On November 27, 2025, a tragic ambush near the White House left two National Guard members wounded, with 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom succumbing to her injuries the following day.  The suspect, 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who had entered the U.S. via Operation Allies Welcome in 2021 and was granted asylum earlier that year.

The U.S. Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has been deployed into the Caribbean Sea on November 16, marking the most significant American military deployment in the region in decades. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is promoting the operation as a crackdown on narcotics smuggling routes but with nearly 12,000 U.S. troops aboard a dozen Navy ships and a backdrop of political tension with Venezuela, critics are concerned with the lack of