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  • Death of Osama bin Laden Fast Facts | CNN

    Death of Osama bin Laden Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the death of Osama bin Laden.

    On May 2, 2011, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces during an early morning raid at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

    – Built in approximately 2006.
    – Significantly larger than other homes in the area, and worth a reported $1 million.
    – Lacked telephone and internet service.
    – Residents burned their trash rather than having it picked up.
    – Approximately 24 people lived at the house.
    – Surrounded by 12- to 18-foot walls topped by barbed wire.
    – Had two security gates.
    – Bin Laden and his family’s living quarters were on the second and third levels.
    – The third floor terrace had a seven-foot privacy wall.
    – Located only about a mile from the Pakistan Military Academy.

    US forces retrieved numerous items from bin Laden’s compound, including 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, according to a senior US official.

    2007 (approx.) – US intelligence uncovers the name of one of bin Laden’s most trusted couriers.

    2009 (approx.) – Intelligence sources identify the area of Pakistan where the courier and his brother live.

    August 2010 – US intelligence sources identify the Abbottabad compound as the home of the courier and his brother, who have no obvious means of affording a $1 million home.

    September 2010 – The CIA informs President Barack Obama that bin Laden may be living in the Abbottabad compound. They base this on the size and price tag of the compound as well as the elaborate security.

    February 2011 – The intelligence on the Abbottabad compound is considered strong enough to begin planning action.

    March 14, 2011 – President Obama chairs the first of five National Security Council meetings to discuss an operation to raid bin Laden’s compound.

    March 29, 2011 – Second National Security meeting.

    April 12, 2011 – Third meeting.

    April 19, 2011 – Fourth meeting.

    April 28, 2011 – Last of the National Security Council meetings on the bin Laden raid.

    April 29, 2011 – At 8:20 a.m. ET, President Obama gives the order to raid bin Laden’s compound.

    May 2, 2011 – In the early morning hours (mid-afternoon on May 1 in the United States), a group of 25 Navy Seals raid the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
    – They arrive outside the compound in two Black Hawk helicopters.
    – The operation takes 40 minutes total.
    – US Special Forces breach the outer walls of the compound before fighting their way through the ground floor of the three-story building. The firefight then moves to the second and third floors.
    – In the last 5-10 minutes of the firefight, bin Laden is killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
    – Three men, including a son of bin Laden, are killed as well as one woman.
    – Bin Laden’s body is identified by one of his wives. Facial recognition is also used.

    May 2, 2011 – Bin Laden is buried at sea off the deck of the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.
    – He is buried within 24 hours according to Islamic law.
    – The hour-long ceremony aboard the USS Carl Vinson is conducted according to Islamic law.

    May 2, 2011 – A DNA test is done on a sample from the body, confirming that it is bin Laden.

    May 3, 2011 – Attorney General Eric Holder declares the raid “lawful, legitimate and appropriate in every way.”

    May 3, 2011 – White House Press Secretary Jay Carney offers new details on the raid. He clarifies that the woman killed was on the first floor, not with bin Laden, and was killed in the crossfire. Carney also says that bin Laden was not armed but did put up resistance.

    May 3, 2011 – A congressional source tells CNN that bin Laden had approximately $745 and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing.

    May 3, 2011 – Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed releases a statement, “Obama has not got any strong evidence that can prove his claim over killing of the Sheikh Osama bin Laden… And secondly, the closest sources for Sheikh Osama bin Laden have not confirmed” the death.

    May 4, 2011 – White House Press Secretary Carney announces that President Obama has decided not to release photos of bin Laden’s body.

    May 6, 2011 – Al Qaeda confirms bin Laden’s death, in a statement on jihadist forums.

    May 12, 2011 – US officials confirm to CNN that US authorities have interviewed three of bin Laden’s wives.

    May 13, 2011 – It is revealed that a large amount of pornography was seized from the Abbottabad compound during the raid. It is unclear to whom it belonged.

    May 13, 2011 – A US military official tells CNN the Navy Seal team who carried out the bin Laden raid wore helmet-mounted digital cameras that recorded the mission.

    May 17, 2011 – Senator John Kerry announces that Pakistan will return the tail of the US helicopter damaged during the raid.

    May 18, 2011 – Admiral Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates tell reporters there is no evidence that the senior Pakistani leadership knew of bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan.

    May 26, 2011 – A team of CIA forensic specialists is granted permission by the Pakistani government to examine the compound.

    June 15, 2011 – Pakistan’s intelligence agency arrests several people suspected of assisting the CIA before the raid.

    June 17, 2011 – The US Justice Department formally drops terrorism-related criminal charges against bin Laden.

    July 11, 2011 – Pakistani security forces detain a doctor suspected of helping the CIA attempt to collect the DNA of bin Laden’s family members through a vaccination drive.

    October 6, 2011 – Pakistan’s information ministry says the doctor suspected of helping the CIA target bin Laden will be charged with treason. Also, bin Laden’s compound will be turned over to city officials.

    February 2012 – Pakistani authorities begin to demolish the compound.

    May 9, 2012 – Citing that it is of national security interest, a federal judge has denies Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information request regarding the release of bin Laden death photos.

    May 23, 2012 – Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA track down bin Laden, is fined $3,500 for spying for the United States and sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason by a tribal court.

    September 4, 2012 – The memoir “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden” by former US Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, written under the name Mark Owen, is published.

    February 11, 2013 – Conflicting information about which Navy SEAL killed bin Laden appears when Esquire magazine reports on an unnamed former Navy SEAL who says he fired the kill shot, not the point man as told in Bissonette’s book “No Easy Day.”

    May 21, 2013 – A three-judge federal appeals court panel rejects an appeal from a conservative legal group, ruling that the release of post-mortem images of bin Laden’s body could result in attacks on Americans.

    October 31, 2014 – Adm. Brian Losey, head of the Naval Warfare Special Command, releases an open letter warning Navy SEALs against betraying their promise of secrecy. This is in advance of two upcoming interviews from SEALs involved in the bin Laden mission.

    November 7, 2014 – Former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill says in an interview with The Washington Post that he was the one who fired the shot that killed bin Laden.

    May 10, 2015 – In a published report, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh contends the Obama Adminstration lied about the circumstances surrounding the killing of bin Laden. The White House later dismisses the report as “baseless.”

    May 20, 2015 – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence begins releasing and declassifying documents recovered in the raid in May 2011.

    March 1, 2016 – A second batch of recovered documents is released by the DNI. Included in the materials are bin Laden’s personal letters and will.

    August 2016 – Bissonnette agrees to pay the US government all past and future proceeds of the book “No Easy Day,” settling a lawsuit by the government for “breach of contract” by violating a non-disclosure agreement.

    November 1, 2017 – The CIA announces the release of thousands of files it says came from the bin Laden raid. Among them is the deceased al Qaeda founder’s personal journal.

    April 2023 – Newly released photos, obtained from the Obama Presidential Library via a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Post, offer a window into the meticulous planning – and tension – among the highest-ranking members of the US government on May 1, 2011.

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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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  • Iraq Prison Abuse Scandal Fast Facts | CNN

    Iraq Prison Abuse Scandal Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s some background information about the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal which took place during the Iraq war.

    Abu Ghraib prison was a US Army detention center for captured Iraqis from 2003 to 2006. An investigation into the treatment of detainees at the prison was prompted by the discovery of graphic photos depicting guards abusing detainees in 2003.

    The facility was located 20 miles west of Baghdad on 280 acres.

    At the height of the scandal, the prison held as many as 3,800 detainees.

    Most of the detainees lived in tents in the prison yards.

    The abuses took place inside the prison in cell blocks 1A and 1B.

    Eleven US soldiers were convicted of crimes relating to the Abu Ghraib scandal. Seven of those were from Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company. A number of other service members were not charged but reprimanded.

    November 2003 – A detainee dies during an interrogation at Abu Ghraib.

    January 2004 – Spc. Joseph M. Darby discovers photos on a CD-ROM of Iraqi prisoners being abused. He reports the abuse to superiors, prompting an investigation.

    April 4, 2004 – Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba releases his report to Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez about misconduct in the 800th Military Police Brigade.

