Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Iran’s Supreme Leader rails against protesters Washington’s push for nuclear deal with Iran aids Tehran even as Ayatollahs crack down on protesters Journalist Sanam Mahoozi: ‘We want them gone’: Across generations, Iranians struggle for change AEI’s Michael Rubin: UK’s soft approach to Iran human rights violations U.S., allies to help Ukraine build air defense against Russian attacks JPost’s Seth J. Frantzman: Democracies and deals: From Lebanon to Iran Amid U.S.-Saudi tensions, officials say military ties will endure WSJ Editorial: How not to punish the Saudis on oil prices Yorktown Institute’s Seth Cropsey: Biden administration is in a crisis of its own making with Saudi Arabia North Korea’s Kim guides missile test in latest show of military might Former Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: Security, not growth, is Xi’s focus Biden’s national security strategy focuses on China, Russia and democracy at homeIn The News
Iran
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei doubled down Wednesday on his unsupported accusations that the uprising rocking Iran is orchestrated by the country’s foreign enemies, as authorities further tightened internet restrictions to make it harder for protesters to spread information about the violent government crackdown. – Wall Street Journal
The United States on Wednesday said that reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is “not our focus right now,” saying Tehran had showed little interest in reviving the pact and that Washington was concentrating on how to support Iranian protesters. – Reuters
The European Union agreed to impose new sanctions on Iran after a deadly crackdown on recent protests over the death of a young Iranian woman, according to EU diplomats. – Bloomberg
Protests swept across at least 19 cities in Iran on Wednesday sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman detained last month by the country’s morality police, even as security forces targeted demonstrators in the streets, activists said. – Associated Press
Iran has stamped out several waves of protests over the years, including the so-called Green Revolution of 2009, when millions took to the streets after a disputed presidential election. But the latest protests have a different feel, which could make them harder to extinguish. – Associated Press
Gunshots were fired as Iranian security forces confronted protests Wednesday over Mahsa Amini’s death in a crackdown that rights groups say has already cost at least 108 lives with many children among the dead. – Agence France-Presse
Young people, including many teenagers and schoolgirls, have dominated the protests, the biggest and longest lasting in Iran for several years. While more men have died in the crackdown, the dead girls have become martyrs, symbols of the struggle for equal rights. – Financial Times
In recent days, Iran has tried to flood the city of Sanandaj in western Iran with security forces on motorcycles in an attempt to regain control over the area, and yet the willingness of protestors to confront security forces is apparent in videos that have been circulating online. – Jerusalem Post
As anti-regime protests intensify in Iran, pressures are increasing in Washington for ending President Biden’s nuclear negotiations with Tehran and for pushing aside the diplomacy effort’s flag bearer, Robert Malley. – New York Sun
Iranian authorities have arrested a “Zionist spy” in the southern Kerman province, according to a Tuesday report in the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The agency cited a local prosecutor who claimed the suspect was an agent of the “Zionist intelligence service,” ostensibly referring to the Mossad. – Times of Israel
U.S. citizen Siamak Namazi is back in an Iranian prison today after being temporarily released by authorities in Tehran earlier this month. – Fox News
Women and girls of Iran are leading the most significant challenge to the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this century, according to veteran experts of Iran. Their opposition to the theocratic state and its radical Islamic law requiring head coverings for women has drawn sharp criticism with respect to Tehran’s role on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. – Fox News
Sanam Mahoozi writes: The protests that began over the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s notorious “morality police” have turned into a full-fledged anti-government movement, with chants of “death to the dictator” echoing in cities across the nation. “We want them gone. I ask God every day to somehow demolish this regime,” a 53-year-old woman told The Post. – Washington Post
Michael Rubin writes: Britain should be standing with the Iranian people as they fight for their freedoms. Instead, under this Conservative government, we’re quietly sitting on the sidelines, hoping not to offend a thuggish regime of butchers and terrorists. – Jerusalem Post
Russia & Ukraine
The U.S. and its allies plan to help Ukraine field an integrated air-defense system to protect against Russian cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and aircraft, the U.S.’s top military official said Wednesday. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine said it shot down nearly a dozen drones over the south of the country on Wednesday as the West moved to shore up the country’s air defenses in the wake of a barrage of Russian missiles and drones that knocked out energy infrastructure earlier this week. – Wall Street Journal
