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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward and Matt Berg | |  U.S. officials often assert that the administration has secured the release of dozens of wrongfully detained Americans, a clear signal of how seriously President Joe Biden and his team take the issue. | Andrew Harnik/AP | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Matt With help from Erin Banco, Paul McLeary, Maggie Miller and Connor O’Brien After keeping quiet for more than a year, the wife of an American hostage held in Afghanistan is speaking out, pressuring the Biden administration to broker his release from the Taliban as quickly as possible. RYAN CORBETT was taken on Aug. 10, 2022 by the militants-turned-government during his second trip to Afghanistan since he and his family were evacuated amid the Taliban takeover in 2021. This September, the State Department designated Ryan as “wrongfully detained.” ANNA CORBETT is pleased with the efforts of both New York senators and her representative to elevate her husband’s case with the administration. What she’s unhappy about is the lack of high-level attention from the White House and Foggy Bottom. Anna, who has traveled to D.C. six times since Ryan was detained, has yet to meet with President JOE BIDEN, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN or national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN, she told NatSec Daily this morning. The leaders have chatted with the families of other still-detained Americans like former Marine PAUL WHELAN and Wall Street Journal reporter EVAN GERSHKOVICH — both held by Russia. Anna did chat Tuesday in Washington with deputy national security adviser JON FINER and top U.S. hostage negotiator ROGER CARSTENS has been to the Corbetts’ home in upstate New York. HANSEL LEIGH, a family friend advising Anna, said “it took a while for the White House to get engaged” on Ryan’s behalf. SAM OSTRANDER, a State Department spokesperson, said that Blinken “whenever possible” meets with the families of wrongfully detained Americans “and looks forward to meeting with the Corbett family soon.” National Security Council spokesperson ADRIENNE WATSON added that "the Biden administration remains fully committed to doing everything we can to bring home Americans who are wrongfully detained abroad, including Ryan Corbett," noting top U.S. officials have met with the Corbett family about Ryan's case for months. U.S. officials often assert that the administration has secured the release of dozens of wrongfully detained Americans, a clear signal of how seriously Biden and his team take the issue. Anna has only been able to talk to Ryan once, for a total of six minutes, during a call in May. Ryan, appearing to be rushed off the phone, relayed that there’s persistent ringing in his ears, raising concerns that his health could be deteriorating. She’s heard from others who were detained with Ryan, but are now released, that he’s malnourished, unexpectedly fainting and suffering from seizures. His extremities are discolored due to poor circulation. Ryan’s absence, and the lack of information about his status, is crushing Anna and her three kids. “It's 15 months of trauma that's nonstop,” she said in an interview. “The toll is just unbelievable.” Conversations with U.S. officials, including Finer, didn’t provide much clarity as the administration keeps the contours of negotiations private. The Wall Street Journal’s BRETT FORREST, who first reported on Anna’s intensified push to get Ryan home, noted the Taliban seems interested in trading the American for MUHAMMAD RAHIM AL-AFGHANI, an Afghan held in Guantanamo since 2008. “U.S. intelligence considers Rahim a continuing significant threat to national security, and his release would require approval from the prison’s periodic review board, which has denied him on numerous occasions,” per Forrest. Anna is aware that Ryan’s case doesn’t have the notoriety of Gershkovich, Whelan or the Americans held by Hamas in Gaza, which includes a three-year-old. Part of why she’s talking to the media and lawmakers now is to raise awareness and push Team Biden to get Ryan safely back home by any means necessary. “This is the time we've got to get the word out there to apply pressure in any way possible,” she said in our interview. Anna said she was advised to keep quiet by U.S. officials and others for fear of making Ryan a more high-profile hostage and antagonizing the Taliban. She says she couldn’t even tell neighbors in her small town why Ryan was gone for so long. She did explain what happened to leaders in their church, the same church in which she and Ryan got married. Anna has found some comfort in her faith. “If I did not have that, I would have no hope because I can just pray and trust that God is working,” she said. “I just want God to deliver him now.”
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Our mission is to prepare you for the future by engineering advanced capabilities today.
