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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 | |  David Miran, the father of U.S.-Israeli citizen Omri Miran, who was kidnapped by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack, is interviewed by Israeli television on Dec. 17, 2023. | Jose Maria Hernandez/Alamy | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Matt The brother-in-law of an Israeli hostage was in Washington this week to push for a deal to bring OMRI MIRAN and other detainees home. MOSHE LAVI joined a group of families to meet with European and Middle Eastern ambassadors as well as American lawmakers and officials, most notably State Department hostage affairs chief ROGER CARSTENS. Lavi and his counterparts, which included the family of a dual American-Israeli national, had one clear message: set differences aside to ensure their loved ones will be imminently released. “If we keep on talking, perhaps we can break the gridlock, but time is of the essence,” Lavi told NatSec Daily after his days of meetings. If there isn’t a breakthrough soon, he feared, “we may not see our loved ones and family members return.” Miran’s case is well publicized. He was taken captive on Oct. 7 by Hamas militants from Kibbutz Nir Oz. As Miran was dragged away, the last thing he saw was Hamas point guns at his wife and two young daughters. Released hostages said Miran only found out that all three are alive from a radio report on his family. Miran’s wife told The Washington Post the last things she said to her husband before he was taken: “I love you. I’m waiting for you. I’ll guard over our daughters. And don’t be a hero.” More than 100 hostages of the initial 240 abducted on Oct. 7 have been released, including 81 Israeli citizens and 24 foreign nationals. The White House says that fewer than 10 Americans remain in captivity, leading lawmakers like Sen. JONI ERNST (R-Iowa) to travel to the region, advocating for their release. “We leaned in very heavily on those that we thought could influence Hamas on the return of our American hostages,” she told us this week. The problem is that the only people who can make something happen are executive government officials, not members of Congress and families of hostages. Still, Lavi said their work to put pressure on U.S., Israeli and other officials keeps Miran and others’ stories top of mind: “Without doing that, I do think there might be other priorities.” Lavi last heard of Miran’s status five weeks ago when the released hostages said he was alive and in relatively good physical condition. No new information has leaked out, despite how closely Miran’s family speaks with Israeli officials. That hasn’t diminished the family’s hope that Miran will come home soon. Lavi said he looks forward to seeing Miran hold his wife and daughters again. After that, he said he wants to watch Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball games with his brother-in-law, while hopefully Miran can also chow down on steak, one of his favorite meals. The only issue, per Lavi, is that “I’m a vegan,” but such a scene would still mean “we were normal again.”
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The F-35 is vital to 21st Century Security, connecting assets across domains with advanced capabilities and networking to ensure those we serve stay ahead of ready. Learn more. | | | | | AUSTIN LATEST: The Pentagon said that once Deputy Defense Secretary KATHLEEN HICKS learned of her boss LLOYD AUSTIN’s condition, she mobilized to get a public announcement out as soon as possible. But the account of two senior administration officials calls that into question. They said the White House pushed the Pentagon to send out a news release once they learned DOD wasn’t working on one, as Alex reported late last night. National security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN and White House Chief of Staff JEFFREY ZIENTS called Pentagon Chief of Staff KELLY MAGSAMEN last Thursday, telling her it was vital a public statement about Austin’s hospitalization go out as soon as possible. Asked about the story, National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY declined to confirm or deny whether the White House had to push the Pentagon to launch the statement. “I'm not going to address individual press reports,” he said — but CNN confirmed POLITICO’s scoop. Meanwhile, Pentagon officials are saddened by the news of Austin’s cancer diagnosis but furious he hid it from President JOE BIDEN and other senior administration figures. “He made a deliberate decision to not share something so important at minimum with the POTUS. It was reckless and irresponsible,” an official told LARA SELIGMAN and Alex. “I don’t want to take away the human element of his diagnosis. … However, his judgment should be questioned on this one.” Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, sent a letter to Austin co-signed by 11 other Republicans today demanding more information about DOD’s communications breakdown. Rep. CHRIS DELUZIO (D-Pa.) became the first congressional Democrat to call for Austin's resignation after the controversy over his hospitalization, our own NICHOLAS WU reports. “I have lost trust in Secretary Lloyd Austin’s leadership of the Defense Department due to the lack of transparency about his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command," Deluzio said in a statement that also thanked Austin for his service and wished him a speedy recovery. ICYMI — When ‘elective’ doesn’t mean optional: Lloyd Austin’s cancer surgery by our own DANIEL PAYNE HOUTHI ATTACK: British and American naval forces shot down Houthi missiles Tuesday evening in one of the rebel group’s largest attacks yet targeting Red Sea shipping, our own LAURA HÜLSEMANN reports. Houthis launched a “complex attack” into the southern Red Sea toward international shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. No damage was reported to vessels after 21 total drones and missiles — including two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile — were shot down. In December, the DOD announced a task force aimed at countering Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. The rebel group’s attacks haven’t stopped since then, and Wicker blasted the group’s efficacy. “What exactly has the Red Sea task force accomplished?” he tweeted today. “The continuing threat posed to American sailors and freedom of navigation could soon lead to a catastrophe unless the Biden administration acts with the resolve that it has so far sorely lacked.” NSC spokesperson Kirby today told reporters the U.S. and its partners have warned the Houthis to stop their attacks in the Red Sea. If they don’t, “they'll bear the consequences for failure to do so.” GET TROOPS OUT: Iraq wants U.S. troops to leave its soil quickly and in an orderly fashion but hasn’t set a timeline, Prime Minister MOHAMMED SHIA AL-SUDANI told Reuters’ TIMOUR AZHARI. Iran-linked militant groups have been attacking American forces in Iraq as Washington continues to support Israel against Hamas. But U.S. retaliation against those groups has further fueled longstanding calls for American troops to leave Iraq. "Let's agree on a time frame [for the coalition's exit] that is, honestly, quick, so that they don't remain long and the attacks keep happening," Sudani told Reuters, adding that ending the war in Gaza is the only way to stop the risk of regional escalation. His comments come a day after our colleagues reported that the prime minister privately told American officials he wants to negotiate keeping U.S. forces in the country, despite his recent announcement that he would begin the process of removing them. 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.
| | | | POLITICO AT CES® 2024: We are going ALL On at CES 2024 with a special edition of the POLITICO Digital Future Daily newsletter. The CES-focused newsletter will take you inside the most powerful tech event in the world, featuring revolutionary products that cut across verticals, and insights from industry leaders that are shaping the future of innovation. The newsletter runs from Jan. 9-12 and will focus on the public policy-related aspects of the gathering. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the show. | | | | | | | | | ‘NEVER’ HELP EUROPE: When he was president, DONALD TRUMP said he wouldn’t support the European Union if it were attacked, a senior European official recounted Tuesday. "'You need to understand that if Europe is under attack we will never come to help you and to support you,'" Trump told European Commission President URSULA VON DER LEYEN in 2020, according to France’s European Commissioner THIERRY BRETON, who was present for their chat at the World Economic in Forum in Davos. "'By the way, NATO is dead, and we will leave, we will quit NATO,'" Trump also said, according to Breton. "And he added, ‘and by the way, you owe me $400 billion, because you didn’t pay, you Germans, what you had to pay for defense.'" Breton told the anecdote at an event in the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, days before the Republican primary voting begins in Iowa. It’s unlikely to change many minds, though, as Trump’s skepticism of the transatlantic alliance is well established. The possibility of Trump’s return to the Oval Office, though, might lead Europe to rethink its own defenses if America isn’t guaranteed to help it. Biden’s campaign attacked Trump for the remarks today, saying that such comments undermine Washington’s national security and strength on the global stage. “The idea that he would abandon our allies if he doesn't get his way underscores what we already know to be true about Donald Trump: The only person he cares about is himself,” Biden campaign spokesperson AMMAR MOUSSA told Matt.
| | MICROSOFT’S CHINA LAB: Microsoft leaders are debating what to do with the company’s lab in Beijing, which has become one of the most important AI research hubs in the world, current and former company employees told The New York Times’ KAREN WEISE, CADE METZ and DAVID McCABE. Hundreds of researchers at the lab pioneered work that would pave the way for artificial intelligence like ChatGPT. But Microsoft’s top leaders, including CEO SATYA NADELLA and President BRAD SMITH, have reevaluated the lab’s future due to rising tensions between the U.S. and China on the tech front. “The company has faced questions from U.S. officials over whether maintaining an 800-person advanced technologies lab in China is tenable, the people said. Microsoft said it had instituted guardrails at the lab, restricting researchers from politically sensitive work,” the Times writes. Some researchers will be relocated to an outpost lab in British Columbia, and it’s a backup if more researchers need to leave Beijing, two people told the Times. The idea of shuttering the lab or moving it has come up, but the company’s leaders support keeping it in China, the people added.
