The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 13th, 2026: Trump Sends World’s Largest Warship Toward Iran & CIA Moves to Exploit Turmoil Inside China’s Military

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:  First—President Trump is sending the largest warship in the world toward Iran. The USS Gerald R. Ford will join another carrier already operating in the region as nuclear negotiations remain unresolved. We’ll break down what the deployment signals, and what it could mean if talks collapse. Later in the show—The CIA is making a rare public move, releasing a recruitment video designed to turn disaffected officers inside China’s military into potential informants. The campaign comes as Xi Jinping’s sweeping purge exposes instability within the PLA’s leadership. I’ll have the details. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief BUBS Naturals: Live Better Longer with BUBS Naturals. For A limited time get 20% Off your entire order with code PDB at https://Bubsnaturals.com Nobl Travel: NOBL gives you real travel peace of mind — security, design, and convenience all in one. Head to https://NOBLTravel.com for 46% off your entire order! #NOBL #ad DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/PDB and use promo code PDB at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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is making a rare public move, releasing a recruitment video designed to turn disaffected officers inside China's military into potential informants or recruitment assets. The campaign comes as Xi Jinping's sweeping purge exposes instability within the PLA's leadership. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The U.S. is sending a second aircraft carrier to the waters off the coast of Iran, and this time it's the largest warship in the world. President Trump has ordered the USS Jeral R. Ford to deploy to the Middle East, adding to an already significant American military buildup amid mounting tensions with Iran. That's according to sources that spoke with Axios and the Associated Press.

The Ford is not just another carrier. It's the largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built, a nuclear-powered vessel capable of launching dozens of aircraft in rapid succession, while sustaining high-tempo operations for extended periods. Its arrival would place two years, U.S. carrier strike groups, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the Ford, within operational reach of Iran. Its deployment shifts to scale of America's posture in the region, sending a clear message to the Mullas that the U.S. is ready to use the full might of America's naval power, should the regime fail to engage in meaningful negotiations. According to Axios, the Ford is expected to take roughly three to four weeks to arrive in the region as it travels from the Caribbean, where it's

being used and has been used in the pressure campaign against Venezuela. That aligns with the timeline that President Trump referenced on Thursday when he said he hopes to finalize a nuclear agreement with Iran within the next month, but would shift course if no deal is reached. Now, the White House has not explicitly framed the deployment as a precursor to military action, but officials have made clear the move is intended to increase pressure on leaders in Tehran as negotiations continue or sort of continue. Trump himself drove that point home on Thursday, telling reporters that while he's optimistic that Iran will agree to U.S. nuclear demands, if they don't, the consequences will be, quote, very traumatic. On that score, as we've been tracking here on the PDB, negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain alive, although it seems more like life support, at least for now, but initial talks in Oman last week yielded little progress. The Mullis claimed they want to find a diplomatic off-ramp. Of course they do.

but what they've offered so far is extremely limited in scope. The regime says it is willing to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched geranium somewhat, but only in exchange for full sanctions relief and without addressing their ballistic missile program or regional proxies. Trump, meanwhile, has said that any successful agreement would need to address both nuclear weapons and missiles. This position aligns more closely with what Israel would like to see covered in the negotiations. As we discussed earlier this week, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday,

with Netanyahu pressing for a tougher American stance on Iran's missile program. That meeting ended without a final decision on Iran, with Trump reaffirming afterwards that diplomacy remains active for now. But the Gulf between Washington and Tehran remains wide, which is why it's not much of a surprise that Trump followed through on his threat from earlier this week and moved to redeploy the U.S. Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East. U.S. forces have already surged Patriot missile defense systems, expanded aerial refueling assets, and increased strike in electronic warfare aircraft across multiple regional bases. The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is obviously already operating in the broader region, giving Washington a significant naval presence within range of Iran.

But by moving the Ford into the Middle Eastern Theater, Washington is significantly raising the stakes. Two carrier groups operating simultaneously bring overwhelming strike power and far greater operational endurance, allowing the Navy to essentially sustain round-the-clock operations and project force without relying solely on land bases. Coming up next, as Xi Jinping cleans house inside China's military, the CIA is publicly inviting insiders to defect. Never let an opportunity go to waste. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, if you're anything, like me. The holidays, right, which we just finished recently, well, they were a blur of travel and missed gym days and big meals. So since then, I've been focused on getting back to my routine.

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internal turmoil may present an intelligence opportunity. The CIA has launched a new public campaign aimed at recruiting informants within China's military, releasing a carefully produced video that targets disaffected mid-level officers inside the People's Liberation Army, the PLA. That's according to our report from Writers. The video, released in Mandarit, portrays a fictional Chinese military officer grappling with corruption and mistrust inside the system, themes that clearly mirror Beijing's recent purge of top military figures. In one scene, the fictional officer says, quote, anyone with leadership qualities is bound to be subject to suspicion and ruthlessly eliminated, end quote. It's a line meant to capitalize on current anxieties within the PLA. The character goes

on to describe his superior's power as being, quote, built on countless lies. The CIA also included instructions on how officials could securely contact U.S. intelligence. Well, that's very thoughtful. And this isn't the agency's first move of this kind. It's part of a broader effort to expand human intel collection on Washington's chief strategic rival. Reuters notes that the latest video follows a similar effort from last May when the CIA released recruitment content aimed at officials within China's Communist Party. That video also provided step-by-step guidance in Mandarin on how to establish secure communications with U.S. intelligence. Regarding their broader campaign, CIA officials say they're confident that the content is

penetrating China's, quote, great firewall, internet restrictions and reaching its intended audience. In fact, CIA director John Ratcliffe said the agency believes its outreach efforts have already drawn significant engagement and described the effort as offering Chinese officials, quote, an opportunity to work toward a brighter future together. And as I mentioned, the push comes at a time when the Chinese military does look oddly vulnerable. As we reported last week, President Xi Jinping's sweeping purge of China's top general, as well as multiple lawmakers and defense industry figures, has exposed deep instability within the military establishment. Analysts have long warned that corruption inside China's military industrial complex could undermine

Xi's modernization goals, and it appears U.S. intelligence is moving swiftly to exploit the current discord. For some background, the CIA is still working to rebuild its human intelligence network inside China, after Beijing dismantled much of it between 2010 and 2012 when numerous U.S. sources were killed or imprisoned. At the same time, American officials say China's own spy agencies continue to work aggressively to recruit current and former U.S. personnel. These high-stakes intelligence battles are, of course, unfolding against the backdrop of a widening military and technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing. By rolling out this recruitment campaign now, the CIA is looking to take advantage of the apparent internal turmoil,

betting that the mistrust and paranoia and anger that she's moves create could likewise create disaffected military personnel, possibly with an axe to grind. And that, my friends, is the PDP afternoon bulletin for Friday the 13th of February. Now, if you have any questions comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirstTV.com. And if you do suffer from pariscavi de catria phobia, well, just focus on the good things about Fridays. Like, well, every Friday we launch a brand new episode of our extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. See how I did that clever marketing. This week's guests include Josh Phillip, senior investigative reporter for the Epoch Times, to talk us through the geopolitical realities,

connecting China, Iran, and Latin America. It's a reminder that the world is a very small place and nothing happens in isolation anymore. Also, we spend time talking with Art Arthur from the Center for Immigration Studies. We focus on the events in Minneapolis, the winding up of Operation Metro Surge, and ICE efforts in general. Catch it tonight at 10 p.m. on the first TV, and as always on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief and podcast platforms everywhere. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Mike Baker here. Let me take a moment of your time to talk about security, specifically your online security, and to tell you about a great company out there that's working hard to make people safer

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