Fdd's overnight brief

January 8, 2021

In The News

Iran

South Korea is mounting a diplomatic effort to free an oil tanker seized by Iran amid a dispute over frozen bank funds, the latest flare-up of tensions between Tehran and a U.S. ally. – Wall Street Journal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday that the chaos unleashed on the US Capitol by US counterpart Donald Trump’s supporters exposed the fragility of Western democracy. – Agence France-Presse

It is too early to discuss how much compensation to pay relatives of those killed when Iran shot down an airliner last year, even though Tehran has suggested an amount, a Canadian adviser said on Thursday. – Reuters

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday banned the government from importing new coronavirus vaccines from the United States and Britain. – Reuters

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards unveiled an underground missile base at an undisclosed Gulf location on Friday, Iranian state media reported, at a time of heightened tension between Tehran and the United States. – Reuters

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday Tehran was in no rush for the United States to rejoin a 2015 nuclear deal, but that sanctions on the Islamic Republic must be lifted immediately. – Reuters

The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is warning President Trump that “revenge on the perpetrators of [General Qassem] Soleimani’s martyrdom is definite and serious,” according to a video that has surfaced on Twitter.  – Fox News

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Thursday that his country can enrich uranium to 90 percent of purity. – Arutz Sheva

One year after the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Iranian airspace, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Iran’s authorities have “harassed and intimidated” the victims’ families instead of conducting a “transparent and credible” investigation into the tragedy. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

One year ago on the night of Jan. 7, 2020, Americans were shocked to learn that Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. – C4ISRNET

Yonah Jeremey Bob writes: So Cohen’s Mossad has done far more than just pressure Iran for a few years until Biden came into the picture. […]And if, at the end of the day, the Biden administration still cuts a deal with Iran that Israel does not like, something beyond even Cohen’s control, he will still have played his heart out to protect Israel, pushing the envelope to use every tool at his disposal. – Jerusalem Post

Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday condemned as “disgraceful” violence at the US Capitol building by supporters of his staunch ally President Donald Trump. – Agence France-Presse

The officers, from various branches of the Palestinian security forces, were dispatched to the site on the direct instructions of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding a music event held there by Palestinian DJ Sama Abdulhadi and a small group of young men and women. – Jerusalem Post

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Likud Party MK and Knesset Coalition Chairman Miki Zohar compared the Israeli protesters who have been protesting outside of the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem for the past 28 straight weeks to the American rioters who breached the halls of Congress on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz are reportedly sparring over the government’s strategy for responding to US President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to reenter the Iran nuclear deal. – Times of Israel 

Lahav Harkov writes: But Israel has faced challenges in maintaining bipartisan support that preceded Trump and has only intensified, with the far Left of the Democratic Party calling to slash military aid and other policies that could cause significant harm to Israel. […]And that challenge will grow as Israel undertakes the difficult task of putting daylight between itself and Trump and rebuilding bipartisan support, especially with Trump ending his term as a latter-day Nero, playing on the fiddle of American divisions while the world burns around him. – Jerusalem Post

Tevi Troy writes: Israel’s relationship with the outgoing administration was extraordinary. We shall not see its like again. The question going forward is whether the Biden administration will take the recent successes into account as it makes its own way in the Middle East—or whether the powerful urge to restore the status quo ante of the Obama administration will set the course for the next four years. – Commentary Magazine

Daoud Kuttab writes: A presidential decree announcing the date of elections is due to come out soon. More than any other issue, this could be the clearest signal that the current reconciliation effort is on track. If the decree is delayed, that will reflect a serious problem for the unity efforts as well as for the prospect of a push for Palestinian independence during the upcoming Biden administration. – Al-Monitor

Arabian Peninsula

A loud explosion was heard in the Yemeni city of Aden on Thursday evening, residents and a security source told Reuters. – Reuters