Many of today’s military systems and platforms were designed to operate independently. Through our 21st Century Security vision, Lockheed Martin is accelerating innovation, connecting defense and digital to enhance the performance of major platforms, to equip customers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more. | | | | | SULLIVAN: NOT OUR INTEL FAILURE: Collecting intelligence on Hamas was Israel’s main responsibility, not America’s, national security adviser Sullivan said in an interview with Puck posted last night. “Why didn’t we see the type of attack that we saw on October 7th [coming]?” he asked rhetorically during his chat with JULIA IOFFE. “The fact is, through multiple administrations over many years, Hamas and Gaza have been intelligence-collection priorities of the Israeli government and the Israeli intelligence community and the Israeli security establishment. They have not [been priorities] to the same extent for the United States because, of course, we have a close intelligence partnership with Israel, and they were the ones focused on this issue—and they obviously didn’t see it coming. “To characterize it as a failure on the part of this administration or the U.S., or the U.S. intelligence community, is kind of missing the nature of the intelligence relationship and partnership between the United States and Israel,” he continued. We asked the National Security Council if Sullivan was directly and purposefully blaming Israel for the intelligence failure. We didn’t hear back before publication. Since the Hamas attack, at least five U.S. citizens have died as a result of “continued violence,” a State Department spokesperson told our own ERIN BANCO. “We are aware of the death of at least four U.S. citizens serving in the IDF and the death of one U.S. citizen Israeli National Police border officer. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected.” Today, Israeli soldiers moved on the Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, to question Palestinians there and search for Hamas soldiers believed to be operating within the premises, The Wall Street Journal’s DOV LIEBER, CHAO DENG and SAEED SHAH. Israeli soldiers killed four Hamas militants outside the grounds, a senior IDF official told WSJ. As ground fighting and airstrikes continue, the Qatari government is trying to strike a deal between Hamas and Israel for the militant group to free 50 hostages in exchange for a three-day cease-fire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters’ ANDREW MILLS and AHMED MOHAMED HASSAN. The U.S. has been looped in on the potential deal, which would also see Israel releasing some Palestinian women and children from jails and ramping up humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, the official said. The militant group has agreed to the outline of the deal, but Israel is still negotiating the details, the official told Reuters. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has quietly increased the amount of military aid it has sent to Israel, Bloomberg News’ ANTHONY CAPACCIO reported Tuesday evening. According to an internal DOD list, those weapons include laser-guided missiles for the Apache gunship fleet, 155mm shells, night-vision devices, bunker-buster munitions and new army vehicles. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll out today shows that only 31 percent of Americans support sending weapons to Israel with 43 percent opposed to the idea. Scroll down to Keystrokes for more on the situation in Gaza. DRONE DOWN: A U.S. Navy destroyer shot down a drone launched from Yemen that was “heading in the direction of the ship” operating in the Red Sea, a defense official confirmed to our own PAUL McLEARY today. The shootdown by the USS Thomas Hudner comes a month after several missiles and drones also launched from Yemen were shot down by a different U.S. destroyer in the Red Sea. At the time, the Pentagon said it appeared as if the ballistic missiles were heading north toward Israel. The defense official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the sensitive issue, said the ship’s crew “shot it down to ensure the safety of U.S. personnel. There were no U.S. casualties or any damage to the ship.” The incident comes amid a wave of violence in the region, with U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria coming under attack more than 50 times since Oct. 17, lightly wounding dozens of American troops. The U.S. has responded with air strikes aimed at Iranian-backed militia groups in Syria, killing several militants. Yemen’s Houthi-led government, which receives military backing from Iran, also shot down a U.S. MQ-9 surveillance drone flying in international airspace over the Red Sea this month. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Pentagon dispatched two carrier strike groups to the region, along with several fighter squadrons. NK’S NEW SOLID FUEL TEST: Pyongyang today said it successfully tested solid-fuel engines for intermediate-range ballistic missiles as it bolsters its nuclear-capable arsenal to potentially target U.S. bases in the region, The Associated Press’ KIM TONG-HYUNG reports. The first-stage and second-stage missile engine tests were completed on Saturday and Tuesday, according to North Korean state media, which didn’t specify when the missile system would be complete. It’s the latest development in North Korea’s growing arsenal, which analysts believe may be boosted by Russian cooperation as tensions between the two countries and the U.S. intensify. Solid-fuel rockets would pose a greater threat to the American military base on Guam, as North Korea’s liquid-fuel Hwasong-12 needs fuel before launch and can’t stay powered for long periods of time. BIDEN TO XI: LET'S AVOID CONFLICT: Biden's message at the start of his meeting with Chinese paramount leader XI JINPING is that the world's top two powers should not get into a conflict with one another, our own CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO and JONATHAN LEMIRE report. “We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict. And we have to manage that responsibly, the competition,” Biden said as the two men began their discussion at a lush resort in a San Francisco suburb. He acknowledged that he and his counterpart did not always agree but, turning to Xi, called it “paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconception or miscommunication.” The need for candid conversations was echoed by Xi, who sat opposite Biden at a long conference table, both men flanked by senior aides. The Chinese leader nodded more directly toward the tensions between the two nations noting, through a translator, it had not been “smooth sailing” between Washington and Beijing. But, he said that dialogue was needed since “turning our backs on each other is not realistic.” “Planet Earth is big enough for both countries to succeed,” said Xi, before the two sides began a closed-door meeting expected to last for hours. IT’S WEDNESDAY: 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 mberg@politico.com, and follow us on X at @alexbward and @mattberg33. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco, @reporterjoe, and @JGedeon1.
| | | | Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of new episodes – click here. | | | | | | | | DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT: Fellow Republicans, conservatives and free speech advocates are railing against NIKKI HALEY’s proposal to require social media companies to verify accounts for national security purposes. “Every person on social media should be verified, by their name. That’s, first of all, it’s a national security threat. When you do that, all of a sudden, people have to stand by what they say. And it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots and the Chinese bots,” she said on Fox News yesterday. The pushback was nearly immediate. “Haley's latest idea to reveal the real names of social media accounts is about as unconstitutional as you can get!” DONALD TRUMP’s third national security adviser JOHN BOLTON texted NatSec Daily. “Lots of cases on the importance of freedom of association being protected from disclosure. NAACP v. Alabama held against forced disclosure of NAACP memberships. Not to mention impossible as a practical matter, I expect.” Journalist GLENN GREENWALD, Fox News host LAURA INGRAHAM and Trump’s first national security adviser MIKE FLYNN also blasted Haley. CHRISTINA PUSHAW, Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS’ rapid response director, highlighted the Haley clip that set off the firestorm.
| | | OFFLINE TOMORROW?: Internet and telecommunications in the Gaza Strip are set to be knocked offline indefinitely on Thursday if more fuel is not provided to key Palestinian telecom companies, our own MAGGIE MILLER writes in. Paltel, the key Palestinian telecom group whose networks have somewhat continued to function in Gaza during the Israeli incursion, posted on X today that “our main data centers and switches in [the] Gaza Strip are gradually shutting down due to fuel depletion.” Paletel warned that this situation “will lead to a complete telecom blackout in the coming hours.” The group has been subject to a series of major outages since the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip began in the days following the Oct. 7 attack. These outages have cut Gaza off from the outside world for hours at a time, and in at least the first incident, the Biden administration strongly pressured the Israeli government to restore telecom access in the region. Internet connectivity group NetBlocks confirmed Paltel’s findings, posting today on X that “metrics show a new gradual decline in internet connectivity” in Gaza amid the reports by telecom operators of lessening fuel and battery supplies.
| | NATO’S NEW PLANES: NATO will replace its aging surveillance planes with a militarized version of the Boeing 737 commercial jet in a deal likely worth billions of dollars, Reuters’ SABINE SIEBOLD reports. The Airborne Warning and Control System jets have been in service since the Cold War, acting like a flying radar tower serving as the bloc’s eyes in the sky. The new Boeing planes will upgrade those capabilities, being able to detect aircraft up to 250 miles away and monitor some 115,000 square miles. NATO plans to buy six Boeing planes beginning in 2024, with the goal of putting the first new jet in the sky by 2031.
