"The president understands we live in a nation which defends its borders & we must know who is entering our beloved country" per @HomelandKen at @DHSgov 2020 State of the Homeland event "It's our solemn duty to never, to never allow the entry of individuals hostile to America"
"We will not allow threats to breach our homeland via a dysfunctional and negligent immigration process" per @HomelandKen
"I can confidently say, if the Department did not exist, every effort, every response and every action to secure our Homeland would have been slower, inefficient and less effective" per acting Secretary @DHS_Wolf in his "State of the Homeland" address earlier
ON #COVID19 - "Due to what we now know was #China’s irresponsible response, COVID-19 was permitted to become the worst global pandemic in more than 100 years" per @DHS_Wolf "Along with the World Health Organization, their actions were inept, their response too slow"
"In stark contrast..." continued @DHS_Wolf "...President Trump’s decisive & rapid action led our federal government to pursue a Whole-of-America response, which continues to deliver results"
#Protests: "The Department is resisting the civil unrest that is gripping certain cities" per @DHS_Wolf "Those who seek to undermine our democratic institutions, indiscriminately destroy businesses, & attack law enforcement officers & fellow citizens are a threat to the Homeland"
#Extremism - @DHSgov "stands in absolute opposition to any form of violent extremism. Whether by white supremacist extremists or anarchist extremists" per @DHS_Wolf "We will continue our daily efforts to combat all forms of domestic terror"
"We are releasing an implementation plan that outlines dozens of separate actions across the DHS enterprise designed to combat domestic terrorism" adds @DHS_Wolf
Says DHS now has a China Working Group "to uniformly prioritize & coordinate the Department’s response to these evolving threats"
"We are targeting illicit Chinese manufacturers who have exploited the #COVID19 pandemic " per @DHS_Wolf "We are preventing goods produced by slave labor from entering our markets "
"We are blocking visas for certain Chinese graduate students & researchers w/ties to China’s military fusion strategy to prevent them from stealing and otherwise appropriating sensitive research" adds @DHS_Wolf
"This Administration continues to hold these nation-states accountable for their actions, assigning attribution where appropriate, and taking aggressive punitive measures, including sanctions" per Wolf
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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