US defense news

China-Controlled Shipping Platform Could Hand US Military Data to CCP, Republican Lawmakers Warn • Tuesday, December 6th, 2022 • Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm over a Chinese state-controlled shipping logistics platform they say could hand "sensitive U.S. government and military data" to the Chinese Communist Party. • Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Rep. Michelle Steel (R., Calif.) urged President Joe Biden in a Nov. 30 letter to "take action to halt the spread of LOGINK," a CCP-controlled digital platform that Beijing is offering free of charge to ports, freight carriers, and foreign nations as a "one-stop shop" for their shipment tracking and data management needs. The platform—which China's Ministry of Transport subsidizes—is already used in ports in South Korea and Japan where the United States maintains a significant military presence. Because most U.S. military cargo is transported commercially, the CCP could use LOGINK in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere to "collect massive amounts of sensitive business and foreign government data," including U.S. military shipping data, Cotton and Steel warned in their letter. • "The CCP could exploit their control over LOGINK to identify early trends in the movement of U.S. military supplies and equipment through commercial ports while denying other countries the same data on Chinese military assets," the lawmakers wrote. "With the data that a global LOGINK system could provide, the CCP could effectively identify vital transportation nodes necessary to control the physical movement of goods. This would be a disaster for American interests." • Cotton and Steel's letter comes roughly two months after a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission linked LOGINK to a CCP effort to increase "global reliance on China" through "domestic infrastructure" and "transportation equipment." That effort has already seen more than 20 global ports adopt the CCP's platform, a troubling trend that "could subject U.S. military logistics to more surveillance by Chinese intelligence and military operators" and even "enable Chinese military planners to … disrupt U.S. military operations," according to the commission. As a result, Cotton and Steel are pressing the Biden administration to detail its efforts to stop LOGINK's spread, including through a potential U.S. alternative platform. • The Biden administration, which has until Jan. 11 to respond to the letter, told the Washington Free Beacon that it "takes all potential cyberthreats to the maritime transportation system and its related infrastructure extremely seriously" and "continually evaluates the tools and authorities available to address them," but it declined to "preview potential responses to specific companies that may be under consideration." More than 25 congressional Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Joni Ernst (Iowa), and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (Wis.), Maria Salazar (Fla.), and Guy Reschenthaler (Penn.), joined Cotton and Steel's letter. • The administration has faced intense criticism from Republicans for tapping soft-on-China officials to serve in crucial roles. In September, for example, Biden appointed liberal political consultant John Podesta—who has praised China on climate change and called for direct Chinese investment in American infrastructure—to oversee $370 billion in climate spending. One month later, Biden hired Nina Hachigian to serve in a newly created State Department position aimed at countering China's growing influence. Hachigian worked with two CCP front groups to foster ties between Washington and Beijing prior to taking the job. Biden's representative on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Business Advisory Council, Dominic Ng, also has a long history of cozying up to the CCP, going as far as to criticize the United States for refusing to join Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, which the Chinese government uses to subjugate foreign nations through direct infrastructure investment. • https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-controlled-shipping-platform-could-hand-us-military-data-to-ccp-republican-lawmakers-warn/ ……… • Rolling Red Carpet to Africans, US Warns of 'Destabilizing' China, Russia • African Union Commission (AUC) chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, left, speaks during in a Peace, Security and Governance Forum during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit 2022 in Washington, Tuesday. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP) • 13 December 2022 03:46 PM EST The United States warned Tuesday that China and Russia were destabilizing Africa with their growing inroads as it rolled out the red carpet to the continent's leaders and pledged billions of dollars in support. • Forty-nine African leaders flew into the Washington cold for the first continent-wide summit with the United States in eight years as President Joe Biden seeks to use personal diplomacy to win back influence. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, at a panel with several African presidents at the start of the three-day summit, warned of a different approach by US rivals. • Austin said China was expanding its footprint in Africa "on a daily basis" through its growing economic influence. • "The troubling piece there is they're not always transparent in terms of what they're doing and that creates problems that will be eventually destabilizing, if they're not already," Austin said. Russia is "continuing to peddle cheap weapons" and deploying "mercenaries across the continent," he added. • "And that is destabilizing as well." But the Biden administration has mostly chosen not to speak explicitly about rivals, believing it is futile to try to turn the tide on China's massive infrastructure spending. Biden plans to unveil $55 billion for Africa over three years. In one of the first announcements, the White House said the United States would invest $4 billion by the 2025 fiscal year to train African health workers, a rising priority for (Bill Gates, the World Bank and WEF) Washington since the Covid-19 pandemic. The summit's first day also brought in NASA, with Nigeria and Rwanda becoming the first African nations to sign the Artemis accords, a US-led bid for international cooperation on traveling to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The Artemis accords, which already include European allies, Japan and several Latin American powers, come as China rapidly expands its own lunar program and as tensions with Russia threaten its post-Cold War work with the United States on space. • Biden during the summit will outline US support for the African Union to gain a formal berth in the Group of 20 club of major economies, months after he threw support behind a permanent African seat on the UN Security Council. • Unlike China, which holds summits every three years with Africa, the United States plans to promote democratic values. Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said the president will meet with African leaders facing election in 2023. "We would like to do everything we can to support those elections being free, fair and credible," Sullivan said. Successive US presidents have pursued signature initiatives for Africa, with George W. Bush launching a major push to fight HIV/AIDS that he considers among his top legacies and Barack Obama spearheading a drive to boost electricity, which US officials say has brought power for the first time to 165 million people. Obama's successor Donald Trump, by contrast, made no secret of his lack of interest in Africa, and Biden's summit with the region's leaders will be the first by a US president since Obama's landmark first edition in 2014. In the eight ensuing years China's investment in Africa has consistently outpaced that of the United States, with countries brushing aside US warnings that Beijing's billions in infrastructure spending could put them in long-term arrears. Ahead of the summit, China's ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, said his country was "sincere" in Africa" and that its investment "is not a trap.We believe that Africa should be a place for international cooperation, not for major powers' competition for geopolitical gains," he told an event of the news site Semafor. "We welcome all other members of the international community, including the United States, to join us in the global efforts to help Africa." https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/africa/2022/12/13/id/1100358/  ………. Navy Views Drones as Crucial for War on the Waves Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro spoke about the U.S. Navy using drones against China in the event of an invasion of Taiwan during the recent Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. (Getty Images) By John Rossomando    |   13 December 2022 07:23 AM EST The U.S. Navy sees unmanned surface and underwater vessels as a key part of its future planning – and the drones could end up playing an important role against China in the event of an invasion of Taiwan or other aggressive acts against its western Pacific neighbors. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro outlined this vision during the recent Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. https://www.newsmax.com/platinum/navy-drones-china/2022/12/13/id/1100260/ …………….  China-Controlled Shipping Platform Could Hand US Military Data to CCP, Republican Lawmakers Warn Tuesday, December 6th, 2022 Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm over a Chinese state-controlled shipping logistics platform they say could hand "sensitive U.S. government and military data" to the Chinese Communist Party. Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Rep. Michelle Steel (R., Calif.) urged President Joe Biden in a Nov. 30 letter to "take action to halt the spread of LOGINK," a CCP-controlled digital platform that Beijing is offering free of charge to ports, freight carriers, and foreign nations as a "one-stop shop" for their shipment tracking and data management needs. The platform—which China's Ministry of Transport subsidizes—is already used in ports in South Korea and Japan where the United States maintains a significant military presence. Because most U.S. military cargo is transported commercially, the CCP could use LOGINK in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere to "collect massive amounts of sensitive business and foreign government data," including U.S. military shipping data, Cotton and Steel warned in their letter. "The CCP could exploit their control over LOGINK to identify early trends in the movement of U.S. military supplies and equipment through commercial ports while denying other countries the same data on Chinese military assets," the lawmakers wrote. "With the data that a global LOGINK system could provide, the CCP could effectively identify vital transportation nodes necessary to control the physical movement of goods. This would be a disaster for American interests." Cotton and Steel's letter comes roughly two months after a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission linked LOGINK to a CCP effort to increase "global reliance on China" through "domestic infrastructure" and "transportation equipment." That effort has already seen more than 20 global ports adopt the CCP's platform, a troubling trend that "could subject U.S. military logistics to more surveillance by Chinese intelligence and military operators" and even "enable Chinese military planners to … disrupt U.S. military operations," according to the commission. As a result, Cotton and Steel are pressing the Biden administration to detail its efforts to stop LOGINK's spread, including through a potential U.S. alternative platform. The Biden administration, which has until Jan. 11 to respond to the letter, told the Washington Free Beacon that it "takes all potential cyberthreats to the maritime transportation system and its related infrastructure extremely seriously" and "continually evaluates the tools and authorities available to address them," but it declined to "preview potential responses to specific companies that may be under