$L$ Boeing has informed its employees that NASA may cancel SLS contracts The White House has not made a final decision yet on the large rocket. Eric Berger Feb 7, 2025 5:07 pm | 4 The Space Launch System rocket is seen rolling toward its launch pad, LC-39B, in Florida. Credit: Trevor Mahlmann The Space Launch System rocket is seen rolling toward its launch pad, LC-39B, in Florida. Credit: Trevor Mahlmann Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe primary contractor for the Space Launch System rocket, Boeing, is preparing for the possibility that NASA cancels the long-running program.On Friday, with less than an hour's notice, David Dutcher, Boeing's vice president and program manager for the SLS rocket, scheduled an all-hands meeting for the approximately 800 employees working on the program. The apparently scripted meeting lasted just six minutes, and Dutcher didn't take questions.During his remarks, Dutcher said Boeing's contracts for the rocket could end in March and that the company was preparing for layoffs in case the contracts with the space agency were not renewed. "Cold and scripted" is how one person described Dutcher's demeanor.Giving a 60-day noticeThe aerospace company, which is the primary contractor for the rocket's large core stage, issued the notifications as part of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (or WARN) Act, which requires US employers with 100 or more full-time employees to provide a 60-day notice in advance of mass layoffs or plant closings."To align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations, today we informed our Space Launch Systems team of the potential for approximately 400 fewer positions by April 2025," a Boeing spokesperson told Ars. "This will require 60-day notices of involuntary layoff be issued to impacted employees in coming weeks, in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. We are working with our customer and seeking opportunities to redeploy employees across our company to minimize job losses and retain our talented teammates."The timing of Friday's hastily called meeting aligns with the anticipated release of President Trump's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. This may not be an entire plan but rather a "skinny" budget that lays out a wish list of spending requests for Congress and some basic economic projections. Congress does not have to act on Trump's budget priorities.Multiple sources said there has been a healthy debate within the White House and senior leadership at NASA, including active administrator Janet Petro, about the future of the SLS rocket and the Artemis Moon program. Some commercial space advocates have been pressing hard to cancel the rocket outright. Petro has been urging the White House to allow NASA to fly the Artemis II and Artemis III missions using the initial version of the SLS rocket before the program is canceled.Critics of the large and expensive rocketa single launch costs in excess of $2 billion, exclusive of any payloads or the cost of ground systemssay NASA should cut its losses. Keeping the SLS rocket program around for the first lunar landing would actually bog down progress, these critics say, because large contractors such as Boeing would be incentivized to slow down work and drag out funding with their cost-plus contracts for as long as possible.Long-delayed and expensiveFriday's all-hands meeting indicates that Boeing executives believe there is at least the possibility that the Trump White House will propose ending the SLS rocket as part of its budget proposal in March.The US Congress, in concert with senior leaders at NASA, directed the space agency to develop the SLS rocket in 2011. Built to a significant degree from components of the space shuttle, including its main engines and side-mounted boosters, the SLS rocket was initially supposed to launch by the end of 2016. It did not make its debut flight until the end of 2022.NASA has spent approximately $3 billion a year developing the rocket and its ground systems over the program's lifetime. While handing out guaranteed contracts to Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet, and other contractors, the government's rocket-building enterprise has been superseded by the private industry. SpaceX has developed two heavy lift rockets in the last decade, and Blue Origin just launched its own, with the New Glenn booster. Each of these rockets is at least partially reusable and flies at less than one-tenth the cost of the SLS rocket.Eric BergerSenior Space EditorEric BergerSenior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 4 Comments

Growing Measles outbreak erupts in one of Texas least vaccinated counties 9 cases are confirmed and 3 are probable. Officials says more are likely to come. Beth Mole Feb 7, 2025 4:51 pm | 21 Measles rash on the body of the child. Credit: Getty | Povorozniuk Liudmyla Measles rash on the body of the child. Credit: Getty | Povorozniuk Liudmyla Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreHealth officials in Texas are battling a growing measles outbreak in an area that has some of the state's lowest vaccination rates and highest non-medical exemptions.On January 30, officials reported two measles cases in unvaccinated, school-aged children in Gaines County, which sits at the border of New Mexico and is around 90 miles southwest of Lubbock, Texas. Both children were hospitalized in Lubbock and had been discharged.As of mid-day February 7, the outbreak total reached nine confirmed measles cases in the South Plains Public Health District (SPPHD) that includes Gaines, according to Zach Holbrooks, Executive Director for SSPHD. In an interview with Ars, Holbrooks reported that there were three additional probable cases that are linked to the confirmed cases. These are cases in the same household or familymaybe a cousin or siblingthat are showing measles symptoms but haven't been tested yet or gotten their test results back yet, Holbrooks said. So far, there have been no other reports of hospitalizations besides those in the first two cases.Holbrooks said he expected the number of confirmed cases to