Congress may be quietly seeking to integrate US and Israeli militaries — but critics have taken notice
The House Armed Services Committee released its first draft of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization bill last week.
Section 224, a provision buried hundreds of pages into the $1.15 trillion defense policy legislation that outlines the "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative," has generated some controversy on the fringes of Capitol Hill.
'This provision would flip the script on the current bilateral relationship.'
Committee member Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is among those who rushed to characterize section 224 as benign, stating that it amounts to a "security agreement" that "will allow for the US to leverage advanced Israeli technologies."
Some, however, have expressed concerns that the initiative will effectively mean a politically consequential integration of the U.S. and Israeli militaries along with their respective industrial supports.
The legislative proposal
Section 224 of the 2027 NDAA draft would have the secretary of war designate a Pentagon official to oversee the synchronization of "cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel, to expand and accelerate bilateral defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation."
The designee would, among other things,
- identify Israeli-origin or jointly developed technologies that the U.S. could integrate into its systems and programs;
- facilitate the transition of such technologies from research and development into procurement and acquisition pathways;
- establish "frameworks for joint ventures, licensing agreements, and United States-based co-production or manufacturing partnerships with Israeli industry"; and
- promote "joint training exercises and information-sharing mechanisms to enhance operational readiness to deploy jointly developed technologies."
The section clarifies that the "cooperative efforts" pursued under this technology initiative can be carried out through numerous domains including: counter-unmanned systems; anti-tunneling and subterranean threats; missile and air defense technologies; AI; directed energy; cyber warfare; biotechnology and biomanufacturing; network integration; and defense industrial base cooperation, manufacturing, and co-production.
Backlash
Ben Freeman, director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute, claimed in a recent analysis for Responsible Statecraft that "if fully enacted, this proposal would provide a higher level of military-industrial integration than the U.S. has with any other country in the world."
While acknowledging that the U.S. has worked closely "with its NATO partners on co-production and shared supply chains, most notably via the Defence Production Action Plan," Freeman said that section 224 would not only "fuse the U.S. and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to the battlefields of the future" but afford the foreign power "the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in U.S. politics: jobs in the U.S."
Beyond potentially setting the stage for more Israeli influence over American politics and fusing together the two nations' military-industrial complexes at a time when the majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Israel, Freeman — echoing a colleague at the Quincy Institute — suggested that the initiative will shield the relationship from public scrutiny by migrating it from a visible aid vote in Congress "into the opaque machinery of defense acquisition, where oversight is limited and political accountability is minimal."
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Pentagon did not respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.
Responding to Freeman's report, departing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) tweeted, "If the provision in the NDAA to integrate/synchronize the U.S. and Israeli militaries (section 224) makes it out of committee, I’ll offer an amendment to strip it from the bill on the floor."
"We are a sovereign country," Massie added in a post Rep. Van Orden suggested was the "dumbest possible take."
Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said that he will introduce an amendment in committee to axe section 224. Khanna noted further that "Trump can't kill the Massie/Khanna partnership no matter how much he posts on Truth Social."
A New Policy, the PAC founded in 2024 by a pair of Biden staffers who quit over the administration's support for Israel, is campaigning against section 224.
"At a policy level, this provision would flip the script on the current bilateral relationship, shifting the leverage we currently hold because of our security assistance to Israel over to the Government of Israel who would be able to hold key [Department of Defense] capabilities hostage through the integration of Israeli technologies into the DOD supply chain," states the PAC's template letter to members of the House Armed Services Committee. "Section 224 also assumes a commonality of national security interests between Israel and the U.S., which, as the current conflict with Iran clearly demonstrates, does not exist."
Code Pink, the leftist group co-founded by former Democrat political activist Jodie Evans, has also seized upon section 224 as a cause du jour, calling upon Congress to reject "US integration with the Israeli military."
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Trump derangement syndrome infiltrates America's 250th birthday concert
Just days after concert details were released as part of the Great American State Fair celebrating the United States' 250th birthday, most of the musical artists have publicly expressed their intention not to perform.
