“President-elect Donald Trump’s unorthodox approach to his coming national-security team is set to come under the spotlight in Congress this week, and one constant remains from his first term: America is about to take the gloves off in its shadow bout with Beijing,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Trump’s choice to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, is likely to push for more aggressive spying operations targeting Beijing if confirmed to lead the most storied U.S. spy service.”

“Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray defended the bureau as it faces a barrage of attacks from President-elect Donald Trump and his allies,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

“And he offered a chilling warning about China, saying it posed a ‘unique and unprecedented’ threat that is taking aim at critical U.S. infrastructure.”

Said Wray: “What I saw once I got into this job as FBI director, in terms of the breadth, the depth, the complexity, the pervasiveness of the threat from the Chinese government, blew me away. And I’m not the kind of guy that uses expressions like blow me away lightly.”

“At the end of the day — it’s just my theory — I’m gonna be right 80% of the time. These people have some kind of sexual problem. Most of them are incels.”

— James Carville, on CNN, explaining what’s behind Islamic extremism.

“A 42-year-old Texas man with the flag of the Islamic State on his pickup rammed the vehicle into celebrating crowds on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, officials said. The attack killed at least 10 people and injured about 35 others,” the New York Times reports.

“The suspect, who died in a shootout with police officers, was identified by the F.B.I. as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a U.S. citizen.”

Axios: FBI investigating deadly New Orleans vehicle attack as act of terrorism.

“A military appeals court ruled Monday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could not withdraw plea agreements for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and two other defendants,” CBS News reports.

“The Pentagon on Monday repatriated a Tunisian detainee who was brought to the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the day it opened, was never charged at the war court and was approved for transfer more than a decade ago,” the New York Times reports.

“Ridah Bin Saleh al Yazidi, 59, spent years languishing at the wartime prison because deals could not be made to repatriate or resettle him.”

“The Pentagon has released a Kenyan prisoner who was held at Guantánamo Bay for nearly 18 years on suspicion he was tied to an affiliate of Al Qaeda that plotted attacks against Israeli tourists in East Africa two decades ago,” the New York Times reports.

“The prisoner, Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, 51, was never charged with a crime.”

Mark Bowden: “You would stay awake all night if you had any idea how short we are of artillery ammo…”

“It is a weakness that afflicts the U.S. military at all levels, and about which the public is largely unaware. The vaunted American war machine is in disarray and disrepair.”

Wall Street Journal: “As SpaceX deepened its ties with the national-security agencies in recent years, the company’s lawyers advised senior executives not to seek a higher security clearance for Musk that would give him access to details about sensitive programs SpaceX is involved in.”

“The reason, these people said, was that Musk would have had to answer questions from the government about his contacts with foreign nationals and drug use… In internal discussions, the lawyers and executives posited scenarios in which Musk might inadvertently disclose secrets to foreign officials with whom he regularly speaks, the people said. The Journal reported in October that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.”

Military.com: “Gen. Charles Hamilton, who had been the head of Army Materiel Command, was removed after what officials described as a flagrant abuse of authority aimed at securing a leadership role for a subordinate officer who was found unfit for command and had an inappropriate relationship with the general.”

Don Moynihan: “In the short run, we should be very worried about what Trump will do with a military repurposed to serve him, and not the constitution. In the long run, the politicization of the American military will undermine its capacity.”

“What happens if every new President distrusts the generals in place because they were selected via a politicized process? They then choose their own, adding to the instability in leadership. Under such circumstances, expect a Putinification of the military, where officers are afraid to tell the President the truth.”

“Amused observers have long dismissed Elon Musk’s dream to colonize Mars as unserious science fiction. But in his pursuit of the Red Planet, Musk has managed to build a deadly serious business with vast military consequences,” the Washington Post reports.

“Security experts say SpaceX has leapfrogged so far ahead in several critical technologies that it could deter major rivals like China from engaging in a war with the United States — or tip the balance if one breaks out. Others worry that it could provoke an untimely response.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told NBC News that women and racial diversity are vital to the strength of U.S. armed forces.

Said Austin: “I have spent 41 years in uniform, three long tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and everywhere I went on a battlefield, there were women in our formation. I would tell you that, you know, our women are the finest troops in the world. Quite frankly, some of the finest in the world.”

He added: “They do impact readiness. They make us better. They make us stronger. And again, what I’ve seen from our women is quite incredible, and I’m not — this is not hyperbole. This is fact.”

A senior former intelligence official told Politico that the nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence was a “left turn and off the bridge.”