War Department Asks Industry to Make More Than 300K Drones, Quickly, Cheaply

Dec. 2, 2025 | By C. Todd Lopez, Pentagon News |

The War Department requested information earlier this week to gauge industry's willingness and ability to make some 300,000 drones quickly and inexpensively — a concrete effort by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to directly meet the "drone dominance" goals laid out by the president. 

On June 6, President Donald J. Trump signed the "Unleashing American Drone Dominance" executive order outlining how the United States would up its drone game in both the commercial and military sectors, including how it would deliver massive amounts of inexpensive, American-made, lethal drones to U.S. military units to amplify their combat capabilities. 

Hegseth followed up in July with the "Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance" memorandum, in which he laid out his plan for how the department would meet the president's intent. 

Part of the secretary's plan included participating with other parts of government in building up the nascent U.S. drone manufacturing base by approving hundreds of American products for purchase by the department, powering a "technological leapfrog" by arming combat units with the very best of low-cost American-made drones, and finally, training as the department expects to fight. 

"Next year I expect to see [drone] capability integrated into all relevant combat training, including force-on-force drone wars," the secretary said. 

At that time, Hegseth said, he had already advanced American drone dominance by stripping away regulations that hindered the military's adoption of small drones and shifting the necessary authorities away from the department's bureaucracy and into the hands of unit commanders. 

"This was the first step in the urgent effort to boost lethality across the force," Hegseth said in a video posted today to social media. 

Now the War Department is moving out in a new way on the drone dominance initiative, Hegseth said. 

"The second step is to kickstart U.S. industrial capacity and reduce prices, so our military can adequately budget for unmanned weapons," the secretary said. 

He noted that, with help from Congress, the department will initially focus on small attack drones. 

"Drone dominance is a billion-dollar program funded by President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill," Hegseth said. "It is purpose-built on the pillars of the War Department's new acquisition philosophy: a stable demand signal to expand the U.S. drone industrial base by leveraging private capital, paired with flexible contracting built for commercial companies, founded by our best engineers and entrepreneurs." 

A stable demand signal means the War Department will make concrete plans to buy lots of drones, on a regular schedule, over a long period of time. When that happens, American industry will step up to the plate to satisfy the department's needs, including by investing in and building out its own capacity to produce in the long term. 

The request for information released to industry this week spells out a plan that'll begin early next year, when the department will, over the course of two years, and within four phases, offer $1 billion to industry to build a large number of small unmanned aerial systems capable of conducting one-way attack missions. 

The first of those four phases, called "gauntlets," runs from February to July 2026. During that time, 12 vendors will be asked to collectively produce 30,000 drones at a cost of $5,000 per unit, for a total of $150 million in department outlays. 

Over the course of the next three gauntlets, the number of vendors will go down from 12 to five, the number of drones ordered will increase from 30,000 to 150,000, and the price per drone will drop from $5,000 to $2,300. 

"Drone dominance will do two things: drive costs down and capabilities up," Hegseth said. "We will deliver tens of thousands of small drones to our force in 2026, and hundreds of thousands of them by 2027." 

Through the drone dominance program, $1 billion from the Big Beautiful Bill will fund the manufacture of approximately 340,000 small UASs for combat units over the course of two years. 

After that, it's expected that American industry's interest in building drones as a result of the program will have strengthened supply chains and manufacturing capacity to the point that the military will be able to afford to buy the drones it wants, in the quantity it wants, at a price it wants, through regular budgeting. 

Equipment is only part of the game, the secretary said. Doctrine — how the warfighter fights — is also critical. 

"I will soon be meeting with the military services to discuss transformational changes in warfighting doctrine," Hegseth said. "We need to outfit our combat units with unmanned systems at scale. We cannot wait. The funding provided by the Big Beautiful Bill is ready to be used to mount an effective sprint to build combat power. At the Department of War, we are adopting new technologies with a 'fight tonight' philosophy — so that our warfighters have the cutting-edge tools they need to prevail." 

Following the end of the Cold War, Hegseth said, U.S. defense spending dropped precipitously, and as a result, there was also a consolidation of defense contractors from hundreds to just dozens. The department, he said, budgeted for quality rather than quantity — and for 30 years got what it needed. 

