The Space Force has ordered 36 new satellites to spot incoming missiles for the Golden Dome shield. The contracts are moving even as the program’s broader funding faces an October cliff.
The award. The Space Development Agency committed $1.75 billion to L3Harris and Sierra Space for 36 missile-tracking satellites, 18 from each company, for the Tranche 3 Tracking Layer of the military’s proliferated space architecture.
Who got what. L3Harris will receive up to $955 million for its 18 spacecraft, and Sierra Space up to $798 million for the other 18. All 36 are expected to be ready for launch by the end of 2028.
What they do. The satellites use infrared sensors in low Earth orbit to detect and track missiles, then pass the data in real time over a low-latency network to forces on the ground. Tracking is the layer that makes intercept possible: you cannot hit what you cannot see.
The threat it addresses. Golden Dome is built for a world of hypersonic glide vehicles and cruise missiles, the exact weapons China and Russia are fielding to defeat older defenses. A tracking layer in orbit is the response to threats that fly too low or too fast for ground radar alone.
The price tag. The Pentagon projects Golden Dome at roughly $185 billion over its full life, which makes every tranche a down payment on a very large program and a target for budget hawks in both parties.
The collision. Contracts are being signed even as we reported the program could stall without October funding. Awarding satellites while the appropriation is in doubt is how the Pentagon builds momentum and risks stranding work if the money slips.
A missile-defense shield keyed to hypersonics is exactly the kind of hard-power investment warranted, and the tracking layer is the sensible place to spend early, because nothing else works without it. The tension is fiscal, not strategic. The Pentagon is committing billions to a $185 billion program whose full funding still has to clear an autumn fight, and a defense built in tranches is only as strong as the appropriation behind the next one. Build the shield, but fund it in full rather than in hope.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 17, 2026
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Iran has settled on a strategy in its war with the United States: wait Trump out. A senior Revolutionary Guard adviser says Tehran can prolong the fight until the next presidency, and this weekend’s collapse in Hormuz traffic shows the plan in motion.
The strategy, stated plainly. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a senior adviser to the IRGC commander, told PBS NewsHour that prolonging the war until the next US presidential term is one way Tehran can wear down its adversaries and strengthen deterrence.
Iran is not trying to beat the US Navy. It is trying to outlast an election calendar.
Who is saying it. Naghdi is not a backbencher. He served as the IRGC’s coordinating deputy from 2019 to 2025 and now advises its commander. When a figure at that level frames attrition as policy, it is a serious and public signal.
The tactic behind the talk. Naghdi defended Iran’s attacks on civilian tankers by arguing that ships in waters Tehran claims could be carrying supplies for the enemy, a rationale that turns every commercial hull in the strait into a target.
What it looks like now. Shipping through Hormuz collapsed over the weekend to five vessels Saturday and none Sunday, against 31 the prior weekend. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has not decided to resume talks with Washington.
Why the clock favors Tehran. Iran cannot win a shooting war with the US Navy, so it is not trying to. It is testing whether an American president facing midterms, $4 gasoline, and a restless public will keep a blockade running longer than Iran can keep the strait closed.
The counterargument. The bet has a flaw. Attrition cuts both ways, and Iran’s economy, oil revenue, and proxy network are all bleeding while it waits. A strategy of outlasting the enemy assumes you can afford the wait, and Tehran’s balance sheet is not obviously stronger.
Worth watching. Whether Iran’s calculation that time is on its side survives contact with its own budget, and whether Washington answers a war of patience with one of its own.
The uncomfortable truth in Naghdi’s candor is that he may be reading American politics more clearly than some in Washington. Iran has chosen the one battlefield where a smaller power can compete with a superpower, the calendar, and it is wagering that domestic pressure ends the blockade before Iranian hardship ends the regime. Whether that bet pays depends less on the Strait of Hormuz than on how much pain each side’s home front will bear. How much pain are Americans willing to tolerate at home over conflict in Iran?
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 17, 2026
Sharon-Kettler told Fox News Digital the Nazi machine gun was used as “propaganda or for morale” of the Iranian regime-backed terrorists in Lebanon. A second Nazi-era assault rifle was confiscated from Hezbollah— the MP 44 (also termed StG 44).
One of the weapons seized from Hezbollah was a Nazi-era MG 34 machine gun
Fox News Digital gained rare access to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Tzrifin Base in Central Israel, where a vast number of confiscated rockets, grenades, drones, sniper rifles, automated weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers, mortars and other military firepower used by Hezbollah and Hamas are stored.
The seized arsenal of weapons — ranging in manufacturers from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Russia, China to homegrown producers in Lebanon and Gaza and even a Nazi-era gun —were part of the war machinery used by Hamas and Hezbollah against Israeli civilians and the IDF since Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The IDF said Hezbollah also used weapons against Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah and Hamas — members of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance.” The terror groups have killed over 300 American citizens according to reports.
The Jewish state fought a multi-front war against Iran and its proxies at the height of the conflict. The remains of Iranian rockets litter the ground outside the weapons storage facility at Tzrifin for journalists to inspect.
Tehran fired rockets into civilian areas during the war, including large cities such as Tel Aviv and Be’ersheva. Just days after the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in late February, the Islamic Republic fired a ballistic missile into Beersheba, causing injuries to 19 people.
To the ordinary eye, it is a Herculean challenge to decipher the small Nazi swastika emblem on the German World War 2-era MG-34 machine gun seized at a Hezbollah terrorist compound in Lebanon. But, for the Israeli military commander of the Captured Equipment Evacuation Unit, Lt. Col. (res.) Idan Sharon-Kettler, it is a run-of-the-mill exercise in weapons identification.
The German MG-34 has the “markings of an eagle carrying a swastika stamped on it,” said Sharon-Ketler.
