WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration is promoting efforts to work with Nigeria's government to counter violence^[1] against Christians, signaling a broader strategy since he ordered preparations for possible military action^[2] and warned that the United States could go in “guns-a-blazing” to wipe out Islamic militants.

A State Department official said this past week that plans involve much more than just the potential use of military force, describing an expansive approach that includes diplomatic tools, such as potential sanctions, but also assistance programs and intelligence sharing with the Nigerian government.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also met with Nigeria’s national security adviser to discuss ways to stop the violence, posting photos on social media of the two of them shaking hands and smiling. It contrasted with Trump’s threats this month to stop all assistance to Nigeria^[3] if its government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”

The efforts may support Trump’s pledge to avoid more involvement in foreign conflicts^[4] and come as the U.S. security footprint has diminished^[5] in Africa, where military partnerships have either been scaled down or canceled^[6]. American forces likely would have to be drawn from other parts of the world for any military intervention in Nigeria.

Still, the Republican president has kept up the pressure as Nigeria faced a series of attacks on schools^[7] and churches in violence^[8] that experts and residents say targets both Christians and Muslims^[9].

“I’m really angry about it,” the president said Friday when asked about the new violence on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio. He alleged that Nigeria's government has “done nothing” and said “what’s happening in Nigeria is a disgrace.”

The Nigerian government has rejected his claims.

A comprehensive approach

Following his meeting Thursday with Nigerian national security adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Hegseth on Friday posted^[10] on social media that the Pentagon is “working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”

“Hegseth emphasized the need for Nigeria to demonstrate commitment and take both urgent and enduring action to stop violence against Christians and conveyed the Department’s desire to work by, with, and through Nigeria to deter and degrade terrorists that threaten the United States,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Jonathan Pratt, who leads the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, told lawmakers Thursday that “possible Department of War engagement” is part of the larger plan, while the issue has been discussed by the National Security Council, an arm of the White House that advises the president on national security and foreign policy.

But Pratt described a wide-ranging approach at a congressional hearing about Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as “a country of particular concern”^[11] over religious freedom, which opens the door for sanctions.

“This would span from security to policing to economic,” he said. “We want to look at all of these tools and have a comprehensive strategy to get the best result possible.”

Nigeria's violence ‘will not be reversed overnight’

The violence in Nigeria is far more complex than Trump has portrayed, with militant Islamist groups like Boko Haram killing both Christians and Muslims. At the same time, mainly Muslim herders and mostly Christian farmers have been fighting^[12] over land and water. Armed bandits who are motivated more by money than religion also are carrying out abductions for ransom, with schools being a popular target.

In two mass abductions at schools^[13] this past week, students were kidnapped from a Catholic school Friday and others taken days earlier from a school^[14] in a Muslim-majority town. In a separate attack, gunmen killed two people^[15] at a church and abducted several worshippers.

The situation has drawn increasing global attention. Rapper Nicki Minaj spoke at a U.N. event^[16] organized by the U.S., saying “no group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion.”

If the Trump administration did decide to organize an intervention, the departure of U.S. forces from neighboring Niger^[17] and their forced eviction from a French base near Chad’s capital^[18] last year have left fewer resources in the region.

Options include mobilizing resources from far-flung Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and from smaller, temporary hubs known as cooperative security locations. U.S. forces are operating in those places for specific missions, in conjunction with countries such as Ghana and Senegal, and likely aren’t big enough for an operation in Nigeria.

The region also has become a diplomatic black hole following a series of coups that rocked West Africa, leading military juntas to push out former Western partners. In Mali, senior American officials are now trying to reengage the junta^[19].

Even if the U.S. military redirects forces and assets to strike inside Nigeria, some experts question how effective military action would be.

Judd Devermont, a senior adviser of the Africa program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said if Trump orders a few performative airstrikes, they would likely fail to degrade the Islamic militants who have been killing Christians and Muslims alike.

“Nigeria’s struggles with insecurity are decades in the making,” said Devermont, who was senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council under Democratic President Joe Biden. “It will not be reversed overnight by an influx of U.S. resources.”

Addressing the violence would require programs such as economic and interfaith partnerships as well as more robust policing, Devermont said, adding that U.S. involvement would require Nigeria’s cooperation.

“This is not a policy of neglect by the Nigerian government — it’s a problem of capacity,” Devermont said. “The federal government does not want to see its citizens being killed by Boko Haram and doesn’t want to see sectarian violence spiral out the way it has.”

US intervention carries risk

The Nigerian government rejected unilateral military intervention but said it welcomes help fighting armed groups.

Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State of West Africa Province, have been waging a devastating Islamist insurgency^[20] in the northeastern region and the Lake Chad region, Africa’s largest basin. Militants often crisscross the lake on fast-moving boats, spilling the crisis into border countries like Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

U.S. intervention without coordinating with the Nigerian government would carry enormous danger.

“The consequences are that if the U.S deploys troops on the ground without understanding the context they are in, it poses risks to the troops,” said Malik Samuel, a security researcher at Good Governance Africa.

Nigeria’s own aerial assaults on armed groups have routinely resulted in accidental airstrikes that have killed civilians.

To get targeting right, the governments need a clear picture of the overlapping causes of farmer-herder conflict and banditry in border areas. Misreading the situation could send violence spilling over into neighboring countries, Samuel added.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria, and Metz from Rabat, Morocco.

Defense technology and national security companies and contractors are trying to ramp up production after a record-setting government shutdown that lasted over 40 days and limited funding mechanisms.

The 43-day shutdown concluded Nov. 12 when enough Senate Democrats crossed the aisle despite their party not reaching a long-term solution for Obamacare-related extensions. President Donald Trump signed a congressional bill keeping the government funded until Jan. 30, 2026, with benefits for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), women, infants and children (WIC) benefits, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) being funded until September 2026.

The shutdown impacted millions of Americans in myriad ways, notably affecting federal workers in the national security/defense sector and at airports where air traffic controllers became limited. Military families also visited food pantries at accelerated rates while work-related payments were put on hold.

Business startups like Arlington, Va., based Rune Technologies, which receives private capital but also depend on government funding to accelerate defense and security initiatives, faced their own funding lapse which leaders say will negatively impact projects that have long been in the pipeline.

“We employ people, those people need to be paid at a certain point; we need to keep moving forward,” Rune co-founder and CEO David Tuttle told Military.com^[1] on the precipice of the government’s reopening. “There's actually the human impact aspect of it.

“And then [there’s] the programmatic side, right? When you choke off the RDT&E (Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation) money that needs to happen to do these things, we're never going to get that time back.”

Rune, owned and operated by individuals with military experience from the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, to the Joint Special Operations Command and DARPA, as well as experience in the private technology sector, provides logistics technology innovation.

The shutdown led to delays on Rune’s new starts and other opportunities put on the backburner.

Ramifications of Closed Government

The longest shutdown in U.S. history will have an impact in the weeks and months ahead, as funding mechanisms vary and a flurry of businesses and companies rely on contracts to stay viable.

While some with already funded contracts could in certain capacities continue as usual, others awaiting contract modifications, renewals or finalizations, etc., were left in the dark due to the financial lapse. Contracts requiring additional financial capital were also put on hold.

BDO, an international company that provides clients with assurance, tax and financial advisory services, put the onus on the government contractors to “pick up the pieces.”

“Many government contracts may be modified to reduce payments that contractors would have received if there was no shutdown, and some contracts may be terminated,” BDO wrote in the shutdown’s infancy. “Contractors may be forced to furlough or lay off employees due to the shutdown as well.”

A statement and fact sheet published by the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee on Oct. 23, which blamed Democrats for "serious national security consequences," describes various ill-fated effects of the closure that included weakened nuclear deterrents and military service members working without pay.

"The military cannot enter into new contracts or renew existing contracts during the shutdown, needlessly delaying the acquisition of critical capabilities for our warfighters," the fact sheet reads.

Another line within states: "Critical exercises have been delayed or cancelled, including activities to deter China through new capabilities testing, validating operational concepts, and informing force posture. Military exercises with the Philippines have been canceled. Planning for large-scale military exercises has been postponed. Ongoing intelligence that informs weapons development and predicts geopolitical conditions has been stopped, hurting our ability to equip our troops and prepare for future threats."

Tuttle acknowledged benefits his company gets through private capital to keep moving forward on product development, but starting new programs has been a hindrance.

“And last time I checked, our greatest global adversary [China] is not stopping with their development anytime soon,” he said. “So, I think it puts us in a spot where now we're catching up even further…every day that goes by.”

Companies, Contractors Should Expect 'Lag'

Staying ahead in the digital age is on the minds of Tuttle and countless others, including those spread out across the U.S. defense and tech sectors.

The days of shooting 100 rounds in a tank-heavy military conflict are long gone, Tuttle said. That transition from long-held strategies and ubiquitous artillery is now a conversation revolving around supply chains, drones, AI, logistics, and achieving a tactical edge over adversaries.

“If you don't have any kind of digitization or any kind of software platform that can work at those tactical levels, you can never fix this problem,” he said. “You can never have this future vision, which I think everyone has at this point, which is like tactical, connected to operational, connected to strategic, all the way back into the defense industrial base to drive manufacturing production. I think that's the vision everybody wants.”

What everyone wants and how things shake out over time are different parts of the equation. As Tuttle and his company survey the landscape, they don’t necessarily characterize it as a supply chain problem but more so an operational plan with various maintenance requirements, munitions requirements, and sustainment.

“We feel that we can't just be a great technology company,” Tuttle said. “We also have to be a deeply doctrinally rooted military logistics company to have those things.”

And even though the shutdown is now done, funding remains a liability rather than a viability at this juncture.

“RDT&E money, and I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but RDT&E money was used to pay salaries over the last 40 days—which was the right ethical call to make,” Tuttle added. “But that money is going to have to flow back down to those accounts to happen. 

“So, we're going to see a lag…before some of these things can happen. And it just slows things down. The clock is ticking on capabilities and the adversaries’ capabilities.”