1/ Please read this THREAD - the wild story of the reclusive Blue brothers, who are about to make $3 BILLION from the UAE arms sales.

I wrote about them in my book, The Violence Inside Us. An example of how profits, not U.S. security interests, often dictate U.S. arms policy.
2/ As Yale students, the Blue brothers made the cover of Life Magazine, recounting the story of a daredevil adventure flying a small plane from New Haven to Columbia, and along the way befriended the brutal Somoza regime in Nicaragua.
3/ After college, Linden and Neal went into business with the dictator, running their plantations. Then they took over a small uranium company, General Atomics (GA), and got into trouble by keeping a processing facility open that was contaminating the local water.
4/ Back in Nicaragua, the Somozas were out of power, defeated by the Sandanistas, and the Blues were out for revenge.

They (and the Reagan Admin) backed the Contras against the Sandanistas, and got the idea for a drone equipped w bombs to be used by the Contras.
5/ GA developed the Predator drone, but the Reagan Admin wasn't interested.

So the Blues hired tons of lobbyists, and started writing huge campaign checks and giving lavish trips to Republican Congressmen.
marketwatch.com/story/general-…
6/ The investment worked. Soon, Congress started ordering the drones. GA's biggest booster on the House Appropriations Committee was Duke Cunningham, who went to jail for taking bribes from defense contractors.
vice.com/en/article/z44…
7/ The problem was, evidence suggests the Reagan era skeptics were rights. For instance, in the areas we conducted drone strikes in Pakistan from 2006-2012, terrorist activity increased, not decreased. Drone strikes just ramped up anti-American sentiment and extremist recruiting.
8/ And the Blue brothers' drones usually kill the wrong people. One study from drone usage in 2012-2013 in Afghanistan suggests drones hit the right target only 10% of the time.
reuters.com/article/us-afg…
9/ Prior to the Trump Admin, the U.S. refused to sell Reaper drones (the successor to the Predator) to foreign governments. But the Blue brothers put their lobbying machine into motion, and got Trump to override the ban.
nytimes.com/2020/07/24/us/…
10/ Now, the U.S. is on the verge of minting the Blues $3 billion by selling Reapers to the UAE, despite scant evidence these drones make the world safer, and a history of the UAE using U.S. military equipment in violation of both U.S. and international law.
11/ The story of the Blue brothers is a prime example of how the interests of defense contractors, not the actual security interests of the United States, too often guide our defense spending and our arms sales policy.

A cautionary tale for the incoming Biden team.

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More from @ChrisMurphyCT

2 Dec
I have introduced a privileged resolution (meaning it must receive a floor vote) with @SenatorMenendez and @RandPaul to stop a massive, $23 billion sale of F-35s, Reaper drones, and munitions to the UAE.

This is really important, and I want you to understand why.

1/ A THREAD:
2/ First, a stipulation - the UAE has been a strong ally of the United States. They partner in fighting ISIS and countering malign Iranian influence, and they've been a key player in the détente between Gulf states and Israel, culminating in this fall's recognition accords.
3/ The UAE's recognition of Israel is a big deal. I fully support the Abraham Accords. But there was no invisible ink in that deal that obligated the United States to compromise our own security by selling wildly lethal weapons in the Middle East.
Read 9 tweets
24 Nov
THREAD: Yes @ABlinken and Biden’s national security team have loads of experience, but they are open to new ideas.

That’s key, bc U.S. foreign policy has become dangerously sclerotic, and progressives have offered several productive critiques of the national security consensus.
1/ For instance, it’s time for America to finally shake our hubris of what can be accomplished by military deployments in far off places. Restraint IS a policy. Often our intervention (think Iraq or Libya or Syria) ends up doing much more harm than good.
2/ Secret wars, exempt from public view or oversight, too often go off the rails. For example, our drone program more often kills the wrong target, adding fuel to extremist groups recruitment drives.
Read 11 tweets
20 Nov
Due to Trump's petulant, delusional, democracy-smashing refusal to accept the election results, his Administration is refusing share details with President-elect Biden's team about their vaccination distribution plan .

1/ A short THREAD on why that's going to get people killed.
2/ Vaccinating 300m people would be an enormous undertaking w a single, simple vaccine. But this plan envisions multiple vaccines, with some vaccines requiring ultra-cold storage (which we don't much of) and multiple doses (requiring tracking systems).
cnn.com/2020/11/10/hea…
3/ Trump and his team have screwed up every logistical element of COVID response so far. 80% of nurses say they don't have adequate PPE. Many have to wait in 3 hour lines for a test. Why would Trump's vaccine plan be magically different?
nationalnursesunited.org/press/national…
Read 7 tweets
9 Nov
1/ The disarray of the lame duck Trump White House, especially in the national security space, could be staggering. And our adversaries may try to take advantage.

A short THREAD on what could go wrong in the next 60 days, and how Congress can help fill the void.
2/ Reports suggest Trump's post-defeat rage could lead to the firings of Esper or Haspel. DoD and/or CIA could be leaderless by Thanksgiving. And if Trump refuses to concede, other national security officials could bail to try to save their careers.
thehill.com/policy/defense…
3/ Emerging global powers could try to take advantage of the vacuum. At the top of that list is China. They could finish their crack down in Hong Kong, or they could make a move on the disputed islands with Taiwan.
taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4038660
Read 6 tweets
3 Nov
I want to tell you a story - one I don’t think I’ve ever told publicly before - about the man we have a chance to elect President of the United States today.

1/ A story about the day Joe Biden came to Connecticut - 2 months after Sandy Hook.

I hope you’ll read this.
2/ Biden came to give a speech at a forum on gun violence that we had organized at a state college just outside Newtown.

It was just 60 days after the shooting and the event was intended to help us push for the changes in gun laws we wanted at the federal and state levels.
3/ He stayed after his speech to meet with the Sandy Hook parents. In a somber room off the main hall, he spent about 2 hours with about 10 families. He told stories of his own loss, he explained how he rebuilt his life, he gave a lot hugs.

Then he did something else.
Read 7 tweets
17 Oct
Joe Biden - and all of us - SHOULD be furious that media outlets are spreading what is very likely Russian propaganda.

1/ I’ve seen the intel. The mainstreaming of misinformation is Russia’s 2020 goal. Here’s what we know, and why we can’t take it lying down.
2/ Russia knew it had to play a different game than 2016. So it built an operation to cull virulently pro-Trump Americans as pseudo-assets, so blind in their allegiance to Trump that they’ll willingly launder Kremlin constructed anti-Biden propaganda.

Guiliani was a key target.
3/ Andriy Derkach was a top Russian agent. He was unmasked by the Treasury Dept this summer. Derkach and his team recruited Guiliani and have been feeding him info all year. The White House knew this.
google.com/amp/s/www.wash…
Read 8 tweets

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