Saudi Arabia is accelerating trials of so-called dissidents, including a high-profile Saudi-American doctor, who fear becoming bargaining tools in a potential early showdown with Joe Biden’s incoming administration. – Agence France-Presse

On a day that Saudi Arabia jolted the oil market with an output cut it called a “gesture of goodwill,” the kingdom’s de-facto ruler took center stage in a mirrored concert hall, ready to resolve a different crisis. – Bloomberg

Editorial: Like his recent concession on imprisoned women’s rights activists, some of whom may be released within weeks of Mr. Biden’s inauguration, MBS’s concession on Qatar should be acknowledged as a necessary but not sufficient step toward preserving the U.S.-Saudi alliance. The Biden administration should withhold normal relations until all women’s rights activists and other political prisoners are released, the bombing of Yemen ceases, and there is full accountability for the Khashoggi murder — including by the crown prince. – Washington Post

Gulf States

Arab states boycotting Qatar could resume travel and trade links with Doha within a week under a U.S.-backed deal, but restoring diplomatic ties requires more time as parties work to rebuild trust, a United Arab Emirates official said on Thursday. – Reuters

Qatar will not alter its relations with Iran and Turkey in a sign that it has made few concessions after securing a deal with Saudi Arabia and its allies to end a bitter dispute between the rival Gulf states. – Financial Times

Bobby Ghosh writes: The question now is whether Sheikh Tamim can parlay these gains into a bigger role for Doha in regional affairs — the ambition that raised hackles among his Arab peers in the first place. Having built on Qatar’s relations with Iran, he might be able to present himself to the incoming Joe Biden administration as the best intermediary for diplomacy with Tehran. […]If Qatar’s neighbors harbored any hope that it would join them in an anti-Iran or anti-Turkey alliance, they have another think coming. Having called the tune for its readmission, Doha will not be joining their Arab chorus. – Bloomberg

Khaled Abu Toameh writes: The final statement issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on January 5 affirmed the significance of the Palestinian issue and the need to activate the efforts of the international community […]. If Qatar dumps Hamas, that would also be good news for Abbas. Such a move would weaken his rivals and probably end their rule over the Gaza Strip. – Jerusalem Post

Middle East & North Africa

In the wake of the signing of the normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco, the opening of embassies would be the “natural next step” of the process, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI told Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu in a call last week, Axios reported.  – Jerusalem Post

Human Rights Watch appealed Thursday to Libya’s internationally recognised government to launch an investigation aimed at identifying hundreds of people reported missing in a western town where mass graves have been unearthed. – Agence France-Presse

Turkey and France are working on a roadmap to normalise ties and talks are going well, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, adding Ankara was ready to improve ties with its NATO ally if Paris showed the same willingness. – Reuters

A Turkish court accepted an indictment against jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas on Thursday, state media reported, rebuffing demands by the European Court of Human Rights for his release. – Reuters

Michael Rubin writes: There are ways to help Lebanon without undermining the fight against Hezbollah or fueling the country’s dysfunctional corruption: it is time for the State Department, the Western aid community, and the International Monetary Fund to stop measuring effectiveness by money allocated. One million dollars well spent at the local level solely by local authorities would be far more effective than $100 million channeled through Beirut. It is not yet too late, but either cutting off Lebanon or pumping money into a system without first tackling Hezbollah and the political elites’ ability to embezzle it will lead to disaster. – The National Interest 

Korean Peninsula

A South Korean court on Friday ordered the Japanese government to pay $91,800 each to 12 Korean women kept as sex slaves for Japan’s troops during World War II. The ruling, the first of its kind in South Korea, is likely to aggravate the already chilly relations between Washington’s two key allies in Asia. – New York Times

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un explored ways to renew inter-Korean ties and vowed to expand diplomatic relations, state media said on Friday, as he hosted a rare party congress less than two weeks before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office. – Reuters

