aacj

June 17 2025

Israel-Iran; Senate bill unveiled; Homeland Security reverses; Tech execs enlist; OpenAI Pentagon deal

Greg Loving

17 Jun 2025 • 5 min read

Israeli rescue workers search for people under the rubble of a partially collapsed residential building after Iranian missiles struck Bat Yam in central Israel on Sunday © Abir Sultan/EPA/EFE/Shutterstock

Iran Faces Mounting Military Pressure as International Tensions Escalate

Senate Republicans Unveil Competing Bill, Proposing Steeper Medicaid Cuts

Homeland Security Reverses Policy, Clearing Way for Immigration Raids at Farms and Hotels

From C-Suites to Army Bases: Tech Execs Enlist to Upgrade Military AI

OpenAI Inks $200 Million Deal to Provide AI Tools to Pentagon

BREAKING Kraft Heinz to Eliminate All Chemical Dyes Over Next 2 Years

1. Iran Faces Mounting Military Pressure as International Tensions Escalate

The Islamic Republic confronts what officials describe as its gravest threat since the devastating eight-year war with Iraq, as Israeli forces continue bombardment operations using advanced American military equipment while intelligence agencies maintain deep penetration within Iranian territory. The current crisis has drawn stark comparisons to the 1980s conflict when Iran's leadership admitted to fighting with "empty hands" against a well-equipped adversary, forcing the isolated regime to plead with allied nations for basic military supplies. As the conflict enters its fifth day, American President Donald Trump has issued an unprecedented call for Tehran residents to evacuate, declaring that "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon" while referencing previous failed nuclear negotiations.

The United States has significantly expanded its military footprint in the region, deploying a third Navy destroyer to the eastern Mediterranean and directing a second carrier strike group toward the Arabian Sea, alongside tanker aircraft capable of refueling Israeli fighter jets. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced additional military capabilities deployed over the weekend, officially described as defensive measures but positioning American forces for potential direct involvement in operations against Iran. Trump departed early from G-7 meetings in Canada, stating his intention to pursue "an end, a real end, not a cease-fire" to the Middle East conflict, while American officials reportedly worked through the night at the White House and Pentagon, with one source describing this as potentially "the Iranians' last chance before the U.S. actively joins in."

Financial Times; Wall Street Journal; Twitter

2. Senate Republicans Unveil Competing Bill, Proposing Steeper Medicaid Cuts

Senate Republicans on Monday released legislation that would cut Medicaid far more aggressively than would the House-passed bill to deliver President Trump’s domestic agenda, while also salvaging or slowing the elimination of some clean-energy tax credits, setting up a fight over their party’s marquee policy package. The measure, released by the Senate Finance Committee, contains the core provisions of that chamber’s version of the legislation that Republicans muscled through the House last month and are hoping to speed through the Senate and deliver to Mr. Trump's desk by July 4. But its differences with that bill are substantial and are all but certain to complicate the measure’s path to enactment, casting doubt on that timetable. Most notably, the proposal would take a slower and less sweeping approach to phasing out clean-energy tax credits created during the Biden administration, and cover part of the cost of doing so by imposing deeper and more expansive cuts to Medicaid.

NYT

3. Homeland Security Reverses Policy, Clearing Way for Immigration Raids at Farms and Hotels

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday told staff that it was reversing guidance issued last week that agents were not to conduct immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants — a decision that stood at odds with President Donald Trump’s calls for mass deportations of anyone without legal status.

Washington Post

4. From C-Suites to Army Bases: Tech Execs Enlist to Upgrade Military AI

The nerd brigade is reporting for duty. They probably won’t win any push-up contests and might not be sharpshooters. Yet for part of the year, a set of brainy Silicon Valley executives will trade their corporate-branded vests for U.S. Army Reserve uniforms because they know a heckuva lot about artificial intelligence. The chief technology officers from Palantir and Meta Platforms—Shyam Sankar and Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, respectively—will join Kevin Weil and Bob McGrew of OpenAI pedigree to make up the inaugural cohort of a new Army innovation corps. Their mission: swap C-suites for bases and bring some badly needed tech upgrades to the Army. “It’s possible I watched too much ‘Top Gun,’” said Bosworth, 43 years old. Standing more than 6-feet-2, he was told he was too tall to realize his youthful ambitions of flying an F-16 jet fighter. He welcomes the new assignment, he said, as a way to finally extend his family’s tradition of military service.

WSJ

5. OpenAI Inks $200 Million Deal to Provide AI Tools to Pentagon

OpenAI is officially on the Pentagon’s payroll. The Department of Defence announced a $200 million contract with OpenAI to provide the US government with new artificial intelligence tools, including those used for proactive cyber defense. In a post outlining its latest contracts, the DoD said that OpenAI “will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.” The work will primarily be completed in the Washington, DC region with an estimated completion date of July 2026. OpenAI said in a new blog post that the DoD contract is its first partnership under a new initiative to provide its AI technology to workers across federal, state, and local governments. The company is offering custom models for national security on “a limited basis,” according to the announcement, with OpenAI saying that all use cases must comply with its policies and guidelines. OpenAI’s current usage policy bans its services from being used to “develop or use weapons” and “injure others or destroy property.”

The Verge