The Chinese Defense Ministry refused a secure call from the U.S. Secretary of Defense after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, according to reports from the Pentagon.
The U.S. finally downed the Chinese craft on Saturday, after it drifted across the North American continent for over a week, passing over several sensitive military installations &#8211; including a complex in Montana with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-spy-balloon-us-nuclear-base-minuteman-surveillance-montana-2023-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos</a>. China claims that the object was a weather balloon that had errantly flown off course, and condemned the U.S.’s “indiscriminate use of force” after it was shot down. 
U.S. intelligence, by contrast, has claimed that the balloon was a tool of espionage and was carrying thousands of pounds of sophisticated surveillance equipment. U.S. officials also <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/06/chinese-spy-balloon-was-200ft-tall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a> that the aircraft was equipped with small rotors and propellers, suggesting that rather than being ‘blown off course’ the balloon was deliberately flown into U.S. airspace and steered toward specific areas of interest. 
“On Saturday, 4 February, immediately after taking action to down the PRC balloon, the DOD submitted a request for a secure call between Secretary Austin and PRC Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe,&#8221; Brigadier General Pat Ryder <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/china-refused-call-pentagon-chief-222155500.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Unfortunately, the PRC has declined our request. Our commitment to open lines of communication will continue.”
The balloon was first detected in US airspace on January 28, passing over Alaska, north of the Aleutian islands. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/05/timeline-a-chinese-spy-balloons-7-day-trip-across-the-united-states-00081222" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico</a> reports that the craft was not initially regarded as a threat, although North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) was closely tracking its movements. 
By January 30, it had traveled into Canadian airspace — only to move back into American airspace on January 31 when it passed into northern Idaho. President Biden was notified of the incursion by the Defense Department, and US military assets on the ground began to take steps to secure sites and radio communication. 
Biden reportedly asked for the balloon to be shot down, but was convinced by military advisors not to do so. The advisors supposedly believed that the risk of debris harming civilians or structures on the ground was too high — analysts reportedly estimated that the debris could scatter across a 7-mile radius. By February 1st, the Biden administration was exploring options for shooting down the balloon over US territorial waters.
Officials became more anxious as the balloon approached Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, one of only 3 locations that store and operate America’s nuclear ICBM systems. Flights out of Billings, Montana were grounded and fighters were scrambled, anticipating a potential order for the craft to be shot down.
Ultimately, the order was not given, and the balloon drifted across the US heartland, with the Biden administration coming under heavy fire as lawmakers and civilian onlookers became aware of the situation. 
On February 3, Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/china-spy-balloon-time.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">characterized</a> the incursion as a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law,” and subsequently <a href="https://www.dailyitem.com/wire/mystery-balloon-discovery-over-montana-cancels-us-china-trip/article_fd62f94a-44ec-52da-ad98-c671abc421f6.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">canceled</a> a planned state visit to China.
The spy balloon was shot down on Saturday afternoon by an F-22 fighter jet, near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The showdown over the spy balloon represents a major flare-up in an increasingly tense relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, which has been heating up steadily for years — growing tensions in the Taiwanese strait have sparked fears that China might attempt an aggressive take over of Taiwan, paralleling Russian aggression in Ukraine.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chinas-spy-balloon-reportedly-part-of-global-surveillance-system-photos-from-wreckage-released" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recent reports</a> indicate that this is not the first time China has sent spy balloons over US territory, and that the balloon the U.S. shot down is a small part of a larger global espionage program.

Recovery of High Altitude Surveillance Balloon Off South Carolina Coast

China Refused DOD Call After Spy Balloon Was Shot Down

China

Department of Defense

Espionage

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed late Friday that it has identified a second Chinese spy balloon that is operating over the Americas right now.
&#8220;We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,&#8221; Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement. &#8220;We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.&#8221;
Ryder revealed Friday that the spy balloon that is currently operating over the United States, and that the Biden administration has not taken action against, has the ability to maneuver and has changed direction at 60,000 feet.
Ryder would not say how the balloon could be maneuvered and refused to state if the communist Chinese government was in control of the balloon.
“We know that balloon has violated US airspace and international law — which is unacceptable. And we’ve conveyed this directly to the PRC on multiple levels,” he told reporters Friday. “The fact is, we know that it’s a surveillance balloon, and I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed in a statement that the balloon was a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes.”
The statement claimed that the balloon “deviated far from its planned course.” The distance from China to Montana is approximately 5,000 miles.
A U.S. official <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/us/politics/china-spy-balloon-pentagon.html">told</a> The New York Times that the spy balloon traveled from China to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands then to Canada before ending up over Montana.
An official told CNN that the spy balloon has flown over “a number of sensitive sites” in the U.S. but claimed that it did not present a serious intelligence gathering risk.
“Clearly they’re trying to fly this — this balloon over sensitive sites … to collect information,” a U.S. official <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/03/what-is-chinese-spy-balloon-montana/">said</a> on Thursday.
Biden administration officials claimed that they looked at whether there were options to shoot down the balloon but claimed that they did not feel comfortable doing so because it could cause damage to civilians when it hits the ground.
Professor Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at the SOAS University of London, said that China’s motive in sending the balloon to the U.S. is more “symbolic value, showing that the Chinese are able to send something in the air to survey U.S. military installations.”
This is a breaking news story; refresh the page for updates.