IRAN REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR HAMAS AS TRUMP PUSHES TO DISARM TERROR GROUP
The IDF seized an MG-34 machine gun with the Swastika emblem on it from the Hezbollah compound. (IDF)
Sharon-Kettler told Fox News Digital that the Nazi machine gun was used as “propaganda or for morale” of the Iranian regime-backed terrorists in Lebanon. A second Nazi-era assault rifle was confiscated from Hezbollah—the MP 44 (also termed StG 44).
Hamas and Hezbollah, both of whom are designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, employed sophisticated methods to transform vehicles into high-intensity offensive weapons. So-called dual-use technology (equipment that can be used for civilian and military purposes) is the bread and butter of Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Motorcycles like these took Israelis hostages,” said Sharon-Kettler, as he showed an Egyptian Halawa Motors motorcycle that was captured in Israel on 10/7. The Iranian regime-backed Hamas terrorist movement killed over 1,200 people on 10/7, including more than 40 American citizens. Hamas took over 250 people hostage on the same day.
The IDF also captured rockets from Palestinian Islamic Jihad that were used as “propaganda dummies” during parades against Israel in Gaza.
HAMAS SAYS IT WILL DISSOLVE GAZA GOVERNMENT, BUT ISRAEL WARNS GROUP STILL SEEKS HEZBOLLAH-STYLE CONTROL
Egyptian Halawa Motors motorcycles that were captured in Israel on 10/7. Motorcycles of this type were used to take hostages in Hamas-controlled Gaza. (IDF)
The IDF seized all-terrain vehicles (ATV) used by Hezbollah in Lebanon to hold rockets and terrorists. One captured ATV was designed to hold six rockets with launchers.”You can sit on top of a hill and control a road that goes underneath. And with six anti-tank rockets you will stop almost any vehicle that passes,” said Sharon-Kettler.
He said the ATVs provide great utility for Hezbollah in the rugged, hilly landscape of southern Lebanon.
Iranian-produced mortars were also on display at the IDF base. “We found hundreds” of mortars in Lebanon, said Sharon-Kettler. The IDF captured drones, including decay drones. Sharon-Kettler said some of the Hezbollah drones are used “to make noise” in order to “divert [IDF]resources.”
According to Sharon-Kettler, the IDF captured “dozens” of Iranian regime-produced canons in south Lebanese villages, where Hezbollah’s core base exists. “In many houses the canons were pointing out of windows,” said Sharon-Kettler. One cannon seized in Lebanon was of Russian origin.
Hezbollah uniforms. Uniforms made in Syria, China and Lebanon used by Hezbollah terrorists. (IDF)
Hezbollah, like its counterpart Hamas in Gaza, embeds its terrorists in residential areas and civilian structures, including hospitals, schools and mosques. The IDF storage facility was packed with Russian-produced AK-47 automatic rifles and various versions of it.
The IDF captured more recent Russian AK-103 and AK-104 automatic rifles in southern Lebanon. “Light sniper rifles, some made in Iran, some Russian, are very common with Hezbollah and Hamas,” said Sharon-Kettler.
Israel’s army also seized a highly decorated Turkish hunting rifle that was used by Hezbollah. The IDF found many highly sophisticated Austrian Steyr sniper rifles, including the Austrian Steyr HS .50 caliber sniper rifle, in possession of Hezbollah. Sharon-Kettler showed an Iranian replicated version of the Steyr sniper rifle.
The IDF collected submachine guns in Lebanon that were manufactured by China and Russia, as well as anti-tank launchers produced by Russia and Iran, said the IDF weapons expert.
Additional merchandise seized by the IDF includes all the trappings of a professional army and guerrilla terrorist forces. Well-crafted uniforms made in Syria, China and Lebanon along with helmets, anti-shrapnel vests, and medical kits are part of the IDF’s confiscated war equipment.
Sharon-Kettler explained the reasons for Israel being in Lebanon. “Even after the agreement we had with the Lebanese army and government, once we entered Lebanon again, we kept finding everything that is here. For me, it means, if we are not doing the work to clean Lebanon from military entities targeting are civilians, nobody else is doing that.”
The IDF commander referred to the November 2024 ceasefire agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel to cease the war between Jerusalem and the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Hezbollah joined Hamas in its war on Israel on Oct. 8, 2023
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-08-17 08:52:042026-08-17 08:52:04Israel Unveils Massive Terror Arsenal Seized From Hamas and Hezbollah: Iranian Rockets, Drones, Sniper Rifles, Anti-Tank Weapons and Even Nazi Guns
The US military campaign against drug traffickers is moving from the water to the ground.After a year of boat strikes that killed at least 215 people, the administration has lined up allies willing to host American forces on their own soil.
What has changed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in Panama that Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras have agreed to allow US joint operations against criminal groups inside their borders, following Ecuador, which already runs such missions.
By the numbers. Since last September, US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 215 people. The administration has designated 20 Latin American groups as foreign terrorist organizations, the legal scaffolding for the campaign.
How we got here. The maritime strikes began as interdiction and escalated into a shooting campaign. US forces went into Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro, and the CIA has joined drug-lab busts in Mexico. Land operations with partner militaries are the next rung, not a departure.
The Mexico exception. President Claudia Sheinbaum has cooperated on security but refuses a US military role on Mexican soil, even as Mexico remains the main source and transit route for fentanyl. The one country that matters most to the fentanyl supply chain is the one holding the line against American boots.
The legal question. Host-nation consent answers the sovereignty objection but not the domestic one. Congress never declared war on the cartels, and the terrorist designations are doing heavy lifting that lawmakers on both sides say deserves a vote rather than an executive workaround.
What’s in it for Americans. A serious counter-cartel campaign could further cut the flow of fentanyl that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. The risk is the one every expeditionary mission carries: clear goals at the start, mission creep by the second year.
Worth watching next:
Whether these become sustained joint operations or one-off raids, and whether the White House brings the expanded authority to Congress or dares it to object.
