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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward | | 
Flags and flowers adorn the names of the victims of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, during a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Sept.11, 2021 in New York City. | Craig Ruttle-Pool/Getty Images | With help from Lawrence Ukenye and Phelim Kine Subscribe here | Email Alex FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– Nearly 80 family members of 9/11 victims urge President JOE BIDEN to reverse his order and send back billions in Afghanistan’s U.S.-held frozen assets. “Any use of the $7 billion to pay off 9/11 family member judgments is legally suspect and morally wrong,” they wrote in a letter addressed to the president today. “Order and affirm that the Afghanistan central bank funds belong to the Afghan people and the Afghan people alone,” adding that Afghans need the money much more than they do. The letter, sent to a senior White House aide is the latest backlash to the president’s February executive order holding on to $7 billion in American-based assets owned by Afghanistan’s Central Bank. The administration feared the Taliban would use the money following its sweep to power last year, so the U.S. seized it temporarily. The hope was to solve two problems with one decree. By keeping $3.5 billion from the Taliban, the U.S. aimed to make it harder for the group to finance its operations while incentivizing it to uphold human rights and keep Al Qaeda out of the country. The other $3.5 billion, meanwhile, could go to the families of 9/11 victims who won a judgment for $7 billion in damages a decade ago. Since then, the Afghan economy has collapsed, leading to widespread poverty and hunger with no signs of improvement. The U.S. and Taliban were in talks to design a mechanism through which the $3.5 billion could flow toward Afghanistan’s people without the group accessing it. But Al Qaeda leader AYMAN AL ZAWAHRI’s presence in Kabul scuttled those negotiations for now, since the Taliban broke its promise to keep the terrorists out Afghanistan. Which means the Afghan people are unlikely to see billions of their own money unfrozen by the U.S. any time soon — right when they need it most. At least 76 members of 9/11 families, some of them from the same family, think that’s wrong. “Victims of terrorism, including 9/11 victims, are entitled to their day in court. But they are not entitled to money that lawfully belongs to the Afghan people,” they wrote. “[N]o 9/11 family member joined these lawsuits to take money away from starving Afghans.” Importantly, there’s no unanimity within the 9/11-family community over the $3.5 billion earmarked for them. Some want it, saying that Afghans lost their entitlement to the money after failing to fight back against the Taliban last year. Biden’s order has led an ugly battle between the families over who deserves the money, how much of it and why. But AIDAN SALAMONE, who signed the letter and whose father died on 9/11, wants the letter to show that there’s a vocal contingent within the community to send the money back. “We hope our petition shows that more 9/11 family members than just the few that filed lawsuits care about this issue, and we hope to see all frozen funds employed justly,” he told NatSec Daily. Another family member said that the senior White House aide would relay the letter to "the right people."
| | | CHINA’S U.S. AMB TALKS TOUGH ON TAIWAN: Chinese ambassador to Washington, D.C., QIN GANG, came out swinging this morning in a near 90-minute on-record press briefing with around a dozen members of the D.C. press corps, our own PHELIM KINE wrote in. Qin devoted his 15 minute opening remarks to scripted invective about Chinese hurt feelings over Speaker NANCY PELOSI 's visit to Taiwan earlier this month. Qin doubled down on that angry Chinese Foreign Ministry-approved rhetoric — at times reading from a prepared written statement to ensure he got the wording just right — and made clear that the Chinese government is not yet willing to tone down its hostile posture toward the U.S. and Taiwan anytime soon. Qin slammed Pelosi's visit as a "political provocation," accused the U.S. of "changing the status quo" in the Taiwan Strait and called U.S. arms sales to Taiwan a violation of the U.S.-China August 1982 Joint Communique. Qin got personal by expressing frustration that his best efforts to derail the trip — in apparent willful ignorance of the separation of powers between the U.S. executive and legislative branches — were unsuccessful. "I tried every means through every channel possible to prevent it from happening," Qin lamented. Qin also issued a veiled warning that any future routine transits of the Taiwan Strait by U.S. naval forces may provoke a response from the People's Liberation Army. That warning is notable given China's unilateral declaration in June that it had sovereignty over the entire Taiwan Strait. KURT CAMPBELL , the National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, announced Friday that U.S. naval units will conduct " freedom of navigation" exercises in the Strait in the coming weeks. "We have noted what the U.S. military has said about the U.S. military exercises and navigation [in the Taiwan Strait], but I call on the U.S. to refrain and exercise