Chinas President Xi Jinping Visits Greece

U.S. Military Confirms Second Chinese Spy Balloon Is Operational In Sky

Chinese Communist Party

Communist China

Global Politics

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a>’s foreign ministry said Friday that a balloon suspected by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S.</a> of being used for covert surveillance is actually a “civilian airship” that was pushed off course.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out a statement expressing regret after the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pentagon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pentagon</a> announced Thursday that it was tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” China’s foreign ministry said in a <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/202302/t20230203_11019484.html">statement</a>. “Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course.”
“The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to” unforeseen forces outside of its control, the statement continued. “The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.”
The incident has altered the plans of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was scheduled to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing on Sunday and Monday. Because of the aircraft, Blinken&#8217;s trip has been postponed indefinitely, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/blinken-trip-to-china-postponed-after-spy-balloon-spotted-over-u-s-11675437406?mod=hp_lead_pos1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Earlier on Friday, Canada’s national defense said that it was monitoring a “potential second incident” involving a suspected Chinese aircraft. China’s foreign ministry has not addressed that claim.
“A high-altitude surveillance balloon was detected and its movements are being actively tracked by [North American Aerospace Defense Command] NORAD,” Canada’s national defense said in a statement, according to the U.K.’s <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canada-chinese-spy-balloon-spotted-b2274974.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Independent</a>.
“Canadians are safe and Canada is taking steps to ensure the security of its airspace, including the monitoring of a potential second incident,” the statement said.
Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-hovering-over-united-states-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Thursday that the U.S. Defense Department is tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon over U.S. airspace. The balloon was first spotted over Montana.
“We continue to track and monitor it closely,” Ryder said. “Once the balloon was detected the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
He added that the balloon was “traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”
The incident has raised national security concerns among lawmakers on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called the incident a “brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty” and called on President Joe Biden to act.
“China’s brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty is a destabilizing action that must be addressed, and President Biden cannot be silent. I am requesting a Gang of Eight briefing,” McCarthy <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1621311735914266626" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> Thursday evening.
The Gang of Eight, a group of Republican and Democrat Congressional leaders briefed on classified national security matters, was reportedly <a href="https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/1621539319558115334" target="_blank" rel="noopener">briefed</a> on the suspected spy balloon late on Thursday afternoon.
The Pentagon has so far elected not to shoot down the balloon, despite having a “very high confidence” that the aircraft is being used by Beijing to collect surveillance data, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-antony-blinken-china-314302278a5f05bdc2df146ed5b35ec6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>. Defense officials fear that bringing the balloon down poses too great a risk for collateral damage on the ground.

Flag of China

China Claims Suspected Spy Balloon Is Actually ‘Civilian Airship’ That Was Blown Off Course

China On Suspected Spy Balloon: Our ‘Civilian Airship’ Was Blown Off Course

National Security

United States

World

The U.S. Department of Defense said Friday that service members discharged for refusal to comply with the COVID vaccine requirement might receive back pay after Pentagon officials repealed the mandate last week.
Pentagon officials ended the coronavirus vaccine mandate for the U.S. Military, which was instituted in August 2021, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) forced an end to the program after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in December.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo on Tuesday that officials had formally rescinded the vaccine mandate for the U.S. Military and the National Guard, which <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/13/pentagon-back-pay-troops-covid-vaccine-mandate-00077902">Politico</a> reported &#8220;opened the door to reinstating troops&#8221; who believe they were wrongfully discharged.
However, officials still have not decided whether such service members would receive back pay.
&#8220;The Department is still exploring this and will provide its views on legislation of this nature at the appropriate time and through the appropriate process,&#8221; Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Charlie Dietz told the news outlet in a Friday email.
At the Biden administration&#8217;s direction, the Defense Department discharged more than 8,400 troops from the military, including some 3,300 Marines, 1,800 soldiers, 1,800 sailors, and 900 airmen that decided to forego taking the vaccine.
A federal judge wrote in December that thousands of other troops sought medical and religious exemptions.
Still, Secretary Austin said in the <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2023/Jan/10/2003143118/-1/-1/1/SECRETARY-OF-DEFENSE-MEMO-ON-RESCISSION-OF-CORONAVIRUS-DISEASE-2019-VACCINATION-REQUIREMENTS-FOR-MEMBERS-OF-THE-ARMED-FORCES.PDF">memo</a> that more than two million service members and about 96% of active duty and reserve forces had been fully vaccinated.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-house-leader-kevin-mccarthy-the-covid-vax-mandate-on-our-military-is-ending">asserted</a> that President Joe Biden and Austin opposed repealing the Defense Department&#8217;s vaccine mandate.
&#8220;Secretary Austin&#8217;s been very clear that he opposes the repeal of the vaccine mandate, and the president actually concurs with the secretary of defense,&#8221; Kirby stated, adding that Biden &#8220;continues to believe that all Americans, including those in the armed forces, should be vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19 . . . Vaccines are saving lives including our men and women in uniform.&#8221;
President Biden, however, eventually signed the bill after it made its way through Congress.
Former Vice President Mike Pence told <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3810810-pence-discharged-military-members-should-be-reinstated-get-back-pay-over-vaccine-mandates/">The Hill</a> last week after the Pentagon rescinded the mandate that Biden should reinstate the discharged troops with back pay, calling the initial decision to force service members to take the shot &#8220;unconscionable.&#8221;
&#8220;I think now that Secretary Austin has implemented what Congress passed into law, lifting the vaccine mandate on members of our armed forces, now I&#8217;m calling on the Biden administration and the Pentagon to reinstate every man and woman that was discharged from our armed forces because they refused to take the vaccine, and give them 100 percent back pay for the time after they were discharged,&#8221; Pence said.
Pence, who led the White House COVID task force during the Trump administration and supported Operation Warp Speed, which developed the vaccine years ahead of schedule, said the administration never supported mandating the shot, arguing such requirements contributed to why many Americans were skeptical about getting vaccinated.
&#8220;And I understand the concern that people in this country have about the vaccines, but I really believe it ultimately finds its origins in the fact that a vaccine mandate came along and people were required to take it.&#8221;

