"It is not lost on anybody...that the traditional risks that we are facing coming from places like #Moscow & #Beijing have been augmented" @AsstSecPM R Clarke Cooper tells #EUDefense re #COVID19 - forcing US, EU allies to look to strengthen resilience, augment capabilities
"It's no surprise that the #Russia|ns would like to see less exercises, less coordination less integration & interoperability" w/US & EU, per @AsstSecPM
"Adversaries are looking to disrupt..." but he says there's also opportunity to shore up gaps, vulnerabilities
#COVID19 "is a new type of crisis because unlike previous great crises like 9-11, for the 1st time we face an invisible enemy" @eu_eeas Deputy Secretary General Charles Fries tells #EUDefense
"We have no vaccine & we have no treatment"
"It's a huge challenge. It's a huge strain on the US & on all Europe" per @eeas' Fries "We have to be prepared for a potential second wave"
"I would not say that #COVID19 itself is a game changer" per @eeas' Fries "It's more a great accelerator of pre-existing trends"
"It has accelerated geopolitical tensions, particularly between the US & #China"
"We have also seen the weakening of multilateralism, with for instance the weakening of the @UN Security Council" per @eeas' Fries
"The neighborhood of the EU is more & more unstable, ans also we have seen deepening inequalities"
"Our friends in the world & maybe even our adversaries are genuinely shocked by the shambolic policies that have aggravated the cost & the tragedy of the crisis in the #UnitedStates" per @KoriSchake
"They are also shocked by a global pandemic that the United States government has no international policy to manage" per @KoriSchake
"That will damage the relationship" between US and EU, per @KoriSchake "The United State sis failing at being a good partner to our friends...and that's going to leave a mark"
"I don't think its unrecoverable" she adds, saying that US-EU will have to expand views of security
"We know there are some divergencies between the EU and the United States w/certain decisions being made over the last years" per @eeas' Fries, noting US withdrawal from #Paris climate change agreement & #jcpoa
"With such a crisis like #COVID which is a real stress test for all of us for the cohesion of the EU, for the cohesion of the US, for the cohesion of the transatlantic partnership, we managed to get out of this crisis by increasing our cooperation" per @eu_eeas' Fries
"We want to reduce our dependencies. We want to reduce our vulnerabilities in the health sector, in the economic & digital sectors...promote strategic stockpiles" per @eu_eeas' Fries
Interoperability "1 of the strengths of the transatlantic alliance" per @AsstSecPM
"We certainly don't want to duplicate efforts either" he adds "We don;t want to be in a situation where the creation of #EDF diverts the trajectory or attention when it comes to interoperability"
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ISIS-Somalia has dug in - operating out of Buur Dhexaad, described by the UN sanctions monitoring team as "a strategic base secured by natural caves and defensive structures safe from aerial and ground offensives"
ISIS-Somalia leader Abdul Qadir Mumin has also sought to limit unnecessary exposure while focusing on boosting the affiliate's finances thru increased extortion campaigns, per the UN report
Some of that money has been poured into advanced weaponry and drones
ISIS-Somalia has "employed unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and limited explosive deployment" per the UN. with an aim at "building suicide unmanned aerial vehicles"
NEW: "Growing confidence" that the global leader of ISIS is Abdul Qadir Mumin, also the head of ISIS-Somalia, per new UN sanctions monitoring team report
"But doubts continued to be expressed by other Member States"
If Somalia's Mumin is ISIS leader Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, "it may signify a deliberate pivot towards a more decentralized operational structure, further from the core conflict zone" per the UN report
Of the 9 regional offices set up by ISIS, only 2 remain active in Africa:
- the al-Karrar office in Somalia, which serves as a key financial hub
- the al-Furqan office in Nigeria
HAPPENING NOW: Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Tulsi Gabbard to serve as US Director of National Intelligence
"It’s fair to say Ms. Gabbard’s nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee" per Senate Committee Chairman, Tom Cotton
"But I want to stress that Ms. Gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration, and professionalism that we have extended to every other nominee" per Cotton
NEW: US intelligence agencies pushing back vs claims health ailments linked to Havana Syndrome were caused by a foreign adversary
"The intelligence does not link a foreign actor to these events. Indeed, it points away from their involvement" per a US intelligence official
"5 elements of the intelligence community continue to assess that it's very unlikely of foreign actors responsible" per the US intelligence official
BUT 2 intelligence agencies have reevaluated - "shift from unlikely w/low confidence to roughly even chance with low confidence"
The US intelligence official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, describe the shift in view about the possible involvement of foreign adversaries as "subtle" - "They have a low confidence in their judgments"
NEW: Islamic State-Somalia getting boost from an "influx of foreign fighters"
A just-issued UN sanctions monitoring team report warns the foreign fighters "have expanded and enhanced the group’s capabilities against al-Shabaab"
Influx of foreign fighters to IS-Somalia " has coincided with the re-emergence of the Al-Karrar office as a
key administrative and financial hub for [ISIS] globally" per the UN report
IS-Somalia being led by "a cadre of former al-Shabaab
militants based in the Bari region of Puntland" per UN report
Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud is the emir of IS-Somalia, per report, "responsible for [ISIS] operations in Somalia"
NEW: Senate Democrats ask @DeptofDefense @TheJusticeDept to look at Elon Musk's reported contact w/Russian officials - "determine whether this behavior should force a review of Mr. Musk’s
continued involvement in SpaceX’s varying contracts" w/the US government
"Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security
clearance have the potential to put our security at risk" per @SenatorShaheen @SenJackReed
"We urge you to take appropriate action immediately"
Musk's alleged contacts with Russian officials was first reported by @WSJ, which cited current and former U.S., European and Russian officials