{"id":4734,"date":"2026-01-13T03:08:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T03:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/the-d-brief-us-bombs-isis-in-syria-iranian-protests-swell-execs-rebuff-oil-plan-meet-the-armys-dronemakers-and-a-bit-more\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T03:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T03:08:49","slug":"the-d-brief-us-bombs-isis-in-syria-iranian-protests-swell-execs-rebuff-oil-plan-meet-the-armys-dronemakers-and-a-bit-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/the-d-brief-us-bombs-isis-in-syria-iranian-protests-swell-execs-rebuff-oil-plan-meet-the-armys-dronemakers-and-a-bit-more\/","title":{"rendered":"The D Brief: US bombs ISIS in Syria; Iranian protests swell; Execs rebuff oil plan; Meet the Army\u2019s dronemakers; And a bit more."},"content":{"rendered":"
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U.S. President Donald Trump declared himself Venezuela\u2019s new leader on Sunday evening,<\/strong> two days after the Defense Department announced it had seized the fifth tanker of alleged Venezuelan crude oil since December. In a social media post, Trump referred to himself as \u201cacting president\u201d of the South American nation, using what appeared to be a screenshot of a webpage from Wikipedia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About that fifth seized tanker:<\/em><\/strong> Early Friday, U.S. forces \u201claunched from the USS Gerald R. Ford [aircraft carrier] and apprehended Motor\/Tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea without incident,\u201d military officials at Southern Command said on social media. A 40-second video accompanied the post, and appeared to show armed U.S. forces boarding the tanker via helicopter and spreading out before the video panned out and stopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem <\/em><\/strong>shared<\/em><\/strong> a much longer video of the incident<\/em><\/strong> on her social media feed, and said the tanker was \u201csuspected of carrying embargoed oil\u201d and \u201chad departed Venezuela attempting to evade U.S. forces\u201d before the U.S. Coast Guard took control of the vessel. In his own social media post about the incident, Trump claimed the interception was conducted \u201cin coordination with the Interim Authorities of Venezuela,\u201d but he did not elaborate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s interim leader, oil minister Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, reportedly asked the U.S. military to seize the tanker<\/em><\/strong> because it \u201cleft the country without permission,\u201d the New York Times <\/em>reported Saturday, citing satellite imagery as well as Venezuelan officials, who released a statement about the episode Friday claiming the tanker departed before paying for the crude onboard.<\/p>\n

The ship was one of at least 16 that attempted to evade Trump\u2019s naval blockade<\/em><\/strong> of Venezuelan oil tankers, the Associated Press reports. \u201cU.S. government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama.\u201d The vessel had been traveling since November with its transponder turned off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, \u201cthe Olina is loaded with 707,000 barrels of oil,<\/em><\/strong> which at the current market price of about $60 a barrel would be worth more than $42 million,\u201d AP adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alert: \u201cU.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> according to an American embassy warning issued Saturday from Caracas. The embassy also discouraged Americans in Colombia from traveling through Venezuela for the foreseeable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are reports of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of U.S. citizenship or support for the United States,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> the warning reads, and advises U.S. citizens in Venezuela to \u201cremain vigilant and exercise caution when traveling by road.\u201d What\u2019s more, \u201cIntermittent power and utility outages continue throughout the country,\u201d the statement reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the way: ExxonMobil\u2019s CEO said Venezuela is \u201cuninvestable\u201d<\/em><\/strong> following a meeting Friday between Trump and 17 other U.S. petroleum executives at the White House. \u201cWe’ve had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we’ve historically seen here,\u201d CEO Darren Woods told the president Friday, adding, \u201cIf we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it’s uninvestable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s reply: \u201cI’ll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he told reporters Sunday. \u201cI didn’t like their response. They’re playing too cute,\u201d the president said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another company, ConocoPhillips, said it wants to recoup its roughly $12 billion loss<\/em><\/strong> from the 2007 nationalization of Venezuelan companies. Trump said he wasn\u2019t interested in that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to look at what people lost in the past, because that was their fault,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Trump said. \u201cThat was a different president. You\u2019re going to make a lot of money, but we\u2019re not going to go back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relatedly, <\/em><\/strong>\u201cOn Saturday, Trump signed an executive order to block courts or creditors from seizing revenue tied to the sale of Venezuelan oil held in U.S. Treasury accounts,\u201d Reuters reports. It\u2019s unclear how that may play out in courts or how Congress will react. Read more at Quartz, Politico<\/em> or Axios.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And ICYMI: The Project on Government Oversight filed a lawsuit for the Pentagon to release the unedited footage of SOUTHCOM\u2019s September 2 boat strike,<\/em><\/strong> which killed two survivors of the initial U.S. military attack. Lawmakers have seen the footage, but the Defense Department won\u2019t release it publicly. \u201cWe want to shed light on what really happened here, because the public deserves to know,\u201d POGO said in a short statement Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additional reading:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Welcome to this Monday edition of The D Brief,<\/strong> a newsletter focused on developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. It\u2019s more important than ever to stay informed, so we\u2019d like to take a moment to thank you for reading. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you\u2019re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1991, <\/em><\/strong>the U.S. Congress authorized the use of military force to attack Iraq in Kuwait\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Greenland developments<\/span><\/h2>\n

