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Tag: national security

  • How Chinese is TikTok? US lawmakers see it as China’s tool, even as it distances itself from Beijing

    How Chinese is TikTok? US lawmakers see it as China’s tool, even as it distances itself from Beijing

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    WASHINGTON — If some U.S. lawmakers have their way, the United States and China could end up with something in common: TikTok might not be available in either country.

    The House on Wednesday approved a bill requiring the Beijing-based company ByteDance to sell its subsidiary TikTok or face a nationwide ban. It’s unclear if the bill will ever become law, but it reflects lawmakers’ fears that the social media platform could expose Americans to Beijing’s malign influences and data security risks.

    But while U.S. lawmakers associate TikTok with China, the company, headquartered outside China, has strategically kept its distance from its homeland.

    Since its inception, the TikTok platform has been intended for non-Chinese markets and is unavailable in mainland China. It pulled out of Hong Kong in 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on the territory to curtail speech. As data security concerns started to rise in the U.S., TikTok sought to reassure lawmakers that data gathered on U.S. users stays in the country and is inaccessible to ByteDance employees in Beijing.

    TikTok’s parent company is following the same playbook as many other Chinese companies with global ambitions: To win customers and trust in the United States and other Western countries, they are playing down their Chinese roots and connections. Some have insisted they be called “global companies” instead of “Chinese companies.”

    But for TikTok, this may not be enough. The House bill passed overwhelmingly on a 352-65 vote. Its prospects in the Senate are uncertain, but if it clears both chambers, President Joe Biden said he would sign it into law. The moves in Washington threaten the app’s survival and cast a spotlight on the quandary that many private Chinese companies have found themselves a part of as they seek to engage Western markets at a time of souring U.S.-China relations.

    “It’s the most difficult time for Chinese tech companies and private businesses in decades as tensions and rivalry between the United States and China continue to grow,” said Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University.

    “These companies and businesses face squeezing from both sides as they struggle to survive,” Zhu said. “While the U.S. and other Western countries have imposed sanctions or restrictions on these companies, China itself has moved to favor state-owned enterprises in recent years, leaving little room for Chinese tech and private businesses to operate.”

    Alex Capri, senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore and research fellow at Hinrich Foundation, agreed that companies like TikTok with Chinese roots are “really stuck in two polar extremes” between the heavy-handed communist party and the deeply suspicious West.

    “Any Chinese tech company has to operate under a cloud of suspicion, and that’s because there’s a total breakdown of trust,” Capri said.

    With the rise of techno-nationalism, by which technological capabilities are deemed a national strategic asset, China’s tech companies are obligated by Beijing’s laws and rules to turn over data and have become “essentially a de-facto representative” of China’s ruling communist party, Capri said.

    ”That in itself makes it very challenging for companies like TikTok,” he said.

    In 2018, Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, toed the party line after Beijing shut down ByteDance’s jokes app. He apologized publicly for his company’s deviations from socialistic core values and promised to “comprehensively rectify the algorithm” on its news app and add significantly more layers of censoring — a move considered necessary for any company to survive in China.

    That explains the oft-repeated claim by Rep. Mike Gallagher, chair of the House Select Committee on China’s communist party, that “there’s no such thing as a private company in China.”

    The bill, as approved by the House, seeks to remove applications from app stores or web hosting services in the U.S. unless the application severs its ties to companies — such as ByteDance — that are subject to the control from foreign adversaries, like China.

    “This is my message to TikTok: Break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” said Gallagher, the bill’s sponsor. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”

    Congressional mistrust of TikTok was evident at a Jan. 31 hearing when Sen. Tom Cotton repeatedly asked CEO Shou Zi Chew if he is a Chinese citizen beholden to the Communist party. Chew, who is Singaporean, repeatedly said no.

    On Tuesday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi said it’s problematic that ByteDance, which owns the social platform’s algorithm, is subject to Beijing’s control.

    Chew, in another congressional hearing last year, told Congress that “we do not remove or promote content on behalf of the Chinese government.”

    In a recent interview with Wired magazine, Chew acknowledged that the company’s Chinese origins have given TikTok a “bigger trust deficit than most other companies.”

    “Maybe our trust starting line is behind other businesses, but I also think that there are very serious approaches that we’ve taken to try and earn that trust and to close that gap,” Chew said, citing efforts by TikTok to protect U.S. user data, be transparent and “not be manipulated by any government.”

    Short of severance from the home country, Chinese companies chasing global ambitions have tried to distance themselves from China by introducing many foreign investors, hiring foreign executives, moving headquarters to outside China and limiting operations to overseas markets, said Thomas Zhang, China analyst at FrontierView, a U.S.-headquartered market intelligence provider. But “the effects are limited as long as the founder in China does not relinquish control,” Zhang said.

    For TikTok, the trust is so lacking that even a full divestiture from its Chinese parent company may not work, because complicated ownership structures can obscure potential Chinese ownership, Capri said.

    As TikTok fights for survival, it has made a move that is very present in American politics: It’s engaging in heavy lobbying, and appealing to its 170 million U.S. users to contact their lawmakers to say a TikTok ban would infringe on their free speech rights.

    It’s won over one powerful critic: Former President Donald Trump, in a reversal, came out against the TikTok legislation. But Trump, for all his sway with congressional Republicans, couldn’t prevent House passage.

    If the bill becomes law, Capri said, TikTok could pursue the ultimate American recourse: a lawsuit to challenge the ban.

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  • Is TikTok a threat to national security?

    Is TikTok a threat to national security?

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    Is TikTok a threat to national security? – CBS News


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    As U.S. lawmakers move forward with legislation that could potentially ban TikTok, China is warning of repercussions. Elizabeth Palmer, CBS News senior foreign correspondent, and Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, joins to unpack the larger national security threat TikTok could pose to the U.S.

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  • House passes a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban if Chinese owner refuses to sell

    House passes a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban if Chinese owner refuses to sell

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    WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company’s current ownership structure is a national security threat.

    The bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear.

    TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd.

    The lawmakers contend that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the U.S. any time it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.

    “We have given TikTok a clear choice,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.”

    House passage of the bill is only the first step. The Senate would also need to pass the measure for it to become law, and lawmakers in that chamber indicated it would undergo a thorough review. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’ll have to consult with relevant committee chairs to determine the bill’s path.

    President Joe Biden has said if Congress passes the measure, he will sign it.

    The House vote is the latest example of increased tensions between China and the U.S. By targeting TikTok, lawmakers are tackling what they see as a grave threat to America’s national security — but also singling out a platform popular with millions of people, many of whom skew younger, just months before an election.

    A TikTok spokesperson, Alex Haurek, said in a statement after the vote that the bill was jammed through as part of a secretive process.

    “We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” Haurek said.

    In anticipation of the vote, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, accused Washington of resorting to political tools when U.S. businesses fail to compete. He said the effort would disrupt normal business operations and undermine investor confidence “and will eventually backfire on the U.S. itself.”

    Overall, 197 Republican lawmakers voted for the measure and 15 against. On the Democratic side, 155 voted for the bill and 50 against.

    Some Republican opponents of the bill said the U.S. should warn consumers if there are data privacy and propaganda concerns, but the final choice should be left with consumers.

    “The answer to authoritarianism is not more authoritarianism,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. “The answer to CCP-style propaganda is not CCP-style oppression. Let us slow down before we blunder down this very steep and slippery slope.”

    Democrats also warned of the impact a ban would have on users in the U.S., including entrepreneurs and business owners. One of the no votes came from Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee.

    “One of the key differences between us and those adversaries is the fact that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We do not,” Himes said. “We trust our citizens to be worthy of their democracy. We do not trust our government to decide what information they may or may not see.”

    The day before the House vote, top national security officials in the Biden administration held a closed-door briefing with lawmakers to discuss TikTok and the national security implications. Lawmakers are balancing those security concerns against a desire not to limit free speech online.

    “What we’ve tried to do here is be very thoughtful and deliberate about the need to force a divestiture of TikTok without granting any authority to the executive branch to regulate content or go after any American company,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the bill’s author, as he emerged from the briefing.

    TikTok has long denied that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government. The company has said it has never shared U.S. user data with Chinese authorities and won’t do so if it is asked. To date, the U.S. government also has not provided evidence that shows TikTok shared such information with Chinese authorities.

    Republican leaders moved quickly to bring up the bill after its introduction last week by Gallagher and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. A House committee approved the legislation unanimously, on a 50-0 vote, even after their offices were inundated with calls from TikTok users demanding they drop the effort. Some offices even shut off their phones because of the onslaught. Supporters of the bill said the effort backfired.

    “(It) provided members a preview of how the platform could be weaponized to inject disinformation into our system,” Gallagher said.

    Lawmakers in both parties are anxious to confront China on a range of issues. The House formed a special committee to focus on China-related issues. And Schumer directed committee chairs to begin working with Republicans on a bipartisan China competition bill.

    Schumer is likely to feel some pressure from within his own party to move on the TikTok legislation. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner announced after the House vote that he will work to “get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”

    In a joint statement with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the intelligence panel, Warner said that “we are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok — a platform with enormous power to influence and divide Americans whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party”

    Roughly 30 TikTok influencers and others who traveled with them spoke out against the bill on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. They chanted phrases like “Keep TikTok” ahead of the vote. They also held signs that read “TikTok changed my life for the better” and “TikTok helped me grow my business.”

    Dan Salinger, a Sacramento, California-based TikTok creator in attendance, said he started creating content on the app during the COVID-19 pandemic purely out of boredom. But since then his account, which features videos about his life and his father, who suffers from dementia, has grown in popularity. Today, he has 2 million followers on the app.

    “I’m actually appalled for many reasons,” Salinger said. “The speed with which they’re pushing this bill through does not give enough time for Americans to voice their concerns and opinions.”

    Former President Donald Trump has spoken out against the House effort, but his vice president, Mike Pence, is urging Schumer to bring the House bill to a vote.

    “There can be no doubt that this app is Chinese spyware and that a sale to a non-foreign adversary company is in the best interests of the American people,” Pence said in a letter to Schumer.

    ___

    Associated Press staff writer Didi Tang contributed to this report.

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  • Live updates: Special Counsel Robert Hur testifies about Biden handling of classified documents

    Live updates: Special Counsel Robert Hur testifies about Biden handling of classified documents

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    Special Counsel Robert Hur is testifying to Congress on Tuesday about his investigation into how President Joe Biden handled classified documents after he was vice president.

    Hur is speaking to the House Judiciary Committee about his report, which concluded that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” which the special presented “serious risks to national security.”

    But Hur has said he decided not to criminally prosecute Biden for his handling of that material, in part because of the president’s allegedly poor memory, among other things.

    Biden and his lawyers have strongly disputed Hur’s characterization of the president’s memory, and have pointed to details in the the special counsel’s report that undercut the claim that he willfully retained classified documents.

    Former Special Counsel Robert K. Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. 

    Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

    This is developing news. Check back for updates.

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  • U.S. Intel Chiefs Warn of Global Threats

    U.S. Intel Chiefs Warn of Global Threats

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    U.S. intelligence leaders warned Monday that the country faces an “increasingly fragile world order” as it navigates a range of global threats exacerbated by adversaries’ use of emerging technologies like AI. 

    “The threat of malign actors exploiting these tools and technology to undercut U.S. interests and democracy is particularly potent as voters go to the polls in more than 60 elections around the globe this year,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee at its annual hearing on the top threats to the nation. 

    U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on China’s efforts to manipulate the 2024 presidential election and the potential for bad actors to use AI tools to create and amplify disinformation campaigns. The U.S. is facing “an ambitious but anxious China, a confrontational Russia, some regional powers such as Iran, and more capable non-state actors [who] are challenging longstanding rules of the international system as well as U.S. primacy within it,” the intelligence community said in its new 40-page unclassified report on worldwide threats.

    Read More: Why Spy Agencies May Lose Sweeping Surveillance Powers.