Conservatives have wanted Washington to treat the cartels as the armed threat they are, and moving ashore with willing partners is a defensible step toward that. The honest caution is that ground campaigns are easier to start than to end, and that a war run on terrorist designations rather than a congressional vote invites the next administration to run its own wars the same way. Support the mission, demand efficiency and accountability.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 17, 2026
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Eight Arab and Muslim governments issued a joint statement Sunday blaming Israel for wrecking President Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war. The rebuke landed as Jared Kushner shuttled through the region, exposing how far apart Washington’s partners remain even with a deal on the table.
What’s new? The foreign ministers of the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egyptcondemned Israel’s declared rejection of the road map to implement Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, along with Israel’s rejection of Palestinian statehood.
The words they chose. The statement said Israel “bears responsibility for disrupting peace efforts” in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, and that its positions amount to a direct repudiation of the plan the same governments say they support.
The timing. The statement dropped as Kushner landed in Israel on Sunday night, after meeting Hamas leaders in Cairo. The choreography was deliberate: pressure Jerusalem in public while the American envoy is mid-tour.
What they left out. The statement names Israel and Israel alone. It does not call on Hamas to disarm, release remaining hostages, or leave Gaza’s governance, the conditions Israel says are the actual obstacles to ending the war.
Why this matters. These eight capitals are the ones Trump needs to fund reconstruction, supply peacekeepers, and normalize with Israel. A public break with Jerusalem this early signals they will not carry the security burden the plan assumes, and that the ceasefire’s next phase rests on terms none of them will enforce.
Israel has not accepted the road map’s language on statehood, and the Netanyahu government treats a Palestinian state as a reward for the October war. The Arab states treat it as the precondition. The plan sits in that gap.
The counterweight. The same governments have leverage over Hamas they have not used. Qatar hosts its political office, Egypt controls Rafah, and Turkey shelters its officials. A statement aimed only at Israel is a choice about where to spend that leverage, and where not to.
Trump staked his standing on ending this war, and the Sunday statement is a reminder that the hard part was never the announcement. Washington can broker a document, but it cannot make Arab capitals lean on Hamas or make Jerusalem concede a state it believes would reward the killers of October.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 17, 2026
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Colombia has authorized joint military operations with the United States against its own armed groups, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth said American forces could strike alongside Bogota. The move widens an already sprawling hemispheric campaign.
Why it matters
Bogota gave the green light. Colombia authorized “joint military operations to destroy terrorists and terror networks,” Hegseth told the coalition in Panama City on August 12.
Joint strikes are on the table. Asked whether US forces would hit groups such as the National Liberation Army and the remnants of the FARC, Hegseth said designated terrorist organizations “with partnered governments, will be legitimate targets of the United States government.”
This is a move to sustain expansive enforcement operations. The boat strikes and the Maduro raid are now the template, not the exception.
Key numbers
$1 billion: US security assistance pledged to President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government as he took office.
200-plus: people killed in US strikes on suspected drug vessels since last September, before a US-led commando raid deposed Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro in January.
What insiders are saying
The doctrine has a name. Hegseth invoked a revamped Monroe Doctrine, which he calls the “Donroe Doctrine,” pledging to “defend our hemisphere from external threats.”
The ICC is the flashpoint. Critics call the boat strikes extrajudicial killings; Hegseth urged partners to leave the ICC.
Where it stands
The coalition is expanding. Colombia joined the Shield of the Americas, the counter-cartel bloc that now counts 19 partner members, and Panama’s president dismissed concerns that the pact would erode members’ sovereignty.
The military footprint may grow. De La Espriella offered to host US troops on Colombian soil, and his defense minister said Colombia could take a lead role on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.
The backstory
Colombia flipped hard. De La Espriella, sworn in this month, blamed his leftist predecessor Gustavo Petro for the growth of armed groups and vowed to “definitively eradicate the scourge of illicit crops.”
This could exceed Plan Colombia. One US official said the partnership is expected to surpass the cooperation under the early-2000s initiative that defined a generation of US-Colombia security ties.
In Their Own Words
“I think the time has arrived for the narco-terrorist cartels to confront the power and the capabilities of the entire hemisphere, led by the United States,” said Colombia’s new defense minister, retired Major General Jorge Eduardo Mora.
Washington has moved in a year from securing the Panama Canal to authorizing joint strikes on a partner’s soil under a counter-narcotics banner. The stated enemy is the cartels. The larger question, for Congress and the region alike, is where a hemispheric war on narco-terror finds its limit.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 15, 2026
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The general running America’s homeland missile shield says the program could stop cold on October 1 unless Congress finds new money. Almost all of next year’s funding hinges on a reconciliation bill that does not yet exist.
Where things stand
The warning was blunt. At a Huntsville symposium Monday, Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein said there is no Golden Dome without new funding once fiscal 2027 opens.
The cliff is structural. About 97% of the program’s $17.5 billion 2027 request depends on reconciliation, leaving it no baseline in the Pentagon’s regular budget.
A stopgap would freeze it. A continuing resolution locks spending to prior-year levels, leaving a reconciliation-funded effort with nothing to fall back on.
How we got here
Reconciliation built it once already. Congress seeded the effort with $25 billion in 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, of which roughly 90% is already obligated.
FY2026 came through the back door. Lawmakers routed the next round to the program through reconciliation rather than the regular defense bill, setting up this year’s cliff.
The system is young. Trump ordered the Golden Dome into being early in his term, with the Pentagon targeting an operational architecture by 2029.
Follow the money
The price tag is contested. Congressional budget analysts pegged the system at $1.2 trillion to build and run over 20 years.
The Pentagon says that math is wrong. Guetlein rejected the estimate as built on outdated technology, putting the figure closer to $185 billion than Trump’s $175 billion.
Even the ceiling is disputed. Independent analysts warn that the true cost remains unknowable until the mission is defined, with public estimates ranging from $185 billion to $1.2 trillion.
In Their Own Words. “If they don’t figure it out, there’s no Golden Dome because there is no funding,” Guetlein told the symposium.
What’s in it for America
The threat case is concrete. The shield is pitched to defend US cities against cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, and ballistic threats, the same classes of weapon on display in the Gulf War.