rise by the end of the day or tomorrow morning.Vulnerable communityGaines County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state of Texas and has among the highest rates of children with "conscientious exemptions" to school vaccination requirements.According to state data for the 20232024 school year, only about 82 percent of kindergarteners in public schools in Gaines County were up to date on their vaccinations, including doses of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine. The public health target for vaccination coverage is 95 percent, which is the level that can prevent community spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and shield vulnerable members, including children too young to vaccinate and people with compromised immune systems.With 82 percent vaccinated, Gaines County ranks in the bottom ten counties with the lowest coverage among those reporting data (four counties out of over 250 did not report). Nearly 18 percent of kindergarteners in Gaines have conscientious exemptions, which is an exemption from school vaccination requirements based on reasons of conscience, including a religious belief.Still, the county-wide number obscures pockets of yet lower vaccination rates. That includes the independent public school district in Loop, in the northeast corner of Gaines, which had a vaccination rate of 46 percent in the 20232024 school year.Holbrooks noted that the county has a large religious community with private religious schools. These may have yet lower vaccination rates. Holbrooks said that, so far, the measles cases being seen and traced in the outbreak are linked to those private schools.Public health responseTo try to prevent disease transmission, Holbrooks and other state and local officials are getting the word out about the outbreak and running vaccination clinics. About 30 children were vaccinated in a mobile vaccination drive yesterday, he reported."We're trying to get out the message about how important vaccination is," he said.He's also emphasizing that, while children with measles symptomsvery high fever, cough, runny nose, red/watery eyes, and of course, the tell-tale rashshould see a health care provider, parents need to call the office in advance so a child potentially infected with measles doesn't end up sitting in a waiting room among other potentially vulnerable children."Measles is highly communicable," he notes. The viral illness is one of the most highly infectious diseases on the planet, and about 90 percent of unvaccinated people who are exposed to it will end up falling ill. The virus spreads through the air and can linger in the airspace of a room for up to two hours after an infected person has left.In addition to a generally miserable illness, measles can cause complications: 1 in 5 unvaccinated people with measles in the US end up hospitalized. About 1 in 10 develop ear infections and/or diarrhea, and 1 in 20 develop pneumonia. Between 1 to 3 in 1,000 die of the infection. In rare cases, it can cause a fatal disease of the central nervous system called Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, which typically develops 7 to 10 years after an infection. Measles can also devastate immune responses to other infections (immune amnesia), making people who recover from the illness vulnerable to other infectious diseases.Health officials have generally raised concerns about outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases as vaccination rates have slipped nationwide and vaccine exemptions have hit record highs. Anxiety over the risks has only heightened as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to become the country's top health official. Kennedy is a prominent anti-vaccine advocate who has spent decades spreading misinformation about vaccines.Beth MoleSenior Health ReporterBeth MoleSenior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technicas Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 21 Comments

TechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.Software & ServicesSolarWinds to Go Private for $4.4BSolarWinds to Go Private for $4.4BFive years after a Russian APT infiltrated a software update to gain access to thousands of SolarWinds customers, the board has voted unanimously to sell at a top valuation and plans for uninterrupted operations.Dark Reading, Staff & ContributorsFebruary 7, 20251 Min ReadSOPA Images Limited via Alamy StockSolarWinds, the software and IT company that faced a major supply chain cyberattack in 2020, today announced that it will be acquired by Turn/River Capital for $4.4 billion, or$18.50 per share.Along with unanimous approval from its board of directors, the transaction also received written approval from Thoma Bravo and Silver Lake, SolarWinds' majority shareholders with a combined 65% of the outstanding voting securities.SolarWinds will become a privately held company, no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, though it will continue to operate under the name SolarWinds and stay headquartered in Austin, Texas.Read the Full Article on Dark ReadingAbout the AuthorDark ReadingStaff & ContributorsDark Reading: Connecting The Information Security CommunityLong one of the most widely-read cybersecurity news sites on the Web, Dark Reading is also the most trusted online community for security professionals. Our community members include thought-leading security researchers, CISOs, and technology specialists, along with thousands of other security professionals.See more from Dark ReadingNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Picking a truly random number is harder than you thinkaryna Terletska/Getty ImagesPeople are generally bad at producing random actions, but now it seems that we are all uniquely bad in our own way. This makes it possible to predict how an individual will act randomly, which could have implications for data security and choosing suitably strong passwords.Psychologists already know that we struggle with randomness ask people to name a random colour, and a majority will say blue, while the most frequent answer for a random number between 1 and 10 is 7.

