Eyes in the Sky

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Ivy Sting 4 tested out logistics, tracking soldiers’ vitals and overcoming jammers.

The president’s decision to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C., is costing taxpayers $1.65 million daily, a total of more than $330 million since August, according to a report released Thursday by Senate Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee. The lawmakers said they investigated the matter “after the Department of Defense failed to respond to questions about the deployment.” Recap: Trump ordered Guard troops to Washington, D.C., seven months ago, citing false and exaggerated statistics about crime in the district, which was at a 30-year low.  The effort includes nearly 2,500 servicemembers from nine states and the District, and that deployment in Washington was recently extended through the end of 2026. Guard officials said they’re “focused on crime suppression in central D.C. but not in locations in Southeast D.C. such as Ward 8, which had the most incidences of violent crime in 2025 of any ward,” according to the report. When asked why they’re staying away, officials admitted the Guard is “a lousy tool for fixing gun crime.” The Guard is on track to spend more than $602 million per year to patrol what they characterize as “high trafficked” areas around the National Mall.  That’s more than the entire D.C. police force’s annual operating budget, which is estimated at $599 million in fiscal year 2026. “If those federal dollars were instead directed to local law enforcement, the District of Columbia would have additional resources to address crime and public safety more effectively, especially by focusing support on the neighborhoods experiencing the highest levels of violence,” they said in their report, reflecting the recommendations of researchers and policing experts.  Also: The White House cut $811 million in grants for community violence intervention and law enforcement last April. As Marc Novicoff the The Atlantic wrote in October, “The Trump administration says a primary goal of its National Guard deployments is to reduce crime. Taking that claim at face value—a dubious proposition—it is hard to think of a less efficient way of doing so than shifting funds away from violence prevention and local law enforcement and toward troops who stand in low-crime areas and don’t make arrests.” To date, Trump’s Guard deployment to D.C. has “resulted in no directly attributable impact on crime, risks diverting law enforcement resources away from cities, lacks clearly defined goals and metrics, and is contributing to rising concern that the Administration is militarizing U.S. cities for political purposes,” the lawmakers said in their report Thursday. That’s at least in part because “months into the mission, the National Guard cannot point to tangible crime reduction successes specifically tied to their efforts,” they said after visiting with military officials.  “The D.C. National Guard has clearer metrics on their beautification effort,” which includes painting 270 feet of fence and pruning 65 trees in the District. But the Department of Defense “has not done a comparative analysis to examine whether their beautification efforts could be achieved at a lower cost by other federal or local partners,” the report says.  The troops from nine states deployed to Washington were sent by their Republican governors. That includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Ohio. Just five of those states—Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana—have at least 64 cities with higher rates of violent crime than D.C., according to FBI data.  The Guard troops are using social-media surveillance software like the Maven Smart System (supported by Palantir) to help with force protection. Why this matters to lawmakers: “Maven was acquired and configured for Title 10 federal activities, including those under Northern Command. It was not contracted for use in Title 32 activities, such as those currently taking place in D.C.”  They’re also using Dataminr First Alert, Meltwater, and Cision. Those applications help “create daily updates for leadership describing public perception and narratives related to the mission,” even though they raise “potential privacy and civil liberties concerns which call for specialized First Amendment safeguards and training more traditionally undertaken by law enforcement officers,” according to the report, which you can read over in full (PDF) here.  Additional reading: “Trump’s aggressive tactics force a reckoning between local leaders and Washington,” the Associated Press reported Friday. Welcome to this Friday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter focused on developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. It’s more important than ever to stay informed, so we’d like to take a moment to thank you for reading. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1862, the U.S. military notched its first victory of the Civil War when it captured Fort Henry, west of Nashville on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.  