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National Security Daily
PoliticoThe ISIS prison break Trump almost risked President Donald Trump's administration ordered a sweeping halt on U.S. foreign assistance funds earlier this week. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s global security team: @dave_brown24, @HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @samuelskove, @magmill95, and @johnnysaks130 THE NEW ADMINISTRATION MASS FURLOUGHS AT USAID: The Trump administration today furloughed around 400 contractors working in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s global health bureau, according to four people currently working at the agency and one former official, our own Carmen Paun, Daniel Lippman and Robbie reported. Speaking on Air Force One on Monday night, Trump told reporters “I’ve been reading about China and some of the companies in China, one in particular coming up with a faster method of AI and a much less expensive method, and that’s good because you don’t have to spend as much money.” He continued: “The release of DeepSeek should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.” Still, the app’s quick surge has rattled the tech sector, given China’s claims the platform was developed at a small fraction of the cost for other U.S. models using less sophisticated chips, and suggests China remains a formidable player despite U.S. export controls. Analyst ROMAN SCHWEIZER of TD Cowen said in a note to investors Tuesday that he expects the new push would require tens of billions of dollars in new money “to develop and field, and we see it as a massive expansion of existing programs of record as well as the development and fielding of nascent systems.” ON THE HILL PLANS, CANALS, PANAMA: The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on Panama today where both Democrats and Republicans expressed concerns about China’s presence near the Canal Zone. Tomorrow Today — Henry L. Stimson Center, 8:30 a.m.: Discussion on “Countering Online Scams: A Mekong-U.S. Partnership Track 1.5 Policy Dialogue Summary Report” — Atlantic Council, 9 a.m.: Countering growing maritime threats — Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition, 10 a.m.: The future of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile — Council on Foreign Relations, 12 p.m.: U.S.-Africa policy in a second Trump term — Wilson Center Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies.
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