The bill lands on taxpayers either way. Whether the number is $185 billion or $1.2 trillion, the financing path runs through a Congress that has not passed the vehicle to pay for it.
A new front door opened this week. Guetlein also launched an industry portal at hub.goldendome.mil to pull startups and venture capital into the program.
Worth watching
Watch the calendar. The decisive date is October 1; a full-year appropriation or a fresh reconciliation bill before then is the only thing that keeps the money flowing.
Obligation rates tell the story. With about 90% of the 2025 tranche committed, the program has little runway left to coast on prior funds.
A missile shield that stops on October 1 protects no one. The engineering may be the easy part; the appropriations appear to be the hard one.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 14, 2026
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The Pentagon says it can keep Iran’s ports sealed for as long as it takes, rotating warships through the Gulf on a schedule with no end date.That claim turns a five-month war into a contest of endurance, with global oil inventories draining and no deal on the table.
Where things stand
The blockade holds. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the Navy can hold the cordon “indefinitely,” rotating ships in and out as the mission requires.
Tehran disputes the map. Iran’s military rejected US claims that commercial vessels are moving through the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that no ship passes without its permission.
Trump says the strait is open. The president maintains the United States controls Hormuz and that shipping is flowing, a claim Tehran disputes and the traffic data does not support.
By the numbers
Before the war, 130 ships a day crossed. Transits have collapsed to a five-day average near 13 ships, roughly 90% below the pre-war flow.
Crude is stuck near $80. Oil has held in the $80 range on the standoff, well above where it traded before the February 28 strikes.
US crude cover is historically thin. Domestic stocks sit below 300 million barrels, the smallest cushion in more than four decades.
Follow the money
Global crude is thinning fast. World oil inventories fell below 9 billion barrels in July, the lowest since April 2025 and down 410 million barrels since the fighting began.
The market watchdog cut its 2026 demand forecast by 1.6 million barrels a day as elevated prices choke consumption.
Federal forecasters see a long haul. Energy officials now model about 6 million barrels a day of Gulf output staying offline through the end of 2027.
What’s in it for America
The war is landing at the pump. The national average sat at $4.06 in early August, the highest August on record, after cresting at $4.55 in May.
A fifth of the world’s oil rides this water. Roughly 20% of global supply passes through Hormuz, so the blockade’s cost shows up in every fill-up from Phoenix to Pittsburgh.
The clock is political. Trump faces pressure to close out an unpopular war before the November midterms, even as his commanders say they can hold the line for months.
In Their Own Words. A top adviser to the Revolutionary Guard commander said Iran could “prolong” the war until Trump leaves office, a signal Tehran intends to wait Washington out rather than settle.
Worth watching
Carrier rotation is the real timeline. Hegseth’s “indefinitely” rests on swapping flattops through the Gulf, so deployment schedules, not press statements, will show how long the cordon can last.
Inventories, not headlines, set the price. With global stocks at multi-year lows, a prolonged closure keeps pressure on crude and fuel before any new shot is fired.
Negotiations are frozen. Both capitals keep trading opposing claims over the strait with no breakthrough on reviving the June framework.
A blockade is a strategy of patience, and patience is being billed to crude markets and kitchen tables alike. Whether Tehran or Washington blinks first, the meter runs on both.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 14, 2026
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday arrested five illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes and drug offenses, the agency announced Tuesday.
“Yesterday, ICE arrested murderers, violent assailants, kidnappers, drug traffickers, and other dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our communities,” Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told the Daily Signal. “Under the leadership of President [Donald] Trump, ICE is making our nation safer by removing illegal aliens from our communities.”
“When you remove criminal illegal aliens like these from our country, crime rates fall, and the American people are safer,” Mullin added. The Department of Homeland Security claimed that nearly 70% of the illegal aliens ICE arrested have been charged with or convicted of a crime in the United States.
ICE provided the Daily Signal with names and mugshots for five illegal aliens.
1. Rie Hachiyanagi
Rie Hachiyanagi (ICE)
ICE arrested Rie Hachiyanagi, a criminal illegal alien from Japan. ICE claimed that a Framingham, Massachusetts, jury convicted her on three counts of assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon—a fire poker, a rock, and scissors—mayhem, and home invasion.
2. Mohamed Elshenawy
Mohamed Elshenawy (ICE)
ICE arrested Mohamed Elshenawy, a criminal illegal alien from Egypt. ICE claimed that a jury in Red Bluff, California, convicted Elshenawy of attempted murder, terroristic threats, and battery against a police officer.
3. Eder Hernandez-Morales
Eder Hernandez-Morales (ICE)
ICE arrested Eder Hernandez-Morales, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico. ICE said a jury in Los Angeles convicted him of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, vandalism, theft, receiving known stolen property, and possession of a controlled substance.
4. Victor A Calles-Flores
Victor A Calles-Flores (ICE)
ICE arrested Victor A Calles-Flores, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador. ICE said a jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, convicted him of kidnapping and transporting a stolen vehicle.
5. Sergio Calvio-Ayala
Sergio Calvio-Ayala (ICE)
ICE arrested Sergio Calvio-Ayala, a criminal illegal alien from Costa Rica. ICE said a jury in Newark, New Jersey, convicted him of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
The Missile Defense Agency has awarded Lockheed Martin a $211 million order to build new THAAD launchers for the United Arab Emirates. The timing is the story: the same system’s interceptor magazines are running low at home, and one production base is now asked to serve an ally and a depleted US arsenal at once.
The award. The agency booked a $211,435,067 modification to Lockheed Martin Space for new Configuration 3 THAAD launchers under a foreign military sale to the UAE, lifting that case to $1,054,537,337.
The fine print
Launchers, not interceptors. The order is for the launch platforms, not the interceptor missiles, and it is the interceptor stockpile the Iran war has drawn down. The two compete for the same strained supply chain.
