Combatting #disinformation: "We can't compromise our American values in the process" BrigGen Richard Angle, Deputy Commanding General, Jt Special Operations Command, tells #FutureSecurityForum
"If you engage in it, those pushing it win. If you ignore it, those pushing it win" per BrigGen Angle
"We need to seize the initiative. We beed to own the narrative. And we need to expand the concept of persistent engagement in #cyberspace to persistent engagement in information operations" per BrigGen Angle
"Need to impose a cost"
"This is still about ppl" per BrigGen Angle "It's still about finding the right talent w/the knowledge, skills & attributes to effectively compete in the information environment"
"Do we need more social scientists? Do we need more data scientists? Do we need more behavioral scientists?" per BrigGen Angle "The answer is probably yes to all of those"
Fighting #disinfo - "Just like you can't stop malaria by killing all the mosquitos, you have to inoculate your population" per BrigGen Angle
"Authoritarian countries look at #cyberspace as sovereign territory to be governed, to be influenced" @MITREcorp's Sam Visner, former Chief of Signal Intelligence Programs at @NSAGov, tells #FutureSecurityForum
"They're sometimes surprised that we don't see it that way"
International cooperation w/#disinformation - "This is an area where I think the #UnitedStates continues to have a strong advantage - one perhaps we could use more strongly than we do" per @MITREcorp's Visner, pointing to Five Eyes and others
"It's simply about telling the truth" per Joint Special Operations Command BrigGen Angle
"We have a very very good news story to tell & we shouldn't be shy about telling that story"
"How do we get our narrative out there in volume, in velocity, in scope & scale to not just match but to overmatch our adversaries?" per BrigGen Angle
US military-"We have the authorities to do that but we have centralized the permissions at too high a level, which prevents us from acting at the speed of relevance" per Angle
"We need to have message release authority that doesn't get held at a 4-star level or a 3-star level"
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
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
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