    April 28, 2004 – “60 Minutes II” broadcasts graphic photos of Iraqi detainees being humiliated and tortured.

    April 30, 2004 – The New Yorker publishes an article by Seymour Hersh reporting details in the Taguba report on the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

    April 30, 2004 – Taguba’s report detailing his investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade is released.

    Taguba’s report states that the following abuses happened in this incident:
    – Punching, slapping and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet.
    – Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees.
    – Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing.
    – Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time.
    – Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear.
    – Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped.
    – Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them.
    – Positioning a naked detainee on a box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture.
    – Writing “I am a Rapest (sic)” on the leg of a detainee accused of rape, and then photographing him naked.
    – Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female soldier pose for a picture.
    – A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee.
    – Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee.
    – Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.

    May 4, 2004 – Gen. George W. Casey Jr. announces that in the past 16 months, the US Army has conducted more than 30 criminal investigations into misconduct by US captors during both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

    May 5, 2004 – US President George W. Bush records interviews with Al Arabiya and US-sponsored Al-Hurra networks expressing his disgust with the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees.

    May 6, 2004 – During a joint news conference with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Bush expresses remorse “for the humiliation suffered” by Iraqi prisoners at the hands of US troops.

    May 6, 2004 – The Justice Department announces that it is looking into three suspicious deaths of detainees, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and the involvement of the CIA and contractors in the deaths.

    May 7, 2004 – US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testifies before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. “These events occurred on my watch…as Secretary of Defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility…there are other photos – many other photos – that depict incidents of physical violence towards prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.”

    May 10, 2004 – Bush views some of the photos at the Pentagon and announces his firm support for Rumsfeld.

    May 12, 2004 – Rumsfeld testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee.

    August 24, 2004 – An independent commission headed by former US Secretary of Defense James Schleslinger reports that what took place at the prison was due largely to “sadism” on the part of officers working the night shift, but that responsibility for the mistreatment of prisoners went higher up the chain of command, back to Washington, DC.

    August 25, 2004 – The Fay-Jones report on the Abu Ghraib scandal finds 44 instances of abuse, some of which amounted to torture.

    February 15, 2006 – A new set of graphic photographs and video from Abu Ghraib are aired on the Australian television network SBS’s program “Dateline.” The photos are reportedly from the same period in 2003 that the previous photos were shot, not new incidents.

    June 1, 2006 – Sgt. Santos Cardona, an Army dog handler, is found guilty of two of five counts against him, including aggravated assault and unlawfully using his dog to threaten detainees. He is sentenced to 90 days hard labor and a reduction of rank. He must also forfeit $600 of pay per month for a year.

    September 1, 2006 – Control of Abu Ghraib is handed over to the Iraqis after all of the detainees are transferred elsewhere.

    February 2008 – A documentary about the Abu Ghraib scandal by Oscar-winning director Errol Morris, “Standard Operating Procedure,” debuts at the Berlin Film Festival.

    June 30, 2008 – Former detainees of Abu Ghraib prison file a lawsuit against CACI Premier Technology, a military contractor who supplied the army with interrogators.

    February 21, 2009 – Abu Ghraib reopens after major renovations which include a new gym, barber shop, sewing room, outdoor recreational areas, a library, and computer room. Its name is changed to Baghdad Central Prison.

    September 2009 – Saleh et al v. Titan Corporation et al, a federal class action lawsuit alleging abuse at Abu Ghraib by civilian contractors from CACI International is dismissed by a federal appeals court.

    2012 – Defense contractor Engility Holdings Inc. agrees to pay 71 former detainees at Abu Ghraib and other sites $5.28 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2008.

    April 2014 – Iraq closes the prison due to security concerns.

    March 20, 2015 – US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein orders the Defense Department to release photos that show detainees being abused in detention centers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    January 18, 2017 – Hellerstein rules that the government must release an estimated 2,000 additional photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and other military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    August 23, 2019 – The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals allows a 2008 lawsuit filed by former detainees against CACI Premier Technology to move forward. The court denied CACI’s request to immediately appeal a lower court’s ruling that the company can be sued and is not immune from civil suit as a government contractor.

    June 28, 2021 – The US Supreme Court denies CACI Premier Technology’s petition, clearing the way for the 2008 lawsuit to proceed.

    Spc. Megan Ambuhl
    372nd Military Police Company
    October 30, 2004 – As part of a plea deal, Ambuhl pleads guilty to one charge of dereliction of duty. She is discharged from the Army without prison time.

    Sgt. Javal S. Davis
    372nd Military Police Company
    February 1, 2005 – Pleads guilty as part of a plea agreement.
    February 5, 2005 – Is sentenced to six months in a military prison.
    Late May 2005 – Is released after serving approximately three months.

    Pfc. Lynndie England
    372nd Military Police Company
    May 2, 2005 – England pleads guilty to reduced charges as part of a pretrial agreement.
    May 4, 2005 – A mistrial is declared after she pleads guilty but then states that she did not know her actions were wrong.
    September 21, 2005 – England’s second court-martial trial begins at Fort Hood, Texas.
    September 26, 2005 – England is found guilty of four counts of maltreating detainees, one count of conspiracy and one count of committing an indecent act.
    September 27, 2005 – Is sentenced to three years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge.
    March 2007 – Is released from military prison after serving half of her 36-month sentence.
    2009 – Her biography, “Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World,” is published.

    Staff Sgt. Ivan “Chip” Frederick II
    372nd Military Police Company
    October 20, 2004 – Pleads guilty to conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, and committing an indecent act under a plea agreement.
    October 21, 2004 – Is sentenced to eight years in prison and also sentenced to a forfeiture of pay, a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private.
    October 1, 2007 – Is paroled after serving approximately three years in a military prison.

    Spc. Charles Graner
    372nd Military Police Company
    January 14, 2005 – Graner is found guilty of nine of 10 counts under five separate charges.
    January 15, 2005 – Graner is sentenced to 10 years in prison, downgraded to the rank of private with loss of pay, and receives a dishonorable discharge.
    August 6, 2011 – Graner is released from prison.

    Spc. Sabrina Harman
    372nd Military Police Company
    May 16, 2005 – Is found guilty on six of the seven charges for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
    May 17, 2005 – Sentenced to six months in prison. Harman is demoted to private, and receives a bad conduct discharge after she finishes the sentence.

    Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan
    Director, Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center during the fall of 2003. Jordan is the only officer charged with prisoner abuse.
    April 28, 2006 – Charged with eight counts, including disobeying an order, dereliction of duty, cruelty, false statements, fraud and interfering with an investigation.
    August 28, 2007 – Acquitted of charges that he failed to control soldiers who abused detainees, but is found guilty of disobeying a general’s command not to talk about allegations of abuse at the prison. On August 29, he is sentenced with a reprimand.
    January 10, 2008 – Cleared of all wrongdoing, and the conviction and reprimand are removed from his record.

    Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski
    Commander of the Army Reserve’s 800th Military Police Brigade, in charge of all 12 Iraqi detention facilities, including Abu Ghraib.
    May 5, 2005 – She is demoted from brigadier general to colonel by President Bush after an extensive investigation and is cited for two of four allegations against her, dereliction of duty and shoplifting. The probe clears her of “making a material misrepresentation to an investigating team” and “failure to obey a lawful order.”

    Col. Thomas Pappas
    Commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.
    May 2006 – Reprimanded, fined, and relieved of command after using muzzled dogs inside interrogation rooms.

    Lt. Col. Jerry L. Phillabaum
    Commander, 320th MP Battalion.
    April 2004 – He is reprimanded and relieved of command of the 320th Military Police Battalion for his role in the scandal.

    Spc. Jeremy Sivits
    372nd Military Police Company
    May 19, 2004 – Sivits pleads guilty as part of a pretrial agreement with prosecutors that leaves him open to testify against other soldiers charged in the scandal. He is sentenced to a year of confinement, discharge for bad conduct, and is demoted.

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  • US sending second carrier strike group, fighter jets to region as Israel prepares to expand Gaza operations | CNN

    US sending second carrier strike group, fighter jets to region as Israel prepares to expand Gaza operations | CNN

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    Washington/Seoul
    CNN
     — 

    The Pentagon has ordered a second carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to two US officials, and is sending Air Force fighter jets to the region as Israel prepares to expand its Gaza operations.

