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Feb 7 • 11 tweets • 7 min read
NEW: Need for concern re lines of communication w/#China's military?

@DeptofDefense asked for @SecDef to speak w/PRC nat'l defense minister "immediately after taking action to down the PRC balloon" Saturday, per @PentagonPresSec

"Unfortunately, the PRC has declined our request"
"We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication...in order to responsibly manage the relationship" w/#China, per @PentagonPresSec

They're "particularly important in moments like this...Our commitment to open lines of communication will continue" he adds
The US has used a deconfliction line w/#Russia in #Syria since about 2015
voanews.com/a/us-russia-si…
The US-#Russia hotline for #Syria held thru 2017...
And 2018...
And 2019...
The US also established a deconfliction line w/the #Kremlin after #Russia invaded #Ukraine to avoid misunderstandings btw the US & Russian militaries...
...though little was being shared via the line after about a month
As for #China, top @DeptofDefense officials have publicly raised concerns about the #PRC's unwillingness to talk

"We have some challenges" @ASD_IndoPacific told @AEI this past December
"We continue to try to engage with the PLA to keep the channels of communication open to try to make sure that, even as we have an intensifying competition, that it doesn't veer into confrontation or conflict unnecessarily" @ASD_IndoPacific said at the time
#China has been "reluctant to talk about some of the crisis communications & strategic risk reduction types of issues" per @ASD_IndoPacific

"They also have a long track record ... of canceling some of the exchanges that we've planned as a political signaling mechanism"

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More from @jseldin

Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 10
NEW: High altitude object shot down at 1:45pm EST Friday over northern #Alaska - @USNorthernCmd recovery operations getting under way now, per @PentagonPresSec BrigGen Patrick Ryder, with update details from @DeptofDefense

It was "about the size of a small car"
On the #China spy ballon shot down this past Saturday off the coast of #SouthCarolina - teams have "located a significant amount of debris" that will allow US to get a better sense of the balloon's capabilities, per @PentagonPresSec
High altitude object was shot down by a F-22 out of Joint Base Elmendorf in #Alaska using an AIM-9X sidewinder missile, per @PentagonPresSec
Read 9 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 10
BREAKING: US @DeptofDefense fighter aircraft shoots down object traveling at 40k feet over #Alaska - might have posed a threat to aircraft, per US National Security Council spox John Kirby, in response to q from @pwidakuswara
Pentagon was tracking the high-altitude object over the past 24 hours & concluded it "posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight" per Kirby

@POTUS ordered the object shot down "out of an abundance of caution" he said, over frozen US territorial waters
The shootdown of the high altitude object took place in the past hour, per Kirby
Read 13 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 10
NEW: US military launching relief mission to #Turkey

US has "positioned military capabilities, personnel & equipment to aid the government of #Türkiye [#Turkey] in its continued search & rescue efforts following the 7.8 earthquake" per @US_EUCOM
Per @US_EUCOM, a team from HQ arrived ay #Incirlik AB on Feb 9 "to determine how the US military can rapidly respond with critically needed capabilities & equipment to support assistance requested by the Turkish government through @USAID"
The George Herbert Walker Bush Carrier Strike Group also now in the eastern #Mediterranean on Feb. 7 "and stands ready to provide logistics, medical, and rotary airlift support" per @US_EUCOM
Read 5 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 10
Latest US assessment of #Russia|n losses in #Ukraine️

"Russia's conventional, especially ground capabilities, ground force capabilities, in #Europe have been significantly degraded" per @DeptofDefense Asst Sec. for Int'l Security Affairs Celeste Wallander tells #CNAS2023
#Russiaa's suffered "tens of thousands of casualties" in #Ukraine, per @DeptofDefense's Wallander

"It has probably lost half of its main battle tank stock in combat" to destruction or capture by Ukraine
"Something like 80 percent of #Russia's ground force capability is right now devoted to the fight in #Ukraine" per @DeptofDefense's Wallander
Read 11 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 9
NEW: #China's spy balloon "put on full display what we've long recognized - the PRC has become more repressive at home & more aggressive abroad" @DeputySecState Wendy Sherman tells lamwmakers

"It reinforced the need for us to double down on our strategy-invest, align, compete "
.@StateDept "modernizing our work...to mobilize our embassies and resources to take on this challenge" from #China, per @DeputySecState

Sherman says US working w/like-minded countries across the #IndoPacific & beyond, sharing intel showing threat posed by PRC
#Taiwan-"We remain committed to out long-standing One #China policy & oppose any unilateral changes to the cross strait status quo" per @DeputySecState
Read 14 tweets
Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Feb 9
NEW: #China surveillance balloons have flown over +40 countries & 5 continents - gathering " conducting signals intelligence collection operations" per @StateDept official

The equipment was "inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons"
US gathered intel on #China's spy balloons specs w/ high resolution imagery from U-2 flybys, per @StateDept official

Chinese balloon had "multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications"
#China's surveillance balloon "was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors" per @StateDept official
Read 5 tweets

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