"However, we now find ourselves in a new era," he said. "An era of cheap, disposable battlefield drones. We cannot be left behind — we must invest in inexpensive, unmanned platforms that have proved so effective." 

Drone dominance, he said, is how the U.S. will meet the drone challenge posed by other nations. 

"One of my priorities is rebuilding our military," Hegseth said. "We can't do that by doing business the same way we have in the past. We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles. And we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones."

Guardrails for the Future: Why AI Regulation Cannot Wait

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the foundations of modern life, influencing how we work, learn, communicate, consume information, and even understand ourselves. Yet at the very moment when thoughtful oversight is needed most, some of the world’s most powerful technology companies are assembling vast financial war chests to fight attempts at AI regulation. Reports from national media show that Silicon Valley–aligned political groups are preparing unprecedented spending to influence policy and elections. This escalating battle over governance reveals a truth society can no longer ignore: without enforceable guardrails, AI will deepen inequality, consolidate unaccountable power, and threaten democratic institutions.

AI development has accelerated so quickly that lawmakers, institutions, and social norms are struggling to keep pace. The public increasingly relies on automated systems for medical evaluations, employment screening, credit assessments, and even criminal justice recommendations. At the same time, AI-generated deepfakes are already appearing in political communications, threatening the integrity of elections and public trust. Expert warnings — from computer scientists to national security officials — emphasize that without structured oversight, these systems can produce dangerous outputs, reinforce discrimination, or be weaponized by criminal or extremist groups. Despite these risks, industry giants are investing heavily in political campaigns aimed at weakening or preventing AI laws.

The core issue is not innovation. Innovation can and should continue. The real concern is concentrated power. When a handful of companies can spend hundreds of millions of dollars shaping the laws that govern their own technologies, the public interest is pushed aside. Investigative research shows that Big Tech political spending has surged dramatically over the past five years, reaching more than one billion dollars. This has created an environment where the public’s voice struggles to compete with corporate funding, even when the technologies at stake will impact every American.

Strong regulation does not stifle progress; it ensures progress is safe, transparent, and equitable. Effective oversight could require companies to disclose training data sources, test systems for bias and harmful content, limit high-risk uses such as election deepfakes, and establish accountability for AI-generated misinformation or discrimination. It would also protect workers, ensuring transitions caused by automation are met with fair policies rather than leaving displaced individuals behind. These are not hurdles to innovation, but the foundation for responsible, long-term growth.

When powerful interests attempt to delay or dismantle such safeguards, society must recognize the danger. Unregulated AI will not evolve in a neutral vacuum. It will reflect the objectives of those who build it — and those objectives are increasingly shaped by corporate profit and political influence. History shows that industries left entirely to self-regulation almost never police themselves effectively, especially when profits clash with public welfare. AI is no different, except its consequences may be far more sweeping.

This moment demands moral leadership — from lawmakers, civic organizations, and individuals alike. Democratic governance requires that major technological transformations be guided by public values, not private war chests. Regulation must be enacted with urgency, not fear. Properly structured, it will strengthen innovation, enhance public trust, and reduce the risk of catastrophic misuse. The goal is not to halt the future, but to ensure the future remains human-centered.

Artificial intelligence is too powerful, too pervasive, and too consequential to remain unregulated. The campaigns to resist oversight demonstrate just how high the stakes have become. Now is the time to act — not after the harms are entrenched, but before they reshape society in ways we can no longer control.

---

References

Abiri, G. (2025). Mutually Assured Deregulation. arXiv.

Biswas, S. (2025). Are Apple, OpenAI, Google, Meta and Amazon plotting to take down state AI regulations? Economic Times.

Bova, P., Di Stefano, A., & Han, T. A. (2023). Both eyes open: Vigilant incentives help regulatory markets improve AI safety. arXiv.

Public Citizen. (2025). $1.1 Billion in Big Tech Political Spending Fuels Attacks on State AI Laws.

Shapiro, A. (2025). Meta and Big Tech pour millions into PACs to fight AI regulation. AI News.

The Washington Post. (2025). Super PAC aims to drown out AI critics in midterms, with $100M and counting.

Wolfe, D. (2025). Tech titans amass multimillion-dollar war chests to fight AI regulation. The Wall Street Journal.

