Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Oct 27 13 tweets 9 min read
Happening now: @SecDef Lloyd Austin speaking to reporters following the public release of the unclassified National Defense Strategy (NDS)

Says the main focus is #China as the pacing threat and #Russia as the "most acute" threat" Image
Main message to #China #Russia #DPRK #Iran, others - "The cost of aggression against the #UnitedStates or our allies and partners far outweigh any conceivable gains" per @SecDef
New US National Defense Strategy "advances a strategy focused on the PRC [#China]" per the new document

"...also accounts for the acute threat posed by #Russia"
#Russia invasion of #Ukraine - "We are certainly concerned about escalation" per @SecDef

Potential Russian use of any sort of nuclear weapon "has the potential of changing things" he adds "The talk of the use of the weapon of that sort is dangerous & irresponsible"
Still no indications that #Russia, #Putin have decided to use a dirty bomb, per @SecDef
#Ukraine - "They have exceeded most peoples expectations" vs #Russia, per @SecDef

"The Ukrainians must outline their objectives. We won't do that for them"
"The #Ukrainians can service just about every target they want to service" with their current capabilities, #GMLRS, per @SecDef

Says #Ukraine's biggest need right now remains air defense systems
#NASAMS expected to arrive in #Ukraine early next month, per @SecDef
US response should #Russia use nukes - @SecDef won't say except that, "I'm the guy who makes the recommendation to my boss on what we should do and how we should do it..."
Concerns about #Russia using its current nuclear exercises as a cover for potential military action?

"We haven't seen anything at this point" to indicate that, @SecDef says as he leaves the briefing room
More from @SecDef on threat from #Russia:

"The NDS bluntly describes Russia as an acute threat. & we chose the word acute carefully. Unlike #China, Russia can't systemically challenge the United States over the long term"
#China "is the only competitor out there with both the intent to reshape the international order & increasingly the power to do so" per @SecDef

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More from @jseldin

Oct 27
New US National Defense Strategy sticking with "by, with, and through" to take on terrorists/violent extremists...
"In #Africa, [@DeptofDefense] will prioritize disrupting VEO threats against the US homeland & vital US national interests, working “by, with, and through” our African partners" per the NDS

"... continuing our “by, with, and through” approach in #Iraq and #Syria"
#ISIS, #alQaida & affiliates, generally, "have had their capabilities degraded, but some may be able to reconstitute them in short order, which will require monitoring indications & warning against the
VEO threat" per the 2022 Nat'l Defense Strategy
Read 8 tweets
Oct 27
MORE US National Defense Strategy on #China

"The most comprehensive & serious challenge to US national security is the PRC’s coercive & increasingly aggressive endeavor to refashion the Indo-Pacific region & the int'l system to suit its interests & authoritarian preferences"
#China "seeks to undermine US alliances &
security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, and leverage its growing capabilities...to coerce its neighbors & threaten their interests" per US NDS
#China's "increasingly provocative rhetoric & coercive activity towards #Taiwan...part of a broader pattern of destabilizing & coercive PRC behavior that stretches across the #EastChinaSea, the #SouthChina Sea, & along the Line of Actual Control" per US NDS
Read 8 tweets
Oct 27
NEW: Lessened threat from #Russia - "Russia is absolutely deterred from attacking @NATO" per a senior US defense official, briefing reporters on the National Defense Strategy
More: "President Biden has stated unequivocally that we will defend every inch of @NATO territory & it is very clear to us here in the Pentagon that #Russia has received that message" per the senior US defense official
US facing a challenge from the dual threats of a nuclear #China & a nuclear #Russia

"It cannot be a solution where if China has a thousand [nukes] & Russia has a thousand, that we need 2 thousand bcs that is an arms race nobody should want to be in" per sr US defense official
Read 4 tweets
Oct 26
NEW: US worried #Russia now helping #Tehran manage protests that have gripped #Iran since the death of #MahsaAmini

"We are concerns that #Moscow may be advising Tehran on best practices" per @PressSec Karine Jean-Pierre
"The evidence that #Iran is helping #Russia wage its war against #Ukraine is clear & it is public" per @PressSec

"Iran & Russia are growing closer the more isolated they become..."
"Our message to #Iran is very very clear" per @PressSec "Stop killing your people & stop sending weapons to #Russia to kill #Ukrainians"
Read 9 tweets
Oct 26
NEW: 3 primary threats to #Election2022, per @DHSgov @SecMayorkas at #HSEF22

1- #cybersecurity
2- #misinformation/#disinformation from #Russia #Iran #China "both pre and post election...to undermine the perception of the integrity of the elections"
3- physical security
"It is a very sad state of affairs when election officials are worried about their security" per @SecMayorkas

re: #Election2022
.@DHSgov providing intelligence to election officials, plus training & resources - "We're really a critical partner" for state & local election officials, per @SecMayorkas
Read 5 tweets
Oct 26
#Russia "failing" in #Ukraine, per @NATO @jensstoltenberg

"Putin is failing on the battlefield" he said earlier at NATO HQ

"He is responding w/more indiscriminate attacks on Ukrainian cities, against civilians & against critical infrastructure & w/dangerous nuclear rhetoric"
#Russia|n allegations abt #Ukraine preparing a dirty bomb - "This is absurd" per @NATO's @jensstoltenberg

"Allies reject this patently false accusation & Russia must not use false pretexts to escalate the war further..."
"...@NATO will not be intimidated or deterred from supporting #Ukraine's right to self-defense for as long as it takes" per @jensstoltenberg
Read 9 tweets

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