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‘Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States,’ said DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis

[Image 43: Peter Pinedo] By Peter PinedoFox News

Published March 24, 2026 3:26pm EDT

FIRST ON FOX:As new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin prepared to be sworn in, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers continued operations, arresting child predators, rapists and domestic abusers across the country.

According to DHS, in just one day of operations, ICE arrested illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes in Utah, Ohio, New York and Texas. The agency said these arrests align with statistics showing that 70% of illegal aliens arrested by ICE have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the U.S.

This comes as Mullin, newly confirmed by the Senate, is sworn in as President Donald Trump’s new DHS secretary. Mullin, who until now served as a Republican senator from Oklahoma, replaces former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

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Commenting on the arrests, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that “under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States.”

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ERUPT OVER SENATE GOP, WHITE HOUSE DEAL AMID SAVE ACT FIGHT

[Image 45: Markwayne and Oscar Edgardo Rogel-Gomez mugshot]

Several criminal illegal immigrants were arrested as incoming DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, left, prepared to be sworn in. Among them is Salvadoran illegal Oscar Edgardo Rogel-Gomez, right.(Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo; DHS)

“If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will arrest you, deport you, and you will never return,” said Bis.

“Yesterday, the heroic men and women of ICE arrested multiple child predators, rapists, domestic abusers and other heinous criminals,” she added.

Among those arrested by ICE on Monday was Salvadoran illegal Oscar Edgardo Rogel-Gomez, who was convicted of sexual abuse of a child in St. George, Utah.

In Ohio, ICE officers arrested Alcides Ordonez-Cruz, an illegal alien from Honduras, who was convicted of third-degree gross sexual imposition and endangering children in Van Wert County, according to DHS.

IL DEMS DECLINE TO DEFEND ‘NO’ VOTES ON LAKEN RILEY ACT AFTER STUDENT’S KILLING TIED TO REPEAT OFFENDER

[Image 46: Illegal alien mugshots with ICE agents in the background]

Left to right: Oscar Edgardo Rogel-Gomez, Alcides Ordonez-Cruz, Jose Gonzalez-Diaz, Jose Vazquez-Cardoza and Jose Simaj-Barrera.(Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images; DHS)

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Officers also arrested two Salvadoran illegals in Riverhead, New York, on Monday: Jose Gonzalez-Diaz and Jose Vazquez-Cardoza. DHS said that both Gonzalez-Diaz and Vazquez-Cardoza have been convicted of rape.

In Harris County, Texas, home to the state’s largest city, Houston, ICE officers arrested Jose Simaj-Barrera, an illegal from Guatemala. According to DHS, Simaj-Barrera was convicted of assault of a family member.

Mullin was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, following a short but at times explosive confirmation process. He is the ninth secretary to lead DHS and follows a turbulent tenure under Noem, who oversaw the agency during a period of both record deportations and intense controversy.

HOMAN FIRES BACK AT BOOKER AFTER SENATOR VOICES ‘OUTRAGE’ OVER ICE AIRPORT DEPLOYMENTS

[Image 48: ICE police patrol a street]

Federal ICE police officers patrol a suburban street.(Christopher Dilts/Getty Images)

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This comes as DHS continues to operate under lapsed funding. Democrats in Congress have made renewed funding for the agency contingent on sweeping reforms they say are necessary.

Despite these challenges, Mullin appeared confident during his swearing-in ceremony, telling the president, “I won’t let you down.”

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Following his swearing in, Mullin told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement that “as the Secretary of Homeland Security, I look forward to continuing President Trump’s mission to safeguard the American people and defend the homeland.”

“I want to thank President Trump and my Senate colleagues for trusting me with this crucial role,”said Mullin.

“My first priority,” he said, “is to get the Department funded so the incredible patriots that support our 22 critical agencies receive a paycheck and can continue their critical work of keeping our nation safe.”

“DHS is bigger than any political party,” he added. “It’s time to end the partisan bickering that threatens our national security and put the American people first.”

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Trump says US in Iran talks as analysts say IRGC holds real power | Fox News

Analysts say the IRGC has more control over Iran than ever, even as the state itself is described as weaker than ever before.

By Efrat Lachter
Fox News

Published March 24, 2026 3:08pm EDT

Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to report on indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran after President Donald Trump demanded the Strait of Hormuz be reopened.

