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Today’s PDB includes a variety of critical, global national security issues.
READ TODAY’S PDB BELOW:
NATIONAL SECURITY
NOT AS WOKE – Marine Corps exceed retention goals early, hit more than 100 percent. The Marine Corps hit retention goals early for the first time in 10 years, the service announced last week.
HOMELAND SECURITY
‘Soldier care’ led to morale boost among Texas National Guard troops deployed to US-Mexico border, commander says. More than half of the Texas National Guard members deployed along the state’s border with Mexico have said they would be willing to volunteer for another year of the same duty, the mission’s commander told state lawmakers Wednesday.
CHINA THREAT
At reborn RIMPAC, a clear mission: deter China, defend Taiwan. The enormous Pacific multinational exercise and show of force has reemerged from the pandemic to face a larger PLA and more threatening Beijing.
The fundamental flaw in US plans to defend Taiwan from a Chinese assault. Arguments about defending Taiwan from China often revolve around weapons systems to fund or what operational plans should include. Those are worthwhile debates, but a larger discussion needs to happen.
USS Benfold transits Taiwan Strait, a move China calls a provocation. The guided-missile destroyer Benfold conducted its third transit through the South China Sea in a week — prompting the Chinese government to label the move as a provocation.
RUSSIA THREAT
US to send more HIMARS precision rocket systems to Ukraine in latest package. The US will send four more high-mobility artillery rocket systems to Ukraine as part of the next military aid package to strengthen Kyiv in what’s become a grinding long-range fires duel, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 148. CIA chief Bill Burns said the United States estimates Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached about 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded. Russian forces are likely closing in on Ukraine’s second biggest power plant at Vuhlehirska, 50km (31 miles) northeast of Donetsk, the United Kingdom’s defense ministry said.
Ukrainian forces strike key bridge in Russian-occupied south. Ukrainian forces have struck and seriously damaged a bridge that is key for supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, a regional official said Wednesday.
Russia expands territorial ambitions as US weighs sending fighter jets to Kyiv. With Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska in Washington, the White House warned that Moscow is seeking to annex parts of Ukraine’s east and south.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
South Korea to buy 20 more F-35s. South Korea will buy 20 more F-35A fighter jets from the United States, as a part of its F-X project focused on acquiring foreign stealth fighter jets from 2023 to 2028.
BIDEN AFGHAN DISASTER
UN slams killings, rights abuses under Afghanistan’s Taliban. Hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban overran the country nearly a year ago, even though security on the whole has improved since then, the United Nations said in a report Wednesday.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Back on the ground in Somalia, US launches strike against al-Shabab. Two months after President Joe Biden announced that American troops would once again deploy in rotations to Somalia, the U.S. struck a group of al-Shabab fighters.
Turkey’s Baykar drone company ‘will never’ supply Russia: CEO. The CEO of Turkey’s Baykar, which makes the drones being widely used by Ukraine against Russian forces, has ruled out supplying the Bayraktar TB2 to Moscow.
US MILITARY AND SPACE
Marines to buy Iron Dome-based missile interceptor after successful live-fire test. “We asked for a wicked solution to a wicked problem, and the MRIC provided that to us,” the No. 2 Marine said.
Pentagon renames UFO office, expands mission to include ‘transmedium’ objects. After only eight months of existence, the Pentagon’s office tasked with investigating and tracking UFOs — or unidentified aerial phenomena — will look beyond the stars for objects of interest.
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.
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
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