New fighter jet components can be 3D printedRolls RoyceFighter jets that first flew in the 1970s can be transformed into a fine powder and used to 3D print components for the next generation of aircraft in the UKs Royal Air Force (RAF). Experts say this is a more efficient way to make aircraft its less environmentally damaging and also solves the problem of sourcing materials from countries that are under sanctions, like Russia.Robert Higham at Additive Manufacturing Solutions has developed a technique to recycle crucial materials like Ti64 which is titanium with 6 per cent aluminium and 4 per cent vanadium. The UK Ministry of Defence has large quantities of expensive and hard-to-source materials like Ti64, but they are tied up in obsolete or broken aircraft and in stored components. AdvertisementThe company was able to take turbine blades from a Panavia Tornado an aircraft in service with the RAF from 1980 to 2019 and recycle them into a nose cone for a prototype engine that will power the RAFs next generation of fighter jet.The world is more expensive than it used to be. Its more complex and more expensive to make products, says Higham. We can make them as cost effectively as possible.Higham says that creating spherical particles from the old parts is key to printing quality new parts, as jagged particles can get stuck in the 3D printer. Simply grinding the metal down wont do, so the recycled components are melted and then sprayed into a high-pressure jet of argon, where they break up into raindrop-shaped droplets. These droplets spin in the gas, become spherical then drop out and solidify. Its a very similar process to the way that rain becomes hailstones, says Higham. The latest science news delivered to your inbox, every day.Sign up to newsletterThe resulting powdercan then be fed into 3D printers. These machines essentially weld the powder into layers half the thickness of a human hair and set down each layer, one by one, to build the new part. Its a very straightforward microscopic welding process. It isnt really anything more complex than that, says Higham.In this first case, the powder was used to 3D print a nose cone for an Orpheus jet engine, which Rolls Royce is currently developing for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The FCAS includes a range of aircraft with modular components, including the BAE Systems Tempest a proposed sixth-generation fighter jet destined for the RAF.Topics:

Reports from the US Government Accountability Office on improper federal payments in recent years are circulating on X and elsewhere online, and they seem to be a big influence on Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its supporters as the group pursues cost-cutting measures across the federal government. The payment reports have been spread online by dozens of pundits, sleuths, and anonymous analysts in the orbit of DOGE and are often amplified by Musk himself. Though the interpretations of the offices findings are at times inaccurate, it is clear that the GAOs documentswhich historically have been unlikely to cause much of a stir even within Washingtonare having a moment. Were getting noticed, said Seto Baghdoyan, director of forensic audits and investigative services at the GAO, in an interview with MIT Technology Review. The documents dont offer a crystal ball into Musks plans, but they suggest a blueprint, or at least an indicator, of where his newly formed and largely unaccountable task force is looking to make cuts. DOGEs footprint in Washington has quickly grown. Its members are reportedly setting up shop at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Labor Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which provides storm warnings and fishery management programs), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The developments have triggered lawsuits, including allegations that DOGE is violating data privacy rules and that its buyout offers to federal employees are unlawful. When citing the GAO reports in conversations on X, Musk and DOGE supporters sometimes blur together terms like fraud, waste, and abuse. But they have distinct meanings for the GAO. The office found that the US government made an estimated $236 billion in improper payments in the year ending September 2023payments that should not have occurred. Overpayments make up nearly three-quarters of these, and the share of the money that gets recovered from this type of mistake is in the low single digits for most programs, Baghdoyan says. Others are payments that didnt have proper documentation. But that doesnt necessarily mean fraud, where a crime occurred. Measuring that is more complicated. An [improper payment] could be the result of fraud and therefore, fraud could be included in the estimate, says Hannah Padilla, director of financial management and assurance at the GAO. But at the time the estimates of improper payments are prepared, its impossible to say how much of the total has been misappropriated. That can take years for courts to determine. In other words, improper payment means that something clearly went wrong, but not necessarily that anyone willfully misrepresented anything to benefit from it. Then theres waste. Waste is anything that the person whos speaking thinks is not a good use of government money, says Jetson Leder-Luis, an economist at Boston University who researches fraudulent federal payments. Defining such waste is not in the purview of the GAO. Its a subjective category, and one that covers much of Musks criticism of what he sees as politically motivated or woke spending. Six program areas account for 85% of improper federal payments, according to the GAO: Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, the covid-era Paycheck