“Nobody knows who to talk to,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday at the White House, describing what he portrayed as both chaos and opportunity inside Iran’s leadership. “But we’re actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly.”

His remarks come as the U.S. claims it is engaged in talks with a “top” Iranian figure, even as Tehran publicly denies negotiations are taking place.

The question now is not just whether talks are happening, but whether anyone in Tehran has the authority to deliver. With strikes on senior Iranian leadership and growing internal fractures, Iran appears to be operating less like a centralized theocracy and more like a wartime system run by overlapping power centers, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at its core.

Here’s who matters now.

[TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY REVEALS WHAT LED TO BREAKDOWN IN IRAN TALKS BEFORE OPERATION EPIC FURY]

A State Department Rewards for Justice poster offers up to $10 million for information on key leaders tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali Asghar Hejazi, Yahya Rahim Safavi, Ali Larijani, Eskandar Momeni and Esmail Khatib.(State Department / Rewards for Justice)

The IRGC: The real power behind the state

Across intelligence assessments and recent reporting, one conclusion is consistent: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has emerged as the dominant force in Iran’s political system.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the current moment is accelerating a long-standing trend.

“No doubt both the 12-Day war and this current conflict have trimmed the commanding heights of the Islamic Republic’s political and military leadership,” he said. “But it has also expedited the trend lines inherent in Iranian politics, which is the dominance of the security forces and the ascendance of the IRGC.”

“Yes, there is more IRGC control over the state than ever before, but the state is weaker than ever before and more of a national security rump state than ever before,” he said.

“It shouldn’t particularly preoccupy Washington, who is and isn’t offering negotiations,” Ben Taleblu added, “The preeminent preoccupation of Washington has to be working toward a military win at a political win, and that does not come by working with the IRGC, but actually beating them on the battlefield and supporting the forces’s most arrayed against them in Iran, which are the Iranian people.”

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military personnel are walking along Enghelab (Revolution) Avenue as an Iranian Kheibar Surface-to-Surface missile is being unveiled during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. The IRGC is unveiling two new missiles during the rally.(Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The command room: Supreme National Security Council

If the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the power in Iran, the Supreme National Security Council appears to be the mechanism through which that power is exercised.

The Supreme National Security Council is Iran’s top forum for coordinating military and foreign policy, bringing together senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and government officials under the authority of the supreme leader. It was established after the 1979 revolution and has played a central role in managing major crises, from nuclear negotiations to wartime operations.

Iran appointed Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, as secretary of the council, reinforcing its central role in coordinating military and political decisions, Reuters reported Tuesday.

A Middle Eastern official source with knowledge of the system described the structure:

“Right now, the power is in the hands of the IRGC,” the source said. “The Supreme National Security Council makes the decisions, of course, with the backing of the majority of IRGC commanders.”

A mourner holds a poster depicting Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, the successor to his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, as supreme leader, during the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the campaign in Tehran, Iran, March 11, 2026.(Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

Mojtabā Khamenei: The supreme leader in name

Formally, Iran’s system centers on Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. But his actual grip on power remains uncertain.

Khamenei inherited the position’s sweeping authority following his father’s death, but “lacks the automatic authority enjoyed by his father,” the Middle Eastern official said.

Moreover, he has not appeared publicly since taking power and only has issued written statements, raising questions about both his health and his ability to govern, after reportedly being injured in the initial Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father and other senior Iranian leaders.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, suggested his role may currently be limited: “For the time being, [since Mojtaba has been injured], it seems he’s a hologram and not holding power. However, if Mojtaba recovers, he will be involved in ruling Iran. He is not just a figurehead. But anyhow, for the time being, the control of Iran is in the hands of the revolutionary guards.”

[WITH DOGS, DANCE AND UNCOVERED HAIR, IRANIANS DEFY ‘UNHOLY ALLIANCE’ OF SOCIALISTS, RADICALS: ‘HYPOCRITES!’]

Ghalibaf: The man at the center of Trump’s claim

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks during a public event in Iran in 2024(Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)

Trump’s statement that he is speaking to a “top person” has focused attention on one name in particular: Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

The White House is quietly exploring Ghalibaf as a potential interlocutor and even a possible future leader, Axios reported.

A former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and current parliament speaker, Ghalibaf represents a hybrid figure inside the system, bridging military credentials and political authority.

He was one of the key security figures involved in the crackdown on student protests in July 1999 and has run for president four times since 2005.

