03/15/2021 News & Commentary – National Security
News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. Opinion | America’s partnerships are ‘force multipliers’ in the world (SECSTATE and SECDEF)
2. Quad Summit 2021: Why is China Rattled?
3. Taiwan’s cabinet reshuffle a response to China’s ‘unrestricted warfare’
4. White House Weighs New Cybersecurity Approach After Failure to Detect Hacks
5. ‘We are human and we messed up’: U.S. Marine account apologizes for comments defending female service members
6. Satellite maps show China building helicopter base facing Taiwan Strait
7. Biden builds bridges to contend with Beijing
8. Why Britain is tilting to the Indo-Pacific region
9. China has brought its repressive surveillance tools to Hong Kong
10. China’s Deep Strike
11. U.S. Has 1,000 More Troops in Afghanistan Than It Disclosed
12. Covid-style virus ‘could be used as a terror weapon to bring new pandemic’, expert warns
13. Biden Goals Converge in Asia: Rebuilding Alliances and Countering China
14. Biden Team Engaged in ‘Rigorous’ Debate Over Ending Forever War
15. Incorporating the Cyberspace Domain: How Russia and China Exploit Asymmetric Advantages in Great Power Competition
16. Redefine Readiness or Lose (USAF and USMC)
17. Special Operations News Update – Monday, March 15, 2021 | SOF News
18. Police Shrugged Off the Proud Boys, Until They Attacked the Capitol
1. Opinion | America’s partnerships are ‘force multipliers’ in the world (SECSTATE and SECDEF)
The Washington Post · by Antony J. Blinken and Lloyd J. Austin III · March 14, 2021
A very strong essay from the two Secretaries (kudos to their action officers/speechwriters).
They are talking to the American people to explain why alliances are important to all of us.
Excerpts:
“Ahead of that journey, we want to take the opportunity to lay out why alliances are vital to our national security and how they deliver for the American people.
…
A fundamental debate is underway about the future — and whether democracy or autocracy offers the best path forward. It’s up to us and other democracies to come together and show the world that we can deliver — for our people and for each other.
…
All that work is tied directly to the safety, well-being and economic security of the American people.”
2. Quad Summit 2021: Why is China Rattled?
financialexpress.com · by Major General S B Asthana · March 14, 2021
Excerpt:
“The agenda seems benign, but Beijing did not miss the connection of freedom of navigation, overflight and the concerns over “aggression” and “coercion” against members of Quad by China in its first summit meeting. No-one during the Summit called out China directly, but China knows that it challenged rule-based order by junking PCA’s decision in South China Sea (SCS) and continues to coerce countries in Indo-Pacific region. Chinese response of calling Quad meeting as ‘selective multilateralism’ and ‘covid politics’ shows its frustration due to emergence of an alternate global vaccination collaboration, something which China had unilaterally reserved for itself for profiteering.”
3. Taiwan’s cabinet reshuffle a response to China’s ‘unrestricted warfare’
aspistrategist.org.au · by Corey Lee Bell · March 12, 2021
There should be no doubt that the PRC is conducting unrestricted warfare.
Excerpts:
“But that’s just one way to look at it. An alternative theory is that the reshuffle reflects the administration’s attempts to confront the growing challenges posed by China’s model of ‘unrestricted warfare’, which replaces a narrow focus on kinetic warfare with a wider array of options, including ‘grey zone’ tactics, lawfare, political warfare and economic leverage.
To understand why this may be the case, it’s useful to examine the personnel changes in more detail.”
4. White House Weighs New Cybersecurity Approach After Failure to Detect Hacks
The New York Times · by David E. Sanger, Julian E. Barnes and Nicole Perlroth · March 14, 2021
Excerpts:
“When not one but two cyberhacks have gone undetected by the federal government in such a short period of time, it’s hard to say that we don’t have a problem,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin and a co-chairman of a congressionally mandated cyberspace commission. “The system is blinking red.”
The failures have prompted the White House to begin assessing options for overhauling the nation’s cyberdefenses even as the government investigates the hacks. Some former officials believe the hacks show Congress needs to give the government additional powers.
But briefing reporters on Friday about the progress of the investigations, senior administration officials said the White House had no plans to urge Congress to rewrite the laws that prevent American intelligence agencies from operating inside America’s borders.
One senior adviser to President Biden said, however, that a new structure was needed, one that combined traditional intelligence collection with the talents of private-sector firms.
