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Stevenson’s army, September 14

Punchbowl provides several stories on Blinken testimony. Politico: “Blinken lays blame on Trump as he defends messy withdrawal from Afghanistan” … Reuters: “Blinken defends Afghan withdrawal at testy U.S. congressional hearing” … CNN: “Blinken testifies on Afghanistan before House lawmakers angry about the war’s chaotic end” … WaPo: “Blinken clashes with Republican lawmakers over Afghanistan withdrawal”
Look at the talking points the WH sent to its friends.
Here’s a link to the actual hearing. [But if you want to use it for your Hill Observation paper, be aware it’s over 5 hours long.]

– NYT says Iran almost has enough fuel for one nuclear bomb.

– WaPo says US is releasing some aid to Egypt, conditioning the rest.

– WSJ is running a series of articles on how Facebook dodges some of its own rules.

– The Brown University Costs of War project points the finger at contractors.

– What can Hill staffers do whose workplace is toxic? Leak to Buzzfeed.

– A retired USMC colonel says US doesn’t practice what it preaches about mission command.

Our brownbag guest yesterday recommends this article about changing the GOP.

Lots of new material this afternoon. Different reporters are citing bootleg copies of the new Bob Woodward book — WaPo says Milley “pulled a Schlesinger“;  CNN has more about the military.

– Different emphases: Intell officials say AlQaeda could rebuild in a year, and greater terror threats are outside Afghanistan.

Congress looks at military role in evacuation. Blinken hearing “marred by politics.”

– Military aid to Guinea cut off.

– How should a Member spend his time? Tweeting about Democratic policies or helping deal with local floods?

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).