Protection Program, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Supplemental Security Income from the Social Security Administration. This week Musk has latched onto the first two. On February 5, he wrote that Medicare is where the big money fraud is happening, and the next day, when an X user quoted the GAOs numbers for improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid, Musk replied, at least. The GAO does not suggest that actual values are higher or lower than its estimates. DOGE aides were soon confirmed to be working at Health and Human Services. Health-care fraud is committed by companies, or by doctors, says Leder-Luis, who has researched federal fraud in health care for years. Its not something generally that the patients are choosing. Much of it is upcoding, where a provider sends a bill for a more expensive service than was given, or substandard care, where companies take money for care but dont provide adequate services. This happens in some nursing homes. In the GAOs reports, Medicare says most of its improper payments are due to insufficient documentation. For example, if a health-care facility is missing certain certification requirements, payments to it are considered improper. Other agencies also cite issues in getting the right data and documentation before making payments. The documents being shared online may explain some of Musks early moves via DOGE. The group is now leading the United States Digital Service, which builds technological tools for the government, and is reportedly building a new chatbot for the US General Services Administration as part of a larger effort by DOGE to bring more AI into the government. AI in government isnt newGAO reports show that Medicare and Medicaid use predictive algorithms and other models to detect fraud already. But its unclear whether DOGE staffers have probed those existing systems. Improper payments are something that can and should cause alarm for anyone in or out of government. Ending them would either open up funds to be spent elsewhere or allow budgets to be cut, and that becomes a political question, Leder-Luis says. But will eliminating them accomplish Musks aims? Those aims are broad: he has spoken confidently about DOGEs ability to trim trillions from the budget, end inflation, drive out woke spending, and cure Americas debt crisis. Ending improper payments would make an impossibly small dent in those goals. For their part, Padilla and Baghdoyan at the GAO say they have not been approached by Musk or DOGE to learn what theyve found to be best practices for reducing improper payments.

A federal judge blocked Trump's attempt to dismantle the US Agency for International Development.The Friday ruling followed a lawsuit by government employee unions against USAID cuts.USAID spent $32.5 billion in 2024 on global humanitarian aid.A federal judge has partially blocked the Trump administration's attempt to dismantle the US Agency for International Development.Judge Carl Nichols said Friday he would temporarily block the Trump administration from placing 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave, the Associated Press reported. The workers, some of which are based overseas, were set to be placed on leave Friday just before midnight.The ruling comes one day after the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association filed a lawsuit against the administration's cuts to USAID."These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled US national security interests," their lawyers wrote.The lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday, named President Donald Trump, State Secretary Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the State Department, the Treasury Department, and USAID as defendants."Not a single one of defendants' actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization. And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency," the lawsuit argued.The humanitarian aid agency has been under fire since Trump took office. Elon Musk said in an X post on Monday that he "spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper."On Tuesday, USAID said nearly all staff would be placed on administrative leave starting on February 7 at midnight. The announcement came just a day after the agency shut down its headquarters on Monday and told staff to work remotely."With regards to the USAID stuff, I went over it in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down," Musk said of a conversation he had with President Donald Trump during an X Spaces conversation on Monday.Established in 1961 by then-President John F. Kennedy, USAID oversees the US's aid programs around the world.The agency spent nearly $32.5 billion in fiscal year 2024, channeling aid to countries like Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia. The US is the world's largest provider of humanitarian aid.The turmoil surrounding USAID takes place amid a wider upending of the federal bureaucracy during Trump's second term, with the federal judiciary increasingly stepping in. Last month, the Trump administration gave federal employees from January 28 to February 6 to accept a buyout offer and resign from their jobs, but a judge extended the deadline to Monday.The Trump administration's freeze on federal grants and loans was announced on January 28 and rolled by within days, with a federal judge issuing a restraining order on January 31.A federal judge also issued an injunction against Trump's exeuctive orders on ending birthright citizenship, calling them "flatly unconstitutional."A spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce, said on Thursday that over 40,000 employees have accepted the offer. The federal government employs more than 2 million people.

