The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 22nd, 2026: Israel Braces for Iranian Strike & China Penetrates Taiwan’s Armed Forces

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: Israel raises readiness across its military, operating under the assumption that Iran may strike. Air forces, missile defenses, and civilian protection systems are placed on heightened alert as Israeli planners prepare for multiple scenarios, including missile and drone attacks. China ramps up covert operations against Taiwan, with new reporting revealing deep infiltration inside the island’s armed forces, including efforts to recruit and coerce military personnel. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief BRUNT Workwear: Get $10 Off at BRUNT with code PDB at https://www.bruntworkwear.com/PDB#Bruntpod CBDistillery: Visit https://CBDistillery.comand use promo code PDB for 25% off your entire order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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First up, Israel raises readiness across its military, operating under the assumption that Iran may strike at any time. The IDF and Israeli government are preparing for multiple scenarios. I'll have the details. Later in the show, China ramps up covert operations against Taiwan. with new reporting revealing just how compromised the island's military may be. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Today, as Israel braces for a possible Iranian strike, the country's military is mobilizing for action. Israeli defense officials now say they are operating under the assumption that Iran may attempt an attack, and the country's military posture reflects that expectation. Across Israel, readiness levels have been raised, forces repositioned, and commanders are openly

signaling that the country is prepared for multiple scenarios, both defensive and offensive. At the center of those preparations is the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, which says it's ready to act against any threat on any front. Chief of Staff Isle Zamir has been touring key installations, reinforcing the message that Israeli forces are not merely on standby, but actively positioned for action. During recent visits to airbases and home front defense commands, Amir stressed that the military is prepared to respond quickly and decisively if Israel comes under attack. The clearest signal of readiness may be coming from the skies. The Israeli Air Force says it's operating at a heightened state of alert. Air Force commander Tomar Barr told personnel that the

force is, quote, prepared, alert, and ready for any scenario. That readiness includes layered missile defenses, constant aerial patrols, and long-range strike capabilities designed to reach adversaries well beyond Israel's borders. Israel has also been reinforcing its most advanced capabilities. Earlier this month, the Israeli Air Force took delivery of three additional F-35-I-Adeer stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin, bringing their fleet to 48 aircraft. These fifth-generation jets are Israel's most advanced combat aircraft, designed to slip past sophisticated air defenses, gather intelligence, and strike high-value targets deep inside hostile territory. The fighters are a cornerstone of Israel's deterrence posture, signaling that any attack on the

Jewish state would carry significant retaliatory consequences. Those same aircraft played a decisive role during the 12-day war. The F-35s helped Israel operate inside contested airspace, track threats, and feed real-time intelligence across the military. They helped make Israel's broader air and missile defense network work as a single-coordinated system. Now, the Israeli preparations are taking place alongside a growing American military presence in the region. As we've been tracking here at the PDB, U.S. assets continue to flow into the Middle East, with additional air and naval forces moving into position. And as we reported yesterday, White House officials have also signaled that they are weighing decisive options of their own against Iran.

In addition to the IDF's actions, Israel's Homefront Command, the agency responsible for civilian defense, has also been placed on heightened readiness. Israeli planners are operating under the assumption that any Iranian response could resemble past exchanges, relying heavily on missile and drone barrages aimed at Israeli territory rather than a single decisive strike. As a result, emergency response units, early warning systems, and civil defense infrastructure are being tested and drilled with a clear focus on protecting population centers and maintaining continuity under sustained fire. For Israelis, that means shelters, warning sirens, and emergency protocols, becoming part of daily life once again.

Taken together, the message from Israel's leadership is deliberate. By publicly signaling readiness across air, ground, and civilian defense domains, Israel is looking to deter an attack while ensuring that it can respond immediately if the deterrence fails. For now, Israel's strategy is clear. Stay ready, stay visible and make sure that if Iran chooses to act, it understands the heavy price that the Mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard Corps would pay. All right, coming up next, Beijing intensifies its shadow war against Taiwan as Chinese intelligence operations penetrate the island's armed forces. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, I've spent years working in difficult and challenging environments, long hours, tough terrain, no room for gear that can't keep up.