    The hearing represents an annual opportunity for lawmakers to publicly question the country’s top intelligence chiefs. In addition to Haines, CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, State Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Brett Holmgren, National Security Agency Director Gen. Timothy Haugh, and the head of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen Jeffrey Kruse, appeared before the Senate panel. Here are some of the threats covered in the hearing and report.

    China may target the 2024 U.S. elections

    Intelligence officials assess that China “may attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify US societal divisions,” according to the report.

    Under President Xi Jinping, “Chinese leaders believe it is essential to project power globally in order to be able to resist U.S. pressure,” Haines said. But she also noted that Xi’s focus on boosting China’s economy may temper any election interference, which would jeopardize the relationship with the U.S. and potentially damage China’s ability to attract foreign investment. 

    TikTok under fire

    Lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about the popular social-media app, which is mentioned briefly in the intelligence report. “It uses the data of Americans to basically read your mind and predict what videos you want to see,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said. “The problem is the algorithm that powers it is controlled by a company in China that must do whatever the Chinese Communist Party tells them to do.”

    In the report, U.S. spy chiefs note that China is “demonstrating a higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity, including experimenting with generative Al.” TikTok accounts run by a Chinese propaganda arm reportedly targeted both Democrat and Republican candidates from during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.

    There is bipartisan agreement that the video-sharing app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, poses a national security threat. A bill that would require the company to divest from the massively popular platform, which has about 170 million U.S. users, or face a ban is expected to come to a vote in the House of Representatives this week. It would require ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or be banned from Apple, Google, and other U.S. app stores and web-hosting services. The measure was sponsored by Republicans, but has significant bipartisan supportCK. President Joe Biden, whose campaign recently created its own TIkTok account, has told reporters: “If they pass it, I’ll sign it.”

    “High” risk of escalation in the Middle East

    The war in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis has galvanized Arab countries in the region, where there is rising “public sentiment against Israel and the United States for the death and destruction,” U.S. intelligence officials say in their report.

    “While it is too early to tell, it is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism,” Haines told lawmakers at the hearing, which was repeatedly interrupted by anti-war protestors. Inspired by Hamas, terrorist groups including al Qaeda and ISIS have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and American interests as the war drags on, Haines said.

    Read More: Inside the Israel-Hamas Information War.

    While the report states that the U.S. intelligence community assesses that “Iranian leaders did not orchestrate nor had foreknowledge” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel, attacks by Iranian-backed groups are threatening to destabilize Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf, and the Red Sea. “The risk of escalation into direct interstate conflict, intended or otherwise, remains high,” the intelligence report says. 

    U.S. support for Ukraine is critical

    As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, U.S. intelligence chiefs emphasized the importance of continued U.S. military support. “The Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity, they’re running out of ammunition,” Burns told lawmakers. “And we’re running out of time to help them.”

    If the U.S. is seen as walking away from support for Ukraine, “not only is that going to feed doubts amongst our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, it’s going to stoke the ambition of Chinese leadership,” the U.S. spy chief said.

    Intelligence leaders noted the challenge posed by Russia’s strengthening ties with China, Iran, and North Korea, which they said was bolstering its defense production and economy. “Putin’s strategic goals remain unchanged,” Haines told the Senate panel. “He continues to see NATO enlargement and Western support for Ukraine as reinforcing his long-held belief that the United States and Europe seek to restrict Russian power and undermine him.”

    Read More: Russia’s ‘Space-Based Weapon’ Raises Fresh Fears About an Old Threat

    Intelligence chiefs also warned that Moscow could “put at risk long-standing global norms in the use of asymmetric or strategically destabilizing weapons, including in space and in the cyber domain.” Last month, the White House said that Russia was pursuing a “space-based” anti-satellite capability that poses a serious national security concern.

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  • Hong Kong’s new national security bill includes stiff penalties and more power to suppress dissent

    Hong Kong’s new national security bill includes stiff penalties and more power to suppress dissent

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    HONG KONG — Hong Kong unveiled a proposed law that threatens life imprisonment for residents who “endanger national security” on Friday, deepening worries about erosion of the city’s freedoms four years after Beijing imposed a similar law that all but wiped out public dissent.

    It’s widely seen as the latest step in a crackdown on political opposition that began after the semi-autonomous Chinese city was rocked by violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. Since then, the authorities have crushed the city’s once-vibrant political culture. Many of the city’s leading pro-democracy activists have been arrested and others fled abroad. Dozens of civil society groups have been disbanded, and outspoken media outlets like Apple Daily and Stand News have been shut down.

    Hong Kong leader John Lee has urged legislators to push the Safeguarding National Security Bill through “at full speed,” and lawmakers began debate hours after the bill was released publicly. It’s expected to pass easily, possibly in weeks, in a legislature packed with Beijing loyalists following an electoral overhaul.

    The proposed law will expand the government’s power to stamp challenges to its rule, targeting espionage, disclosing state secrets, and “colluding with external forces” to commit illegal acts among others. It includes tougher penalties for people convicted of working with foreign governments or organizations to break some of its provisions.

    The law would jail people who damage public infrastructure with the intent to endanger national security for 20 years — or life, if they collude with an external force to do so. In 2019, protesters occupied the airport and vandalized railway stations.

    Similarly, those who commit sedition face a jail term of seven years but colluding with an external force to carry out such acts increase that penalty to 10 years.

    On Thursday, an appeals court upheld a conviction for sedition against a pro-democracy activist for chanting slogans and criticizing the Beijing-imposed 2020 National Security Law during a political campaign.

    Its expansive definition of external forces includes foreign governments and political parties, international organizations, and “any other organization in an external place that pursues political ends” — as well as companies that are influenced by such forces. Beijing said the 2019 unrest was implemented with the support of external forces and the city government has been critical against what they called external interference during the movement.

    The bill proposed to allow the prosecution of illegal acts committed outside of Hong Kong for most of its offenses.

    Critics say that the proposed law would make Hong Kong even more like mainland China.

    However, the government said it was necessary to prevent a recurrence of the massive anti-government protests that rocked the city in 2019, insisting it would only affect “an extremely small minority” of disloyal residents.

    It defined national security as a status in which the state’s political regime and sovereignty are relatively free from danger and threats, so are the welfare of the people and the state’s economic and social development among other “major interests.”

    The legislature’s president, Andrew Leung, told reporters that the process was accelerated because the bill was necessary to safeguard national security.

    “If you look at other countries, they enacted it within a day, two weeks, three weeks … So why can’t Hong Kong do it in a speedy manner? You tell me,” the pro-Beijing politician said.

    But the British consulate in Hong Kong urged authorities to “allow time for proper legislative scrutiny.” The city was a British colony until it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

    Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, requires the city to enact a national security law, but a previous attempt sparked a massive street protest that drew half a million people, and the legislation was shelved.

    Such against the current bill are unlikely, due to the chilling effect of the 2020 law after it was enacted to quell the 2019 protests.

    During a one-month public comment period that ended last week, 98.6% of the views received by officials showed support, and only 0.72% opposed the proposals, the government said. The rest contained questions or opinions that did not reflect a stance on the law, it added.

    But business people and journalists have expressed fear that a broadly framed law could criminalize their day-to-day work, especially because the proposed definition of state secrets includes matters linked to economic, social and technological developments. The government has sought to allay concerns by adding a public interest defense under specific conditions in the proposal.

    John Burns, an honorary professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, said it remains to be seen how courts will interpret the provision that allows a public interest defense to charges of disclosing state secrets.

    The bill, if passed as tabled, is likely to have chilling effect on local civil society, Burns said, especially political and public policy lobby groups that have benefited from connections to overseas counterparts.

    “At least initially, I expect them to be especially cautious about expanding links with similar groups overseas,” he said.

    Eric Lai, a research fellow at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said fears about the “are now materialized.”

    He called it “overbroad and vague,” particularly for offenses involving state secrets and external forces, and said it would undermine due process by allowing extended detention without charges, and by limiting the right to a lawyer.

    People arrested on suspicion of national security offenses and released on bail could face “movement restriction orders” which limit the places they can go and where they can live, as well as prevent them from communicating with certain people.

    Police can also apply to the court to extend detentions and prohibit suspects from consulting certain lawyers.

    Authorities would also be empowered to use financial sanctions to punish people who have fled abroad, such as preventing other people from hiring them, leasing them property, starting businesses with them, or providing economic support to them.

    Last year, police offered bounties of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) on more than a dozen activists living abroad, including former lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui, whom they accuse of colluding with external forces to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.

    Prisoners convicted of national security offenses will not be eligible for sentences reductions until authorities are confident early release would not risk national security. This would apply to all national security prisoners, even those whose sentences were imposed prior to the bill.

    ___

    Follow AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • Michael Hayden Fast Facts | CNN

    Michael Hayden Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Michael Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

    Birth date: March 17, 1945

    Birth place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Birth name: Michael Vincent Hayden

    Father: Harry Hayden

    Mother: Sadie Hayden

    Marriage: Jeanine (Carrier) Hayden

    Children: Margaret, Michael and Liam

    Education: Duquesne University, B.A, 1967; Duquesne University, M.A., 1969

    Military service: US Air Force, 1967-2008, General

    Is a retired four-star general.

    Is a distinguished visiting professor and founder of the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security at George Mason University.

    Worked as a cab driver during college.

    January 1970-January 1972 – Analyst at Headquarters Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

    January 1972-May 1975 – Chief of Current Intelligence Division at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

    July 1975-August 1979 – Academic Instructor at Reserve Officer Training Corps Program, St. Michael’s College in Vermont.

    June 1980-July 1982 – Chief of Intelligence, 51st Tactical Fighter Wing, Osan Air Force Base, South Korea.

    1984-1986 – Air attaché, US Embassy, Bulgaria.

    1986-1989 – Political-Military Affairs Officer, US Air Force Headquarters.

    1989-1991 – Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control, National Security Council.

    1991-1993 – Chief, Secretary of the Air Force Staff Group.

    1993-1995 – Director of Intelligence, US European Command.

    1996-1997 – Commander, Air Intelligence Agency, and Director, Joint Command and Control Warfare Center.

    1997-1999 – Deputy Chief of Staff, United Nations Command and US Forces Korea.

    1999-2005 – Director of the National Security Agency.

    April 2005 – Is appointed principal deputy director of national intelligence.

    May 8, 2006 – President George W. Bush nominates Hayden to be director of the CIA.

    May 30, 2006 – Is sworn in as the director of the CIA.

    February 5, 2008 – During congressional testimony, Hayden acknowledges for the first time that the CIA has used waterboarding in the interrogations of detainees.

    July 1, 2008 – Retires from the Air Force.

    February 12, 2009 – Steps down as the director of the CIA.

    February 13, 2009 – Leon Panetta is sworn in as the new director of the CIA.

    April 2009 – Joins the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm founded by Michael Chertoff, former Department of Homeland Security secretary.

    September 11, 2014 – In an interview with U.S. News and World Report, Hayden compares the White House strategy of using air strikes against ISIS to casual sex. Hayden says, “The reliance on air power has all of the attraction of casual sex: It seems to offer gratification but with very little commitment.”

    December 9, 2014 – The Senate releases a report criticizing the CIA’s interrogation tactics used against terrorist detainees during the Bush era. Hayden responds in an interview with Politico, calling the Senate’s conclusions “analytically offensive.”

    February 23, 2016 – Hayden’s book “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror” is published.

    August 9, 2016 – After signing a letter, along with 49 other Republican national security officials, declaring Donald Trump unqualified to be president, Hayden tells CNN that Trump represents a “clear and present danger” and says he “fears for our future” if Trump governs as he has campaigned.

    May 1, 2018 – Hayden’s book “The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies” is published.

    November 23, 2018 – According to a statement released by his family, Hayden suffers a stroke at home earlier in the week.

    January 18, 2019 – Hayden returns home after suffering a stroke.

    October 7, 2020 – Hayden tells CNN’s Jim Sciutto that reelecting Trump would be “very bad for America,” while endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president.

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  • Detained Americans Fast Facts | CNN

    Detained Americans Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at some recent cases of foreign governments detaining US citizens. For information about missing Americans, see Robert Levinson Fast Facts or POW/MIA in Iraq and Afghanistan Fast Facts.