Nutrition Research Keeps Warfighters Ready, Lethal in Extreme Cold

Nov. 25, 2025 | By Katie Lange, Pentagon News |

 As the race to control the Arctic intensifies, more research is focused on how to optimize service member performance in the extreme cold, where lack of sleep and appetite, altitude and equipment issues can all affect a warfighter's ability to function.  

Researchers at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine's Military Nutrition Division in Natick, Massachusetts, study physiological stressors that warfighters encounter. By manipulating dietary, exercise and environmental conditions, they're working to determine the best way to deliver the right nutrition and energy to increase warfighter lethality.  

How Extreme Cold Negatively Affects Warfighters 

In extreme cold environments, difficult terrain, bulky clothing, heavy equipment and the body's own process for regulating internal body temperature can cause service members to expend more energy. Many also don't get enough nutrition or sleep, said USARIEM research psychologist Harris Lieberman. 

"Sleep deprivation is what usually occurs when you're deployed," he continued, "and service members don't eat enough food [in the cold] to keep up with all the work that they do." 

The U.S. military has a cold-weather version of the meals ready to eat, which is dehydrated to keep the rations from freezing. But they need to be rehydrated at mealtime, which can take time — something not all warfighters have. Many just don't eat during busy time periods. That lack of nutrition can lower the energy levels required to do the mission, explained Lee Margolis, a veteran-turned USARIEM nutrition physiologist.

"Energy expenditures can range anywhere from 5,000-7,000 calories per day [in extreme cold]," Margolis said. "For an average individual, normally you're going to burn about 2,000-3,000 calories per day." 

High altitudes, where less oxygen is available, can also affect energy expenditure — even in the strongest special operators — and change the body's ability to metabolize food for fuel. 

"It's critically important that we develop solutions to offset the impacts of altitude," explained James McClung, chief of USARIEM's Military Nutrition Division. "Nutrition can be a part of that." 

Mimicking Extreme Temps     

Researchers visit cold-weather climates, such as Alaska and Norway, to perform studies, but they're also able to do some at home. USARIEM's Doriot Climatic Chambers allow experts to test the effects of extreme environments in two massive indoor chambers: one focuses on human-subject testing, while the other is used for equipment testing.  

"Every climate you could possibly imagine … we can recreate," said Facilities Manager Jeff Faulkner.  

The chambers' temperatures can range from 165 to minus 65 degrees, and they can create 40 mph of wind, rain and snow. Each chamber has inclining treadmills that can handle up to five soldiers at 15 mph on a 12-degree incline. Smaller conditioning rooms have the same capabilities as the chambers, except they can drop to minus 72 degrees. 

In one of the smaller conditioning chambers, Lieberman is leading a cold-weather study to analyze the behavior, physiology and performance of stressed, sleep-deprived soldiers to determine what nutritional needs will increase their performance. 

After various pretests and body composition measurements, the volunteers, who are part of the Natick laboratories' Soldier Volunteer Research Program, spend two days and one night in the room at 16 degrees. While wearing cold-weather-appropriate gear, they undergo various physical activities, such as stationary bike rides and hand strength tests, to measure their reaction time and vigilance.  

They take various cognitive performance tests to measure mental acuity, and they eat meals primarily consisting of military rations that dietitians tailor specifically to their needs. They also forgo sleep. "If something unexpected happens, can you effectively respond and correctly deal with it?" questioned Lieberman, referring to the study's end goal.  

Carbs, Fat, Protein: What's Best for Energy Balance?  

Meanwhile, USARIEM researchers have been working to get a better understanding of the types of macronutrients that will help cold-weather combatants thrive. The goal: to keep warfighters from expending more energy than they're consuming. 

"We're studying using macronutrients to avoid negative energy balance — the case where we cannot eat enough to maintain physical or cognitive performance — which is associated with poor performance and also an increased risk of injury," McClung said. 

"We've seen that there are decreases in lower body power specifically," Margolis said of the negative energy balance. "Obviously, under a combat scenario, your ability to move very quickly, especially if you're carrying a heavy kit, may be the difference in survival." 