    The US warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or take part in Israel’s operations, but the presence of two of the Navy’s most powerful vessels is designed to send a message of deterrence to Iran and Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

    The first carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived off the coast of Israel last week.

    Now the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group, which deployed from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday, is headed to the eastern Mediterranean. The aircraft carrier was initially set to sail for the waters of US European Command, but the officials said it will now head for the waters near Israel.

    It is unclear at this point how long the Ford will stay in the region once the Eisenhower carrier strike group arrives, one official said.

    The Eisenhower is the flagship of the carrier strike group, which will be joined by a guided-missile cruiser and two guided-missile destroyers, according to the Navy.

    The Eisenhower can carry more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 fighter jets. The Ford can deploy more than 75 aircraft.

    ABC News first reported the carrier strike group’s orders.

    The Biden administration made clear that the carrier, and its accompanying force, are not there to engage in combat activities on behalf of Israel.

    “There is no intention or plan to put American troops on the ground in Israel,” said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, on Thursday. Kirby underscored that the purpose of the increased military presence in the region is to deter others from entering the conflict if they perceive weakness on the part of Israel.

    “We take our national security interests very seriously in the region,” he said, noting that the purpose of the bolstered force posture was “to act as a deterrent for any other actor, including Hezbollah, that might think that widening this conflict is a good idea.”

    In addition, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid reaction force capable of conducting special operations, is making preparations in case it is ordered closer to Israel to bolster the US’ force posture there, multiple US officials tell CNN.

    The unit, which is on board the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, is comprised of more than 2,000 Marines and sailors and would be capable of supporting a large-scale evacuation. Among the mission essential tasks for a Marine Expeditionary Unit are evacuation operations and humanitarian assistance.

    No such order has been given yet to the unit, the officials said.

    Aircrew aboard a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron celebrate their arrival in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, Oct. 13, 2023

    Meanwhile, US Air Forces Central on Saturday announced the deployment of F-15E fighter jets and A-10 ground-attack jets to the region.

    The movement of the warplanes from the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, respectively, “bolster the U.S. posture and enhance air operations throughout the Middle East,” an Air Force statement said. It did not give specific numbers of warplanes involved.

    A US Central Command social media post said the A-10s will join another squadron of the aircraft already in the region.

    “By posturing advanced fighters and integrating with joint and coalition forces, we are strengthening our partnerships and reinforcing security in the region,” Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, 9th Air Force commander, said in a statement.

    Defense officials have said repeatedly in recent days that the Pentagon will be able to flow in additional forces and assets to the region quickly as needed, as Israel continues to fight a war against the terrorist group Hamas.

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  • That jet the Marines lost? Taxpayers will pay $1.7 trillion for the F-35 program | CNN Politics

    That jet the Marines lost? Taxpayers will pay $1.7 trillion for the F-35 program | CNN Politics

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    A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.



    CNN
     — 

    The military losing a fighter jet near Charleston, South Carolina, and asking the public to help find it is a plotline in which “Top Gun” (fighter jets) meets “The Hunt for Red October” (country can’t find its weapons system).

    But the larger story of the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter is like tax dollars meet “The Blob” (unstoppable force consumes everything in its path).

    “How in the hell do you lose an F-35?” wondered Rep. Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican, in a post on social media that speaks for everyone who read the headline about the state-of-the-art military plane that went missing Sunday after its pilot ejected and parachuted to safety.

    “How is there not a tracking device and we’re asking the public to what, find a jet and turn it in?” she continued.

    A more general and important question could be asked of the F-35 program writ large: How in the heck can you spend so much money on a plane that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to?

    The exact amount of money for a single aircraft like the one that went missing is somewhere around $100 million.

    The entire F-35 program is on track to cost $1.7 trillion over the lifetime of the plane. Trillion. With a “t.”

    CNN’s Oren Liebermann reported the facts of what we know about the missing aircraft on CNN on Monday:

    • The pilot ejected safely and was taken to a hospital.
    • Joint Base Charleston posted a social media plea for information from anyone who might have seen the jet or its remains.
    • The search is focused northwest of Charleston near Lakes Marion and Moultrie.

    But we’re left with so many questions, he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

    “Was the transponder working? If not, why wasn’t it working? Why, maybe, had it been switched off? What was the mission it was on? All of this is either under investigation or a question we haven’t gotten an answer to yet.”

    When I asked Liebermann by email how to generally explain the F-35 program, he noted it is the most expensive weapons program in US history.

    For a country that spends a good portion of its income on its military and is known to have the most advanced fighting force on Earth, that’s saying something.

    The F-35 is what’s known as a “stealth” fighter, which means it is supposed to be able to avoid detection by enemies. Maybe a little too stealth.

    But if you watch the glossy Lockheed Martin video at F35.com, the jet is also supposed to be able to communicate with rest of the military, “sharing its operational picture with the ground, sea and air assets.” The video shows the jet beaming information to the ground and satellites.

    The New York Times’ editorial board used the word “boondoggle” to describe the F-35 program in 2021. But it added that the US is essentially stuck with the program.

    Or as CNN’s Zachary Cohen wrote back in 2015, “Is the world’s most expensive weapons program worth it?” Eight years later, the question still applies.

    Many US allies – Canada, Germany, Japan and others – also buy F-35s from Lockheed.

    The F-35, as developed by Lockheed at the request of the US military, was supposed to be the jack-of-all-jets, with versions to do different jobs for the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines.

    The version that went missing over South Carolina – the F-35B – is used by the US Marine Corps and meant to be able to “land vertically like a helicopter and take-off in very short distances,” according to a fact sheet from Lockheed. Another F-35B crashed in 2018, also in South Carolina.

    The Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, has written extensively on the F-35 and its cost overruns. I asked Dan Grazier, an F-35 expert for POGO, what has gone wrong.

    It all boils down to “failure at the conceptual level,” he told me in an email.

    “The architects of the program attempted to build a single aircraft to meet multiple mission requirements for not just three separate services but also those of multiple countries,” Grazier said, noting the difference between a small and nimble fighter jet and a long-range jet.

    “When someone attempts to design a single aircraft to perform all of these roles, they have to make numerous design tradeoffs that generally results in an aircraft that can sort of do it all, but doesn’t do anything particularly well.”

    The jet has never reached its full operational capability and already needs updates and tweaks, including a new engine. “Every F-35 built until now is nothing more than a very expensive prototype,” Grazier told me.

    “All of them will have to go through an expensive retrograde process in the future when the design is complete to bring them up to something approaching full combat standards.”

    I asked a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin if the company is confident the jets perform as they should considering the taxpayer investment.

    They provided this statement:

    The global F-35 fleet has surpassed more than 721,000 cumulative flight hours and spans 17 nations and three U.S. military services. Since F-35s began flying 17 years ago, there has been one pilot fatality and less than 10 confirmed destroyed aircraft. More than 965 F-35s have been delivered and more than 430,000 sorties completed.

    Diana Maurer is director of defense capabilities and management at the Government Accountability Office, the government’s own watchdog that earlier this year described the F-35 program as “more than a decade behind schedule and $183 billion over original cost estimates.”

    She said pilots frequently report being impressed by the plane’s capabilities. But they also report not being able to fly it often enough.

    Problems getting spare parts, issues with repairs and a reliance on contractors all contribute to the F-35 having a substandard readiness and frequent groundings of the fleet.

    “There’s a variety of reasons why they can’t get these aircraft up in the air as often as they would like,” Maurer said. “And that’s really frustrating from a taxpayer perspective for something that already costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year; cost many, many multiple billions already; and will cost nearly $2 trillion over the life cycle of the program.”

    Grazier said officials at the Pentagon have acknowledged problems with the F-35 that can be applied to the design process in the future. But this is a program that evolved over successive presidencies and with a rotating cast of characters in charge both in Congress and at the Pentagon.

    The system is supposed to have safeguards against extreme cost overruns, but when those warnings were triggered in previous decades, the F-35 program was allowed to barrel forward. And here we are.