    Afghanistan

    Ryan Corbett
    August 2022 – Corbett, a businessman whose family lived in Afghanistan for more than a decade prior to the collapse of the Afghan government, returns to Afghanistan on a 10 day trip. Roughly one week into his visit, he was asked to come in for questioning by the local police. Corbett, his German colleague, and two local staff members were all detained. All but Corbett are eventually released. The Taliban has acknowledged holding Corbett, and he has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department.

    China

    Mark Swidan
    November 13, 2012 – Swidan, a businessman from Texas, is arrested on drug related charges by Chinese Police while in his hotel room in Dongguan.

    2013 – Swidan is tried and pleads not guilty.

    2019 – Convicted of manufacturing and trafficking drugs by the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court in southern Guangdong province and given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.

    April 13, 2023 – The Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court denies Swidan’s appeal and upholds his death penalty.

    Kai Li
    September 2016 – Kai Li, a naturalized US citizen born in China, is detained while visiting relatives in Shanghai.

    July 2018 – He is sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage following a secret trial held in August 2017.

    Iran

    Karan Vafadari
    December 2016 – Karan Vafadari’s family announces that Karan and his wife, Afarin Niasari, were detained at Tehran airport in July. Vafadari, an Iranian-American, and Niasari, a green-card holder, ran an art gallery in Tehran.

    March 2017 – New charges of “attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic and recruiting spies through foreign embassies” are brought against Vafadari and Niasari.

    January 2018 – Vafadari is sentenced to 27 years in prison. Niasari is sentenced to 16 years.

    July 2018 – Vafadari and Niasari are reportedly released from prison on bail while they await their appeals court rulings.

    Russia

    Paul Whelan
    December 28, 2018 – Paul Whelan, from Michigan, a retired Marine and corporate security director, is arrested on accusations of spying. His family says he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.

    January 3, 2019 – His lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, tells CNN Whalen has been formally charged with espionage.

    January 22, 2019 – At his pretrial hearing, Whelan is denied bail. Whelan’s attorney Zherebenkov tells CNN that Whelan was found in possession of classified material when he was arrested in Moscow.

    June 15, 2020 – Whelan is convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

    August 8, 2021 – State news agency TASS reports that Whelan has been released from solitary confinement in the Mordovian penal colony where he is being held.

    Evan Gershkovich
    March 30, 2023 – Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, is detained by Russian authorities and accused of spying. The Wall Street Journal rejects the spying allegations.

    April 3, 2023 – The Russian state news agency TASS reports Gershkovich has filed an appeal against his arrest.

    April 7, 2023 – Gershkovich is formally charged with espionage.

    April 10, 2023 – The US State Department officially designates Gershkovich as wrongfully detained by Russia.

    April 18, 2023 – The Moscow City Court denies his appeal to change the terms of his detention. Gershkovich will continue to be held in a pre-trial detention center at the notorious Lefortovo prison until May 29.

    Saudi Arabia

    Walid Fitaihi
    November 2017 – Dual US-Saudi citizen Dr. Walid Fitaihi is detained at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh along with other prominent Saudis, according to his lawyer Howard Cooper. Fitaihi is then transferred to prison.

    July 2019 – Fitaihi is released on bond.

    December 8, 2020 – Fitaihi is sentenced to six years in prison for charges including obtaining US citizenship without permission.

    January 14, 2021 – A Saudi appeals court upholds Fitaihi’s conviction but reduces his sentence to 3.2 years and suspends his remaining prison term. Fitaihi still faces a travel ban and frozen assets.

    Syria

    Austin Tice
    August 2012 – Tice disappears while reporting near the Syrian capital of Damascus. The Syrian government has never acknowledged that they have Tice in their custody.

    September 2012 – A 43-second video emerges online that shows Tice in the captivity of what his family describe as an “unusual group of apparent jihadists.”

    Majd Kamalmaz
    February 2017 – Kamalmaz is detained at a checkpoint in Damascus. The Syrian government has never acknowledged Kamalmaz is in its custody.

    Cuba

    Alan Gross
    December 2009 – Alan Gross is jailed while working as a subcontractor on a US Agency for International Development project aimed at spreading democracy. His actions are deemed illegal by Cuban authorities. He is accused of trying to set up illegal internet connections on the island. Gross says he was trying to help connect the Jewish community to the internet and was not a threat to the government.

    March 12, 2011 – Gross is found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against the Cuban state.

    April 11, 2014 – Ends a hunger strike that he launched the previous week in an effort to get the United States and Cuba to resolve his case.

    December 17, 2014 – Gross is released as part of a deal with Cuba that paves the way for a major overhaul in US policy toward the island.

    Egypt

    16 American NGO Employees
    December 2011 – Egyptian authorities carry out 17 raids on the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations. The Egyptian general prosecutor’s office claims the raids were part of an investigation into allegations the groups had received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a proper license.

    February 5, 2012 – Forty-three people face prosecution in an Egyptian criminal court on charges of illegal foreign funding as part of an ongoing crackdown on NGOs. Among the American defendants is Sam LaHood, International Republican Institute country director and the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

    February 15, 2012 – The US State Department confirms there are 16 Americans being held, not 19 as the Egyptian government announced.

    February 20, 2012 – South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Arizona Senator John McCain meet with top Egyptian military and political leaders in Cairo.

    March 1, 2012 – Some of the 43 detainees including American, Norwegian, German, Serbian and Palestinian activists leave Cairo after each post two-million Egyptian pounds bail.

    April 20, 2012 – CNN is told Egyptian officials have filed global arrest notices with Interpol for some of the Americans involved in the NGO trial.

    June 4, 2013 – An Egyptian court sentences the NGO workers: 27 workers in absentia to five-year sentences, 11 to one-year suspended jail sentences, and five others to two-year sentences that were not suspended, according to state-run newspaper Al Ahram. Only one American has remained in Egypt to fight the charges, but he also left after the court announced his conviction.

    Iran

    UC-Berkeley Grads
    July 31, 2009 – Three graduates from the University of California at Berkeley, Sarah Shourd of Oakland, California, Shane Bauer, of Emeryville, California, and Joshua Fattal, of Cottage Grove, Oregon, are detained in Iran after hiking along the unmarked Iran-Iraq border in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region.

    August 11, 2009 – Iran sends formal notification to the Swiss ambassador that the three American hikers have been detained. Switzerland represents the United States diplomatic interests in Iran since the United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations.

    October 2009 – The Iranian government allows a Swiss diplomat to visit the hikers at Evin Prison.

    November 9, 2009 – Iran charges the three with espionage.

    March 9, 2010 – The families of the three detained hikers speak by phone to the hikers for the first time since they were jailed.

    May 20, 2010 – The detainees’ mothers are allowed to visit their children.

    May 21, 2010 – The mothers are allowed a second visit, and the detained hikers speak publicly for the first time at a government-controlled news conference.

    August 5, 2010 – Reports surface that Shourd is being denied medical treatment.

    September 14, 2010 – Shourd is released on humanitarian grounds on $500,000 bail.

    September 19, 2010 – Shourd speaks publicly to the press in New York.

    November 27, 2010 – Two days after Thanksgiving, Fattal and Bauer are allowed to call home for the second time. Each call lasts about five minutes.

    February 6, 2011 – Fattal and Bauer’s trial begins. Shourd has not responded to a court summons to return to stand trial.

    May 4, 2011 – Shourd announces she will not return to Tehran to face espionage charges.

    August 20, 2011 – Fattal and Bauer each receive five years for spying and three years for illegal entry, according to state-run TV. They have 20 days to appeal.

    September 14, 2011 – A Western diplomat tells CNN an Omani official is en route to Tehran to help negotiate the release of Fattal and Bauer. Oman helped secure the release of Shourd in 2010.

    September 21, 2011 – Fattal and Bauer are released from prison on bail of $500,000 each and their sentences are commuted. On September 25, they arrive back in the United States.

    Saeed Abedini
    September 26, 2012 – According to the American Center for Law and Justice, Saeed Abedini, an American Christian pastor who was born in Iran and lives in Idaho, is detained in Iran. The group says that Abedini’s charges stem from his conversion to Christianity from Islam 13 years ago and his activities with home churches in Iran.

    January 2013 – Abedini is sentenced to eight years in prison, on charges of attempting to undermine the Iranian government.

    January 16, 2016 – Iran releases four US prisoners including Abedini, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, and Jason Rezaian, in exchange for clemency of seven Iranians imprisoned in the United States for sanctions violations.

    Amir Mirzaei Hekmati
    August 2011 – Amir Mirzaei Hekmati travels to Iran to visit relatives and gets detained by authorities, according to his family. His arrest isn’t made public for months.

    December 17, 2011 – Iran’s Intelligence Ministry claims to have arrested an Iranian-American working as a CIA agent, according to state-run Press TV.

    December 18, 2011 – Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency broadcasts a video in which a young man says his name is Hekmati, and that he joined the US Marine Corps and worked with Iraqi officers.

    December 19, 2011 – The US State Department confirms the identity of the man detained in Iran and calls for his immediate release.

    December 20, 2011 – Hekmati’s family says that he was arrested in August while visiting relatives in Iran. The family asserts that they remained quiet about the arrest at the urging of Iranian officials who promised his release.

    December 27, 2011 – Hekmati’s trial begins in Iran. Prosecutors accuse Hekmati of entering Iran with the intention of infiltrating the country’s intelligence system in order to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorist activities, according to the Fars news agency.

    January 9, 2012 – An Iranian news agency reports that Hekmati is convicted of “working for an enemy country,” as well as membership in the CIA and “efforts to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorism.” He is sentenced to death.

    March 5, 2012 – An Iranian court dismisses a lower court’s death sentence for Hekmati and orders a retrial. He remains in prison.

    September 2013 – In a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, Hekmati says that his confession was obtained under duress.

    April 11, 2014 – Hekmati’s sister tells CNN that Hekmati has been convicted in Iran by a secret court of “practical collaboration with the US government” and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

    January 16, 2016 – Iran releases four US prisoners including Hekmati, Abedini, and Jason Rezaian, in exchange for clemency of seven Iranians indicted or imprisoned in the United States for sanctions violations.

    Jason Rezaian
    July 24, 2014 – The Washington Post reports that its Tehran correspondent and Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian, his wife Yeganeh Salehi and two freelance journalists were detained on July 22, 2014. An Iranian official confirmed to CNN that the group is being held by authorities.

    July 29, 2014 – Iran releases one of three people detained alongside Rezaian, a source close to the family of the released detainee tells CNN. The released detainee is the husband of an Iranian-American photojournalist who remains in custody with Rezaian and his wife, according to the source.

    August 20, 2014 – The Washington Post reports the photojournalist detained with Rezaian in July has been released. At her family’s request, the Post declines to publish her name.

    October 6, 2014 – According to the Washington Post, Rezaian’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, has been released on bail.

    December 6, 2014 – During a 10-hour court session in Tehran, Rezaian is officially charged with unspecified crimes, according to the newspaper.

    April 20, 2015 – According the Washington Post, Rezaian is being charged with espionage and other serious crimes including “collaborating with a hostile government” and “propaganda against the establishment.”

    October 11, 2015 – Iran’s state media reports that Rezaian has been found guilty, but no details are provided about his conviction or his sentence. His trial reportedly took place between May and August.

    November 22, 2015 – An Iranian court sentences Rezaian to prison. The length of the sentence is not specified.

    January 16, 2016 – Iran releases four US prisoners including Rezaian, Hekmati, and Abedini, in exchange for the clemency of seven Iranians indicted or imprisoned in the United States for sanctions violations.

    May 1, 2018 – Joins CNN as a global affairs analyst.

    Reza “Robin” Shahini
    July 11, 2016 – San Diego resident Reza “Robin” Shahini is arrested while visiting family in Gorgan, Iran. Shahini is a dual US-Iranian citizen.

    October 2016 – Shahini is sentenced to 18 years in prison.

    February 15, 2017 – Goes on a hunger strike to protest his sentence.

