⏱ 7 minute read
PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Mexico’s president has flatly denied reports the U.S. is planning to send troops into Mexico to confront the country’s powerful cartels, noting she had repeatedly rejected such offers from President Trump.
“It’s not going to happen,” Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday. “We do not agree with any process of interference or interventionism.”
Sheinbaum’s comments come after a report from NBC News that the Trump administration has started planning a mission to send U.S. troops and intelligence officers into Mexico.
The report said that although no final decision had been made, the early stages of training had already begun, as well as discussions about the scope of the operation.
The report also indicated that U.S. troops would operate under the authority of the U.S. intelligence community and that officers from the CIA would also participate.
Mexico and the U.S. have long collaborated in tackling drug-trafficking groups, with the U.S. at times sending CIA, military, and DEA operatives to support Mexico’s efforts to combat organized crime.
But the incursion of U.S. troops and spies into Mexico to directly strike the cartels, without Mexico’s agreement, would be an unprecedented step.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news 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
Combination of strains threaten morale and long-term capabilities at NSA. Among them are leadership gaps, program cuts, buyouts, and the government shutdown that has furloughed workers.
Zohran Mamdani, a socialist Islamist, wins New York City mayoral election.
Rigging the map? How power in Congress could shift if both parties win their redistricting fights.
Dick Cheney, the hard-charging GOP conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing VPs in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at 84.
Pentagon poised to order sweeping changes to the way it buys weapons and platforms, signaling a paradigm shift to emphasize speed over all else by mandating more commercial competition, fewer internal review processes and new incentives both for DoD officials and industry.
Pentagon policy shop stonewalling Congress. In a rare moment of public intraparty frustration, GOP senators today blasted a top Pentagon official for not cooperating with congressional oversight.
US POWER OVERSEAS
How the U.S. is preparing a military staging ground in Puerto Rico and near Venezuela.
USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, along with USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer, departed Mediterranean for Caribbean, as they make their way to South America.
Trump administration announces 16th deadly strike on a drug boat. This time one ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
CENTCOM: U.S. and Qatari forces at Al Udeid Air Base opened the Middle East’s first bilateral combined command post for air defense, the latest show of U.S. solidarity with our key Arab partner.
U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine is undergoing maintenance at an Australian base where a multinational force of nuclear-powered boats may be in position in just over a year.
CHINA THREAT
Trump’s nominee for a top strategy and policy job at the Pentagon, outlined for lawmakers a multi-pronged approach for deterring or — if necessary — defeating a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
China already dominating data war in Pacific. An acting defense secretary from Trump’s first term said he thought “we’d be a lot further along” now toward a nimbler military.
At secretive test base. We now have first known commercial satellite imagery of two new Chinese tailless sixth-generation stealth fighter designs that emerged nearly a year ago.
UK experts told House of Lords that Britain’s Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) must be fully funded and strategically focused to meet growing threats posed by an allied Russia and China.
Logistics the Achilles’ heel of U.S. fight with China. In any conflict with China, America’s most critical vulnerability wouldn’t be its destroyers, stealth bombers, or submarines. It would be the unglamorous network of ships, aircraft, and supply depots that keep them fighting.
RUSSIA THREAT
Ukrainian long-range drones attacked an industrial plant 800 miles inside Russia, while Ukraine’s army remained locked in intense battle to hold back Russian push on key city of Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine plans to introduce fixed-term military contracts alongside conscription, addressing pressing need to attract recruits and ease strain on soldiers worn down by years of fighting.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Hungary to stop blocking Kyiv’s bid to join EU, as Brussels backed advancing the war-torn country to next stage, despite corruption concerns.
Vladimir Putin has given state awards to developers of Burevestnik cruise missile and Poseidon underwater torpedo, the latest signal of Kremlin efforts to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine.
NATO allies are in danger of losing the “next decisive conflict in Europe” unless there is a major shift in the pace of developing weapon systems, according to most senior Swedish air force official.
Romania just ‘bought’ 18 F-16s for one euro. The former Dutch are being operated by the European F-16 Training Center in Romania, where they will be used to train both Romanian and Ukrainian Viper pilots.
MIDDLE EAST THREATS
U.S. has circulated draft text for UN Security Council resolution to provide a mandate for an international stabilization force in Gaza for at least two years.
Aid agencies in “a race against time” to get food and humanitarian supplies into Gaza Strip, UN official warns, as Israeli restrictions impede deliveries across the enclave.
With UK’s first ever participation, the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement’s defense working group with U.S. and Bahrain officially became a trilateral affair.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
U.S. eyes troop ‘flexibility’, increased defense spending in South Korea.
SPACE THREATS
Space Force needs to fully develop dynamic space operations (DSO) to increase resilience and effectiveness of space systems — not just satellites and spacecraft on orbit, but also ground systems, communications links and launch architecture.
Amid government shutdown, federal personnel are monitoring the rare interstellar comet known as 3I/ATLAS as it moves through the solar system.
Return to Earth of three Chinese astronauts has been delayed after their spacecraft was apparently struck by a small piece of debris. [Probably their own growing space junk].
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Belgium’s air traffic was severely disrupted after drone sightings forced two major airports to temporarily suspend operations as a security precaution.
Raytheon mulls the possibility of manufacturing its AIM-120 advanced medium-range, air-to-air missile in the Netherlands, after U.S. gave green light for feasibility study.
Sudan civil war spiraling out of control, says UN secretary general.
US MILITARY
New Air Force Chief’s 1st call to airmen: “At our core, we fly and fix aircraft so we are ready to fight.”
Single pilot B-21 Raider operations hint at advanced AI capabilities. Air Force Global Strike Command is recommending the default crew for its future stealth bombers be just one pilot. The other seat in the two-person cockpit would go to weapon systems officer (WSO), or “wizzo.”
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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Mexico will not do anything about it, so it falls to others to act. All because of those that are too intimidated or are profiting too much to do anything about it.