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  • Child killed as Italian Air Force jet explodes into a fireball after takeoff | CNN

    Child killed as Italian Air Force jet explodes into a fireball after takeoff | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A jet from the Italian Air Force’s aerobatics squadron crashed during a practice run near the northern city of Turin on Saturday, killing a 5-year-old child and leaving her 9-year-old brother with severe burns when the car they were in was struck by burning debris from a huge fireball.

    The MB-339 jet had exploded moments after takeoff at around noon local time, officials said, according to the Italian Fire Brigade.

    The pilot, who survived, could be seen ejecting with his parachute opening moments before the jet struck the ground, the fire brigade said.

    He is currently being treated for burns at Giovanni Bosco Hospital in Turin, officials added.

    The Frecce Tricolori aerobatic jets, part of the Italian Air Force, were practicing a formation ahead of the 100-year celebrations of the Italian Air Force that are set to take place Sunday. The planes had just taken off from Turin’s Caselle airport when one of the jets started to lose altitude, as seen on multiple videos that were shared on social media.

    The crash happened inside the airport perimeter.

    The airport tweeted that it was closed temporarily.

    Italian media reported that the jets hit a flock of birds just after takeoff, according to CNN affiliate Sky24.

    The car which held the 5-year-old child and her family had been driving along a country road parallel to the airport, according to local media reports.

    Her brother survived and is now being treated for severe burns at the Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital in Turin, the hospital confirmed.

    Their parents have also reportedly suffered burns.

    The Italian Air Force said it was “dismayed and astonished” by the jet crash, according to a statement made by the Italian Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Air Squadron General Luca Goretti.

    The Pony 4 aircraft, piloted by Major Oscar Del Do’, had lost altitude and crashed to the ground shortly after the formation had taken off, the statement said.

    The Italian Air Force has not confirmed the exact cause of the accident, but has hypothesized there was a bird strike during the very first phases of takeoff.

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  • US will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s in October | CNN Politics

    US will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s in October | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US has announced that it will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets in October.

    “Following English language training for pilots in September, F-16 flying training is expected to begin in October at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, facilitated by the Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing,” Pentagon Spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday at a press briefing.

    “Although we do not have specific numbers to share at this time in regards to how many Ukrainians will participate in this training, we do anticipate it will include several pilots and dozens of maintainers.”

    Earlier on Thursday, two US officials told CNN an announcement of the training program was coming. The officials said the pilots still need to go through English language training before they can begin learning to operate the fourth-generation American jets. The language classes will also take place in the US, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

    Lackland is home to the Defense Language Institute English Language Center, which provides English language training for international military and civilian personnel.

    Ukraine put forward a list of approximately 32 pilots who are ready to begin training on F-16 fighter jets, according to another US official, but most did not have a strong enough command of the English language yet, a necessary requirement since the jet’s instrumentation and manuals are all in English.

    The pilots, along with some personnel who will receive training on maintaining the aircraft, could arrive in the US as soon as next month, one official said. Once the language instruction is complete, the Ukrainian pilots will be able to begin training to fly the F-16s, one official said. It is not yet clear how long it will take to train the pilots, who have flown Soviet-era MIG and Sukhoi fighters, to fly more modern western jets.

    For American F-16 pilots, training can take anywhere from eight months for brand new pilots, to five months for pilots with more experience, Ryder said Thursday.

    He also explained that the training will include a number of specific instructions, including fundamental skills like formation flying and basic fighter maneuvers, to combat maneuvering, tactical intercepts, suppression of enemy air defenses, and how to cope with G-force. All of that is in addition to the training for logistics and maintenance personnel.

    “So training all of those maintainers on how to maintain this aircraft so that it can stay in the air, training the ground support, air traffic controllers, the fuelers, the communications associated with that – all of that is entailed in maintaining this this platform.”

    The US decided to preemptively arrange training for Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 fighter jets after recognizing that training in Europe would eventually reach capacity, Ryder said Thursday.

    “So really, as we looked at our European allies providing this training, recognizing the fact that we want to do everything we can to help move this effort along as quickly as possible in support of Ukraine, we know that as the Danes and the Dutch prepare to train those pilots, at a certain point in time in the future, capacity will be reached,” Ryder said. “So preemptively, acknowledging that and leaning forward in order to assist with this effort is the impetus for why we’re doing this now.”

    Morris Air National Guard base hosted two Ukrainian fighter pilots in March to evaluate how fast they can learn to fly the F-16, a program which showed the Ukrainian pilots demonstrated above average abilities in several different areas.

    The base is also home to the 162nd Wing, a part of the Arizona Air National Guard whose mission is to train international partners on the F-16. The unit has trained pilots from 25 different countries to fly the fourth-generation jet.

    In honor of Ukrainian Independence Day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “The United States is proud to stand with Ukraine, and we will continue to ensure that it has what it needs to fight for its freedom.” Repeating a promise often made by the Biden administration, he said in a statement that the US will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes in its fight for security and freedom.”

    Earlier this week, Denmark and the Netherlands – the two countries leading the coalition to train Ukrainians to fly and operate F-16 fighter jets – committed to send aircraft to Ukraine. Denmark pledged to send 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine over the next several years. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said the Netherlands would provide 42 F-16s to Ukraine, though the Dutch Prime Minister did not commit to providing all of them to Kyiv.

    On Sunday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukrainian pilots and technical crews have already begun training on the jets. Reznikov said the “minimal term” for the training is six months, though it would be up to the instructors to decide how long the course will run.

    The spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force said F-16s can “change the course of events” and allow Kyiv to achieve “air superiority in the occupied territories.”

    CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Morris Air National Guard Base hosted two Ukrainian fighter pilots in March and is home to the 162nd Wing.

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  • Republican congressman says Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is ‘paralyzing’ and a ‘national security problem’ | CNN Politics

    Republican congressman says Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is ‘paralyzing’ and a ‘national security problem’ | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul, a Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is “paralyzing” and a “national security problem.”

    “The idea that one man in the Senate can hold this up for months … is paralyzing the Department of Defense,” McCaul said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

    “I think that is a national security problem and a national security issue,” the Texas congressman said.

    Tuberville, of Alabama, has delayed the confirmations of more than 300 top military nominees over his opposition to the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing service members and their families who have to travel to receive abortion care. Tuberville says the Pentagon’s reproductive health policies violate the law, but Pentagon officials have pointed to a Justice Department memo that says the policies are lawful.

    A spokesperson for Tuberville said McCaul’s view “just isn’t accurate.”

    “No one can stop (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer from holding votes on these nominations. He just doesn’t want to,” spokesperson Steven Stafford wrote in an email to CNN. “It’s also inaccurate because acting officials are in all of these roles. In some cases these acting officials are the nominees for permanent roles. No jobs are open or going undone right now.”

    One senator can hold up nominations or legislation in the chamber, and Tuberville’s stance has left three military services to operate without a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time in history.

    It’s possible to confirm each nominee one by one, but Senate Democrats have argued that would take up valuable floor time – despite a five-week recess in August.

    McCaul said on Sunday that he wishes Tuberville would reconsider his stance and that the Republican Party is working on the abortion travel policy issue through the National Defense Authorization Act.

    “But to hold up the top brass from being promoted … I think is paralyzing our Department of Defense,” he said.

    The hold on promotions, which began in March, has been a growing source of public scrutiny. The three US military service secretaries told CNN last week that Tuberville’s blockage is aiding communist and autocratic regimes, and is being used against the US by adversaries such as China.

    In July, active-duty military spouses hand-delivered a petition to Schumer, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Tuberville signed by hundreds of military family members who were “deeply concerned and personally impacted by Senator Tuberville blocking confirmation of senior military leaders.”

    Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told CNN’s Tapper on Sunday that if elected president, she would put an end to the reimbursement policy for travel for abortion care. Haley, whose husband is in the South Carolina Army National Guard, said military families should not be used as political pawns.

    “I’m not saying that Sen. Tuberville is right in doing this, because I don’t want to use them as pawns. But if you love our military and are so adamant about it, then go and make Congress, Republicans and Democrats, have to go through person by person,” the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador said.

