{"id":6731,"date":"2026-03-06T17:18:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T17:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/the-d-brief-russias-helping-iran-updated-strike-map-drone-threats-dods-new-cdo-and-a-bit-more\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T17:18:51","slug":"the-d-brief-russias-helping-iran-updated-strike-map-drone-threats-dods-new-cdo-and-a-bit-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/the-d-brief-russias-helping-iran-updated-strike-map-drone-threats-dods-new-cdo-and-a-bit-more\/","title":{"rendered":"The D Brief: Russia\u2019s helping Iran; Updated strike map; Drone threats; DOD\u2019s new CDO; And a bit more."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>US-Israeli war on Iran, day 7: Moscow joins Tehran:\u00a0Russia is giving Iran the locations of U.S. forces, <\/strong>including warships and aircraft, the<strong> <\/strong><em>Washington Post <\/em>reported Thursday, citing three anonymous officials. \u201cThe assistance, which has not been previously reported, signals that the rapidly expanding conflict now features one of America\u2019s chief nuclear-armed competitors with exquisite intelligence capabilities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Second opinion:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cIn Iran\u2019s War, Russia Serves as Backstage Partner,\u201d Nicole Grajewski wrote Thursday for Russia Matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Update: Iran\u2019s attacks have plummeted, but its targets are more spread out, <\/em><\/strong>the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> reported Thursday. Since Saturday, Iran\u2019s ballistic-missile launches are down 90% and drone attacks, 83%, defense officials said Thursday, thanks in part to the targeting of Iran\u2019s underground missile cities. \u201cBut Iran still has other ways to retaliate, most important its arsenal of low-cost drones. It continues to launch drones by the hundreds at Arab neighbors across the Persian Gulf, spreading fear, roiling markets and disrupting shipments of oil and goods from a region that is crucial to the world\u2019s economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cIran\u2019s emphasis now is persistence, not volume,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> said Hasan Alhasan, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a former foreign policy analyst for the crown prince of Bahrain. More, here.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Latest: Israeli strikes are pounding Lebanon, including an ongoing barrage around Beirut <\/em><\/strong>after the Israelis issued new evacuation orders for citizens living in and around Lebanon\u2019s capital city. \u201cAt least three buildings collapsed, and thousands who live in the area have been displaced,\u201d the <em>New York Times <\/em>reports as Israel targets Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>View a regularly-updated interactive map of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran<\/em><\/strong> via the Institute for the Study of War, here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The death toll inside Iran has risen to over 1,300 people while more than 200 have been killed inside Lebanon,<\/em><\/strong> according to the <em>Times<\/em> and al-Jazeera. On Friday, Israel also issued a new evacuation order for Iranians living in the Qom region, which is located near an Iranian nuclear site.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The State Department suspended operations at its embassy in Kuwait City <\/em><\/strong>amid the widening regional war, officials announced Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>At least two of America\u2019s Gulf allies complain the U.S. didn\u2019t give them enough time<\/em><\/strong> to prepare for defense against Iranian drones and missiles, AP reported Friday. One expert said U.S. officials appear to have \u201cunderestimated the risk to its Gulf Arab allies, believing American troops and Israel would be the primary targets of Iranian retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cOperational secrecy kept the US from making evacuation plans\u2014and that means Americans in the Mideast could wait days,\u201d 35-year Foreign Service veteran Donald Heflin told <em>The Conversation <\/em>on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Duration alert: The U.S. military has asked for more Iran-focused intelligence support \u201cfor at least 100 days but likely through September,\u201d<\/strong> <em>Politico <\/em>reported Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s the first known call for additional intelligence personnel for the Iran war by the administration, and a sign the Pentagon is already allocating funding for operations that may stretch long beyond President Donald Trump\u2019s initial four-week timeline for the conflict,\u201d Nahal Toosi, Jack Detsch, and Paul McLeary wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>But many Republicans are insistent that there is neither a war going on, nor that it will last long.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cWe&#8217;re not at war, we have no intention at being at war,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Thursday. \u201cThe president and the Department of Defense have made it very clear, this is a limited operation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Johnson spoke after House lawmakers failed to rein in Trump\u2019s Iran war powers<\/em><\/strong> in a 212-219 vote in the lower chamber Thursday. The bill would have required the White House to suspend operations until it gained Congressional approval for the war. Four Democrats joined Republicans to oppose the effort\u2014Reps. Jared Golden of Maine; Henry Cuellar of Texas; Ohio\u2019s Greg Landsman; and Juan Vargas of California\u2014while two Republicans joined the Democrats in support, including Kentucky\u2019s Thomas Massie and Ohio\u2019s Warren Davidson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>\u201cIt\u2019s not a war,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Florida GOP Rep. Randy Fine said Wednesday.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>\u201cI would call it an operation at this point,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> California Rep. Ken Calvert said this week about 72 hours after the first bombs fell in Tehran.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>\u201cThis is war, and we\u2019re taking out the threat,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday. Moments later when asked about his use of the word, \u201cwar,\u201d he replied, \u201cThat was a misspoke.