General Cherry, another Ukrainian drone manufacturer, has entered a joint venture with New Hampshire-based Wilcox Industries.

The perception that Mr. Trump continues to view the autonomously governed island democracy of Taiwan as a bargaining chip in negotiations with China has many in the Indo-Pacific on edge. Mr. Trump generally earned solid reviews in the region for refusing during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month to demand that Washington oppose Taiwan independence. 

But a central issue — for Taiwan and for China — is a frozen $14 billion U.S. arms package for the island. Mr. Rubio said last month that delays in the package’s delivery are based on worries about shortages in U.S. military production of needed weapons. 

The situation has given political ammunition to Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, or KMT, at the expense of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP. For Taipei, the main issue is “not simply whether one weapons package is approved but — much more importantly — whether Taiwanese security is rapidly becoming a bargaining variable in the broader U.S.-China relationship,” according to an Asia Society Policy Institute analysis.

• Oct. 6 — How China and the U.S. Will Regulate Artificial Intelligence Models for Safety, Brookings Institution

• Oct. 7 — Twenty-Five Years Since the Anthrax Attacks: Where Are We Now? Center for Strategic and International Studies

• Oct. 7 — The Nuclear Energy Renaissance: The Challenges of Governance with the Advent of AI, Stimson Center

• Oct. 12-14 — AUSA Annual Meeting and Expo, Association of the U.S. Army

• Oct. 15 — The Rise and Fall of the U.S.–Pakistan Relationship After 9/11, Stimson Center

• Oct. 21 — A Discussion with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Andrew Puzder, Hudson Institute

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