Just in: 34yo #Brooklyn#NewYork resident from #Uzbekistan sentenced to 15 years for conspiring with & attempting to materially support #ISIS
Dilkhayot Kasimov raised money, provided some of his own to send 2 coconspirators to #Syria to fight w/ISIS in 2015, per @TheJusticeDept
"Kasimov is an #ISIS supporter who collected & gave money to another individual to fund his travel to join the terrorist group" per @TheJusticeDept Asst AG Matthew Olsen "With this sentence, Kasimov is being held accountable for his crimes"
Kasimov's co-defendants, Abdurasul Juraboev & Akhror Saidakhmetov, were previously sentenced to 15 years in prison
A 3rd codefendant, Azizjon Rakhmatov, got 12.5 years
Two more, Akmal Zakirov & Abror Habibov, are awaiting sentencing
" The main road into the Sieverodonetsk pocket likely remains under #Ukrainian control but Russia continues to make steady local gains, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery"
NEW: US announces new security assistance to #Ukraine valued at “up to $700 million, tailored to meet critical Ukrainian needs” per @DeptofDefense
Recap of the abt $5.3 billion in security assistance provided so far…
NEW: @POTUS says new $700 million package to #Ukraine “will arm them with new capabilities and advanced weaponry, including HIMARS with battlefield munitions, to defend their territory from #Russia|n advances”
NEW: Details on the latest US security assistance package to #Ukraine, worth an estimated $700 million
"Allies have certainly been impressed by the performance of the Ukrainian forces" @USAmbNATO Julianne Smith tells @GWUPMNS
"I think many of us were surprised by their ability to push back on Russian aggression"
"The level of of ... respect that you see across the alliance for Ukrainian forces right now is quite high" per @USAmbNATO
#Ukraine progress on the ground "not linear in all cases" per @USAmbNATO "We see moments where #Russia|n forces advance. We see moments where Ukrainian forces are successfully able to push back"
JUST IN: @ODNIgov issues "Best Practices" report to protect right of #Chinese Americans during US intelligence operations
Report finds "policies & procedures reflect an appropriate focus on the protection of privacy, civil liberties, & civil rights" BUT makes 4 recommendations
1. agencies/components "reemphasize the prohibition on conducting intelligence & related security activities based on race or ethnicity, to include those related to the granting or revocation of security clearances, in
their training materials"
2. "All IC agencies and components are encouraged
to expand unconscious bias & cultural competency training to personnel involved in intelligence collection & security clearance processes"
"The pro-Pashtun bias evident in the composition of the de facto authorities & poor treatment of #Tajik & #Uzbek Taliban runs the risk of provoking defections from those quarters" per @UN member state intel