"We see Islamic State core really needing these affiliates" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson, adding #alQaida in Africa is even more dangerous, learning from the mistakes #ISIS made in #Iraq#Syria
"This is not a threat that one nation can take care of on its own" @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson says of #ISIS#alQaida "We should not underestimate what they're doing"
Says both are threats to the current international order
"They have come in and galvanized these localized groups that were disparate" per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson
#ISIS#alQaida "have the ability to transform the local grievance into an int'l one" he says
US has less than 1,000 personnel working w/#Somalia's forces to fight #alShabab-most of that to help build the #Danab forces, per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson
Also focusing on #alShabaab in #Juba River Valley, where al Shabaab's leadership & external planning ops are
US African partners being forced to invest 15-20% of their GDP in security due to terror threats, which means they are not able to invest that money in other areas like health, education, the economy - #ISIS#alQaida trying to take advantage of the shortfalls, per MajGen Anderson
"The US flag helps build trust. It also builds confidence" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson
"We're having great effect with a small investment" per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson, also praisinf French forces
#France "has put a lot of blood & treasure into the #Sahel"
"The French are carrying the heavy burden of the fight in the #Sahel" adds per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson
"DoD has continued to conflate competition w/deterrence" in #Africa, Mark Mitchell, ex @DeptofDefense Principal Deputy Asst Sec for Special Ops/Low-Intensity Conflict tells @AEI
"We need to do a much better job of integrating our overall military efforts w/the diplomatic..."
US needs to "look at #Africa as a theater of strategic competition" per Mitchell re #Russia#China
"Where we excel, what special ops' niche is, is enabling out partners" per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson
"That is what other soc-called great powers are unable to do"
"These lines of influence aren't set. They're very fluid" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM Africa's MajGen Anderson
"We have the will & values to engage w/our partners a equals, not to make them feel second class" per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson "That matters"
"If we don't want corrosive dictatorships...then we have to be willing to go out an engage" per @USSOCOM#Africa's MajGen Anderson, adding it cannot be just the US military
"I can't think at any time the VEOs [violent extremism organizations] have benefited from #China or #Russia" in #Africa, per @USSOCOM's MajGen Anderson "That's not in anyone's interest"
"There are places to cooperate" w/#China in #Africa, per MajGen Anderson "I do see opportunities if they are willing to play by the rules"
"We need more energy...We need a coherent narrative & a coherent strategy to engage" in #Africa, per MajGen Anderson "We were brilliant at this during the #ColdWar"
"I think what [#RadioFreeEurope]...#VoiceofAmerica did was absolutely critical" per MajGen Anderson "I know that for a fact..."
"Having unbiased news that we push, that we send out around the world is absolutely vital to what we do" per US Special Ops #Africa Commander MajGen Anderson
"We have the ideals & values that transcend borders that people immigrate to America for"
"Whenever I go to #Africa, there isn't a partner that doesn't ask about how to come study in America, how do I get my kids to America, how do I get there?"
per MajGen Anderson "It's because they believe in what America stands for"
"We've become reticent, I think, to engage in information operations, to engage in news & broadcasts that matter" per MajGen Anderson "That's where as a nation we need to look & not be afraid to talk about who we are as a people"
"That is the strength of America & that is what our founding fathers established & that's what the Statue of Liberty stands for" per US Special Ops #Africa's MajGen Anderson "I don't defend that statue. I defend the words at her feet & the intangibles that that beacon stands for"
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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"
NEW: @usairforce disciplines 15 Air National Guard members as a result of the so-called Discord intel leak this past April
Inspector General report cited lax inspections, lack of guidance & lack of supervision as contributing factors in the leaks by 21-year-old Jack Teixeira
"The IG investigation found individuals in Teixeira’s unit failed to take proper action after becoming aware of his intelligence-seeking activities..." per @usairforce statement
"...However, the investigation did not find evidence that members of Teixeira’s supervisory chain were aware of his alleged unauthorized disclosures" per @usairforce