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>\u201cI have to go back and look at the war,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> President Trump said Wednesday after a public event at the White House.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Trump acknowledged, but shrugged off dangers to stateside Americans.<\/em><\/strong> <em>Time<\/em> magazine asked the president this week whether Americans should be worried about retaliatory attacks at home from the Iran war. \u201cI guess,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cBut I think they\u2019re worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it. But yeah, you know, we expect some things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cLike I said, some people will die.<\/em><\/strong> When you go to war, some people will die,\u201d Trump said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>rising<\/em><\/strong><strong><em> gas prices, \u201cI don&#8217;t have any concern about it,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> the president told Reuters Thursday. \u201cThey&#8217;ll drop very rapidly when this is over,\u201d he said, \u201cand if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related reading:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>Welcome to this Friday 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 with 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. <strong><em>On this day in 1987, <\/em><\/strong>the Reagan administration was finalizing its decision to escort reflagged commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, an operation that would lead to a shadow war with Iran and a one-day battle the following April.<\/p>\n<p><strong>After a <\/strong><strong>report<\/strong><strong> surfaced Thursday that the Pentagon is using artificial intelligence to carry out attacks inside Iran,<\/strong> two additional outlets have taken a much closer look at an airstrike Saturday on an elementary school that killed more than 170 people, including children in southern Tehran.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>After visual analysis using satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos,<\/em><\/strong> the <em>New York Times<\/em><em> <\/em>reported Thursday that \u201cofficial statements that U.S. forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where the I.R.G.C. base is located, suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>And according to <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Reuters<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>, \u201cU.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible\u201d<\/em><\/strong> for the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, southern Iran. However, officials \u201chave not yet reached a final conclusion or completed their investigation,\u201d the wire service notes. According to the <em>Times<\/em>, satellite imagery \u201cshows that multiple precision strikes hit at least six Revolutionary Guards buildings along with the school. Four buildings inside the naval base were completely destroyed and two other buildings showed impact points at the center of their roofs, consistent with such precision hits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>A former Air Force analyst said \u201cthe most likely explanation was that the school had been a \u2018target misidentification\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u2014that forces had attacked the site without realizing that it might have had large numbers of civilians inside.\u201d Read more (gift link), here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth batted away concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles<\/strong> in a press conference Thursday at the Pentagon. Instead, he seemed to suggest that as Iran\u2019s capabilities are weakened, the remaining missiles are stretching further, <em>Defense One<\/em>\u2019s Meghann Myers reports.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Notable: U.S. and partner forces have fired more than 800 Patriot missiles in the first three days of fighting, <\/em><\/strong>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday\u2014adding that the total is more than Ukraine has been given since it was invaded by Russia four years ago, the <em>Kyiv Independent<\/em> reported Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Little planning for drones:<\/em><\/strong><strong> <\/strong>\u201cFears are already circulating at the Pentagon that the U.S. will soon burn through its arsenal of advanced air-defense systems, given the intensity of the air war in the Middle East,\u201d <em>The Atlantic\u2019s <\/em>Simon Shuster and Nancy Youssef wrote Thursday. \u201cWhether those fears are realized could depend on how long the war lasts. But the U.S. failure to deploy cheap and effective weapons against Iranian drones already looks like poor planning at best, and hubris at worst.\u201d Read on, here.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>U.S. forces destroyed Iran\u2019s military space command,<\/em><\/strong> Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, announced Thursday. But experts told Novelly that the country\u2019s nascent space capabilities never posed a significant threat.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Decades-old B-1 and B-52 bombers have hit hundreds of Iranian military targets this week,<\/em><\/strong> defense officials said in another fact sheet from the ongoing war. <em>Defense One<\/em>\u2019s Thomas Novelly has a bit more on the recent history and anticipated future of those airframes, here.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Analysis: \u201cThe inaugural deployment of the LUCAS drone, a near-clone of the Iranian Shahed-136,<\/em><\/strong> signals a big Pentagon step into the era of affordable mass,\u201d writes Anna Miskelley of Forecast International. \u201cWhile the Iranian drone flies to pre-programmed GPS coordinates, LUCAS has a vision-based object recognition system that enables it to find and hit specific military hardware.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cAnd LUCAS\u2019 combat debut may prove far more than a regional tactical experiment,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> she warns. \u201cIf successful in the coming weeks, it could be a live-fire proof of concept for the Hellscape strategy being developed for the Pacific.\u201d More, here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Proxy watch: Most Iran-backed militants inside Iraq are not interested in jumping into this fight,<\/strong> Reuters reported Friday. Much of this is because Iran\u2019s proxy network has been \u201chollowed out by years of targeted assassinations of hard-to-replace leaders; the loss of secure bases for training and weapons transit; and the transformation of Iraqi commanders into wealthy politicians and businessmen with more to lose than gain from confronting the West.