[IRAN WAR, 11 DAYS IN: US CONTROLS SKIES, OIL SURGES AND THE REGION BRACES FOR WHAT’S NEXT]

Ghalibaf is expected to meet U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the capital of Pakistan as early as the end of this week.

Ben Taleblu said: “Those who see the ascendants of someone like Ghalibaf, who is an IRGC veteran, having extended power outside his traditional civilian rule, have missed the decades of how personality, not profession, has been the driving force, has been a driving force in Iranian politics for the past few decades. I would also say those who worry about the IRGC background of the Supreme National Security Council are all that in Iran today, may have missed the fact that the past few Supreme National Security Council Secretaries, Shamkhani, Larijani, Ahmadian, all also had IRGC backgrounds.”

At the same time, Ghalibaf has publicly denied engaging in talks with the United States, and no direct confirmation of negotiations has been provided by either side.

Araqchi: The diplomat carrying messages

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister following their talks in Moscow on April 18, 2025.(Getty Images)

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi remains one of the most visible figures internationally.

If talks were to take place, Araqchi likely would be part of the Iranian delegation alongside Ghalibaf, Reuters reported.

But analysts caution that his role is limited. He may act as a channel for communication, but does not set policy independently.

Strategic decisions, particularly on war and negotiations, are still shaped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the broader security establishment.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, the head of the judiciary and Alireza Arafi, deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, attend the meeting of the interim leadership council of Iran in an unknown location, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Iran, March 1, 2026.(IRIB/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters)

The wider power circle: generals, clerics and enforcers

Beyond the headline figures, a broader group of officials who continue to shape Iran’s direction can be identified.

These include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Ahmad Vahidi, Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, naval commander Alireza Tangsiri, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, and senior clerical and political figures such as Saeed Jalili and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi.

Each represents a different pillar of the system: military power, regional proxy operations, control of strategic waterways, internal repression and religious legitimacy.

Together, they form what analysts describe as a fragmented but resilient governing network.

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A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026), and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on March 9, 2026.(AFP/Via Getty Images)

Despite internal divisions, Iran’s leadership remains united on one core objective: survival of the regime.

Kuperwasser described the split: “There are the more pragmatic elites, like Araghchi, Rouhani, and Zarif. There are also the hardliners who have usually held the upper hand … But they are united in one issue — that the regime should survive and stay in power.”

Iran’s U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Efrat Lachter is a foreign correspondent for Fox News Digital covering international affairs and the United Nations. Follow her on X @efratlachter. Stories can be sent to efrat.lachter@fox.com.

Top US official does not rule out resuming underground nuclear weapons tests

2026-03-24 / Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) – A senior State Department official on Tuesday said the U.S. still is assessing how to implement President Donald Trump’s order to resume ​U.S. nuclear weapons tests, but he did not rule out a resumption of full-scale underground ‌explosive tests.

“We’ve made no decision specifically on how or what any testing program would look like,” Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Arms control advocates warn that a U.S. ​resumption of underground explosive tests could collapse the global non-proliferation system because Russia, China and ​other countries would follow suit. The last such U.S. test took place in 1992.

DiNanno ⁠was asked by Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada, where the U.S. nuclear test site is located, ​how a directive that Trump issued in October for nuclear weapons tests “on an equal basis” with other countries ​was being implemented.

Trump issued the order just before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in what some experts saw as an unsuccessful attempt to pressure Xi to drop his refusal to open talks on Beijing’s growing nuclear arsenal.

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DiNanno reiterated U.S. charges that ​Russia and China secretly have conducted explosive nuclear underground tests, allegations that Moscow and Beijing deny and ​some experts have challenged.

“The Chinese and Russian programs are underground. They are at yields that I can’t talk too much ‌about ⁠in this open hearing,” he said, adding that “the Chinese underground testing program would be in the hundreds of tons.”

“This creates intolerable disadvantage to the United States not testing,” DiNanno said, adding that internal administration deliberations have not included a resumption of atmospheric tests, which the U.S. last conducted in 1962.

Since 1994, the U.S. ​has ensured that its ​nuclear arsenal is safe ⁠and reliable by replacing underground explosive testing with a multi-billion dollar “science-based approach” of super computer modeling and other advanced tools.