5. ‘We are human and we messed up’: U.S. Marine account apologizes for comments defending female service members
USA Today · by Matthew Brown, USA TODAY
6. Satellite maps show China building helicopter base facing Taiwan Strait
7. Biden builds bridges to contend with Beijing
eastasiaforum.org · by Ryan Hass · March 15, 2021
Excerpts:
“The United States must simultaneously allay concerns among partners about being ‘forced to choose’ between the United States and China. The inescapable reality is that China’s importance to other countries is growing. It is the world’s largest trading power and the leading engine of global economic growth.
Given this reality, the United States will need to give allies space to pursue their own interests with China, even while they partner with the United States on priority issues. Washington will also need to demonstrate — through its own words and actions — that it supports developing a constructive relationship with China, even as it prepares to push back strongly against problematic Chinese behaviour.
Somewhat counterintuitively, the more Washington is seen as responsibly working to develop durable relations with Beijing, the more diplomatic space it opens for cooperation with others on China. Washington’s partners will feel more comfortable working with the United States on issues relating to China when doing so is not perceived as an expression of hostility towards China.
The Biden administration’s approach to China reflects a subtle but significant departure from the Trump administration’s more direct approach of confronting China. President Biden and his team recognise that the results of their strategy may not be visible for some time and do not harbour illusions of changing China overnight. They intend to play a long game. If their approach bears fruit, the United States will fortify its capacity to compete with China from a position of strength.”
8. Why Britain is tilting to the Indo-Pacific region
The Guardian · by Patrick Wintour · March 15, 2021
The old saying: Europe is the continent of the past, America is the continent of the present, and Asia is the continent of the future.
9. China has brought its repressive surveillance tools to Hong Kong
asia.nikkei.com · by Dan McDevitt · March 15, 2021
Does Hong Kong provide a glimpse of the future of authoritarian states?
Excerpts:
“But recent events have made plain the Chinese government’s intention to transform Hong Kong’s digital spaces just as it has the city’s offline environment and, last week, its electoral system.
In January, Hong Kong authorities used the security law as grounds for blocking a website for the first time, compelling mobile providers to disrupt access to HKChronicles, which compiled information on anti-government protests and personal data on police and their supporters.
…
Contrary to the predictions of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the Chinese government has effectively “nailed Jell-O to the wall” with its effective controls over online information flows, so we should not be surprised that they would try to do it again in Hong Kong.
But we can also be sure that just as in China, dissident groups and voices will continue to operate, even at great personal risk. At this critical moment, it is important that the world support these voices and not cast a blind eye to what is happening in Hong Kong, online and off.”
10. China’s Deep Strike
spytalk.co · by Matthew Brazil
Excerpts:
“Now it seems to be applying the same strategy in the West’s rear area, causing disruptions to online systems and simultaneously benefitting the Chinese economy with viruses and worms used to steal information from computer systems worldwide.
…
Bad actors in China and beyond, whether working on behalf of intelligence services or criminal organizations, are expected to rapidly develop HAFNIUM “proof of concept exploits,” i.e. to show that they can use the vulnerability to burrow into a target system by performing benign tasks like opening up the calculator, or moving the cursor. From there, it is a short step to weaponizing the exploit with malware.
…
It is no surprise that the multi-stage, malicious HAFNIUM operation from China against Microsoft Exchange servers bears some operational resemblance to the Solar Winds attack from Russia. Both rely on widespread use of a targeted system, i.e. Solar Winds and Microsoft Exchange, as the vector to reach the real objective: the tens of thousands of users who possess sensitive information like U.S. defense production data, weapons systems designs, trade secrets useful to China’s latest Five-Year Plan, and the emails of Beijing’s perceived political enemies.
…
Once an exploit is posted on Github, anyone can use it. Criminals then go after low hanging fruit, including the vast number of people who don’t bother with software updates and patches. That especially includes those using pirated software. Previously a cheap alternative, pirated software has become the Typhoid Mary of the digital space.”
11. U.S. Has 1,000 More Troops in Afghanistan Than It Disclosed
The New York Times · by Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt · March 14, 2021
It is always about the headcount – the troop numbers. I feel for the poor personnel officers who have to account for the numbers using arcane systems and different defined categories for accounting.
But here is the issue:
“The cloudy accounting around the troop numbers results from some Special Operations forces having been put “off the books,” according to a senior U.S. official, as well as the presence of some temporary and transitioning units. These troops, according to a second U.S. official, include Joint Special Operations Command units, some of them elite Army Rangers, who work under both the Pentagon and the CIA while deployed to Afghanistan.