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On the other hand, the Kurdish people <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>posted<\/em><\/strong><strong><em> \u201ca message to the American people\u201d<\/em><\/strong> on Thursday. Their message comes amid reports the CIA is looking to arm Kurds to enter Iran to distract and help destabilize remaining regime forces. \u201cKurdish forces fought ISIS not only to defend our homeland, but also to protect the world from terrorism. We stood on the front lines against extremism because we believe in freedom, stability, and peaceful coexistence. However, we cannot ignore the painful moments of the past,\u201d the Kurds wrote in their Thursday message.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cDuring the last nine years, decisions made during the presidency of Donald Trump left the Kurds in difficult situations three times:<\/em><\/strong> in 2017 in Kirkuk, in 2019 in Rojava, and again in 2026 in Rojava. In those moments, Kurdish forces were left to face powerful enemies alone,\u201d the message reads. \u201cWe still see the United States as an important partner and a friend of the Kurdish people,\u201d but \u201cAt the same time, we have learned from the past,\u201d they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cThe Kurds in Iran will not repeat the mistakes that happened in Iraq and Syria.<\/em><\/strong> Partnership must be built on clear understanding and real guarantees,\u201d they said, which to our ears doesn\u2019t necessarily sound like they\u2019ve declined the offer to assist the U.S. in this conflict. Indeed, they conclude, \u201cWe believe in the same values of freedom, dignity, and the fight against extremism. Together, we can stand against terrorism and build a more stable and peaceful future.\u201d Read the rest, here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related reading:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color:#b39602\">Around the Defense Department<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Drones will present a \u201cbigger\u201d threat than IEDs did in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars,<\/strong> Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, the head of Joint Interagency Task Force-401, told reporters on Thursday at an industry event hosted by the Army. \u201cWhat I can tell you is that the challenge of unmanned systems, the threat posed from unmanned systems, is going to far exceed the threat that we saw from IEDs\u2026where we made some progress, but never really got in front of it,\u201d Ross said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The U.S. spent more than $20 billion defending against IEDs 20 years ago, and never came up with a good detection system for roadside bombs, <\/em><\/strong><em>Defense One<\/em>\u2019s Meghann Myers reports. But thanks to the efforts of then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the U.S. managed to create a vehicle\u2014MRAPs\u2014that at least offered much better protection from them than the unarmored humvees that troops had been using in the first years of those wars.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>But unlike IEDs, \u201cwe&#8217;re going to see proliferation of unmanned systems into our commercial airspace,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Ross predicted. \u201cIt&#8217;s going to be very common in the next few years. And what that means is that our ability to manage that airspace safely\u2014and then protect critical infrastructure that must be protected, whether it&#8217;s formations or locations\u2014that market is just going to continue to grow over time.\u201d More, here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>SecDef Hegseth just appointed a 25-year-old to run the Pentagon\u2019s AI efforts.<\/strong> His name is Gavin Kliger, and he was one of Elon Musk\u2019s staffers charged with overhauling the federal government in last year\u2019s much-promised, little-delivered DOGE effort. Kliger led the DOGE operation at the IRS last February. Twelve months later, he\u2019s been nominated to be the U.S. military\u2019s Chief Data Officer, according to a social media post Friday morning on Twitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>As CDO, Kliger will be \u201cat the center of the Department\u2019s most ambitious AI efforts,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> the account for the Defense Department\u2019s Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering said. \u201cHis background includes service on Secretary Hegseth\u2019s [DOGE] team, where he oversaw the launch of GenAI.mil,\u201d and an unspecified role in the Pentagon\u2019s Drone Dominance program. \u201cKliger will be a key leader in executing the Department&#8217;s AI strategy,\u201d with a \u201cfocus on the day-to-day alignment and execution of the Department\u2019s AI projects, working directly with America&#8217;s frontier AI labs to support the warfighter,\u201d officials said in the Friday post.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related reading:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\nif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\nn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script',\n'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '10155007044873614'); \nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n    FB.init({\n      appId      : '1546266055584988',\n      autoLogAppEvents : true,\n      xfbml      : true,\n      version    : 'v2.11'\n    });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/threats\/2026\/03\/the-d-brief-march-06-2026\/411944\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US-Israeli war on Iran, day 7: Moscow joins Tehran:\u00a0Russia is giving Iran the locations of U.S. forces, including warships and aircraft, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing three anonymous officials. \u201cThe assistance, which has not been previously reported, signals that the rapidly expanding conflict now features one of America\u2019s chief nuclear-armed competitors with exquisite intelligence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.defenseone.com\/media\/img\/cd\/2026\/03\/06\/DB_lander\/open-graph.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6733,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6731\/revisions\/6733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}