Rosen noted that using those methods, the ​U.S. has ensured “the capabilities of our nuclear stockpile,” a certification made annually by ​the Pentagon and ⁠Department of Energy, the caretaker of the U.S. arsenal.

Some experts, however, have called for a resumption of underground tests to ensure that aging U.S. nuclear weapons function properly.

China’s last official underground test blast was in 1996 ⁠and Russia’s ​in 1990.

Like the U.S., China signed but has not ratified ​the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Russia revoked its ratification in 2023. Under international law, the three countries as signatories still are ​obligated to uphold the pact.

Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis; Editing by Franklin Paul and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

US lawmakers ask whether Nvidia CEO’s smuggling remarks misled regulators | Reuters

By Stephen Nellis
March 24, 2026 6:07 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

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Nvidia logo, computer chips and a 3D-printed representation of a robot hand are seen in this illustration taken August 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

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• Super Micro Computer Inc Follow

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24 (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators have asked U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate whether remarks by Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab CEO Jensen Huang may have misled U.S. officials and ​influenced their decision to grant Nvidia licenses to send its AI chips to ‌China.

The letter, opens new tab on Monday from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks, both members of the Senate Banking Committee, comes after the Justice Department last week charged three men tied to Nvidia customer Super Micro Computer(SMCI.O), opens new tab, including one ​of the company’s co-founders who was photographed near Huang at an Nvidia conference last ​week, with smuggling billions of dollars worth of AI servers into China.

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In ⁠their letter, Warren and Banks cited two remarks that Huang made to reporters in 2025, ​as Nvidia was working to secure export licenses to send chips to China. In one remark, ​Huang said: “There’s no evidence of any AI chip diversion. These are massive systems. The Grace Blackwell system is nearly two tons, and so you’re not going to be putting that in your pocket or your backpack anytime ​soon.”

In another set of remarks cited by the lawmakers, Huang said: “The important thing is that ​the countries and the companies that we sell to recognize that diversion is not allowed and everybody would ‌like ⁠to continue to buy Nvidia technology. And so they monitor themselves very carefully.”

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In their letter, Warren and Banks cited media reports out before Huang’s remarks focused on probes into potential illegal shipments of AI chips to China.

“Those statements were not simply wrong in hindsight,” the lawmakers wrote ​of Huang’s remarks. “They were ​contradicted by reporting available ⁠at the time and potentially misled U.S. officials.”

The senators asked Lutnick to “determine whether representations, statements, or certifications made by Nvidia’s leadership to federal officials ​and to the public regarding the absence of chip diversion were ​materially false ⁠or misleading, and whether those representations, statements, or certifications influenced licensing decisions in a way that warrants further investigation or referral.”

In a statement, an Nvidia spokesperson said that “strict compliance is a top priority” ⁠for the ​company.

“The administration’s critics are unintentionally promoting the interests of ​foreign competitors on U.S. entity lists – America should always want its industry to compete for vetted and approved commercial business, ​supporting real jobs for real Americans.”

Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Andrea Ricci

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Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday announced Alan Armstrong as his choice to fill Markwayne Mullin’s U.S. Senate seat.

The Senate on Monday voted 54-45 to confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination of Mullin to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Mullin is being sworn in Tuesday.

Stitt, who made the announcement during a press conference on Tuesday, described Armstrong in a post on X as “a proud third-generation Oklahoman, staunch conservative, respected business leader, and a devoted family man with an inspiring American Dream story.”

The governor noted during the press conference that Armstrong is stepping down from the board of Williams.

The company’s website describes Williams as an “energy infrastructure company.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote against Mullin’s confirmation, while Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico were the only Democrats to vote for confirmation.

Mullin cast a vote to green-light his own nomination.

Armstrong will not be able to run in the next election for the Senate seat he’s now filling because Oklahoma state law stipulates that “a person who is a prospective appointee shall submit to the Secretary of State an oath affirming that the person will not file as a candidate for the office when it next appears on the ballot.”

Mullin is replacing Kristi Noem, who will instead serve as a special envoy for a security initiative pertaining to the Western Hemisphere.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

600-year-old grape seed used to make pinot noir wine found in toilet of medieval hospital in France

March 24, 2026 / 1:22 PM EDT / CBS/AFP

A 600-year-old grape seed discovered in the toilet of a medieval French hospital is genetically identical to the grapes still being used to make pinot noir wine, scientists said Tuesday.

