Top 5     Guard appears to rebuke Hegseth’s delegation at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Reuters) A U.S. Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier appeared to rebuke Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's delegation on Wednesday after laughter could be heard as they climbed the steps of the solemn site, according to a video of the incident.       Navy legend lost two husbands in airship crashes before leading WAVES (Military Times) Navy Lt. Joy Bright Hancock recalled the mix of sorrow and pride she felt at the 1943 ceremony to christen the destroyer named for Navy Lt. Cmdr. Lewis Hancock, who was the second husband she had lost in a crash aboard a Navy rigid airship.       Trump planning new military assault or tighter sanctions, say Iranian officials (The Guardian) Senior Iranian officials believe the U.S. is planning either further military strikes or an ever-tightening economic stranglehold that will push Tehran into retaliatory action.       Inside Warhound’s plan to engineer a better military working dog (Military Times) News broke on Oct. 22 that a new startup had raised $200 million to genetically enhance military dogs. The company, Warhound , was launched by billionaire entrepreneurs Ben Lamm, founder of biotech company Colossal Biosciences , and Palmer Luckey , founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries.       US Treasury chief Scott Bessent is reportedly latest Trump official to move to military base (The Guardian) The U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has relocated from his home in the Washington area to a military base after an Iranian threat against his life, the New York Times has reported.   Operation Timeline     The human impact of policy changes at the DOD and VA (The War Horse) An ongoing timeline of the Trump administration’s actions focusing on the military and veterans.   Pentagon     Pentagon sued over failures to make military review boards’ decisions accessible (Federal News Network) “The rights of veterans are on the line here, their ability to get VA care, to have their discharge upgraded and to live with dignity,” Tyson Manker said.   Congress & Politics     Report to Congress on strategic stability of the Golden Dome (USNI News) The following is the Nov. 4, 2026, Congressional Research Service report, Golden Dome: Potential Strategic Stability Considerations for Congress.   Cyber, Space & Unmanned     Special operators from US take notes, test gadgetry at debut drone competition (Stars and Stripes) U.S. and allied special operations troops brought their best efforts to Bavaria to chase the crown in an inaugural three-day competition born of the ongoing war in Ukraine.       Nvidia spying allegations test Washington’s defenses against tech espionage (Nextgov) Allegations that Chinese intelligence targeted Nvidia’s chief executive are raising questions about how American technology companies can protect themselves from foreign spies and whether Washington is doing enough to help.   Defense Industry     Romanian servers targeted by Russian hackers to scoop up emails about NATO, EU (Defense News) Hackers linked to Russia’s FSB quietly compromised a Romanian government organization’s servers to collect emails related to NATO and the EU in December 2025, a Slovak cybersecurity firm has revealed.       Autonomous Cessna Caravan air ambulance to be tested by US military (The War Zone) The demonstration will take place in Morocco, but uncrewed options for rescuing casualties could be valuable in other far-flung locales globally.       The Army is testing self-driving vehicles at bases in Georgia and Texas (Task & Purpose) The Army is looking to join the world of Waymo and Tesla Robotaxi, and take soldiers across base by self-driving car instead of having their peers shuttle them around to field exercises or other official duty events.       VR goggles get dual use for suicide prevention, counter-drone training (USNI News) The global proliferation of cheap, small unmanned aerial systems that threaten troops has military services racing to incorporate counter-drone training as a top combat readiness priority.       Germany’s military will stop using Chinese-made drones for training purposes (The Associated Press) The German military will stop using Chinese-made drones for training purposes and replace them with German or other European models, the government said Wednesday.   Ukraine     Russia and Ukraine agree to a large prisoner exchange as talks end with no major breakthrough (The Associated Press) Russia and Ukraine agreed to a large exchange of prisoners of war, both sides said Wednesday as two days of U.S.-mediated talks concluded with no major breakthrough on ending Moscow’s nearly 5-year-old full-scale invasion.       Stay or leave? Ukrainians face a hard choice ahead of what could be the war’s toughest winter (The Associated Press) Matvii Yermolenko is 2, but he already knows the words for siren and air defense. This winter, his mother decided to take him out of Kyiv.   