DHS Secretary Mayorkas Visits FEMA Community Vaccination Center In Philadelphia

Pentagon Officials ‘Exploring’ Back Pay For Troops Discharged For Refusing COVID Vaccine

Pentagon 'Exploring' Back Pay Options For Troops Discharged After Refusing COVID Vaccine 

Biden Administration

COVID

COVID-19 Vaccine

Mike Pence

Pentagon

Politics

Vaccine Mandate

Severe reductions to federal expenditures would be required in order to attain a balanced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/budget" target="_blank" rel="noopener">budget</a> while keeping intact critical programs such as Social Security, according to a new analysis.
Policymakers must enact 26% across-the-board spending cuts in order to balance the budget within the next decade, according to an <a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/what-would-it-take-balance-budget" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. In order to balance the budget but also exempt programs such as defense, veteran benefits, Social Security, and Medicare from cuts, all other federal spending would have to be reduced 85%.
“Due to continued borrowing over the past several years, the desirable fiscal goal of budgetary balance has become much more difficult to reach, and it is highly unlikely it could be achieved in a decade or less, particularly if revenue, defense, and other parts of the budget are excluded from the solution,” the analysis said. “We recommend Congress adopt an aggressive but achievable fiscal goal in its budgets and any fiscal deals.”
Keeping veteran and defense spending intact would require 33% spending reductions for all federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare. The average annual benefit for a new retiree would decrease by as much as $13,000, while as many as 25 million recipients of Medicare would lose eligibility. Between 1.1 million and 1.4 million federal employees would be dismissed.
Another alternative is keeping defense, veterans, and Social Security expenditures intact while enacting cuts to Medicare and all other federal programs. Such a course would require 51% spending reductions for affected agencies.
“Wanting to balance the budget is an admirable and desirable goal. However, the path to get to balance within ten years is likely infeasible, and it is virtually impossible if major parts of the budget and tax code are exempt from change,” the analysis remarked. “Policymakers should set aggressive but realistic fiscal goals, should keep all areas of the budget on the table, and should put forward policies to begin reducing deficits. The first step, of course, is to avoid actions that would worsen our already unsustainable fiscal situation. Policymakers should agree not to pass legislation that calls for any new borrowing. We commend the adoption of a specific and realistic fiscal target.”
The analysis from the conservative think tank comes after Republican lawmakers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-concessions-house-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-gave-to-republican-holdouts-to-win-their-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener">struck a deal</a> with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) under which the party’s new majority will introduce a budget that refrains from increasing the debt ceiling, an artificial limit on federal obligations imposed by Congress. Several Republican lawmakers initially hesitant to hand the gavel to the leader of their caucus had expressed concern about excessive federal spending.
The national debt is currently nearing $31.5 trillion even as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/interest-payments-on-the-national-debt-on-pace-to-surpass-military-spending" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maintenance costs</a> soar due to a higher interest rate environment. An <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/government-must-raise-taxes-40-or-cut-spending-30-to-achieve-fiscal-balance-study" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from economists at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School recently found that a 30% decrease in spending or a 40% increase in taxation would be necessary to handle current spending and future obligations.
“Just like all individuals and businesses, the federal government is subject to a budget constraint: it must fund all expenditures, current and future, from its tax and non-tax receipts over time,” the economists said. “By construction, the fiscal imbalance must be zero for a fiscal policy to be sustainable without future changes.”