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  • US military to conduct additional interviews with witnesses of Kabul airport bombing | CNN Politics

    US military to conduct additional interviews with witnesses of Kabul airport bombing | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The senior US general for the Middle East has ordered additional interviews be conducted regarding the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed 13 US service members during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US military announced Friday.

    The additional interviews are the result of an internal review ordered by the commander of US Central Command Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who directed US Army Central commander Lt. Gen. Pat Frank in June to review public testimony about the bombing for any new information not included in CENTCOM’s previous report.

    “The purpose of these interviews is to ensure we do our due diligence with the new information that has come to light, that the relevant voices are fully heard and that we take those accounts and examine them seriously and thoroughly so the facts are laid to bare,” said a statement from CENTCOM spokesman Michael Lawhorn.

    Though the interviews don’t constitute a formal reopening of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack, this represents an effort by the military to re-examine testimony after members of those killed have expressed anger and dissatisfaction with the original review.

    It’s unclear if the new interviews will include Afghans who witnessed the blast, which killed more than 170 Afghan civilians.

    When pressed on whether the interviews would include Afghans, Lawhorn said it would be “up to the Supplementary Review Team to decide who to interview.”

    “I cannot be explicit about anything that the Supplementary Review Team may or may not decide to review in the future,” Lawhorn said.

    CENTCOM released a lengthy after-action review last year that included statements from more than 100 witnesses. Many service members interviewed gave conflicting recollections about the person they were on the look-out for – some said no description seemed to fit clearly, or that they didn’t see anyone fitting the description they’d been given before the blast, while others said they believed they saw the person in question in the crowd.

    Among the differing recollections of what happened on August 26, 2021, is testimony from Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was seriously injured in the blast and who has said he was not interviewed in CENTCOM’s original investigation.

    Vargas-Andrews testified before Congress in March that Marines had requested permission to shoot who they believed to be the suicide bomber, but never got permission.

    “Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded. No one was held accountable for our safety,” Vargas-Andrews said.

    Lawhorn’s statement said that Vargas-Andrews’ public comments “made statements about his experience that contained new information not previously shared by any other witness.” Frank’s review also found that additional service members were not interviewed due to “their immediate medical evacuation in the aftermath of the attack.”

    “These interviews will seek to determine whether those not previously interviewed due to their immediate medical evacuation possess new information not previously considered, and whether such new information, if any, would affect the results of the investigation, and to ensure their personal accounts are captured for historical documentation,” he added.

    The news comes just weeks after Gold Star family members of some of the 13 US troops who were killed in the Abbey Gate bombing demanded answers before Congress, saying they did not feel that they’d been given the full truth about what happened to their loved ones.

    Lawhorn’s statement said that the next of kin of the 13 service members who were killed “are currently being informed of the supplementary interviews.”

    The process for the interviews will begin “in the coming days,” Lawhorn said. Kurilla has requested an update on those interviews within 90 days, but has directed Frank to “take whatever time is necessary to ensure each of the witnesses not interviewed as part of the investigation have an opportunity to share their experience and perspective.”

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  • Who is C.Q. Brown, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? | CNN Politics

    Who is C.Q. Brown, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Charles Q. Brown builds on an already historic career in becoming the the country’s next most senior ranking military officer.

    Before being confirmed Wednesday as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown, who goes by C.Q., was the first Black service chief in US military history when he was confirmed as chief of the Air Force in 2020.

    Brown is only the second Black man to serve as chairman – following Gen. Colin Powell – where he will act as the principal military adviser to President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the National Security Council.

    Brown’s confirmation also marks the first time that both of the Defense Department’s top leaders – the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs – are African American.

    President Joe Biden nominated Brown in May and described the general as “a warrior” and a “fearless leader and unyielding patriot.” But his nomination became ensnared in a monthslong blockage on Pentagon nominations by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville in the Senate.

    The Senate ultimately voted 83-11 to confirm his nomination Wednesday.

    Commissioned in 1984 from the ROTC Program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, Brown has commanded a fighter squadron, two fighter wings, US Air Forces Central Command and the US Air Force Weapons School, according to his official biography.

    Prior to becoming the Air Force chief of staff, Brown served as the commander of Pacific Air Forces – the air component of US Indo-Pacific Command.

    While serving as the commander of the Pacific Air Forces, the typically reserved Brown made headlines by releasing a deeply personal video in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. In the video, he said he was “full with emotion” for “the many African Americans that have suffered the same fate as George Floyd” and recalled being one of the few Black people at his school, his platoon and in leadership.

    “I’m thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceived had expected less of me as an African American. I’m thinking about having to represent by working twice as hard to prove their expectations and perceptions of African Americans were invalid,” he said.

    He added: “I’m thinking about how I can make improvements personally, professionally and institutionally, so that all Airmen, both today and tomorrow, appreciate the value of diversity and can serve in an environment where they can reach their full potential.”

    Brown’s confirmation was held up after Tuberville said he would object to confirming military nominees as a group by unanimous consent in protest of the Pentagon’s policy providing a travel allowance for troops and their families who must travel to receive an abortion because of the state laws where they are stationed. He instead suggested that Brown and other military nominees be brought to the Senate floor one-by-one – a process that could take hundreds of hours.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer ultimately caved to Tuberville’s demand and agreed to bring a handful of votes on military promotions to the floor.

    The Senate is expected to vote to confirm Gen. Eric Smith as commandant of the Marine Corps and Gen. Randy George as Army chief of staff later this week.

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  • Tuberville to continue his block on Pentagon nominations which impacts military appointments in the Middle East | CNN Politics

    Tuberville to continue his block on Pentagon nominations which impacts military appointments in the Middle East | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing hold on military confirmations is impacting a number of senior military appointments in the Middle East, as the Pentagon moves to bolster its presence in the region amid the ongoing crisis in Israel.

    And Tuberville is still not relenting, according to a spokesperson – not until the Pentagon revokes its policy of reimbursing service members for health care-related travel, which the senator has argued facilitates abortions.

    Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on Sunday that he has ordered the US Navy’s Ford carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean, near Israel. The USS Gerald Ford is the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier and it is being deployed to the area, along with a guided missile cruiser and four destroyers, as a deterrence measure, Austin said.

    But Tuberville’s blockade means that the current commander of the US Navy’s 5th fleet – which is responsible for US naval operations in the Middle East region including the Red Sea and Gulf of Oman – is still awaiting promotion to deputy commander of US Central Command, which oversees US forces and operations in the region.

    The deputy commanders of both 5th fleet and US Air Forces Central are also included in Tuberville’s hold, as well as CENTCOM’s deputy director of strategy, plans and policy.

    Last month, after a procedural threat from Tuberville, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to have three key military promotions – the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Marine Corps commandant and the Army chief of staff – voted on separately rather than as part of a bloc of holds by Tuberville.

    All three have since been confirmed, but Admiral Lisa Franchetti, nominated to serve as the chief of Naval Operations, is still awaiting confirmation and has been leading the service on an acting basis.

    Pentagon leadership roles have had to be significantly reshuffled because of Tuberville’s hold. Many senior military officers are performing two jobs as they await promotion, and some key positions are being held by more junior officers because a more senior officer has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

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  • Incident involving US warship intercepting missiles near Yemen lasted 9 hours | CNN Politics

    Incident involving US warship intercepting missiles near Yemen lasted 9 hours | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A US warship that intercepted drones and missiles near the coast of Yemen on Thursday encountered a larger and more sustained barrage than was previously known, shooting down 4 cruise missiles and 15 drones over a period of 9 hours, according to a US official familiar with the situation.

    The USS Carney, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer that traversed the Suez Canal heading south on Wednesday, intercepted the missiles and drones as they were heading north along the Red Sea. Their trajectory left little doubt that the projectiles were headed for Israel, the official said, a clearer assessment than the Pentagon’s initial take.

    A sustained barrage of drones and missiles targeting Israel from far outside the Gaza conflict is one of a series of worrying signs that the war risks escalating beyond the borders of the coastal enclave.

    In addition to protests at US embassies across the Middle East, US and coalition forces in Syria and Iraq have come under repeated attack over the past several days.