The seed reveals that people in France have been cultivating this immensely popular variety of grape since at least the 1400s, the scientists said in a new study.

It is not possible to say whether the fruit was

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/wine-vineyards-around-the-world-feel-the-impact-of-climate-change/

Airlines allow passengers to rebook flights for free at some airports amid TSA chaos

March 24, 2026 / 1:01 PM EDT / CBS News

Security screening lines are so long at some U.S. airports that major airlines are letting passengers cancel or rebook their tickets free of charge during the ongoing partial federal government shutdown.

Travelers face hours-long wait times at TSA checkpoints, while others struggle to determine how early they should show up before a flight, given seemingly conflicting information from airports and airlines. TSA officers are also quitting in droves as they work without pay for a sixth straight week, with lawmakers still unable to pass a spending bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA.

Frustrated passengers at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, for example, described the chaos to CBS News, saying they had waited five hours to be screened, leading to missed flights.

One such flier, Summer Martinez, told CBS News that long lines caused her to miss three flights, and that she hoped she’d have better luck at her fourth attempt to fly to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Amid the chaos, airlines including Allegiant Air, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are temporarily waiving cancellation and change fees in some instances.

“It’s probably about time they started doing this, given the chaos at key hubs like Houston and Atlanta,” Eric Rosen, director of content for The Points Guy, a travel site, told CBS News. “It appears airlines are facing the fact that there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight to this anytime soon.”

Here’s what to know.

Allegiant

Allegiant has issued a “travel with confidence” guarantee that lets customers traveling during the partial government shutdown “change or cancel their itineraries at no additional cost, making it easier to plan trips with confidence.”

For a limited time, the carrier is offering fliers no change fees for eligible bookings, plus the option to cancel a flight for a refund. Customers must contact Allegiant’s customer service team directly by phone, chat, text or email to change or cancel a flight.

At the same time, the airline is encouraging passengers who choose to travel to allow for extra time at airport security screening lines. It urges customers to check either their local airport’s website or social media channels for projected TSA wait times.

Delta

Delta’s waiver specifically applies to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which advises flight passengers to allow at least four hours for domestic and international flight security screening.

Passengers with plans to travel on Tuesday may rebook their trips to fly on or before March 30, according to Delta. The carrier said it will waive any fare differences in flights for passengers who book tickets in the same cabin of service they originally selected.

United

United Airlines, which notes that it has already eliminated most ticket change fees, has issued a special waiver for travelers flying to or from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where passengers have faced wait times of up to six hours due to TSA worker absences.

United passengers with original travel dates on March 23-24 may reschedule trips, with the airline saying it will waive all change fees and fare differences. Some conditions apply — the new flight must depart on or before March 31, and tickets must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as originally booked.

Edited by Alain Sherter

Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cbs-news-joins-tsa-lines-at-2-major-airports-to-track-wait-times/

Co-founder of defense tech firm Anduril says US legislative failures are giving China a strategic edge

March 24, 2026 5:58 PM UTC / Reuters

An Anduril Industries logo is seen at the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]

• Summary
• Companies

• Anduril chairman criticizes U.S. legislative failures on immigration, healthcare and education
• He says Silicon Valley’s resistance to Pentagon work aids China and other adversaries
• Anduril starts production at $1 billion Arsenal-1 campus in Ohio

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) – Trae Stephens, co-founder of defense technology firm Anduril Industries, sharply criticized ​American lawmakers on Tuesday, warning that congressional dysfunction and Silicon Valley arrogance were handing China a strategic opening in the ‌race for military and technological supremacy.

Speaking at the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, Stephens told hundreds of executives and policymakers that the United States had no one but itself to blame for falling behind in what he called a “high-tech arsenal of autocracy” race with Beijing.

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“Our federal government is not doing its job,” Stephens ​said. “It does not help us build great things. It does not solve hard problems. Frankly, it has abandoned its post.”

Stephens is ​a partner at San Francisco-based venture capital firm Founders Fund and the chairman of Costa Mesa, California-based Anduril, ⁠one of the largest defense tech companies backed by Silicon Valley.

At the conference, he ticked through what he called a generation of U.S. ​legislative failure. On immigration, he said that 70 to 80% of Americans support comprehensive reform and yet Congress has passed nothing meaningful in 40 ​years.