consideration." More than 25 congressional Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Joni Ernst (Iowa), and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Reps. Mike Gallagher (Wis.), Maria Salazar (Fla.), and Guy Reschenthaler (Penn.), joined Cotton and Steel's letter. The administration has faced intense criticism from Republicans for tapping soft-on-China officials to serve in crucial roles. In September, for example, Biden appointed liberal political consultant John Podesta—who has praised China on climate change and called for direct Chinese investment in American infrastructure—to oversee $370 billion in climate spending. One month later, Biden hired Nina Hachigian to serve in a newly created State Department position aimed at countering China's growing influence. Hachigian worked with two CCP front groups to foster ties between Washington and Beijing prior to taking the job. Biden's representative on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Business Advisory Council, Dominic Ng, also has a long history of cozying up to the CCP, going as far as to criticize the United States for refusing to join Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, which the Chinese government uses to subjugate foreign nations through direct infrastructure investment. https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-controlled-shipping-platform-could-hand-us-military-data-to-ccp-republican-lawmakers-warn/ ……… Biden Administration Former Energy Sec Calls for Investigations Into DOE Grant to China-Based Battery Company Alana Goodman • December 13, 2022 Former energy secretary Rick Perry said his Democratic successor, Jennifer Granholm, should face congressional investigations over the $200 million her department sent to a China-based battery company, predicting that those investigations would lead to calls for her resignation. Perry’s comments come as U.S. Senate and House investigators have launched inquiries into the DOE grant to Microvast Holdings to build a battery separator facility in Tennessee using federal funds that were intended to counter China’s dominance over the global lithium-ion battery supply chain. Microvast, a U.S. holding company, operates primarily from China and is under scrutiny from American financial regulators, the Washington Free Beacon first reported last week. "This is just unacceptable behavior for the Department of Energy, the Secretary of Energy to be sending money to companies like this," said Perry who served as Secretary of Energy under the Trump administration until 2019, during an interview with Fox News Sunday Morning Futures. "You’re gonna have the House investigating this. You’re gonna have the Senate investigating this." "It’s not for me to call for somebody’s resignation. But I’m suggesting that these leaders in Congress, after they dig into this, it’s not gonna take them long to get to the real facts, that they will start calling for the resignation of the Secretary of Energy," he added. The Biden administration's dash to implement its ambitious green energy agenda—pushed by anti-fossil-fuel hardliners such as climate czar John Kerry—has forced it to work with a global green industry dominated by China where companies often have links to the adversarial Chinese Communist Party government, the state security apparatus, or widespread labor abuses. The DOE has defended the grant, telling the Free Beacon that Microvast’s proposed facility in Tennessee "will use U.S. sourced raw materials in the proposed facility and equipment manufactured within the U.S. or by U.S. allies." The department told Fox News on Sunday that the funding means that Microvast "no longer needs to look to China to establish its manufacturing facilities. The president’s historic agenda is helping to reshore manufacturing back to the U.S." While the DOE describes Microvast as a "majority U.S.-owned company, traded on NASDAQ" and "headquartered in Stafford, Texas," financial records show the company operates primarily in China. Microvast’s 2021 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission said it is a "holding company, and we conduct all of our operations through our subsidiaries, and principally through our subsidiary in China" and disclosed that the Chinese government "exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and may intervene, at any time and with no notice." The company said it has received subsidies from the Chinese government and a significant portion of its customers are Chinese state-owned enterprises. Earlier this year the SEC added Microvast to a list of publicly listed companies linked to China that are in violation of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act due to a lack of auditing transparency. Companies that remain on the list for three consecutive years will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges. Rep. Frank Lucas (R., Okla.), the ranking Republican on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, sent a letter to Granholm last week demanding records related to the grant. The funding "raises serious concerns about the Department’s ability to protect U.S. taxpayer dollars from exploitation by the [Chinese Communist Party]," wrote Lucas.  Former Energy Sec Calls for Investigations Into DOE Grant to China-Based Battery Company Tuesday, December 13th, 2022 In bid to boost U.S. green energy, DOE gave $200 million to Chinese company under scrutiny from U.S. financial regulators https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/former-energy-sec-calls-for-investigations-into-doe-grant-to-china-based-battery-company/ ///////////Pentagon Withholds Critical Data on China’s Expanding Nuclear Arsenal, Republicans Say December 7th, 2022  The Pentagon is withholding from Congress critical data on China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal which could outpace the United States' own supply of the deadly weapons, according to a group of Republican lawmakers. Four Republicans from the House and Senate Armed Services Committee are asking the Pentagon comply with a statute that mandates it provide unclassified information about China’s military