U.S. Capitol Building

Federal Spending Must Be Cut 26% To Balance Budget, Even More To Keep Core Social, Defense Programs Intact: Analysis

Budget

Economy

Medicare

National Debt

Social Security

Veterans

The number of reports from U.S. military personnel revolving around UFOs has increased substantially in the last year.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-2022-Annual-Report-UAP.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> on Thursday revealing that 510 such reports have been filed, including the 144 incidents mentioned in its June 2021 unclassified report on “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.”
“Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) reporting is increasing, enabling a greater awareness of the airspace and increased opportunity to resolve UAP events,” the report stated. “In addition to the 144 UAP reports covered during the 17 years of UAP reporting included in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) preliminary assessment, there have been 247 new reports and another 119 that were either since discovered or reported after the preliminary assessment’s time period.”
The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), established by the deputy secretary of defense in July 2022, determined that of the 366 newly-identified reports, more than half exhibited unremarkable characteristics, writing that 26 were characterized as unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) or UAS-like entities; 163 were characterized as balloon or balloon-like entities; and six were attributed to clutter.
The majority of claims came from U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aviators and operators, the report stated.
Some of the terms ARO intended to use to describe UAPs include “Range Fouler,” a “UAP interrupting pre-planned training or other military activity in military operating areas or restricted airspace,” and “Transmedium Objects or Devices,” defined as “objects or devices that are observed to transition between space and the atmosphere, or between the atmosphere and bodies of water, that are not immediately identifiable.”
The report was supposed to be released by the end of October. In December, Ron Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, was <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3249303/usdis-ronald-moultrie-and-dr-sean-kirkpatrick-media-roundtable-on-the-all-domai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> if he had “affirmative evidence” that he had collected that showed any one of the anomalies was a space alien. Moultrie replied, “The answer&#8217;s no, we have nothing. &#8230; We have not seen anything that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin, if you will. If we find something like that, we will look at it and analyze it and take the appropriate actions.”
AARO Director Sean Kirkpatrick cautioned, “I would just say we are structuring our analysis to be very thorough and rigorous. We will go through it all. And as a physicist, I have to adhere to the scientific method, and I will follow that data and science wherever it goes.”

UFO Reports From U.S. Military Are Increasing

Outer Space

U.S. Military

Defense Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Tuesday that Ukrainian troops would begin training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma on the Patriot Air Defense System as soon as next week amid ongoing aerial attacks from Russian forces.
Ryder told reporters the training would prepare approximately 90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate, maintain and sustain the defensive system over a training course expected to last several months.
&#8220;Once fielded, the Patriot will continue to contribute to Ukraine&#8217;s air defense capabilities and provide another capability to Ukrainian people to defend themselves against Russia&#8217;s ongoing aerial assaults,&#8221; Ryder said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
PENTAGON PRESS SEC: &quot;I can confirm that training for Ukrainian forces on the Patriot Air Defense System will begin as soon as next week at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/gFDK1HbPsL">pic.twitter.com/gFDK1HbPsL</a>
&mdash; Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1612932809944965120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ryder further noted the Patriot would contribute to the air defense capabilities of Ukraine as part of a broader effort by the United States and the international community to provide Ukraine with the air defense capabilities that it needs to defend its population and its armed forces.
&#8220;It&#8217;s something that will enable them to take down &#8230; ballistic missiles, adversary aircraft; [it&#8217;s] really up to them on how they employ it,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3264235/ukrainian-troops-headed-to-us-for-patriot-missile-training/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The announcement comes less than a month after the Biden administration said it would provide another $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine, which included the Patriot air defense system that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserts the country needs to defend itself from Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy said in a <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/3784508-zelensky-to-us-lawmakers-your-money-is-not-charity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> by The Hill that U.S. aid would go towards funding weapons &#8220;crucial&#8221; to help Ukraine against Russia and serve as &#8220;the turning point to win on the battlefield.&#8221;
The Patriot, which stands as an acronym for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, as reported by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-is-patriot-missile-defense-system-2022-12-21/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a>, is an advanced U.S. air defense system built by Raytheon Technologies Corp with theater-wide surface-to-air missile defense.
While the manufacturers designed the system to intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles, Reuters writes it could also strike down &#8220;kamikaze&#8221; drones Russian forces have frequently used to destroy Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
Raytheon reported Patriot systems have intercepted over 150 ballistic missiles in combat since 2015.
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ukraine-russia-training-patriots-air-defense-rcna65142" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Russian President Vladimir Putin called the system outdated last month and said Russia would &#8220;knock down&#8221; the Patriots.
With over 240 systems built by Raytheon and used in 18 different countries, it usually contains a radar, control station, power generator, launch stations, and support vehicles.
Military forces first used the Patriot during the 1991 Gulf War, with batteries protecting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Israel. Officials used it again in Iraq in 2003.
Pentagon officials report the United States has funded Ukraine with more than $24.2 billion in security assistance since its war with Russia began on Feb. 24, 2022.

