by | Jul 11, 2025 | The Hill
Senate Democrats on Friday joined State Department employees in protest of the Trump administration’s decision to
employees this week.
“This is not America first. This is America in retreat,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on Friday at a protest outside the department’s headquarters in Washington. “And we don’t want America retreating, do we?”
“Hell no,” the Maryland Democrat exclaimed.
A number of workers gathered outside after the department sent reduction in force (RIF) notices Friday morning to about 1,100 civil servants and 250 foreign service officers stationed in the U.S., with plans to cut its workforce further. Workers
to return their government-issued belongings on Friday.
The move, which comes months after Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the department in
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has been
by Democrats on Capitol Hill.
“There are active conflicts and humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Haiti and Myanmar—to name a few. Now is the time to strengthen our diplomatic hand, not weaken it,” Sen.
(D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in a statement backed by all Democrats on the committee.
Van Hollen echoed these concerns on Friday, stating the layoffs make the American public “less safe.”
“When we retreat, that helps our adversaries and it hurts our friends and allies. When we retreat, it helps the autocrats and the dictators,” he said. “And it undermines those fighting for human rights and democracy around the world.”
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) also attended the Friday rally,
the reduction in force as “devastating” earlier in the day.
Rubio has long maintained that efforts to reshuffle the Department are “deliberate” and focused on boosting efficiency.
“It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions. Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people,”
while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
But concerns have also been raised by the American Foreign Service Association, a union that represents tens of thousands of former and current diplomats. They argued the workforce reduction would “damage our credibility abroad.”
“Diplomats are not faceless bureaucrats. They are America’s forward presence, serving in war zones, evacuating citizens, negotiating for the release of detained Americans, and steadying allies in turbulent times. Like military personnel, they move every two to three years, serving wherever America needs representation, often in dangerous and difficult places,” the union wrote.
“Their mobility is a strategic asset. Firing them based solely on their current office location discards that asset and damages our credibility abroad,” the group added.
by | Jul 11, 2025 | The Hill
(
) — There have been
in the first half of 2025, according to data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).
The nonprofit organization collects reports of UFOs and investigates cases of
. The 2,174 sightings are an increase from previous years. In 2024, the agency logged 1,492 sightings between the beginning of January and the end of June, and in 2023, 2,077 were recorded in the same time frame.
UFO sightings in 2025
NUFORC collected more than 3,000 reports during the first six months of 2025, but because of the stigma around UFOs, the group notes that many of them happened years or even decades before they were reported.
Those numbers likely only represent a small number of actual sightings, said Christian Stepien, the group’s chief technology officer. Based on anecdotal evidence, he believes roughly 5 percent of sightings get reported.
The group takes reports from everyday citizens as well as air traffic controllers, police and members of the military.
Interest in UFOs after David Grusch testimony
The topic of UFOs (or UAPs, if you’re talking to the U.S. government) has been in
recently as lawmakers
for more transparency on the subject.
Whistleblower David Grusch
in 2023, alleging a secret UFO-retrieval program was being operated by the Pentagon. His testimony sparked
and increased public attention to the issue of unexplained sightings.
Since then,
have come forward to support Grusch’s claims, saying the Defense Department has not been honest with the public or Congress about the subject.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has remained firm in saying that
unexplained sightings are extraterrestrial in nature and disavowing the existence of UFO-retrieval programs.
Recent reporting from
suggested the agency itself may be behind long-standing rumors of alien technology as part of efforts to cover up Earth-based top-secret projects. The reporting also noted that new employees in some offices were hazed with tales of secret UFO research, potentially the source of information presented by whistleblowers.
Many
by government denials, including lawmakers who are continuing to advocate for more transparency about unexplained sightings, regardless of whether they originate with nonhuman intelligence or are human-made.
“There are so many things being seen by so many people. And if it’s a secret block project, you’re not flying it over highly populated neighborhoods where everybody can see it, and even these days, have pictures of it,” Stepien said.
NUFORC sees wide range of UFO sightings
by NUFORC range from detailed descriptions to brief notes, with some explained by known objects, including balloons, drones and planets or stars.
“We get lots of reports of balloons and things like that that we can say that’s clearly a balloon, or that’s a drone, or it’s an airplane or whatever it is,” Stepien said.
Stepien said around 3 percent of the reports the group gets end up being of high interest.
“The dramatic ones are kind of the cases where you say somebody saw a giant triangle floating over their house the size of a tennis court or a football field,” he said. “And we get those reports fairly regularly, things that can’t possibly be mistaken for something else.”
The
that reports include an array of shapes, including triangles, discs, orbs, cigars and forms that appear to change. Many of the sightings include reports of craft displaying agility or other capabilities not expected from human technology.
Going forward, Stepien said the group hopes to continue to collect reports of sightings and to get more transparency from the government, especially data collected from advanced technology.