The research, which has been years in the making, helped to develop a more energy-dense ration known as the close combat assault ration. The CCAR recently replaced the first strike ration for combat troops.  

In 2016, in collaboration with the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, known as FFI, USARIEM began studying soldiers in the field to see how they metabolized prototypes of supplemental snack bars created by the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center's Combat Feeding Division. One bar was higher in carbohydrates, while the other was higher in protein. The result: the volunteers liked and ate the bars, but they ate fewer of their actual combat rations, leading to energy deficits.  

Further lab research in 2022 studied the amount of food soldiers ate by feeding volunteers a higher-fat prototype product. Fat has more calories per gram than carbs and protein, so a bar with a higher-fat count could provide more energy in a smaller package, Margolis said — something that could help lighten warfighter load during combat operations. 

All of the volunteers ended up consuming more calories than in previous studies. However, most of their energy deficits remained at moderate levels, causing no adverse effects, explained Emily Howard, a USARIEM nutritional physiologist who helped carry out the study. The takeaway for researchers: the amount of food a warfighter consumes is the most critical factor in preserving their performance, not so much the composition of that food.  

  Evolving Tactics  

One upcoming study will monitor how warfighters on cold-weather ruck marches perform when eating two newer prototype ration bars: one that's higher in fat and more energy-dense, and another that's less energy-dense and higher in carbs. During the study, researchers plan to measure each volunteer's oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. 

"We're able to actually calculate if their body is using primarily carbohydrate, primarily fat, or a mix while they're doing exercise," Margolis said.  

The study will also look at glucose and insulin level changes, as well as hormone responses, to see how well that fuel sustains them on long marches and during moments when they might need to pick up the tempo.  

Margolis' team also plans to do some observational studies during the annual exercise Arctic Edge in Alaska in 2026 to see how service members are using the cold-weather MRE and its supplements.  

Once the studies are concluded, USARIEM's findings are shared with the Combat Feeding Division as recommendations for adjusting current rations or developing new ones. 

The Coming Deepfake Blackmail Wave: How AI Turned Extortion Into Software

It no longer matters what you actually did—only what an algorithm can make you look like you did.

 Extortion in the Age of Synthetic Reality

Blackmail is one of the oldest crimes in the book. What has changed is the toolset. In the last three years, artificial intelligence has turned extortion from a labor-intensive, high-risk crime into something that can be industrialized—scripted, automated, and launched at scale. Deepfake technology can now fabricate sexual images or videos of anyone with enough public photos, while voice-cloning tools can mimic a loved one or a CEO with chilling realism. Law enforcement agencies from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to Europol and FinCEN are warning that synthetic media is rapidly becoming a core weapon in sextortion, financial crime, and online abuse (Europol, 2022; Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 2023; Financial Crimes Enforcement Network [FinCEN], 2025).

This article examines the coming deepfake blackmail wave: how it works, what real cases already tell us, where the threat is going, and how individuals and institutions can prepare before extortion becomes just another piece of software in a criminal’s toolkit.

How Deepfake Blackmail Works

Deepfake blackmail does not depend on truth. It depends on plausibility and panic. Offenders typically follow a basic pattern:

1. Collection. Attackers scrape photographs and videos from social media, school or workplace websites, livestreams, or old news footage. Research on non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery shows that publicly available content is often enough to build a convincing model (Umbach et al., 2024).

2. Fabrication. Using generative AI tools, criminals create explicit images or video clips that appear to show the victim engaged in sexual acts or other compromising behavior. The quality of these fabrications is improving rapidly; Europol’s Innovation Lab notes that deepfakes have crossed a threshold where ordinary viewers struggle to distinguish real from fake (Europol, 2022).

3. Delivery. Offenders contact the victim—usually via email, messaging apps, or social media—attaching samples of the synthetic content and threatening to send it to family, employers, or the public unless money is paid or additional material is provided.

4. Escalation. If victims comply, the demands often increase. FinCEN’s 2025 notice on financially motivated sextortion describes cases where criminals “re-extort” victims multiple times, leveraging both real and synthetic material (FinCEN, 2025).

Because AI has reduced the time and technical barriers needed to create convincing forgeries, the bottleneck is no longer production—it is finding more targets and sending more threats. Extortion is becoming scalable.

