American diplomats descend on Munich for a high-stakes security conference, agreements between ICE and local law enforcement surged in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, and the U.S. Army paid nearly $2 million to a company with links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
It’s Tuesday, February 17, 2026, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
Rubio Rocks Munich
American diplomats descended on Munich this weekend for a high-stakes security conference, amid growing tension between the United States and Europe.
When Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the stage for his keynote address, he started by taking aim at “a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade,” which he says has hollowed out American manufacturing. He slammed the West’s “appeasing of a climate cult” which has “impoverished our people,” and pushed back on mass migration, which he said “threatens the cohesion of our societies and continuity of our culture.” But then, he extended an olive branch of sorts, saying that in the effort to save Western civilization, “While we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe.” And then, in a remarkable scene, he explained why President Trump has been so hard on Europe.
At times, it sounded like an intervention from a concerned family member, with Rubio saying Europe is heading for destruction and that the United States cares too much about it to let that happen.
ICE Partners With Hundreds Of Local Law Enforcement Agencies
Agreements between ICE and local law enforcement have surged in the first year of President Trump’s second term.
The agreements are a pillar of Trump’s promise to deport dangerous criminals from the United States. It’s not a new system, but it invites local law enforcement from across the country to have their officers deputized into ICE. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies can then stop people whom they suspect are illegal aliens and start the process of deportation.
The program operated for years until 2012. Former President Barack Obama curbed it after officers in North Carolina and Arizona were accused of racial profiling. Trump brought it back last year with funding in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” and the number of participating law enforcement agencies has exploded from 135 under Biden to nearly 1,200 today, according to a new report by the advocacy group FWD.US.
U.S. Army Spends Big With Group Founded By Director Of Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Org
Few organizations know more about leadership than the U.S. Army. But it paid nearly $2 million to a company called the “Nonprofit Empowerment Group” to train its staff to lead.
The Army Corps of Engineers paid the group $1.7 million between 2021 and 2025 for “leadership” training, and the military also paid it for “writing courses.” The contract sought the “professional services of an academic institution” to provide “graduate level instruction.”
The reason the government was able to choose this firm was that it was, as its website advertised, a “Disadvantaged Women Small Owned Business.” Despite its name, it’s not a non-profit. It’s a for-profit company operating out of the same office as, and sharing the same officers as, a group called the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, which reported being deeply in debt.
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