Share this story

Trump administration pauses intelligence sharing with Ukraine

WASHINGTON (NYT) — The Trump administration has paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine alongside a military aid freeze, officials said Wednesday, part of a pressure campaign to force its government to cooperate with the White House’s plans to end the country’s war with Russia.

ADVERTISING

A U.S. official said that military targeting information was no longer being shared with Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official said that the pause would make it more difficult to strike Russian forces but that Ukraine’s military had access to other satellite imagery.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe and national security adviser Michael Waltz both confirmed the pause in intelligence support but suggested it could be short-lived if Ukraine quickly came back to the negotiating table.

Speaking on Fox Business, Ratcliffe applauded a statement Tuesday by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, which praised President Donald Trump and insisted that he support peace with Russia.

Federal layoffs harm cybersecurity, says former top US security official

DETROIT (Reuters) — The mass culling of workers from federal payrolls will have a “devastating” impact on cybersecurity and national security, a top former National Security Agency official said on Wednesday.

Rob Joyce, former NSA director of cybersecurity, told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party of the harm from aggressive threats to cut U.S. government employees.

“Eliminating probationary employees will destroy a pipeline of top talent, essential for hunting and eradicating PRC threats,” Joyce said at the hearing on the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China’s cyber operations targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, telecommunications and other sectors.

More than 100,000 federal workers have either taken early retirement or been laid off as part of President Donald Trump and billionaire advisor Elon Musk’s efforts to radically pare down the size and role of federal agencies.

US, Hamas hold direct talks on hostages in Gaza, officials say

JERUSALEM (NYT) — U.S. and Hamas officials have had talks in Qatar about hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to two Israeli officials, a Western official and a diplomat briefed on the matter, breaking with a long-standing American policy of refusing to directly engage groups that it has designated as terrorists.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to be special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, participated in the talks this week with Hamas officials, the diplomat said.

The talks in Doha, Qatar, focused on securing the release of Edan Alexander, the only Israeli American hostage still believed to be alive, and the bodies of four other Israeli Americans who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to one of the Israeli officials and the Western official.

Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, did not deny that direct talks with Hamas were underway. Asked at a White House news conference Wednesday why the administration was engaging with Hamas, she said Boehler, “who is engaged in those negotiations,” had “the authority to talk to anyone.”