Tag: 2020 Election
Stevenson’s army, July 31
– Tata is out. Good.
– Diplomats push back at returning to offices.
– Postal Service cuts back just when it’s needed for elections. That’s one of several threats to the elections discussed in a good CFR session.
-CFIUS had increased workload in 2019. Here’s the official report.
– The USG didn’t run its pandemic playbook, as it should have.
– Intriguing idea: non-kinetic ASAT
– Back to normal: approval of Congress falls
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).
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Stevenson’s army, July 30
– LA Times has a summary of Robert Draper’s new book on the Iraq war. [I’m happy to say I just got a copy from my newly reopened library.]
– I have a piece debunking the “wag the dog” theory. Yes, foreign policy decisions including use of force, are often driven by domestic political considerations, but the US just doesn’t start wars in presidential election years.
–DOD now sees protesters and journalists as “adversaries” in mandatory training manuals.
– The Gang of 8 are feuding over what to tell us about foreign interference in the election.
– DOD announced withdrawal of troops from Germany. Fred Kaplan has a good critique.
Reading between the lines, it looks to me as if DOD is slow-rolling the matter, making it easy to reverse course after the election.
Daily Beast reports on all the dark money flooding into our elections this year.
Congratulations to the NYT editor who wrote the line saying the tech execs who testified yesterday all wore “trust me suits” and ties.
Breaking news: the quarry for the Stonehenge stones has been found 15 miles away. Still not know is how they were transported 4500 years ago.
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).
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Stevenson’s army, July 27
– A group of former members of Congress are due to release a report suggesting reforms of Congress. So far, only this article.
– Looks like the US Ambassador to UK needs to change some of his ways, too.
-And things could be a mess after the election, several scenarios show.
– WaPo’s Dan Balz says US global standing is poor.
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).
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Stevenson’s army, July 24
– Politico lists 8 things that could doom the November elections
– Trump says he may send 75,000 federal agents into the cities.
– China retaliates for Houston closing.
– Steve Walt says Trump has “ruined a superpower”
– I have a piece in Lawfare explaining why Congress never acted to authorize the Korean war.
-Reminder: CRS has timely nonpartisan analysis. It’s now searchable at the Library of Congress site, but FAS lists categories with new items on top. For example, see these new items in national security:
- Border Barrier Litigation: Open Questions for Department of Defense Transfer Authority, CRS Legal Sidebar, July 21, 2020
- Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2020, updated July 20, 2020
- Emerging Military Technologies: Background and Issues for Congress, July 17, 2020
- Military Pay: Key Questions and Answers, updated July 17, 2020
- Emergency Authorities Under the National Emergencies Act, Stafford Act, and Public Health Service Act, updated July 14, 2020
- The International Emergency Economic Powers Act: Origins, Evolution, and Use, updated July 14, 2020
- The International Emergency Economic Powers Act: Key Facts, updated July 10, 2020
- U.S. Military Presence in Poland, CRS In Focus, updated July 2, 2020
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).
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Stevenson’s army, July 19
In a lengthy and curious article describing the changing administration response to the coronavirus, NYT point blame on two new figures, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Dr. Deborah Birx. On line, NYT has added a short summary article, 5 takeaways. The reports blame Meadows for daily small group meetings to plot strategy to turn the pandemic problems over to the states and thus away from the WH. Key date was April 10. The articles also depict Dr. Birx as the eternal optimist, repeatedly promising that the models forecast declining infections. She reportedly was given a West Wing office and was closer to the discussions and planning than any other medical person. The article has other nuggets, such as the claim that Jared Kushner told California Gov. Newsom he had to praise Trump if he wanted the medical equipment he was seeking.
– DHS was warned that agents sent to Portland lacked training in crowd control.
– WaPo says Russia is gaining in Syria.
– McClatchy says there is a serious whistleblower complaint against SecState Pompeo.
-WaPo has a review of the new book about Newt Gingrich.
– Two respected former members of Congress suggest ending gerrymandering by having the House reject credentials of members from gerrymandered states. Don’t go there!
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).
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Stevenson’s army, July 16
– Citing “former officials with direct knowledge,” Yahoo News has a detailed exclusive story revealing the Trump Administration’s 2018 presidential finding giving the CIA much greater freedom to launch offensive cyber operations against key adversary countries [including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea] and against critical infrastructure and financial institutions.It says that there are now “lessened … evidentiary requirements” for choosing targets. There is no mention of reporting these activities to Congress, and even the NSC is said to have little oversight role. Nor does there appear to be any provision like the Obama requirement for specific presidential approval of any action that was expected to have “significant consequences.” In my opinion, this is way short of adequate.
The Trump directive apparently repeals and replaces the Obama PDD 20. [Beware before opening this link. Some people say that you could jeopardize a valid security clearance by opening a document like this — Top Secret/Noforn — released by Snowden and not formally declassified] On the other hand, its details have been widely reported over several years.
Readers here know that I have long promoted the “Title 60” idea of applying the Hughes-Ryan model to offensive cyber ops and lethal drone strikes: require presidential approval and congressional notification. Obama went half way in PDD 20. Trump and his NSC won’t even go that far.
In other news, the US is planning even more sanctions on Chinese officials as part of the escalating cold war.
– The sparkplug for the pivot to Asia in the Obama administration, Kurt Campbell, has a new assessment of China’s strategy.
-US may sanction more companies, including Shell Oil, over Nordstream2.
– NBC says WH tried to block Alexander Vindman’s promotion after his impeachment testimony by sending the Pentagon a report that he created a hostile work environment.
– Brookings has an interesting database of states’ ability to handle voting by mail.
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).
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