Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Mar 14 5 tweets 4 min read
Senate Intelligence Committee vice chair promising "groundbreaking" report on #COVID19

In a video statement, @marcorubio says the report is "based on almost 18 months of investigations ...evidence that was either previously unknown or otherwise ignored by the US government"
Last week, @FBI Director Christopher told the Senate Intelligence Committee the bureau "has long assessed going back t the summer of 2021 that the origin of the pandemic was likely a lab incident in #Wuhan"
Where does the rest of US intelligence community stand on the question?

@ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines told the committee:

4 agencies + Nat'l Intelligence Council-"low confidence" #COVID19 pandemic caused by natural exposure to infected animal

@ENERGY: lab leak w/low confidence
"It is a really challenging issue" DNI Haines said of determining origins of #COVID19

"Not every element of the IV has been able to put themselves on side side of the ledger or the other..."
At the same hearing, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman @MarkWarner said: "It is entirely fair for us to ask whether the virus that has killed 6.8 million people – so far – might have been accidentally released from a lab in #Wuhan

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More from @jseldin

Mar 14
BREAKING: #Russia|n Su-27 collides with US MQ-9 drone over the #BlackSea

Per @US_EUCOM, the Russian aircraft was 1 of 2 conducting " an unsafe & unprofessional intercept" when it struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in
int'l waters"
MORE: Before #Russia|n Su-27 hit the US MQ-9 drone, "the [two] Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound
and unprofessional manner" per @US_EUCOM
"Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in int'l airspace when it was intercepted & hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash & complete loss of the MQ-9" per US Air Forces Europe & Air Forces Africa Cmdr Gen. James Hecker
Read 5 tweets
Mar 14
"China military modernization... is really just kind of awesome" @DefenseIntel #China Mission Group Chief Doug Wade warns @INSAlliance

"It's the totality of how the pull [all the modernization efforts] together that's the most impressive aspect"
Any move by #China on #Taiwan would be preceded by a range of activities, including #cyber activity, blockades, more violations of Taiwanese airspace & military measures short of putting troops on the ground, per @DefenseIntel's Wade
#China's Xi Jinping does not prefer to use force for unification w/#Taiwan - "China doesn't want to start a fight" per @DefenseIntel's Wade

But he cautions, "They haven't ruled it out"
Read 9 tweets
Mar 13
Pentagon asking for $30.6 billion for munitions in FY 24 - a 12% increase over FY 23 & a 50% increase over 5 years ago

"We are buying to the limits of the industrial base, even as we are expanding the industrial base" per @DepSecDef Kathleen Hicks
Munitions & munition production has been in the crosshairs due to demand/aid to #Ukraine

Per @DepSecDef, 1/3 of munitions spending will go for long range fires, including #hypersonic missiles
"This latest budget...procures the maximum amt of munitions that are most relevant for deterring &, if necessary, prevailing over aggression in the #IndoPacific..." per @DepSecDef's prepared remarks
Read 10 tweets
Mar 10
#Russia's use of #hypersonic missiles - specifically the Kinzhal - to batter #Ukraine has almost everyone's attention at the moment (see below)

BUT US defense intelligence officials warn #China's hypersonic program may be the more worrisome

1/x
voanews.com/a/british-mini…
"#China is leading #Russia in both supporting infrastructure & numbers of systems" @DefenseIntel Chief Scientist for Science and Technology Paul Freisthler told US lawmakers Friday

2/x
"#China has dramatically advanced its development of conventional & nuclear armed hypersonic missile technologies & capabilities" per @DefenseIntel's Freisthler

"...through intense & focused investment development testing & deployment"

3/x
Read 11 tweets
Mar 8
Happening now: US Senate's Annual Worldwide Threats with:

@ODNIgov Dir Avril Haines
@CIA Dir William Burns
@DefenseIntel Dir LtGen Scott Berrier
@CYBERCOM_DIRNSA Gen Paul Nakasone
@FBI Dir Christopher Wray
intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-…
"We are increasingly seeing rising competition in the technology space with authoritarian regimes that are challenging democratic norms at home & around the world," per Senate Intel Committee chair @MarkWarner
#China's communist party "is now a near-peer competitor with the United States in its economy, technology & military capabilities" per @MarkWarner
Read 60 tweets
Mar 7
#Russia #cyber ops in the war on #Ukraine - "We continue full spectrum operations w/a series of partners to include Ukraine to provide them assistance as they battle the Russians" @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA Gen Paul Nakasone tells lawmakers
#Russia "a very capable [#cyber] adversary" per @CYBERCOM_DIRNSA "We continue to work very tightly w/our other partners within the US gvt -CISA, @FBI- to ensure our US critical infrastructure is protected, and @NATO in general"
Background:

“If the conflict continues to not go well for #Russia, there is some chance that Russia will be increasingly brazen in its cyberattacks” an NSA spox told @VOANews “...will increasingly look outside of Ukraine's territorial borders"
voanews.com/a/us-bracing-f…
Read 22 tweets

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