Just like old times.
The renewed fighting threatens a June agreement intended to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, ease sanctions and advance nuclear negotiations, leaving the future of U.S.-Iran diplomacy increasingly uncertain.
Dig Deeper
The Iran War supplemental spending package is adding significant complexity to the FY27 budget process, as Congress faces competing fiscal demands and must reconcile supplemental war costs with ongoing defense appropriations and broader federal spending priorities. Read more from Defense One. And Breaking Defense reports that the Pentagon is seeking to shift $4.3 billion across weapon and tech programs to cover unforeseen military requirements.
Top Headlines
After some contentious moments, President Trump left the NATO summit praising alliance unity and also floated the idea of Ukraine producing Patriot air defense interceptors domestically, as Kyiv continues to press for more Patriot systems to counter ongoing Russian missile and drone attacks.
The Department of Government Efficiency has officially shut down, with its tenure marked by the departure of nearly 140,000 federal employees through deferred resignation programs. The Department of Defense alone saw more than 48,000 employees depart, representing one of the largest workforce reductions across federal agencies.
Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base give the U.S. military critical air, maritime, and logistics capabilities in southern Europe, and a potential trade rupture between the Trump administration and NATO ally Spain could jeopardize American access to both installations.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pressing the Pentagon and technology companies to disclose the full terms of AI contracts, arguing that without transparency into contract language it is impossible to evaluate what safeguards govern the use of AI.
The U.S. Army is adjusting its acquisition portfolios following a fall overhaul, aiming to retain effective structures while modifying underperforming ones; the service is also realigning its autonomy office as part of the broader reorganization, according to a service spokesperson.
Artificial intelligence hasn't made human skills less relevant. Quite the contrary. It's made the gap between people who have them and people who don't far more expensive to ignore. That’s what I’ve landed on after 14 years doing something that, on paper, should have been automated out of existence by now. I run a founder community — 23,000 members, 30-plus cities, 10 countries — built entirely on the premise that putting the right humans in a room together still creates something that no algorithm has managed to replicate. No outside funding. No growth hacks. Just a lot of very deliberate, intentional human activity applied consistently over a long time.
Pentagon CIO Kirsten Davies announced that the Office of the CIO is shifting from a backend policy function to a forward-leaning strategic unit, signaling a broader rethink of how the department develops and deploys technology across the enterprise.
A new GAO report found that the Pentagon's 104 most expensive weapons programs are on average morethana decade behind their original schedules, highlighting persistent delays across major defense acquisition efforts.
The Space Force has finalized a major reorganization of its acquisition structure, creating nine mission area-focused portfolio acquisition executives with broad authority over the service's development and procurement programs.
Navy, Air Force, and GDIT tech specialists are advocating for modern, adaptive edge-computing solutions capable of operating independently of connectivity, describing such capabilities as critical to future battlespace operations.
Two Tennessee National Guard soldiers assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force shot and killed Tyrin Johnson, 20, marking the task force's third fatal shooting since its deployment to assist local law enforcement in Memphis.
A new analysis takes a critical eye to the Pentagon's progress toward placing the U.S. defense industrial base on a wartime footing, examining whether current production capacity, procurement policies, and industrial mobilization efforts meet the demands of potential large-scale conflict.
Dig Deeper
McKinsey chairs argue that building a resilient U.S. industrial base could require up to $2 trillion in coordinated investment across energy, workforce, and supply chain infrastructure. Read more from Fortune.
Why you should read The MC Post every Saturday morning.
We're bringing back the familiar comfort of unfolding the weekend newspaper and catching up on the headlines, without the tacky popups, scammy ads, or bait-and-switch paywalls that you've come to know and hate. In a world racing toward AI-generated content, The MC Post is curated by people for people. Brought to you by Mission Cultivate—the free networking platform for defense and national security pros. Each week here you'll find the latest in defense and industry to keep you informed ... and more importantly, save you some time. (Subscribe)
Feature Opinions
A Columbia University professor and a retired rear admiral argue the U.S. military's organizational structure is fundamentally misaligned for modern cyber warfare, framing the debate over a potential new cyber service as a structural necessity rather than a critique of U.S. Cyber Command's operational performance.
Joe Jewell, who left academia to lead the Pentagon's science and technology enterprise, discusses efforts to accelerate the transfer of emerging technologies — including hypersonics — from research labs to warfighters, and why he believes U.S. academic institutions are a strategic asset envied by close allies.
Retired Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis argues that the U.S. is unprepared for the next generation of AI-enabled warfare, warning that current defense AI strategies are lagging behind emerging threats and adversary capabilities, with related commentary touching on China's maritime risks, U.S. fleet rebuilding, and UAPs held by private defense contractors.
In the Weeds
Joint Interagency Task Force 401 recently published a practical handbook designed to aid audiences across government, industry and academia in building a shared understanding of the drone threat and the basic principles of protecting against illicit drones. The task force developed the guide, titled "Small Drones, Big Problems: A First Principles Approach to Countering-UAS," as part of its mission to synchronize counter-unmanned aircraft systems efforts across the War Department and federal interagency partners.
Happening on MC
If you're not on Mission Cultivate, here's just some of what you're missing.
Opportunities
Event Conversations
Continue Reading
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, in a June 26 interview, cited the FY2027 budget moving through Congress as evidence of progress on his top priorities after one year in office, including increasing Air Force readiness, modernizing its aircraft fleet, and expanding the Space Force.
A new congressional bill would reform federal hiring practices by emphasizing skills-based qualifications over traditional degree requirements, and would establish a separate USAJobs portal for positions not requiring a four-year college degree, potentially affecting hiring pipelines across defense and national security agencies.
Experts argue the office's effectiveness will depend less on its formal authorities than on whether its director has the political backing to resolve disputes across the bureaucracy. Despite broad authority on paper, the new drone office must still rely on senior Pentagon leaders to settle disputes, making leadership relationships as important as organizational structure.
Accenture has been selected for an $821 million contract to integrate the Pentagon's War Data Platform, formerly known as Advana, with officials from the company, the Defense Department, and the General Services Administration remaining tight-lipped about the procurement details.
Germany is set to become the first international production site for Lockheed Martin's ATACMS missile, a move aimed at addressing output bottlenecks as Lockheed winds down domestic production at its Camden, Arkansas, facility while shifting focus to newer missile programs.
LinkedIn: B*mb
Mission Cultivate: Bomb
Mission Cultivate is the free, discreet networking platform for Defense and NatSec. Stop censoring yourself and speak freely in the only space made just for you.
See Mission CultivateHeads up: MC is only for verified users in Defense/War & NatSec. Users include gov, industry, academia, vc, and more. Only available to US, NATO, or select major US allies.