The backdrop. One CSIS estimate has US THAAD interceptors down to roughly 250 from 450 since the war began.
Where things stand
Arming a Gulf partner’s missile defense serves deterrence against Iran, but every unit of THAAD capacity sent abroad is capacity not rebuilding the US magazine.
The award posted August 12 as the Hormuz standoff kept oil and threat levels elevated. Selling allies THAAD is good policy and good business; doing it while the US magazine runs thin is a bet the line can serve two masters.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 13, 2026
Israel carried out its first airstrike in Gaza in more than a week on August 12, killing the head of a Hamas cell in Beit Lahiya. The strike comes amid the US-backed disarmament push, testing how much force the ceasefire framework can absorb before it breaks.
What happened. The IDF said it struck and killed the head of a Hamas cell in the Beit Lahiya area of northern Gaza, its first strike there in over a week.
What they’re saying. The Hamas-affiliated civil defense agency said one person was killed and several wounded were taken to a Gaza City hospital.
The backstory
The framework. Israel had scaled back major operations under US pressure to implement Trump’s plan, and the strike breaks a lull as the “Board of Peace” presses disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal.
A disarmament deal that still lets Israel hit named threats is either a durable arrangement or a slow return to war, depending on who is counting. The tell will be whether Hamas treats this as a violation or a nuisance.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 13, 2026
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The war with Iran has drawn down America’s missile magazines faster than industry can refill them.Rich Lowry’s warning this week is that none of it was a surprise: the interceptor math was knowable before the first shot, and the country chose not to act on it.
By the numbers
The counts. By one Center for Strategic and International Studies estimate cited in the column, the US began the Iran war with about 2,330 Patriot interceptors and is down to roughly 800, and has fallen to about 250 THAAD interceptors from 450.
Nearly gone? The same reporting has the US almost out of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles.
The precedent
Lowry marks the 1979 to 1980 hostage crisis as the last time Iran so plainly exposed the limits of American power, now repeated with a more capable but under-supplied force.
The bottleneck
Committed elsewhere. Even as stocks fall, the production line is spoken for: this week the Missile Defense Agency booked a $211 million order for new THAAD launchers bound for the United Arab Emirates. The bottleneck is not will, it is capacity.
Live stakes. The shortage is not academic while the Hormuz standoff continues and prices climb.
A military can be the best in the world and still lose a war of attrition it cannot resupply. Lowry’s point is not partisan; it is arithmetic, and the bill for a decade of thin magazines is coming due now.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 13, 2026
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The National Park Service has closed six public roads across the southern end of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, sealing off Quitobaquito Springs to clear the way for a second border wall. The order hands the administration a security objective and hands Arizonans a concrete cost: the last wild home of an endangered pupfish now sits inside a construction zone.
State of play
The Park Service issued an indefinite closure on July 31 for six roads near the border “in furtherance of the Department of Homeland Security infrastructure project,” blocking access across the 330,000-acre preserve.
What is behind the fence
The oasis. Quitobaquito Springs, sacred to the Hia-Ced O’odham and a haven for three endangered species, is now cut off as a prelude to construction.
Last habitat. Biologists believe the endangered Quitobaquito pupfish went extinct in Mexico last year, leaving the spring as its last home in the wild.
What’s in it for America
Border security is a legitimate federal duty, and the barrier’s backers can make that case plainly. So can the people who note that a sacred spring and a species found nowhere else are the price. Both are true, and Arizonans are the ones who pay it. This is another reason why preventative border security can help to avoid retroactive extreme measures.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 13, 2026
The Royal Navy tracked Russian warships in UK waters and the North Atlantic for 21 days in July, part of a 25% rise across the first seven months of 2026, driven by escorts for Russia’s sanctioned shadow fleet.
Sanctions are forcing Moscow to spend scarce warships guarding oil tankers instead of projecting power, and to run that gauntlet past a NATO navy watching every mile.
By the numbers
The workload: British warships and helicopters spent 21 days in July shadowing Russian vessels, a 25% increase across the first seven months of 2026.
The shadow fleet exists to dodge the oil-price cap. This is their way of avoiding sanctions. This alone is a threat, but the greater threat is Russia elbowing UK ships near the UK.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 12, 2026
Across the U.S., private citizens, organizations like Amy Mek’s “RAIR Foundation USA”, city- and county-level boards, and on up to Members of the U.S. Congress, are speaking up and standing up to oppose the establishment of Islamic ‘hubs’ and development enclaves in their neighborhoods. Likewise, at the U.S. Cabinet level, steps are being taken to sanction and curtail the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Heroes Take Stand Against Islam and Sharia in McKinney, TX, at City Council Meeting While Protesting Mosque Site an Imam Calls an ‘Immigration Hub’” at RAIR Foundation USA, August 6, 2026
“Judiciary Committee Hearing: ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America”
Chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz, this hearing focused on how the Muslim Brotherhood and its front groups operate to infiltrate and suborn our societal institutions, not through terrorism, but through subversion from within.
There is concern that U.S. administration policies in the Middle East, w/Gaza, Iran, and Israel, may be working against U.S. national security interests and to the ultimate benefit of jihadi regimes and militias. Examples include the “Board of Peace” for Gaza, a third 60-day ceasefire and renewed talks with the Iranian regime, and restraining Israel in its efforts to eliminate the threat to its northern communities from Hizballah.
Concerns include agreement to ‘hand civilian governance to a national committee’ that will include representatives of the Palestinian Authority and that will ‘govern under Palestinian law’ — does that mean Islamic Law (sharia)? Also, this plan only requires HAMAS to “store heavy weapons” but apparently allows its fighters to keep “personal weapons”. Where will those heavy weapons be stored and who will have (or be able to seize) access to them? Israel will be required to “withdraw from the Gaza Strip” — before, as, or only after HAMAS is disarmed (if indeed it will be)?
Misguided Western thinking persists among the U.S.-led Board of Peace for Gaza. But as this award-winning journalist notes, the jihadis who still control much of Gaza will never agree to abandon jihad in return for financial incentives.