Military Culture & History     That time Ted Williams faced off against Babe Ruth during WWII fundraiser game (Military Times) It was a fantasy come true for baseball fans in the Bronx when a team led by Ted Williams, the last of the .400 hitters, met up with a team led by all-time slugger Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium on July 28, 1943, to benefit war-relief efforts and the American Red Cross.       100 years on, Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial still shines for veterans (Military Times) The eyes of the world were focused on Kansas City on Nov. 1, 1921. Some of the biggest names of the Great War — Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing of the United States, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, Adm. Sir David Beatty of Great Britain among others, along with 60,000 members of the American Legion – were on hand for the groundbreaking of the Liberty Memorial , one of the first major monuments honoring the sacrifices made by millions during the First World War.       WWII submarine vet ruled in landmark case that led to Agent Orange exposure settlement (Military Times) Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Jack Weinstein, a submariner in World War II, presided over the 1984 class action suit brought by veterans seeking compensation from seven chemical companies for the illnesses they charged were traceable to exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam.   Video     Drones incoming! New innovations on offer in UAS tech | Defense News Weekly Full Episode 11.10.26 (Defense News) New drone innovations are highlighted in Part 2 of our Business of Defense series. Plus, a sneak peek into a new Smithsonian military aviation exhibit, and tips to avoid scams.       Hegesth says impeachment filing against him is “sabotage” and political “farce” (Defense News) The Secretary of Defense defended his record in his first press conference since May, and said attacks on him disrespect troops, and are a preamble for trying service members for war crimes.   Commentary & Analysis     For families of those who died in the Iran war, a Veterans Day of profound loss (The New York Times) Military families are navigating feelings of grief, pride and anger, as well as seeking answers about the deaths of their loved ones.       What Russia, China, Iran and North Korea saw in America's elections (The Cipher Brief) Democracy was on display during the 2026 midterm elections in the U.S. Over 124 million ballots were cast across the country, with considerable foreign interest.       For many veterans, access to federal benefits begins close to home (Federal News Network) "The important thing is all of our county veterans service officers are veterans themselves, and so they have military cultural competency," Cat Nichols said.       Reinventing intelligence to operate at machine speed (The Cipher Brief) For almost a decade, the U.S. Intelligence Community has lived with a quiet anxiety: that the proliferation of open-source information, machine learning, and artificial intelligence would one day reshape its analytic enterprise the way the internet reshaped the newspaper industry.       Japan’s most dangerous military constraint is time (War on the Rocks) During a 2022 wargame I ran, bilateral planners reached a familiar barrier. U.S. forces needed to disperse from concentrated bases before the adversary’s first missile salvo.       For some veterans In Southern California, post military service takes the form of helping military families (Federal News Network) "We've been pretty successful in the last five years. We've raised over 55 tons of food supplies for military families and military bases," said Raymond Foster.       What federal agencies stand to gain by hiring more veterans (GovExec) Millions have raised their right hand and sworn to protect our country through military service. Every veteran leaves the armed forces with more than a résumé. Veterans bring experience leading teams, solving complex problems, adapting to changing missions, and serving something greater than themselves. These qualities do not disappear when the uniform comes off. They can become the foundation for continued service in civilian life.       Honoring veterans means keeping our promises to them (GovExec) Every Veterans Day, America's leaders honor the men and women who served our country. They praise their courage, acknowledge their sacrifices, and reaffirm our nation's promise to care for veterans and provide the benefits they have earned—as they should. But the true measure of that promise is not what our leaders say on November 11. It is what they do the other 364 days of the year.       Questions about veteran outcomes in the workplace remain surprisingly difficult to answer (Federal News Network) "We really tried to create as comprehensive a public record as we could on data for how corporations are supporting veterans," said George Zuo.