FRIDAY PDB – Love the pay raise, hate the woke – Defense bill drops disputed abortion provisions in final compromise. The annual defense authorization bill contains a 5.2% pay raise for troops and a host of other policy renewals needed for military operations.
House Republicans had included provisions eliminating the Defense Department's abortion access policy for troops, banning certain military care for transgender service members, eliminating the post of chief diversity officer for the department and prohibiting all future mask mandates for pandemic prevention efforts throughout the ranks.
Senate Democrats had vowed to oppose those ideas and removed all of them in conference over the last week. And Republicans caved. The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees agreed to strip those anti-woke provisions. (RELATED: Pentagon Leaders Obsessed With Climate Change Plan As Afghanistan Collapsed)
Four conservative House members on the conference committee – Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Ronny Jackson of Texas, Mike Waltz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia – declined to sign the final conference report in protest of the changes.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here's a roundup of today's other top defense stories from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.
Not the President's Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL'S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:
REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR
Pearl Harbor survivors return to honor those who died in attack. World War II veterans and their families gather in Pearl Harbor to commemorate those who perished 82 years ago.
How embracing a former enemy at Pearl Harbor ended one veteran's war. This week marks 32 years since I witnessed the remarkable birth of a friendship between two men who'd once been at war.
Sailor awarded Medal of Honor for Pearl Harbor heroism identified by DNA. Navy Seaman 1st Class James R. Ward will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery this month. He died at Pearl Harbor saving fellow crew on the USS Oklahoma.
USS Pearl Harbor makes Hawaii pit stop. It stopped in its namesake port this weekend as it concluded a Pacific deployment — its last for a while as the ship prepares for a round of repairs and upgrades.
ISRAEL'S WAR AGAINST HAMAS TERROR
UN security council vote on ceasefire resolution delayed. The UN security council is due to meet later today, after its secretary general invoked article 99 of its charter, a first in decades. The article allows the secretary general to bring to the council's attention “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
ISRAEL PREFERS TO FLATTEN AND FLOOD – LET THEM DO THE JOB – Petraeus says Israel should try US-style counterinsurgency in Gaza. Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who led a surge of U.S. troops and shifted Iraqi militia alliances to help turn the tide of the Iraq War, now says a similar, counterinsurgency-based approach could work for the Israel-Hamas conflict. (RELATED: Israel To Flood Hamas Terror Tunnels With Mediterranean Seawater)
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
Congress tells Army to set higher fitness standards for combat arms soldiers. Congress is set to direct the Army to boost fitness standards for most combat-arms jobs through a compromise defense policy bill unveiled Wednesday.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Communication of intent and the importance of language to deterrence. The Biden administration's rhetoric may be critical to deter not only escalation, but to stop persistent attacks in the Middle East.
Final defense policy bill advances AUKUS, Taiwan training. The compromise bill includes authorizations for AUKUS and Taiwan troop training plus a new nuclear program and special Ukraine inspector general.
GIANT NO MORE – Waking the Sleeping Giant: America's Defense Industrial Base Faces Critical Challenges. In the closing moments of the 1970 film, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto remarks solemnly in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
HOMELAND SECURITY
Families push for investigation of Army reservist after Maine shooting. The group went to Capitol Hill to press members of Congress to ensure that the Army fully answers questions about the gunman in the Oct. 25 shooting.
CHINA THREAT
Navy spy plane passes over Taiwan Strait with Chinese fighter jets in tow. A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, prompting China to scramble fighter jets to monitor its passage.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine aid nears zero while supplemental remains stalled. For months, Pentagon officials have warned that without action from Congress, the Defense Department would quickly burn through the remaining security aid for Ukraine. Now they're saying the tank is almost empty.
IRAN THREAT
Attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria have resumed, Pentagon says. After a Thanksgiving weekend break that coincided with a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war, Iran-backed militias have resumed attacking bases housing American troops in Iraq and Syria.
Senate votes to keep US troops in Syria amid Iran-backed attacks. U.S. troops will stay in Syria.
SPACE THREAT
Space Command HQ delayed another six months in defense policy bill. U.S. Space Command could face another six-month delay to establishing a permanent headquarters. (RELATED: North Korea Is Trading Old Ammo And Tanks For Russian Nuke And Space Tech)
US POWER OVERSEAS
Bazaar situation: US troops in Niger soak up village culture in wake of coup. The counterterrorism drones are grounded but the camels aren't at the U.S. Air Force's remote base in Niger, where troops still get a taste of the local culture despite a July coup that has ruined their military mission.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
UK says Russia behind cyber espionage aimed at undermining democracy. Russia's intelligence services targeted high-profile British politicians, civil servants, and journalists with cyberespionage and “malicious cyberactivity” as part of sustained attempts to interfere in U.K. political processes.
In Nordic first, Sweden to send fighter pilots for training in Italy. Sweden will be the first Nordic nation to send over 100 of its military pilots to train in Italy starting next year, marking a new milestone in the two European countries' defense cooperation.
US MILITARY
Defense bill would let Air Force retire A-10s, F-15s — but not F-22s. A compromise defense policy bill released Wednesday night would grant the Air Force's request to retire older Eagles, Warthogs, and other aircraft, but again block its attempt to mothball 32 older Raptors.
Ospreys had history of safety issues long before they were grounded. V-22s take off and land like helicopters but can tilt its propellers horizontally to fly like airplanes. (RELATED: US Marines Killed In MV-22 Osprey Tilt Rotor Crash In Australia)
VA hired nearly 2,000 health care workers with felony drug convictions after ‘deficient' background checks. A breakdown in background checks has enabled applicants with criminal drug histories to be health care workers with the Veterans Health Administration.
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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