    April 3, 2017 – The Center for Human Rights in Iran says Shahini has been released on bail while he awaits the ruling of the appeals court.

    July 2018 – A civil lawsuit filed against the Iranian government on Shahini’s behalf indicates that Shahini has returned to the United States.

    Xiyue Wang
    July 16, 2017 – The semi-official news agency Fars News, citing a video statement from Iranian judicial spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejheie, reports that a US citizen has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of spying. Princeton University identifies the man as Chinese-born Xiyue Wang, an American citizen and graduate student in history. According to a university statement, Wang was arrested in Iran last summer while doing scholarly research in connection with his Ph.D. dissertation.

    December 7, 2019 – The White House announces that Wang has been released and is returning to the United States. Iran released Wang in a prisoner swap, in coordination with the United States freeing an Iranian scientist named Massoud Soleimani.

    Michael White
    January 8, 2019 – Michael White’s mother, Joanne White, tells CNN she reported him missing when he failed to return to work in California in July, after traveling to Iran to visit his girlfriend.

    January 9, 2019 – Bahram Ghasemi, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, says White “was arrested in the city of Mashhad a while ago, and within a few days after his arrest the US government was informed of the arrest through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.” Ghasemi denies allegations that White, a US Navy veteran, has been mistreated in prison.

    March 2019 – White is handed a 13-year prison sentence on charges of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and for publicly posting private images, according to his attorney Mark Zaid.

    March 19, 2020 – White is released into the custody of the Swiss Embassy on medical furlough. One condition of his release is that he must stay in Iran.

    June 4, 2020 – White is released, according to White’s mother and a person familiar with the negotiations.

    Baquer and Siamak Namazi
    October 2015 – Siamak Namazi, a Dubai-based businessman with dual US and Iranian citizenship, is detained while visiting relatives in Tehran.

    February 2016 – Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF official and father of Siamak Namazi, is detained, his wife Effie Namazi says on Facebook. He is an Iranian-American.

    October 2016 – The men are sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $4.8 million, according to Iran’s official news channel IRINN. Iran officials say five people were convicted and sentenced for “cooperating with Iran’s enemies,” a government euphemism that usually implies cooperating with the United States.

    January 28, 2018 – Baquer Namazi is granted a four-day leave by the Iranian government, after being discharged from an Iranian hospital. Namazi’s family say the 81-year-old was rushed to the hospital on January 15 after a severe drop in his blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat and serious depletion of energy. This was the fourth time Namazi had been transferred to a hospital in the last year. In September, he underwent emergency heart surgery to install a pacemaker.

    February 2018 – Baquer Namazi is released on temporary medical furlough.

    February 2020 – Iran’s Revolutionary Court commutes Baquer Namazi’s sentence to time served and the travel ban on him is lifted.

    May 2020 – According to the family, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) places a new travel ban on Baquer Namazi, preventing him from leaving the country.

    October 26, 2021 – Baquer Namazi undergoes surgery to clear a “life-threatening blockage in one of the main arteries to his brain, which was discovered late last month,” his lawyer says in a statement.

    October 1, 2022 – Baquer Namazi is released from detention and is permitted to leave Iran “to seek medical treatment abroad,” according to a statement from UN Secretary General spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

    March 9, 2023 – Siamak Namazi makes a plea to President Joe Biden to put the “liberty of innocent Americans above politics” and ramp up efforts to secure his release, in an interview with CNN from inside Iran’s Evin prison.

    September 18, 2023 – Siamak Namazi is freed, along with four other Americans as part of a wider deal that includes the United States unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds.

    North Korea

    Kenneth Bae
    December 11, 2012 – US officials confirm that American citizen Kenneth Bae has been detained in North Korea for over a month.

    April 30, 2013 – North Korea’s Supreme Court sentences Bae to 15 years of hard labor for “hostile acts” against the country.

    October 11, 2013 – Bae meets with his mother in North Korea.

    January 20, 2014 – A statement is released in which Bae says that he had committed a “serious crime” against North Korea. Any statement made by Bae in captivity is sanctioned by the North Korean government. The country has a long history of forcing false confessions.

    February 7, 2014 – The State Department announces that Bae has been moved from a hospital to a labor camp.

    November 8, 2014 – The State Department announces that Bae and Matthew Miller have been released and are on their way home.

    Jeffrey Fowle
    June 6, 2014 – North Korea announces it has detained US citizen Jeffrey Edward Fowle, who entered the country as a tourist in April. Fowle was part of a tour group and was detained in mid-May after leaving a bible in a restaurant.

    June 30, 2014 – North Korea says that it plans to prosecute Fowle and another detained American tourist, Matthew Miller, accusing them of “perpetrating hostile acts.”

    October 21, 2014 – A senior State Department official tells CNN that Fowle has been released and is on his way home.

    Aijalon Gomes
    January 25, 2010 – Aijalon Mahli Gomes, of Boston, is detained in North Korea after crossing into the country illegally from China.

    April 7, 2010 – He is sentenced to eight years of hard labor and ordered to pay a fine of 70 million North Korean won or approximately $600,000.

    July 10, 2010 – Gomes is hospitalized after attempting to commit suicide.

    August 25-27, 2010 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in North Korea, with hopes of negotiating for Gomes’ release.

    August 27, 2010 – Carter and Gomes leave Pyongyang after Gomes is granted amnesty for humanitarian purposes.

    Kim Dong Chul
    October 2015 – Kim Dong Chul, a naturalized American citizen, is taken into custody after allegedly meeting a source to obtain a USB stick and camera used to gather military secrets. In January 2016, Kim is given permission to speak with CNN by North Korean officials and asks that the United States or South Korea rescue him.

    March 25, 2016 – A North Korean official tells CNN that Kim has confessed to espionage charges.

    April 29, 2016 – A North Korean official tells CNN that Kim has been sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for subversion and espionage.

    May 9, 2018 – Trump announces that Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, appear to be in good health and are returning to the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

    May 10, 2018 – The three freed American detainees arrive at Joint Base Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

    Kim Hak-song
    May 7, 2017 – The state-run Korean Central News Agency reports that US citizen Kim Hak-song was detained in North Korea on May 6 on suspicion of “hostile acts” against the regime. The regime describes Kim as “a man who was doing business in relation to the operation of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.”

    May 9, 2018 – Trump announces that Kim Hak-song, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, appear to be in good health and are returning to the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

    May 10, 2018 – The three freed American detainees arrive at Joint Base Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

    Kim Sang Duk
    April 22, 2017 – US citizen Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, is detained by authorities at Pyongyang International Airport for unknown reasons. Kim taught for several weeks at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

    May 3, 2017 – State-run Korean Central News Agency reports that Kim is accused of attempting to overthrow the government.

    May 9, 2018 – Trump announces that Tony Kim, Kim Hak-song and Kim Dong Chul appear to be in good health and are returning to the United States with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

    May 10, 2018 – The three freed American detainees arrive at Joint Base Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

    Euna Lee and Laura Ling
    March 2009 – Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling are arrested while reporting from the border between North Korea and China for California-based Current Media.

    June 4, 2009 – They are sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.

    August 4, 2009 – Former US President Bill Clinton travels to Pyongyang on a private humanitarian mission to help secure their release.

    August 5, 2009 – Lee and Ling are pardoned and released.

    Matthew Miller
    April 25, 2014 – North Korea’s news agency reports that Matthew Todd Miller was taken into custody on April 10. According to KCNA, Miller entered North Korea seeking asylum and tour up his tourist visa.

    June 30, 2014 – North Korea says that it plans to prosecute Miller and another detained American tourist, Jeffrey Fowle, accusing them of “perpetrating hostile acts.”

    September 14, 2014 – According to state-run media, Miller is convicted of committing “acts hostile” to North Korea and sentenced to six years of hard labor.

    November 8, 2014 – The State Department announces Miller and Kenneth Bae have been released and are on their way home.

    Merrill Newman
    October 26, 2013 – Merrill Newman of Palo Alto, California, is detained in North Korea, according to his family. Just minutes before his plane is to depart, Newman is removed from the flight by North Korean authorities, his family says.

    November 22, 2013 – The US State Department says North Korea has confirmed to Swedish diplomats that it is holding an American citizen. The State Department has declined to confirm the identity of the citizen, citing privacy issues, but the family of Newman says the Korean War veteran and retired financial consultant has been detained since October.

    November 30, 2013 – KCNA reports Newman issued an apology to the people of North Korea, “After I killed so many civilians and (North Korean) soldiers and destroyed strategic objects in the DPRK during the Korean War, I committed indelible offensive acts against the DPRK government and Korean people.” His statement ends: “If I go back to (the) USA, I will tell the true features of the DPRK and the life the Korean people are leading.”

    December 7, 2013 – Newman returns to the United States, arriving at San Francisco International Airport. North Korea’s state news agency reports Newman was released for “humanitarian” reasons.

    Eddie Yong Su Jun
    April 14, 2011 – The KCNA reports that US citizen Eddie Yong Su Jun was arrested in November 2010 and has been under investigation for committing a crime against North Korea. No details are provided on the alleged crime.

    May 27, 2011 – Following a visit from the US delegation which includes the special envoy for North Korean human rights, Robert King, and the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, Jon Brause, to North Korea, Yong Su Jun is released.

    Otto Frederick Warmbier
    January 2, 2016 – Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia college student, is detained in North Korea after being accused of a “hostile act” against the government.

    February 29, 2016 – The North Korean government releases a video of Warmbier apologizing for committing, in his own words, “the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel.” It is not known if Warmbier was forced to speak.

    March 16, 2016 – Warmbier is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state, a North Korean official tells CNN.

    June 13, 2017 – Warmbier is transported back to the United States via medevac flight to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. There, doctors say that he has suffered severe brain damage. Doctors say Warmbier shows no current signs of botulism, which North Korean officials claim he contracted after his trial.

    June 19, 2017 – Warmbier’s family issues a statement that he has died.

    April 26, 2018 – Warmbier’s parents file a wrongful death lawsuit against the North Korean government charging that the country’s regime tortured and killed their son, according to lawyers for the family.

    December 24, 2018 – A federal judge in Washington awards Warmbier’s parents more than half a billion dollars in the wrongful death suit against the North Korean government. North Korea did not respond to the lawsuit – the opinion was rendered as a so-called “default judgment” – and the country has no free assets in the US for which the family could make a claim.

    Russia

    Trevor Reed
    2019 – While visiting a longtime girlfriend, Trevor Reed is taken into custody after a night of heavy drinking according to state-run news agency TASS and Reed’s family. Police tell state-run news agency RIA-Novosti that Reed was involved in an altercation with two women and a police unit that arrived at the scene following complaints of a disturbance. Police allege Reed resisted arrest, attacked the driver, hit another policeman, caused the car to swerve by grabbing the wheel and created a hazardous situation on the road, RIA stated.

    July 30, 2020 – Reed is sentenced to nine years in prison for endangering “life and health” of Russian police officers.

    April 1, 2021 – The parents of Reed reveal that their son served as a Marine presidential guard under the Obama administration – a fact they believe led Russia to target him.

    April 27, 2022 – Reed is released in a prisoner swap.

    June 14, 2022 – Reed tells CNN that he has filed a petition with the United Nations (UN), declaring that Russia violated international law with his detention and poor treatment.

    Brittney Griner
    February 17, 2022 – Two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist and WBNA star Brittney Griner is taken into custody following a customs screening at Sheremetyevo Airport. Russian authorities said Griner had cannabis oil in her luggage and accused her of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance, an offense the Russian government says is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

    July 7, 2022 – Griner pleads guilty to drug charges in a Russian court.

    August 4, 2022 – Griner is found guilty of drug smuggling with criminal intent and sentenced by a Russian court to 9 years of jail time with a fine of one million rubles (roughly $16,400).

    October 25, 2022 – At an appeal hearing, a Russian judge leaves Griner’s verdict in place, upholding her conviction on drug smuggling charges and reducing only slightly her nine-year prison sentence.

    November 9, 2022 – Griner’s attorney tells CNN she is being moved to a Russian penal colony where she is due to serve the remainder of her sentence.

