US Military Stays In Niger As Coup Leaders Dig In

WEDNESDAY PDB – Pentagon is keeping US troops in Niger even as coup leaders show no sign of relenting. The Pentagon is not only keeping U.S. troops in place in Niger but pointing to their presence as a vote of confidence in the people of the West African nation, even as hope for a restoration of the democratically elected government begins to dwindle.

Niger’s military junta, 2 weeks in, digs in with cabinet appointments and rejects talks. As a military junta in Niger marked two weeks in power Wednesday, its leaders are appointing a government and rejecting calls for negotiation in what analysts described as an attempt to entrench their power and show that they’re serious about governing the West Africa country in the face of an escalating regional crisis.

MEANWHILE – One of America’s favorite generals leads the Niger coup. Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, long courted by Washington as a partner against Islamist extremism, has emerged as the main diplomatic channel between the U.S. and the junta. (RELATED: Niger Coup Helps Russia – US Ally Key To Fighting Jihadists In West Africa)

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:

PENTAGON WOKE WATCH

STOP BIDEN-DOD TAXPAYER-FUNDED ABORTION TRAVEL – White House pounces on Tuberville’s military holdups: ‘Stop playing politics.’ The White House on Tuesday pounced on Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) hold on hundreds of military promotions, saying that Americans have had enough with Senate Republicans playing politics with service members.

POLITICS

COME ON, DON – Donald Trump was supposed to deliver his pitch to veterans. He unloaded on his indictments. Trump went to New Hampshire Tuesday to deliver a speech on veterans, but he wound up viciously attacking prosecutors in the legal cases against him and suggesting he would continue to do so even if a judge orders him to stop.

NATIONAL SECURITY

The case for an enhanced major non-NATO ally status. Congress should consider revising the current major non-NATO ally designation or creating a new category with additional benefits.

YES! – Space-cyber-special operations triad critical for future wars, says Army special operations head. The success of information ops is “the most important lesson learned from Ukraine right now.”

CHINA THREAT

Philippines says ‘promise’ to remove grounded warship a figment of China’s imagination. The Philippines has never promised China it would remove a grounded warship serving as a military outpost in the South China Sea, a senior security official said on Wednesday, deriding the claim by Beijing as a “figment of its imagination.”

Taiwan reports second large-scale China air force incursion this week. Ten Chinese air force aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense zone on Wednesday accompanying five Chinese warships engaged in “combat readiness” patrols, the second such incursion this week.

U.S. to restrict investments in China, citing national security threats. The measure to clamp down on investments in certain industries deemed to pose security risks, set to be issued Wednesday, appears likely to open a new front in the U.S.-China economic conflict.

Why the China cyber threat demands an airtight public-private response. CISA’s Shields Up program was launched in 2022 to foster information sharing about cybersecurity threats, products, and other resources.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

A missile strikes the heart of a Ukrainian city, and then another. Two explosions 37 minutes apart, which killed at least nine, were a “double tap” intended to kill rescuers responding to the first strike.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 532. At least eight people were killed and multiple others wounded after a Russian missile attack hit a popular hotel and apartments in the city of Pokrovsk, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Russian officials say 2 drones approaching Moscow were shot down overnight, blame Ukraine. Russians describe the attacks as Ukraine’s latest attempt to strike the Russian capital in an apparent campaign to unnerve Muscovites and take the war to Russia.

US-made cluster munitions fuel Ukrainian counteroffensive. The bombs are destroying Russian trenches and artillery systems in an area where Kyiv’s troops had struggled to advance.

HOMELAND SECURITY

US sailor’s Chinese mom encouraged him to pass info to China, prosecutors say. The 22-year-old sailor born in China was one of two Chinese-American sailors arrested last week in California and accused of providing military information to China.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

First US Navy submarine visits Australia since AUKUS deal. A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine pulled into an Australian naval base last week, the first step in establishing a rotational submarine force meant to prepare the country for its own fleet of nuclear subs.

New Zealand unveils defense strategy documents. Here’s what they say. New Zealand has released three defense and national security documents outlining prevailing challenges, principals for its military and ways to improve the force.

Imran Khan’s arrest shows how Pakistan’s military calls the shots. There’s a well-worn truism about Pakistan that actually stems from 18th-century Prussia. The progenitor of the German state was famously described by a French statesman as not a country with an army, but an army with a country.

BIDEN’S AFGHAN DISASTER

I want the truth: Families of Marines killed in Kabul airport bombing speak at North County forum. Seven Gold Star family members delivered testimony at a forum hosted by Rep. Darrell Issa, weeks before the second anniversary of the attack. (RELATED: Multiple Amputee Marine Describes Surreal Meeting With Biden)

US MILITARY

US Army plans to grow Patriot missile defense force. Patriot units have traditionally held the record for the highest operational tempos across the service for more than a decade, with deployment times that have sometimes gone above the traditional six- to nine-month rotations.

Pentagon’s counter-drone office to demo swarm destruction in 2024. The Pentagon’s counter-drone office will focus on neutralizing swarms of unmanned aircraft in its next demonstration planned for June 2024. (RELATED: Killer Robots Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood?)

USAF plan: Keep B-1 credible through new pylons, stress testing, and more. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has no set date for retiring the B-1 Lancer.

Military services can’t agree on where service members’ waists are. No two services can agree on where to measure a service member’s waist when deploying the hated, but hard-to-eliminate tape test.

Officer who called out torture in Iraq is laid to rest at Arlington. Ian Fishback, who left the Army as a Major, was a dissident-in-uniform who died at age 42 after entering a dizzying mental health spiral.

END of PDB