Source: United States Navy
MEDITERRANEAN SEA – The United States’ newest and world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) and USS Bainbridge (DDG 96), all assigned to Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (GRFCSG), transited the Strait of Gibraltar with Spanish Navy Santa Maria-class ESPS Canarias (F86), and fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6), July 19, 2025.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Utah man pleaded guilty to transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another. Specifically, the defendant, Kevin Brent Buchanan, threatened violence against the employees of a D.C.-based Palestinian rights organization. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled a sentencing hearing for Nov. 18.
According to publicly filed court documents, between Oct. 31, 2023, and Nov. 2, 2023, Buchanan used his cellular phone to call and leave five messages for members of the organization. In his Nov. 2 voice message, Buchanan stated in part: “Your families are going to be followed and watched.”; “You don’t even belong in America.”; “I hope every Muslim in the United States [expletive] croaks.”; “You are all going to [expletive] die, you pieces of [expletive] traitors.” Buchanan admitted that he intentionally targeted the organization because its staff and members are Palestinian, and because the organization advocates on behalf of Palestinians.
Buchanan faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine not to exceed $250,000.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge Steven Jensen of the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Visser and Joshua Gold for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A New Jersey man pleaded guilty today in federal court in the Northern District of Oklahoma to leading a multi-state operation that stole thousands of catalytic converters from private vehicles and sold them on a secondary market for millions of dollars, based on the value of the precious metals that the converters contain.
Navin Khanna, 41, of Holmdel, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive, possess, and dispose of stolen goods in interstate commerce and five counts of money laundering regarding his participation in the stolen goods scheme.
“The defendant made $600 million and financed his ostentatious lifestyle by buying and selling stolen goods,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates our commitment to taking the profit out of crime. Sophisticated criminal schemes may afford you luxury cars and homes in the short term but will cost you a federal felony conviction in the long term.”
“Khanna’s theft ring took advantage of hard-working citizens in the Northern District of Oklahoma by stealing catalytic converters, rendering the vehicle unusable,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma. “I would like to thank the Tulsa Police Department and our law enforcement partners for their tireless efforts in bringing this senseless crime to justice.”
According to court documents and statements made in court, Khanna admitted to being the owner and operator of New Jersey-based D.G. Auto Parts, a criminal enterprise that bought and sold auto parts across the country. From May 2020 through October 2022, Khanna conspired with others to purchase and transport large quantities of stolen catalytic converters from Oklahoma, Texas, and other states to New Jersey. Khanna admitted to receiving more than $600 million by reselling the stolen catalytic converters to a metal refinery that extracted the precious metals.
In response to a drastic increase in catalytic converter thefts throughout Tulsa in 2020, the Tulsa Police Department initiated an investigation that soon uncovered a national criminal enterprise. During the investigation, search warrants were executed in Oklahoma, Texas, California, New Jersey and New York. Khanna was indicted by federal grand juries in the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Eastern District of California. Over twenty individuals throughout the country have been charged for their role in the conspiracy. Khanna’s 13 co-defendants in the Northern District of Oklahoma have pleaded guilty for their participation in the criminal scheme and are awaiting sentencing.
As part of his plea agreement, Khanna agreed to forfeit almost $4 million in cash, 11 luxury vehicles — including a Lamborghini, two Mercedes AMGs, two Ferraris, a McLaren, a Porsche, a Ford F650 Truck, and a BMW M3 — real estate properties, high-end jewelry, gold bars, and over 200 pallets of catalytic converters, all seized by law enforcement during the execution of search warrants at Khanna’s properties. Khanna’s co-defendants have agreed to forfeit more than $3.2 million, including more than $250,000 from multiple bank accounts; two lots of land located in Oklahoma, cars, and stolen catalytic converters seized during the investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma has agreed that Khanna’s sentencing will be transferred to the Eastern District of California, where he awaits further prosecution for related crimes.
Khanna faces a maximum penalty of 168 to 210 months in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led the investigation. IRS-Criminal Investigations, the Tulsa Police Department, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wyandotte Nation Police Department contributed to the investigation.
Trial Attorney César S. Rivera-Giraud of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section (VCRS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reagan Reininger and David Nasar for the Northern District of Oklahoma are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica M.A. Alegría for the Eastern District of California assisted in the prosecution of the case and is prosecuting Khanna and others there.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division dismissed with prejudice the ill-fated Biden-era challenge to Tennessee’s law protecting minors from horrific and experimental sex-change medical procedures. The Department dismissed its complaint in intervention because it does not believe challenging Tennessee’s law serves the public interest.
Last month, the Biden Administration’s challenge was soundly rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States when the 6-3 majority held that Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.[1] The court held that Tennessee had a rational basis for enforcing the law as it “responds directly” to the “uncertainty” and “ongoing debate” about the “risks and benefits” associated with these medical practices. The Biden administration filed its complaint in intervention after individual plaintiffs and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law passed in 2023. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the individual plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their complaint.