    December 8, 2022 – US President Biden announces that Griner has been released from Russian detention and is on her way home.

    Turkey

    Serkan Golge
    July 2016 – While on vacation in Turkey, Serkan Golge is arrested and accused of having links to the Gulenist movement. Golge is a 37-year-old NASA physicist who holds dual Turkish-US citizenship.

    February 8, 2018 – Golge is sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.

    September 2018 – A Turkish court reduces Golge’s prison sentence to five years.

    May 29, 2019 – The State Department announces that Golge has been released.

    Andrew Brunson
    October 2016 – Andrew Brunson, a North Carolina native, is arrested in Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean coast, where he is pastor at the Izmir Resurrection Church. Brunson, an evangelical Presbyterian pastor, is later charged with plotting to overthrow the Turkish government, disrupting the constitutional order and espionage.

    March 2018 – A formal indictment charges Brunson with espionage and having links to terrorist organizations.

    October 12, 2018 – Brunson is sentenced to three years and one month in prison but is released based on time served.

    Venezuela

    Timothy Hallett Tracy
    April 24, 2013 – Timothy Hallett Tracy, of Los Angeles, is arrested at the Caracas airport, according to Reporters Without Borders. Tracy traveled to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country.

    April 25, 2013 – In a televised address, newly elected President Nicolas Maduro says he ordered the arrest of Tracy for “financing violent groups.”

    April 27, 2013 – Tracy is formally charged with conspiracy, association for criminal purposes and use of a false document.

    June 5, 2013 – Tracy is released from prison and expelled from Venezuela.

    Joshua Holt
    May 26, 2018 – Joshua Holt and his Venezuelan wife, Thamara Holt, are released by Venezuela. The two had been imprisoned there since 2016. The American traveled to Venezuela to marry Thamara in 2016, and shortly afterward was accused by the Venezuelan government of stockpiling weapons and attempting to destabilize the government. He was held for almost two years with no trial.

    “Citgo 6”

    November 2017 – After arriving in Caracas, Venezuela, for an impromptu business meeting, Tomeu Vadell and five other Citgo executives – Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Angel Pereira – are arrested and detained on embezzlement and corruption charges. Citgo is the US subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil and natural gas company PDVSA. Five of the six men are US citizens; one is a US legal permanent resident.

    December 2019 – The “Citgo 6” are transferred from the detention facility, where they have been held without trial for more than two years, to house arrest.

    February 5, 2020 – They are moved from house arrest into prison, hours after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido met with US President Donald Trump

    July 30, 2020 – Two of the men – Cárdenas and Toledo – are released on house arrest after a humanitarian visit to Caracas by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and a team of non-government negotiators.

    November 27, 2020 – The six oil executives are found guilty and are given sentences between 8 to 13 years in prison.

    April 30, 2021 – The men are released from prison to house arrest.

    October 16, 2021 – The “Citgo 6,” all under house arrest, are picked up by the country’s intelligence service SEBIN, just hours after the extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian financier close to Maduro.

    March 8, 2022 – Cardenas is one of two detainees released from prison. The other, Jorge Alberto Fernandez, a Cuban-US dual citizen detained in Venezuela since February 2021, was accused of terrorism for carrying a small domestic drone. The releases take place after a quiet trip to Caracas by a US government delegation.

    October 1, 2022 – US President Biden announces the release and return of Toledo, Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, and Pereira.

    Matthew Heath

    September 2020 – Is arrested and charged with terrorism in Venezuela.

    June 20, 2022 – Family of Heath state that he has attempted suicide. “We are aware of reports that a US citizen was hospitalized in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson says. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”

    October 1, 2022 – US President Biden announces the release and return of Heath.

    Airan Berry and Luke Denman

    May 4, 2020 – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says two American “mercenaries” have been apprehended after a failed coup attempt to capture and remove him. Madura identifies the captured Americans as Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41. On state television, Maduro brandishes what he claims are the US passports and driver’s licenses of the two men, along with what he says are their ID cards for Silvercorp, a Florida-based security services company.

    May 5, 2020 – Denman appears on Venezuelan state TV. He is shown looking directly at the camera recounting his role in “helping Venezuelans take back control of their country.”

    August 7, 2020 – Prosecutors announce that Berry and Denman have been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

    December 20, 2023 – It is announced that the US has reached an agreement to secure the release of 10 Americans, including Berry and Denman, held in Venezuela.

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  • Biden Bans Rival Nations From Buying Sensitive US Data—Good Luck

    Biden Bans Rival Nations From Buying Sensitive US Data—Good Luck

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    US president Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at preventing a handful of countries, including China, North Korea, and Russia, from purchasing sensitive information about Americans through commercial data brokers in the United States.

    Administration officials say categories of sensitive data, including personal identifiers, precise location information, and biometrics—vital tools for waging cyberattacks, espionage, and blackmail operations against the US—are being amassed by what the White House is calling “countries of concern.”

    Biden administration officials disclosed the order to reporters in advance during a Zoom call on Tuesday and briefly took questions, on the condition that they not be named or referred to by job title.

    The order will have few immediate effects, they said. The US Justice Department will instead launch a rulemaking process aimed at mapping out a “data security program” envisioned by the White House. The process affords experts, industry stakeholders, and the public at large an opportunity to chime in prior to the government adopting the proposal.

    White House officials said the US Attorney General would consult with the heads of the Department of State and Department of Commerce to finalize a list of countries falling under the eye of the program. A tentative list given to reporters during Tuesday’s call, however, included China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.

    The categories of information covered by the program will include health and financial data, precise geolocation information, and “certain sensitive government-related data,” among others, the officials said. The order will contain several carve-outs for certain financial transactions and activities that are “incidental” to ordinary business operations.

    It’s unclear to what degree such a program would be effective. Notably, it does not extend to a majority of countries where trafficking in Americans’ private data will ostensibly remain legal. What’s more, it’s unclear whether the government has the authority or wherewithal (outside of an act of Congress) to restrict countries that, while diplomatically and militarily allied with the US, are also known to conduct espionage against it: close US ally Israel, for instance, was accused in 2019 of planting cell-phone-spying devices near the White House, and has served as an international marketplace for illicit spyware; or Saudi Arabia, which availed itself of that market in 2018 to covertly surveil a Washington Post contributor who was later abducted and murdered by a Saudi hit squad.

    If China, Russia, or North Korea moves to obtain US data from a third party in one of the more than 170 countries not on the US government’s list, there may be little to prevent it. US data brokers need only take steps to ensure overseas customers follow “certain security requirements” during the transfer, many of which are already required by law.

    The restrictions imposed by the executive order are meant to protect against “direct” and “indirect transfers of data,” officials said. But data brokers are on the hook merely until they obtain “some type of commitment” from overseas customers—an “understanding”—when it comes to the possibility of data being sold or transferred to others down the line.

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  • 4 reasons Trump says a judge should dismiss charges in the classified documents case

    4 reasons Trump says a judge should dismiss charges in the classified documents case

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    In four motions filed late last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Florida, Donald Trump’s lawyers seek dismissal of 40 felony charges based on his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House in January 2021. They argue that his decision to keep the documents is shielded by “absolute” presidential immunity for “official acts,” that he had complete discretion to designate records as personal rather than presidential, and that the charges related to mishandling “national defense information” are based on an “unconstitutionally vague” statute. They also argue that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who obtained the indictment, was improperly appointed, making all of the charges invalid.

    The motion based on presidential immunity, which seeks dismissal of the 32 counts alleging unlawful retention of specific classified documents, rehashes the argument that a D.C. Circuit panel unanimously rejected this month in the federal case based on Trump’s attempts to remain in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election. “The D.C. Circuit’s analysis is not persuasive,” Trump’s lawyers write, “and President Trump is pursuing further review of that erroneous decision, including en banc review if allowed, and review in the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.” They say U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is overseeing the documents case in Florida, “should not follow the D.C. Circuit’s non-binding, poorly reasoned decision.”

    As Trump sees it, the separation of powers bars federal courts from sitting in judgment of a former president’s “official acts,” whether in the context of a civil case or in the context of a criminal prosecution. The D.C. Circuit, including Republican appointee Karen L. Henderson, was troubled by the implications of that position, which would allow presidents to commit grave crimes, including assassination of political opponents, without being held accountable unless they were impeached and removed from office based on the same conduct.

    Trump’s lawyers read the Supreme Court’s 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison as prohibiting judicial review of any presidential act. But as the D.C. Circuit emphasized, federal courts historically have passed judgment on the legality of presidential decisions, most famously in the 1952 case Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. In that case, the appeals court noted, the Supreme Court “exercised its cognizance over Presidential action to dramatic effect” by holding that “President Harry Truman’s executive order seizing control of most of the country’s steel mills exceeded his constitutional and statutory authority and was therefore invalid.”

    Strictly speaking, however, Youngstown dealt with an order issued by the secretary of commerce rather than the president himself. “To be sure,” Trump’s lawyers say,  federal courts “sometimes review the validity of the official acts of subordinate executive officials below the president, and such review may reflect indirectly on the lawfulness of the president’s own acts or directives. But the authority of judicial review of the official acts of subordinate officers has never been held to extend to the official acts of the president himself.”

    Marbury drew a distinction between “discretionary” and “ministerial” acts. Regarding the first category, Chief Justice John Marshall said in the majority opinion, “the President is invested with certain important political powers, in the exercise of which he is to use his own discretion, and is accountable only to his country in his political character, and to his own conscience.” In that situation, he said, “the subjects are political and the decision of the executive is conclusive,” meaning it “can never be examinable by the courts.”

    But that is not true, Marshall added, “when the legislature proceeds to impose on [an executive official] other duties; when he is directed peremptorily to perform certain acts; when the rights of individuals are dependent on the performance of those acts.” Then “he is so far the officer of the law, is amenable to the laws for his conduct, and cannot at his discretion, sport away the vested rights of others.” In those circumstances, he is acting as a “ministerial officer compellable to do his duty, and if he refuses, is liable to indictment.”

    Although Trump’s lawyers do not explicitly address that distinction, they argue that the counts charging him with illegally retaining 32 listed classified documents are based on 1) presidential decisions that 2) fell within the “discretionary” category. Both of those conclusions seem dubious.

    The indictment says Trump “caused scores of boxes, many of which contained classified documents, to be transported” from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s lawyers say the indictment “makes clear that this decision and the related transportation of records occurred while President Trump was still in office.”

    As Trump’s lawyers see it, in other words, the first 32 counts are all based on actions that he took as president. That interpretation seems problematic based on the text of the statute and the wording of the indictment.

    Trump is charged with violating 18 USC 793(e), which applies to someone who has “unauthorized possession” of “information relating to the national defense” and  “willfully retains” it when he “has reason to believe” it “could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.” The indictment says Trump “did willfully retain the documents and fail to deliver them to the officer and employee of the United States entitled to receive them.”

    Retaining the documents and failing to deliver them are distinct from the initial act of transportation. While the latter may have happened while Trump was still in office, the former included his conduct during the year and a half that elapsed from the end of his term until an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago discovered the 32 documents, along with 70 or so others marked as classified, on August 8, 2022. During that time, Trump delivered some classified documents but retained others, even after he claimed to comply with a federal subpoena demanding their return. But for that continuing resistance, the FBI would not have obtained a search warrant and Trump would not be facing these charges.

    Why does Trump think the initial act of bringing the documents to Mar-a-Lago was within his discretion as president? Under the Presidential Records Act, he argues in another motion, he had complete authority to classify documents as personal, meaning he could keep them rather than turn them over to the National Archives. His possession of those documents therefore was not “unauthorized,” as required for a conviction under Section 793(e). And since the FBI’s investigation was not legally justified, Trump’s lawyers say, the other eight counts, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing records, and lying to federal investigators, also should be dismissed.

    That reading of the Presidential Records Act is counterintuitive given its motivation and text. The impetus for the law was President Richard Nixon’s assertion of the very authority that Trump is now claiming. Rather than allow a president to destroy or retain official documents at will, Congress declared that “the United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records.”