United Nations members overwhelmingly rejected Moscow’s move to annex four regions of Ukraine, dealing a symbolic blow to President Vladimir Putin and putting 143 nations on the record as not recognizing Russia’s latest territorial expansion. – Wall Street Journal
Russia’s deadly missile strikes across Ukraine this week have renewed calls for the United States and its partners to provide the government in Kyiv with advanced air defense systems capable of downing incoming fire. – Washington Post
When Vladimir Putin launched missile strikes targeting Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure this week, the move seemed to earn the Russian president a reprieve from hard-liners who had been demanding more decisive action. – Washington Post
Israel’s Iron Dome air defense, which boasts a 90 percent success rate against rockets fired against it, will stay out of Ukraine’s reach, experts said, as Jerusalem seeks to maintain strategic relations with Russia in Syria and other hot spots. – Washington Post
For the past two weeks, Mr. Kadet, 32, said that he and his wife, who live outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, had been preparing for the possibility of a nuclear attack by stocking the room — an old well that they converted into a bunker — with bottled water, canned food, radios and power banks. – New York Times
Russian missiles pounded more than 40 Ukrainian cities and towns, officials said on Thursday, after a U.N. General Assembly resolution called Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territory “illegal” and Ukraine’s allies committed more military aid. – Reuters
That a Russian military company, identified as a threat by Washington, continued to acquire U.S. computer hardware is a case study in how Western countries may have overestimated their ability to choke the Russian economy with export bans and trade sanctions. It also highlights how dependent Russia’s military machine is on U.S. high-tech equipment. – Reuters
A flurry of military activity in Belarus this week has caught the attention of Ukraine and the West as a potential sign that President Alexander Lukashenko may commit his army in support of Russia’s flailing war effort in Ukraine. – Reuters
A Russian nuclear strike would change the course of the conflict and almost certainly provoke a “physical response” from Ukraine’s allies and potentially from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a senior NATO official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukraine’s capital region was struck by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early Thursday morning, sending rescue workers rushing to the scene as residents awoke to air raid sirens for the fourth morning in a row following Russia’s massive, deadly assault across the country on Monday. – Associated Press
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko this week has reignited fears that his army could join Russian forces in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, but the authoritarian leader appears reluctant to lend his troops to the effort, despite perceived pressure from Moscow. – Associated Press
The Polish operator of an oil pipeline says there are “no signs of any third-party interference” related to a leak in a pipeline that is the main source of crude oil from Russia to Germany. PERN, the operator, said in a statement late Wednesday that its technical services had located the site of the spill after removing most of the contamination from the area. – Associated Press
The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory. – Associated Press
Russia’s FSB security service said Wednesday it had foiled two attempted attacks allegedly planned by Kyiv on Russian territory — one near Moscow and another in a city close to the Ukrainian border. – Agence France-Presse
Russia’s Federal Security Service or FSB claimed that the chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, orchestrated the attack that partially disabled the bridge and that it has arrested three Ukrainians as well as several other Russian and Armenian citizens it says were involved. The perpetrators, it claimed, disguised explosives as construction materials and shipped them commercially through several regional ports before loading them onto a truck and detonating the explosives on the bridge. – U.S. News & World Report
Some of the Iranian suicide drones used by Russia are unlikely to be fulfilling their purpose as a deep strike munition, with many being destroyed before hitting their target, the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: Keeping channels open to the Russian people will be vital no matter who comes to power. Ideally, after the war and after Mr. Putin, Mr. Navalny will be free of shackles and a leading voice in anchoring Russia in a democratic system. This outcome is worthy of our hope. But it would also be prudent to expect Russia to take other paths, perhaps steered by another singular strongman. The country might be humbled by defeat in war, but that will not necessarily make it exuberant about freedom. – Washington Post