restraint and not do anything to escalate tensions," Qin said. "If there are any moves to violate China's territorial integrity, China will respond." ROAD TO INVASION: You’ve no doubt by now read The Washington Post’s sweeping history of how the U.S. struggled to convince Ukraine and allies of Russia’s intentions to invade. There’s a lot of amazing detail in it, and you can read the five takeaways for a quick fix, but here’s what stood out to NatSec Daily. “The U.S. intelligence community had penetrated multiple points of Russia’s political leadership, spying apparatus and military, from senior levels to the front lines, according to U.S. officials,” SHANE HARRIS, KAREN DEYOUNG, ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN, ASHLEY PARKER and LIZ SLY reported. This became clear once the administration downgraded intelligence in the run-up to the invasion in an attempt to pre-bunk Russia’s disinformation campaign. But it’s no less remarkable that the U.S. seemingly has eyes and ears at the highest levels of Russian power. That has to make Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN nervous, knowing that the Americans have penetrated his inner circle inside the Kremlin. No wonder, then, the U.S. — along with Britain and the Baltic states — was the most forward in saying Russia was going to invade Ukraine. NEW BLASTS IN CRIMEA: New explosions have rocked Crimea, once again derailing Russia’s efforts to seize Ukraine’s southern territory. “The blasts were set off by Ukrainian saboteurs, according to a senior Ukrainian government official,” The Wall Street Journal’s JAMES MARSON and ANN SIMMONS reported. “Russian officials also blamed sabotage for the explosions at the ammunition dump, at a disused farm near the village of Maiske, which left two people with minor injuries. Authorities on the peninsula, which Russia’s military seized in 2014, evacuated more than 3,000 people from a 3-mile zone around the depot and stopped trains on the nearby train line, which sweeps up from the eastern edge of the peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland.” “The demilitarization operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue in a precise fashion until the full deoccupation of Ukrainian territories,” ANDRIY YERMAK, a top official in Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote on Telegram. “Crimea is Ukraine.” These explosions followed blasts last week in Crimea that damaged several Russian warplanes. IT’S TUESDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com, and follow me on Twitter at @alexbward. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @ChristopherJM, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @magmill95 — plus our summer interns, @Lawrence_Ukenye and @nicolle_liu.
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Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing are the U.S. Army Aviation’s trusted industrial base. Together, they are Team DEFIANT and they will deliver DEFIANT X®, a transformational, high-speed, highly maneuverable helicopter, bringing future capabilities to Army Aviation. Learn more. | | | | | | NYPD: RUSHDIE ATTACKER WAS IRGC SYMPATHIZER: The 24-year-old arrested for allegedly trying to kill author SALMAN RUSHDIE was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sympathizer, per a New York Police Department intelligence assessment reported on by Yahoo! News’ JANA WINTER. “A preliminary investigation into the suspected perpetrator’s probable social media presence indicates a likely adherence or sympathy towards Shi’a extremism and sympathies to the Iranian regime/Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the NYPD intelligence bulletin says. “Likely indicating his ideological worldview, a WhatsApp account linked to [the alleged attacker’s] telephone number featured an illustration of two prominent Shi’a extremist figures: deceased Maj. Gen. QASEM SOLEIMANI, the former head of Iran’s IRGC and ABU MAHDI AL-MUHANDIS, the leader of Iraq’s pro-Iranian militia movement.” On Monday, a U.S. official told NatSec Daily that law enforcement had yet to find a motive for the attack, but that the likeliest answer was the alleged attacker deeply internalized anti-Rushdie sentiments stemming from the IRGC and the Iranian regime. CHINA SANCTIONS TAIWANESE POLITICIANS: China imposed sanctions on Taiwanese politicians today by implementing visa bans that will bar them from visiting China, Macau and Hong Kong, The Associated Press reported. The measures came the same day a U.S. congressional delegation met with the self-governing island's president, TSAI ING-WEN. Targets of the sanctions include BI-KHIM HSIAO, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the U.S., and multiple Taiwanese legislators. Beijing responded to the arrival of U.S. lawmakers by staging a series of military exercises near the Taiwan Strait, similar to the drills the People's Liberation Army conducted following the high-profile visit of Speaker NANCY PELOSI . The island placed its military on high alert but did not unveil any plans to respond to increased aggression from Beijing. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry praised the impromptu U.S. visit and their ongoing support to strengthen mutual ties. Last week, both sides renewed a contract to maintain the American-made Patriot missile system.