    The law defines presidential records as “documentary materials, or any reasonably segregable portion thereof, created or received by the President, the President’s immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise or assist the President, in the course of conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.” That term excludes “personal records,” defined as “all documentary materials, or any reasonably segregable portion thereof, of a purely private or nonpublic character which do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.”

    As Trump reads the Presidential Records Act, however, it “conferred unreviewable discretion on President Trump to designate the records at issue as personal.” That interpretation would, on its face, render the statute a nullity. If a president has total discretion to decide that a document is “of a purely private or nonpublic character,” regardless of its content, the situation that Congress sought to rectify would be unchanged in practice.

    Trump also argues that Section 793(e), as applied to him, violates his Fifth Amendment right to due process because it is so vague that it does not “give people of common intelligence fair notice of what the law demands of them.” In particular, his lawyers say, the phrases “unauthorized possession,” “relating to the national defense,” and “entitled to receive” have no clear meaning.

    Finally, Trump says the indictment is invalid because “the Appointments Clause does not permit the Attorney General to appoint, without Senate confirmation, a private citizen and like-minded political ally to wield the prosecutorial power of the United States.” Smith therefore “lacks the authority to prosecute this action.”

    The Appointments Clause empowers the president to “appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law.” Because there is “no statute establishing the Office of Special Counsel,” Trump’s motion says, “Smith’s appointment is invalid and any prosecutorial power he seeks to wield is ultra vires”—i.e., without legal authority.

    This question, the motion says, is “an issue of first impression in the Eleventh Circuit,” which includes Florida. But in 2019, the D.C. Circuit rejected the argument that Trump is deploying here, holding that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was an “inferior” rather than “principal” officer, meaning that Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had the authority to appoint him.

    Trump is asking Cannon to approve “discovery and pretrial hearings on factual disputes” relevant to his motions. That is apt to delay the trial in this case, which had been scheduled to begin on May 20.

    The Section 793(e) charges require the government to show that the 32 documents listed in the indictment contained information that could compromise national security, a task complicated by their classified status. But the obstruction-related counts, which include allegations that Trump defied the federal subpoena, deliberately concealed classified records, and tried to cover up his cover-up by instructing his underlings to delete incriminating surveillance camera footage, may be the strongest charges that he faces across four criminal cases. Assuming the government can prove the facts it alleges in the indictment, it seems pretty clear that Trump is guilty of multiple felonies, including half a dozen that are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

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    Jacob Sullum

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  • Robert Levinson Fast Facts | CNN

    Robert Levinson Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007.

    Birth date: March 10, 1948

    Birth place: Flushing, New York

    Birth name: Robert Alan Levinson

    Father: Name unavailable publicly

    Mother: Name unavailable publicly

    Marriage: Christine (Gorman) Levinson

    Children: Douglas, Samantha, David, Daniel, Sarah, Stephanie and Susan

    Education: City College of New York, B.A., 1970

    During his career at the FBI, Levinson specialized in investigating organized crime in Russia.

    His family said Levinson suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

    1970s – Levinson is hired by the FBI after six years with the Drug Enforcement Agency.

    1998 – Levinson retires from the FBI.

    1998-2007 – Levinson works as a private investigator.

    2006 – Levinson is hired as a contractor by Tim Sampson, head of the Illicit Finance Group within the Office of Transnational Issues at the CIA, to write reports for the agency. The contract is for approximately $85,000. Three CIA employees, including Sampson, later lose their jobs for overstepping their authority as analysts and withholding information about Levinson after he disappeared.

    March 8-9, 2007 – According to State Department officials, Levinson travels to Kish Island in Iran and checks into a hotel. Reportedly, Levinson is in the Middle East to investigate cigarette smuggling on behalf of a client. During the visit, he meets with American fugitive Dawud Salahuddin, who is the last person to acknowledge seeing him on March 9.

    June 1, 2007 – US President George W. Bush says he is “disturbed” by Iran’s refusal to provide any information on Levinson. “I call on Iran’s leaders to tell us what they know about his whereabouts.”

    December 2007 – Levinson’s wife, Christine Levinson, meets with government officials in Iran, but does not learn anything about her husband’s disappearance.

    2008 – The CIA pays the Levinson family more than $2 million to head off a lawsuit, according to family attorney David McGee.

    March 3, 2011 – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that evidence is growing that Levinson is alive and being held somewhere in southwest Asia.

    December 2011 – The Levinson family publicly releases a “proof of life” video they received in November 2010. In the video, Levinson says, “I have been treated well, but I need the help of the United States government to answer the requests of the group that has held me for three-and-a-half years. And please help me get home. Thirty-three years of service to the United States deserves something. Please help me.”

    March 6, 2012 – The FBI offers a $1 million reward for information leading to his safe return.

    September 2012 – Christine Levinson attempts to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the UN General Assembly in New York. He does not meet with her but tells CNN, “They told me (Levinson) was in Iran, and of course the question came up in my mind, what was an American intelligence officer doing in Iran…an individual is lost, how are we supposed to find him among 7 billion people spread across the globe? What we can do is assist, help and cooperate, which we have been doing, and we are doing… as a humanitarian gesture and action.”

    January 2013 – The Levinson family releases a series of photographs they received in April 2011. In the photos, a bearded, shackled Levinson, wearing an orange jumpsuit, holds signs written in broken English.

    September 27, 2013 – US President Barack Obama speaks by phone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. One of the topics discussed is Levinson.

    December 12, 2013 – The Associated Press and The Washington Post report that Levinson was working for the CIA when he disappeared in 2007, possibly investigating corruption among Iranian officials. The AP says it first learned of Levinson’s CIA ties in 2010 but delayed publishing the information at the government’s request. The next day the New York Times reports it has known of Levinson’s CIA work since 2007 but also delayed publishing the information to avoid jeopardizing his safety.

    December 13, 2013 – White House Spokesman Jay Carney says Levinson “was not a US government employee when he went missing in Iran.”

    December 2013 – Salahuddin, the last person to acknowledge seeing Levinson, tells the Christian Science Monitor that both he and Levinson were detained by Iranian police on March 9, 2007.

    January 21, 2014 – In an interview with CNN, Levinson’s family discloses that they have known for some time that he was working for the CIA. They accuse the US government of failing to do enough to find Levinson.

    March 9, 2015 – The FBI increases the reward for information on Levinson to $5 million.

    February 11, 2016 – The Senate passes a resolution recognizing that Levinson is the longest held US civilian in US history and urges Iran to “act on its promises to assist in the case of Robert Levinson.”

    March 21, 2017 – Levinson’s family files a lawsuit against Iran with the US District Court in Washington, DC. The complaint states that the family is filing suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act “for injuries suffered by each of them as a result of Iran’s unlawful acts of hostage taking, torture and other torts.”

    November 4, 2019 – The Department of State Rewards for Justice Program announces a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the safe return of Levinson, in addition to the FBI’s previously announced reward of $5 million.

    March 9, 2020 – On the 13th anniversary of Levinson’s abduction, the FBI renews its “repeated calls to Iran to uphold its prior commitments to cooperate and to share information which could lead to Bob’s return.”

    March 25, 2020 – The family of Levinson announces that they believe he is dead. “We recently received information from U.S. officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody,” they said in a statement.

    October 1, 2020 – A US court orders the government of Iran to pay more than $1.4 billion to Levinson’s family for compensatory and punitive damages.

    December 14, 2020 – Senior US government officials say they have identified and sanctioned two senior Iranian intelligence officials who were involved in the abduction and “probable death” of Levinson.

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  • Today’s news in 10 minutes | CNN

    Today’s news in 10 minutes | CNN

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    Story highlights

    This page includes the show Transcript

    February 22, 2024

    Today on CNN10, we take a closer look at some lesser known aspects of US border security. We begin with how US Customs and Border Protection uses artificial intelligence to detect illegal drugs at shipment centers. Next, CNN’s David Culver rides along with maritime Border Security Agents as they patrol the Pacific Ocean. Finally, we follow a young Colombian immigrant who is a nationally ranked chess prodigy in the US.

    Click here to access the printable version of today’s CNN 10 transcript

    CNN 10 serves a growing audience interested in compact on-demand news broadcasts ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom. The show’s priority is to identify stories of international significance and then clearly describe why they’re making news, who is affected, and how the events fit into a complex, international society.

    Thank you for using CNN 10

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  • Spain Train Bombings Fast Facts | CNN

    Spain Train Bombings Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the March 2004 bombings of commuter trains in Spain, which killed 193 people and injured more than 1,800. The bombings are the deadliest terrorist attack in Spain’s history.

    On March 11, 2004, 10 bombs in backpacks and other small bags exploded on four commuter trains. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police did controlled explosions of three other bombs.

    ETA, a Basque group labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, and al Qaeda were the original suspects cited by the Spanish government.

    Through anonymous phone calls to Basque media outlets, ETA vehemently denied involvement.

    Islamic militants who were based in Spain but inspired by al Qaeda were designated later as the prime suspects.

    March 11, 2004 – Coordinated attacks including 10 bombs on four commuter trains at three different stations kill 191 people and wound more than 1,800.

    March 13, 2004 – An al Qaeda claim of responsibility is made via video tape by a man speaking in Arabic with a Moroccan accent.

    March 13, 2004 – Five people are arrested in connection to the case 60 hours after the bombings. Three of those arrested are Moroccans, and two are Indian. Prepaid phone cards and a cell phone from backpacks found at the bombing site link the five to the investigation.

    March 14, 2004 – The Spanish Interior Ministry releases the names of five people detained in connection with the attacks. The men are identified as Jamal Zougam, Mohamed Bekkali, Mohamed Cahoui, Vinay Kohly and Sureh Komar.

    March 18, 2004 – Spanish authorities arrest four North Africans in connection with the bombings. The radio report says three were arrested in the Madrid suburb of Alcala de Henares and the other North African was arrested in northern Spain. They are: Abderrahim Zbakh, Farid Oulad Ali and Mohamed El Hadi Chedadi, whose brother, Said Chedadi, was indicted last September by a Spanish judge for links to al Qaeda.
    – The fourth suspect is not identified but is described as being of Arab descent.
    – The fifth suspect is a Spanish citizen who goes by the name of Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras. He is arrested in northern Spain.

    March 19, 2004 – Spain’s National Court charges five suspects in connection with the bombings and remands them into custody after an all-night court session. The Court also releases Ali Amrous, an Algerian man held in connection with the Madrid terror attacks and suspected of being an al Qaeda member.

    March 22, 2004 – Spanish state radio reports four new arrests in the Madrid bombings.

    March 24, 2004 – A Spanish judge charges two more suspects, Naima Oulad and Rafa Zouhier, in the train bombings, bringing the total number of people charged in the attacks to 11.

    March 25, 2004 – A Spanish judge charges a Moroccan man, Faisal Alluch, with collaborating with a terrorist group in connection with the train bombings, boosting the number to 12 suspects who have been charged in the case.

    March 30, 2004 – Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes names a Moroccan terrorist group, Moroccan Islamist Combat Group (GICM), as the principal focus in the investigation.

    March 30, 2004 – Moroccan Fouad El Morabit, who had been released without charges, is rearrested. Court sources also confirm the latest arrest in the case, a man identified as Otman el Gnaout.

    March 30, 2004 – Basel Ghayoun, a Syrian man, is charged in the bombings. Hamid Ahmidan of Morocco is charged with collaborating with a terrorist group and a count of drug possession. Three other men are released.

    March 31, 2004 – A Spanish National Court judge issues international arrest warrants for six more suspects as the investigation focuses on the GICM. The Interior Ministry says five of the men sought are Moroccans. They include two brothers and a man who is related to other Moroccans previously arrested. The sixth man sought is Tunisian.

    March 31, 2004 – Arraignments begin for two men, Antonio Toro Castro of Spain and Mustafa Ahmidam from Morocco.

    April 2, 2004 – A bomb found under high-speed rail tracks between Madrid and Seville appears to be made of the same explosives used in the March 11 attacks.