Tennessee is one of 25 states with laws protecting minors from sex-change medical procedures.
“Last month, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee state law protecting vulnerable children from genital mutilation and other so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “That was the right decision, and this Department of Justice will no longer be in the business of attacking laws like Tennessee’s that protect children.”
“The United States today undid one of the injustices the Biden administration inflicted upon the country by dismissing a lawsuit against a Tennessee law that protects minors from invasive and mutilating procedures,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to fight to protect the health and welfare of our children and defend states that seek to ban these barbaric practices.”
[1] United States v. Skrmetti, 145 S.Ct. 1816, 1826 (2025).
Source: United States Spaceforce
Early on July 4, almost 30 inches of rain fell within hours across Central Texas’s Hill Country, surging the Guadalupe River and triggering catastrophic flash flooding. Within hours, Texas National Guard members sprang into action, launching search and rescue operations alongside civil authorities.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
An eight-count indictment in the Northern District of Iowa has been unsealed charging a Des Moines man with four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and four counts of interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution through coercion and enticement.
According to the indictment, Marlin Santana Thomas Sr., 49, used force, fraud and coercion to cause four adult women to engage in commercial sex acts in the Northern District of Iowa and elsewhere between 2009 and 2015. The indictment also alleges that Thomas transported women from Iowa to Illinois and North Dakota for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.
The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. It also carries a minimum of five years of supervised release up to a lifetime of supervised release along with a fine of up to $250,000. Finally, restitution is mandatory upon any conviction for sex trafficking. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence upon any conviction after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI and Des Moines Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Nydle for the Northern District of Iowa and Trial Attorney Slava Kuperstein of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case.
The FBI is asking that anyone with information about Thomas to contact the Omaha Field Office at (402) 493-8688.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Pamela Bondi released the following statement regarding Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s request for information related to the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of classified information during her time as Secretary of State:
“Today, the Department of Justice honored Chairman Grassley’s request to release information relating to former-FBI Director James Comey’s failed investigation into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of highly classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State. I commend Chairman Grassley for his unwavering, years-long commitment to exposing the truth and holding those who seek to conceal it accountable. This Department of Justice is fully committed to transparency and will continue to support good-faith efforts in Congress to ensure accountability across the federal government.”
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Brian Assi, also known as Brahim Assi, 63, of Beirut, Lebanon, was sentenced to 44 months in prison for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR), attempted unlawful export of goods from the United States to Iran without a license, attempted smuggling goods from the United States, submitting false or misleading export information, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“The defendant conspired to export millions of dollars of U.S.-made heavy machinery to Iran, a leading state sponsor of terrorism,” said John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “The National Security Division will find and prosecute those who illegally sell American products to our adversaries.”
“The defendant threatened U.S. economic and national security by conspiring and concealing his efforts to circumvent our export controls to provide heavy machinery to Iran, a designated state sponsor of terrorism for the past 40 years,” said U.S. Attorney John P. Heckin for the Northern District of Florida. “My office will continue to aggressively pursue anyone who violates our laws and offers material support to America’s enemies.”
Assi was convicted of the charges in October 2024. According to evidence presented at trial, Assi was a Middle East-based salesman of a multinational heavy machinery manufacturer with a U.S.-based subsidiary and production plant located in Alachua, Florida. Assi conspired with individuals affiliated with Sakht Abzar Pars Co. (SAP-Iran), based in Tehran, Iran, to export U.S.-made heavy machinery indirectly to Iran without first obtaining the required licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Assi and his Iranian co-conspirators orchestrated the scheme by locating an Iraq-based distributor to serve as the forward-facing purchaser of two U.S.-origin blasthole drills from the U.S. subsidiary of Assi’s employer. The drills are a type of heavy machinery used to create holes in the ground that are then filled with controlled explosives for mining.
Assi facilitated the sale of the drills and attempted export them to Iran and used freight forwarding companies to ship the heavy equipment from the U.S. to Turkey. In doing so, Assi concealed any Iranian involvement in the transaction from his employer, claiming the drills were ultimately destined for use in Iraq. But in truth, Assi intended for his Iranian co-conspirators to transship or reexport those items from Turkey to Iran, in circumvention of the U.S. export control and sanction laws.
In furtherance of the conspiracy, Assi concealed his activities with his Iranian co-conspirators by causing false information to be entered into the Automated Export System (AES), a U.S.-government database containing information about exports from the United States. The U.S.-based plant hired a U.S. freight forwarder to arrange the drill’s export from the U.S. to Iraq. As part of the shipping process, the freight forwarder submitted information to AES about the shipment, including the ultimate consignee’s name and the ultimate delivery destination. Assi misled his employer by claiming that the Iraqi distributor was the ultimate consignee, and that the ultimate delivery destination was Iraq. In fact, Assi knew that his co-conspirators in Iran were the true intended recipients, and Iran was the ultimate intended delivery destination.