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quietly embed themselves inside Taiwan's military, reaching all the way into the unit guarding the presidential office. The reporting by the Wall Street Journal shows how the Chinese intelligence apparatus methodically goes through the recruitment cycle, identifying, assessing, targeting, developing, and eventually recruiting individuals of interest. The journal report highlights the case of Taiwanese sergeant Li Chung-Yu. Now, he served as a military police sergeant assigned to guard the offices of Taiwan's president and senior officials, a position that gave him rare proximity to the island's top leadership and an intimate understanding of how security functioned day-to-day. According to prosecutors,

Lai knew the layouts, guard rotations, and protective procedures surrounding Taiwan's leadership, the kind of information that you don't necessarily obtain through satellite imagery or cyber operations. That type of intel is best obtained through human sources. And Lai wasn't coerced through some extensive ideology or coercion campaign. He was in debt, and he went online looking for a loan. Instead of a lender, prosecutors say he found a Chinese intelligence operative offering quick cash. In exchange, all Lai had to do was to photograph sensitive security details. Oh, is that all? Now, on their own, the images are just fragments, but collected over time, they begin to form a much larger operational picture.

And authorities say that Lai wasn't acting alone. The Chinese regime's intel services are persistent. They're pervasive and they're patient. Notice how I used words that all begin with the letter P. The PDB is very big on alliteration. Anyway, prosecutors describe them, as part of a broader, ongoing Chinese espionage network that works to penetrate Taiwan's military and political institutions, funneling intelligence back to Beijing. And of course, Beijing isn't just collecting information for curiosity's sake. As China continues to threaten the use of force to seize the self-governed island that it claims its own, authorities' fear agents already embedded inside Taiwan could play a decisive role in any future military operation. Since March, Taiwanese

President Lai Ching-Dun launched a campaign aimed at rooting out Chinese espionage and political influence. What that campaign is exposed so far is a pattern that Taiwan finds particularly unsettling. Many of those charged with national security violations are not civilians, but active duty service members or veterans. For example, in October, a retired Taiwanese lieutenant general was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for accepting Chinese funds to help establish an armed organization inside Taiwan, one designed to specifically target military bases. But investigators say Beijing's recruitment efforts are increasingly focused lower down the chain of command. Junior personnel, as it turns out, are cheaper to compromise and often under financial pressure. So, you ask yourself,

how does the recruitment work? Well, in the case of Sergeant Lai, Chinese regime operatives posed online as lenders or media producers offering small payments delivered through messaging apps or cryptocurrency, In one case, a Facebook post advertised payments of about $125 for interviews with people who had military backgrounds. So from Beijing's perspective, Taiwanese officials say the math is straightforward. The deputy head of Taiwan's Investigation Bureau described paying soldiers modest sums for cooperation as, quote, good value for money. But the scale of the problem continues to grow. Taiwan's National Security Bureau says prosecutors charge 64 people in 15 hours.

espionage cases in 2024. Now it's up from just three cases in 2021. And in the first nine months of 2025, another two dozen were charged, with nearly two-thirds of those accused coming from the military. It's a bit of an epidemic, which is different than a pandemic, like the one that sprung from the Wuhan lab in China. The epidemic of espionage originating in China won't spread as fast as COVID, but for the Taiwanese, it could be just as deadly. Lai's case illustrates why officials are alarmed. His activities went undetected for a couple of years. Beginning in April of 2022, Lai began sending photographs of documents to Chinese handlers in exchange for crypto. When he was rotated out of the presidential detail, prosecutors say he recruited other

troops to keep the pipeline open at the instruction of his Chinese intel handlers. Over two years, the group provided China with guard rosters, call signs, headshots of officials' internal training manuals and security procedures, materials that could be assembled into an operational picture for military planning purposes. Now, Lai's operation came to a halt in August of 24 when a fellow soldier alerted authorities. Lai and three others were arrested and convicted by March. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and is estimated to have received $15,000 from Beijing for his role. Now, you wouldn't think that you could put a price on betraying your country. The fact that Lai provided invaluable information to Chinese intel over a

two-year period for the princely sum of $15,000 is, for Xi Jinping's China, an impressive return on investment. And as the Taiwanese authorities are learning, it's just the tip of the iceberg. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Thursday, the 22nd of January. Now, if you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, please reach out to me at PDB. at thefirstTV.com. And if you'd like to listen to the show, ad free, well, you can do that, and it is very simple.

Just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB Premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.

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