Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told senators that the greatest domestic threat facing the United States comes from what they both called “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists,” the New York Times reports.
Said Garland: “Specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race.”
Associated Press: “For 50 years the Minuteman missile has been armed and ready, day and night, for nuclear war on a moment’s notice. It has never been launched into combat from its underground silo, but this year it became the prime target in a wider political battle over the condition and cost of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.”
“Minuteman was not intended to last half a century, so it’s overdue to be replaced or refurbished. Some see this as a moment to push for scrapping it altogether, abandoning one leg of the traditional nuclear ‘triad’ — weapons that can be launched from land, sea and air. Most in Congress favor keeping the land-based leg by replacing Minuteman with a new missile; President Joe Biden’s position is not yet clear.”
“In a breakthrough for an eight-year-long effort, two senators behind legislation to revamp the way the military handles sexual assault cases and other serious crimes say the bill has the bipartisan votes to gain passage,” NPR reports.
“New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst said on Wednesday that the legislation would, for the first time, move cases out of the chain of command to trained, military prosecutors. Such cases would remain under military oversight, but instead be handled by criminal justice attorneys with relevant expertise, as opposed to commanders who often lack legal training.”
“A briefing on suspected energy attacks on US intelligence officers turned contentious last week, as senators demanded more information about the mysterious incidents from the CIA and accountability for how the agency has handled them,” CNN reports.
“Senators on the Intelligence Committee were baffled that they were just learning about significant developments for the first-time and they were also frustrated that they were not given more details. The classified briefing was one of the most contentious in the committee’s recent memory.”
“In a potentially significant shift in the debate over combating sexual assault in the military, the nation’s top general says he is dropping his opposition to a proposal to take decisions on sexual assault prosecution out of the hands of commanders,” the AP reports.
“Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped short of endorsing the changes recommended by an independent review panel. But in an interview, Milley said he is now open to considering them because the problem of sexual assault in the military has persisted despite other efforts to solve it.”
Garrett Graff: “The full story of how, and why, America’s top security officials decided to pull the trigger that night in May has never been told. This oral history—the story inside the West Wing and U.S. intelligence agencies as Neptune’s Spear coalesced over the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011—is based on extensive original interviews with nearly 30 key intelligence and national security leaders, White House staff, and presidential aides—including some who have never spoken publicly before, and roughly half of those pictured in Souza’s famous photograph.”
Associated Press: “President Joe Biden intends to keep the watchdog overseeing the U.S. intelligence community, a longtime intelligence official who rose to the post after his predecessor was fired by President Donald Trump for his role in Trump’s first impeachment.”
“Biden on Tuesday announced that he intended to nominate Thomas Monheim for Senate confirmation as the permanent inspector general.”
A white nationalist featured in an infamous, viral photograph from the 2017 “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, joined the U.S. military, but was kicked out before he could attend basic training, the HuffPost reports.
“A Pentagon panel is recommending that decisions to prosecute service members for sexual assault be made by independent authorities, not commanders, in what would be a major reversal of military practice and a change long sought by Congress members,” the Associated Press reports.
Politico: “The Pentagon has briefed top lawmakers on intelligence surrounding suspected directed-energy attacks against U.S. troops, and officials identified Russia as a likely culprit… The Defense Department had been investigating the incidents, including those targeting its personnel around the world, since last year, according to four former national security officials directly involved in the probe.”
“Pentagon officials informed at least two key groups of lawmakers earlier this year, in written form and in-person, about the investigation… The briefings included information about injuries sustained by U.S. troops in Syria.”
The top US military official who runs the American nuclear arsenal warned that China and Russia are modernizing their nuclear weapons and capabilities faster than the US, saying during a congressional hearing on Tuesday that if it does not start investing more in nuclear defense and infrastructure, the US will be “at risk of losing credibility in the eyes of our adversaries,” CNN reports.
The Defense Department has confirmed that leaked photos and video of “unidentified aerial phenomena” taken in 2019 are indeed legitimate images of unexplained objects, CNN reports.
Photos and videos of triangle-shaped objects blinking and moving through the clouds were taken by Navy personnel.
CNN: “While Trump was in the White House, the intelligence community was forced to walk a political tightrope, calibrating its assessments — or sometimes withholding them altogether — to avoid the wrath of a mercurial president who was prone to bristling and ignoring politically inconvenient information. This was particularly true whenever the assessment related to Russian interference in US elections, a topic that officials learned to avoid raising with Trump.”
“In speaking to CNN, many of these same career intelligence officials said the difference is like night and day, describing what largely amounts to a much-appreciated return to business as usual during Biden’s first few months in office. White House officials are engaging with the substance of intelligence briefs, heeding assessments from experienced analysts and operators, and, at least for now, largely sticking by an early pledge to listen even when those assessments might contradict the White House’s political agenda.”
President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Pentagon veteran Christine Wormuth to be the first female Army secretary, Politico reports.
New York Times: “U.S. intelligence officials warned in a report issued on Thursday about the potential fragmentation of society and the global order, holding out the possibility of a world where international trade is disrupted, groups of countries create online enclaves and civic cohesion is undermined.”
The report also warns that the pandemic helped fuel these trends: “Efforts to contain and manage the virus have reinforced nationalist trends globally, as some states turned inward to protect their citizens and sometimes cast blame on marginalized groups.”
Will Bunch: “There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with Biden’s idea, which is to raise corporate taxes back to 2017 levels, before Donald Trump’s irresponsible tax cut that — studies have shown — may have helped slightly fatten the bottom line for Big Business but did little for the everyday worker.”
“Meanwhile, the money blown on that sleek fighter jet behind the padlock on America’s garage could have — OK, with help from a good accountant, perhaps — painlessly paid for 85% of what the Biden administration is seeking to do here.”
“The Pentagon on Wednesday will sweep away Trump-era policies that largely banned transgender people from serving in the military, issuing new rules that offer them wider access to medical care and assistance with gender transition,” the AP reports.
“The changes come after a two-month Pentagon review aimed at developing guidelines for the new policy.”
Wall Street Journal: “President Biden has yet to name hundreds of administration officials requiring Senate confirmation to military, diplomatic and intelligence posts, making it unlikely that his security agencies will be fully staffed until fall.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.