    April 2, 2004 – A Spanish judge releases without charges two Syrian men who had been detained in connection with the March 11 Madrid train bombings. He also frees a Moroccan man but orders him to report daily to police until further notice.

    April 3, 2004 – Seven suspected terrorists kill themselves and a policeman when they set off an explosion in a suburb of Madrid as police attempt to enter a building. The suspects are presumed to be involved in the train bombings. Fingerprints at the scene later result in more arrests, including Saswan Sabagh.

    April 3, 2004 – Spanish authorities arrest two more people but the identities of the two are not released.

    April 7, 2004 – A National Court judge charges two more Moroccan suspects, Abdelilah El Fuad and Rachid Adli, in the March 11 Madrid train bombings.

    April 12, 2004 – Spanish police arrest three more suspects. One of the three was identified as Morabit, who has now been detained three times. The other two are not identified.

    May 6, 2004 – Brandon Mayfield, an American attorney, is taken into custody by the FBI in connection with the attacks. His fingerprints were found on a bag containing detonators of the kind used in the attacks, in close proximity to the blast site. The Spanish Interior Ministry spokesman said the plastic bag was found inside a stolen van left near the Alcala train station, from which the three bombed trains departed. US sources are calling him a material witness, not formally charging him with a crime as of yet, and state that he is a follower of Islam.

    November 2004 – Spanish lawmakers launch an inquiry into the train bombings.

    January 2005 – Spain’s interior minister says Spanish officials have made 66 arrests in the train bombing investigation.

    April 11, 2006 – Twenty-nine people are indicted in a Spanish court in connection with the bombings. Five men are charged with planning and carrying out the plot, and a sixth is named as a “necessary collaborator.” The rest are charged with supporting roles.

    February 15, 2007 – Start date of trial for 29 defendants. Seven defendants are considered prime suspects, and they each could face sentences of about 38,000 years in prison for mass murder, if convicted.

    March 11, 2007 – For the third anniversary of the bombing, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia dedicate a memorial for the victims at the Atocha station. It is a glass cylinder which opens into a meditation chamber.

    June 4, 2007 – One of the 29 defendants in the Madrid train bombings trial, Brahim Moussaten, has been cleared of all charges and is now a free man, a court spokeswoman tells CNN.

    October 31, 2007 – Verdicts are read for the remaining 28 defendants. Three men are found guilty of the most serious charges and sentenced to thousands of years in prison. However, under Spanish law, they will serve only 40 years. Eighteen defendants are found guilty of lesser charges. Seven defendants are acquitted, including alleged mastermind Rabei Osman.

    July 17, 2008 – Four defendants, Basel Ghalyoun, Mouhannad Almallah Dabas, Abdelilah el-Fadual al-Akil and Raúl González, have their convictions overturned. The acquittal of Osman is also upheld.

    December 18, 2008 – A criminal court in Morocco convicts Abdelilah Ahriz of belonging to a terrorist group involved in the train bombings and sentences him to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors originally requested that Ahriz be given a life sentence, saying DNA sampling proved his involvement in preparing the train bombings.

    May 12, 2009 – Ten of the 14 suspected Islamic militants accused of assisting the three suspects are acquitted by Spain’s anti-terrorism court. The ruling gives the remaining four sentences between two and nine years for falsifying documents or being part of a terrorist group.

    January 13, 2010 – A Spanish court convicts five men accused of Islamic terrorist activities, including aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings of 2004 and planning other attacks. Their sentences, on charges of collaborating or belonging to an Islamic terrorist group, range from five to nine years in prison.

    February 2011 – Spain’s Supreme Court overturns the lower court’s conviction of the five men convicted in January 2010 for Islamic terrorist activities that included aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings and planning other attacks.

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  • SEMPRE Selected as Approved Vendor for AF PEO NC3’s NC3 Advanced Concepts BAA

    SEMPRE Selected as Approved Vendor for AF PEO NC3’s NC3 Advanced Concepts BAA

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    Press Release
    •

    Feb 21, 2024


    ARLINGTON, Va., February 21, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    SEMPRE.ai, the technology company created to secure America’s critical infrastructure, today announced its selection as one of the approved vendors for the Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Advanced Concepts Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), administered by the Air Force Program Executive Office for Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (AF PEO NC3).

    This achievement follows AF PEO NC3’s approval of the overall acquisition strategy for the NC3 Advanced Concepts BAA, which has been set with a ceiling of $75 million. SEMPRE’s inclusion in this group of approved companies signifies its commitment to enhancing the nation’s critical NC3 capabilities in line with its mission: Ensuring military success through resilient, secure communication. 

    “The selection of SEMPRE as an approved vendor for the NC3 Advanced Concepts BAA is a testament to our unwavering dedication to advancing secure and resilient communication solutions for mission-critical operations,” says SEMPRE CEO, Rob Spalding, USAF Brig Gen (ret).

    The primary objective of the NC3 Advanced Concepts BAA is to establish streamlined contracting processes and facilitate project execution, all while upholding stringent security classification standards. SEMPRE’s selection as a trusted partner by AF PEO NC3 underscores its expertise, dedication, and capabilities in the defense and technology sectors.

    As a chosen participant in this pivotal initiative, SEMPRE is poised to contribute its innovative solutions and expertise towards advancing the capabilities of NC3 technology. The company looks forward to collaborating closely with AF PEO NC3 and fellow approved vendors to support the mission-critical NC3 requirements of the United States Air Force and the nation as a whole.

    Source: SEMPRE.ai

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  • Make Finland the Land of Shooting Badassery Again

    Make Finland the Land of Shooting Badassery Again

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    The Guardian (Miranda Bryant) reports:

    Finland plans to open more than 300 new shooting ranges to encourage more citizens to take up the hobby in the interest of national defence.

    It is hoped that shooting in the Nordic country—which last year became Nato’s newest member and which shares a 830-mile (1,330km) border with Russia—could become as popular as football or ice hockey.

    Ah, the elephant bear in the room, which in this instance the article does talk about.

    There are about 670 shooting ranges in Finland, down from about 2,000 at the turn of the century. By 2030, the government plans to increase the number to about 1,000….

    Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the popularity of voluntary training courses aimed at teaching reservists and civilians how to defend Finland has doubled. There has also been a big increase in the number of Finns applying for gun licences….

    This of course puts one in mind of The White Death. Keep up the spirit, Finns.

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    Eugene Volokh

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  • Trump will quit NATO, Hillary Clinton says, as anxiety mounts over U.S. commitment to the alliance

    Trump will quit NATO, Hillary Clinton says, as anxiety mounts over U.S. commitment to the alliance

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    Former U.S. President and current GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the press at Mar-a-Lago on February 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

    Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    MUNICH, Germany — NATO members on Saturday weighed the U.S.’ possible withdrawal from the military alliance if Donald Trump returns to the White House, with Hillary Clinton saying he would waste no time in quitting if re-elected.

    Clinton urged delegates at the Munich Security Conference to take her one-time presidential rival’s tough talk “literally and seriously” as anxiety mounts over the future of the U.S.-led pact.

    “He will pull us out of NATO,” Clinton told attendees during a lunchtime session.

    Trump stoked fresh concerns over the U.S.’ commitment to NATO last weekend when he said he would “encourage” Russia to attack any member that doesn’t meet its spending targets. He has long criticized the alliance’s failure to ensure members make good on their obligation to contribute 2% of gross domestic product to defense.

    Amid such rhetoric, the U.S. Congress passed a bill in December aimed at preventing any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing from the alliance without congressional approval.

    U.S. Republican Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, on Saturday dismissed talk of the U.S. quitting NATO, saying: “We have answered that question.”

    “It would take a two-thirds vote in the United States Senate to get out — that is never going to happen,” he told CNBC in Munich.

    Clinton said, however, that Trump could actually just refuse to fund the alliance. “The U.S. will be there in name only,” she said.

    Trump versus NATO

    Concerns over the U.S. and Europe’s continued military coordination have dominated discussions at this year’s annual defense summit in Germany, as the specter of a second Trump presidency looms large and a contentious aid package for Ukraine hangs in the balance in the U.S. House of Representatives.

    Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte earlier Saturday referenced constant “moaning and whining” at the event about the future of NATO under Trump.

    “Stop moaning and whining and nagging about Trump,” he said.

    He was one of many European voices, including that of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who said that Europe needed to become self-sufficient in the face of a more uncertain future with its closest diplomatic ally.

    NATO head says the U.S. won't withdraw from alliance: It makes them 'stronger'

    “No matter what happens in the U.S. … we have to be able to protect ourselves,” Frederiksen said.

    Indeed, Germany’s defense minister said that his country’s commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense should be just the start, noting that the threshold could rise to 3.5% if necessary.

    NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg struck a more sanguine tone on transatlantic coordination, however, saying that believes the U.S. will remain “a staunch and committed NATO ally” whatever happens in the upcoming election.

    “I expect that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections in November, the U.S. will remain a staunch and committed NATO ally,” he told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro.

    “It is in the security interests of the United States to have a strong NATO,” he added.

    Stoltenberg acknowledged Trump’s frustration with member spending, but said “that is now changing.” On Wednesday, NATO announced that 18 of the alliance’s 31 members will meet the 2% spending target this year.

    NATO member countries first committed to minimum spending targets in 2006, but by 2014 only three had met the threshold.

    The alliance will mark its 75th anniversary this year at an annual summit to be held in Washington in July.

    Senator Risch said he would like to see all members committing to meeting their target by that point.

    “Talk about it happening years in the future isn’t now, and we’re always interested in now,” he said. “That’s helpful to the relationship: everybody keeping the commitments that they made.”

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  • Russia has obtained a ‘troubling’ emerging anti-satellite weapon, the White House says

    Russia has obtained a ‘troubling’ emerging anti-satellite weapon, the White House says

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    The White House publicly confirmed on Thursday that Russia has obtained a “troubling” emerging anti-satellite weapon but said it cannot directly cause “physical destruction” on Earth.White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials have information that Russia has obtained the capability but that such a weapon is not currently operational. U.S. officials are analyzing the information they have on the emerging technology and have consulted with allies and partners on the matter.“First this is not an active capability that’s been deployed and though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” Kirby said. “We’re not talking about a weapon that can be used to used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth.’’The White House confirmed its intelligence after a vague warning Wednesday from the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, urged the Biden administration to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat.Kirby said that the process of reviewing and declassifying information about the Russian capability was underway when Turner “regrettably” released his statement.“We have been very careful and deliberate about what we decide to declassify downgrade and share w the public,” he added.Russia has downplayed the U.S. concern about the capability.In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the claims about a new Russian military capability as a ruse intended to make the U.S. Congress support aid for Ukraine.“It’s obvious that Washington is trying to force Congress to vote on the aid bill by hook or by crook,” Peskov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “Let’s see what ruse the White House will use.”The capability is space based and would violate an international space treaty, to which more than 130 countries have signed onto, including Russia.The White House said it would look to engage the Russians directly on the concerns. Even as the White House sought to assure Americans, Kirby acknowledged it was a serious matter.“I don’t want to minimize the potential here for disruption,” Kirby said.White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was scheduled to brief lawmakers Thursday on Capitol Hill on the Russian threat.The White House did not hide its frustration with how Turner went about sharing concerns about the threat.“We make decisions about how and when to publicly disclose intelligence in a careful deliberate and strategic way, in a way that we choose,” Kirby said.“We’re not going to be knocked off that process, regardless of what, in this particular case has found its way into the public domain,” he added. “I can assure you that we will continue to keep members of Congress as well as our international partners and all of you and the American people as fully informed as possible.”

    The White House publicly confirmed on Thursday that Russia has obtained a “troubling” emerging anti-satellite weapon but said it cannot directly cause “physical destruction” on Earth.

    White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials have information that Russia has obtained the capability but that such a weapon is not currently operational. U.S. officials are analyzing the information they have on the emerging technology and have consulted with allies and partners on the matter.

    “First this is not an active capability that’s been deployed and though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” Kirby said. “We’re not talking about a weapon that can be used to used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth.’’

    The White House confirmed its intelligence after a vague warning Wednesday from the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee, Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, urged the Biden administration to declassify information about what he called a serious national security threat.