Case Studies: When Synthetic Threats Turn Deadly or Costly

Several recent cases illustrate how serious the problem has already become.

Case 1: A teen’s suicide after AI-assisted sextortion
In 2025, CBS News reported on 17-year-old Elijah Heacock, who died by suicide after scammers used generative AI to create explicit images of him and then extorted him for money (CBS News, 2025). His parents had never heard the term “sextortion” before his death. Investigators found that the scammers leveraged synthetic images to make the threats appear more credible and to intensify the psychological pressure.

Case 2: South Korea’s deepfake pornography crisis
South Korea has seen a surge in deepfake sex crimes, including blackmail rings operating on encrypted messaging platforms. The Guardian reported that authorities identified hundreds of cases involving deepfake pornography targeting women, students, teachers, and military personnel, often linked to digital sex-crime networks that threaten exposure unless victims comply (Kim, 2024). The government responded with a nationwide crackdown and stiffer penalties for producing and distributing such material.

Case 3: FBI national alert on sextortion deaths
In 2023, the FBI issued a national public safety alert after more than a dozen sextortion victims, many of them minors, died by suicide. Offenders posed as peers, coerced victims into sending sexual images, and then used those images as blackmail material (FBI, 2023). While many of these cases involved originally real imagery, more recent FBI public service announcements warn that criminals are increasingly using AI to generate explicit images from benign photos, thereby lowering the threshold for victimization (FBI, 2023, 2024).

Case 4: CEO voice deepfake fraud
Deepfake extortion is not limited to imagery. In 2019, criminals used AI to mimic the voice of a CEO of a U.K. energy firm, convincing a subordinate to transfer approximately $243,000 to their account (Nixon Peabody, 2019). Although this incident was framed primarily as fraud rather than blackmail, it revealed how voice cloning can convincingly impersonate senior leaders—and how easily the same technique could be repurposed for coercion.

Case 5: Family voice-clone ransom scams
More recently, news outlets have documented cases where scammers used AI to clone a child’s voice and stage fake emergency calls. In one widely reported 2025 case, a Florida woman received a call in which her “daughter” screamed for help, followed by a fake lawyer demanding thousands of dollars for bail. The voice was an AI clone, but the emotional impact was real; the victim wired $15,000 before discovering the deception (People, 2025). Similar kidnapping scams involving voice cloning have been reported in multiple U.S. states (KOMO News, 2024). While these cases focus on ransom, they demonstrate that synthetic audio can make any threat—including blackmail—feel immediate and credible.

Why AI Supercharges Extortion

AI transforms blackmail in three key ways.

First, it removes the need for genuine compromising material. The FBI’s 2023 PSA notes that offenders are now “creating synthetic content by manipulating benign photographs or videos” of victims into sexually explicit content (FBI, 2023). That means any person with an online photo footprint—virtually everyone—can be framed.

Second, AI makes the crime scalable. A single offender, or a criminal group, can generate synthetic images of thousands of targets and send mass-produced extortion messages customized with names, schools, or employers scraped from open sources. FinCEN’s 2025 assessment emphasizes that sextortion is becoming an “increasingly common typology” used for financial gain (FinCEN, 2025).

Third, AI amplifies psychological pressure. Deepfake pornography and synthetic intimate imagery are a particularly severe form of image-based sexual abuse. A 2024 academic review found that non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery is strongly associated with shame, fear, and reluctance to report, especially among women and minors (Umbach et al., 2024; Henry et al., 2024). When the content is sexual, the line between real and fake matters less than the perceived damage if others believe it.

Likely Scenarios in the Near Future

Based on current trends, several plausible scenarios illustrate how deepfake blackmail could evolve over the next few years:

Scenario 1: Mass teen targeting
A criminal group scrapes yearbook photos and social media accounts from a school district, generates explicit deepfakes of hundreds of students, and launches a wave of sextortion messages demanding payment in cryptocurrency. Even if only a small percentage pays or complies, the operation is highly profitable and devastating.

Scenario 2: Corporate executive compromise
An attacker targets a mid-level executive at a publicly traded company, creating a deepfake video of the executive engaging in illegal drug use or sexual misconduct. The extortionist threatens to leak the video to investors and the board before an earnings call, seeking either money or insider information.