    On Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the missiles were fired by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen and were launched “potentially towards targets in Israel.” At the briefing, Ryder said three land-attack cruise missiles and “several” drones.

    Some of the projectiles were traveling at altitudes that made them a potential risk to commercial aviation when they were intercepted, the US official said. The drones and missiles were intercepted with SM-2 surface-to-air missiles launched from the USS Carney.

    US interceptions of Houthi launches are exceedingly rare, making the timing of this incident, as tensions rise in Israel, more significant. In October 2016, the USS Mason deployed countermeasures to stop an attempted attack in the Red Sea targeting the Navy destroyer and other ships nearby. In response, the US fired sea-launched cruise missiles at Houthi radar facilities in Yemen.

    On Wednesday, one-way attack drones targeted two different US positions in Iraq, according to US Central Command. One of the attacks resulted in minor injuries. One day later, the At-Tanf garrison in Syria, which houses US and coalition forces, was targeted by two drones, which also caused minor injuries.

    Early Friday morning in Iraq, two rockets targeted the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center near the airport, which houses US military, diplomatic and civilian personnel, according to another US defense official. One rocket was intercepted by a counter-rocket system, while the second hit an empty storage facility, the official said. No one was injured as a result of the rocket attack.

    The US has not assigned attribution for any of the recent attacks in Iraq and Syria, though Iranian proxies have carried out similar drone and rocket attacks against US forces in both countries in the past.

    The US military has carried out strikes on Iranian-backed militias as a response to previous such attacks against US forces, but the Pentagon would not say anything yet about its intentions.

    “While I’m not going to forecast any potential response to these attacks, I will say that we will take all necessary actions to defend US and coalition forces against any threat,” said Ryder. “Any response, should one occur, will come at a time and a manner of our choosing.”

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  • 21 US service members suffered minor injuries in recent drone attacks, Pentagon says | CNN Politics

    21 US service members suffered minor injuries in recent drone attacks, Pentagon says | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A total of 21 US service members reported “minor injuries” as a result of drone and rocket attacks on coalition military bases in Iraq and Syria last week, according to the Pentagon.

    “Between Oct. 17-18 (ET), 21 US personnel received minor injuries due to drone attacks at Al Assad Airbase, Iraq, and Al-Tanf Garrison, Syria,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Wednesday. “All members returned to duty.”

    Defense officials told CNN earlier Wednesday that while all of the personnel have since returned to duty, several continue to be monitored for any additional side effects or injuries. The number of injured personnel has risen as more US troops have reported symptoms in the days following the attacks.

    “It is important to note, in some cases, service members may report injuries such as (traumatic brain injury) several days after attacks occur, so numbers may change. We will continue to work closely with US Central Command to provide updates as appropriate,” Ryder said.

    CNN previously reported that multiple troops sustained minor injuries from the attacks, though the exact number was unclear.

    Ryder said Tuesday that US and coalition forces have been attacked at least 10 separate times in Iraq, and three separate times in Syria since October 17, via a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets. US officials have attributed the attacks to Iranian proxy groups operating in the region and have warned of a potential for significant escalation by these groups in the near term.

    NBC News was first to report the number of minor injuries in Syria and Iraq.

    Officials told CNN earlier this week that at this point, Iran appears to be encouraging the groups rather than explicitly directing them. One official said Iran is providing guidance to the militia groups that they will not be punished – by not getting resupplied with weaponry, for example – if they continue to attack US or Israeli targets.

    The attacks have ramped up amid the US’ support for Israel in its war against Hamas and intensified following a hospital blast in Gaza that Palestinian militants and Israel have blamed on each other. US intelligence officials said on Tuesday that the explosion happened when a rocket launched by a Palestinian militant group broke apart in midair and the warhead fell on the hospital.

    Iran supports a number of proxy militia groups in countries across the region through the IRGC-Quds Force, and Tehran does not always exert perfect command and control over these groups. How willing those groups are to act independently is a “persistent intelligence gap,” noted one source.

    But a senior defense official said the US believes that the proxies are being funded, armed, equipped and trained by Iran, and the US therefore holds Tehran responsible for their actions.

    Officials across the administration have reiterated in recent days that the US is preparing for a potential escalation, preparing both defense and offensive capabilities should it become necessary to respond.

    The US has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and around 900 in Syria as part of the anti-ISIS coalition, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement last weekend that he was deploying additional air defense systems to the region in response to the attacks, including a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system and additional Patriot batteries.

    Iran warned on Sunday that the situation could escalate. In a conference with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor in Tehran, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the Middle East is like a “powder keg,” according to quotes published by state-aligned Tasnim news.

    “Any miscalculation in continuing genocide and forced displacement can have serious and bitter consequences, both in the region and for the warmongers,” Abdollahian said, referring to the US and Israel.

    The Iranian foreign minister also warned the US and Israel that “if crimes against humanity do not stop immediately, there is the possibility at any moment that the region will go out of control.”

    CORRECTION: This headline and story have been corrected to reflect an updated statement from the Pentagon on the number of US service members injured in recent drone attacks.

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  • Republican block leaves major branch of US military without a confirmed leader for first time in over a century | CNN Politics

    Republican block leaves major branch of US military without a confirmed leader for first time in over a century | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A major branch of the US military does not have a Senate confirmed leader for the first time in more than a century, as a result of a Republican senator refusing to lift his block on military nominations.

    Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger relinquished command on Monday after holding a private retirement ceremony, after more than 40 years of service. His successor, Gen. Eric Smith, has not yet been confirmed to take over due to the hold on senior military nominations by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

    Speaking at Berger’s relinquishment of command ceremony on Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a point to mention the hold and its impact on “stable and orderly leadership transitions,” and military families.

    “We have a sacred duty to do right by those who volunteer to wear the cloth of our nation,” Austin said. “And I remain confident that all Americans can come together to agree on that basic obligation to those who keep us safe. I am also confident that the United States Senate will meet its responsibilities. And I look forward to welcoming an outstanding new commandant for our Marine Corps, and to adding many other distinguished senior leaders across the joint force.”

    Berger agreed just moments later, saying, “We need the Senate to do their job so we can have a sitting Commandant that’s appointed and confirmed.”

    “We need that house to be occupied,” Berger said in reference to the Commandant’s house. “We ask the Senate to do that.”

    In his last interview as commandant, Berger argued military officers should be left out of the hold, which is being maintained as a protest of Pentagon reproductive health policies announced earlier this year that provide additional support to service members and dependents who must travel out of state to receive an abortion.

    “This needs to get resolved,” Berger told CNN. “We need to leave the military out of the politics of it. The whole department – the military people wearing a uniform, should not be drug into an issue that’s a policy issue, for which we don’t deal with. … The military uniform people that we want left out [of] politics are being dragged into it, and that’s not healthy at all.”

    Tuberville told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” Monday night that when lawmakers are in the minority party in the Senate, “the only power we have is to put a hold on something.”

    Asked by Collins whether he knows better than seven former defense secretaries who penned a letter in May arguing the hold was “harming military readiness and risks damaging US national security,” Tuberville said: “They were nominated, they weren’t elected. I was elected to represent the people of Alabama in this country.”

    “I’m a senator,” Tuberville added, “I can hold any confirmation I want until we get some kind of confirmation of why you’re doing this” from the White House and Pentagon.

    The Alabama Republican had told CNN’s Manu Raju earlier Monday that he would not back off of his hold, saying he doesn’t buy concerns about the impact on military readiness “whatsoever” and arguing “this is not a risk.”

    While Tuberville’s hold continues, Smith has the authority to act as the commandant in his current role as the assistant commandant. Maj. Jim Stenger, a spokesman for the Marine Corps, said Smith will remain the assistant until he is confirmed by the Senate.

    Smith will have the authorities he needs to do the job, Berger said, but he’ll be left without a second-in-command to assist him because of the hold.

    “He can’t do both jobs at the same time, nor can anyone else because they don’t have the authorities because all the promotions are held up,” Berger said. “So he’s going to have to do his job in a very different way than I was able to, because I could travel, he was here, he could travel, I was here. Now only one of him, so it affects the way he does his job.”

    Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN that denying Smith’s promotion “in this partisan manner is an insult to the Marine Corps and every service member.”