George F. Will writes: Khrushchev was fond of a quote that Vladimir Lenin attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte: “On s’engage et puis on voit” — more or less, “Start something, then see what happens.” Putin has seen what happened after he started something in Ukraine — NATO energized, Russian power revealed as suited only for war crimes. What happens next, or doesn’t, will depend on the sort of skill and luck seen 60 Octobers ago. – Washington Post
Ted Lipien writes: Contrary to what the right-leaning pundits may think, Putin will not use nuclear weapons against the U.S. or other NATO countries because it would be the end for him and for Russia. But in the improbable event that he manages to order the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine before being ousted, his end would come just as quickly, and the Russian Federation would not survive it. – Washington Examiner
Victor Rud writes: Our fear of provocation is our choke collar, never having absorbed that seeking to avoid it is precisely the provocation. Drawing “red lines” for ourselves, not for Putin, we surrender initiative, reduce our options, accept his fait accompli, and raise the risk of the confrontation we seek to avoid. Deterrence carries risk. But no deterrence is all risk. And dictionaries don’t deter. – The Hill
Israel
Israel’s agreement with foe Lebanon to demarcate their maritime border makes conflict with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah less likely, the Israeli premier said Wednesday, after his cabinet voiced support for the deal. – Agence France-Presse
A tenuous calm appeared to return to East Jerusalem on Thursday morning after hours of clashes in Palestinian neighborhoods throughout the city, with Israeli security forces gearing up for the possibility of more fighting in the coming days. – Times of Israel
The Shin Bet security agency announced Wednesday that forces had arrested in recent weeks four Palestinians who planned to commit shooting attacks under orders of the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip. – Times of Israel
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet with his Palestinian Authority counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Kazakhstan to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the need to resume peace talks which have been frozen for eight years. – Jerusalem Post
At a press conference Wednesday Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that criticism of the deal was “poisonous propaganda,” and that Netanyahu had not seen the final text of the agreement. “When the deal is brought before the public, everyone will be able to see for themselves that the claims about it were false,” Lapid said. “This evening, I sent an invitation for a briefing to Opposition Leader Netanyahu, so he can know about the agreement and its details. We will invite all the opposition party heads for a briefing and show them the details of the deal for the first time.” – Algemeiner
Israel has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with combat arms due to its concerns over how Russia could respond in Syria. Israel has been conducting an air campaign against Iranian military resources in Syria, and Russia has been conducting joint air patrols with Syrian forces. Analysts have expressed concerns about Russia’s hardening of Syrian skies against Israeli incursions over implicit support for Ukraine. – Jerusalem Post
Mossad Chief Dedi Barnea said during the meeting of the political-security cabinet on Wednesday that anyone who claims that the agreement on the maritime border is an achievement for Hezbollah, does not understand the situation in Lebanon, according to Walla. – Jerusalem Post
Syria
Several soldiers were killed when an explosive device detonated on a military bus in the Damascus countryside on Thursday, local outlet Sham FM said, without providing further details. – Reuters
Ishtar Al Shami writes: Nevertheless, as the situation gets more critical—both in terms of security and human rights—the people of As-Suwayda will soon find themselves facing tough questions about who to trust, as there are few signs that the area’s prospects will improve with its current fractured state. – Washington Institute
Ido Levy writes: In the longer term, Washington should continue doing what it can to strengthen the SDF and build up northeast Syria’s economy and infrastructure. The recent exemption of SDF territories from U.S. Caesar Act sanctions is a welcome step, but open border crossings and better security are needed to spur economic growth […]. Meanwhile, continued financial support is needed to enhance SDF detention facilities and ease pressure on the force so it can focus more on the counter-IS fight. But all these efforts will be in jeopardy if Turkey invades again. – Washington Institute
Turkey
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for talks in Kazakhstan on Thursday, a meeting at which the Turks are likely to raise ideas for peace in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters. – Reuters