Apparently eager to capitalize on his Venezuelan takeover, Trump <\/strong>said<\/strong> Friday, \u201cWe are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not.<\/strong> Because if we don’t it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. If we don’t do it the easy way we’re gonna do it the hard way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He repeated that Sunday evening,<\/em><\/strong> telling reporters on Air Force One, \u201cWe\u2019re talking about acquiring, not leasing, not having it short-term, we\u2019re talking about acquiring and if we don\u2019t do it, Russia or China will and that\u2019s not going to happen while I\u2019m president\u2026we have to have ownership. You really need title, as they say in the real estate business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you are essentially talking about here is the United States going to war with NATO,<\/em><\/strong> the United States going to war with Europe,\u201d Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u2019s Chris Murphy, D-Conn., warned in a video Friday after Trump\u2019s remarks. To be clear, he added, \u201cYou\u2019re talking about the U.S. and France being at war with each other over Greenland.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latest: British and German officials are drawing up plans to boost troop levels on Greenland<\/em><\/strong> \u201cto show US President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security and to try to tamp down American threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory,\u201d Bloomberg reported Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those discussions have involved French officials as well,<\/em><\/strong> the UK\u2019s Telegraph reports, writing, \u201cThe plans, still at an early stage, could involve British soldiers, warships and planes being deployed to protect Greenland from Russia and China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bigger picture: Trump\u2019s \u201cpursuit of the territory has plunged Nato into crisis<\/em><\/strong> and prompted speculation that the 75-year-old alliance could fall apart,\u201d the British newspaper notes. \u201cThe Telegraph<\/em> also understands the European Union is drawing up plans for sanctions on US companies should Mr Trump reject the offer of a Nato deployment.\u201d That could include restrictions on Meta, Google, Microsoft and X, as well as unnamed U.S. banks and financial institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA more extreme option could be to evict the US military from its bases in Europe,<\/em><\/strong> denying it a key staging post for operations in the Middle East and elsewhere,\u201d though that indeed seems quite extreme. Read more, here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth,<\/em><\/strong> the British tabloid Daily Mail<\/em> alleged Saturday, \u201cAccording to sources, Trump has asked Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to prepare the invasion plan, but it is being resisted by the joint chiefs of staff on the grounds that it would be illegal\u2014and not be supported by Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another consideration:<\/em><\/strong> While a U.S. military invasion of Greenland would be an unprecedented violation of values among the U.S.-led NATO alliance, and it would arguably be unconstitutional, such orders may not necessarily be \u201cillegal\u201d for American troops. \u201cManifestly illegal orders would be [to] wipe out all civilians, murder pows, [or] torture prisoners,\u201d attorney in international law Jennifer Elsea observed on social media. \u201cJus ad bellum and the constitution are not for the military to decide,\u201d she added. And though an invasion of Greenland \u201cmight persuade some GFOs to resign rather than follow such orders, but I doubt they would be in serious legal jeopardy if they don\u2019t,\u201d she suggested.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next on the radar:<\/em><\/strong> The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt, are headed to Washington for talks with Trump officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Middle East<\/span><\/h2>\n

The U.S. military says it \u201cconducted large-scale strikes against multiple ISIS targets across Syria\u201d on Saturday. <\/strong>The strikes came in response to an ISIS attack on U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra on Dec. 13 that killed two American soldiers and one U.S. civilian interpreter, military officials at Central Command said in a statement.<\/p>\n