Scenario 3: Political candidate sabotage
During an election cycle, a municipal candidate is targeted with deepfake intimate imagery and a manufactured “affair” storyline. Blackmailers demand withdrawal from the race or policy concessions, betting that the candidate will capitulate rather than risk public humiliation, even if the images are false.

Scenario 4: Military or law-enforcement coercion
A foreign intelligence service or criminal group targets junior officers with synthetic intimate imagery, threatening to expose them to their chain of command and families unless they share non-public operational information. Even low-level details could provide useful intelligence over time.

Scenario 5: Educator and coach targeting
Teachers and coaches are targeted en masse in a district with fabricated explicit images created from school website photos. Attackers email school administrators and local media, threatening to leak “evidence” unless hush money is paid. The mere allegation harms reputations and careers, regardless of authenticity.

These scenarios are not speculative science fiction; they are extensions of techniques already seen in isolated cases, combined with technologies that are improving and becoming more accessible every month (Europol, 2022; UN Women, 2025).

Policy and Legal Responses

Governments are beginning to respond. In 2025, the United States enacted the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (TAKE IT DOWN) Act, which criminalizes the non-consensual publication or threatened publication of intimate images, including digital forgeries, and requires covered platforms to remove such content quickly once notified (Congressional Research Service [CRS], 2025; Federal Trade Commission, 2025).

Internationally, Europol’s Innovation Lab and subsequent assessments warn that deepfakes are already being used in fraud, disinformation, and image-based sexual abuse, urging law enforcement agencies to build new detection and response capacity (Europol, 2022; Reuters, 2025). UN Women recently highlighted AI-powered online abuse as a driver of gender-based violence, including deepfake sexual imagery and sextortion, and called for coordinated global responses (UN Women, 2025).

A Strong Prevention Mindset: What Individuals Can Do
Although the technology can feel overwhelming, there are practical steps that drastically reduce vulnerability and improve outcomes if an incident occurs.

First, manage your digital footprint with the assumption that any image can be weaponized. This does not mean disappearing from the internet, but it does mean limiting the number of high-resolution, front-facing photos posted publicly, locking down privacy settings, and being cautious about what is shared in closed groups that might not be as secure as they appear.

Second, talk openly—especially with teenagers—about sextortion and deepfakes before something happens. FBI alerts emphasize that shame and secrecy give offenders their power (FBI, 2023, 2024). Make explicit family or organizational rules: If a threat arrives, the first response is to tell a trusted adult or supervisor, not to panic alone.

Third, never pay. Law enforcement and financial-crime experts note that payment rarely ends the abuse; it often encourages further demands (FinCEN, 2025). Instead, victims should immediately stop all communication with the offender, preserve evidence (screenshots, messages, and transaction records), and report the incident to local law enforcement, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or relevant hotlines.

Fourth, use available reporting tools. Under laws like the TAKE IT DOWN Act, many platforms are now required to provide mechanisms for victims to request removal of non-consensual intimate imagery, including deepfakes (CRS, 2025; Federal Trade Commission, 2025). Knowing where and how to file those notices can significantly reduce the spread and impact of synthetic content.

Finally, organizations—schools, companies, religious institutions, and community groups—should integrate deepfake blackmail scenarios into their cyber and crisis-response planning. Clear internal communication channels, pre-approved messaging, and support procedures for victims can make the difference between a contained incident and a reputational catastrophe.

Conclusion: Extortion as Software

Deepfake blackmail is not a distant, hypothetical risk. The building blocks are already here: widely accessible generative AI, enormous social-media image archives, maturing criminal business models, and an underprepared public. Law enforcement is raising the alarm about sextortion, international organizations are warning about AI-driven crime, and legislators are racing to adapt laws originally written for an analog era.

The most dangerous misconception is that deepfake blackmail depends on what is real. It does not. It depends on what looks real enough to trigger fear, shame, and silence. Extortion has always thrived in the shadows; AI simply gives criminals a faster, cheaper way to manufacture those shadows at industrial scale.

The coming deepfake blackmail wave will not be defined only by the sophistication of the forgeries, but by how societies choose to respond: with secrecy and stigma, or with awareness, preparedness, and collective refusal to let synthetic lies dictate real-world outcomes.