might, including data that could show it is on pace to exceed the United States' number of intercontinental missiles and nuclear warheads, according to a letter sent to the Pentagon. While a classified version of such data was provided, the Pentagon has yet to furnish the unclassified companion. The letter comes on the heels of a Pentagon report that China could have around 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, a number that far exceeded past estimates. China already had around 400 nuclear warheads, a number that doubled in just two years, according to the Pentagon. This rapid expansion is fueling concerns in Congress about the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce America’s own stockpile of nuclear weapons amid escalating threats from the CCP. "I’ve said it many times—we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to China’s growing military might," Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.), one of the letter’s signers, wrote on Twitter. "The [Biden administration] must be open and honest with the American people about the threat Beijing poses to global order and our way of life." The letter also was signed by Sen. Deb Fischer (R., Neb.), Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.), and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R., Colo.). The statute created by Congress requires the Pentagon to provide an "unclassified determination" about China’s nuclear warheads, its ballistic missiles, and ballistic missile launchers, according to the letter. If China surpasses the United States in just one category outlined above, the Pentagon must alert Congress in a classified and unclassified format. So far, the Pentagon has only done so in a classified forum. The House Armed Services Committee’s Republican faction called out President Joe Biden on Twitter over the matter, saying the president must "wake up and properly invest in our defense." "China has rapidly accelerated the expansion of its nuclear arsenal," the committee’s Republicans wrote on Twitter. "The CCP is developing new and more capable nuclear delivery platforms that can range all the United States. Now is the time for President Biden to wake up and properly invest in our defense." https://freebeacon.com/national-security/pentagon-withholds-critical-data-on-chinas-expanding-nuclear-arsenal-republicans-say/ ………US Modified Crucial Weapons To Prevent Ukraine From Striking Russia:  • Micaela Burrow Reporter • December 05, 2022 11:49 AM ET • The U.S. covertly altered a critical weapons system sent to Ukraine in an effort to prevent Ukrainian forces from striking Russian territory amid fears of provoking Russia’s ire against the West, The Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. has provided 20 of the highly popular High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers, or HIMARS, to Ukraine since June and at least 38 total, alongside ammunition known as the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, that carry a range of 50 miles, according to the WSJ. U.S. officials told the WSJ the Pentagon modified those HIMARS to remove a long-range capability, constraining the Ukrainian forces’ ability to use the coveted system to fire missiles into Russia. While standard HIMARS can fire the U.S.’s Army Tactical Missile System rockets, or ATACMS, which have a range of roughly 200 miles, the modified systems can’t, according to the WSJ. In addition, the U.S. has refused Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy’s requests to supply his forces with ATACMS, according to the WSJ. Ukraine also promised to refrain from striking targets in Russia, using ATACMS only to “hit some targets on the occupied Ukrainian territory,” or Crimea. The modifications ensure that Ukraine could not use U.S.-made HIMARS to attack Russian territory even if it could source ATACMS or similar long-range missile systems from other foreign suppliers, officials told the WSJ. “Due to operational security considerations, we do not comment publicly on the configuration of systems provided to allies and partners,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told the WSJ. “The United States remains committed to providing Ukraine the capabilities it needs to counter Russian aggression.” However, Russia has repeatedly blamed Ukraine for explosions and damage occurring at targets inside Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea. While Russia has yet to retaliate militarily against the West, President Vladimir Putin has issued threats of nuclear strikes in response to the “aggressive policy of Western elites,” and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the U.S. of “direct” involvement in the war. “If Washington decides to supply longer-range missiles to Kyiv, then it will be crossing a red line and will become a direct party to the conflict,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman (one of the biggest liars in Russia) Maria Zakharova said in September, according to the WSJ. President Joe Biden promised in May that “so long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces.” Ukrainian forces have billed HIMARS as a game changer in an otherwise “grinding” fight in the Donbas region in late summer, and the weapons have seen increased popularity. “The word ‘HIMARS’ has become almost synonymous with the word ‘justice’ in our country, and the Ukrainian defense forces will do everything to ensure that the aggressors experience increasingly more painful losses every week thanks to these very effective systems,” Zelenskyy said, according to Ukrainska Pravda. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and Embassy to the U.S. did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment. https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/05/us-modified-himars-ukraine-striking-russia/ ………......................... Pentagon wants to send the advanced Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, and although Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has yet to offer his signature, two US officials and a senior administration official familiar with the plans told CNN the secretary’s approval is expected. The Pentagon could send a request to President Joe Biden’s desk for final authorization and announce the transfer as soon as this week, the three officials told CNN. Ukraine has entreated the U.S. for months to supply the powerful but logistically complicated Patriot air defense system as heavy Russian shelling decimates Ukrainian cities, but the Biden administration has thus far delayed fulfilling those requests. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “emphasized the importance of capable air defense” and “called on President Biden to do everything possible to help protect the civilian population of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure,” Kyiv said in its readout of the conversation between the two leaders, according to The Guardian. The advanced long-range air defense system promises to be the most effective to date donated in Ukraine’s defense, able to intercept Russian ballistic and cruise missiles that in recent weeks have destroyed large portions of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, according to CNN. The system could help to secure the airspace of North American Treaty Organization (NATO) members in Eastern Europe, officials also told the outlet. Lockheed Martin produces the Patriot battery, which is comprised of a radar, power generation equipment, computers, a control station and as many as eight launchers, each carrying four missiles. Transporting one or more of the systems Ukraine will be a logistically challenging task, and the U.S. will have to follow up with months of intensive training support for Ukrainian troops learning to operate the system. U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Grafenwoehr, Germany will train rotating Ukrainian troops, CNN reported, citing officials. The “reality of what is going on the ground” finally persuaded the Biden administration to favor providing the system to Ukraine. — Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 12, 2022 So far the U.S. provided mid-range National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine some time after October and plans to send additional systems as part of “longer-term” preparations for the embattled country’s defense, according to Reuters. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN in November the U.S. is “very focused” on providing air defense for Ukraine. https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/13/us-ukraine-patriot-missile-defense/ ///////// Rolling Red Carpet to Africans, US Warns of 'Destabilizing' China, Russia African Union Commission (AUC) chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, left, speaks during in a Peace, Security and Governance Forum during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit 2022 in Washington, Tuesday. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP) 13 December 2022 03:46 PM EST The United States warned Tuesday that China and Russia were destabilizing Africa with their growing inroads as it rolled out the red carpet to the continent's leaders and pledged billions of dollars in support. Forty-nine African leaders flew into the Washington cold for the first continent-wide summit with the United States in eight years as President Joe Biden seeks to use personal diplomacy to win back influence. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, at a panel with several African presidents at the start of the three-day summit, warned of a different approach by US rivals. Austin said China was expanding its footprint in Africa "on a daily basis" through its growing economic influence. "The troubling piece there is they're not always transparent in terms of what they're doing and that creates problems that will be eventually destabilizing, if they're not already," Austin said. Russia is "continuing to peddle cheap weapons" and deploying "mercenaries across the continent," he added. "And that is destabilizing as well." But the Biden administration has mostly chosen not to speak explicitly about rivals, believing it is futile to try to turn the tide on China's massive infrastructure spending. Biden plans to unveil $55 billion for Africa over three years. In one of the first announcements, the White House said the United States would invest $4 billion by the 2025 fiscal year to train African health workers, a rising priority for (Bill Gates, the World Bank and WEF) Washington since the Covid-19 pandemic. The summit's first day also brought in NASA, with Nigeria and Rwanda becoming the first African nations to sign the Artemis accords, a US-led bid for international cooperation on traveling to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The Artemis accords, which already include European allies, Japan and several Latin American powers, come as China rapidly expands its own lunar program and as tensions with Russia threaten its post-Cold War work with the United States on space. Biden during the summit will outline US support for the African Union to gain a formal berth in the Group of 20 club of major economies, months after he threw support behind a permanent African seat on the UN Security Council. Unlike China, which holds summits every three years with Africa, the United States plans to promote democratic values. Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said the president will meet with African leaders facing election in 2023. "We would like to do everything we can to support those elections being free, fair and credible," Sullivan said. Successive US presidents have pursued signature initiatives for Africa, with George W. Bush launching a major push to fight HIV/AIDS that he considers among his top legacies and Barack Obama spearheading a drive to boost electricity, which US officials say has brought power for the first time to 165 million people. Obama's successor Donald Trump, by contrast, made no secret of his lack of interest in Africa, and Biden's summit with the region's leaders will be the first by a US president since Obama's landmark first edition in 2014. In the eight ensuing years China's investment in Africa has consistently outpaced that of the United States, with countries brushing aside US warnings that Beijing's billions in infrastructure spending could put them in long-term arrears. Ahead of the summit, China's ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, said his country was "sincere" in Africa" and that its investment "is not a trap.We believe that Africa should be a place for international cooperation, not for major powers' competition for geopolitical gains," he told an event of the news site Semafor. "We welcome all other members of the international community, including the United States, to join us in the global efforts to help Africa." https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/africa/2022/12/13/id/1100358/ ............................ Navy Views Drones as Crucial for War on the Waves Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro spoke about the U.S. Navy using drones against China in the event of an invasion of Taiwan during the recent Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. (Getty Images) By John Rossomando    |   13 December 2022 07:23 AM EST The U.S. Navy sees unmanned surface and underwater vessels as a key part of its future planning – and the drones could end up playing an important role against China in the event of an invasion of Taiwan or other aggressive acts against its western Pacific neighbors. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro outlined this vision during the recent Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. https://www.newsmax.com/platinum/navy-drones-china/2022/12/13/id/1100260/ ……………..................... CNN  —Hannah Rabinowitz October 24, 2022 The Justice Department announced charges Monday against six Chinese citizens, including five alleged spies, accused of working on behalf of the Chinese government to recruit US citizens as sources and undermine the federal prosecution against a major Chinese company. According to charging documents, the Chinese telecommunications company was facing federal prosecution in Brooklyn, New York. Though the indictment does not name the company, a person familiar with the investigation confirmed to CNN that the company is Huawei. The announcements highlights the department’s increased efforts to crack down on Chinese spies working on American soil to undermine the interests of the US government, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news conference Monday.  Republicans press Biden administration on use of Chinese comms equipment near US military installations “As these cases demonstrate, the government of China sought to interfere with the rights and freedoms of individuals in the United States and to undermine our judicial system that protects those rights,” Garland said. “They did not succeed.” Two of the alleged spies, Gouchun He and Zheng Wan, were accused of interfering with a federal prosecution against global telecommunications company Huawei. The two have not been arrested. They allegedly cultivated a relationship with a law enforcement official involved in the case beginning in 2017. He and Wang believed they had recruited the official as a Chinese asset, according to charging documents, but the US official was working as a “double agent” under FBI supervision, maintaining their allegiance to the US. When the investigation into Huawei began the two allegedly asked the official for information about witnesses, trial evidence, and new charges that could be levied against Huawei. In exchange, the US official was given thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry, prosecutors say. He and Wang have continued to pay the US official for information, according to court documents, sending thousands of dollars in Bitcoin payments as recently as last week. As the Huawei investigation progressed, He and Wang allegedly increased their efforts to interfere in the prosecution against Huawei. According to charging documents, He and Wang asked the law enforcement officials to tape prosecutors during trial strategy meetings so that they could share non-public information with Huawei. The US official gave the two alleged Chinese spies a photograph of a single-page document with a fake “classified” marking related to the case instead, according to the indictment. The US official was allegedly paid $41,000 for the document. In a separate scheme, prosecutors allege that four Chinese nationals engaged in a decade-long scheme to recruit individuals in the US to work as assets to the Chinese government and relay information that they deemed helpful to China’s intelligence objectives. According to the indictment, the defendants – some of whom were Chinese intelligence officers – worked under the cover of a fake think tank to try and recruit Americans, including university professors, a former federal law enforcement and state homeland security official. The defendants tried to bribe their targets with lavish gifts, prosecutors allege, including with an all-expense paid trip to China. The four defendants hoped to obtain technology and equipment to send back to China, according to the indictment. The defendants also allegedly hoped to stop protests in the US that the Chinese government saw as embarrassing. Each of the four men is charged with conspiracy to act in the United States as agents of a foreign government. The department said in a news release that the men are residents of China, and it is not clear whether they have been arrested. Monday’s announcements come after news that last week the DOJ unsealed an indictment outlining a plot to intimidate a US resident into returning to China to face criminal charges. According to the indictment, seven Chinese nationals threatened a New York resident and his family, including family members who still lived in China, with harm, including incarceration.  The case is related to the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s Operation Fox Hunt, an international anti-corruption campaign targeting Chinese fugitives. The Chinese government launched Operation Fox Hunt in 2014 to target wealthy citizens accused of corruption, who had fled the country with large amounts of money. Two of the defendants in that case have been arrested. A common thread in many of these cases is that the Chinese citizens facing US charges live overseas and are unlikely to ever face trial in federal courts. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/politics/chinese-spies-huawei/index.html ……………. CNN  —  Top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are pressing the Biden administration on the use of Chinese-made telecommunications equipment near sensitive US military installations, in a signal of what the powerful committee may pursue if the GOP claims the House in November. Rep. James Comer, the ranking member, and Rep. Glenn Grothman, the top Republican on the panel’s national security subcommittee, are demanding a classified briefing from the Pentagon about the military’s network security and its ability to protect against foreign espionage threats that the equipment may pose. The committee is also requesting a briefing from the Federal Communications Commission on its as-yet incomplete initiative to remove the equipment, according to letters the two agencies sent Tuesday and exclusively obtained by CNN. CNN has previously reported that a sprawling FBI investigation dating back to the Obama administration ultimately determined the Huawei-made equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest was capable of capturing and disrupting some highly restricted Defense Department communications – including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons. Huawei equipment is used by many smaller telecommunications companies across the country and in 2020, Congress approved $1.9 billion to fund an FCC program to “rip and replace” it amid fears that it could be used to spy on Americans. But two years later, none of that equipment has been removed and rural telecom companies are still waiting for federal reimbursement money.   CNN Exclusive: FBI investigation determined Chinese-made Huawei equipment could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communications “Committee Republicans are concerned that Huawei cellular equipment near military installations could pose a serious threat to Department network and operational security,” the two lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “It is troubling that Huawei equipment has not been removed from US networks, raising questions about whether it may have access to Department networks and provide the CCP with a significant informational advantage.” The lawmakers are requesting both briefings no later than October 25. It’s unclear if the intelligence community determined whether any data was actually intercepted and sent back to Beijing from these towers. Sources familiar with the issue say that from a technical standpoint, it’s incredibly difficult to prove a given package of data was stolen and sent overseas.    The Chinese government strongly denies any efforts to spy on the US. Huawei, in a statement to CNN, also denied that its equipment is capable of operating in any communications spectrum allocated to the Defense Department.  But top intelligence officials have publicly warned that China is exploiting a variety of different tools to gather data and intelligence and exert influence on a wide variety of targets within the United States. “The services continue to collect on our classified information,” Michael Orlando, the acting director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Agency, said at an intelligence conference in Georgia earlier this month. “But we’ve also seen them target every government agency that doesn’t have classified information. We are seeing them target every sector of our economy.” “We’re seeing a whole host of tools that [China] has used as a whole of government effort to acquire our talent, our technology and our data,” he said. How to address the perceived risk posed by Huawei technology has bedeviled administrations of both parties for years. After the results of the counterintelligence investigation were briefed to the Trump White House in 2019, the FCC ordered that telecom companies who receive federal subsidies to provide cell service to remote areas – companies like the provider around the US military assets in the Midwest – must “rip and replace” their Huawei and ZTE equipment.       But for three years now, that equipment has remained in place – frustrating some national security hawks who say it poses an unacceptable risk. “The fact that Huawei communications equipment remains in the United States is a threat to our national security since we know the CCP uses this company’s technology for massive surveillance operations,” Comer said in a statement. “Congress has provided resources to remove Huawei infrastructure from the cellular network and the FCC must act quickly to address this national security nightmare.” According to the FCC and some of the companies subject to “rip and replace,” the problem is funding: Since it was launched in 2019, the program’s estimated cost has ballooned to $5.6 billion, up from initial estimates of around $2 billion. Even as the rip and replace program struggles to allocate adequate reimbursement funds, the commission is now poised to ban all future telecom equipment produced by Huawei and ZTE from the American market in an expanding crackdown against perceived national security risks from China, CNN has previously reported. A vote to approve the measure is expected before mid-November, according to a person familiar with the matter. Asked for comment, an FCC official confirmed the proposal’s existence and told CNN that, if approved, it would update agency rules surrounding its list of providers deemed to be unacceptable national security risks. All electronics that can emit radio frequencies must undergo an FCC authorization process before they can be sold in the US. The long-established process is intended to keep devices out of the US market that may produce harmful signal interference. But under the draft order the FCC would, for the first time, apply a national security interest to the equipment authorization process, the person said. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/politics/republicans-china-huawei/index.html ..........