"We're posturing our forces to deter aggression and counter their malign influences" per @thejointstaff Vice Chair Gen. John Hyten, referring to #Russia#China
Congress will be consulted on any re-deployments, per @thejointstaff Vice Chair Gen. John Hyten
"Vigilance in respect to great power competition is an absolute imperative" per @US_EUCOM Commander Gen Tod Wolters, praising plan to reposition troops and EUCOM commander HQ from #Germany to #Belgium
All the moves will help maintain peace/bring peace to #Europe and "enhance the US's effectiveness in great power competition" per @US_EUCOM's Gen Wolters
Changes to US troop deployments to #Europe, withdrawal of 11,900 troops to #Germany will cost "several billion dollars...spread out over time" per @EsperDoD
Changes will go into effect in a "matter of weeks" per SecDef Esper, adding "it requires diplomacy"
#Stuttgart#Germany will be area most impacted by the changes - "I had a good conversation last week w/the #German defense minister" per @EsperDoD
Per @EsperDoD, the repositioning of US forces will allow for a "more enduring presence" in areas like the #BalckSea, "gives us a lot more flexibility"
"It dramatically improves our operational capability" per @US_EUCOM's Gen Wolters
Per @thejointstaff Vice Chair Gen Hyten, cost estimates still "rough" and DoD officials will have to work now to get to the actual costs/numbers
"To Pres. Trump's credit...We've seen an increase in defense spending by @NATO" per @EsperDoD, adding "#Germany is the wealthiest country in #Europe. Germany can&should pay more to its defense"
But Esper denies US moving troops to punish Germany
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NEW: US charges American TV presenter for Channel One #Russia & his wife in scheme to evade US sanctions
@TheJusticeDept unsealed the indictment vs 76yo Dimitri Simes & 55yo Anastasia Simes Thursday
They have a home in #Virginia but "remain at large...believed to be in Russia"
Dimitri & Anastasia Simes each charged w/1 count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 1 count of violating the IEEPA & 1 count of conspiracy to commit int'l money laundering
Per @TheJusticeDept, it's a maximum of 20 years per count
Dimitri Simes alleged to have violated sanctions by "serving as a presenter & producer of programming, & by receiving over $1 million, a personal car & driver, a stipend for an apartment in #Moscow... a team of 10 employees from Channel One Russia" per DOJ
Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash & Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi were charged in June 2008 & then again in May 2012 for their alleged roles in planning the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on #NewYork's World Trade Center & the Pentagon
JUST IN: US issues new National Counterintelligence Strategy
Updated strategy, signed by @POTUS Thursday, based on 3 pillars, per @NCSCgov:
-outmaneuver/constrain foreign intelligence entities
-protect US strategic advantages
-invest in the future
"Foreign intelligence and security services & their proxies persist in seeking to acquire our most
sensitive information, technology, and intellectual property" per @POTUS in the just-released strategy
"Non-state actors are following suit"
Foreign intelligence entities "also seeking to take advantage of the proliferation of commercially available tools to conduct surveillance; collect vast amounts of previously unavailable personal data;
& position themselves to disrupt our infrastructure..." per @POTUS
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