References

CBS News. (2025, May 31). A teen died after being blackmailed with A.I.-generated explicit images. CBS News.

Congressional Research Service. (2025, May 20). The TAKE IT DOWN Act: A federal law prohibiting nonconsensual intimate images, including deepfakes.

Europol. (2022). Facing reality? Law enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes. Europol Innovation Lab.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2023, June 5). Malicious actors manipulating photos and videos to create deepfakes for sextortion and harassment. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024, January 23). Sextortion: A growing threat targeting minors. FBI Nashville Field Office.

Federal Trade Commission. (2025). Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (TAKE IT DOWN Act).

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. (2025, September 8). FinCEN issues notice on financially motivated sextortion. U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Henry, N., Flynn, A., & Powell, A. (2024). Image-based sexual abuse perpetration: A scoping review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 25(3), 567–589.

Kim, M. (2024, August 28). South Korea battles surge of deepfake pornography after thousands found to be spreading images. The Guardian.

KOMO News. (2024, September 30). Scammers use AI to mimic loved ones’ voices in new kidnapping scam. KOMO News.

Nixon Peabody. (2019, November 18). Deepfake of CEO’s voice used to steal thousands in U.K. cybercrime.

People. (2025, July 3). Woman conned out of $15K after AI cloned her daughter’s voice in terrifying scam. People Magazine.

Reuters. (2025, March 18). Europol warns of AI-driven crime threats. Reuters.

Umbach, R., et al. (2024). Non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery: Prevalence, harms, and responses. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 8(CSCW1), Article 123.

UN Women. (2025). AI-powered online abuse: How AI is amplifying violence against women and what can stop it. UN Women.

Office of Strategic Capital Agrees to Joint $700M Conditional Loan Commitment with Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies

Nov. 21, 2025      

The Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announces a joint $700 million conditional loan commitment with Vulcan Elements ("Vulcan") and ReElement Technologies ("ReElement") to increase domestic Neodymium Iron Boron (NdFeB) magnet production and significantly bolster U.S. critical minerals supply chains.

The OSC commitment includes two separate loans, one to Vulcan for $620 million and one to ReElement for $80 million. These loans will directly support the production of advanced rare earth element separation, metallization, and magnet manufacturing capabilities in the United States. With the increased manufacturing and processing capabilities enabled by OSC's loans, Vulcan and ReElement anticipate collectively producing up to 10,000 metric tons of NdFeB magnet material in the next several years, thereby significantly reducing the U.S. NdFeB magnet supply chain gap.

"These OSC conditional commitments build on the swift and decisive actions taken by the Trump Administration to secure a domestic supply chain for the magnets used in chip manufacturing, drones, electric vehicles, fighter jets, industrial motors, nuclear submarines, and satellites," said the Honorable Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering. "Following the Department of War's agreement earlier this year with MP Materials, these conditional loan commitments with Vulcan and ReElement present a forward-leaning approach to further strengthen America's magnet production."

The funding for OSC's conditional loans comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in July 2025. The Act provides up to $100 billion in total OSC lending authority specifically for critical minerals production and related industries and projects. The Department of War will also receive warrants from Vulcan and ReElement as part of the joint commitment. Additionally, the Department of Commerce's Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Program Office signed a preliminary non-binding letter of intent to provide $50 million in proposed federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act for the purchase of equipment in parallel with OSC's financing. The CHIPS incentives will provide further investment stability to strengthen domestic critical minerals production. The Department of Commerce will also receive $50 million of equity in Vulcan Elements.

The conditional loan commitments between OSC and the respective companies specify additional steps both companies must take to proceed toward financial close on the loan, to include fulfilling financial, legal, technical, and other due diligence requirements. No OSC funds are disbursed until all parties have completed or met the conditions for disbursement as specified in the loan commitment. The time between conditional commitment and financial close varies by project to ensure full due diligence and ultimately protect the American taxpayer.

"These commitments demonstrate that OSC's federal financing tools can successfully scale private capital investment in sectors vital to our economic and national security," said Mr. Ryan Lindner, Chief Investment Officer, OSC. "I am immensely grateful to Under Secretary Michael, Deputy Secretary Feinberg, and Secretary Hegseth for their support in executing these commitments, which are part of the Trump Administration's whole-of-government effort to secure domestic critical minerals production, revitalize the U.S. industrial base, and ultimately achieve peace through strength."