3-2 Field Operations

Pentagon Press Sec. Says Ukrainian Forces To Start Training On U.S. Air Defense System On American Soil Next Week

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

A newly released Pentagon report has concluded that U.S. military bases used to house Afghan nationals that were evacuated from Afghanistan amid President Joe Biden&#8217;s pullout from the country have sustained hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage.
The report comes after approximately <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/25/numbers-behind-afghan-evacuation-come-into-focus/">76,000</a> Afghan nationals were evacuated over a period of several days back in August 2021 to staging bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Italy, Bahrain, and Germany.
The evacuees were then sent to temporary housing facilities at eight DoD installations — Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL), New Jersey; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Camp Atterbury, Indiana; Fort Pickett, Virginia; Fort Lee, Virginia; Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico, Virginia; and Holloman Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico.
The U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2022/Dec/21/2003136137/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2023-040.PDF">said</a> that 11 of the installations submitted estimates to reset facilities, equipment, and consumables to pre-Operation Allies Welcome conditions.
The costs were broken down into two categories: Facilities and Equipment/Consumables.
The report said that there was an estimated $257.48 million in damage to the facilities, including $174.9 million for Army bases, $3.21 million for Navy bases, $63 million for Air Force bases, and $16.37 million for Marine Corps bases.
A group of DoD restoration reviewers said that $238.04 million in damages were eligible to be paid for through Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid (OHDACA) funds.
The report said that the remainder in damages to facilities and damages to equipment/consumables — more than $100 million — would need to paid for through the operation and maintenance or military construction appropriations allocated to each involved DoD Component.
For example, Air Force officials said that the damage caused by the Afghan nationals was unrepairable as officials described &#8220;tables, chairs, and cots broken by guests and tents and cots ruined by spray paint, human biological matter, and holes.&#8221;
The high costs to U.S. taxpayers resulted in damaging the U.S. military&#8217;s preparedness for military operations, the report said.
&#8220;DoD installations reported that facilities and equipment were overused, damaged, and remained in various degrees of disrepair, resulting in a costly maintenance effort,&#8221; the inspector general found. &#8220;DoD installations need to restore their facilities and equipment to a condition that enables them to conduct trainings, prepare for future events, and return to normal base operations.&#8221;

SPAIN-AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT

U.S. Military Bases That Took In Afghan Evacuees Suffered Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars In Damage: Pentagon IG

Afghanistan

Military

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> signed an $847 billion defense policy bill on Friday that includes a provision repealing the COVID vaccine mandate for the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">military</a>.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sets funding priorities and policy for the U.S. military over the next year. Republicans negotiated a clause repealing the Department of Defense’s COVID vaccine mandate for military members, in part building solid bipartisan support for the legislation approved by Congress earlier this month.
Biden put out a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/12/23/statement-by-the-president-on-h-r-7776-the-james-m-inhofe-national-defense-authorization-act-for-fiscal-year-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> on Friday announcing the NDAA’s signing. The president approved the bill despite the White House&#8217;s opposition to several of its elements, including the removal of the vaccine mandate.
The White House noted in Biden’s statement that “certain provisions of the Act raise concerns.” The repeal of the vaccine mandate was unmentioned. Instead, the White House focused on aspects of the act that Biden said placed concerning or unconstitutional restrictions on the president’s authority. Several sections mentioned blocked funding for the White House to transport Guantanamo Bay detainees to other countries or the United States to stand trial.
“Section 1033 of the Act continues to bar the use of funds appropriated to the Department of Defense to transfer Guantánamo Bay detainees to the custody or effective control of certain foreign countries. Section 1031 of the Act likewise would continue to prohibit the use of such funds to transfer certain Guantánamo Bay detainees into the United States,” Biden said.
“It is the longstanding position of the executive branch that these provisions unduly impair the ability of the executive branch to determine when and where to prosecute Guantánamo Bay detainees and where to send them upon release,” he added.
Republicans have criticized Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin since his August 2021 decision to make the COVID vaccine mandatory for military service members. Austin and the Biden administration continued to claim the mandate’s necessity to military readiness as lawmakers haggled over the NDAA.
“We lost a million people to this virus,” Austin <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/12/04/covid-19-vaccine-mandate-military-national-guard-lloyd-austin-pentagon-will-stay-in-place/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> earlier this month. “A million people died in the United States of America. We lost hundreds in DOD. So this mandate has kept people healthy.”
GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rick Scott of Florida argued that firing military members over their COVID vaccine decision is a far larger military readiness problem than unvaccinated members in the military.
“It is outrageous that the U.S. military is firing young service members who choose not to get vaccinated,” the pair wrote in a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/time-end-military-covid-vaccine-mandate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> op-ed earlier this month.
“The United States simply cannot afford to discharge our brave men and women in uniform and lose the investments we have made into each and every one of them due to an inept bureaucratic policy,” they said.
The NDAA does not prohibit Austin from instituting the vaccine mandate through another order, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/23/biden-defense-bill-military-vaccine-mandate-00075437" target="_blank" rel="noopener">POLITICO</a>.