| | | |   | | | | | BERLIN’S UKRAINE CAMPAIGN: German Chancellor OLAF SCHOLZ wants to put added pressure on European Union partners to deliver more weapons to Ukraine by raising the issue at a special summit of the bloc’s leaders next month, our own HANS VON DER BURCHARD reports. Leaders will meet in Brussels on Feb. 1, where they plan to adopt a $55 billion financial aid package for Kyiv. Scholz intends to use the occasion to hold an additional debate about military support for Ukraine that individual EU countries plan for this year, a German official told Hans. Meanwhile, Breton, the European Commission’s internal market chief, said he wants to set up a $109 billion defense fund for the EU, per our own EDDY WAX and LAURA KAYALI. He’ll present the plan, aimed at boosting joint weapons procurement and ramping up domestic arms and ammunition production, in late February. Breton also insisted that the bloc can still meet its target of producing 1 million artillery shells for Ukraine by this spring: “We will stick to our commitment.”
| | | KHANNA SAYS: CEASE-FIRE NOW: Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.) said it’s long past time for the U.S. to push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, arguing the militant group is significantly degraded and lives need to be saved — plus it could help stop the erosion of support for Biden. “When I was back in the district, I heard the urgency of this, not just from the Arab-American community or Muslim-American community, not just from progressives, but from so many young people and young Democrats who really view this as a matter of conscience, as a matter of morality,” the House Armed Services member told NatSec Daily. Khanna says he has yet to hear a clear strategy for an Israeli victory — though officials often say the aim is the complete destruction of Hamas — adding that the U.S. shouldn’t back a nation without an attainable way to meet its goals. Khanna fears the U.S. is backing “endless war,” which Biden campaigned against. The question is what leverage the lawmaker and his progressive colleagues have to pressure the administration. It’s not clear they have any, and Biden has shown no signs of wanting to change course. But Khanna’s voice adds to the pile of Democrats, in and out of government, expressing their displeasure with the administration’s course.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | ‘SAN FRANCISCO VISION’: China is signaling to the U.S. that it isn’t spoiling for a fight, often repeating the phrase “San Francisco vision” to keep relations cordial. Biden and Chinese paramount leader XI JINPING met in the California city last November to reset ties that had been strained amid high-profile clashes, such as over the spy balloon incident and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. There are heightened concerns about Taiwan’s future as the island heads to the polls this weekend, and Chinese officials are now using the term “San Francisco vision” to argue that cooler heads can prevail. “Chinese diplomats are using this month’s 45th anniversary of the establishment of U.S.-China relations to call on Washington to sustain the more positive mood established in California, which also led to agreements for dialogues and cooperation on issues ranging from artificial intelligence to the opioid fentanyl,” The Wall Street Journal’s JAMES AREDDY reports. “The Foreign Ministry even pointed to recent table tennis matches in both the U.S. and China, harking back to the friendlies that marked some of the first links between the countries in the 1970s.” The question is if the U.S. will make similar overtures. U.S. officials have long said they don’t want to veer into conflict with Beijing and are taking steps to cooperate where possible and compete when necessary. But China’s messaging suggests the best way to remain friends is to keep out of Beijing’s business — keep it friendly. That could, ironically, lead to diplomatic spats down the line if the U.S. inevitably does weigh in on sensitive matters that impact foreign policy, like Taiwan.
| | — National Security Agency Director Gen. PAUL NAKASONE will step down from his post in early February, two people familiar with the decision told Bloomberg News’ JAMIE TARABAY and BILLY HOUSE. He’ll also leave his roles as head of U.S. Cyber Command. Nakasone was expected to depart last year, but holds on Senate nominations kept him in the post longer than expected. –– MORGAN VIÑA has joined Invariant as a principal. She was at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America as vice president of government affairs.
| | — Rep. MARK GREEN, Fox News: The compelling evidence to impeach ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS — AMANDA HSIAO, War On The Rocks: A post-election risk assessment for the Taiwan Strait — MARK KIMMITT, POLITICO: Iran needs to know U.S. won’t accept its destabilizing actions
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: F-35: Delivering what’s next to ensure those we serve stay ahead of ready.
At Lockheed Martin, our mission is to deliver seamless and secure integrated deterrence with advanced systems that serve as intelligent nodes in the networked battlespace. Learn more. | | | | | — United States Energy Association, 10 a.m.: The emerging cyber threats to industrial control systems: standards on third-party risk management and cyber risk assessment methodologies — House Homeland Security Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Subcommittee, 10 a.m.: Exploitation and enforcement part II: improving enforcement in countering Uyghur forced labor — American Bar Association, 11 a.m.: AI governance — Center for Strategic and International Studies, 11:30 a.m.: Navigating security challenges in the Black Sea region — House Foreign Affairs Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia Subcommittee, 2 p.m.: Examining the Biden administration's Afghanistan policy since the U.S. withdrawal: part II — Center for Strategic and International Studies Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, 3:30 p.m.: The National Defense Industrial Strategy: the way ahead Thanks to our editor, Emma Anderson, whom we would never defend. We also thank our producer, Andy Goodwin, whom we would protect with our lives.
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