Current visit of #Iraq PM @MAKadhimi focused on "reforming, reshaping, restarting the relationship" with the US, Foreign Affairs Minister Fuad Hussein tells @USIP
"We are here to repair this damage" from previous Iraqi administration
Discussions have focused on security - "how can we reshape, reform our relation on this field" per #Iraq's Fuad Hussein
"I'm glad to say we reached understanding yesterday & this morning also in mtg at the White House"
"Is the security situation so bad, compared for example w/3-4 years ago when #ISIS was controlling many areas in #Iraq? The answer is no" per Foreign Affairs Minister Fuad Hussein
"But we must be realistic. ISIS organizations, they are still here & there"
But #Iraq also facing threats other than #ISIS - "some of them have to do w/tribal, some of them have to do w/other groups" per Foreign Affairs Minister Fuad Hussein
"So all of these things create unstable situation"
"I know #PKK forces are still in Iraq & PKK forces, in principle, are fighting against Turkish army" per Iraq Foreign Affairs Minister Fuad Hussein
"Iraqi constitution is not allowing ant group, any force to attack any neighboring country from Iraqi soil" per Hussein
"We want to have good relations" he adds "We don't want to be victims of this [#Turkey-#PKK] fight"
"We have got on-the-ground people' to fight #ISIS, says #Iraq Foreign Affairs Min Hussein "We can do it...but we need equipment, we need information"
"We need air attacks" he adds, citing areas where #Iraq needs US help
"#ISIS is still a threat in the area" Hussein adds
#Iraq's Shia militias-"They must be part of the Iraqi forces...if they are functioning outside the state, then that means they are against the state" per Foreign Affairs Min Hussein
"In the end, I think there will not be a place for these groups that are attacking diplomats..."
IDP camps in #Iraq being sanitized periodically due to #COVID19, #Iraq Migration Minister Evan Faeq Jabro tells @USIP
There was 1 case in #Ninewa, 14 in #Duhok but all those affected were quarantined "and the situation is now under control" she says through a translator
#ISIS IDPs coming back to #Iraq - Migration ministry willing "to supervise their return & to reintegrate them into society again..." per #Iraq's Evan Faeq Jabro, though she notes there are differences within the government on where in Iraq to put them
#ISIS IDPs and deradicalization-"There will be programs to tackle this matter, the ideology" #Iraq's Migration Min. Jabro says "The children...there will be programs to help tackle & mitigate the effects of this"
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
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"