FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – American Liberty News (ALN) – in collaboration with respected national security expert Paul Crespo and the Center for American Defense Studies (CADS) – provides our readers the PDB:
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DAILY BRIEFING.
Get Your Best Daily Defense and Foreign Affairs Intelligence Here in One Brief. Read the summaries or dive deeper via the linked articles.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
HOT POTATO – Pentagon not currently considering back pay for US troops separated for refusing COVID-19 vaccine. Congress may end up deciding this issue.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Aliens or spies? What to make of the government’s new UFO report. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a new report Thursday on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) — a phrase that has replaced the term unidentified flying object (UFO).
Austin to visit South Korea, Philippines amid elevated concerns about China, North Korea in Indo-Pacific region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has scheduled a trip to the Indo-Pacific region in a move to strengthen relations with key allies in the face of growing influence from regional powers China and North Korea, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
US, Ukraine top military chiefs meet in person for first time. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met Tuesday with Ukraine’s chief military officer at an undisclosed location in Poland.
HOMELAND SECURITY
SHE WAS AN AMERICAN LEFTIST OF PUERTO RICAN HERITAGE – The perfect spy was an agent for Cuban intelligence. Ana Belen Montes, the most effective and damaging spy known to have penetrated U.S. intelligence, was a major leftist, pro-Castro warrior in the long nasty war between the United States and its Cuban communist neighbor. On Jan. 6, after serving just over 21 years of a 25-year sentence for espionage, she was released from a maximum-security prison.
WHY? ANOTHER BIDEN SOFT-ON-CHINA MOVE? – OR HE GOT FLIPPED? Feds drop indictment against NYPD officer, Army reservist accused of spying for China. Baimadajie Angwang was accused of gathering intelligence on the Tibetan immigrant community to report back to the Chinese consulate in NYC.
CHINA THREAT
Beijing totally restructured its military to beat the US. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has shifted the service’s focus so heavily toward China because leaders in Beijing has thoroughly restructured their military to beat the U.S. in war, he said in a Jan. 11 webinar hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.
USS Nimitz operates in South China Sea for first time this deployment. China said its aircraft carrier Shandong conducted live fire exercises days after the U.S. carrier entered the waters.
NOT EXAGGERATED – We need clear communication over what’s happening in Japan. A rearmed Japan provides the U.S. with another strong Indo-Pacific ally which should calm down what I believe are exaggerated fears of China using military force to seize Taiwan.
RUSSIA THREAT
Russia to boost troops in West, expanding Army to 1.5 million people. Russia will create new commands near Europe as it expands its military to 1.5 million people amid deepening tensions with the U.S. and its allies over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
A tale of two failed armies. Russia’s most recent debacle, the latest in a long string caused by tactical incompetence in the Ukraine, highlights the lack of leadership, training and combat discipline that plagues the Russian army from top down.
Russia to make ‘major changes’ to armed forces from 2023 to 2026. Russia said on Tuesday that it would make “major changes” to its armed forces from 2023 to 2026, promising to shake up its military structure after months of setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.
UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine’s interior ministry leadership killed in helicopter crash. The three main figures in Ukraine’s interior ministry have been killed in a helicopter crash beside a nursery in an eastern suburb of the capital Kyiv.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 329. More than 9,000 civilians, including 453 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February, according to a senior Ukrainian presidential aide.
Ukraine finally getting Western tanks. Great Britain has become the first country to announce it is providing Ukraine with Western-made main battle tanks, for which the Ukrainians have pleaded since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of their country nearly a year ago.
Ukrainian troops arrive at Fort Sill to train on Patriot missile system, Pentagon says. Roughly 100 Ukrainian troops have arrived in the United States to begin training on how to operate and maintain the Patriot missile system to help Ukraine fight off Russian aerial attacks, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Pentagon sends US arms stored in Israel to Ukraine. The stockpile provides arms to the U.S. for Middle East conflicts. Israel had initially expressed concerns the move could damage relations with Russia.
Former commander in Russia’s Wagner Group seeking asylum, Norway says. A former commander in the Russian mercenary Wagner Group has requested asylum in Norway after fleeing Russia, a move that rights groups say could aid international investigations into alleged crimes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
Stryker soldiers train alongside South Korean army’s new innovation brigade. U.S. troops drilled for the first time with a new South Korean army brigade created to test new weapons and tactics.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY – NATO, MIDDLE EAST, ASIA, AFRICA
Mexico president names National Guard commander to senior security role. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador named the commander of the country’s National Guard as deputy security minister Monday, the latest in a string of appointments of former military members to serve in civilian roles.
Renewed Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict underlines Russia’s waning influence. Russia helped end a 2020 war and its troops policed the cease-fire. But with a new crisis in the Caucasus heating up, Moscow, distracted and weakened by Ukraine, has not intervened.
Biden faces objections in Congress to selling warplanes to Turkey. Some U.S. lawmakers are expected to require that Turkey commit to ratify Finland’s and Sweden’s entry into NATO as a condition for advancing any F-16 sale.
Air Force sends Germany-based jets to Okinawa as it retires older aircraft. The only U.S. Air Force base in Germany with fighter jets is loaning some of its air combat power to Okinawa, where older aircraft are gradually being phased out and returned to the United States.
BIDEN AFGHAN DISASTER
Killing of former Afghanistan lawmaker highlights plight of women under Taliban. Mursal Nabizada was shot dead in her home by unknown gunmen, according to Kabul authorities.
SPACE
SPACE WATCH – Neighborhood watch, for space: DARPA seeks satellite operators for monitoring data ‘service.’ Greg Kuperman, Space-WATCH program manager in DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office told Breaking Defense they’re actively seeking space companies to provide data, and later will figure out how to aggregate it into an effective, dispersed LEO-monitoring system.
Space Force delivers first payload for Japan’s QZSS satellites. The two hosted payloads, designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, will keep tabs on spacecraft and dangerous debris in geosynchronous orbit.
US MILITARY
FIXING THE NAVY – How a new commission will fix disputes over US Navy’s force structure. The last National Defense Authorization Act included Section 1092, titled “National Commission on the Future of the Navy.”
Army officer awarded less than $4,000 in traffic stop lawsuit. The December 2020 traffic stop drew national attention and outrage after it became public in April 2021.
These speedy new Navy medical ships are designed with the Pacific in mind. Tucked inside the recently passed Defense Department budget for 2023 is funding for a new kind of Navy medical ship – one built to operate more like an ambulance than a hospital.
Fighter pilot to receive Navy Cross more than 70 years after classified dogfight with 7 Soviet jets. Navy Capt. Royce Williams will be presented with the award on Jan. 20.
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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For Both combat roles?