“The government certainly has the good stuff,” he said. “These days with cellphones and things like that, we’re starting to get some nice videos and things, but we don’t have high resolution cameras and forward-looking infrared and that kind of stuff.”
by | Jul 11, 2025 | The Hill
{beacon}
US strikes deal to send Ukraine weapons through NATO
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President Trump has announced that a deal was struck with NATO to send weapons to Ukraine, with the military alliance bearing the brunt of the cost.
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“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100 percent,” he said in a phone interview with NBC News. “So, what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons.”
The president added that the deal was struck in June at the NATO summit in The Hague.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. is talking to multiple countries in Europe, including Spain and Germany, that have Patriot batteries — a key element in the defense system used to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles — about sending them over to Kyiv.
“Well, the Spaniards have them. They’re really far from Ukraine and they have one. The Germans have, others have them — I’m not singling them out, but I’m just telling you those are two that I know,” Rubio told reporters while in Malaysia after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “There are other Patriot batteries, and there are other opportunities.”
The conversation comes as the president intensified his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days, saying the two leaders have made “no progress” on brokering a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Trump also said he does not think Putin is looking to halt the war in Eastern Europe, which has been ongoing since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Trump administration restarted sending some defense weapons to Ukraine on Monday, days after the Defense Department ordered a pause on delivering some air defense missiles and munitions, citing concerns of U.S. stockpiles being depleted.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he spoke with Trump on Thursday and has pushed allies within the alliance to send weapons to Ukraine.
Read the full report at
.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.
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Did someone forward you this newsletter?
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How policy will affect defense and national security now and in
the future:
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As Russia intensifies its assault on Ukraine, NATO and European countries need to increase production of long-range weapons, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Rafferty told Reuters.
“The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine,” said Rafferty, who was interviewed in Germany.
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The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved a $500 million defense assistance package for Ukraine amid escalating tensions with Russia. On Wednesday, the committee voted for the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a yearly bill to fund the Department of Defense (DOD). In a 26-1 vote, the committee extended the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2028, adding $200 million for 2026.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he discussed a new idea for a potential Ukraine ceasefire during a Thursday meeting with his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Rubio, who also serves as President Trump’s national security adviser, confirmed that Lavrov presented new ideas about Ukraine peace negotiations during the 50-minute meeting.
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A panel of federal appeals court judges on Friday threw out a plea agreement in a 2-1 decision that would have allowed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other co-defendants to plead guilty in exchange for escaping the federal death penalty. The deal, negotiated over two years, would have given Mohammed and the co-defendants life without parole.
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Upcoming things we’re watching on our beat:
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- Secretary of State Marco Rubio returns tomorrow from Kuala Lumpur.
- U.S. Marines and Army soldiers will take part in Exercise Talisman Sabre 25, Australia’s largest bilateral military exercise from July 13 to Aug. 4.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Swalwell: ICE agents would ‘have more credibility’ without masks
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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Wednesday for wearing masks as they carry out the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on illegal immigration. “These ICE agents would do themselves a lot of favor and have more credibility if they …
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Events in and around the defense world:
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- The House Rules Committee
on the fiscal year 2026 Defense Appropriations bill at 4 p.m. local time
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News we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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- The real trouble with America’s flip-flop on Ukrainian weapons (
)
- Pentagon withdraws admiral’s nomination to lead Pacific Fleet amid renewed attention on drag shows (
)
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Two key stories on The Hill right now:
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The Democratic Party’s credibility with voters has plummeted even further since the 2024 election, raising alarm bells as the party looks to …
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Republican senators say reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth froze weapons shipments to Ukraine without getting approval from President Trump …
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Op-eds related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you next week!
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by | Jul 11, 2025 | The Hill
Jailed reality TV star Joe Exotic is once again asking President Trump for a pardon.
Netflix’s “Tiger King” star, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, called on Trump “to listen to the” voices of Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and other public figures as well as “the millions of people around the world to make this right and
.”
Earlier this year, Boebert
of Maldonado, who was sentenced in January 2020 to a 22-year prison sentence over a murder-for-hire plot against animal-rights activist Carole Baskin.
Maldonado initially asked for a pardon during Trump’s first term, sending a
to the White House in September 2020. The president, at the time, said he would “take a look.”
Then, in 2021, during former President Biden’s term, he
found no success.
Maldonado railed against Biden earlier this after the outgoing president provided blanket pardons to some of his family members.
“If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the capital or even have been related to the Bidens. I might have gotten some relief on being in prison innocent,” he said in January.
Trump this spring after the president pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley for tax evasion and fraud charges.
“This officially shows the Justice system is still two-sided. You are either rich and connected or your poor and being trafficked by the system,” Maldonado posted
.
In this week’s call for a pardon, Maldonado said an appeal for a new trial was denied.
