Biden's Abbey Gate disaster, five years later
Yesterday marked five years since 13 U.S. service members were killed at Abbey Gate in Kabul during Joe Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. President Donald Trump paid tribute to the fallen Americans and their families, promising that they will “never be forgotten.” The Pentagon held a ceremony upgrading the awards of three Marines for their “combat heroism” in the wake of the blast. Retired Gunnery Sergeant Jonathan Eby, retired Lance Corporal Jordan Houston, and retired Corporal Michael Gretzon were outside Abbey Gate when the suicide bomber detonated. They rushed to care for the wounded while rallying forces to reestablish security, saving the lives of fellow Marines. In April 2025, the DOJ charged and convicted Mohammad Sharifullah for participating in and supporting the terrorist organization that was responsible for the bombing, and he faces up to two decades in prison.

States keep suing over mail-in ballots
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to lift a lower court’s injunction against President Trump’s mail-in ballot order, dubbed the “Ballot Mail for Federal Elections” rule, 23 Democrat-run states and Washington, DC, are joining forces to sue the Trump administration, arguing federal overreach. The rule requires state election officials to submit the names of mail-in ballot recipients to a USPS portal for a cross-check against a state’s list of voters enrolled in mail-in voting. It also requires that ballots include trackable barcodes and be sent in USPS-approved envelopes. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro blasted the balloting rule, stating, “While Donald Trump may try to inject chaos into our elections, the Constitution is clear: the authority to set election rules belongs to the states — not the federal government.” The Court’s decision is not a judgment on the merits of the new rule.

China’s AI Army
The Chinese military is developing AI to boost hypersonic missile capabilities. AI-powered missiles would have improved maneuverability and would better evade radar and anti-missile interceptors. Whereas typical missiles have preprogrammed flight paths generated by advanced computer algorithms, an AI-enhanced missile could compute how to avoid anti-missile defenses mid-flight. China could exploit that technological advantage during an invasion of Taiwan to distract Taiwan's potential allies. Trying to stay ahead of China, the U.S. is developing a more efficient defense system to counter hypersonic missiles. The Golden Dome system will track missiles using satellites. The trackers and sensors could also implement AI in real time.

Trial date for alleged 9/11 mastermind
A military judge ruled that the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will stand trial in June 2028. Three other alleged coconspirators will also be prosecuted. In 2003, Mohammed was captured, and in 2008, he was charged with war crimes and arranging the murder of nearly 3,000 people. A proposed agreement would have allowed Mohammed to escape the death sentence by pleading guilty, but a federal court denied the agreement and pushed back the trial date. The prosecution also saw complications in court during the Obama era. Defense lawyers have blamed the long wait on the government's efforts to hide the fact that the CIA used waterboarding against the coconspirators, which some consider torture.

ICE extradition fight
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is attempting to extradite an ICE agent from Texas. Prosecutors claim that the agent, Christian Castro, lied about the man he shot and another man attacking him with a broom and a shovel in January. A Minnesota judge issued a warrant for Castro’s arrest in May; he was arrested and detained in Brownsville, Texas. A federal judge, though, has refused to force Texas to extradite Castro, explaining that he can’t stop the county sheriff from releasing the ICE agent or order Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign the extradition warrant. Ellison then filed a request for a temporary restraining order to block Castro’s release, but the judge wrote on Wednesday that the court can’t step in yet because Abbott has not made a decision on the extradition. According to Texas law, Castro must be released following 90 days of detention, which is today.

Abdul El-Sayed continues to alienate voters
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has been in the news a lot lately, and nearly all of it has portrayed him negatively. First, he was the subject of an article from a far-left news outlet that made false claims that he was a veteran and a doctor, when El-Sayed is neither. The media must create falsehoods to portray him positively. The other major backlash came on his X account, where he commented on Dolly Parton's passing. "Dolly Parton used her gift for music to highlight the challenges of poverty, inequality, and struggle in ways that uplifted and inspired working people." This portrays Parton as a political commentator, which couldn't be further from the truth. Thousands of people challenged him in the comments, with most being infuriated that El-Sayed politicized a widely loved, famously apolitical figure.

FDA approves drug for pancreatic cancer
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new groundbreaking drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. While Rasonque is not a cure, the drug developed by Revolution Medicines has been approved for patients who do not qualify for initial chemotherapy. Revolution Medicines CEO Mark Goldsmith called the FDA approval “a monumental step forward,” adding, “for the first time, patients have an approved targeted medicine designed to directly inhibit the main cause of pancreatic cancer, RAS, which has been one of the most intractable disease targets since its discovery decades ago.” Former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, who announced his stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis last December, has been a recipient of Rasonque and credits it with shrinking his tumors, while noting that the cancer’s spread is “probably just not something you can ever catch up on.”

Colombia now an ally against the drug cartels
President Trump's war on the cartels has been one of the more successful things to come out of his administration. Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella recently entered office, and unlike his predecessors, he has taken a hard stance against the cartels. Recently, Colombia and the U.S. signed deals to commence a joint military presence in Colombia and surrounding areas, headquartered in Medellín. The two nations will share resources and intelligence to better counter drug smugglers based in Colombia and Venezuela, potentially cutting the drug trade off at its source. What was once a safe zone for cartels and smugglers has become increasingly hostile. Hopefully, this, as well as counter-drug agreements all across Latin America, will cripple organized crime in the region and protect American lives.

Cities are terminating Flock contracts
Two suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, joined a growing wave of municipalities ending contracts with Flock Safety over its controversial automated license plate readers. Tempe canceled an $80,000 contract and will turn off all Flock cameras because of widespread reports of data misuse nationwide. Within hours, Cave Creek, a nearby town, had also canceled its contract and completely removed the cameras. Flock said that it believed Tempe could have preserved the technology's crime-fighting value without removing it entirely, but added that it respects the decision. More than 90 cities across the U.S. have begun removing Flock from their communities. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called the technology “out of control,” and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley has launched an investigation into the surveillance network after allegations of abuse.

The Gay PCUSA
A PCUSA church in South Carolina has chosen a pastor who identifies as a “transgender lesbian.” Laura Bethany Buchleiter claims he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2006 and began transitioning in 2014, leading to his wife divorcing him. Complicating the issue, Buchleiter claims to have been born intersex with sexual organs from both sexes, although he appears to have experienced male puberty. The church in question, North Anderson Community Church Presbyterian, averages 20-30 attendees on Sundays. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is the largest Presbyterian organization in the U.S., although it has hemorrhaged members since 2000, dropping from 2.5 million to just over one million today.

Headlines

  • CIA chief’s surprise Moscow trip was to warn Russia not to attack NATO (WSJ)
  • AOC renews DSA membership after yearslong break ahead of possible 2028 bid (Washington Examiner)
  • 65 Americans missing, death toll rises after flash floods in Nepal and China (NewsNation)
  • USAID report finds more than 100 UNRWA employees participated in Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7 (Just the News)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.