Happening now: maintaining & securing stability - including freedom of navigation - and security key US interests in the US, @CENTCOM Commander, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie tells @MiddleEastInst
"The greatest threat to stability and security in the region is #Iran" per @CENTCOM's McKenzie "Iran actively stokes instability" in #Syria#Yemen & elsewhere
Then comes great power competition from #Russia, #China
"There's actually no military component of what's known as the 'max pressure' campaign against #Iran" adds @CENTCOM's McKenzie, saying US military role is strictly deterrence
"The Iranians have had to recalculate...they found a 'red line' and the US responded vigorously"
US not seeing state-on-state attacks from #Iran due to US strong response to attacks on US troops
"That's why we've seen a decline," per @CENTCOM's McKenzie
NEW: US starting strategic dialogue tomorrow with government of #Iraq at the ministerial level
"It is my belief that the gvt of Iraq is going to want to retain US & coalition forces" per @CENTCOM's Gen McKenzie
"Direct contact w/#Iran - there 's not much I can say about that" per @CENTCOM's McKenzie, though suggests some high-level contact may take place
"By and large, I think they know and respect our capabilities"
#ISIS maintains "global cyber presence" and cells across #Iraq#Syria
"This threat is not going to go away...even the brightest possible future is not a bloodless future" whether threat comes form ISIS or whatever replaces ISIS, per @CENTCOM's McKenzie
Big concerns about #Syria regime, #Russia forces taking on #ISIS, per @CENTCOM's Gen McKenzie, predicting both will struggle "to prevent the systemic rise of #ISIS"
"We're not going to get to perfection on this...there's always going to be the possibility of radicalization at a distance" @CENTCOM's McKenzie says of fighting #ISIS#alQaida
"I do worry about #China quite a bit" per @CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Kenneth McKenzie "We think about how we assure our partners that we're going to be reliable partners, that we're going to stick around"
#Russia in the @CENTCOM AOR - "Where they are it's pretty high intensity" per Gen McKenzie
But he adds, "I'm not one of those people who thinks Russia's a master chess player"
US "well-stocked to protect the force" vs #COVID19#coronavirus in @CENTCOM AOR, per Gen McKenzie, saying that includes both US & partner forces
"It has not had a significant impact on our ability..."
#COVID19 is having an impact in some areas - "we're now very mindful of how we do outreach w/our partners" in #Iraq#Syria#Afghanistan, per @CENTCOM's McKenzie
#Iran has made "great sacrifices...gone to great lengths" to protects #IRGC#Quds Force, ballistic missile capabilities/programs from #COVID19, per @CENTCOM's Gen McKenzie
"They are still very capable in those areas"
US way forward in #Syria "a political decision" per @CENTCOM's Gen McKenzie, noting Bashar al-Assad like to ramp up pressure in East at some point
But for now, US focus is on supporting #SDF & countering #ISIS
"I do not know how long we will stay in Syria" per McKenzie
#SDF prisons holding 10,000 #ISIS fighters, including 2,000 #foreignfighters - "That's an issue that we need to think about as we go forward" per @CENTCOM's Gen McKenzie
.@CENTCOM also worried about #ISIS families, IDPs who are poised to become the next generation of terrorists "unless we come up with a long-term solution to deradicalization" per Gen McKenzie
"We don't have good answers to those problems yet"
"The #Taliban has to demonstrate they will be faithful partners" per @CENTCOM's Gen Kenneth McKenzie
"It is unclear to me yet" if Taliban has embraced that role, McKenzie adds
NEW: US military NOT ready to start pulling more forces out of #Afghanistan beyond the initial agreed upon drawdown
"Those conditions have not been fully met" @CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Kenneth McKenzie tells @MiddleEastInst
#Lebanon "I don't think Lebanese #Hezbollah answers immediately when #Iran calls" per @CENTCOM's Gen McKenzie, though he admits the relationship is strong
Big worry for @CENTCOM's commander - "The proliferation of small unmanned aerial platforms...one that you can go out and buy right now at Costco in the #UnitedStates
"I worry about our ability to protect against swarms of those crafts" per Gen McKenzie
Some nuggets from @FBI Dir. Christopher Wray's appearance Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies...
#ArtificialIntelligence & #Election2024-"We are, of course, seeing & I've been warning about this for some time, the role of AI to enhance efforts that our foreign adversaries have already been engaged in" per @FBI's Wray
"It's not that it [#ArtificialIntelligence] changes fundamentally what it is our adversaries want to do...it allows them to amplify to do it, to make it more sophisticated, more deceptive, cheaper, faster" per @FBI's Wray
HAPPENING NOW - US intelligence chiefs testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee:
@ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines
@CIA Dir William Burns
@FBI Dir Christoper Wray
@NSAGov Dir Gen Timothy Haugh
@DefenseIntel Dir LtGen Jeffrey Krause
@StateDept Asst Sec for Intel Brett Holmgren
Noting that the current era is as challenging as ever, with a wide variety of threats, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair @MarkWarner calls for "redefining what we think of" when it comes to national security
@MarkWarner "We are no even seeing the possibility of foreign adversaries weaponizing space" in ways that could be detrimental to US way of life, per @MarkWarner
NEW: @FBI joins White House, Senate intelligence committee chair in sounding alarm about foreign interference in #Election2024
"This election cycle, the US will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace & enabled by new technology
per Dir Christopher Wray at @INSAlliance
#ArtificialIntelligence advances "lowering the barrier to entry-making it easier for both more & less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence" per @FBI's Wray
"Making foreign influence efforts by players old and&new more realistic & difficult to detect"
@FBI Where are US adversaries focused?
“The attack surface for the bad guys is the private sector” per @FBI's Wray "The intelligence that we need is in the hands of the private sector, often”
NEW: US worried about #Russia seeking to interfere in #Election2024
"Of course there are concerns" White House Nat'l Security Adviser @JakeSullivan46 tells @MeetThePress
"There's plenty of reason to be concerned" per @JakeSullivan46
"There is a history here in presidential elections by the #Russia|n Federation, by its intelligence services" he says
"We are going to be vigilant"
Concerns about #Russia|n interference in #Election2024 "not about politics" per @JakeSullivan46
"This is about national security. It is about a foreign country, a foreign adversary seeking to manipulate the politics & democracy of the United States of America."
NEW: US confirms #Houthis using "various #Iran|ian-origin missiles & unmanned aerial vehicles" in their attacks on shipping in the #RedSea #GulfofAden
Conclusion based on new analysis by @DefenseIntel
The assessment is based on information current as January 2024 - including a "comparative analysis of publicly available images of #Iran|ian missiles & UAVs to those displayed & employed by #Houthi forces in #Yemen to attack commercial shipping" per @DefenseIntel
US @DefenseIntel on #Iran|ian drones in #Houthi arsenal:
-Sayad (Sammad) - range of 1800km
-Shahed-136 - range of 2500km
-Waid-1 (version of the Shahed-131) - range of 900km
AQ "established up to 8 new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in #Ghazni, #Laghman, #Parwan & #Uruzgan Provinces w/a new base to stockpile weaponry in the #Panjshir Valley" per new @UN report
The new #alQaida camps appear to be "conducting suicide bomber training for TTP [Tehrik-i-Taliban #Pakistan]" per the @UN report
Intelligence provided by @UN member states also notes #alQaida is operating madrasas in #Laghman, #Kunar, #Nangarhar, #Nuristan & #Parwan provinces
AQ also "maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between #Afghanistan & the Islamic Republic of #Iran"