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On healthcare, he said the United States spends roughly double what peer democracies spend, with worse outcomes. On education, he said the U.S. has fallen out of the top 10 in educational attainment and is “lagging far behind competitors in math and science” just as artificial intelligence is upending the labor market for recent graduates.

He ​was particularly withering on infrastructure spending, telling the audience that more than a trillion dollars allocated under recent chip and green-energy legislation had ​produced little more than “a handful of lousy EV charging stations and not a single fully built chips fab.”

“We haven’t even sent a man to the moon ‌in my ⁠lifetime,” Stephens said. “‘It’s too hard’ or ‘someone else is going to do this’ aren’t excuses that cut it anymore in the 21st century.”

Stephens argued that lawmakers were structurally incapable of keeping pace with technological change, saying that Facebook had 2 billion users before the first platform regulation was put in place, that drones became weapons of war before any laws governed their use against domestic threats, and that trillions of dollars in cryptocurrency ​changed hands before the government could ​agree on what it was.

“If ⁠all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail,” he said. “When your main tools are investigations and the bully pulpit, the rules they write are often already obsolete by the time they ​take effect.”

But Stephens was equally sharp toward the technology industry, arguing that Silicon Valley’s years of resistance ​to Pentagon work had ⁠helped adversaries grow stronger. He recalled how software engineers pushed back against projects like Project Maven in the 2010s while parts of the technology establishment helped enable China to become “stronger, richer and more capable.”

“There is no moral neutrality in that decision,” he said.

His remarks came as Anduril this week began production ⁠at its ​new $1 billion Arsenal-1 manufacturing campus south of Columbus, Ohio, which is expected to employ ​more than 4,000 people over the next decade. The facility will initially produce the company’s FURY autonomous combat drone, Anduril’s entry for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft ​program, which pairs uncrewed platforms with human fighter pilots.

Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington and David Jeans in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis

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Former counterterrorism official Joe Kent sparred with conservative radio host and Fox News personality Mark Levin in a heated interview Monday, as Levin pressed him over past comments suggesting potential foreign links to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and also Iran.

Levin challenged Kent to clarify whether he was implicating a specific country, potentially Israel, in relation to Kirk’s death, at one point asking, “What are you talking about there — Botswana?” as he pushed him to explain his earlier remarks.

Levin was referencing Kent’s prior public comments, in which he raised the possibility that Kirk’s killing could have foreign connections tied to his opposition to war with Iran.

Kent replied: “Charlie was advocating for us not to go to war with Iran and to rethink our relationship with the Israelis, and then he was killed. This needs to be looked into. That’s all I can say.”

“There were foreign leads that we didn’t get a chance to look into,” he added. “From my vantage point at the National Counterterrorism Center, that was not thoroughly looked into.”

In past interviews, Kent has pointed to social media posts made before the attack against Kirk and suggested authorities should examine whether any individuals had prior knowledge or made threats.

On Thomas Matthew Crooks and the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Kent said: “We should investigate to see if there’s any linkage, particularly between Iran and the Iranian agent who was convicted for plotting an assassination attempt against President Trump.”

Elsewhere in the interview Levin pressed Kent on leaking allegations, breaking with the Trump administration over Iran, and claiming Israel “forced President Trump into this war.”

“I never leaked any classified information,” Kent said, as Levin pressed him on reports that he was under investigation by the FBI for leaking.

Three sources familiar with the matter have told Fox News the FBI probe into Kent predated his resignation.

Kent also disputed the administration’s case for the conflict with Iran, saying “there was no imminent threat coming from Iran against Americans.”

Kent resigned March 17 as director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), issuing a public letter claiming the U.S. entered the conflict due to “pressure from Israel” — a position he has since defended in multiple media appearances.

Kent maintained that U.S. intelligence did not support the administration’s justification for military action in Iran, asserting “we had no intelligence that said that Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon,” a claim that runs counter to assessments publicly cited by top administration officials.

Kent’s resignation makes him the highest-ranking figure in the Trump administration to step down over the Iran war, a rare instance of open dissent from a senior national security official. His assertions put him at odds with top intelligence and defense officials who have said Iran posed an immediate threat to the United States.

“Joe Kent’s self-aggrandizing resignation letter and recent comments are riddled with lies. Most egregious are Kent’s false claims that the largest state sponsor of terrorism somehow did not pose a threat to the United States and that Israel forced the President into launching Operation Epic Fury,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital. “As Commander-in-Chief, President Trump took decisive action based on strong evidence which showed that the terrorist Iranian regime posed an imminent threat and was preparing to strike Americans first.”