Having more troops in a country than the Defense Department officially acknowledges is common practice. From Syria to Yemen to Mali, the United States often details military troops to the CIA or other agencies, declares that information “classified” and refuses to publicly acknowledge their presence.”
12. Covid-style virus ‘could be used as a terror weapon to bring new pandemic’, expert warns
Mirror · by William Walker · March 15, 2021
The sky is falling or a prudent warning?
13. Biden Goals Converge in Asia: Rebuilding Alliances and Countering China
The New York Times · by Lara Jakes, John Ismay and Steven Lee Myers · March 14, 2021
Yes, this is going to be quite a week of diplomacy.
Excerpt: After the meetings in Tokyo and Seoul, Mr. Austin will travel to India, which is at its lowest point in relations with China in decades after a deadly border incursion last summer. Mr. Blinken will arrive in Alaska on Thursday for the meeting with the Chinese envoys.
14. Biden Team Engaged in ‘Rigorous’ Debate Over Ending Forever War
Foreign Policy · by Michael Hirsh · March 12, 2021
Excerpts:
“As Obama’s vice president, Biden was a first-hand witness to the frustration his predecessor felt. “Obama really wanted to end the forever wars,” Johnson said. “But sometimes events get in the way of that. We wanted to get out of Iraq completely, but [the civil war] in Syria complicated that. Then along came the Islamic State in about 2014.”
Even so, there can be an endpoint. In a series of speeches, Johnson and other officials in the Obama administration sought to distinguish between al Qaeda and more regional actors, like what would become the Islamic State. As the Pentagon’s general counsel in 2012, Johnson mapped out just how the never-ending war might end. “[T]here will come a tipping point … at which so many of the leaders and operatives of al Qaeda and its affiliates have been killed or captured and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that al Qaeda as we know it, the organization that our Congress authorized the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed.”
That tipping point, Johnson said this week, has been reached. “When the conflict that Congress authorized in 2001 comes to an end, then we should have the political courage to say it,” he said.
15. Incorporating the Cyberspace Domain: How Russia and China Exploit Asymmetric Advantages in Great Power Competition
mwi.usma.edu · by Mark Gzrgorzewski · March 15, 2021
Conclusion: “In short, Russia and China view information and cyberspace operations differently than the United States does, and they are designing their operations and cyberinfrastructure to engage the United States asymmetrically. As previously noted and despite persistent claims to the contrary, both states see themselves currently engaged in information warfare against the United States. The military application of information as an instrument of war—in isolation and in conjunction with other tools—is a central component of these states’ modern approach to warfare, both today and into the foreseeable future. Recognition of this reality must undergird America’s cyberspace and information warfare policies and doctrine.”
16. Redefine Readiness or Lose (USAF and USMC)
warontherocks.com · by Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. and Gen. David H. Berger· March 15, 2021
Conclusion: “We have done this before, and together we can do it again while avoiding perceptions of creating winners and losers. Today’s Air Force and Marine Corps, and our assumed dominance of the air and littorals, were shaped by innovative and courageous individuals throughout our storied histories. Seeing the need for change when others did not, our forebears overcame the traditionalist opposition of their day, forged new technologically advanced capabilities, and developed novel operational concepts that paved the way for the many successes to which our shared history bears witness. We can do it again. If we are bold enough and committed to providing the military advice needed to overcome our present orientation, we can shape our future proactively. The alternative, as various military institutions have discovered to their sorrow in the past, is being forced to re-shape ourselves reactively, after experiencing catastrophic loss and potential defeat. To do this, we cannot let our focus on near-term availability consume the resources necessary to generate truly relevant future readiness through adaptive modernization. We have a unique, but limited, window of opportunity. The time to act is now.”
17. Special Operations News Update – Monday, March 15, 2021 | SOF News
sof.news · by SOF News · March 15, 2021
18. Police Shrugged Off the Proud Boys, Until They Attacked the Capitol
The New York Times · by David D. Kirkpatrick and Alan Feuer · March 14, 2021
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What @TuckerCarlson said is reprehensible & indefensible. But there is only one response to it from any US military service member who believes in his or her oath:
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – S.G. Tallentyre
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
– George Washington
“In the U.S., the country that has always been lecturing the world about the value of freedoms – of freedom of speech, of everyone’s right to speak up – the U.S. has now become a beacon, a leader, in this movement to shut everyone up. That’s so disappointing.”
– Margarita Simonyan