🧵A former DoD civilian military planner writes to explain why the information that Defense Sec. Hegseth sent out in advance of US strikes in Yemen could have compromised the safety of US military personnel: “Why is something like F-18 launch times so sensitive?
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“Yes, it lets an adversary know of an impending attack, but it also reveals a key vulnerability.
An aircraft carrier is most vulnerable to attack when it is launching & recovering aircraft because..its ability to maneuver is restricted. 2/
“It has to be steaming within a specific range of courses & speeds when launching & recovering aircraft. Specifying when we're going to launch aircraft & making it easy to figure out the window of time they'll be recovering them…would let the adversary know when to plan a counterstrike on the carrier if they had the means.”
🧵Sen. Angus King: something you said has sort of puzzled me. …on the morning of March 15, Sec. Hegseth put into this group text a detailed operation plan, inc. targets, the weapons we were going to be using, attack sequences and timing.
King: And yet, you've testified that nothing in that chain was classified. Wouldn't that be classified?
Gabbard: Senator, I can attest to the fact that there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat group at any time.
King: the attack sequencing and timing and weapons and targets you don't consider to should have been classified?
Gabbard: Turning to key state actors, the IC sees China, Russia, Iran & North Korea engaging in activities that could challenge US capabilities & interests, esp. related to our security & economy. These actors are in some cases working together
Identifies Russian as a nuclear threat and cyber threat. new satellite intended to carry a nuclear weapon.
she does not mention Russian threat to US allies in Europe, invasion of Ukraine, hybrid threats, election interference, etc.
Gabbard on Iran: “The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
🧵Fiona Hill @ForeignAffairs podcast: Trump is “fixated on the one guy himself, on Putin…Certainly his own staff he doesn’t pay any attention to. It's all about being able to sit down with Putin. 1/
“And when you're not prepared, and when you don't know where the other person is coming from—it’s just about his interaction—then of course you're going to be taking on the talking points of Russia. 2/
“because Putin is the only peer he sees in this relationship. …He's not listening really to the words. He's just trying to get the vibe.
The very first time I was in on one of the phone calls with Putin, I was listening very carefully to the Russian..
holy jesus, Gabbard just gave a ten minute Kremlin informercial on one of the Sunday shows reairing on cspan radio. tuned in after it had started and wondered who is this Kremlin loon, and the host did not push back at all.
US leverage on Russia has been diminished by what the Trump administration has already given away, Russian expert Maria Snegovaya says at CSIS panel. Russian maximalist goals are still there, she says.
Dara Massicot on how Ukrainians have become more western: the things that struck me, …when you walk the streets of these various cities in Ukraine, they only look Soviet on the outside, right? The people are not the same. You can see in real time, the russianness, or, …the shared Soviet (past) just drain out of the country.
Massicot: It's now a Ukrainian country, …and it just doesn't feel like they understand that in Russia; the buildings look the same, but the people are different.