An unmanned surface vessel — or drone boat — helped rescue two Army crew members whose AH-64 Apache helicopter was shot down near the Strait of Hormuz late Monday, according to government officials and defense industry sources.

The boat used in the rescue operation was the Corsair, a 24-foot autonomous surface vessel made by the Texas-based company Saronic. It is believed to be the first time an autonomous boat was used in such an operation, underscoring the growing role the vessels play in U.S. military missions around the world.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the rescue operation was led by Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd Airborne Division, with support from the Air Force and Navy units, including the U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59 — the Navy’s first unmanned and artificial intelligence task force.

The North Korean dictator pricked an ultra-sensitive strategic fault line by backing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s claim of sovereignty over the U.S.-aligned island democracy of Taiwan during a rare summit between the two men that wrapped up Tuesday in Pyongyang.

Mr. Kim’s verbal support for Mr. Xi’s Taiwan stance caught the eye of Fyodor Tertitskiy. “Kim said he reinforced the commitment to ’One China,’ and this looks quite ominous to me,” said the Russian, who watches North Korea from Seoul’s Korea University. “Nobody is doubting that North Korea supports China, but why reaffirm this?”

The development was watched closely by South Korean and U.S. officials. Seoul is deeply wary of any Taiwan crisis, given that it hosts some 28,000 American troops, who would likely become involved in the event of a potential U.S.-China military clash over Taiwan.

Georgia’s Independence Day last month was supposed to be a display of unity for the nation of 3.8 million. But as the government staged military ceremonies and spoke of national sovereignty, thousands of protesters marched in Tbilisi, waving Georgian and European Union flags and carrying signs denouncing the government’s corruption and repression.

Threat Status Special Correspondent Guillaume Ptak writes in an exclusive dispatch from the region that the message of the demonstrations was clear: Georgia’s independence can be secured only through further integration with the West and the European Union.

Georgia possesses outsized strategic value due to its location on the Black Sea. The country borders Russia and Turkey, and anchors the Caucasus corridor linking Europe to Central Asia. It also remains among the most pro-Western societies in the former Soviet space, which is why Washington and Brussels are deeply concerned about its current political crisis.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent visit to France to commemorate the 82nd D-Day anniversary drew criticism from the French even before he arrived for the June 6 ceremony. Langrune en Commun, a civic group near Sword Beach, one of the primary D-Day landing locations, demanded Mr. Hegseth not attend. 

Mr. Hegseth then focused on immigration during a speech in Normandy, where he said European beaches today are “sadly” being stormed by different dangerous ideologies. “In Spain, in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive,” Mr. Hegseth said. “When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”

Rep. Don Bacon, Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general, took issue with the remarks, saying the focus of the secretary’s address should have been on the troops who fought on the beaches. The congressman also said the Trump administration is overly critical of Western Europe.

The U.S. is spending billions of dollars to degrade Iran’s military while Iran is “spending a fraction of that to degrade America’s society using social media platforms as a force multiplier,” write Sander Gerber and Shawn Chenoweth in an op-ed for The Washington Times.

“Fake foreign-run bots posing as Americans and coordinated paid accounts flood the zone, artificially magnifying inflammatory content. The goal is not debate. It is destabilization,” write Mr. Gerber, a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and Mr. Chenoweth, director of Cognitive Advantage at the National Security Council.

“America must defend itself by ensuring proper transparency on the source and authenticity of social media accounts,” they write. “The Federal Trade Commission should step in — not to regulate speech but to enforce transparency.”

• June 11 — 2026 CNAS Virtual National Security Conference, Center for a New American Security 

• June 11 — The Future of American Airpower, Stimson Center 

• June 11 — The Arab Case for Israel: History, Mythology and Pathways to Peace, Foundation for Defense of Democracies 

• June 12 — Privileged but Powerless: Jieun Baek on Pyongyang’s Greatest Weakness, Atlantic Council

• June 12 — Winning the Innovation Competition (Featuring Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael), Hudson Institute

• June 15 — How Should the United States Counter Russia and China’s Hybrid Warfare? Atlantic Council

• June 18 — Deterring Russia and China: Securing America’s Nuclear Future, Hudson Institute

• June 24 — IndoPac 2026 | Naval Dominance: Shipbuilding, Autonomy & C2, Threat Status Events