Levin, a staunch advocate of the U.S. alliance with Israel and host of weekend program “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Fox, repeatedly challenged Kent’s claims throughout the roughly 22-minute interview, turning what began as a policy discussion into a pointed back-and-forth over intelligence, Israel and Trump’s decision-making.

Levin rejected Kent’s assertion that Israel drove the U.S. into war, calling it “conspiratorial” and pushing back on the idea that a foreign government could dictate American military action.

“Why do you create a conspiratorial notion that Israel dragged the powerful Donald Trump into war?” Levin asked on his radio show, “The Mark Levin Show.” “Do you have no respect for Donald Trump’s agency that he has the capacity to make these decisions himself?”

Kent responded, “I believe that he was influenced by a media echo chamber and by the Israelis.”

Kent also argued that “the Israelis forced President Trump into this war,” a claim Levin repeatedly pushed back on during the exchange.

Kent elsewhere described the decision as influenced by Israeli pressure.

Kent maintained that “there was no intelligence that said that Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon.”

As director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent would have had access to high-level intelligence assessments, including threat reporting and interagency analysis used to brief senior policymakers.

Administration officials have told Fox News he was not included in discussions surrounding the Iran conflict known as Operation Epic Fury.

Levin countered, saying, “The president agrees with his own conclusions. The CIA director says you’re wrong.”

Asked Wednesday during a Senate hearing if he disagreed with Kent’s resignation assessment that Iran did not pose an imminent threat, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he did.

“I think Iran has been a constant threat to the United States for an extended period of time and posed an immediate threat at this time,” Ratcliffe said.

Levin also questioned Kent’s credibility Monday, telling him, “I hope when you tell me you haven’t leaked that you are telling me the truth.”

Kent also indicated that efforts to investigate potential foreign links to the killing of Charlie Kirk and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, were not fully carried out.

Kent pointed to the case of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national convicted in U.S. federal court in March for attempting to orchestrate a political assassination plot tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Endorsed by Trump in two unsuccessful congressional campaigns, Kent rose to MAGA stardom in large part in his opposition to “endless wars” after the death of his wife, Shannon, in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019.

Kent could not be reached for comment.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, has not publicly weighed in on Kent’s claims and largely has deferred to the president’s assessment of the Iran threat in recent public appearances. Joseph Weirsky is serving as acting director of NCTC.

Asked if the intelligence community assessed Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat,” Gabbard told senators during a hearing March 17: “The intelligence community assessed that Iran maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability.”

Pressed again on the imminent nuclear threat assessment, Gabbard repeatedly insisted only the president can determine “what is and is not an imminent threat.”

The Israeli embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

Epic Games lays off 1,000 workers as its CEO says the cuts aren’t tied to AI

March 24, 2026 / 12:58 PM EDT / CBS News

Epic Games, the video game maker behind Fortnite, is laying off more than 1,000 workers amid “extreme” market conditions and a downturn in engagement with its most popular game, CEO Tim Sweeney said in a blog post Tuesday.

Its successful online video game Fortnite, which Epic developed in 2017, is now facing competition from “other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment,” Sweeney said.

Fortnite, which is available on multiple platforms such as the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation, offers a battle-royale format where players compete to be the last one standing. But weaker consumer spending and sluggish demand for new video game consoles have made the job cuts necessary, Sweeney said.

Other forces contributed too, he added — although not artificial intelligence.

“Since it’s a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI,” Sweeney wrote. “To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”

More companies have cited artificial intelligence in recent months when announcing layoffs, including Amazon and Pinterest. While AI has the potential to displace white-collar workers, there’s little evidence that it has so far led to widespread job losses, according to Anthropic researchers.

$500 million in cost savings

To keep the company funded, Epic needs to make “major cuts” as its spending is outpacing its revenue, he added. In addition to the layoffs, the company said it has identified more than $500 million in cost savings that will help stabilize it.

It’s currently working on optimizing Fortnite for mobile devices, where consumers increasingly engage with entertainment content.

Epic workers affected by the layoffs will receive at least four months of base pay as severance, plus health care benefits for six months in the U.S., the company said.

Edited by Aimee Picchi