According to the <\/em><\/strong>Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/strong>, \u201cWarplanes and drones dropped more than 90 bombs on roughly three dozen targets, according to Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command. Targets included ISIS infrastructure, smuggling routes and weapons caches, he said. The Jordanian military also took part in the strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump administration mulls military action as hundreds die in Iranian protests. <\/strong>As \u201cthe country\u2019s supreme leader that he would expand a government crackdown on some of the most widespread demonstrations in the Islamic Republic\u2019s history,\u201d the Washington Post <\/em>reported, Trump officials are reported weighing their options, which could include \u201clethal force or nonlethal options, such as cyberattacks that curtail Iran\u2019s ability to limit internet access for protesters who are organizing against the regime in Tehran.\u201d On Friday, Trump threatened lethal action if the Iranian regime continues to kill protestors.<\/p>\n

About 490 protesters and 48 state-security personnel have died in the past two weeks, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, <\/em><\/strong>the WSJ<\/em> reports. The group also \u201ctracked 10,000 arrests, as the Islamic Republic has been cracking down on protests that started when merchants in Tehran began striking after a precipitous drop in the currency and has since spread to more than 96 cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran returns the threats:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cMohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, said in addition to hitting U.S. bases, Iran would strike Middle Eastern shipping lanes and Israel.\u201d Read on, here.<\/p>\n

Senators from both sides of the aisle doubt U.S. military intervention would help. <\/em><\/strong>\u201cI don\u2019t know that bombing Iran will have the effect that is intended,\u201d Republican Senator Rand Paul said on ABC News on Sunday. Paul and Democratic Senator Mark Warner said that a U.S. military attack on Iran, far from undermining the regime, could \u201crally the people against an outside enemy\u201d\u2014as happened in 1980, when an invasion by Iraq\u2019s Saddam Hussein helped the then-new revolutionary government cement control in Tehran. Reuters has more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Commentary: \u201cFive conditions determine whether revolutions succeed. <\/em><\/strong>For the first time since 1979, Iran meets nearly all of them,\u201d Karim Sadjadpour and Jack A. Goldstone write at The Atlantic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Around the Defense Department<\/span><\/h2>\n

Army\u2019s noncommittal procurement strategy is creating quandaries for vendors. <\/strong>\u201cThe Army\u2019s new acquisition strategy\u2014buy fast, in small quantities, then maybe buy a lot more\u2014is causing headaches for at least one of the vendors working on the service\u2019s new medium-range reconnaissance drone,\u201d reports Defense One\u2019s <\/em>Meghann Myers, here.<\/p>\n

Meet the dronemakers of the Army\u2019s 25th Infantry Division. <\/strong>More and more, the division is relying on the soldiers of its Lightning Lab to produce the cheap and cutting-edge drones it needs. Defense One\u2019s <\/em>Jennifer Hlad visited the unit\u2019s HQ in an old movie theater at Hawaii\u2019s Schofield Barracks. Read, here.<\/p>\n

\u2018National security\u2019 in the homeland<\/span><\/h2>\n

The U.S. military has a recruiting program that claims to offer protection for the immigrant parents of American citizens, <\/strong>which was launched in 2013 and is known as Parole in Place. Greg Jaffe of the New York Times<\/em> travelled to rural Oregon to learn more from Army recruiters. Story, here (gift link).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Big-picture consideration:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cICE, and the use of the National Guard to protect ICE, has been covered as immigration story, but America\u2019s immigration and customs agents aren\u2019t only being used for that purpose,\u201d warns in a new podcast episode of \u201cAutocracy in America\u201d from The Atlantic. <\/em>\u201cThe Trump administration is also using ICE and the National Guard to project power, to demonstrate that it can operate without restraint, and in defiance of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applebaum: \u201cHow is the deployment of these agents and soldiers legal?<\/em><\/strong> Has anything like this ever happened before? It seems any American can now be detained or harassed, or even killed. The American National Guard can be used as puppets in a presidential game\u2014is that legal too?\u201d Listen in at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube to learn more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, <\/em><\/strong>Trump said last week that he regrets not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in swing states after his loss in the 2020 election, the New York Times<\/em> reported after its four-hour interview with the president on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Relatedly,<\/em><\/strong> a Coast Guard \u201cVeteran says he was seized by immigration agents on cruise in case of mistaken identity\u201d just last week, Task & Purpose reported Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additional reading:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n