    “Gen. Smith has faithfully served the country for 36 years,” Reed said. “He has fought and bled in our nation’s wars and led fellow marines with courage, honor, and distinction. He earned this promotion. He deserves Senate action without political obstruction that has nothing to do with his command.”

    Smith is one of more than 200 general and flag officers whose nominations are currently stalled in the Senate due to a hold led by Tuberville over his protest of the new Pentagon reproductive health policies.

    Defense officials expect more than 600 senior officers to be up for nomination by the end of the year.

    Typically, those nominations are approved in a routine process known as unanimous consent, which approves hundreds of nominations at once. Tuberville’s hold prevents that, meaning the Senate would need to take a vote on each nomination individually – a process one Democratic Senate aide previously told CNN would take months to complete.

    Tuberville told CNN earlier Monday that he didn’t know why the Senate hadn’t yet taken up the votes individually on the floor.

    “Why don’t we vote on these people one at a time? We could do that, but they don’t want to do that for some reason,” he said, adding later that it’s “very easy to do.”

    Tuberville doubled down Monday night, telling Collins that he’s “not stopping anybody from being confirmed.”

    “I’m just stopping them from confirming hundreds at a time,” he said. “They can confirm as many as they want during the day, we’re just sitting around twiddling our thumbs most of the time during the week and should be confirming people.”

    Berger said that in the last few months, he’s had to do something he “never thought I would have to do as a service chief: tell people who had already served 30 years, and their family has served 30 years … I’d like you to think about not retiring.”

    “These are families who have already done this for 30 years,” he said. “They’ve given up a lot in those 30 years, and I’m asking them would they be willing to stay longer, indefinitely.”

    And Smith is far from the only senior Marine Corps officer to be impacted by the holds. Among the other positions are the commanders of the I and III Marine Expeditionary Forces. Both are positions held by three-star generals, but could be temporarily filled by a one-star if their successors aren’t confirmed by the Senate.

    Smith raised concerns about I Marine Expeditionary Force commander slot being filled by a one-star in his Senate confirmation hearing in June. In response to a question from independent Maine Sen. Angus King, Smith said that if the current commander did not have a confirmed replacement by the time he retires in August, a “fairly new” one-star general would be “in charge of that 48,000-person Marine Expeditionary Force.”

    “And that compromises readiness and decision making and the effectiveness of that division?” King asked.

    “Sir, it does,” Smith responded.

    Outside of questions about how a lasting hold would impact internal military processes, officials have also raised concerns about the message the hold projects to allies and adversaries alike.

    Berger told CNN it would be “naïve to think that the US military isn’t considered a world leader, and when the world leader can’t promote its officers on a regular basis – kind of like when [you] can’t pass a budget – confidence goes down.”

    “I won’t be surprised if confidence [is] affected by that,” he said.

    A Marine official who spoke on condition of anonymity pointed to the III Marine Expeditionary Force commander slot, saying that the general officer in that position regularly meets with important allies and partners in the Pacific. The official said it would be “embarrassing” for the US to send a one-star, acting commander to meet with more senior ranking foreign allies in a region that is so critical for the Pentagon.

    “It wouldn’t be a good look for a key ally to be meeting with a one-star,” the official said.

    Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, a member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and China, told CNN that Tuberville’s hold is playing into China’s hands.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “core message is the United States, specifically and the West broadly, are in decline and dysfunction,” Auchincloss said.

    “It’s one guy who is single handedly handing a public relations gift to Xi Jinping,” he added. “It’s especially unfortunate, because we’ve actually had a lot of success recently on our military posture in the Indo-Pacific … And as we’re doing this pivot to Asia, pivot to the Indo-Pacific maybe more precisely, we’re stubbing our toe because of Tommy Tuberville.”

    Though the policies included things like extending the timeline for service members to have to notify commanders of a pregnancy, and travel allowances for troops seeking in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intrauterine insemination (IUI), they also included a travel allowance for service members seeking an abortion.

    “Our service members and their families do not control where they are stationed, and due to the nature of military service, are frequently required to travel or move to meet operational requirements,” a February news release announcing the new policies said. “The efforts taken by the Department today will … ensure service members are able to access non-covered reproductive health care regardless of where they are stationed.”

    Tuberville “believes the Pentagon is circumventing the role of Congress and flouting existing federal law, which narrowly restricts the use of taxpayers funds” for abortions, a news release from his office said. Under current law, the Defense Department cannot pay for abortions unless the health of the mother is at risk, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

    Those three cases remain the only instances in which Pentagon facilities can provide an abortion.

    Ultimately, Berger echoed concerns from other DOD officials about the impact an ongoing hold would have on the military’s readiness and warfighting capabilities.

    He said the holds put the Marine Corps in “a risky place, because from a warfighting perspective, you want the most experienced, most proficient leader commanding that organization,” and in some cases a less experienced leader will be in charge.

    “You want the very best leaders day-to-day leading those organizations, training those Marine units, getting them ready for whenever a conflict comes. So day-to-day, increase risk, because we don’t have the right person in the right job because I can’t promote them,” Berger said. “The second part is in a conflict or in a crisis or a war, same thing — people’s lives are at stake. You want the very best person in position. I can’t do that right now.”

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • Marine taken into custody after missing 14-year-old girl found at Camp Pendleton, authorities say | CNN

    Marine taken into custody after missing 14-year-old girl found at Camp Pendleton, authorities say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A United States Marine has been taken into custody for questioning after a 14-year-old girl who was reported missing was found at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California, last month, authorities said.

    The girl was reported missing by her grandmother on June 13, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

    On June 28, she was discovered in the barracks at Camp Pendleton. A Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 5, 1st Marine Logistics Group has since been taken into custody for questioning by Naval Criminal Investigative Services, according to Capt. Charles Palmer, spokesperson for 1st Marine Logistics Group.

    “This command takes this matter and all allegations very seriously. The incident is under investigation, and we will continue to cooperate with NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Services) and appropriate authorities,” Palmer said in a statement Sunday to CNN.

    NCIS declined CNN’s request for comment “out of respect for the investigative process.”

    Detectives interviewed the teen, the family was offered services and she has been returned to her grandmother, according to the sheriff’s department.

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  • Russian fighter jets harass American drone over Syria for second time in two days, US Air Force says | CNN Politics

    Russian fighter jets harass American drone over Syria for second time in two days, US Air Force says | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Russian fighter jets harassed an American drone operating over Syria for the second time in two days, according to the US Air Force, a sign of increasing friction between the two countries in Middle East airspace.

    On Thursday, a US MQ-9 Reaper drone was conducting a mission against ISIS targets in northwest Syria when Russian fighter jets approached, Air Force Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich said in a statement about the incident. One of the Russian jets then began dropping flares in front of the US drone in an apparent attempt to hit the drone, forcing it to take evasive maneuvers.

    Col. Michael Andrews, a spokesman for Air Force Central Command, said the two Russian fighters – an SU-45 and SU-35 – engaged for almost an hour in a “sustained” and “unprofessional” interaction.

    Video of the encounter released by Air Force Central Command shows two Russian fighters flying near the US drone. One of the fighters then releases a series of flares as it passes over the drone.

    “These events represent another example of unprofessional and unsafe actions by Russian air forces operating in Syria, which threaten the safety of both Coalition and Russian forces,” Grynkewich said in a statement. “We urge Russian forces in Syria to cease this reckless behavior and adhere to the standards of behavior expected of a professional air force so we can resume our focus on the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

    The incident comes one day after three Russian fighter jets harassed three US drones over Syria. In the Wednesday encounter, the Russian jets dropped parachute flares in front of the US drones, forcing the drones to take evasive maneuvers. One Russian jet also lit its afterburner in front of a US drone, limiting the drone operator’s ability to safely operate the aircraft.

    But the US wasn’t the only target of harassment from the Russian military. A Russian SU-35 fighter jet conducted a “non-professional interaction” with two French Rafale fighter jets that were flying a mission near the Iraq-Syria border on Thursday, according to the official Twitter account of the French Armed Forces. The French fighters maneuvered in order to avoid the risk of accident, the French military said.