Department of War Awards $29.9 Million to Create a U.S. Domestic Supply of Gallium and Scandium

Nov. 20, 2025 |

The Department of War announced today a $29.9 million a Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III award to ElementUS Minerals, LLC (ElementUSA). ElementUSA will use this award to enable the development of a demonstration facility in Gramercy, Louisiana to separate and purify gallium and scandium from existing industrial waste.  The company will also conduct initial development work at their Critical Resource Accelerator in Cedar Park, Texas.

This investment uses funds from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022. It also supports the Administration's goal to increase the production of processed critical minerals and other derivative products as articulated in the March 20, 2025, Executive Order 14241 - Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.

"Gallium and scandium are critical minerals essential to a wide range of defense manufacturing industries and equipment," said Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Mike Cadenazzi. "Developing domestic production of both is a DOW priority."

ElementUSA is a leading expert in recovering minerals and metals from industrial waste streams to create domestic supply chains of critical minerals necessary for national defense.  Using DPA Title III funds to construct the demonstration facility, the company will become one of the first U.S. producers of both gallium and scandium. Systems such as missile defense platforms, sensors, fighter aircraft, and hypersonic weapons all require these elements in their manufacture.  The company will use a proprietary process to separate and extract these critical minerals from over 30 million tons of mineral-rich bauxite residue, a byproduct of the alumina refining process.  As such, not only will ElementUSA create a domestic supply chain of critical minerals, but it will do so while cleaning up a waste product with no additional mining required.

"By enabling ElementUSA to recover gallium and scandium from processing waste, this award will support the DOW's work to expand the supply of critical minerals needed for numerous defense components and platforms," added Mr. Jeffrey Frankston, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Resilience, which oversees the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) directorate.  "Such awards are essential for reconstituting domestic capabilities, diversifying supply chains, reducing dependence on foreign sources, and enhancing national security."

This is one of 18 awards made by the DPA Purchases Office totaling $887.0 million in fiscal year 2025. Recipient cost shares total $88.0 million in FY 2025.  The MCEIP directorate oversees the DPA Purchases Office.

 

War Department Narrows Technology Development Focus to Half Dozen Areas

Nov. 19, 2025 | By C. Todd Lopez, Pentagon News |

Directed energy, hypersonics and artificial intelligence are among the six technology focus areas for the War Department meant to ensure America's warfighters will quickly have what's needed to fight and win on the battlefield.

"Our adversaries are moving fast, but we will move faster," said Emil Michael, undersecretary of war for research and engineering. "The warfighter is not asking for results tomorrow; they need them today. These six critical technology areas are not just priorities; they are imperatives. The American warfighter will wield the most advanced technology to maximize lethality." 

Among those technology areas are applied AI, biomanufacturing, contested logistics technology, quantum battlefield information dominance, scaled directed energy, and scaled hypersonics. 

President Donald J. Trump's Winning the Race: America's AI Action Plan, released July 23, directed the War Department to aggressively adopt AI to maintain global military preeminence and ensure it is both secure and reliable. 

"When adopted rapidly, AI will fundamentally transform the department from the enterprise level to intelligence synthesis and to warfighting," Michael said. 

Biomanufacturing uses specially designed genetically modified living organisms, such as bacteria, to manufacture needed materials. 

"[Biomanufacturing] harnesses living systems to produce capabilities at scale," Michael said. "[This effort] will accelerate the development and deployment of biomanufacturing solutions to support critical missions of the department."

With biomanufacturing, he said, the department can expect development of bio-based alternatives for critical chemicals, minerals and energetics for use in warfighting systems. 

A focus on directed energy, Michael said, will enable the department to rapidly scale high-energy lasers and high-power microwave systems with widely accessible, low-cost-per-shot response options. And with scaled hypersonics, the department will focus on scaling production, lowering costs and widely fielding hypersonic weapons to the force. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the new, more narrowly defined technology focus areas will give America and its warfighters a battlefield advantage and secure the future of American technological dominance.