| | | CYBER WAR CRIMES: Ukraine’s cybersecurity agency chief said that Russia is committing cyber war crimes. “Since most [Russian] kinetic operations focused on civilian infrastructure and cyber operations supportive of that are exactly the same type of thing, hitting civilian IT infrastructure,” VIKTOR ZHORA told LORENZO FRANCESCHI-BICCHIERAI of Vice News’ Motherboard during the Black Hat hacking conference. “These cases we can treat them as war crimes in cyberspace.” The International Criminal Court should prosecute Russian officials for the cyberattacks, he said: “It should be a good idea to combine all of them to provide enough evidence as proof, and send them to the ICC and change the procedures and let them prosecute these cybercrimes as war crimes.” Zhora made a surprise appearance at the annual conference in Las Vegas with the goal of getting the broader cybersecurity community to side with Ukraine against its physical and online fight against Russia.
| | | ALL SATCOM UNDER SPACE FORCE: For the first time ever, all U.S. military satellite communications functions now fall under one military service: The U.S. Space Force. During a Monday ceremony, the U.S. Army’s satellite communications mission was transferred to the Space Force during a ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. “[W]e are ready for this transfer and postured to continue our vital missions without any disruptions,” said Space Force Lt. Gen. STEPHEN WHITING , commander of Space Operations Command. “We are proud to continue the Army’s legacy as we assume this mission, and we are committed to never forgetting the users of this remarkable SATCOM enterprise—namely, the entire Joint Force, including U.S. Army Soldiers.” Per a Space Force news release: “The SATCOM mission will be transferring from USASMDC’s Satellite Operations Brigade, which includes the 53rd Signal Battalion and SATCOM Directorate, to the 53rd Space Operations Squadron and SATCOM Office, which fall under SpOC’s Space Delta 8. During the ceremony, approximately 200 civilian and 300 military billets transferred from the Department of the Army to the Department of the Air Force.”
| | | HOUSE DEMS WANT JROTC PROTECTION FROM SEXUAL ABUSE: The Pentagon must provide Congress with more information about how the military protects Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) members from sexual abuse and misconduct, responding to a New York Times story last month on the issue. Reps. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-N.Y.), chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform and Rep. STEPHEN LYNCH (D-Mass.), who leads the panels’ Subcommittee on National Security, sent a letter to Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN and the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force about their concerns. “As the United States Armed Forces struggle to attract qualified recruits to enlist and serve our nation in uniform, the military services must redouble their efforts to promote the safety, well-being, and academic and personal growth of our country’s next generation of leaders, who will ultimately decide for themselves whether to pursue a career of military service,” they wrote. “Every incident of abuse or harassment committed by a JROTC instructor against a cadet is completely unacceptable and represents an abject betrayal of the trust and faith these young men and women placed in the U.S. Military, its culture, and its values.” The lawmakers want data on the number of notifications and reports about sexual abuse allegations in the last five years; the number of investigations into those complaints; as well as the number of leaders who were dismissed after verifying the allegations.
| | | PUTIN: U.S. USING UKRAINIANS AS ‘CANNON FODDER’: Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN accused the U.S. of trying to extend the war in Ukraine to maintain its position as the world’s leader. “They need conflicts to retain their hegemony,” he said today during a global security conference, per The Associated Press’ VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV. “That’s why they have turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder. The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is trying to drag the conflict out, and it acts in exactly the same way trying to fuel conflicts in Asia, Africa and Latin America.” ”The era of the unipolar world order is nearing its end,” he said. These comments, of course, are rich coming from the guy who started a conflict to reconstitute a long-lost empire and whose forces indiscriminately bomb innocent civilians. But Putin does like to troll, and this ranks among his trolliest comments in a while.
| | | |   | | | | | | — MAX PRIMORAC will lead the Heritage Foundation’s Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy. He joined Heritage in April as a senior fellow for international economies and foreign aid. Heritage also announced that VICTORIA COATES and ERIN WALSH will join as senior fellows. Coates was the top Middle East official in the Trump administration’s National Security Council and Walsh was on that NSC leading work on international organization and alliances, as well as Africa.
| | | — RYAN HASS, Foreign Affairs: “ The Upside of Pelosi’s Unwise Taiwan Visit ” — RIA CHAKRABARTY, Foreign Policy: “ It’s Time to Condition Aid to India ” — JONATHAN SCHANZER and BILL ROGGIO, The Wall Street Journal: “ What Qatar Owes Afghanistan’s Refugees ”
| | | — The Hudson Institute, 10 a.m.: "From Fist Bumps to Missile Fire: One Month since President Biden's Middle East Trip." — The Jewish Institute for National Security of America, 1 p.m.: "Assessing the Latest Gaza Conflict" — The Lowy Institute, 6:15 p.m.: “When the war is over: Australia's ongoing interests” Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? Shoot me an email at award@politico.com to be featured in the next edition of the newsletter. And thanks to my editor, John Yearwood, whose era of hegemonic leadership over this newsletter is coming to an end.
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