Joe Biden

Biden Signs $847 Billion Defense Bill Scrapping Military COVID Vaccine Mandate

Executive

Lloyd Austin

Washington D.C.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a> has built up its nuclear arsenal at a rate that has far outpaced U.S. estimates and is projected to have 1,000 nuclear warheads by the end of the decade, according to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Defense</a> (DOD).
The Pentagon <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3230682/china-military-power-report-examines-changes-in-beijings-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a report on China’s military on Tuesday stating that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has accelerated its nuclear program. China’s current purpose in building up its nuclear arsenal appears to be deterrence and retaliation, if necessary, according to information collected by the U.S. government.
“In 2020, the DoD estimated China’s operational nuclear warhead stockpile was in the low-200s and expected to at least double by 2030. However, Beijing probably accelerated its nuclear expansion, and DoD estimates this stockpile has now surpassed 400 operational nuclear warheads,” the <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2022/Nov/29/2003122279/-1/-1/1/2022-MILITARY-AND-SECURITY-DEVELOPMENTS-INVOLVING-THE-PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> states.
“By 2030, DoD estimates that the PRC will have about 1,000 operational nuclear warheads, most of which will be fielded on systems capable of ranging the continental United States,” it continued.
The Pentagon estimates that by 2035, China’s People’s Liberation Army could have as many as 1,500 operational nuclear warheads at its disposal.
“The PRC probably intends to develop new nuclear warheads and delivery platforms that at least equal the effectiveness, reliability, and/or survivability of some of the warheads and delivery platforms currently under development by the United States and/or Russia,” the report says. “Developing robust nuclear strike options is likely intended to provide deterrence predominantly against a ‘strong enemy,’ as well as ensure China can inflict unacceptable damage with both proportionate and overwhelming retaliatory capabilities, and thus denying an adversary victory if a war escalates to the nuclear domain.”
The Pentagon estimates that China’s military has the largest navy and the third largest air force in the world. Defense officials are also skeptical of Beijing’s claims that it is adhering to agreements to limit the construction of biological and chemical weapons.
Chinese labs and factories, as well as its missile technology is advanced enough that it could weaponize biological and chemical agents or toxins and attach them to missiles, U.S. officials estimate.
“The PRC’s chemical and biotechnology infrastructures are sufficient to research, develop, and produce some chemical and biological agents or toxins on a large scale,” the report says. “China probably has the technical expertise to weaponize chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents, and China’s robust armaments industry and numerous conventional weapon systems, including missiles, rockets, and artillery, probably could be adapted to deliver CBW agents.”
U.S.-China relations have grown more tense recent years along with the outbreak of COVID-19 and China’s increasingly aggressive moves in its region, such as taking control of Hong Kong and threatening Taiwan. U.S. President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House in November. Among other topics, the leaders discussed the use of nuclear weapons.
“President Biden raised Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and Russia’s irresponsible threats of nuclear use. President Biden and President Xi reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” a White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/14/readout-of-president-joe-bidens-meeting-with-president-xi-jinping-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">readout</a> of the meeting says.

Xi Jinping

Pentagon: China Blitzed Past U.S. Estimates For Nuclear Buildup, Could Have 1,000 Warheads By 2030