Around the Defense Department The Pentagon could further accelerate its technology purchasing if the services’ emerging-tech budget requests flowed through the office of the defense undersecretary for research, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report published Thursday.  The analysts urge lawmakers to transfer “budget certification authority” for the services’ research and engineering spending to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Unsurprisingly, the proposal was not well received by the services, Defense One’s Patrick Tucker writes off the new report. “The Departments of the Army, Air Force, and Navy disagreed,” arguing that the change would lead to “delays, restricted autonomy, and increased workload,” the authors note. But the current setup limits the Pentagon tech chief’s ability to ensure that service purchases fit with broader plans for the joint force, which is a “key role” the office was intended to play. Continue reading, here.  Speaking of budgets, two conservative think tankers share their plans to help the White House spend $600 billion more on the military for a total of $1.5 trillion in 2027. Read that analysis published last month by Elaine McCusker and John Ferrari of the American Enterprise Institute, here. The Army has cleared three companies to bid on the service’s plan to outsource initial helicopter pilot training, despite some lawmakers’ reservations about the idea, Defense One’s Tom Novelly reports.  Bell, Lockheed Martin, and M1 Support Services have all publicly confirmed this week that they are moving to the third phase of the competition for Flight School Next: a contract to take over the Army’s Initial Entry Rotary Wing training program at Fort Rucker, Alabama. The three companies must submit a Commercial Solutions Proposal for their offering, according to a Dec. 9 call for solutions outlining the process.  Service officials and contractors believe the new model, which is intended to produce 800 to 1,500 Army aviators annually for 26 years, will lower costs by taking the aircraft, maintenance, and training out of the service’s hands. But Congress isn’t convinced. Read more, here.  The U.S. military’s largest shipbuilder, HII, reported increased production in 2025, but said submarine-building schedules could slip if the Navy doesn’t award new contracts by midyear, Defense One’s Lauren C. Williams reported Thursday.  The company has been negotiating with the Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat on multiyear deals for 10 Virginia-class Block VI attack boats and for the next five Columbia-class submarines, but timing is uncertain, HII CEO Christopher Kastner said Thursday during the company’s earnings call.  In 2025, HII improved shipyard productivity by 14 percent. This year, it is aiming for a 15-percent increase, Kastner said. It also hopes to hire even more workers than the 6,600 it brought on last year. Kastner’s comments come as U.S. shipbuilding demands—and budgets—rise with existing and new programs and the Trump administration pressures builders to move quickly. More, here.  Additional reading:  “Carrier John F. Kennedy Returns From First Stint At Sea, Completes Builder’s Trials,” U.S. Naval Institute News reported Wednesday;  And here’s an unusual headline we missed from three weeks ago, “Army secretary says the Dronebuster is 'f*cking terrible' as soldiers continue to use the tech,” Defense Scoop reported on Jan. 16.  Etc. Amid the backdrop of a rising Chinese military, U.S. drone makers Red Cat, Anduril, and Shield AI are hawking their gear to Asian buyers at the Singapore Airshow this week, Reuters reported on location. But they’re definitely not alone.  “Neros, which has a U.S. Marine Corps contract for its small Archer quadcopter attack drone, aims to establish factories in South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Japan to build stockpiles of expendable, explosive-laden drones that could help overwhelm Chinese forces in the event of a Taiwan Strait conflict,” a company official told the wire service on the trade show floor in Singapore.  Additional reading:  “The American and Chinese Economies Are Hurtling Toward a Messy Divorce,” the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday;  “China removes three lawmakers with defence-sector ties after top general probed,” Reuters reported Thursday from Beijing.  And lastly this week, we have a particularly odd report from France, where a hospital was recently evacuated after a man sought treatment for … well, uhm … maybe we should just let British newspaper The Standard pick up the story from here.  Hint: It involves an artillery shell from the first World War.  Be safe out there, folks. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you again on Monday! ]]>

Shipyard exec says deals to build attack and ballistic-missile subs must be inked by mid-year.

Unsurprisingly, “The Departments of Army, Air Force, and Navy disagreed.”