Freedom 250, the Trump-launched organization leading the celebration, released an outline on Wednesday detailing the “first round of star-studded entertainment & activations” [sic]. Beginning June 25, the 16-day national exposition on the National Mall is set to consist of “live entertainment, immersive exhibits, patriotic tributes, innovation showcases, cultural programming, and family-friendly attractions.”
'It is inherently nonpolitical. It is a celebration of our country.'
Nine artists appeared on the list shared by Freedom 250: Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, Vanilla Ice, C+C Music Factory, Young MC, Flo Rida, Morris Day and the Time, Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli, and the Commodores.
But just as quickly as Freedom 250 announced the lineup, it started to crumble.
Morris Day and the Time was the first act to disclose intentions to step away. The band’s official Facebook page posted, “Contrary To Rumor, Morris Day & The Time Will Not Be Performing At The 'GREAT AMERICAN STATE FAIR,'” captioning the post with a simple “It’s A No For Me.”
Only a few hours later, Young MC posted on his Facebook profile, saying, “I HAVE INFORMED MY AGENTS THAT I WILL NOT BE PERFORMING AT THE FREEDOM 250 EVENT. The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And despite the claims by the organizers that the event is nonpartisan, SPIN magazine describes it as Trump-backed."
The Commodores and Martina McBride followed suit by announcing similarly on their Instagram and X accounts respectively that they "will not be performing at the Great American State Fair."
"[The Commodores] choose not to publicly affiliate with any single political party."
McBride went on to claim that she "was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading."
Bret Michaels posted on his Instagram profile that "what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive." Michaels also cited concerns over the safety of his "fans, band, crew, family, and myself."
"Because of that, I have made the difficult decision to step away from this performance."
RELATED: America at 250
Freedom Williams of C+C Music Factory uploaded a lengthy video to his Instagram account during which he ranted about the heavy public backlash he received after his involvement in the event was announced. He initially claimed his booking agent "didn't mention Trump" and therefore he planned to back out: “So I told my agent, yeah, nah, I ain’t gonna be able to do that."
Yet Williams spent most of the seven-minute, 13-second recording brazenly criticizing those who threatened to “cancel” him: “The day I let you motherf**kers tell me what to do is the day I die.”
He added, “F**k Trump and f**k you too, but I just might do it,” leaving his attendance up for debate.
Founding member of C+C Music Factory Robert Clivilles clarified his own position on X: "I was neither involved in, consulted regarding, nor have I endorsed the event. Any political, ideological, religious, or personal viewpoints expressed by Freedom Williams are his own and should not be interpreted as reflecting my views."
As for Milli Vanilli, the "real vocalists" announced through a Facebook press release that they too will not be performing, stating, "Others using the name 'Milli Vanilli' that appear on the advertisement should be considered a tribute band."
However, Fab Morvan, one side of the original duo group, said in a statement sent to Consequence that he "feel[s] honored to be a part of the Great American State Fair."
Also still confirmed to appear is Vanilla Ice, with his management agency telling NBC News that the artist "is contracted and will perform at the Great American Fair."
"He is proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!”
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 hit back at these recent developments in an interview with The Hill columnist Judy Kurtz on Friday morning: "It is inherently nonpolitical. It is a celebration of our country.”
She added, "We have a president that wants to celebrate 250 years of America … and that's how it was sold to performers.”
Flo Rida did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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White House says no worries after report claims rebuilding missile inventory used in Iran strikes will take years
Military officials, defense analysts, and critics have warned in recent years about the state of America's military readiness and the risk of exhausting its stores of critical munitions.
The U.S -Israel war with Iran — a conflict which saw a 39-day bombing campaign with over 13,000 targets struck followed by a fragile ceasefire interrupted in recent days and weeks by additional strikes — has spread America's missile inventory particularly thin.
According to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the U.S. "has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict. The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern."
'Democrats destroyed our military.'
War Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged during a Senate hearing on April 30 that it will take "months and years" to rebuild the military's stockpiles of various munitions. The CSIS report attempts to give a better idea of the turnaround for replenishing the stocks of specific systems.
The think tank estimated, for instance, that the U.S. will not be able to replenish its prewar inventory of Tomahawk cruise missiles — over 850 of which were reportedly fired just in the first four weeks of the conflict and fewer than 200 of which are made per year — back to prewar levels until late 2030 or early 2031.
American Enterprise Institute fellows Mackenzie Eaglen and Todd Harrison noted in an assessment last year that the U.S. expended over 150 THAAD interceptors — terminal high-altitude area defense interceptors — defending Israel in June 2025 during its 12-day conflict with Iran.
At the time, that accounted for nearly 25% of America's total number of THAAD interceptors — each valued at roughly $12.7 million — and reportedly three times the average annual procurement since 2010.
The new CSIS report puts the number of THAAD interceptors used in the current conflict somewhere between 190 and 290.
RELATED: US reaches new ceasefire deal with Iran — but there's a catch
With a projected annual production capacity of 96 THAAD interceptors at the current maximum rate and a potential expanded annual production capacity of 400 in light of the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal for 2027, the CSIS report predicts a replenishment of the prewar stock sometime in mid- to late 2029.
An estimated 1,060-1,430 Patriot missiles — a variety of missile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently been begging Trump for more of — were fired in and around Iran since Feb. 28. Again, a return to prewar inventory isn't expected until mid-2029.
The estimated turnaround for replenishing the prewar stock of standard missile-3s is early 2029; standard missile-6s is late 2028-early 2029; joint air-to-surface standoff missiles is mid-2027; and precision strike missiles is late 2026.
The analysts suggested that during this inventory gap, some munitions could be substituted, but swaps will invariably carry with them certain downsides.
"Alternative ground attack munitions, for example, are short- or medium-range and increase vulnerability of the launch platforms," said the report. "Alternative counter-drone systems are expensive."
The Trump administration evidently doesn't share the outlook of the report's authors.
Following the publication of the CSIS report, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to the Military Times that the U.S. military "has more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump’s strategic goals and beyond."
"Even still, the president has urged our defense contractors to constantly produce more made-in-America weapons, which are the best in the world," continued Kelly. "Democrats destroyed our military, but President Trump rebuilt it. Think-tank armchair quarterbacks are not read into sensitive information and have no idea what they’re talking about."
While the military remains tight-lipped about how many missiles and munitions were expended during Operation Epic Fury, the administration was provided with some idea as to how much was spent monetarily.
Jules Hurst III, the Department of War's acting comptroller, testified earlier this month that the U.S. had spent roughly $29 billion on the war.
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Bizarre academic paper about releasing ticks resurfaces amid surging bites
An estimated 31 million people living in the U.S. are bitten by ticks annually, but this year, the number may hit a record. If a pair of radical professors had their way, then the surging bites would go unchecked, leaving multitudes of Americans sick — and unable to eat meat.
Citing its Tick Bite Tracker dashboard, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late last month that visits to emergency rooms for tick bites were higher than normal in many parts of the country and that in all but the South Central U.S., "weekly rates of ER visits for tick bites are the highest for this time of year since 2017." The Midwest is the most affected region.
This is especially concerning because tick bites can lead to various serious and potentially debilitating diseases including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and every carnivore's nightmare: alpha-gal syndrome.
'This is the kind of philosophical argument that gives philosophy and the study of ethics a bad name.'
Amid this surge in tick bites and hospitalizations, a July 2025 academic paper defending the intentional spread of AGS via genetically modified ticks is once again in the spotlight.
AGS is a serious, potentially deadly allergy to alpha-gal, a molecule found in most mammals including cows and pigs. According to the CDC, the body of an afflicted individual registers alpha-gal in red meat and other mammal products as a threat and triggers an allergic reaction. This allergy can develop after a bite from a tick, most commonly the lone star tick.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are believed to presently be affected by AGS.