As Kim welcomed thousands of delegates to a rare congress of the Worker’s Party this week in Pyongyang, North Korea faces perhaps the most challenging environment since a famine devastated the country in the 1990s. – Reuters

North Korean state media have displayed an unprecedented portrait of leader Kim Jong Un in military uniform — and an assault rifle on his desk — as the nuclear-armed nation holds a key meeting of its ruling party. – Agence France-Presse

China

A dozen WeChat users in the United States and Canada shared censorship stories with The Washington Post, ticking off cases of messages that they sent from their North American phones disappearing before reaching friends — at times when those friends were also located in the United States and Canada. – Washington Post 

Shares in China’s three major telecommunications companies dropped in Hong Kong on Friday, after index compilers said they would remove the stocks from their benchmarks due to a U.S. government investment ban. – Wall Street Journal

Chinese and Russian state media criticized the U.S. following the storming of Congress, calling out what they described as hypocrisy from a country whose leaders have long denounced Moscow and Beijing for undermining democratic values. – Wall Street Journal

Trump administration officials are expected to discuss a proposed expansion of an executive order banning U.S. investment in alleged Chinese military companies at a Thursday afternoon meeting, according to two people familiar with the matter. – Reuters

China’s foreign ministry on Friday said the United States’ behaviour towards three of its telecoms companies is shortsighted, after global index providers cut the telcos from benchmark indices. – Reuters

It’s been a troubling start to the new year for anyone hoping 2021 might see some detente between the U.S. and China. – Bloomberg

China’s light-speed recovery from the pandemic has reignited the perennial debate about how long the dollar’s 50-year dominance of global markets can persist. – Bloomberg

China has ordered its domestic media to censor reports about an antitrust probe into Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., signaling how the issue has become a matter of national political sensitivity, the Financial Times reported. – Bloomberg

Brokers and other financial groups from New York to Hong Kong have been left scrambling to comply with a US presidential ban on investment in companies with alleged ties to the Chinese military. – Financial Times

Josh Rogin writes: Chinese state media may be gloating today at the state of U.S. democracy, but the leaders in Beijing are trying to distract us from their increasingly desperate campaign to stamp out dissent at home. American democracy will survive, even thrive, after Trump. But China’s trajectory looks increasingly grim. Trump’s own views on China have run the gamut, sometimes focusing on his friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and sometimes portraying China as a bitter enemy. But Pottinger helped translate those impulses into lasting institutional change that will long outlive the Trump administration. – Washington Post

Kathryn Waldron writes: The problem isn’t that the United States lacks the ability to mitigate Chinese threats. […]The problem is that too many of these efforts are pursued in an opaque, disjointed manner that too often limits its justification to “China = bad, United States = good.” This is bad foreign policy and bad economic policy. Think tanks and academia can help with suggesting better policies; indeed, my own organization recently launched an initiative to do just that. But ultimately it is up to the new administration to decide how to address Chinese threats. Biden should learn from his predecessor and strive to do better. – The Hill

Bradley A. Thayer writes: The DHS warning is stark: All firms, people or entities choosing to use data services and equipment from Chinese firms, or to store data on software or equipment developed by such firms, should be aware of the economic, reputational and legal risks associated with doing business with these firms. […]In the wake of China’s increasing belligerence and behavior during the coronavirus pandemic, the world should have recognized that engagement with China comes at too great a cost. China’s laws have simply codified this. – The Hill

Tom Rogan writes: The impetus behind Communist Party policy in Xinjiang is not to empower women to decide what size family they have. It is to deter them from having families at all. Though Beijing doesn’t normally say so openly (it occasionally slips up), it believes that Uighur values are fundamentally incompatible with the party’s values. In turn, Beijing believes Uighurs are best dealt with as rodents in Western cities are dealt with. […]If the embassy’s tweet and its associated policy seem evil, even Nazi-esque, that’s because they are. – Washington Examiner

