defense

According to CNN, a letter shows that the U.S. Department of Defense's oversight agency rejected a bipartisan request to investigate the slowdown of SpaceX's military-grade Starlink system operations in Ukraine.

Elon Musk stated that Starlink remains crucial for Ukraine's defense, as it is currently the only communication system that cannot be interfered with or destroyed.If Starlink were to be shut down, the front lines in Ukraine would collapse immediately. This is not a threat, just a statement of fact.

The White House announced that Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, listing oil exploration, production, and other activities as critical defense resources, and authorized the federal government to promote capacity expansion through procurement and funding support. Trump stated that limited financing and supply chain constraints made it difficult for businesses to meet demand, thus exempting certain requirements of the act to accelerate capacity expansion.

Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform stating that he does not predict that defense will automatically lead over offense, but believes that cybersecurity will ultimately trend towards a favorable outcome for defense, although the transition process will be very difficult.He pointed out that "good people discovering vulnerabilities in released software before bad people" does not belong to a game where defense has the advantage. To truly tilt the game towards defense, a deeper methodological shift is needed, including formal verification, radical reduction of the Trusted Computing Base (TCB), etc., and currently, these shifts have only just begun. He also stated that this is an important reason for his friendly attitude towards slowing down or pausing AI development, and called for investing more than 1% of GDP into cybersecurity, biosecurity, and the fortification of the physical world.

According to a report by Reuters, U.S. President Trump will instruct officials to invoke the Defense Production Act to increase oil and fuel production, aiming to control diesel prices. This directive may be issued in the form of a presidential memorandum, bypassing local and state regulations. Currently, diesel prices in the U.S. are nearing historic highs.

According to Gate market data, the stock price of the American semiconductor company Wolfspeed (WOLF.N) rose by 12.5% after the company received a $1.5 billion conditional loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Israeli Defense Minister Katz stated at a cabinet meeting that the Israel Defense Forces have been ordered to prepare for a possible outbreak of war with the Palestinian Authority.Katz mentioned that once it occurs, a state of war will be declared, and a full-scale offensive will be launched according to the approved detailed plan.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of the "Autonomous Combat Command" to enhance the U.S. military's scalable autonomous and robotic combat capabilities.The command will cover drones, artificial intelligence, and command and control systems. The Pentagon plans to double its spending in the autonomous combat field, proposing an investment of $74 billion in the budget request.

Cointelegraph cited public information stating that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth disclosed that his cash and investments amount to at least 3.1 million dollars, which includes Bitcoin valued at approximately 16,000 to 65,000 dollars.

According to Solid Intel, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that the Pentagon is advancing several confidential projects related to BTC and cryptocurrencies, having previously agreed that the U.S. should seek a strategic advantage in the BTC field.

On September 15, local time, U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie submitted articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, accusing him of abusing his power by ordering hostile military action against Iran without congressional approval.This impeachment resolution has little chance of passing, but Massie's move may force the House of Representatives to hold a vote on the matter. Massie submitted the articles of impeachment under privileged motion procedures, meaning the House must consider the impeachment within two legislative workdays and cannot postpone or delay it.

Documents obtained by The Intercept through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act show that the U.S. Department of Defense once requested OpenAI to provide a version of artificial intelligence specifically tailored for the military, with a "very low refusal rate" for commands. This statement appeared in the updated contract for the 2025 prototype agreement "P00003," which is a two-year agreement worth up to $200 million, covering logistics, intelligence decision-making, and operational uses. OpenAI, Google, xAI, and Anthropic all agreed to develop such militarized prototypes in 2025.OpenAI spokesperson Nate Evans stated that the company never agreed to contract terms that included a "very low refusal rate," and the relevant documents were early drafts from the Department of Defense, with the final executed contract not containing that statement. Department of Defense spokesperson Jacob Bliss also indicated that the phrase did not appear in any current contracts. The Intercept pointed out that the documents obtained were not marked as drafts; a Department of Justice lawyer representing the Pentagon once confirmed that the document was a signed executed version, but later requested to disregard that confirmation and stated that further investigation was needed.The latest contract signed on February 27 allows OpenAI services to be deployed on military classified networks, with similar delivery terms completely redacted. OpenAI stated that it has drawn a red line regarding autonomous killing and surveillance of Americans, but the contract text allows the government to determine any use as legal.

The G7 Cybersecurity Working Group stated in its latest report that quantum computing poses security threats to both public and private institutions, as well as economic threats, and relevant organizations should begin migrating to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) immediately. The working group noted that the migration process could take several years, and attackers can currently collect and store encrypted data to decrypt it once sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available.Quantum computing may also break digital signatures, leading to identity theft and exposing businesses and their supply chains. The report did not mention cryptocurrencies, but similar public key cryptography is used for blockchain wallets and transaction authorizations. Currently, quantum computers are unable to break Bitcoin's cryptography, but developers are considering post-quantum solutions such as BIP-360. Ethereum researchers plan to replace several cryptographic components used by accounts, validators, and applications. The Solana Foundation has tested post-quantum signatures on its testnet and launched an optional hash-based vault. The G7 working group also urged governments to support relevant research, public-private collaboration, and national PQC strategies.

StarkWare successfully tested quantum-resistant transactions on the Bitcoin network, marking a further enhancement of Bitcoin's technological defense capabilities against the threat of quantum computing.

Changxin Storage filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense on August 28, Eastern Time. Changxin Storage stated that the company filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accusing the U.S. Department of Defense of mistakenly listing it as a "Chinese military enterprise," with the company first being named in January 2025. Changxin Storage is not a military enterprise; it only researches and produces DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) products for commercial and civilian use, and they are not used for military purposes.

According to a report by Reuters, British judge Samuel Goozee dismissed the extradition defense of former Saitama CEO Manpreet Kohli on August 19 and transferred the case to the UK government to make a decision on the US extradition request. Kohli can still appeal, and the extradition has not been finalized; he is currently released on bail set at £200,000 (approximately $272,400).US prosecutors have charged Kohli with wire fraud, market manipulation, and related conspiracy, as well as operating an unlicensed remittance business, involving the Ethereum-based token Saitama, which once had a market value of about $7.5 billion. Kohli defended himself by arguing that the US could not adequately handle his mental health and the risk of suicide during detention, but the judge believed that the transfer and the safeguards of the US prison system could reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Previously, a federal judge in Boston had also dismissed his motion to dismiss the charges.The case stems from the "Operation Token Mirrors" investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in October 2024, involving fraud and wash trading. Prosecutors allege that 18 individuals, including Kohli, coordinated multiple wallets to purchase tokens and paid ZM Quant and Gotbit to conduct wash trading on several exchanges, with Kohli suspected of profiting about $20 million. Gotbit has admitted to manipulating token prices and trading volumes and was ordered to pay $23 million in June 2025, while its founder Aleksei Andriunin was sentenced to 8 months in prison.