Roxana Tiron

Joined the great @AudieCornish @CNN this morning. We talked about how Iran’s asymmetric capabilities could make the risks of a worst case scenario real: US boots on the ground, a shooting war in the Strait of Hormuz, and oil prices rising past $170. f.io/fx-h1ivJ

SASC Chairman Roger Wicker told me he doesn’t expect to have hearing on war until after two-week Easter recess. “I think it's probably not going to fit” before the end of next week, contending there would get a “better response” after the break. “We will have a public hearing.”

NEW: The Senate defeated legislation aimed at halting the military campaign against Iran, the second unsuccessful attempt to rein in Trump as the conflict nears the three-week mark. The 47-53 vote saw Dems make no headway with Republicans in two weeks. politico.com/news/2026/03/1…

News: Joe Kent is under FBI investigation for allegedly leaking classified information, three sources tell me. I’m told the investigation pre-dates his departure.

Sources say one option for securing the Strait of Hormuz includes deploying troops to Iranian shores.

The House just voted to restart the SBIR and STTR programs, big sources of seed money for defense R&D work by small companies, more than five months after they lapsed. The Senate-led compromise reauthorization clears, 345-41, and now heads to Trump’s desk.

So it grows: The US military official leading the effort to build the Golden Dome missile-defense shield put a $185 billion price tag on the first stage of the project, a $10 billion increase bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

New from us:

The Iran war has shifted from strikes to a sustained operation with no clear end in sight. That raises big questions about munitions depth and the pace of operations. I joined @BloombergRadio’s Here’s Why podcast to unpack how it could shape the conflict. youtu.be/vp9EkC9xjAw

Today, NOTUS shared ambitious plans to rebrand and expand. We have hired the following reporters, and more announcements are coming soon: @pw_cunningham @Sam4TR @reporterjoe @pkcapitol @MissyKhamvongsa @Milbank @JStein_WaPo @andrewvandam @alweaver22 Subscribe to follow along: notus.org/newsletter

Hundreds of companies across the entire tech sector are now supporting Anthropic in its lawsuit against the Pentagon. Blacklisting a company in such a way would make procurement "contingent on political favor" rather than the rule of law, industry groups argue.

We break- DoD test office annual report: Attempts to provide upgraded software for F-35 jets have “stagnated” and no new combat capability was delivered last year, according to the Pentagon’s testing office, even as the fighter jets fly missions over Iran bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Attempts to provide upgraded software for F-35 jets have “stagnated” and no new combat capability was delivered last year, according to the Pentagon’s testing office, even as the fighter jets fly missions over Iran bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

People. I need some affirmation here. This is cutting-edge application of the highest use of technology that our civilization has devised.

My latest: a small but growing trend of former CIA officers leaving the agency and launching and leading their own tech startups: bloomberg.com/news/features/…

Senate Democrats have launched a probe into leading artificial intelligence companies’ plans to power new data center projects with gas plants. news.bgov.com/bloomberg-gove…

A blow-up this week over a potential negotiating session to end the partial government shutdown indicates the lack of movement toward resolving the impasse. @Zachary_Cohen article was quoted on the floor and he breaks down what's going on in the Senate: bit.ly/4cKL9FJ

NBD just the Pentagon recruiting Wall Street bankers to invest $200B in taxpayer dollars on the promise of "unmatched access to top-level government officials and privileged information flow" semafor.com/article/03/11/…

Top Democrat on US Senate Armed Services Committee, @SenJackReed warns that a US special forces operation to seize Iran’s enriched uranium "would be exceedingly difficult and would require deploying hundreds of our forces deep into Iran at great peril."

Breaking News: The U.S. was responsible for a missile strike on an Iranian school, an ongoing military investigation found. The inquiry said the strike — which Iranian officials said killed at least 175 people — was the result of a targeting mistake. nyti.ms/47G2uw2