| | | | Tune in as international security leaders from democracies around the world discuss key challenges at the 15th annual Halifax International Security Forum live from Nova Scotia. As an official media partner, POLITICO will livestream the conversation beginning at 3 p.m. on November 17. The Forum's full topical agenda can be found here. | | | | | | | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — CONSISTENCY IS KEY: Rep. NORMA TORRES (D-Calif.) is urging the Pentagon's top watchdog to review the military services' different criminal investigative divisions to "ensure the highest standards," regardless of the service. In a letter obtained by NatSec Daily, Torres highlighted inconsistencies between the services — noting that she pushed the Army to develop a cold case unit, like other services have, in response to the 2020 murder of Army Spc. ENRIQUE ROMAN-MARTINEZ, a constituent of Torres who was stationed at the former Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty. "I remain concerned that best practices are not shared across the military criminal investigative divisions and that which branch you serve [in] plays an inordinate role in the quality of justice you receive as the victim of a crime," Torres wrote to DOD Inspector General ROBERT STORCH. ENDING THE HOLDS?: Senate Democrats advanced a resolution on Tuesday that would effectively end Sen. TOMMY TUBERVILLE’s (R-Ala.) hold on military promotions, but not a single Republican sided with them, our own URSULA PERANO and BURGESS EVERETT reported. Republicans had the opportunity to stick it to Tuberville in committee and didn’t — though they’re likely to soon have another chance on the floor, where it really counts. The Senate GOP is really hoping it doesn’t come to that. Senate Minority Whip JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) added that “nobody wants to go down that path.” FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — NEW DEM PRIORITIES: Nearly 50 members of the New Democrats coalition urged SASC and HASC leaders to weigh their priorities as the two chambers work to reconcile their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act Those priorities, detailed in a letter dated today, include supporting service members and their families, building resilience against climate change, boosting energy security, investing in American innovation and securing the supply chain. The lawmakers, led by Rep. MARILYN STRICKLAND (D-Wash.), also want funds passed to support Israel in its fight with Hamas as well as the removal of “partisan portions of the House-passed NDAA that marginalize swaths of our country and attack reproductive rights and access to basic health care for servicemembers and their families.” “Those partisan provisions will worsen our recruitment crisis, make our military less capable, and weaken our national defense,” they argue.
| | | | NO DIAMONDS FOR EU: The European Commission has suggested new sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, introducing a ban on Russian diamonds and tightening other measures, such as an oil price cap, according to documents seen by our own BARBARA MOENS, JACOPO BARIGAZZI, GABRIEL GAVIN, CAMILLE GIJS and VICTOR JACK. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Brussels has adopted 11 sanctions packages against Moscow in a bid to empty President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s war chest. The latest have been more focused on measures to tackle sanctions circumvention. At the heart of this proposal, which still has to be signed off on by EU countries, is a ban on Moscow’s diamonds. Washington has already banned Russian diamonds, but the EU hasn’t yet — in large part due to Belgium’s bid to protect its diamond trade. The ban would start in January 2024.
| | | |   | | | | | — FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY: JOEL MEYER is joining Domino Data Lab, an artificial intelligence startup, as president for public sector business. He just left the Department of Homeland Security, where he last served as deputy assistant secretary for strategic initiatives, helping to usher in the first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review in nine years. “Having been part of the team that helped drive this technology forward at DHS, I’m thrilled to help other organizations do the same at Domino,” he said in a news release seen by POLITICO before its publication.
| | — KING ABDULLAH II, The Washington Post: A two-state solution would be a victory for our common humanity — MARKUS GARLAUSKAS, JOSEPH WEBSTER and EMMA VERGES, Atlantic Council: China’s support for Russia has been hindering Ukraine’s counteroffensive — MICHAEL HIRSH, POLITICO: The big, quiet issue Biden and Xi are avoiding
| | — The United States Institute of Peace, 9 a.m.: The future of America's strategic posture — The Atlantic Council, 9 a.m.: Taiwan: a contested democracy under threat — The Arab Center, 10 a.m.: The war on Gaza and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel — The Arms Control Association, 10 a.m.: Upholding the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty regime in a time of adversity — The Hudson Institute, 11 a.m.: Making Russia pay with Sen. JIM RISCH (R-Idaho) — The Atlantic Council, 12:30 p.m.: Deconstructing the Israel-Hamas disinformation war — The Center for a New American Security, 1 p.m.: Book discussion on “Zero-Sum Victory: What We're Getting Wrong About War" — The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, 2 p.m.: National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity framework profile implementation — The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, 4 p.m.: Belarus at war: domestic crisis and relations with Russia — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 5 p.m.: A new starting point? the state of Australia-China relations — The Institute of World Politics, 5 p.m.: By way of deception thou shalt do war: the psychology of intelligence Thanks to our editor, Emma Anderson, whom we always blame for having no intelligence. We also thank our producer, Gregory Svirnovskiy, who is as omniscient as it gets.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Our mission is to prepare you for the future by engineering advanced capabilities today.
Many of today’s military systems and platforms were designed to operate independently. Through our 21st Century Security vision, Lockheed Martin is accelerating innovation, connecting defense and digital to enhance the performance of major platforms, to equip customers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