For a true-ish story, watch "Apple Cider Vinegar."Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in "Apple Cider Vinegar." Courtesy Of Netflix Netflix's latest fictionalized drama is about Belle Gibson, a real-life wellness blogger who built an empire off of the lie she had cancer. Kaitlyn Dever (who'll next appear in "The Last of Us" season two) stars as Gibson.Streaming on: NetflixLove workplace comedies? Check out "The Z-Suite."Lauren Graham plays an ousted ad exec in the new Tubi show. Tubi "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham leads this new workplace comedy, playing an ad agency exec who's "canceled" and then replaced by her company's Gen Z social media team.Streaming on: TubiYou might have heard about a little thing called the Super Bowl.Kansas City Chiefs players huddle during the 2024 Super Bowl. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP The Eagles and the Chiefs are facing off on Sunday. Kendrick Lamar, who is fresh off a glut of Grammy wins, is set for the halftime show.Streaming on: TubiHistory buffs can check out Kevin Costner's new show.Kevin Costner has a new show about Yosemite. Fox Nation Off the success of Kevin Costner's 2022 docuseries "Yellowstone: One-Fifty," about the history of the national park, he's reteamed with Fox Nation for another, similarly themed unscripted series.In "Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner," the actor, who executive produced this three-parter in addition to hosting it, traces the 1903 Yosemite expedition undertaken by then-president Theodore Roosevelt and the naturalist John Muir.If you love history or awe-inspiring landscapes, this one's for you.Streaming on: Fox NationReality TV fans can tune into "The Kardashians" premiere.Khloe Kardashian spoke to Lamar Odom on "The Kardashians." Disney The sixth season of the KarJenner clan's rebooted reality show picks up with Kim Kardashian heading to the White House, Khlo reuniting with her ex-husband Lamar Odom, and Kourtney turning 45.Streaming on: HuluWant a rom-com? Stream "Kinda Pregnant."Amy Schumer stars in Netflix's latest rom-com. Netflix Amy Schumer plays a woman who fakes being pregnant after becoming jealous of her expecting best friend. When she meets a new love interest, she's forced to keep up the ruse.Streaming on: Netflix"Invincible" returned this week.The first three episodes of "Invincible" season three are streaming. Amazon The acclaimed adult animated superhero show, following Steven Yeun's superhero Mark Grayson (aka Invincible), is back for its third season.Streaming on: Prime VideoLooking for a good cry? "We Live in Time" is now streaming.Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh play a couple in "We Live in Time." Peter Mountain/A24 The heartfelt, and surprisingly funny, drama focuses on Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield), a young couple who are tested when Almut is diagnosed with cancer. An unconventional love story, "We Live in Time" is told in a unique non-linear format.Streaming on: Max"Piece by Piece" is a must for music lovers.Young Lego Pharell Williams in "Piece by Piece." Courtesy of Focus Features Why make a straightforward musician biopic when you can make one where the subject is an anthropomorphized CGI chimp or, in the case of "Piece by Piece," made out of Legos? The 2024 film tells the life story of Pharrell Williams through Lego animation.Streaming on: Peacock

Welcome to The Logoff. Today, Im focusing on a fight over control of the Treasury Departments payment system, a legal battle with big implications for our democracy. At stake is Congresss ability to keep control over government spending, a critical (and constitutional) check on Donald Trumps power.Whats the latest? A federal judge on Thursday signed off on an agreement limiting the access that Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency gets to the Treasury Departments payment system. For now, only two DOGE employees will be able to view the systems inner workings, but they wont be able to make changes or cancel payments.Back up. Whats the context here? For weeks, DOGE employees have been pushing to access the system which handles trillions of dollars of federal spending and sparring with career (non-political) Treasury employees who oversee it. Government employees groups sued to block DOGEs access, resulting in Thursdays agreement.What access does DOGE want? Ultimately, DOGE is seeking the ability to unilaterally cancel payments. Thats clear after the New York Times and CNN revealed that Trumps team had tried unsuccessfully to get Treasury to cancel all payments from the US Agency International Development, the agency Trump has since gutted.What happens next? The limited-access deal will remain in place while the federal court case goes forward.What are the bigger stakes here? There are privacy and security concerns, but this is ultimately about the balance of power. The ability to cancel Treasury payments would effectively give Trump control over government spending. The Constitution reserves that power for Congress, and Trump taking it would be a massive expansion of his authority. It would also allow Trumps team to rapidly paralyze spending at government agencies that dont align with his agenda, making the dismantling of USAID easier to replicate.And with that, its time to log off ...Okay! I know that was a lot. Thanks for making it through. Its Friday, so I have a choose-your-own adventure set of links for you. If youre exhausted and just need a laugh, heres my favorite (and highly rewatchable) Saturday Night Live skit in a good while. And if youre feeling motivated, heres a super helpful article on how to bring down your grocery bills. Either way, I really appreciate you reading. Have a fulfilling weekend, and Ill see you back here next week.See More:

