#Africa - "I see a continent with a lot of countries, very fragile countries...affected by this #COVID19 crisis" @eu_eeas Maj-Gen Hermínio Maio tells #EUDefense
"We need to wait and see what will be really the security impact"
EU Training mission in Mali using social distancing, temp checks, masks, per @eutmmali1's Brig-Gen Frantisek Ridzák in #Mali
Partners are using same precautions
"All of the drivers of instability & all of the challenges that have always existed for us all are still there" @thejointstaff Brig-Gen William Zana tells #EUDefense re #COVID19 in #Africa, #Sahel
"In some areas, we see worsening or greater challenges"
Planning, budgeting, exercises, rotations - "all of those now get compressed in different ways because of #COVID" per @thejointstaff Brig-Gen Zana
@DeptofDefense focus is "to do them in a way where we're not overlapping or creating new gaps & seams"
"We are preparing to resume all those [training] activities" after #COVID19 pause, per @eu_eeas Maj-Gen Maio
Though he says in some cases, like in #Somalia, remote assistance contiued
"We reduced more or less 50% our capacities but we continued to have some essential means on the ground" per @eu_eeas Maj-Gen Maio
"Violent extremist groups, transnational criminal organizations-1 of our challenges has been trying to understand what response those organizations have had, what it is that they're doing or not doing when you add #COVID into the broader context" per @thejointstaff BrigGen Zana
"While it hasn't been tremendously successful, it is an indication of a broader set of ambitions"
#Libya-"I look at with great concern particularly w/#Russia's activities w/Wagner Group & other paramilitary organizations that have been brought in from other countries" per @thejointstaff BrigGen Zana
"#China is doing some things w/peacekeeping operations on the continent" per @thejointstaff BrigGen Zana "I applaud China being a part of a broader set of solutions"
"But I also got to see 1st hand, activities...lasing of aircraft...which are not adhering to int'l norms"
"We need to understand that the problem in those countries is more related w/state-building realities than w/the security & defense realities" per @eu_eeas Maj-Gen Maio on #Africa missions
Added complications from intervention like #Russia's in Central African Republic (CAR) "w/no regulation & no transparency" per @eu_eeas MajGen Maio "What we want when we are in those countries is transparency"
On #migration-"We need to invest in the future, changing mentalities & trying to support the development of those countries" per @eu_eeas MajGen Maio "The Africans, they love Africa. They would like to live in Africa"
"The continued int'l presence in #Mali...is extremely important" per @eutmmali1 BrigGen Ridzák calling training of Malian forces "a long-term process"
"We have to be here and we have to assist...we cannot leave it as it is" per Ridzák "We should be patient"
"Our intervention is not a short term intervention. It is long-term" per @eu_eeas MajGen Maio "We need to change mentalities and this takes time"
"Our intervention is not a short term intervention. It is long-term" per @eu_eeas MajGen Maio "We need to change mentalities and this takes time"
"The US commitment in #Africa continues & its a deep legacy of commitment" per @thejointstaff BrigGen Zana, calling defense assistance as playing a supporting role to diplomatic & other efforts
US review of troop levels in #Africa, elsewhere "are reasonable things to assess" per @thejointstaff BrigGen Zana
"Periodic reassessment of that is healthy, is something that is prudent...There are always going to be greater demands"
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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