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President Donald Trump signed a bill Thursday to fund the Department of Homeland Security, including the U.S. Coast Guard, after a 76-day partial government shutdown.The signing came hours after the House passed Senate-approved legislation to fund the department. The bill funds DHS agencies that are not involved in Trump’s immigration crackdown through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.The passage will allow the Coast Guard to resume non-emergency operations and maintenance, which were halted during the 11-week lapse in funding. On Tuesday, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday told lawmakers that Coast Guard members and civilians were facing…

Richard Beutel, a senior researcher at the Baroni Center for Government Contracting, explains how the FAS reorganization will impact federal buying. By any outward measure, the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service has long been the government’s workhorse — running schedules, managing contracts and keeping the machinery of procurement moving. But the newly announced “FAS 2.0” reorganization, apparently to be rolled out the week of May 4, signals something more ambitious: A deliberate shift from contract administration to centralized, portfolio-level control over how the federal government buys technology. This is not a reshuffle. It is a redefinition of mission. This…

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter.A decade has passed since I last felt the thud of a mortar hitting the perimeter or the specific metallic scent of an IED-charred road, yet I’m still waiting for the “homecoming” to actually begin.To the person standing behind me in the checkout line, I am just another civilian. Perhaps a bit too observant, a bit too stiff. They don’t see the 400 combat patrols. They don’t see the Sunni Triangle in 2007, where the air…

An Alaska-based squadron developed a new combat course aimed at furthering arctic combat capabilities as the region becomes increasingly relevant geopolitically.The 673d Security Forces Squadron, located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, is currently running trial courses of the Arctic Combat Development Course until the region’s winter conditions thaw, most likely through mid-May, according to an April 24 release.The five-day course teaches topics such as basic arctic medicine and combat patrolling on snowmachines, among other subjects, prepping the service members going through the course to be ready to support the nation’s Last Frontier, the statement says.“The goal is to better equip…

5/2/26 National Security and Korean News and Commentary | Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University wpDiscuzInsert

People’s Daily Online (Xinhua) 13:33, May 02, 2026 LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) — The British Royal Navy said on Friday that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped sharply since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, with the number of vessels passing through the waterway falling from about 130 per day before the conflict to fewer than 10, a decline of more than 90 percent. The British Royal Navy, citing monitoring results from the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) it leads, said that since the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran on Feb.…

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. —   Air Force Special Warfare Airmen from the 48th Rescue Squadron, 7th Air Support Operations Squadron, and 316th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal conducted a proof-of-concept event on April 7, 2026. The event integrated a commercial off-the-shelf kinetic interceptor with an expeditionary counter-small unmanned aircraft system (C-sUAS) to address critical capability gaps for small teams operating “outside the wire.” The demonstration took place at the Arizona Army National Guard Florence Military Reservation in Arizona. As adversaries increasingly employ low-cost, one-way attack drones, smaller, forward-deployed teams face growing risks without access to traditional, fixed-site air defense. This…

The IEA’s Fatih Birol on ‘the greatest energy security threat in history’ – Atlantic Council Podcast May 1, 2026 • 1:11 pm ET Print this page By The Atlantic Council The war in Iran continues with no clear end in sight, fueling economic turbulence and concerns of a global energy crisis. International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol spoke at an AC Front Page event on April 13th and argued the conflict is the greatest energy security threat in history. He warned that oil prices will soon “converge” with the on-the-ground reality, knocking the global economy further into…

In the past two decades, stories of global disaster and destruction have surged in popular-cultural media: Moira Young’s YA (Young Adult) Blood Red Road novels (2011-2014), Naughty Dog’s game The Last of Us (2013), Chitwood, Ens, & Nichols’s comic Afterburn (2020-21), and Alex Garland’s film 28 Years Later (2025-26), to name few. With extreme weather events rising in frequency and impact, the legacy of Covid, and a surge in authoritarian politics and military conflict across the globe, it is not surprising that the popular-culture industry is tapping into an apocalyptic zeitgeist. The horrors in such narratives often revolve around cosmic…

Watch David Benavidez vs. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez full fight video highlights from their main event showdown Saturday night, courtesy of multiple outlets.Benavidez vs. Zurdo took place May 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. David Benavidez (32-0) and Zurdo Ramirez (48-2) squared off in the main event clash for Ramirez’s WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles. The fight aired live on DAZN.Official result: David Benavidez def. Gilberto Ramirez via TKO at 2:59 of Round 6.Catch all the video highlights below courtesy of DAZN and PBC.For more on Benavidez vs. Zurdo, check out the live blog below.Benavidez is rocking white trunks with…