The CIA assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s notorious Quds Force, in a drone attack in 2020 was designed to send a message to Iran’s most powerful leaders. Washington wanted Tehran’s ruling elite – those religious leaders and military chiefs responsible for exporting Shia terrorism around the Middle East and across the world – to understand that for them nowhere was safe. Soleimani’s death was public, dramatic and sent shockwaves across the Islamic republic. Within minutes of his demise, the attack, and what was left of Soleimani’s shredded body, was being broadcast around the world on TV…

President Biden on Friday at 1:30 pm ET will oversee the transfer of the bodies of three American service members who lost their lives in a drone attack carried out by Iran-backed militants last Sunday at an air base in Jordan. The killings mark the first time that US military personnel lives have been lost in the region since the 07 October Hamas attacks on Israel. The bodies of William Jerome Rivers, 46; Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23 will arrive at an air force base in Dover, Delaware, where they will be received with military honours.…

The past year’s wars in the Middle East have long been complex and devastating, shaped by a multitude of factors. In recent years, a new player has emerged on the battlefield: artificial intelligence (AI). AI’s role in these conflicts is multifaceted, offering both potential benefits and risks that deserve careful consideration. National security relevant AI systems broadly fall into two categories: upstream tasks, such as intelligence, surveillance, and information management; and downstream tasks, such as target selection and engagement. On the Offensive Side Over the past few years, the world has seen an ever-growing AI arms race, as countries and…

The past will not tell you what is about to happen but it can point you in the right direction of what you might expect to unfold, and yet we in the West are so wrapped up in the day-to-day business of getting by, politics, making money, and social interactions we fail to learn from our immediate and distant past. So while I would not recommend attempting to drive your geopolitical car by merely looking in the rear view mirror, that mirror does deserve a little more attention. Russia is such a case. The litany of illegal, inappropriate, and indifferent…

State-sponsored computer hackers are weaponising artificial intelligence to launch cyberattacks against western militaries, governments, and private companies, according to a leading industry chief. Potential targets will need to adopt a form of collective cyber defence to protect themselves from sophisticated attacks by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, the head of one cybersecurity company has said. In an interview with National Security News, Linda Zecher, the Chief Executive Officer of IronNet, a leading cyber security company, said that “bad actors” were now using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in cyber warfare as part of an attempt to disrupt…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday met with 26 representatives of 18 families in Jerusalem who have family members still held captive in Gaza. US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced on Wednesday a robust initiative for a second hostage deal, aiming for an extended ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Addressing the UN Security Council in New York, she said, “Hamas now has a choice to make”. “It can continue to dig tunnels, to plan for its next attack, to use civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields, or Hamas can lay down its weapons and accept the…

  Iran has secretly supplied Sudan’s armed forces with combat drones in a new intervention which risks further destabilising the region.  The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has been equipped with the Mohajer-6, a single-engine unmanned aircraft which can carry up to four air-to-surface missiles and surveillance equipment.  The drone is manufactured in Iran by Quds Air Industries and is already believed to have been used in several battles in the Sudanese conflict.  Iran’s intervention in the nine-month conflict on the side of the country’s armed forces is linked to Tehran’s desire to increase its influence over the crucial Red Sea area. …

In late 2023, Google announced that its AI large language model, named Bard, will be restricted from answering election-related and many other politically-focussed questions in the run up to the 2024 US elections. Google’s announcement coincided with the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre’s annual report, which alerted that AI poses a significant threat to democracy. Whereas a few weeks ago, Bard would answer all political questions, even those relating to US politics, Bard now says, “Elections are a complex topic with fast-changing information. To make sure you have the latest and most accurate information, try Google Search.” Google said, “We…

Chinese authorities are reportedly exerting pressure on Iran to curb the persistent attacks of Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists, who have been carrying out strikes on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, or risk harming business relations with Beijing. Discussions on the attacks by the Yemeni group and their impact on trade have been a recurrent theme in recent meetings between Chinese and Iranian officials. China, being Iran’s primary trade partner for the past decade, holds significant economic ties with the country, and according to trade analytics firm Kpler, purchased over 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports last year, whereas Iranian oil,…

Iran has a unique power structure with the control of the country resting in the hands of the state’s supreme leader. The other major power broker is the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps – widely regarded as a terrorist organisation. National Security News set out how Iran is run and by whom.  Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei At the top of Iran’s power structure is the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Iranian Revolution, upon his death in 1989. Khomeini and Khamenei are the only two men to have held the office since…

A feud between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Qatari government could jeopardise international efforts to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of around 130 hostages still trapped in terror tunnels by Hamas terrorists. Qatar, which is home to Hamas’ senior political leaders, has been leading mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel, closely coordinating with the Biden administration, since the 07 October terrorist attack on southern Israel. This diplomacy allowed Qatar in November to successfully mediate the release of 110 Israeli and foreign hostages from Gaza. Talks for the remaining hostages however have stalled in recent weeks, spurring…

 Iran and Russia will sign a new military treaty which will further strengthen the strategic alliance between the two countries.  President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart President Ebrahim Raisi will sign the agreement in the coming days which could see ballistic surface-to-surface missiles being delivered to the Russian armed forces. Iran has also reportedly developed a new form of attack drone which intelligence sources believe will be sold to Russia for use in Iran. The new weapon is called the Shahed-107, an “explosive and reconnaissance” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), possibly fitted with technology to seek out high-value battlefield targets…