Moscow believes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will “officially” offer to mediate negotiations with Ukraine at an upcoming meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan, a Kremlin aide said Wednesday. – Agence France-Presse
Quin Hillyer writes: Journalists affiliated with respected U.S. organizations are the next closest thing to a U.S. citizen abroad. The U.S. government has an ethical obligation to speak up on their behalf and use diplomatic pressure to increase their safety. Bozkurt merits verbal support — before he ends up harmed or killed. – Washington Examiner
Saudi Arabia
The U.S. isn’t currently planning any significant changes to the number of U.S. forces stationed in Saudi Arabia but some aspects of the two nations’ extensive defense cooperation could be affected following President Biden’s decision to reassess relations after OPEC+ unveiled an oil production cut, U.S. officials said. – Wall Street Journal
Saudi Arabia rejected as “not based on facts” statements criticising the kingdom after an OPEC+ decision last week to cut its oil production target despite U.S. objections, saying it serves the interests of both consumers and producers. – Reuters
The Saudi Arabian government said on Thursday that the Opec+ decision to slash oil supply was taken unanimously by the cartel and was not influenced by the kingdom’s stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, following a backlash from the US. – Financial Times
Blumenthal hopes that his “sensible and reasonable” bill will nudge Biden to freeze all arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and potentially prompt Riyadh to reconsider the oil cuts before they go into effect next month. – Defense News
Editorial: We suppose there’s a certain insane consistency to these proposals considering how upside-down the Biden energy policy has been for two years. The White House does all it can to discourage U.S. oil production in the name of climate change, but then it begs foreign countries to produce more to reduce soaring gasoline prices. It alienates allies like Saudi Arabia that could produce more, but then courts the dictators who lead Iran and Venezuela so they can sell more oil and have more money to stir anti-American trouble. – Wall Street Journal
Spencer Bokat-Lindell writes: Perhaps the alliance’s utility to the United States was once worth its moral cost, but many contend that this is no longer the case. The notion that Saudi Arabia’s partnership is a “necessary evil” in countering Iran, for example, is difficult to square with Biden’s push to revive the Iran nuclear deal: Either the deal constrained Iran’s nuclear ambitions, in which case Saudi Arabia, which has long opposed the deal, is an obstacle to regional stability; or, as Kevin D. Williamson argued in National Review in July, the deal empowered Iran, in which case “the Biden administration is not really orchestrating a grand alliance against Iran.” – New York Times
Seth Cropsey writes: In return, the U.S. should expect Saudi acceptance of American shale production. Shale has been a thorny issue for U.S.-Saudi relations; understandably, Saudi Arabia fears a North American competitor and welcomes Biden’s restrictions on shale production. Yet this is unacceptable not only because of Saudi Arabia’s production cut but because of technical realities. Simply put, OPEC+ cannot meet even its pre-November-cut production targets; it remains around 1 million barrels per day below its current pledged production amounts. […]The U.S. must ramp up its own shale oil production and become a major energy player again. – The Hill
Douglas Bloom writes: It’s time for American presidents to stop treating Saudi oil as the oxygen we need for survival. The US is energy independent; it is the world’s number one producer of crude oil (Saudi Arabia and Russia are second and third). – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
At least eight Katyusha rockets were fired at the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Wednesday, but the attack did not result in casualties or affect the operations, sources said. – Reuters
Two delegations from the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen and the Iran-aligned Houthis exchanged visits to prisoners of war on Wednesday as a gesture of goodwill and a confidence-building measure to extend the truce in Yemen, the coalition said in a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA. – Reuters
Egypt is pushing to tie up a crucial financial package from the International Monetary Fund at annual meetings in Washington this week, hoping to stem a currency crisis that has restricted imports and sparked market unease over foreign debt repayments. – Reuters
The text of the US-mediated agreement between Israel and Lebanon was revealed on Wednesday and it describes a “permanent and equitable resolution regarding its maritime dispute.” – Jerusalem Post
Seth J. Frantzman writes: As such, Israel always risks Hezbollah conjuring up some acres of water off the coast that it now needs to “resist” and threaten Israel for not keeping up its part in the deal. In short, the deal could mean peace and security, but it can become an excuse for conflict. If the next government rips up the agreement, Iran and Hezbollah can claim that Israel is “violating” Lebanon’s maritime economic zone, necessitating “resistance.” – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided the launch of two long-range strategic cruise missiles on Wednesday, state media said, the latest of a recent barrage of weapons tests. – Wall Street Journal
Desperate to avoid military call-up to fight in Ukraine, more than 20 Russians have sailed in yachts down the North Pacific coast to South Korea, but most were refused entry, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday. – Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of long-range cruise missiles, which he described as a successful demonstration of his military’s expanding nuclear strike capabilities and readiness for “actual war,” state media said Thursday. – Associated Press
As North Korea moves closer to its first nuclear test in five years, one of the biggest worries for the US and its allies might be a relatively small blast. – Bloomberg
Donald Kirk writes: So, what if Kim loses patience and decides a tactical nuke is just what’s needed to assert his power and show he’s a real strongman — strong enough to frighten his enemies? It’s still not likely he’ll be the one to open a nuclear war, but the possibility is more acute than ever. It may be just a question of who goes first: Putin in Ukraine or Kim in Korea. – The Hill
China
President Biden still views China as the most consequential geopolitical challenge to the United States despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and his threats to use nuclear weapons, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday. – Washington Post
U.S. chip-equipment suppliers are pulling out staff based at China’s leading memory-chip maker and pausing business activities there, according to people familiar with the matter, as they grapple with the impact of Commerce Department semiconductor export restrictions. – Wall Street Journal
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said that its third-quarter net profit rose 80% to a new record, and that it had been granted a one-year exemption from new U.S. restrictions on China’s chip sector, allowing it to keep expanding its facilities in the country. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said the global economy was facing “significant headwinds” and the United States was working to shore up its supply chains and guard against “geopolitical coercion” by Russia, China and others. – Reuters
At the last Communist Party congress in 2017, Xi Jinping declared that China was “standing tall and firm in the East.” Now the US and key allies are looking to cut the world’s second-biggest economy down to size. – Bloomberg
President Xi Jinping, China’s most influential figure in decades, gets a chance to install more allies who share his vision of an even more dominant role in the economy for the ruling Communist Party and tighter control over entrepreneurs at a party meeting that starts this weekend. – Associated Press
In the run-up to next week’s Chinese Communist party congress at which Xi, 69, is expected to be appointed for a third term as leader, farmers across China have been contending with unwelcome ultimatums from local authorities. In accordance with Xi’s determination to enhance China’s food security in the face of what he sees as a hostile west led by the US, they have been told to divert resources from profitable agribusinesses to basic staples. – Financial Times
The People’s Republic of China’s intent to reshape the international order is the United States’ biggest geopolitical challenge for the next decade, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday. – USNI News
Kevin Rudd writes: The world will naturally be relieved if Beijing and Washington can reduce the global strategic temperature. But in the absence of a more fundamental shift in China’s underlying ideological and strategic calculus, confrontation looms as the likeliest outcome in the 2030s. Unless, of course, the U.S., its allies and Taiwan build an effective military and economic deterrence in the meantime. – Wall Street Journal
Thomas L. Friedman writes: Our main focus, concluded Raimondo, “is playing offense — to innovate faster than the Chinese. But at the same time, we are going to meet the increasing threat they are presenting by protecting what we need to. It is important that we de-escalate where we can and do business where we can. We don’t want a conflict. But we have to protect ourselves with eyes wide open.” – New York Times
Asia
Russia said it had protested to the Japanese embassy on Wednesday over joint Japan-U.S. military exercises this week in which it said HIMARS rocket systems were fired close to Russia’s borders. – Reuters
Taiwan’s economy minister warned that a Chinese blockade of the island would harm other nations in the region, including China itself, while stressing that Taipei has made plans for such a scenario. – Bloomberg
Bruce Klingner writes: Yoon appears likely to take greater steps than his predecessors to expand South Korea’s role in the Indo–Pacific region and counter Chinese attempts to coerce Southeast Asian and Pacific Island nations. Yoon is likely to do so in a low-key manner, however, by not depicting these steps as “anti-China,” perhaps making it more difficult to discern whether his policies are truly different. That said, Yoon’s actions will need to match his bold statements. The real test of his policies and South Korean fortitude will come when Beijing attempts to pressure Seoul into acquiescing to Chinese demands. – Heritage Foundation
Europe
A political deadlock has thrust Bulgaria’s president into a role of uncommon power, posing risks to Western efforts to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. – Bloomberg
The official predictions were the latest warning that Germany’s economy, which was just getting back on its feet after the pandemic, is set to shrink in 2023 due to the fallout of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. – Agence France-Presse
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow was ready to restart gas deliveries to Europe through an undamaged part of the Nord Stream pipeline, but that “the ball was in the EU’s court.” – Agence France-Presse
A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa’s western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany. – Associated Press
Tom Rogan writes: But Scholz’s China policy is clearly a very different matter. His visit demonstrates the unwillingness of Europe’s most powerful economy to punish Beijing for providing cover to Russia on Ukraine (a war that guts a defining principle of the supposedly sacred European project). Still, the Biden administration has the responsibility to act in U.S. interests by calling out this undermining of a critical U.S. foreign policy concern. – Washington Examiner
Latin America
The crush of migration at the southern border and the energy war against Russia has created renewed urgency within the Biden administration to reshape the relationship with oil-rich Venezuela. – New York Times
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it would accept up to 24,000 Venezuelans via a humanitarian parole plan, although the scope of the program was far narrower than a similar one for Ukrainians. – New York Times
The United States on Wednesday said it will boost support for the Haitian police as they battle armed gangs and will speed up delivery of aid to a country suffering from crippling shortages of basic goods due to a gang blockade of a key fuel terminal. – Reuters
There are no plans to change sanctions against Venezuela without concrete steps from the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday as pressure mounts for the U.S. to ease oil sanctions and stem soaring migration to the U.S. – NBC
Lydia Polgreen writes: The impulse of just about every outsider, as well as the current government, is to try to hold elections as soon as possible to replace the extraconstitutional government with one that represents the wishes of Haiti’s people. But in a country where there is no security, it is hardly possible to hold a credible election. And an election, even a technically fair and free one, is necessary but not sufficient for true self-rule. Much more will be required to restore a modicum of trust and faith in government here. – New York Times
United States
The person most likely to own Twitter next month has proposed solving the war in Ukraine by letting Russia keep territory, won praise from a top Chinese diplomat for suggesting China take control of Taiwan, and welcomed a widely followed celebrity back to Twitter who had just had his Instagram account suspended for threatening Jews — all within the past week. – Washington Post
President Biden declared on Wednesday that the overwhelming challenge for the United States in the coming years would be “outcompeting China and restraining Russia” while focusing on restoring a damaged democracy at home. – New York Times
A former National Security Agency employee from Colorado accused of trying to sell classified information to Russia will remain behind bars while he is prosecuted, a magistrate judge ruled Tuesday. – Associated Press
Defense
The White House released its long-awaited National Security Strategy on Wednesday, outlining plans for strengthening alliances worldwide while maintaining a strong American military “by promoting diversity and inclusion.” – Defense News
The U.S. Army wants ideas from industry on how to protect against attacks from so-called kamikaze drones, a loitering weapon that is featuring heavily in the war in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine have used thousands of loitering munitions since the start of the war. The explosive-carrying drone is known as a kamikaze weapon because of its one-way mission. One of the more well-known examples is AeroVironment’s Switchblade, which the Pentagon has supplied to Ukraine. – Defense News
The Lockheed Martin-Raytheon Javelin Joint Venture (JJV) is preparing to enter low-rate initial production (LRIP) for a new Light Weight Command Launch Unit (LWCLU) for the Javelin Weapon System and completed a test launch on 5 October towards the LWCLU’s qualification programme, which could be complete by mid-2023. – Janes
Mackenzie Eaglen writes: Stemming the hemorrhage of people is not exclusively a military task but a countrywide one given the armed forces enduring mission to fight and win the nation’s wars if needed. Congress must ensure this is top of mind, and action, for every senior Pentagon leader and be prepared to establish a national commission on military service in next year’s defense bills. – 19fortyfive