South Asia

Protests over the killing of 11 Shi’ite Hazara minority coal miners by Islamic State militants on Sunday have spread to other cities in Pakistan, including the economic powerhouse of Karachi. – Reuters

China is unaware of the deportation of Chinese nationals from Afghanistan on spying charges, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said, days after the head of Afghanistan’s top intelligence agency spoke about their detention. – Reuters

Pakistan’s prime minister Friday appealed the protesting minority Shiites not to link the burial of 11 coal miners from Hazara community who were killed by the Islamic State group to his visit to the mourners, saying such a demand amounted to blackmailing the country’s premier. – Associated Press

A Pakistani court on Friday convicted and sentenced a senior militant leader to five years in jail in a case of terror financing, the country’s counter-terrorism department in the eastern Punjab province said. – Associated Press

Asia

One of Indonesia’s most notorious terrorists, the Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, was released from prison on Friday after serving more than 10 years of a 15-year sentence for helping establish a terrorist training camp. – New York Times

The arrests of democracy advocates in Hong Kong presents the incoming Biden administration with limited options and an early test of its promised hard-nosed stance with China. – Wall Street Journal

A group of activists answered a police summons on Thursday over complaints that could see them jailed for up to 15 years for insulting Thailand’s king, as authorities increasingly use “lese majeste” laws against pro-democracy protest leaders. – Reuters

A U.S. probe into Vietnam’s currency and timber could harm bilateral relations and negatively impact workers and consumers in both countries, Vietnam said on Friday, citing remarks by its trade minister to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). – Reuters

Families of 88 Australians killed in the 2002 Bali bombing will be distressed by the early release from prison on Friday of the Indonesian Islamic cleric suspected to be the mastermind of the attack, said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. – Reuters

Taiwan said Friday it welcomed the upcoming visit of a U.S. ambassador to the island in the final week of the Trump presidency in a move that China has already strongly warned against. – Associated Press

A video has been viewed thousands of times on YouTube and shared in multiple Facebook and blog posts that claim it shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte survived an “ambush” in December 2020. The claim is false; the video shows unrelated clips, including an old Duterte speech. – Agence France-Presse

Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong are speaking out against the violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, with one person calling it “a subversion of the will of the people by violence.” – The Hill

Hong Kong police have not yet charged any of the more than 50 democracy advocates arrested this week under controversial national security legislation, but did seize their passports and travel documents, according to local broadcaster RTHK. – Bloomberg

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Uzbekistan has carried out “some” human rights reforms in recent years, but continues to “severely” hinder the work of independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with “excessive and burdensome” registration requirements. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

China on Thursday expressed its objections to talks between the United States and Taiwan, according to a Thursday statement from the People’s Liberation Army. – USNI News

Editorial: The US and EU should also make use of their powers to impose “Magnitsky” sanctions on western-held assets and travel of senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials guilty of rights abuses. With thousands of offspring of China’s ruling class attending western universities, for example, that is one area where sanctions could have a real impact. – Financial Times

Europe

The U.S. on Thursday suspended plans to impose tariffs of 25% on French luxury goods in response to France’s tax on big tech companies like Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., saying it wants to coordinate its response with its efforts in similar disputes with other countries. – Wall Street Journal

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis removed his red “Strong Czechia” hat inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” cap from his social media accounts on Thursday after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building. – Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron held a further telephone call yesterday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to highlight France’s plans to help Armenia with humanitarian aid, said Macron’s office on Thursday. – Reuters

After more than seven years of negotiation with Beijing, the European Union’s landmark deal with China landed with a thud. – Bloomberg

Far-right European politicians who had found an American superhero in Donald J. Trump joined in the widespread condemnation of the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol, but many refrained from denouncing the president personally and instead asserted that he was a victim of over-exuberant supporters. – Politico