Western nations have donated close to an estimated 100bn USD in military aid to Ukraine to help the besieged country defeat the invading Russian armed forces.  More than 40 countries, led by the United States President Joe Biden, have supplied the Ukrainian armed forces with combat drones, helicopters, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery pieces, anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, along with millions of artillery shells.  Ukrainian troops have been trained in both the UK and in Europe to fly combat aircraft such as the F-16 aircraft, while thousands more have received combat training.  Other countries have also donated billions of…

In an exciting move towards energy independence and a cleaner future, the UK government has published a landmark announcement. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, alongside Great British Nuclear, detailed the UK’s most extensive nuclear power expansion plan spanning 70 years. The Civil Nuclear Roadmap outlines a comprehensive strategy to quadruple nuclear generation capacity by 2050, marking a pivotal step towards enhanced energy security, job creation, and reduced electricity costs. In 1956, Calder Hall proudly flicked the switch as the world’s first commercial nuclear power station connected to the grid. Now, in 2024, the UK is reviving that…

Iran can produce enough weapons-grade uranium to make six nuclear bombs within a month, US weapons experts believe. The revelation follows the disclosure by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the Iranian regime has increased the production rate of highly enriched uranium up to 60 per cent purity. Modern nuclear weapons require uranium to be enriched up to 90 per cent but inspectors within the IAEA believed this could be achieved by Iran very quickly.  Rafael Grossi, director general of the IAEA, stressed that Tehran must abide by the nuclear proliferation treaty to which it was a signatory. “Iran is the only…

Today, NSN had the privilege of discussing ‘just war’ with Eric Patterson, President of the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, DC. Patterson is an expert in two areas: the ethics of war and peace, and religious freedom policy. He has long advocated for better training for government officials on how to understand the religious dynamics of international contexts and the links between democracy and religious freedom. Patterson’s government service includes time at the US State Department, service as a White House Fellow, and over 20 years as an Air National Guard commander. He is the author or editor of 22…

In a scathing report released in December 2023, the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy (JCNSS) issued a stark warning that the United Kingdom is alarmingly unprepared for the looming threat of a catastrophic ransomware attack. Highlighting the nation’s vulnerability to cyber threats, the committee has urged the government to take immediate and substantial action to mitigate the risk posed by ransomware attacks, which it says could bring the country to a standstill. The report underscores the severe repercussions and potential for destabilisation in the face of a major ransomware assault. Drawing parallels with past incidents like the Russian DarkSide…

Ali Khamenei – source Iranian government. 

TIMOTHY SNYDER, professor of history at Yale University, writes for VRYE Weekblad, saying the US should not decrease its support for Ukraine. YOU have a good neighbour. He does a lot for you. He keeps the street clean around your house.  He mows your lawn when you are away. He signs for your packages and brings them to you later. Your kids go and play with his kids. He has an alarm on his house with a camera, which you don’t, and he once chased burglars away from your house. He’s done a thing or two for you that you…

The Kyiv School of Economics’ (KSE) Institute, a Ukrainian think tank, and the Yermak-McFaul Expert Group on Russian Sanctions, an international group of independent experts working on the implementation of sanctions against Russia, have released a new report raising critical concerns about loopholes in export controls aimed at crippling Russia’s war machine. Titled “Challenges of Export Controls Enforcement,” the report exposes vulnerabilities in the enforcement regime and urges governments to take immediate action to tighten the noose on Russia’s access to critical goods and technology. Why is this important? Key Findings Calls to Action The report emphasises that “export controls…

Since the beginning of October, Houthi militants have initiated missile and drone assaults on US forces in the region and Israeli targets in response to the Israel-Hamas war. The impact is profound because the Red Sea is one of the most important arteries for consumer goods, grain and energy supplies between Europe and Asia. Nearly 15% of global maritime trade passes through the Suez Canal. Over 15 commercial vessels have fallen foul to attacks orchestrated by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Notably, on 19 November, the Bahamas-flagged commercial vessel Galaxy Leader was hijacked by helicopter and forced to reroute to the…

Two world leading space scientists have called for the number of satellites orbiting the earth to be “urgently” policed to avoid an economic catastrophe.  Professor Anu Ojha, a director with the UK’s Space Agency, believes the risk of a collision will increase significantly by the end of the decade when an estimated 30,000 objects will be orbiting the earth.  Collisions between satellites can produce numerous fragments that can lead to the Kessler Effect, in which the cascade of increasing collisions could destroy all satellites in low Earth orbit, creating an economic and human disaster.  It is estimated that 20 percent…

Shortly after midnight Eastern Standard Time on Sunday October 7th when the full impact of Hamas’s murderous attack against Israel began to unfold, the United States’ most powerful naval battle group – Carrier Strike Force 12 – was dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean. Detailed orders, including potential targets in Syria, Iran, and Lebanon, along with the appropriate rules of engagement, would follow, but at that precise moment the mission was simple – to demonstrate solidarity with Israel. Less than 72 hours later, the USS Gerald R Ford arrived at its target location. The 100,000-ton colossus emerged out of the Mediterranean dawn ready…

Gabriel Attal, France’s new Prime Minister and the youngest person to ever hold this position, is not a name typically associated with France’s national security strategy. However, in his current and previous roles (Attal has moved to the premiership from the role of Minister of Public Action and Accounts), Attal has emerged as a key figure in the country’s approach to tackling emerging threats and safeguarding its citizens. Why is this Important? A Shift in Focus Following the 2020 beheading of a teacher by a Chechen extremist, France has prioritised the fight against terrorism and radicalisation. Attal’s focus, however, extends…