We Should Fast-Track US Citizenship for Noncitizen Troops

FRIDAY PDB – They earned it. – Noncitizen troops seek to end strict Trump-era citizenship policy.

Noncitizen service members along with the ACLU are pressuring Team Biden to choose between defending a Trump-era policy, which complicated expedited citizenship for noncitizen service members, or dropping the administration’s appeal after a years-long pause in the case.

Immediately following the Trump-era policy change, between fiscal years 2017 and 2018, applications from service members for U.S. citizenship plummeted by 65%, from roughly 11,000 to 2,500. The percentage of those applications that were approved also declined, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

USCIS has naturalized more than 148,000 members of the military since 2002.

In September 2022, a Government Accountability Office report found the military faltered in providing timely, informative guidance to noncitizen troops about the naturalization process.

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:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARMY

US Army celebrates 249th birthday. On June 14, 1775, 249 years ago, the Second Continental Congress founded a united army to bring the 13 colonies together in the fight for independence from Great Britain. The U.S. Army was officially born.

NATIONAL SECURITY

INSANE – BUDGET NEEDS TO BE AUDITED AND WASTEFUL SPENDING REMOVED BUT NOT SLASHED IN HALF – Kennedy vows to cut military budget in half. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the U.S. should accept a diminished role in global affairs and divert much of the nation’s security spending to domestic programs.

POLITICS

FIGHT FOR IT – GOP green lights FY25 defense bill, but more social (woke) fights ahead. House Republicans advanced plans for an $833 billion defense bill next year that once again includes limits on funding abortion access for troops and scales back diversity training in the ranks opposed by Democrats.

THIS IS STUPID – House GOP appropriators want to cut the Space Force budget even more. The Space Force, already facing its first-ever budget cut in fiscal 2025, would face an additional 3 percent cut if House appropriators get their way. The combined cut would be 5 percent compared to 2024.

ISRAEL WAR AGAINST TERROR

WILD! – Why a unit in Israel’s IDF purportedly used a medieval trebuchet against Hezbollah. Israeli media reported the catapult-like contraption was likely used to start fires to burn down underbrush used by Hezbollah as cover.

US POWER OVERSEAS

US Navy sub enters Guantanamo Bay after Russian warships arrive in Cuba. This, in a show of force as a fleet of Russian warships gather for planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

US military planes are in Haiti. Haitians don’t know why. Haitians have been told too little about the international security mission set to deploy on their soil.

Vietnam seeks to gradually expand security and defense ties with US.

US military considers temporarily dismantling pier off coast of Gaza and moving it back to Israel for second time due to rough sea conditions. Heavy seas could once again break it just days after it resumed aid delivery operations.

DO IT – IT’S A STUPID BOONDOGGLE – Defense spending bill would defund Biden’s Gaza pier. The House advanced its fiscal 2025 defense spending bill while adding a provision that would eliminate the military’s makeshift pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

NATO gets serious in the face of Russia’s threats. Members are working to develop regional plans and standardize procurement across the alliance.

New NATO member Finland suspects four Russian military planes violated its airspace on June 10, three more aircraft than previously thought.

Romania launches expansion of air base near Ukraine. The multibillion-euro expansion and modernization project is at one of its air bases near Ukraine, where new military equipment will be stored.

US, Ukraine sign ‘historic’ 10-year bilateral security agreement. Speaking alongside Zelenskyy, Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin “cannot wait us out. He cannot divide us.”

NATO chief continues push to let Ukraine hit Russian-based targets. NATO’s top official said he “welcomed” the choice by many countries in the alliance to let Ukraine fire across the border into Russia, arguing that the former restrictions in place ignored Ukraine’s right to protect itself.

G7 leaders agree to lend Ukraine billions backed by Russia’s frozen assets — here’s how it will work. Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed to engineer a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine. Interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets would be used as collateral.

GOOD! – US set to hand off direction of Ukraine defense campaign to NATO. This will put NATO in charge of efforts to arm and train the Ukrainian military, marking a shift away from what so far has been an American-led endeavor.

A month ahead of Washington’s NATO summit, where are Ukraine’s jets? At last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, 11 member countries pledged to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 fighter. It was a major decision that enabled the eventual choice to send the jets themselves.

French Mirage-2000 fighters are headed to Ukraine. Here’s how Kyiv will use them. The aircraft would potentially be the second western fighter aircraft to be flown by Ukraine’s armed forces, joining US-made F-16s. But can Ukraine handle a split fleet, and what missions will the Mirage fly?

CHINA THREAT

Are we sure China views sea power the same way the West does? The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) now includes multiple warship classes, fifth-generation fighters and an expanding submarine force. These forces combined with illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive maritime ‘gray zone’ activities seemingly imply that China’s strategic ends are self-evident. But are they?

MORE REALISTIC AND SMART – In China’s backyard, America has become a humbler superpower. Far from Ukraine and Gaza, as the Group of 7 wealthy democracies gathers in Italy to discuss a range of old, entrenched challenges, the nature of American power is being transformed across the region that Washington sees as crucial for the century to come: the Asia-Pacific.

US Army, Navy reduce dependence on China for ‘critical technology.’ Last year, the U.S. Navy reduced the number of Chinese suppliers in its “critical technologies” supply chains by 40%. The Army achieved a 17% reduction from 2022 to 2023. But the Air Force and defense agencies increased their dependence on China.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Canada’s defense investment in the Arctic puts it on track to meet NATO military spending guideline soon. This, by boosting defense spending in the Arctic near its shared border with Russia as the region warms quickly.

UN resolution demands Sudan’s paramilitary force halt its siege of a Darfur city. The city is the only capital in the vast western region of Darfur that the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) doesn’t control.

US MILITARY

Next-gen doubts? Air Force Chief of Staff won’t commit to fielding NGAD. In what would be a stark reversal for a high-profile program, the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter program is listed among “choices” the service is still making amid budget constraints.

Everything you need to know about the Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP). When clearing through a room, a soldier is always at risk of hand-to-hand combat, though it can happen on the open battlefield, too. MACP is one of the building blocks to enables them to fight up-close and-personal.

Maine shooting reveals mental health care gaps for reservists. An Army health expert told a panel investigating a mass shooting by a reservist who was experiencing a psychiatric breakdown that there are limitations in health care coverage for reservists compared to full-time soldiers.

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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