Belarus has officially adopted a new national emblem that carries slightly more Western and less Russian references despite the European Union and the United States having refused to recognize Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the winner of last year’s presidential election. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Martin Ivens writes: “No interference in internal affairs” is the pat diplomatic rejoinder of China and Russia whenever their human rights violations are raised by the West. Our leaders shouldn’t be echoing that line as a cynical excuse for sitting on their hands. Johnson and the others should make it clear they stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of good American democrats — whatever their party allegiance — in a time of trial. – Bloomberg

Andras Simonyi writes: The “compromise” a few weeks ago between the EU, Hungary and Poland to delay a clause that would make some EU funds conditional upon rule-of-law criteria was a lost opportunity to help establish a level political playing field in Hungary. […]The way that Germany looks upon Hungary’s democracy problem could be considered Germany’s “China problem” in a nutshell. The incoming Biden administration, in its efforts to rebuild transatlantic relationships, should take note. – The Hill

Africa

As they watched a violent mob smash into the US Capitol, some in Africa could not help but see a little irony in the chaos incited by President Donald Trump, who once famously called African nations “shitholes”. – Agence France-Presse

Ghanaian soldiers intervened in parliament to quell a clash between opposing parties in chaotic scenes overnight ahead of the body’s swearing-in on Thursday. – Agence France-Press

Mali’s government and the French army on Thursday denied allegations that a French air strike killed civilians attending a wedding, insisting that only Islamist militants were hit. – Reuters

The Americas

At least nine people were killed in central Mexico as gunmen opened fire at a wake late Thursday, the local authorities reported, with images on social media showing bloody bodies strewn near a coffin and people who had collapsed on the street. – New York Times

Mexico’s president on Thursday blasted social media companies for blocking the accounts of President Donald Trump for his part in chaotic scenes in Washington on Wednesday, again appearing to cleave to his U.S. counterpart in a contentious dispute. – Reuters

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday he has not received an invitation to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, when asked if he would travel to Washington for the Jan. 20 event. – Reuters

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday the lack of trust in the vote count in the U.S. election led to Wednesday’s mob attack on Congress and warned that the same could happen in his country. – Reuters

An Iranian ship arrived at the Venezuelan port of La Guaira on Thursday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, in what appeared to be a continuation of the commercial alliance between the two countries targeted by U.S. sanctions. – Reuters

Joshua Huminski writes: The greatest obstacle in our policy on Russia has been the inconsistency of strategy and the fixation on Putin. For our policy to be credible, it has to be sustainable and consistent at its core and in its principles. It must look at Russia beyond Putin. What do we want out of Russia? What should our relations be with Moscow? Indeed, now is not the time for a reset but a redefinition of our understanding of the influence of Russia. – The Hill

United States

President-elect Joe Biden characterized the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as domestic terrorists, referring to the violence as “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation.” – Wall Street Journal

U.S. officials said they underestimated the potential for Trump supporters to become a mob who quickly seized the U.S. Capitol for hours, making a series of decisions before the attack that backfired spectacularly. – Wall Street Journal

Democratic congressional leaders called for President Trump to be removed from office while two cabinet officials resigned, a day after the Capitol was stormed by rioters encouraged by the president to try to block Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s election win. – Wall Street Journal

The storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters has made President Trump a pariah on the world diplomatic stage, with foreign leaders openly criticizing him for pushing unfounded allegations that the election was stolen and for not stepping in to condemn the violence after it had began. – Washington Post

Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat and likely incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Thursday that the nation’s adversaries “gained more” from rioters storming the Capitol than from the recently uncovered massive hack of the federal government.  – The Hill

Wednesday’s mob insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., is unlikely to be the last violent action from far-right extremists, who may also be using the week’s extraordinary events to recruit members for a swelling coalition around outgoing president Donald Trump, according to experts on extremism.  – USA Today