Nuclear Weapons

Military leaders’ embrace of woke diversity and transgender policies and ideology is corroding the effectiveness of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-military">U.S. military</a>, according to a new report by GOP lawmakers.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, both Republicans, put out a report on the impact of DEI and LGBT initiatives on the U.S. military on Monday. The 18-page <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ee1d7a86-6d0c-4f08-bd15-24e5b28e54b7/3756824FA9C21B819BB97AAB16221530.woke-warfighters-report-3.pdf">report</a> takes shots at some of the top leaders in the U.S. military, such as Gen. Mark Milley, and says that poor leadership is distorting the military’s purpose.
“The United States military is the greatest fighting force in the world. It is also one of the most humble and sacrificial the world has ever known,” the report begins. “Unfortunately, President Joe Biden and his administration are weakening America’s warfighters through a sustained assault fueled by woke virtue signaling.”
“Our military’s singular purpose is to ‘provide for the common defense’ of our nation. It cannot be turned into a left-wing social experiment. It cannot be used as a cudgel against America itself. And it cannot be paralyzed by fear of offending the sensibilities of Ivy League faculty lounges or progressive pundits,” the report’s summary says.
The Department of Defense (DOD) stood by its policies in answer to the report.
“Diversity, inclusion, and equality at its core is about leveraging the strengths of all our people, advancing opportunity, addressing potential barriers or discrepancies, and – fundamentally – ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect. We always talk about weapons systems, yet every one of us will agree that our greatest weapons system are our people.  So that’s why our policies to better leverage our people and increase unit cohesion are important here,” a spokesman with the DOD told The Daily Wire in a statement.
The report singles out several top military officials for criticism: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Milley, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The report also notes the partisan pasts of two top Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) staffers: Bishop Garrison, senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense on Human Capital and DEI issues, and Kelisa Wing, the DEI head of the Department of Defense Education Activity.
Weeks into President Joe Biden’s term, Austin issued a one-day stand-down order to all service members and civilian employees. The purpose of the stand-down order was to “discuss extremism in the ranks with their personnel.” A follow-up report by the Senate Armed Services committee assessed that, because of the dearth of extremism among U.S. service members, further investment on countering extremism in the military would be an “inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.”
Milley <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/highest-ranking-u-s-military-official-defends-teaching-crt">supports</a> “teaching [Critical Race Theory] at U.S. Service Academies” and testified in front of Congress that he is interested in understanding “white rage,” according to the report.
“The Biden Administration is choosing to focus on and fund the study of racial extremism even when … it is a virtual non-issue in the military,” the report says.
DEI has become a top priority for the Biden administration across departments, not just in the Pentagon. The Department of Homeland Security has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/white-supremacy-dhs-draft-assessment/index.html">identified</a> white supremacy as one of the preeminent threats to the United States. In September, the Department of Energy <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-first-ever-plan-advance-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility">released</a> its first-ever “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan to underscore the Department’s commitment to creating a workplace that celebrates Americans of all backgrounds.”
The commitment to DEI has bled into the U.S. Special Forces. The United States Special Operations Command’s 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan states that “diversity and inclusion are operational imperatives.”
“The only goal of our Special Forces should be effectiveness. Every other consideration must be subordinate to and in service of that end,” the report says. “[F]orcing our military to engage in DEI trainings encourages supporting and advancing people on criteria other than competence and ability to carry out a mission.”
According to Rubio and Roy, the military has lowered its standards for health and fitness to allow transgender people and those diagnosed with gender dysphoria into the ranks of the military. The process began under former President Barack Obama, was reversed under former President Donald Trump, and reinstated under Biden.
“People cannot even enlist with Invisalign or braces until they are removed. And yet, today’s woke military is now proudly promoting and celebrating sex reassignment procedures, which can have months-long recovery periods, with complete recovery taking &#8216;up to one year&#8217; for some procedures,” the report says.
The highest levels of the U.S. military lack accountability for mistakes, the report says. One glaring example of this is the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed and hundreds of Afghans in a terror attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. A retaliatory strike against a target believed to be a terrorist accidently killed 10 civilians, including seven children.
“The only service member who received a reprimand from the Afghanistan debacle was a lieutenant colonel who criticized the way the withdrawal was executed. What this officer did was concerning. Despite a gag order, while in uniform he used government property to harshly criticize superiors while there were still boots on the ground in Kabul. This is certainly improper behavior,” the report states.
“Nevertheless, the hypocrisy is glaring. It is outrageous that the woke Biden Administration held him to account while leaders whose decisions resulted in the deaths of service members and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment falling into enemies’ hands went unpunished,” it concludes.

Mark Milley

Woke Leadership Is Gutting U.S. Military Through DEI, Trans Policies, GOP Report Says

