MONDAY PDB – The U.S. will have to intervene in Haiti. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent meeting in Jamaica with fractious Haitian political and civil society leaders recalled a similar moment when the author was U.S. ambassador to Haiti 20 years ago.
Back then, the worst outcomes were avoided through decisive American intervention, including 2,000 U.S. Marines.
If Haiti fully collapses now, the U.S. will face a failed state run by criminals and narco-traffickers about 700 miles from Florida. Even a future Trump administration would have to grapple with manifold law enforcement and national security problems spreading to our shores.
A military intervention in Haiti is understandably abhorrent to the Biden administration given the multiple security challenges the U.S. is juggling around the world.
But the situation has deteriorated to the point that Washington might have no choice but to mount an abbreviated operation to supplant the gangs and facilitate a political transition.
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:
NATIONAL SECURITY
We can't freeze out Antarctica's national security consequences. America is competing with Russia and China in a great power struggle which includes rising tensions in Antarctica.
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
12 TIMES TOO MANY – DOD reproductive care travel policy used just 12 times in 7 months. The controversial military policy allows service members to be reimbursed for travel if they or a family member have to go out of state for reproductive health care — including abortions.
POLITICS
Cotton: Biden decision to abstain from UN cease-fire vote ‘deeply offensive.' Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Tuesday decried the Biden decision to abstain from a vote on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
HOMELAND SECURITY
OK – US SHOULD WANT TO KEEP ALIVE ANYWAY – UK court says Julian Assange can't be extradited on espionage charges until US rules out death penalty. This gives the WikiLeaks founder a partial victory in his long legal battle over the site's publication of classified U.S. documents.
I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FROM DAY ONE – Beyond ‘yellow flag' law, Maine commission highlights another missed opportunity before shootings. The commission probing Maine's deadliest mass shooting concluded law enforcement had ample grounds to pursue assault charges against Robert Card for punching a fellow Army reservist in the face six weeks before he killed 18 people in Lewiston.
US POWER OVERSEAS
Marines head to Japan in test of cyber rotational force concept. Marines with cyber expertise are deploying to Japan on a mission to bolster networks and critical infrastructure the military relies on across the Indo-Pacific.
Marines trade slow ships for drones and overseas supply caches as they prep for modern warfare. Fulfilling sweeping modernization plans are “challenging,” but there's been progress with prepositioned stocks and drones.
IRAN THREAT
HMMM – WHODUNNIT? – Airstrikes in Syria kill an Iranian adviser and a member of a World Health Organization team. A series of airstrikes in eastern Syria on Tuesday killed more than a dozen people.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Pentagon urges ‘alternatives' in Israel meeting, with few details. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Tuesday that the number of civilian casualties in Gaza has been “far too high” and that the strip is “suffering a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Israel has agreed to provide ‘security bubble' for Gaza pier project. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have raised concerns about protecting U.S. personnel helping in the humanitarian aid effort.
Hamas ‘dismantled' but not destroyed, IDF says, as Gaza war enters new phase. Israeli military briefers show journalists a map of Gaza illustrating that it is steadily winning its battles — if not yet the war.
Lebanon's Hezbollah says it launched dozens of rockets after Israeli strikes. The rockets were fired at an Israeli town over the border, early on Wednesday in response to deadly Israeli strikes on Hezbollah terrorists in a village in southern Lebanon a day earlier.
CHINA THREAT
China's Water Cannons Test US-Philippines Pact In South China Sea. China's increasing use of water cannons in the South China Sea is testing the limits of a decades-old defense pact between the Philippines and the US.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Ukraine ramps up spending on homemade weapons to help repel Russia. Ukraine needs any edge it can get to push back Russia. One emerging bright spot is its small but fast-growing defense industry, which the government is flooding with money.
Ukraine's border villages feel full force of Russian war machine as Putin moots possible ‘sanitary zone.' “Evacuation! Of civilians from the village of Luhivka.” Out of breath, a police officer is recording the scene on his phone and providing a commentary.
EUROPE IS STEPPING UP – AS IT SHOULD – France will soon deliver 78 howitzers to Ukraine to meet Kyiv's urgent needs. France will also boost its supply of shells to meet Kyiv's urgent needs for ammunition.
SPACE THREAT
US Organizing to deter or prevail in space warfare. Does the U.S. need both an armed service and a unified combatant command to defend its national interests in outer space? The answer is yes, Indeed, as a former Vice Chief of Space Operations stated, “Both China and Russia are regularly attacking U.S. satellites with non-kinetic means, including lasers, radio frequency jammers, and cyber-attacks.”
Space Development Agency may hire companies to tow defunct satellites. It is interested in hiring commercial space firms to move inactive satellites out of low Earth orbit at the end of their service life.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Finland to host NATO tech centers, revamp cybersecurity strategy. One of NATO's newest members plans to build and jointly operate two research centers and an accelerator facility for the alliance.
STUPID SOCIALIST TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT – Canada's ban on Israeli arms sales baffles industry. The association representing Canadian defense firms says it is in the dark about the status of equipment exports to Israel after the House of Commons voted to end military sales to that embattled nation.
BIDEN'S AFGHAN FIASCO
AS PREDICTED – The Islamic State's Afghanistan-based affiliate is emerging as a global menace. ISIS-K's bombing in Moscow shows the group's increasingly deadly reach. WHERE IS BIDEN'S PROMISED OVER-THE-HORIZON (OTH) COUNTER-TERROR CAPABILITIES?
US MILITARY
Army investigating social media post showing Nazi symbol. A National Guard unit posted a photo to its official Instagram account this week that showed a service member with a patch that appears to depict a Nazi SS Totenkopf, a specific skull-and-crossbones image adopted by Adolf Hitler's elite corps.
US Air Force wish list asks for spare parts, but no more fighters. Its $3.5 billion budgetary wish list for fiscal 2025 includes more funds for spare parts to get grounded planes back in the air and seeks resources to be able to deploy more personnel and fighters.
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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