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Today’s PDB includes a variety of critical, global national security issues.
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READ TODAY’S PDB BELOW:
NATIONAL SECURITY
RISK AVERSE MILLEY – With food crisis looming, Milley says using military to end Russian blockade would be ‘high risk.’ Amid mounting calls to break Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports for grain exports, America’s top military officer said that to do so militarily would amount to a “high risk military operation.”
HOMELAND SECURITY
BIDEN’S OPEN BORDERS – Biden prepares asylum overhaul at border, but court challenges loom. The Biden administration next week will begin its overhauled process for screening migrants seeking humanitarian protection along the U.S. border.
CHINA THREAT
KIWIS FINALLY GET IT – New Zealand, US reiterate concern over China-Solomon Islands security deal. U.S. President Joe Biden and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday raised concerns about a security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands, the White House said.
RUSSIA THREAT
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 98. Russia has taken control of most of the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, the Luhansk regional governor said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia’s bombing of Severodonetsk “madness” due to the number of chemical plants in the city. Ukrainian forces have had some success near the southern city of Kherson and are advancing in parts of the Kharkiv region, Zelenskyy said.
JUST LONG ENOUGH RANGE – BUT NOT TOO LONG – US expected to send medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine. The Biden administration is expected to announce it will send Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium range rocket systems, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
US warships now in the Baltic ahead of BALTOPS as Sweden, Finland move through NATO membership process. At least three U.S. warships are operating in the Baltic Sea ahead of two weeks of international drills in the region, according to U.S. 6th Fleet.
Sievierodonetsk mayor says Russian forces seize half of city. Russian forces in a “frenzied push” have seized half of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk that is key to Moscow’s efforts to quickly complete the capture of the industrial Donbas region, the mayor told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Russian military is repeating mistakes in eastern Ukraine, US says. While Russian troops are capturing territory, a Pentagon official said that their “plodding and incremental” pace was wearing them down, and that the military’s overall fighting strength had been diminished by about 20 percent. And since the war started, Russia has lost 1,000 tanks, a senior Pentagon official said last week.
NORTH KOREA THREAT
US will again urge UN sanctions if North Korea carries out nuclear test. The United States will again push for more U.N. sanctions on North Korea if it carries out a seventh nuclear test, despite opposition by China and Russia, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
The Wagner Group, a paramilitary force, is at the vanguard of Russia’s expanding ambitions in Africa. Best known for its mercenaries, the Wagner Group also mines diamonds, spreads disinformation and props up autocrats in an effort to grow Russia’s footprint.
ISIS RISING – Islamic State claims responsibility for killing 15 in east Congo village. Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 15 civilians in a village in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, the militant group said on an affiliated Telegram channel.
Littoral combat ship on Navy’s chopping block now plying Middle East waterways for 5th Fleet. While in the Red Sea, the USS Sioux City will support Combined Task Force 153, which focuses on missions in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden.
US MILITARY AND SPACE
SERIOUSLY?! – UNACCEPTABLE – VA hospital denied emergency care to dying vet because staff couldn’t verify his military service. A Florida Veterans Affairs hospital refused treatment for a veteran dying of heart failure because his ambulance drivers could not prove his military service, a clear violation of federal law, according to a new report released by a department watchdog Tuesday.
END of PDB