FOR YOUR EYES ONLYย โ American Liberty News (ALN) โ in collaboration with respected national security expertย Paul Crespoย and theย Center for American Defense Studies (CADS)ย โ provides our readers theย PDB:
Not theย President's Daily Brief, but almost as good โย PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING.
Get Your Best Daily Defense and Foreign Affairs Intelligence Here in One Brief. Read the summaries or dive deeper via the linked articles.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
WHY THE DEMOCRAT VIEW (SPIN) ON THIS ISSUE? โย Culture wars and โwoke battlesโ on tap for new Armed Services Committee?ย Democratic Arizona Congressman Reuben Gallego talks about priorities in congress and the Armed Services Committee as Republicans take over the House
POLITICS
BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SPIN CONTROL โย Additional classified items found in Biden's Delaware home during Justice Department search, attorney says. The search was prompted by the White House, not the Justice Department, according to a White House official and a source familiar with the matter.
PARTISAN DEMOCRAT CORRUPTION โย Air Force takes responsibility for release of Black GOP congressional candidate's military record. Jennifer-Ruth Green, a Republican, continues to blameย U.S.ย Rep.ย Frank Mrvanย and the Democratic Congressional Campaign for illegally obtaining and releasing the information through corrupt Air Force personnel to damage her campaign in the weeks leading up to the November election.
PAID BY WHOM? โย Stocking Ukraine could generate foreign military sales boom. Replacing the military equipment transferred to Ukraine by the United States' NATO allies could lead to roughly $21.7 billion in foreign military sales or direct commercial sales for American industry, according to research by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
DEFENSE BUDGET
There is room to cut US military spending. I can't deny what my own eyes saw year after year, as an Air Force pilot.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Marines, Honolulu police and federal agents hold raid exercises on Oahu. Under cover of darkness on Tuesday night, members of the Honolulu Police Department's (HPD) SWAT team, federal agents and members of the Marine Corps' Okinawa-based Maritime Raid Force quietly made their way into Aloha Stadium as part of an urban combat training exercise. HPD officers and FBI agents played the role of local forces defending a fictional island nation that finds itself increasingly torn by violence.
Deterrence through doctrine: The case for a joint counter-landing doctrine. In 1940, as Great Britain truly grappled with the possibility of a Nazi invasion, the nation still had not settled on a doctrine to defend against an amphibious landing. As Washington and Taipei consider the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the two nations โ working with other countries in the region โ would be wise to learn from British failings to plan for the worst and jointly work together to come up with the means to defend the island.
House Foreign Affairs chairman says some members don't understand what's at stake in Ukraine. The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sought Sunday to tamp down speculation that the new GOP majority will be less likely to fund aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, though he did suggest some members of his party may need to be convinced about the need to continue US support.
Pentagon's annual weapon test report reverses classification, details major program challenges. The report, without โcontrolled unclassified informationโ redactions, discusses concerns with major weapons programs from ships to planes to hypersonic missiles.
HOMELAND SECURITY
WITCH HUNT โ THEY WERE โTOURISTS' โย 3 active-duty Marines charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The men spent about 52 minutes inside the Capitol, authorities say.
BUT EVERYONE ELSE GETS IN! โย Afghan soldier seeking asylum in US remains jailed after border arrest. Abdul Wasi Safi, a former officer in the Afghan National Security Forces, was arrested at the U.S. southern border after fleeing the Taliban.
CHINA THREAT
PODCAST โย Breaking up US and China's chip relationship.ย Defense News congressional reporter Bryant Harris breaks down US moves to stall China's ability to develop more advanced chips that go into virtually every piece of technology we use.
China's Mad Dash Into a Strategic Island Nation Breeds Resentment.ย For years, Beijing has thrown its wealth and weight across the globe. But its experience in the Solomon Islands calls into question its approach to expanding its power.
U.S. Weapons Industry Unprepared for a China Conflict, Report Says.ย The war in Ukraine has exposedย widespread problems in the American armaments industryย that may hobble the U.S. military's ability to fight a protracted war against China, according to a new study.
RUSSIA THREAT
WHAT ABOUT IRAN's IRGC? โย Treasury designates Wagner Group a transnational criminal organization.ย The U.S. Treasury Department will impose additional sanctions on the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, that has been aiding Russia's military in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine's allies fail to reach breakthrough on sending new tanks. Defense leaders gathered at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday to rally fresh support for Ukraine could not resolve an impasse over providing new Western tanks for Ukraine in its war to repel Russia, but Germany's new defense minister said he is approaching a decision.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 334.ย European Council President Charles Michel has urged the bloc's leaders to push forward with talks on using $300bn of confiscated Russian central bank assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Berlin will not stand in the way if Poland wants to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Germany's foreign minister said.
Minister: Germany won't block Poland giving Ukraine tanks. The German government will not object if Poland decides to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, Germany's top diplomat said Sunday, indicating movement on supplying weapons that Kyiv has described as essential to its ability to fend off an intensified Russian offensive.
Europe's leaders are in battle of wills over Ukraine war. Fear of receding U.S. support for Kyiv is raising pressure in Europe for bolder action.
Sending Patriot missile systems to Ukraine is an expensive blunder. With Ukrainian troops en route to the United States for training on the Patriot missile system, Washington is now sending some of its most sophisticated weapons to bolster Ukraine's already extensive air defense network. Sending Patriot missile systems to Ukraine might seem useful, given repeated Russian drone and missile attacks on civilian areas, but the solution doesn't fit the problem.
US military vets in Ukraine are fighting each other in court. Initially composed of a handful of retired Marines, the Mozart Group attracted extensive media coverage as a noble effort by American volunteers to transfer their combat skills to the embattled Ukrainians.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY โ NATO, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA ASIA, LATIN AMERICA
Russian warship to join drills with China, South Africa navies. Russian frigate armed with hypersonic Zircon missiles will participate in joint drills in South Africa in February, TASS says.
British naval forces get specialized vessel for seabed operations.ย Britain has taken delivery of the first of two undersea surveillance ships tasked with helping protect vital cables and pipelines from sabotage, the Ministry of Defense has announced.
Macron wants โฌ400 billion to โtransform' France's forces through 2030.ย Seven months after declaring the launch of a new โwar economyโ in France, President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled plans to spend hundreds of billions of euros on defense investments that will โtransformโ the military over the next decade.
Drone strikes coalition base in Syria as part of multi-drone attack.ย Three aerial drones swarmed a base in Syria used by U.S. forces Friday, with one drone striking the compound, U.S. Central Command said.
Canadian military contractor sentenced in multimillion-dollar Africa fraud.ย The U.S. military has two battles it's fighting in Africa, Assistant United States Attorney Mark Pletcher said Friday in San Diego federal court. One is against extremist groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab, and one is to win the โhearts and mindsโ of the African people.
US strike kills approximately 30 al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia. The United States carried out a strike in Somalia on Friday that killed approximately 30 al-Shabaab fighters, US Africa Command said.
US MILITARY
The Navy put its next amphib on hold. Good. The proposal to build a slow and combat-shy Light Amphibious Warship raises questions about a key Marine Corps operating concept.
HIDING SOMETHING? โย Navy won't publicly release results of amphibious ship study. The study, which had been delayed for months, has been sent to lawmakers.
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions ofย American Liberty News.
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