Chip Roy

Marco Rubio

A damning report from a government watchdog finds the U.S. squandered $145 billion in Afghanistan over 20 years in a futile effort to impose Western democracy and values on a population it didn&#8217;t understand.
The <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/evaluations/SIGAR-23-05-IP.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69-page autopsy</a> from Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko cites missed opportunities, dependence on unreliable players, and a recurring inability to understand critical cultural and political nuances. The ill-fated, two-decade affair ended in debacle, with 13 U.S. service members killed and hundreds of Americans left behind when the U.S. abruptly pulled out in August, 2021 and allowed the Taliban to return to power.
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&#8220;If there is one overarching lesson to be learned from the totality of this tragedy, it is that any future U.S. reconstruction mission similar in scale and ambition to that in Afghanistan is likely to be difficult, costly, and defined by the real possibility of an unfavorable governance outcome,&#8221; the report&#8217;s conclusion states.
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A repeating theme in the report is the U.S. government&#8217;s misreading of the players in a civil war. The U.S. assumed the conflict was a struggle was between the Taliban and supporters of democracy, but some who opposed the Taliban were simply alleged war criminals and child molesters from competing factions, the report states. When the U.S. imposed some semblance of order, it propped up a former World Bank official who, as president, was arrogant and naïve, according to the analysis.
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In the end, the U.S. lost the trust of the people it sought to help when it turned out that services such as speedy justice and border security were more efficient under the Taliban than a Western-influenced bureaucracy.
Elections, the hallmark of Western democracies, were never embraced by Afghans, the report said.
“The United States also failed to legitimize the Afghan government through democratic elections, which were consistently marred by fraud,” the report said.
Only about a tenth of the people the U.S. believed were starved for self-governance cast ballots, with most assuming the voting was rigged. The lack of taking election security seriously meant that the U.S.-backed government had little moral high ground to Afghans.
“As soon as we would say ‘election,’ [the Taliban would respond] ‘Hahaha, that election that you’re talking about, that corrupt election? That every person was for sale?’” an Afghan government official said.
Money spent on humanitarian programs was often wasted, as people were willing to take free services but didn’t feel any loyalty to the new U.S.-backed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-allowing-former-taliban-employees-to-migrate-to-u-s-under-refugee-program-billed-as-for-interpreters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Afghanistan</a> government because of it, the report found. Some U.S. contracts wound up funding the Taliban because contractors would pay them protection money.
The report described how virtue-signaling by idealists sometimes led to a detachment from reality. Some U.S. officials opposed leaving Afghanistan because of “an idealized vision of advancing the rights of Afghan women. [But] this group interacted with a small number of women’s rights advocates who were not representative of the overall population,” the report said.
In one case, American-allied forces thought they were fighting the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-and-russia-now-working-with-taliban-controlled-afghanistan-one-year-after-u-s-withdrawal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taliban</a>, but they had actually radicalized a formerly-peaceful group of villagers by imposing unnecessary rules in the name of “unsubstantiated environmental concerns.” The villagers were loggers, and the new government was blocking their way of life.
Many of the people the U.S. worked with shared opposition to the Taliban, but were also just as hostile to U.S. values. They had a record of being corrupt and abusing their own people, and when Afghans saw the U.S. working with them, people preferred the Taliban, the report found.
&#8220;The continued employment of government officials who reportedly committed acts of child sexual abuse and exploited their positions to extract resources from the population contributed to a perception of the Afghan government as abusive and predatory,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;Putting human rights violators in charge of governance at local and national levels turned people against the state and gave rise to the Taliban again.&#8221;
Many of the Afghans the U.S.-allied government empowered to reform Afghanistan were also corrupt. For example, General Abdul Raziq, who President Hamid Karzai installed as Kandahar&#8217;s chief of police, was &#8220;was deeply involved in the narcotics trade and took a significant cut of customs revenue at the border crossing. Systemic torture, forced disappearances, and summary executions of civilian detainees were well documented, and as Raziq gained more power, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/military-report-says-china-is-stealing-federally-funded-technology-research-according-to-u-s-senator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. military</a> stopped transferring detainees to his custody.&#8221;
The Kabul Bank &#8220;lent to fictitious companies in transactions that benefitted politically connected Afghan shareholders who never paid back those loans. U.S. government funds for Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police salaries regularly moved through the bank &#8230; Two of the principal beneficiaries of the fraudulent loans were Mahmoud Karzai and Haseen Fahim—the brothers of President Karzai and Vice President Marshall Mohammed Fahim, respectively. Ultimately, the extent of the theft was estimated to be roughly $982 million.&#8221;
Government money went to legions of &#8220;ghost soldiers,&#8221; fake names designed to look like legitimate payroll so that officials could steal it. Kandahar City had 14,000 police officers on its payroll, but only 700 actual police.
Then there was the issue of capturing the hearts and minds of the average Afghan. Large portions of Afghanis simply believed that the U.S. are &#8220;infidels,&#8221; and the Taliban had a stronger message —one of jihad — compared to a vague nation-building message for the U.S.-allied state. One expert mentioned how men took it upon themselves to set a woman on fire after she was falsely accused of burning the Koran, but “I am hard-pressed to find incidents when the menfolk of Kabul spontaneously beat a suspected Taliban to death.”
&#8220;Afghan remains profoundly conservative,&#8221; an expert said. Another questioned the concept of “progress” in Afghanistan, saying “people progress towards what they value, and many <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/military-base-housing-afghan-refugees-became-covered-in-feces-and-displaced-u-s-soldiers-employee-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Afghans</a> valued different things than Americans.”
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Some 2,456 U.S. troops were killed and another 20,666 wounded in the long war. At least 66,000 Afghan troops and more than 48,000 Afghan civilians were killed.
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The final days of the U.S. in Afghanistan were like Nero fiddling as Rome burned because Afghanistan&#8217;s president in later years, Ashraf Ghani — a former World Bank official supported by Western elites — did not believe that President Joe Biden would keep his predecessor&#8217;s February 2020 pledge to withdraw troops — in part because some officials were undermining him by resisting, and others were telling him it was just a &#8220;bluff.&#8221;
“Three months we wasted because they [Ghani and his inner circle] were 100 percent sure that Mr. Biden will come and will say what Mr. Trump did was a disaster,” one expert said.
Ghani surrounded himself with yes-men who told him everything was great, and he demanded to control so much of the country personally that it wasn’t possible for him to have the information necessary to make decisions. The entire government was run by six people, one expert said. Ghani sometimes deliberately got rid of competent people, fearing they might intrude on his power, the report said.
“Ghani’s personality and leadership style were significant contributing factors to the government’s August 2021 collapse,” it said.
But it was not only Afghan officials who were sticking their heads in the sand. U.S. military officials, unwilling to admit to failure, hid the reality of the conflict from Congress by classifying information — not because of national security, but because it was embarrassing, Sopko testified.
On August 15, 2021, Ghani boarded a helicopter and fled the country. “With that, the two-decade long U.S. effort to transform Afghanistan came to a close,” the report said.

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