Its a safe bet that much of what President Donald Trump described in two press availabilities at the White House alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as well as a follow-up social media post, is not going to happen. The US almost certainly will not take a long-term ownership position in the Gaza Strip, resettle its 1.8 million people in a beautiful area in a neighboring country so enticing that they wont want to return, or redevelop the strip as the riviera of the Middle East.Top officials including White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have already walked back much of the proposal, saying that the relocation of Palestinians would only be temporary while Gaza is rebuilt and that Americans would not foot the bill. And while Trump has been musing about this for weeks now and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been talking about it for months no one in his administration actually appears to be working to implement it. The White House National Security Council declined to comment, referring Vox to Trumps statements and social media posts on the topic.The trope from Trumps first term that the presidents statements should be taken seriously but not literally is probably the best way to think about his proposals for the future of Gaza.In the region, the statement was not taken as just a flight of fancy. Defense Minister Israel Katz quickly instructed the Israeli military to draft a plan to allow voluntary departure of Gazas residents. Neighboring Egypt, one of the countries Trump suggested could provide new land for Gazans, said its peace treaty with Israel was at risk if the plan were seriously pursued. For Palestinians, the idea of removing them from their land is a reminder of some of the darkest moments of their history. Calling this idea a plan might be generous, but its clear that Trumps words matter not just because they indicate the approach his administration might take to Israel-Palestinian issues, but because of the impact they could have on the ground, in Gaza and beyond. Israel and Hamas are currently in phase one of their ceasefire. Fighting has halted, and Israeli hostages are being regularly exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. In three weeks, they are supposed to transition to phase two, a permanent end to the conflict. The future of Gaza governance and rebuilding will be taken up in phase three. The terms of the next two phases have yet to be agreed, so its very much an open question whether the ceasefire will last. Trumps Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff has been in the region making a push for a permanent ceasefire as well as reaching a landmark normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Witkoff, a real estate developer with virtually no diplomatic experience, had garnered some praise for his efforts from longtime peace process observers, and his willingness to pressure Netanyahu to make concessions appears to have played a significant role in securing the ceasefire before Trump took office.But all that has been overshadowed by Trumps riviera remarks.The ceasefire is sort of dead in the water at this point, said Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst for the International Crisis Group. Any even cautious optimism we had, this just signals the absolute death of it because it completely undermines the most critical phase, which is phase three, reconstruction.The presumption of everyone involved in the negotiations was that the third phase would consist of reconstruction for the people of Gaza, not luxury property for the worlds people, as Trump put it.Aaron David Miller, a Mideast peace negotiator for several US administrations now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the remarks took away any leverage Witkoff might have had to pressure the Israelis and basically made Benjamin Netanyahu one of the happiest humans on the planet. Its not only Netanyahu. Trumps statements created ecstasy among Israelis, and not just the right, said Shira Efron, a Tel Aviv-based analyst for Israel Policy Forum, on a panel this week. Polls show a majority of Israelis support Trumps plan and even Netanyahu rivals like former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid offered qualified praise for what, if taken literally, amounts