    Kirby said that the process of reviewing and declassifying information about the Russian capability was underway when Turner “regrettably” released his statement.

    “We have been very careful and deliberate about what we decide to declassify downgrade and share w the public,” he added.

    Russia has downplayed the U.S. concern about the capability.

    In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the claims about a new Russian military capability as a ruse intended to make the U.S. Congress support aid for Ukraine.

    “It’s obvious that Washington is trying to force Congress to vote on the aid bill by hook or by crook,” Peskov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “Let’s see what ruse the White House will use.”

    The capability is space based and would violate an international space treaty, to which more than 130 countries have signed onto, including Russia.

    The White House said it would look to engage the Russians directly on the concerns. Even as the White House sought to assure Americans, Kirby acknowledged it was a serious matter.

    “I don’t want to minimize the potential here for disruption,” Kirby said.

    White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was scheduled to brief lawmakers Thursday on Capitol Hill on the Russian threat.

    The White House did not hide its frustration with how Turner went about sharing concerns about the threat.

    “We make decisions about how and when to publicly disclose intelligence in a careful deliberate and strategic way, in a way that we choose,” Kirby said.

    “We’re not going to be knocked off that process, regardless of what, in this particular case has found its way into the public domain,” he added. “I can assure you that we will continue to keep members of Congress as well as our international partners and all of you and the American people as fully informed as possible.”

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  • BlueFoot Inc. Completed US Air Force SBIR Phase 2 Contract

    BlueFoot Inc. Completed US Air Force SBIR Phase 2 Contract

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    Press Release
    •

    Feb 13, 2024 09:00 EST

    BlueFoot completed a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 contract to study and develop applications of its Patent Data Analysis Capabilities for the US Air Force.


    WASHINGTON, February 13, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    BlueFoot announces it has completed a SBIR Phase 2 contract that focused on developing an innovation strength scoring capability. This capability enables innovation strength benchmarking at the company and technology-level, further automating corporate due diligence using risk-based patent analysis for the Department of the Air Force (DAF).

    About BlueFoot­­

    BlueFoot’s market intelligence platform empowers technology-based due diligence. With its proprietary data science and AI, BlueFoot automatically correlates patent, financial, and market data to understand the global market map of companies in a bespoke technology area. BlueFoot enables the benchmarking of companies’ relative innovation strengths in that bespoke technology area as well. Used by the financial sector, corporate IP departments, and the government, BlueFoot is a must-have software tool for automated corporate due diligence. For more information, visit www.bluefoot.ai.

    About AFRL

    The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit afresearchlab.com.

    About AFWERX

    As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed 4,697 new contracts worth more than $2.6 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit afwerx.com.

    Company Press Contact: hello@bluefoot.ai

    Source: BlueFoot Inc.

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  • Senate passes a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine and Israel, but fate in the House is uncertain

    Senate passes a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine and Israel, but fate in the House is uncertain

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    WASHINGTON — The Senate early Tuesday passed a $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, pushing ahead after months of difficult negotiations and amid growing political divisions in the Republican Party over the role of the United States abroad.

    The vote came after a small group of Republicans opposed to the $60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the U.S. should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas. But 22 Republicans voted with nearly all Democrats to pass the package 70-29, with supporters arguing that abandoning Ukraine could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and threaten national security across the globe.

    “With this bill, the Senate declares that American leadership will not waiver, will not falter, will not fail,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who worked closely with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on the legislation.

    The bill’s passage through the Senate was a welcome sign for Ukraine amid critical shortages on the battlefield.

    Yet the package faces a deeply uncertain future in the House, where hardline Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump — the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, and a critic of support for Ukraine — oppose the legislation.

    Speaker Mike Johnson cast new doubt on the package in a statement Monday evening, making clear that it could be weeks or months before Congress sends the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk — if at all.

    Still, the vote was a win for both Senate leaders. Schumer noted the strong bipartisan support and projected that if the House speaker brings it forward it would have the same strong support in that chamber. McConnell has made Ukraine his top priority in recent months, and was resolute in the face of considerable pushback from his own GOP conference.

    “History settles every account,” the longtime Republican leader said in a statement after the bill’s passage. “And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink.”

    Dollars provided by the legislation would purchase U.S.-made defense equipment, including munitions and air defense systems that authorities say are desperately needed as Russia batters the country. It also includes $8 billion for the government in Kyiv and other assistance.

    “For us in Ukraine, continued US assistance helps to save human lives from Russian terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media. “It means that life will continue in our cities and will triumph over war.”

    In addition, the legislation would provide $14 billion for Israel’s war with Hamas, $8 billion for Taiwan and partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter China, and $9.2 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

    Progressive lawmakers have objected to sending offensive weaponry to Israel, and two Democrats, Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent of Vermont, voted against it.

    “I cannot in good conscience support sending billions of additional taxpayer dollars for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s military campaign in Gaza,” Welch said. “It’s a campaign that has killed and wounded a shocking number of civilians. It’s created a massive humanitarian crisis.”

    The bill’s passage followed almost five months of torturous negotiations over an expansive bill that would have paired the foreign aid with an overhaul of border and asylum policies. Republicans demanded the trade-off, saying the surge of migration into the United States had to be addressed alongside the security of allies.

    But a bipartisan deal on border security fell apart just days after its unveiling, a head-spinning development that left negotiators deeply frustrated. Republicans declared the bill insufficient and blocked it on the Senate floor.

    After the border bill collapsed, the two leaders abandoned the border provisions and pushed forward with passing the foreign aid package alone — as Democrats had originally intended.

    While the slimmed-down foreign aid bill eventually won a healthy showing of GOP support, several Republicans who had previously expressed support for Ukraine voted against it. The episode further exposed divisions in the party, made more public as Trump dug in and a handful of lawmakers openly called for McConnell to step down.

    Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, argued that the U.S. should step back from the conflict and help broker an end to it with Russia’s Putin. He questioned the wisdom of continuing to fuel Ukraine’s defense when Putin appears committed to fighting for years.

    “I think it deals with the reality that we’re living in, which is they’re a more powerful country, and it’s their region of the world,” he said.

    Vance, along with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and other opponents, spent several hours on the floor railing against the aid and complaining about Senate process. They dug in their heels to delay a final vote, speaking on the floor until daybreak.

    Supporters of the aid pushed back, warning that bowing to Russia would be a historic mistake with devastating consequences. In an unusually raw back-and-forth, GOP senators who support the aid challenged some of the opponents directly on the floor.

    North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis angrily rebutted some of their arguments, noting that the money would only help Ukraine for less than a year and that much of it would go to replenishing U.S. military stocks.

    “Why am I so focused on this vote?” Tillis said. “Because I don’t want to be on the pages of history that we will regret if we walk away. You will see the alliance that is supporting Ukraine crumble. You will ultimately see China become emboldened. And I am not going to be on that page of history.”

    Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., became emotional as he talked about the drudgery of the Senate and spending time away from his family to get little done. “But every so often there are issues that come before us that seem to be the ones that explain why we are here,” he said, his voice cracking.

    Moran conceded that the cost of the package was heavy for him, but pointed out that if Putin were to attack a NATO member in Europe, the U.S. would be bound by treaty to become directly involved in the conflict — a commitment that Trump has called into question as he seeks another term in the White House.

    At a rally Saturday, Trump said that he had once told a NATO ally he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to members that are “delinquent” in their commitments to the alliance. The former president has led his party away from the foreign policy doctrines of aggressive American involvement overseas and toward an “America First” isolationism.

    Evoking the slogan, Moran said, “I believe in America first, but unfortunately America first means we have to engage in the world.”

    In the House, many Republicans have opposed the aid and are unlikely to cross Trump, but some key GOP lawmakers have signaled they will push to get it passed.

    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, traveled to Ukraine last week with a bipartisan delegation and met with Zelenskyy. Turner posted on X, formerly Twitter, after the trip that “I reiterated America’s commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.”

    But Speaker Johnson is in a tough position. A majority of his conference opposes the aid, and he is trying to lead the narrowest of majorities and avoid the fate of his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted in October.

    Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Monday that because the foreign aid package lacks border security provisions, it is “silent on the most pressing issue facing our country.” It was the latest — and potentially most consequential — sign of opposition to the Ukraine aid from House GOP leadership, who had rejected the bipartisan border plan as a “non-starter,” contributing to its rapid demise.

    “Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

    Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, traveled to Kyiv last week with Turner and other House members. She said the trip underscored to her how Ukraine is still in a fight for its very existence.

    During a meeting with Zelenskyy, she said the U.S. lawmakers tried to offer assurances that the American people still stand with his country.

    “He was clear that our continued support is critical to their ability to win the war,” Spanberger said. “It’s critical to their own freedom. And importantly, it’s critical to U.S. national security interests.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

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  • ICAIE Issues New Report on How Iran’s Threat and Illicit Networks Finance Chaos and Malign Influence to Destabilize U.S. Interests in the Americas and Globally

    ICAIE Issues New Report on How Iran’s Threat and Illicit Networks Finance Chaos and Malign Influence to Destabilize U.S. Interests in the Americas and Globally

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    Iran will continue to leverage multiple strategic lines of effort in the Americas, aided by a broad network of criminal and terrorist allies and proxies, including sanctions evasion, acquiring funds through multiple illicit economic activities, successful and unsuccessful terrorist attacks, and the deployment of massive mis- and disinformation campaign structures and a spectrum of threats that affect U.S. national security.


    WASHINGTON, February 12, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Today, the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), a national security non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., released a new report entitled, “How Iran’s Threat and Illicit Networks Finance Chaos and Malign Influence to Destabilize U.S. Interests in the Americas and Globally“, co-authored by Douglas Farah and David M. Luna. The New ICAIE policy brief highlights how as Iran is expanding its global security footprint, it poses an existential threat to not only peace and security in the Middle East but also to strategic American national security interests in Latin America. “Iran, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is undertaking subversive active measures through its embassies, terrorist proxies, and criminal networks in the Americas to destabilize democracies and exert political influence, penetrate markets, and increase sway with corrupt ruling elites,” said David Luna, ICAIE’s Executive Director.  

    Similar to its modus operandi in the Middle East of using proxies to advance its geo-security interests and have plausible deniability, Iran leverages proxy power forces in Latin America by “exploiting existing regional weaknesses—such as organized crime networks—to provide Iran with the ‘cover’ needed to pursue its strategic policy in the Americas.” The Iran-financed chaos and malign influence in the Americas also has a geopolitical ripple effect globally, that impacts U.S. national security in other corners of the world.

    In a vulnerable region where Latin authoritarian regimes increasingly rely on repression, censorship, corruption, and alliances with transnational criminal forces, the deepening partnerships with China, Iran, and Russia accelerate democratic backsliding, economic stagnation, instability, and collapse of the rule of law. Iran’s threat and illicit networks today have advanced an array of malign influence and political interference activities in the Americas intended to harm the United States through multiple military, intelligence, security, diplomatic, and criminal operations.

    Over the past two decades, Iran and its allies have worked aggressively to expand their activities and influence operations around Latin America. These activities have come under increasing scrutiny since Iran’s support for Islamic militants became a topic of recent international debate, following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.

    ICAIE’s report underscores the need to view Iran’s activities in the Western Hemisphere through a strategic prism of asymmetrical warfare and gray zones. This includes Iran’s alliance of convenience with foreign malign influence networks with other extra-regional state actors such as China and Russia. The Iranian collaboration with the Bolivarian Alliance and Bolivarian Joint Criminal Enterprise (BJCE) gives Iran more freedom of movement and leverage access in the region and allies with Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other countries to export their malign influence, intelligence operations, criminal activities, and threat convergence strategies that are often coordinated with China and Russia.

    ICAIE brings together diverse champions across sectors and communities, including governments and prominent organizations from the private sector and civil society to mobilize energies to combat cross-border illicit threats that endanger U.S. national security, global supply chains, and peace.

    Find ICAIE’s New Report on Iranian Threat Networks in the Americas here.

    Source: ICAIE

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