    Both the US and Russia are operating in Syria; the US as part of the anti-ISIS coalition, and Russia in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    Over the last several years, the US and Russia have used a deconfliction line between the two militaries in Syria to avoid unintentional mistakes or encounters that can inadvertently lead to escalation. But Russian military actions in Syria have increasingly violated the deconfliction protocols, including flying too close to US military bases in Syria and failing to reach out on the deconfliction line.

    “We have been in Syria for many years now fighting ISIS as part of an international coalition,” said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder at a briefing Thursday. “That is no surprise to anyone.”

    In April, a US official said the more aggressive actions from Russian pilots appear to be part of a “new way of operating,” including one incident in which a Russian fighter jet attempted to dogfight a US fighter jet.

    The aggressive behavior has happened outside of Syria as well. In March, a Russian SU-27 fighter jet collided with a US MQ-9 Reaper drone in international airspace over the Black Sea. The collision damaged the drone’s propellor, forcing it to crash in the water.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Democratic lawmakers demand Pentagon disclose findings of investigation into drone strike that may have killed civilian | CNN Politics

    Democratic lawmakers demand Pentagon disclose findings of investigation into drone strike that may have killed civilian | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Democratic lawmakers are demanding that the Pentagon disclose the findings of its ongoing investigation into a US airstrike in Syria in May that may have killed a civilian, according to a letter Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris van Hollen and Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs sent to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday.

    US Central Command launched an official investigation into the May 3 drone strike late last month after a preliminary civilian casualty credibility assessment determined that there were sufficient grounds to more thoroughly probe whether a civilian had been killed, rather than a senior al Qaeda leader as Central Command initially claimed.

    “While we recognize that this specific incident is part of an ongoing investigation, this does not negate the need for you to provide answers to Congress on the processes to implement the CHMR-AP,” the lawmakers wrote, referring to the Pentagon’s Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan.

    That policy was developed in 2022 after a botched US drone strike in Kabul killed 10 civilians in August 2021.

    “Given the significant public interest in this strike, we urge you to publicly release as much of the investigation as possible,” the lawmakers wrote, providing a deadline of July 19.

    In their letter, the lawmakers ask why it took two weeks for CENTCOM to begin assessing whether a civilian was killed in the airstrike. As CNN has reported, a civilian casualty assessment was only launched after The Washington Post presented information to CENTCOM about the strike potentially killing a civilian instead of the intended target.

    “[I]t is unclear why CENTCOM waited for weeks to fully investigate this matter, and why the tweet announcing that CENTCOM had targeted a senior AQ leader remains online without recognition that this incident is now under investigation,” the lawmakers wrote.

    As CNN first reported, the senior general in charge of US forces in the Middle East, General Erik Kurilla, ordered that Central Command announce on Twitter that a senior al Qaeda leader had been targeted by the drone strike – despite not yet having confirmation of who was actually killed.

    “We are particularly troubled by reports that CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla was personally involved in the decision to tweet that CENTCOM had targeted a Senior AQ leader, without confirming the victim’s identity,” the lawmakers wrote, citing CNN’s reporting.

    “By announcing the strike before confirming who DoD actually killed and delaying the process of opening an investigation into reports of civilian deaths, CENTCOM undermined DoD’s and its own credibility and commitment to civilian harm prevention and response,” they added.

    As CNN reported in May, the episode raised questions about how thoroughly CENTCOM has implemented the military’s civilian harm mitigation policy – a process for preventing, mitigating and responding to civilian casualties caused by US military operations – since the botched Kabul strike in 2021.

    CNN previously reported that there is growing belief inside the Pentagon that the individual killed in the May 3 strike – identified by his family as Loutfi Hassan Mesto, a 56-year-old father of ten – was a farmer with no ties to terrorism.

    Mesto’s family told CNN that he had been out grazing his sheep when he was killed. Loutfi never left his village during the Syrian uprisings and did not support any political faction, his brother said.

    The lawmakers requested that the Pentagon make the civilian casualty credibility report about the May 3 strike public, and to explain why Kurilla ordered the announcement before knowing who was actually killed.

    They also requested more information about the department’s “process for verifying the status and identity of an individual targeted for or killed in a strike,” and asked whether it will commit to providing condolence payments to the family of any civilian killed in the strike.

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  • Authorities are on the hunt for a Humvee stolen from a National Guard armory in Northern California | CNN

    Authorities are on the hunt for a Humvee stolen from a National Guard armory in Northern California | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    California Highway Patrol officers are on the hunt for a green military vehicle stolen from a National Guard armory north of San Francisco on Monday.

    Santa Rosa Police initially responded to a call about debris and discovered a trail leading back to the armory where they discovered damaged gates.

    “There is an indication that someone scaled the fence to get inside,” California Highway Patrol Officer Marcus Hawkins told CNN.

    The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle – known as a Humvee – was “used as a battering ram to break through the gates” when it was driven out of the Santa Rosa armory late Monday, leaving behind a trail of debris in the roadway, Hawkins said. Another military vehicle was vandalized as well, he said.

    The highway patrol then took over the investigation into the stolen vehicle, described as having canvas doors and a roof and lacking license plates. The vehicle was not armed and there were no weapons on board, according to Hawkins.

    CNN has reached out to the Army National Guard for more information.

    Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, law enforcement received three separate reports about a Humvee being driven recklessly and without its lights on.

    “I’m not sure why he was driving with no lights on,” said Hawkins. “Perhaps he was trying to evade police, or perhaps didn’t know where the light switch was.”

    Officers were unable to find the Humvee and continue their search. “Sonoma County is filled with vast rural areas with forests, pastures and wineries,” said Hawkins. “It could be anywhere out there.”

    Humvees are diesel-powered and have four-wheel drive, according to the Army, with a maximum speed of 70 mph.

    Santa Rosa is about 55 miles north of San Francisco.

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  • Chinese surveillance balloon did not collect information over US, Pentagon says | CNN Politics

    Chinese surveillance balloon did not collect information over US, Pentagon says | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Chinese surveillance balloon that traversed the United States earlier this year before it was shot down did not collect intelligence while flying over the country, the Pentagon said Thursday.

    Steps taken by Washington to stop the high altitude device from potential information gathering as it crossed the US in early February played a role in that outcome, according to Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

    “We believe that (the balloon) did not collect while it was transiting the United States or flying over the United States, and certainly the efforts that we made contributed,” Ryder told reporters at a briefing.

    The balloon was downed by an American fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, after it was tracked crossing the continental US on a course that took it over sensitive military sites.

    The incident inflamed already tense relations between Washington and Beijing, significantly setting back American efforts at that time to restore hampered communications with China.

    The US ultimately linked the balloon to an extensive surveillance program run by the Chinese military, and US President Joe Biden has since alleged the device was carrying “two boxcars full of spy equipment.”

    China claimed the device was a civilian research airship that was blown off course by accident and quickly issued a rare statement of “regret” over the incident, which resulted in the postponement of a planned trip from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing. That trip took place last week, more than four months later.

    At the time, Washington had signaled that the balloon did not present a significant intelligence gathering risk.

    A senior defense official in early February said the device was assessed to have “limited additive value” from an intelligence collection perspective, but that steps were being taken to protect against such collection.

    Parts recovered from the downed balloon have since been the subject of extensive investigation into their capabilities, including whether they were able to transit any information gathered back to China in real time.

    Ryder on Thursday did not get into specifics regarding recent reports that the Chinese high-altitude balloon was using US surveillance technology, but said such a situation would not be surprising.

    “We are aware in previous cases, for example, things like drones and other capabilities … where off the shelf, commercial US components have been used,” Ryder said.

    The balloon continues to stoke tension between Washington and Beijing, even as the US last month said that “both sides” were seeking to move past the pause in communication that followed the “unfortunate incident.”

    Biden sparked Beijing’s ire last week when he told guests at a political fundraiser that Chinese leader Xi Jinping “got very upset” after the US shot down the balloon because “he didn’t know it was there” and then compared Xi to “dictators” who become embarrassed when they don’t know what’s going on.

    China slammed the remarks, which came on the heels of Blinken’s visit, as an “open political provocation” and repeated their denial that the balloon was meant to spy over the United States.

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