⏱ 6 minute read
PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Senior officials from Trump’s incoming team, including the majority of his Cabinet nominees, were at the White House on Wednesday to participate in a homeland security tabletop transition exercise hosted by Biden’s team.
The exercise has been a key part of presidential transitions since the September 11, 2001, attacks and give the outgoing and incoming teams a chance to rehearse how to respond to and manage a range of national security crises.
Wednesday’s simulation touched on the management of potential terror attacks and avian flu, among other challenges.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:
NATIONAL SECURITY
On the way out, Biden officials ask: How to fix America’s war machine? Joe Biden’s national security adviser didn’t enter office in 2021 thinking about America’s defense industry.
Drones expected to remain a DOD priority under Trump, according to SecDef nominee Hegseth.
Federal agencies with top-secret workloads can now use OpenAI’s GPT-4o through Microsoft’s Azure for U.S. Government Top Secret cloud.
UNTIL JAN. 20! – There’s a sudden thaw in US-Cuba relations – but for how long? Cuban on Thursday freed ONE prominent opposition activist, a last-minute diplomatic change for Team Biden which had failed its entire term to influence events on the island.
HOMELAND SECURITY
When looking for security threats follow facts, not assumptions. There have been no explicit threats against Washington, DC, but given what has happened at other large gatherings across the country recently, tensions remain high.
Watch as National Guard troops from across US. file into DC for inauguration security.
Biden issued an executive order Thursday aimed at strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity and making it easier to go after foreign adversaries or hacking groups that try to compromise U.S. internet and telecommunication.
The widow of Matthew Livelsberger — the Colorado Springs Green Beret who died by suicide in a rented Tesla Cybertruck seconds before the vehicle exploded on New Year’s Day in Las Vegas — has broken her silence to refute what she believes are false and slanderous narratives.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
Democrats look to thwart another trans military ban under Trump, reintroducing legislation Thursday that would prevent the armed forces from hiring or firing someone because of their gender identity or sex characteristics.
The Army is doubling down on its centralized screening program, which was established in 2020 to reduce ‘bias’ during the selection process for the service’s command leadership.
Trump is tapping Troy Meink, second in command at the National Reconnaissance Office, to be secretary of the Air Force.
MAGA MAKEOVER – House Speaker Mike Johnson is remaking the House Intelligence Committee in Donald Trump’s image, a shakeup with immense implications as Trump returns to office.
The Republican House majority hopes to reshape the VA by widely expanding veterans’ access to the private health care system, setting up the latest battle over VA’s reliance on what’s known as community care.
Republicans in Congress try again for rules allowing expedited firings of bad VA employees.
Restoring Fort Bragg, other 8 Confederate base names after name changes to the southern Army installations in 2023: Can Trump keep his campaign promise?
US POWER OVERSEAS
Navy destroyers and cruisers needing to leave the continuing battle against Iran-backed Houthi rebel missile and drone barrages in the Red Sea for weeks to reload their Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) missile cells are causing a presence gap and “a real challenge.”
A Navy MH-60R “Romeo” Seahawk helicopter deployed to the Red Sea has shot down its first Houthi drone.
Japanese and South Korean fighters escorted US B-1 bombers on a display of air power Wednesday in the skies over the Sea of Japan, or East Sea as Japan hosted a visiting Chinese military delegation.
IRAN THREAT/MIDDLE EAST
How Trump can remake the Middle East.
Trump has made an impact on the Middle East even before he sits down in the Oval Office. He cut through the delaying tactics that Israel’s Prime Minister and his ultra-nationalist coalition, had used to avoid accepting the ceasefire deal that Biden proposed last May.
Could the fall of Assad, coupled with recent significant blows to Hizballah, Israeli strikes within Iranian borders, and the return of Trump, lead to a better deal with Iran?
Iran unveils new spy ship based on corvette hull. It has launched some unconventional naval vessels, some of them downright strange compared with their equivalents elsewhere in the world.
US aid package funds $5.2 billion deal to bolster the layered air defense system shielding it from aerial attacks under a new contract made possible by the funding.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
This is the type of Russian decoy drone shot down over Kyiv as Britain’s prime minister met Zelenskyy.
UK Prime Minister signed a 100-year partnership agreement with Ukrainian President on Thursday, part of a European show of support.
SPACE THREAT
Jeff Bezos’ space transport company Blue Origin successfully flew its New Glenn rocket for the first time, a major step toward enabling the firm to compete for national security missions.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
While Japan has approved a record defense budget for 2025, the 13th growth year in a row, Tokyo’s military is still playing catch up.
The Turkish navy is wrapping up the weeklong Mavi Vatan 2025 exercise this week, a large-scale operation meant to showcase Ankara’s strategic maritime ambitions in the region and beyond.
India has successfully executed the first space docking experiment, becoming only the fourth country in the world to master a critical technology required for other ambitious projects.
Sudan’s military has used chemical weapons twice against the paramilitary group it is battling for control of the country, US officials say.
US MILITARY
Navy surface warfare director: No more big, expensive “exquisite” sea drones — the future is one affordable design.
Chief of Naval Operations set a goal for the Navy last fall that she conceded might be a little aspirational: to have 80% of the Navy’s fleet ready to deploy at any given time by 2027.
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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Biden has an A team? Closer to an F team in my opinion