A pair of professors at Western Michigan University School of Medicine said in an article titled "Beneficial Bloodsucking," which was published in the journal Bioethics, that tick-borne AGS should be regarded as a "moral bioenhancer if and when it motivates people to stop eating meat."
RELATED: The FDA seems to care more about celebrities than sick Americans
Eating meat, as humans have done for millions of years, is — according to Professors Parker Crutchfield and Blake Hereth — supposedly bad for the world because it contributes to "climate change" and harms animals.
"AGS promotes in the people who have it a resistance to eating mammalian meat," wrote the professors. "Thus, they eat less mammalian meat, which is an improvement in their capacity for moral behavior."
Crutchfield and Hereth not only argued that efforts to prevent the spread of tick-borne AGS are impermissible but that "promoting tickborne AGS is strongly pro tanto obligatory" and that promoting the proliferation of tick-borne AGS by genetically optimizing the disease-carrying capacity and adaptability of ticks is "morally obligatory."
"Today we have the obligation to research and develop the capacity to proliferate tickborne AGS and, tomorrow, carry out that proliferation," added the radicals.
The professors claimed — in the paper that Crutchfield subsequently said was a hypothetical ethical framework for discussion — that intentionally infecting people with a syndrome that prevents them from eating meat does not violate their rights but is rather analogous to mass "vaccinations."
Crutchfield argued in a 2019 paper that such "moral bioenhancement" interventions in pursuit of imagined moral improvements, not health gains, ought to be not only compulsory but covert.
"This is to say that it is morally preferable for compulsory moral bioenhancement to be administered without the recipients knowing that they are receiving the enhancement," he noted in the abstract for the 2019 paper.
Crutchfield and Hereth are hardly the first on the scene to discuss possibly using bioengineering to render the population incapable of eating meat.
For instance, Taiwanese-American "bioethicist" S. Matthew Liao discussed over a decade ago not only reducing humans' average height to reduce their "footprint" but artificially inducing "intolerance to red meat by stimulating the immune system against common bovine proteins" by way of a medical device resembling a nicotine patch or other means.
H. Sterling Burnett, director of the Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy, told the College Fix in response to the 2025 paper, "It is never morally right to promote a disease which harms people, robs them of choice, literally makes them sick, and, in extreme instances, kills them."
"Whether to fight climate change or promote animal welfare, preventing the eradication of a disease that causes human harm — indeed, promoting increased infection — is morally abhorrent," continued Burnett. "This is the kind of philosophical argument that gives philosophy and the study of ethics a bad name."
Bioethics published a critical response in March to Crutchfield and Hereth's paper that challenged the professors' assumptions that introducing AGS would reduce overall animal suffering, that intentionally infecting humans would not violate fundamental moral rights, and that intentionally infecting people with AGS is comparable to vaccination.
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AOC thinks billionaires ‘can’t exist’ — but might win 2028 election
Former bartender and current Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is proving that no matter where you come from — or what ridiculous ideas you have — you can still be taken seriously as a potential candidate for president of the United States.
And BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere tells co-host Dave Landau that AOC, who is one of “the most famous politicians in America” while also being “a dunce,” is “surging to a lead in the 2028 primary for the first time.”
“AOC?” Dave asks, shocked.
“Yes, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Stu replies.
“I just went blind in my right eye for a moment,” Dave jokes.
“It is legitimately possible that she could win,” Stu adds, before playing a clip of the congresswoman telling Ilana Glazer on the “It’s Open” podcast that billionaires “can’t earn” $1 billion.
“There’s a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. Right? You can’t earn $1 billion. You just can’t earn that. You can get market power. You can break rules. You can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws. You can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that,” AOC explained.
“And so, you have to create a myth that since you didn’t earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it,” she added.
“I don’t have $1 billion,” Dave comments, “but I don’t trust anyone telling someone they didn’t earn the money they earned.”
“I don’t know when the country became this way,” Stu adds, “but they are this way now where you just get to, without accomplishing anything on your own, you get to just say that no one else deserves what they have achieved in their lives.”