In furtherance of the illicit transaction, Assi and his co-conspirators caused the transfer of approximately $2.7 million from Turkey to pass through the United States.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Export Enforcement investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew J. Grogan and Harley W. Ferguson for the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.
Source: United States Airforce
QUEENSLAND, Australia (AFNS) —
Multiple U.S. Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster IIIs executed a joint force-entry operation into Australia, deploying U.S. Army and international paratroopers in support of Talisman Sabre 25.
Originating from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, the mission spanned the immense distances of the Pacific, sustained by U.S. Air Force aerial refueling operations. It culminated in the precision insertion of 314 U.S. Army 11th Airborne Division, Australian Defence Force and German Army paratroopers into a designated drop zone in eastern Australia.
“We employ large formations to quickly and effectively place mass at the time and place of our choosing,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Christopher Bukowski, 535th Airlift Squadron, 15th Wing, director of operations. “Executing a drop like this at speed and scale, and in conjunction with our allies and joint partners, is crucial to honing that skill and sending a deterrent message to our adversaries.”
The one-way, trans-Pacific journey spanned over 6,200 miles and was conducted by 13 C-17 aircraft assigned to the 15th Wing, Pacific Air Forces, 437th Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, and 164th Airlift Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard, underscored the robust U.S.-Australia partnership and shared commitment to regional defense.
“Through the strategic employment of U.S. Air Force mobility aircraft, our highly proficient teams—operating in close coordination with partners and allies — refined the ability to project personnel and mission-critical material across the vast Pacific with precision and speed,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Ana Donohue, 535th Airlift Squadron C-17 pilot. “This critical capability was showcased during a recent joint forcible entry operation, where the air domain proved to be the decisive bridge between strategic airlift and ground-based objectives, enabling the rapid achievement of essential outcomes across a geographically expansive and demanding operational theater.”
The meticulous planning required for this complex joint force-entry operation extended months in advance of the Talisman Sabre 2025 exercise, highlighting the extensive coordination between allied forces.
Talisman Sabre, the largest bilateral military exercise between Australia and the United States, is pivotal to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific. It fortifies relationships and interoperability among key allies and partners, concurrently enhancing collective capabilities to address a spectrum of complex security challenges.
Source: United States Airforce
“We’ve seen amazing global teamwork completing an incredible lift to kick off REFORPAC,” said Gen. Kevin Schneider, PACAF commander. “Airmen have innovated and overcome tough obstacles to get critical pieces in place, demonstrating our collective capability to project decisive air power into and throughout the Indo-Pacific with dramatic speed and scale.”
The U.S. Air Force, alongside its joint allies and partners, will continue to train and integrate over the next several weeks, enhancing interoperability and readiness across the Pacific theater. REFORPAC is part of the first-in-a-generation Department-Level Exercise series, a new way the Air Force is exercising to conduct large operations in contested, dynamic environments. The aim is to improve interoperability and multilateral cooperation, leading to a stronger, more capable, deterrent force.
The DLE series encompasses all branches of the Department of Defense, along with allies and partners, employing approximately 400 U.S. and coalition aircraft and more than 12,000 members at more than 50 locations spanning 3,000 miles.
The monumental effort is made possible by extensive planning and coordination efforts throughout the Air Force, along with joint, allied and partner forces, which have shown the ready ability of combined joint forces to mobilize in great numbers for any contingency. In lockstep with PACAF, Air Mobility Command has provided critical airlift, air refueling and command and control capabilities to project, connect, maneuver and sustain joint forces.
“We’re witnessing a complex operation in the Indo-Pacific driven by logistics – rapid, deliberate and mission-driven,” said Brig. Gen. Athanasia Shinas, mobilization assistant to PACAF’s director of logistics. “Our Total Force concept is critical to this capability, leveraging the unparalleled expertise and diverse talent drawn from every industry and sector of society through our Guard and Reserve. This integration creates extraordinary opportunities to strengthen our Total Force and coalition Airmen.”
Airmen are exercising robust contested logistics and engineering capabilities, sustainment over vast distances, fuel resupply and access to forward operating locations.
“This is a logistical movement at an unprecedented scale – an explosive surge into the theater driven by precision and a resilient joint network,” said Brig. Gen. Mike Zuhlsdorf, PACAF director of logistics, engineering and force protection. “What makes it exceptional is the partnership with local leaders abroad, as well as infrastructure; their participatory enthusiasm has turned REFORPAC into a truly integrated regional effort. This support brings essential access and shared purpose to an extraordinary training landscape.”
The tested Agile Combat Employment operational strategy, used to support joint operations, has prepared sites throughout the theater. ACE preparations have included shoring up building infrastructure and ensuring a constant flow of critical supplies, all to facilitate uninterrupted mission execution during the exercise.
“PACAF continually seeks to improve our readiness to respond to any contingency, defend the interests of the United States and work closely together with our allies and partners to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Schneider said.