Situation Report

Christopher Miller takes the reins at the Defense Department as the lame-duck White House replaces senior officials with Trump loyalists.

If Biden’s lead holds, the Trump administration could look to box in the next White House and extend its legacy on Middle East policy.

With the president on the campaign trail, administration officials are crossing the region to counter China’s rise—moves that a Biden administration might embrace.

Will presidential promises to bring troops home and give Israel more diplomatic victories be enough to sway voters?

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper warns about Pyongyang’s new missiles, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplays any threat.

Aid groups fear that government inaction will fuel economic malaise, hunger, and disease in the developing world.

The president’s call for the white supremacist group to “stand back and stand by” comes as intelligence agencies have growing concerns about right-wing militias.

Pompeo speaks on China in Wisconsin and Trump’s national security advisor speaks in Iowa in a thinly veiled election ploy.

The U.S. approach to its great power rival might not change significantly if Democrats take the White House in November. 

Successive presidents have promised to finally bring the troops home. But time and again neither country has shown its security forces are strong enough to ward off insurgents on their own.

In the latest sign of worsening U.S.-China relations, the Trump administration slaps restrictions on Chinese diplomats meeting with local government and university officials.

Lawmakers and former U.S. military officials criticized the Trump administration for failing to forcefully condemn the Kremlin after several U.S. troops were injured in Syria.

The Trump administration wants to trigger snapback sanctions on Iran to bury the nuclear deal once and for all. No other major U.N. player seems to be on board.

The shared threat from Iran helped grease the wheels for the diplomatic breakthrough.

The U.S. State Department discloses that Russian websites are already sowing confusion about the coronavirus.