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Americans likely to outnumber foreigners at World Cup despite record ticket sales
Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are almost sold out, but some U.S. venues are worried there may not be enough visitors to meet their economic forecast.
FIFA dropped its prices in late April at its predetermined "50 days away" mark, having already sold more than 5 million tickets.
Nearly 80% of bookers said hotels are tracking below their initial forecasts.
The cumulative attendance record of 3.5 million set at the 1994 World Cup is projected to be broken, FIFA reported. At the same time, Reuters noted that there were just over 6 million tickets available for the tournament in total, meaning around 80% of seats have already been purchased.
However, one sector is worried that there may not be enough travelers to the United States for the tournament, which could result in a lower-than-expected return on investment.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association said in its recent World Cup outlook report that after years of preparing for the tournament and making "significant investments" to "welcome a global audience," bookings are likely to fall short of expectations.
In fact, nearly 80% of bookers who responded to the survey said hotels are tracking below their initial forecasts, with international demand being the largest culprit.
The group pinpointed several factors that are preventing hotel chains from hitting their marks.
First, international travelers may believe they will face lengthy visa wait times, increased fees, and increased airport security screening and check-in times.
The organization is seemingly blaming current federal policy for compounding the issue, claiming that a strong American dollar, airfare costs, and gas prices are all affecting the willingness of fans to travel.
The AHLA also blamed FIFA for creating an artificial demand by booking large blocks of hotel rooms but picking up only 15% of what it booked in the end.
The report noted that international travelers spend more money than domestic travelers, $5,048 per person versus roughly $4,794. World Cup international travelers also spend about 1.7 times more than the average international visitor.
RELATED: Who's to blame for the un-American ban on tailgating at the World Cup?
At just under 90%, business owners from Kansas City, Missouri, reported the highest projection that they will perform below expectations for the World Cup, with Atlanta being the only host city with a projection under 50%.
The hotel organization warned that a temporary tax increase in New Jersey on prepared food and lodging could further derail expectations, as could a 2% increase in Philadelphia's hotel tax.
The White House previously told Blaze News that it expects the tournament to be "one of the greatest and most spectacular events in the history of mankind."
White House spokesman Davis Ingle also said that it will be the safest and most secure tournament in history.
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America ignores the externalities of immigration policy — while other countries bring the hammer down
Immigration policy is often argued in abstract terms — statistics, ideals, and political talking points — but its real effects are felt most sharply at the local level.
And while other countries have much stricter laws surrounding immigration, Americans like BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre are personally feeling the effects of our own lax ones.
“While the Dominican Republic is, you know, not really someplace I want to spend the rest of my life, it is a wildly, wildly better civilization, to the point where they have a wall, and they will just shoot any Haitians that get near it because they basically treat it as some kind of contamination that’s going to destroy their society,” MacIntyre explains.
“Haiti was literally founded on a satanic voodoo blood ritual. A blood sacrifice of white Europeans was the core beginning of this. ... The idea that you’re just going to have the native population rise up and slaughter the oppressor and then rule itself, that played itself out in Haiti, and we can see the exact result,” he continues.
“And yet, we see people constantly trying to bring this culture into the United States. It’s absolutely crazy,” he adds.
MacIntyre notes that this has already affected his own community, where a woman in his area “was beaten to death with a hammer by a Haitian immigrant” in “one of the most horrific videos” he’s ever seen.
“So, this is no longer some kind of abstract understanding. ... No, this is directly getting people murdered in my community. People in places I have been, I have driven by, are getting murdered because of what is going on here,” he says.
“And yet, we see the main concern is the safety not of American citizens who are beaten to death by hammers, but to the Haitians who are coming here themselves,” he continues, pointing out that the majority of these immigrants add no value to the country.
“If you look at the statistics, you can see that 65% of Haitian households are on welfare. They are dependent on welfare for their living. That means that the entire community is a net drain on the American social system,” he explains.
“You and I are paying to keep these people here and possibly murder our fellow Americans,” he says. “So everything about this from the economic argument to the moral argument is a complete lie.”
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