"I think all of us after the fall of communism believed that the defeat of the #SovietUnion, the demise of the Soviet-style communism would be somehow the end of history" @NATO Deputy Sec @Mircea_Geoana tells #EUDefense
"But history is a hard teacher. We learned the hard way that history never stops, that global competition never stops" per @NATO Deputy Sec @Mircea_Geoana
"There is no way, but no way neither for #Europe nor for our friends in North America-US & #Canada, our dearest allies-for us to cope with the changes in the world alone" per @Mircea_Geoana
"It not about hard & soft power. It's about a broader definition of security" per @NATO's @Mircea_Geoana
"Without strong, credible defense, without strong, credible innovation, without strong military & intelligence, we just cannot work only with the other tools of power"
"American leadership is needed" @NATO Deputy Sec @Mircea_Geoana tells #EUDefense "American leadership is something that's in our strong interest..."
"Resilience has become the buzzword of the moment" per @Mircea_Geoana
"We have to make sure the introspective way of looking at things, the national interest which is reflected by leaders all over the world is not leading to further disaggregation"
.@NATO Deputy Sec @Mircea_Geoana says it is not enough for alliance members just to commit to spending 2% GDP on defense
"The question is...how to spend the 2% better, how to make sure that we transform the way in which we are preparing for the warfare of tomorrow"
"The real question is how do spend better, how do we put the public money & e taxpayers money into better usage" per @Mircea_Geoana
#Afghanistan - "It's not going to be easy" per @NATO DepSec @Mircea_Geoana adding there's "no indication of a lessening of the commitment of the whole alliance & our global partners to the future of Afghanistan"
"Global competition is raging and the rise of #China is also a fact & a #Russia that is trying to use & abuse some of its instruments of power to disrupt the political West" per @NATO's @Mircea_Geoana
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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
JUST IN: Iranian, 2 men from New York charged in connection with plot to kill Americans, including President-elect Donald Trump & a US journalist of Iranian origin
.@TheJusticeDept filed charges against 51yo Farhad Shakeri of Iran, 49yo Carlisle Rivera & 36yo Jonathon Loadholt
Shakeri remains at large in Iran
Rivera & Loadholt have been detained pending trial
@TheJusticeDept US Atty General Merrick Garland, in statement, calls Shakeri "an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump"
Pentagon assesses since February 2022, Russia's suffered 600,000 casualties
This September, "Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed & wounded in action than in any other month" per a sr US defense official
"#Russia|n losses, again, both killed & wounded in action in just the 1st year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War Two combined" per sr US defense official
#Ukraine "have sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium to large #Russia|n Federation navy vessels in the #BlackSea" per sr US defense official