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Get Your Best Daily Defense and Foreign Affairs Intelligence Here in One Brief. Read the summaries or dive deeper via the linked articles.
POLITICS
Here's how a GOP win in November might affect 2023 defense policy. Bigger defense budgets, heavier scrutiny of military aid to Ukraine and a tougher line on China are all on the horizon should Republicans take control of the House or Senate after midterm elections, experts say. (RELATED: The Sleeper Races That Might Shift the Balance of Power)
Analysts predict more vets in Congress next year after midterm wins. Officials from the non-partisan Veterans Campaign are predicting the number of veterans serving in Congress will increase following the results of the upcoming congressional midterm elections, based on the number of candidates running in winnable races.
PENTAGON ‘WOKE' WATCH
MAKING MORE WOKE OFFICERS? – In a first, Space Force picks private university as war college. The Space Force has chosen Johns Hopkins University as its graduate and postgraduate military school for officers, becoming the first branch of the U.S. armed forces to leverage a private university rather than create a new war college. (RELATED: Outrage as Biden's Woke Pentagon Funds Travel for Female Troops to Get Out-of-State Abortions)
NOT WOKE – Marines still oppose integrated boot camp platoons after $2M study. The Corps isn't following the recommended path, amid fears that total integration will cause it to lose its competitive edge for making the best warriors.
NATIONAL SECURITY
‘The big one is coming' and the US military isn't ready. A U.S. flag officer talks candidly about the fading U.S. deterrent.
Senior White House official involved in undisclosed talks with top Putin aides. Jake Sullivan has had confidential discussions with Russian counterparts amid concerns over escalation and nuclear threats.
HOMELAND SECURITY
Top US senator demands details on ‘Fat Leonard' house arrest and escape. The fallout from the September escape of Leonard Francis from house arrest in San Diego continued this week, when the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the administrator of the federal courts demanding information on the circumstances of his home detention and flight.
Wisconsin lawmaker sues to block military ballots from being counted. A Wisconsin state lawmaker on Friday filed a lawsuit to temporarily halt the counting of military ballots in the state after she received absentee ballots with fake names.
National Guard leaders warn more cyber security spending needed to help protect elections. National Guard officials overseeing cyber security for the midterm elections warn that the service component must invest more in units dedicated to detecting and combating threats that could cripple online infrastructure.
CHINA THREAT
US military nuclear chief sounds the alarm about pace of China's nuclear weapons program. The Commander of US Strategic Command, which oversees the US nuclear weapons program, warned that China is developing nuclear weapons much faster than the US and called the issue a “near-term problem,” during a speech at a closed event earlier this week. (RELATED: Report Identifies 3,500 Targets China May Strike in Taiwan, Undersea Cables Most Vulnerable)
Australia to buy Lockheed aircraft amid mounting tensions with China. The State Department cleared more than $6 billion in possible foreign military sales to Australia as tensions mount with China over a plan to station U.S. nuclear-capable bombers in the southern Indo-Pacific country.
Missile defense of Guam is ‘big issue,' DoD official says. The U.S. is “clearly committed” to its plans to significantly improve its missile defense of Guam, a senior defense official said Nov. 3, expanding on a key theme of the recently released Missile Defense Review.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 257. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned against more potential Russian attacks on his country's energy infrastructure. The mayor of Kyiv warned its residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country's power infrastructure, which meant having no electricity, water or heat in the freezing cold cannot be ruled out.
The Defense Department says it will support Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes.' The Pentagon's resolution to supplying Ukraine with weaponry and the new command are clear signals that the U.S. expects the threat from Russia to Ukraine and its neighbors to persist for years, officials said.
US nudges Kyiv to ease negotiation stance; Zelensky calls out Iran on drones. U.S. officials are privately pushing Kyiv to reconsider its stance against talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, though not necessarily to negotiate.
Refurbished Soviet tanks, HAWK missiles and more Phoenix Ghost drones coming soon to Ukraine. “These are tanks that the Ukrainians know how to use on the battlefield,” Pentagon Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said of a US-Dutch-Czech effort to supply Ukraine with refurbished Soviet tanks.
Pentagon announces another $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, establishes headquarters in Germany to handle shipments and training. An additional $400 million in U.S. aid for Ukraine will pay for more weapons and vehicles, including older Soviet-made tanks from the 1960s, to help Ukrainian troops fight off Russian forces, the Defense Department announced Friday.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
North Korea fires more missiles as US flies bombers over South. Two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers flew over South Korea in the last days of a joint air drill called “Vigilant Storm.”
Train crosses North Korea border into Russia after arms report, think tank says. A train crossed from North Korea into Russia on Friday, two days after the United States said it had information indicating Pyongyang is covertly supplying Russia with artillery shells for its war in Ukraine, a Washington think tank said, citing commercial satellite imagery.
IRAN THREAT
Iran Revolutionary Guard launches rocket amid more protests. Iran's powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Saturday launched a new satellite-carrying rocket, state TV reported, seeking to demonstrate the hard-line force's prowess even as anti-government protests rage across the country.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
US military hits al-Shabab extremists in Somalia. The U.S. has carried out dozens of drone strikes against extremists in Somalia in recent years.
Al-Shabab gunmen attack military base in central Somalia. The latest attack comes within days of a suicide bombing by al-Shabab near a military base in the capital, Mogadishu.
Japan PM vows to strengthen military at int'l naval review. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at an international fleet review Sunday that his country urgently needs to strengthen its military capabilities as security risks increase including threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile advancement and Russia's war on Ukraine.
Rise of ‘far-right' political power in Israel may impact relations with US on defense. Two ‘extremist' politicians, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are poised for key national defense roles in the expected coalition government.
SPACE THREAT
Space Force's secretive X-37B plane has spent more than 900 days in orbit. The small space plane has been conducting a series of experiments from the upper atmosphere for the last two years.
US MILITARY
The Navy wants to turn submarines into ‘UUV motherships.' That plan depends on being able to recover the drones through torpedo tubes.
F-22 Raptors begin rotating into Okinawa to replace Kadena's aging F-15 fleet. The first F-22A Raptors roared into Kadena Air Base on Friday, kicking off a two-year plan to replace the installation's aging F-15 fighters with a superior rotational force.
LOL! SURE IT WAS ! – US Air Force says penis-shaped flight path pointed at Russian base is a coincidence. The Air Force said Friday that a KC-135 Stratotanker's peculiar flight path, which aviation enthusiasts said resembled the shape of a penis while flying close to a Russian base in Syria, was not intentional.
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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