to a call for ethnic cleansing. The strongest praise came from leaders of Israels far right, some of whom have long advocated expelling Gazas civilian population and replacing them with Israeli settlers. One of those is far-right former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who left the Cabinet in January over objections to the ceasefire and said he would consider returning if Netanyahu pursued Trumps plan. [Trumps] is a much more of a maximalist position that any of Netanyahus Coalition partners could have imagined, Efron said. Thats a welcome gift for a prime minister who has been struggling to hold together a right-wing coalition government divided by the ceasefire and other issues. (The praise wasnt universal: Israels military intelligence reportedly warned that the plan could provoke violence, earning a reprimand from the defense minister.)Its worth noting that despite the ecstasy on the Jewish far right, Trumps statement was not actually an endorsement of their vision. In fact, when specifically asked if he supported building Jewish settlements in Gaza, he dismissed the idea, saying, Nobody can go there, its too dangerous. Nobody wants to be there. (Trumps former ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the New York Times there would be a market-drive process for deciding who would eventually get to live along 25 miles of sunset-facing beachfront.)Thats unlikely to mollify Palestinians. Hes given Hamas a tremendous propaganda advantage now, because what hes said will be interpreted in the minds the Palestinians as another nakba, as the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, Miller said. (Hamas called Trumps proposal ridiculous and absurd.) The statement could have ramifications beyond Gaza as well. Trumps win had already excited Israeli advocates for annexation of the West Bank either in part or in whole. And even before his election, 2024 saw record violence by settlers against Palestinians on the West Bank, as well as some of the largest seizures of land by the Israeli government. One of Trumps first actions as president was to lift sanctions the Biden administration imposed on settlers who have committed acts of violence. Theres little evidence that Trump shares the emotional enthusiasm from the settlement project evinced by some of his top officials, and he held off on giving his blessing for West Bank annexation during his first term. Still, the recent comments suggest he views Palestinians living on their own territory as an inconvenience to be negotiated away. A region united in oppositionTrumps proposal to just clean out Gaza, and Defense Minister Katzs instructions to the Israel Defense Forces, bring to mind a controversial plan reportedly considered by Netanyahu last fall. The so-called generals plan involved completely sealing off northern Gaza, including food aid, relocating all its civilian residents, and treating anyone who remained as a legitimate military target. For all that Trump and Katz can speak of a voluntary departure, such violent methods would probably be needed to carry this idea. A majority of Gazans would likely not want to permanently leave their homes or would not trust that their relocation would be temporary. Hamas still de facto governs much of Gaza and would have no incentive to go along with this scheme. Other Arab governments, who Trump suggested could take in the people of Gaza, were quick to reject the plan. Trump seems to think they can be convinced, citing Canada and Mexicos agreement to beef up border security to avoid tariffs as precedent. But convincing a country like Jordan to take in a massive new refugee population is a far different proposition than talking Justin Trudeau into appointing a fentanyl czar.Whatever economic threats come their way do not stand up to the existential threat that a mass transfer of Palestinians into the country would cause, Marwan Muasher, former Jordanian foreign minister and former Jordanian ambassador to Israel, told Vox. The statement may also have put Trump and Netanyahus long-sought goal of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia further out of reach. The Saudi government swiftly put out a statement rejecting Trumps suggestion that it would be willing to recognize Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. Though Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has made clear hes still interested in normalization, it seems unlikely hed risk signing onto a plan perceived by the region as a new Nakba.The Arab world is not always unified on a number of issues, Muasher said. I think the presidents statements have unified the Arab position in a way I have not seen before.The most generous reading of Trumps statement is that this was the idea. National security adviser Mike Waltz suggested that it would bring the entire region to come with their own solutions. For the moment, it seems to be having the opposite effect. The regions various actors are digging into their positions, while the people of Gaza continue to suffer and Hamass presence persists. See More: