U.S. assigns first submarine to Australian base.
Today's events
Submarine rotation.
The United States, Australia and Britain named USS Colorado the first American attack submarine assigned to Submarine Rotational Force–West, at a Royal Australian Navy base in Western Australia, beginning late 2027.1Oct 26 · NavyStrait of Hormuz.
The U.S. Central Command commander flew the waterway as American forces passed 1.5 billion barrels of crude escorted for Gulf partners since summer; more than 3,000 commercial ships have transited in six months.2Oct 25 · CENTCOMOverseas tech investment.
Treasury proposed rules requiring Americans to notify the government of certain investments in foreign companies working on designated technologies, and barring other such deals outright. Comments close December 7.3Oct 26 · TreasuryG20 in Atlanta.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host the Group of Twenty foreign ministers in Atlanta on October 30–31, with freedom of navigation, energy and food security, and supply chains on the agenda.4Oct 26 · StateEurope's methane rule.
Kazakhstan and Guyana joined the United States, Algeria, Nigeria and Qatar in pressing the European Union to delay its methane regulation; four of the six supply nearly half of Europe's gas imports.5Oct 23 · DOEHypersonic missile.
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin $694 million to produce and field the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, moving the boost-glide missile from flight testing into production.6Oct 26 · Air ForceElection charges.
The Justice Department charged 48 non-citizens in Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York and Nevada with illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration and false claims of U.S. citizenship.7Oct 26 · DOJDumping investigations.
Commerce opened less-than-fair-value investigations into corrugated die-cut cardboard boxes from China, Malaysia and Türkiye, on petitions from an American pizza-box manufacturers' coalition and the steelworkers' union.8Oct 26 · CommerceChild-labor convictions.
The State Department disclosed the first child labor trafficking case prosecuted in Chicago: three defendants drew 23 years combined and owe $1,212,105 in restitution to two girls trafficked from Benin.9Oct 26 · State
This week
Russia sanctions, signed and suspended.
On October 16 the President implemented the Russia and Iran sanctions law Congress passed in September, setting 500 percent duties on Russian goods and 100 percent on the five largest buyers of Russian oil, then waiving all of it with a national-interest certification to Congress. Rubio said the President wants the 60-day window to analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs would mean for the global economy, and linked the decision to tariffs on India.1Oct 16 · WHUkraine’s satellites.
Rubio denied twice that Washington slowed the Starlink links Ukraine’s drones fly on, at Joint Base Andrews on October 18 and again in Mumbai on October 21, calling the reports categorically false. He confirmed separately that Kyiv has asked for access to Starshield, the military’s own satellite network, to run deep strikes inside Russia. That request was still pending at week’s end.2Oct 18–21 · StateDeepSeek removed.
Homeland Security ordered DeepSeek products excluded and removed from federal civilian executive-branch information-technology systems and procurements, in a six-page order filed October 19 and published the next day. It landed in the same week State sanctioned five entities connected to Linwei Ding, the Chinese national convicted in January on seven counts of stealing Google trade secrets on superintelligence technology.3Oct 19 · DHSSuperintelligence guidance.
NIST, the National Security Agency’s Super Intelligence Security Center and the homeland cyber agency published ten voluntary practices on October 16 for organizations training highly capable AI agents, covering containment, evidence preservation and shutdown. The guidance defines a control incident as an agent taking uninstructed actions that compromise the policies and security measures scoping its task.4Oct 16 · CISAGoogle ad tech remedies.
A federal court in Virginia imposed interoperability and data-sharing requirements on Google on October 16, barred self-preferencing in its advertising auctions, and ordered close integration with rivals including the open-source Prebid. Justice called it a second round of substantial relief against the company. Three days later the same division closed its investigation of the Seismic–Highspot merger, citing fast-growing AI entrants.5Oct 16 · DOJCentral Asia ministerial.
The United States and the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan issued a joint statement in Samarkand on October 19 committing to the Trans-Caspian Trade Route and deeper energy and supply-chain cooperation. The corridor runs from China to Europe across the Caspian, bypassing Russia. Uzbekistan signed the Artemis Accords the next day as the 77th participant.6Oct 19 · State
Allied Governments
Europe's five defense ministers.
France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain called Russia the most acute and long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security and pledged greater European political and military leadership inside NATO.aOct 26 · UK MoDSudan sanctions.
Britain sanctioned 15 commanders from the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces over atrocities at El Fasher, and allocated £15 million for survivors and humanitarian relief.bOct 26 · UK FCDOJapan–Finland arms pact.
Tokyo and Helsinki signed an agreement governing transfers of defense equipment and technology, opening joint research, development and production between the two countries.cOct 26 · Japan MoFA
Voices
“Today, primary transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz remain free and clear of Iranian sea mines thanks to incredible efforts by our people.”
Adm. Brad Cooper, U.S. Central Command · Oct 252
“SRF-West will accelerate Australia's readiness to own, operate, maintain, and regulate a sovereign, conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability.”
Joint statement of the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom · Oct 261
“A year on from the atrocities in El Fasher, UK-funded investigations have shown that rape and starvation are still being weaponised against the people of Sudan.”
Foreign Sec. Ed Miliband, United Kingdom · Oct 26b
“By moving ARRW from test to production, we're providing our combatant commanders with a credible, high-speed strike weapon capable of penetrating the most advanced anti-access and area-denial systems.”
Sec. of the Air Force Troy Meink · Oct 266
“Under President Trump's leadership, the United States is returning the G20 to its core economic mission of driving growth, strengthening economic security, and delivering results for the American people.”
State Dept. media note, Office of the Spokesman · Oct 264
“The growing coalition on this initiative underscores the importance of a pragmatic approach that provides regulatory certainty and ensures reliable energy continues to reach our European allies.”
Asst. Sec. Kaveh Farzad, Energy Dept. International Affairs · Oct 235
Sources
- U.S. Navy, “Joint Statement, USS Colorado (SSN 788) Announced as First Submarine for Submarine Rotational Force – West,” October 26, 2026. navy.mil/Press-Office/…/uss-colorado-srf-west
- U.S. Central Command, “CENTCOM Commander Visits Strait of Hormuz during Milestone Week,” October 25, 2026. centcom.mil/MEDIA/…/commander-visits-strait-of-hormuz
- U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, “Outbound Investment Security Program Regulations” (proposed rule, 91 FR 67396), October 26, 2026. federalregister.gov/documents/…/outbound-investment-security
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Secretary Rubio's Travel to Atlanta to Host the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting,” October 26, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/g20-foreign-ministers-atlanta
- U.S. Dept. of Energy, “Kazakhstan and Guyana Join International Coalition Calling for Delay of EU Methane Regulation,” October 23, 2026. energy.gov/articles/…/eu-methane-regulation-delay
- U.S. Air Force, “DAF awards ARRW production contract, establishes new hypersonic capabilities,” October 26, 2026. af.mil/News/…/arrw-production-contract
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 48 Aliens for Election-Related Crimes,” October 26, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/48-aliens-election-related-crimes
- U.S. Dept. of Commerce, “Certain Corrugated Die-Cut Cardboard Boxes From the People's Republic of China, Malaysia, and the Republic of Türkiye: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations,” October 26, 2026. federalregister.gov/documents/…/corrugated-die-cut-cardboard-boxes
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Diplomatic Security Service Helps Deliver Landmark Child Labor Trafficking Convictions in Chicago,” October 26, 2026. state.gov/…/child-labor-trafficking-convictions-chicago
- UK Ministry of Defence, “E5 Defence Ministers' Statement: 26 October 2026,” October 26, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/e5-defence-ministers-statement
- UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, “UK sanctions senior commanders implicated in campaign of rape in Sudan and unveils new support for survivors,” October 26, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/uk-sanctions-sudan-commanders
- Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Signing of the Agreement Between the Government of Japan and the Government of the Republic of Finland concerning the Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology,” October 26, 2026. mofa.go.jp/press/release/…/japan-finland-defense-transfer