President Donald Trump approved a nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia in late July 2026. There are concerns that constructing a uranium enrichment facility in the Kingdom, even under tight restrictions, could result eventually in the transfer of sensitive nuclear technology to Riyadh and possibly setting off nuclear proliferation among other regional states.
Daniel Greenfield provides valuable insight here into why USG and Western policymaking vis-à-vis Iran is not succeeding. It is our flawed Western style of thinking that to date has prevented us from seeing the Iranian regime as the jihad terrorists they actually are—and not a normal nation state.
“My message to CENTCOM” by Melanie Phillips at Melanie Phillips Substack, August 4, 2026
After CENTCOM sent out a request for “new, creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran”, an “observer” sent a response – destroy the IRGC, focus on regime change, and empower the Iranian people — and asked that it be shared with President Trump.
Key sentence comes at the end of this piece, “Lebanon is pinning its hopes on the US, as the most influential party at the table, to pressure Israel to withdraw from additional villages in southern Lebanon.”
Editor’s Corner: Elsewhere In the U.S. Government
Tendentious Democrat report does point out “how the Administration has cut 15,000 positions across the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and 1,300 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel involved in preventing, countering, and responding to terrorism; eliminated or weakened offices responsible for preventing terrorism and protecting critical infrastructure; delayed or canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in security grants; and reassigned law enforcement personnel away from remaining counterterrorism and national security missions to support immigration enforcement operations.”
Progressive cities – Boston, San Francisco, etc. — withdrawing from FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs).
The best these cities can hope for is that Islam will eat them last.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-08-12 08:51:192026-08-12 08:51:19The Great Awakening: Resistance to Sharia Domination Is Galvanizing In the U.S.
Trump publicly demanded that Iran pay reparations and declared that the United States now effectively controls the Strait of Hormuz, hardening the terms as talks to wind down the conflict continue.
Hormuz sets the floor under the global oil price. Tying its reopening to a reparations bill raises the cost of any settlement and the odds that talks stall.
State of play
The demand: Trump said Iran must compensate the United States for the USS Cole bombing, for troops killed by Iranian-made roadside bombs, and for protesters Iran has killed over decades.
The claim: He asserted that the United States holds “100% control” of the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
The chokepoint: In normal times, about 20 million barrels a day, roughly a fifth of the world’s oil, move through Hormuz. A closure would be felt at every American pump.
In Their Own Words
“We have 100% control of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said, framing the waterway as leverage in the talks (CNBC).
A reparations demand is easy to state and hard to collect. The real signal is that Washington now treats Hormuz itself as a bargaining chip. Can we hold it? The better question is at what cost?
-The Editors
National Security, Politics · Upstream of the Swamp · August 12, 2026
Taiwan spent 30 minutes on Monday learning what a war with China would do to its phones.At 2:30 p.m., air raid sirens sounded across seven counties and cities in central Taiwan, and regulators throttled mobile data to a crawl, the first time a democratic government has deliberately slowed an entire region’s cellular network as a wartime rehearsal.
Why it matters
A Chinese assault on Taiwan would likely begin with the network, not the beach. Jamming, undersea cable cuts, and cyberattacks would hit civilian communications first, and Monday’s test measured whether people can still be warned, moved, and counted when the signal dies. Taiwan is the most likely trigger for a US-China war, so how its people function in a blackout is an American security question, not only a Taiwanese one.
The island has drilled civilian defense before, but this year crossed a new line by cutting the data itself rather than just sounding sirens. Chinese military exercises around Taiwan have repeatedly rehearsed the blockade that would isolate it, and a communications collapse is the opening move most war games expect. That is why the government is willing to accept frozen payments and stalled apps now, to find the failure points before an adversary does.
What happened
Data slowed to about 1% of normal capacity. Streaming, video calls, and large transfers became largely unusable while the throttle held.
Seven jurisdictions went dark together: Miaoli, Taichung, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi City and Chiayi County, in a single 30-minute window.
The wider civil-defense drill spans 14 cities and counties, reaching much of Taiwan’s population of more than 23 million as it rolls across the island.
How it works
Regulators cut bandwidth but kept the lifelines. Voice calls, text messages, emergency calls, and government cell-broadcast alerts stayed live while data collapsed, a design meant to keep official warnings moving when the rest of the network is gone, per Focus Taiwan.
It was a slowdown, not a shutdown. Fixed broadband, WiFi, landlines, and military networks kept running, so the stress test fell squarely on mobile data, per The Record.
This is one strand of Han Kuang 42, the island’s largest annual military exercise, running August 5 to 14, which for the first time weaves the civilian drills directly into the live-fire maneuvers.
What insiders are watching
The test exposed real friction. Mobile payments stalled, delivery apps timed out, and one resident sheltering in a basement could not send a photo message reading “HELP,” the kind of small failure that scales badly under fire.
The exercise moves to the front line next. It reaches the outlying islands of Kinmen, Lienchiang and Penghu on Tuesday and northern Taiwan on Thursday, pushing the stress test to the territory closest to the mainland.
What’s in it for America
Washington warned its own citizens. The American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy, issued an advisory on the exercises, a reminder of how many Americans live and work inside a Taiwan contingency.
The stakes reach past the island. Taiwan builds the advanced chips the US military and economy depend on, so a blockade that severs its networks also severs a supply chain no ally can quickly replace.
-The Editors
National Security · Upstream of the Swamp · August 11, 2026
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2026-08-11 08:06:002026-08-11 08:06:00Taiwan Throttles Civilian Cell Data In Emergency Drill
Sami Winc: But there were leaks from the government that there was a depletion of our weaponry to fight Iran with. And then, if you have anything, [President Donald] Trump is talking about there’s a new deal with Iran in the works. I know your audience is thinking, “Yeah, that’s not gonna pan out.” But if you have anything on that, and then also tales of JD [Vance] and Bibi Netanyahu not getting along.
Victor Davis Hanson: Well, to go first very quickly, people have been leaking that there are not enough Patriot missiles, for example, or Harpoon missiles, older ones, Tomahawk missiles. We’ve heard there are not enough bunker busters. I don’t know if any of this is true, but it’s been leaking.
And the problem, why Trump is so angry, is we have enough, we have about 40% or 50%, likely, of our arsenal, which is too low. This has been going on for a long time. [Former President Barack] Obama cut the defense budget, [former President Joe] Biden did, and we don’t have enough stuff. But the problem that makes people angry is we have enough to handle Iran. We don’t have enough to handle Iran, give Ukraine enough to protect Kyiv, and then deter China from attacking Taiwan. So, the more you say that and leak it, the more likely China might believe it and want to try.
While we’re engaged with Ukraine and Iran, they might want to try to see if they could go into Taiwan, and we wouldn’t have enough missiles. That’s the worry.
The second thing about Trump and the Iran war, we’ve had five or six of these where he says the negotiations are going great. And then they break down, and then he hits them once or twice, and then they beg him, beg him, beg him to get back, and then everything’s close to an agreement. But the Iranians don’t tell the truth, and then he gets frustrated.
And the problem with this is that on Feb. 28, you know, we had 250 days before the midterms. So, after 38 days of kinetic operations, we stopped. We stopped because about 80%, 90% of everything they had was destroyed. But we didn’t know that they had these little mosquito boats hidden everywhere, and we didn’t know to what degree they had drones and missiles hidden. And they had a lot.
So, when we kept saying we’re destroying 90% of their air capacity as far as missiles and drones, we didn’t know what the denominator was. We didn’t know 90% of what. 10,000? 20,000? It could be a lot, 10%. And so, they started threatening the Gulf.
At that point, the Gulf freaked out. And they had wanted us to go in there and eliminate Iran. But now that they got hit, they didn’t want to commit with their 600 aircraft and join us because they thought we wouldn’t take them out completely. So, then people came to Trump, I guess, this week and said, you’re out of time. We’re only 90 days. If you’re going to solve this, you can’t keep saying this because—so, last week they dreamed up, we’re just going to unload the greatest military campaign in the air since World War II. And they were. And then that panicked Iran.
And they say now they’re going to open the Strait of Hormuz. I don’t think you can trust them. But the point is they got the message that now this was the last chance. So, if they break this, and I think they will, Trump will have no choice, if he is to have any credibility, unless he continues with that program. And your third part of the question?
Winc: JD was at odds with Bibi. That was the tale. He was on Laura and he denied it, but—
Hanson: Well, that’s a complicated question because Trump came out today and said that he supports JD as his successor as the Republican nominee in 2028. The reason he did that was JD was starting to be associated with these negotiations and not the kinetic part under [War Secretary Pete] Hegseth. And the negotiations hadn’t worked.
And he had said we were dealing with the moderates. There are no moderates in Iran. There’s people who pose as moderates, but even if they wanted to be moderate, they’d be murdered. It’s run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, everybody knows that, and the theocracy.
And then he said that Israel couldn’t kill its way out. That sounds like Israel wanted to kill people. They didn’t want to kill people. If Hezbollah had stopped the missiles tomorrow, they wouldn’t have ever gone into Lebanon.
So, there was an impression that, on the international stage, he wasn’t as experienced, let’s say, as Rubio, and Rubio’s stock was starting to come up. And if that continued, there might be a destructive race in 2028. So, what Trump did was he said to JD, pretty much, I will back you, but you’ve got to stop the stuff about Netanyahu. So, he had him meet Netanyahu, and there was supposedly—on Laura Ingraham’s interview, he denied there was a bad.
But the problem is this, that Tucker’s son worked for JD, and he, whether it’s fair or not, is associated with that wing of the MAGA movement, the Tucker Carlson, the Candace Owens, the Steve Bannon, the Joe Kent, is that his name? Yeah. All of those guys, and maybe Megyn Kelly, I don’t know. And Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie.
And the problem with that, if he is to be associated with them, they say some pretty crazy things about Israel and the Jews. And when Thomas Massie is at a loss, because of the decision that was made in Israel, you know. And so, there’s a lot of—
And there’s two problems with that. Trump’s grandchildren are Jewish and his daughter has converted to Judaism. And more importantly, there’s a lot of powerful Jewish donors who are sick of the Democratic antisemitism. So, the Republican Party is trying to attract them.
But already you see, not just among Jews, but among other people, are worried that JD seems to be singling out Israel for criticism that’s not applicable to other, more deserving targets.
So, this week he’s been rehabilitated, sort of, as he got in with, he had a talk with Netanyahu. He got on Fox and said it went well. Trump endorsed him, and you didn’t hear him taking—he’s more now looking at corruption than trying to solve the negotiations. And we’ll see what happens.
Winc: Yeah, we’ll see what happens.
Well, let’s turn to some of the things going on at the federal level of our government. Rand Paul has gotten the votes to refer [Dr. Anthony] Fauci for contempt, given that he took the Fifth 111 times. And my question is not so much on that as this precedent set, and I don’t know if it’s worse now than it has been in the past, of having a government official execute the laws terribly against the people or to the people, and then just being able to get away with it because, at the end of a president’s term, they pardon them. And that’s a very bothersome pattern or precedent. And I’m not sure which one.
Hanson: Well, there’s two things that presidents do. They give pardons, so they’re exempt from prosecution, and they give clemencies, so that if they’ve been sentenced, their sentence can be stopped, they can get out of prison, for example. And they do both. And it’s controversial who does more of one or the other. But if you put them both together, which you should, out of our last 47 presidents, the top 10 were Democrats. And the most was Joe Biden at about 4,500 total. That’s pardons and clemencies and other things related to that.
And then there’s FDR. Then there’s Woodrow Wilson. I think Trump now is three or four in six years. But Eisenhower gave a lot too, by the way. But out of that 10, I think eight are Democrats. And that’s important to remember because they keep saying that Trump is the all-time pardoner. I think it’s been widely abused.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-08-11 06:51:182026-08-11 06:51:18Victor Davis Hanson: Iran Has One Last Chance Before Trump Hits Back
America has no shortage of critics. What it increasingly lacks are American citizens willing to step forward and serve.
A republic cannot survive indefinitely as a spectator sport, with millions of people shouting from the sidelines while expecting someone else to defend the country, administer justice, strengthen the community, and preserve the institutions on which freedom depends.
Self-government requires more than opinions. It requires participation.
Yet the habits of active citizenship remain disturbingly weak. In the 2024 presidential election, just 65.3% of the citizen voting-age population cast a ballot. Only 28.3% of Americans formally volunteered through an organization in 2023. And according to the Defense Department, just 11% of young people ages 16 to 21 say they are likely to serve in the military in the next few years.
Jury duty, meanwhile, is often treated not as a privilege of citizenship but as an inconvenience to be avoided.
This is not because Americans are selfish or unpatriotic. But we have created a culture in which citizenship is treated as something one possesses rather than practices.
We speak endlessly about rights and benefits, but far less about duties and sacrifice. That imbalance erodes the habits a free society depends on.
The Founders understood that no Constitution, however brilliantly designed, could sustain liberty without civic virtue. Institutions matter, but they rely on citizens prepared to place something larger than themselves ahead of comfort and convenience.
As James Madison warned at the Virginia Ratifying Convention on June 20, 1788, “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”
Service is not limited to wearing a uniform, though military service remains one of its noblest forms. It includes volunteering as a firefighter or EMT, mentoring a struggling student, assisting the elderly, serving on a local board, joining a disaster-relief effort, coaching a youth team, or simply showing up when summoned for jury duty.
Together, these acts sustain the bonds on which a nation depends.
They also shape those who perform them.
Service teaches discipline, patience, and responsibility. It forces people to encounter fellow citizens outside their usual social, economic, and ideological circles. A young person who spends a year helping veterans, rebuilding homes, or tutoring children learns that the country is more complicated—and more human—than the caricatures presented on social media.
In an era of deep fragmentation, that experience matters even more.
Americans are increasingly isolated from one another. They shop online, work remotely, consume personalized media, and retreat into political and cultural enclaves. The result is a country in which people are connected to their screens yet increasingly disconnected from one another.
Civic service offers an antidote. It brings people together around a common task and reminds us that citizenship carries obligations as well as rights.
What America needs now is a renaissance of public service, particularly among the young.
This need not take the form of compulsory national service imposed by Washington. A federal mandate would undercut the voluntary spirit that gives such service much of its meaning, while another vast bureaucracy would quickly become wasteful and politicized.
The better approach is to make opportunities to serve easier to find, more rewarding, and more respected.
States should create public-service fellowships that allow young adults to spend six months or a year working with local governments, charities, faith-based organizations, and emergency services. Participants could receive modest stipends and education or vocational-training grants.
High schools should encourage students to undertake serious service projects as part of civic education, not as résumé padding but as instruction in citizenship. Colleges and employers should give meaningful credit to applicants who have demonstrated sustained service. Businesses should be encouraged to offer employees limited paid leave for jury duty, National Guard obligations, and volunteering.
The military must also regain a more visible place in American life. Schools should welcome recruiters, expand JROTC opportunities, and teach students that service in the armed forces is not merely a career option but an honorable calling.
Above all, parents, teachers, clergy, and public officials should speak about service with admiration.
Young people notice what a society chooses to honor. When a society glorifies influencers, celebrities, and instant wealth while barely noticing the volunteer firefighter or the Army recruit, they absorb the message.
That message must change.
The purpose of this effort is not to enlarge government. It is to strengthen citizenship.
A nation of passive consumers will eventually lose the habits necessary to preserve liberty. By contrast, a nation of active citizens, accustomed to responsibility and sacrifice, will be far more resilient.
That is how a republic renews itself, preserves liberty, and passes it on to posterity.
America does not need another argument about what the country owes us. It needs more Americans asking what they owe the country.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.
Michael Freund served as deputy communications director under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A veteran Jerusalem Post columnist, Freund is currently a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
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Below are recent poll results from Epoch Tiimes, one of few remaining conservative print news sources. I highlighted % that I personally favored.
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We’re pleased to share with you the results of the survey you participated in.
Do you approve or disapprove of the recent US military strikes on Iran?
Approve — 62 %
Disapprove — 36 %
No strong opinion — 2 %
What do you think should be the main goal of US actions toward Iran right now?
Prevent Iran from developing or using nuclear weapons — 59 %
Protect US troops and allies in the region — 6 %
Avoid further escalation and seek de-escalation — 19 %
Focus on other priorities instead of military involvement — 15 %
Not sure — 2 %
How concerned are you about potential risks from the current US military involvement in Iran (such as casualties, higher costs, or wider conflict)?
Very concerned — 44 %
Somewhat concerned — 22 %
Not very concerned — 19 %
Not concerned at all — 13 %
Not sure — 1 %
Should the US prioritize addressing domestic issues (like the economy, borders, and infrastructure) before committing more resources to foreign conflicts like the one with Iran?
Yes, domestic issues should come first — 37 %
No, security threats abroad must be addressed regardless — 30 %
Both should be balanced equally — 32 %
Not sure — 1 %
Do major news outlets provide fair, balanced, and fact-based reporting on the US military strikes and the Iran conflict?
Yes, mostly fair and accurate — 8 %
No, they often push political narratives — 79 %
Sometimes fair, sometimes biased — 10 %
Not sure — 3 %
Would you be interested in subscribing to a news source that focuses on factual, non-partisan reporting without political agendas or sensationalism?
Yes, especially if it offers clear, unbiased coverage — 27 %
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2026-08-10 17:51:342026-08-10 17:51:34Epoch Times Reader’s Poll on the War with Iran