Anthony H. Cordesman writes: In broad terms, however, popular perceptions still count. Popular attitudes towards the U.S. have at least some impact on the behavior of even the most authoritarian states, and they have far more impact on states with moderate and democratic regimes. They affect every aspect of international diplomacy and the behavior of international organizations, and they indirectly help shape the broader structure of deterrence, sanctions, and arms control. – Center for Strategic and International Studies 

Cybersecurity

The electronic filing system used by federal courts has likely been compromised in the massive SolarWinds hack, federal judiciary officials said, extending to another branch of government the impact of a suspected Russian cyber-espionage campaign that has breached more than half a dozen Trump administration agencies. – Wall Street Journal

Facebook Inc. placed its harshest restrictions yet on President Trump, blocking him Thursday from posting indefinitely a day after the social media giant and its peers removed posts in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. – Wall Street Journal

Mr. Gionet was among a collection of right-wing and extremist personalities who loudly rallied their online followings to contest the election results, through violence if necessary, according to researchers and analysts who study extremism and disinformation, as well as posts reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. – Wall Street Journal

A Dutch consumer advocacy group is suing the country’s privacy regulator over a two-year wait for action on a complaint against Google, arguing there are flaws in the European system for handling data privacy and security cases involving multinationals that operate in many countries. – Wall Street Journal

Twitter on Wednesday began limiting the reach of tweets stoking an assault on the US Capitol by a mob intent on overturning the election results. – Agence France-Presse

Snapchat suspended President Trump’s account indefinitely on Wednesday after the riots at the Capitol that left four dead and many injured. – The Hill

YouTube said Thursday it is updating its policies to implement strikes that could lead to accounts being suspended or permanently banned for violating guidelines. – The Hill

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday approved the creation of a new office at the State Department to address cybersecurity and emerging technologies. – The Hill

Tae Kim writes: At least 2021 may bring positive developments on the regulatory front. After Wednesday’s events, I fully expect President-elect Biden’s administration to take a harder look at the companies’ content-moderation and amplification practices. In the meantime, Facebook and Twitter can help themselves — and the rest of us — by taking their own hard look in the mirror. They can’t eliminate all the toxic talk on the internet, but they can do a better job of making sure it’s not blaring from their two big megaphones. Even when it’s the U.S. president. – Bloomberg

Defense

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced on Wednesday that it has completed the delivery of Trophy Active Protection Systems (APS) ordered by the US Army for installation on Abrams main battle tanks. – Jerusalem Post

With Congress overriding President Donald Trump’s veto of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon’s chief management officer job has officially been eliminated. – Defense News

The new director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to create a storefront where companies can go to learn how to sell their products to the Pentagon. – C4ISRNET

The Pentagon released a new strategy Jan. 7 to counter increasingly complex small drone threats, one that focuses on establishing a common threat picture, architecture and protocol across the services. – Defense News

Bryan Clark and Dan Patt write: New operational concepts being advanced by the US military such as the Joint Warfighting Concept and Multi-Domain Operations rely on distributed forces using networking, maneuver, and interoperability to gain a decision-making advantage over opponents. Implementing these concepts against peer adversaries like China will require that DoD adopt new approaches that enable the US military to field a wider range of new capabilities faster. Unless Congress and DoD stay the course on their software reforms, US forces could lack the adaptability to effectively challenge China’s military. – C4ISRNET

Trump Administration

Vice President Mike Pence’s decision to abide by the Constitution to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win has put his relationship with President Trump under increasing strain in the closing days of the administration, said people familiar with the situation. – Wall Street Journal

President Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would mark one of the most extraordinary and untested uses of presidential power in American history. – New York Times

John Costello, a senior official for intelligence and security operations at the Department of Commerce, on Thursday announced his resignation in the wake of the riots at the U.S. Capitol. – The Hill

Rob Greenway, a top adviser to President Donald Trump on the Middle East, is expected to step down Thursday as part of an exodus at the National Security Council following Wednesday’s storming of Capitol Hill by Trump supporters, an official with knowledge of the situation told Defense News. – Defense News