Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert is the Senior National Security Editor. He was previously the senior national security editor at The National Interest. Weichert is the host of The National Security Hour on iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8 pm Eastern. He hosts a companion show on Rumble entitled "National Security Talk." Weichert consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, among them Popular Mechanics, National Review, MSN, and The American Spectator. And his books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China's Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy. Weichert's newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed on Twitter/X at @WeTheBrandon.

Ukraine War

Ukraine’s Newest Weapons Can Reach a Thousand Kilometers Inside Russia — Oil Depots and Aircraft Plants Are in Range

Ukraine has hit warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's answer to Amazon, for the third time in a week, extending a long-range campaign that now...

Brandon WeichertJuly 22, 2026

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), while participating in Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, fires the first naval strike missile from a U.S. destroyer July 18. Twenty-nine nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 27 to Aug. 1. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2024 is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jordan Jennings)

Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More

The Regime Decentralized to Survive — and Now Iran No Longer Speaks With One Voice or Answers to a Single Commander

More than ten days into the renewed fighting, Iran faces three strategic paths over the Strait of Hormuz, according to a BBC assessment: settle...

Brandon WeichertJuly 22, 2026

The Treaty

The Houthis Have Not Fired a Single Shot at Red Sea Shipping — and Saudi Tankers Are Already Reversing Course Away From It

The Iran-backed Houthis have not sealed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the threat alone has been enough: three Saudi tankers bound for China and...

Brandon WeichertJuly 22, 2026

U.S. Air Force Maj. Josh Gunderson, F-22 Demo Team commander, performs the Raptor Slide during the Abbotsford Airshow, Aug. 5, 2021, at Abbotsford International Airport, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. During the Raptor-slide the aircraft actually slides down and backwards under control before Gunderson adjusts the aircrafts position and powers out of the maneuver. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Don Hudson)

Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More

Saudi Arabia Quietly Moved Its Oil Exports to the Red Sea to Get Around Hormuz — and the Houthis Can Choke That Route Too

Saudi Arabia quietly rerouted much of its crude to Red Sea ports to bypass Hormuz, and now moves more than three million barrels a...

Brandon WeichertJuly 22, 2026

Putin in June 2016 Image Credit Russian Federation Photo

Dollars and Sense

Something Is Quietly Breaking Inside Russia — an Analyst Argues Kyiv’s Drone War Has Sparked a Nationwide Fuel Crisis

A sustained Ukrainian drone campaign against Russia's refineries has grown into a nationwide fuel crisis, one analyst argues, with gasoline output down to sixty-five...

Brandon WeichertJuly 21, 2026

PACIFIC OCEAN (Jan. 18, 2017) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transits the Pacific Ocean. Carl Vinson is on a scheduled western Pacific deployment with the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet-led initiative to extend the command and control functions of the U.S. 3rd Fleet in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nathan K. Serpico/Released)

The Treaty

Hormuz Once Carried 140 Ships a Day — Now Only Four Still Dare to Cross, and the U.S.-Iran War Is Choking Off Global Trade

The U.S.-Iran war has narrowed to one battleground: the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried 140 ships a day and now sees only four...

Brandon WeichertJuly 21, 2026

Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More

Ukraine Just Unveiled a New Interceptor Drone Called the ‘Jetkiller’ — Built to Hunt Down Russia’s Fast New Jet-Powered Shaheds

After years of slow, propeller-driven Shaheds, Russia is now fielding jet-powered attack drones that fly nearly 310 mph — too fast for many of...

Brandon WeichertJuly 21, 2026

Dollars and Sense

A Top Analyst Warns the U.S. Is Losing an Economic War to Iran — Which Is Now Squeezing Both Ends of the Arabian Peninsula

Iran has taken the Strait of Hormuz out of commercial use, and now its Houthi allies are blockading the Red Sea's Bab el-Mandeb —...

Brandon WeichertJuly 21, 2026

Putin in June 2026 Creative Commons Photo

Ukraine War

Hawks Around Putin Are Now Demanding Strikes on NATO Itself — and a Green Light for ‘Limited’ Nuclear Weapons

Russia's strike on a cargo ship near Odesa and Ukraine's 400-drone barrage on Moscow are two rungs on a lengthening escalation ladder, Brandon Weichert...

Brandon WeichertJuly 20, 2026

National Security Journal

Brandon Weichert

Ukraine War

Ukraine’s Newest Weapons Can Reach a Thousand Kilometers Inside Russia — Oil Depots and Aircraft Plants Are in Range

Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More

The Regime Decentralized to Survive — and Now Iran No Longer Speaks With One Voice or Answers to a Single Commander

The Treaty

The Houthis Have Not Fired a Single Shot at Red Sea Shipping — and Saudi Tankers Are Already Reversing Course Away From It

Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More

Saudi Arabia Quietly Moved Its Oil Exports to the Red Sea to Get Around Hormuz — and the Houthis Can Choke That Route Too

Dollars and Sense

Something Is Quietly Breaking Inside Russia — an Analyst Argues Kyiv’s Drone War Has Sparked a Nationwide Fuel Crisis

The Treaty

Hormuz Once Carried 140 Ships a Day — Now Only Four Still Dare to Cross, and the U.S.-Iran War Is Choking Off Global Trade

Military Hardware: Tanks, Bombers, Submarines and More

Ukraine Just Unveiled a New Interceptor Drone Called the ‘Jetkiller’ — Built to Hunt Down Russia’s Fast New Jet-Powered Shaheds

Dollars and Sense

A Top Analyst Warns the U.S. Is Losing an Economic War to Iran — Which Is Now Squeezing Both Ends of the Arabian Peninsula

Ukraine War

Hawks Around Putin Are Now Demanding Strikes on NATO Itself — and a Green Light for ‘Limited’ Nuclear Weapons

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