Today's D Brief: Explosion at Iran nuke site; $715B DoD budget request; NG called to Minneapolis; Pentagon’s extremism review; And a bit more.

Iran says it was a victim of “nuclear terrorism” during a power outage at its Natanz uranium plant as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Israel this weekend. The damage occurred as the Biden administration and Iranian officials danced around talks about returning to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal that had slowed Tehran’s progress toward nuclear weapons.

The Sunday blackout followed an explosion at the site “that completely destroyed the independent — and heavily protected — internal power system that supplies the underground centrifuges that enrich uranium,” the New York Times reports. 

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said the explosion was an act of “nuclear terrorism” and called upon the international community to act.

“We will take revenge on the Zionists,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told parliament today. “Military and political officials of the Zionist regime have explicitly said they will not allow progress in removal of the unfair sanctions and now they think they reach their goal,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

FWIW: Russian officials say they hope whatever happened won’t “undermine” progress on nuclear talks, Agence France-Presse reports.

About Austin’s travels: He “was expected to discuss the blackout in meetings in Israel on Monday with his Israeli counterpart, Benny Gantz, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. It was unclear whether the Israeli government had given the United States advance warning of any operation,” the Times reported.


From Defense One

Biden’s $715B Defense Ask: Higher Than Expected, Lower than Trump’s Plan // Marcus Weisgerber: “Skinny budget” announcement hints at cuts to troop levels and existing weapons.

Pentagon Launches Post-Insurrection Extremism Review  // Ben Watson: Secretary Austin directs new steps, studies to keep extremists out of the ranks and better protect outgoing troops from being recruited into extremist groups.

Fewer Troops Are Declining the COVID Vaccine. We May Never Know Why // Elizabeth Howe: Defense leaders say education efforts and seeing peers get vaccinated are reducing the reluctance.

Defense Business Brief // Marcus Weisgerber: Defense Business Brief: Defense giants gird for tax battle; $715B skinny budget; Mixed readiness picture; and more...

The Intelligence Community’s Deadly Bias Toward Classified Sources // Cortney Weinbaum: Its willful blindness to publicly available information is hurting national security.

Welcome to this Monday edition of The D Brief from Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. And if you’re not already subscribed to The D Brief, you can do that here. On April 12, 1955, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was declared safe; subsequent vaccination campaigns helped wipe out the “most notorious disease of the 20th century.”


National Guard troops have been called to Minneapolis after police killed another Black man in the city, with the latest happening Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop, according to the local StarTribune. The shooting “spark[ed] protests, looting and clashes with police” that lasted through the evening and spread to the north and south of the city, the Wall Street Journal adds.
"Police used tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets” on the crowd of nearly 500 protesters, who “climbed atop the police headquarters’ sign” before scattering, the StarTribune reports.
The Guard troops “arrived just before midnight as looters targeted the Brooklyn Center Walmart and nearby shopping mall,” leaving a Foot Locker, T Mobile, and a New York men's clothing store “completely destroyed.”
Local mayor Mike Elliott released a video message this morning, vowing “to make sure that everything is done in our power to ensure that justice is done.” See that here. Read more at the StarTribune, here.

Virginia police lied in their report after removing a Black and Latino Army lieutenant from his SUV this past December and pepper-spraying him before pushing him down to the ground. The incident happened after police believed the soldier’s brand-new Chevy Tahoe was missing a license plate, the Virginian-Pilot reported late last week after the soldier’s attorney obtained police body camera footage of the incident.
The soldier is now suing the police in federal court, alleging the police “violated his rights guaranteed under the First and Fourth Amendments,” CNN reports

Maryland lawmakers passed a bill to limit police use of force, overriding a veto from the Republican governor on Saturday. Among the changes: “One section creates a new statewide use-of-force policy and says that officers who violate those standards, causing serious injury or death, can be convicted and sent to prison for up to 10 years,” the New York Times reports. In addition, “law enforcement agencies statewide must establish a system to identify police officers who are considered likely to use excessive force and to retrain, counsel or, if needed, reassign them.”
Maryland police will also now be required to wear body cameras by 2025, and they’re also required to allow people to film them working so long as the one filming is “acting lawfully and safely.”

ICYMI: Four “Boogaloo” militiamen destroyed evidence in the middle of a desperate scramble with police after one of their members — an Air Force staff sergeant — allegedly shot and killed a federal officer May 29, 2020, in California. The Justice Department unsealed the new charges Friday, which add additional dimensions to the late spring arrest of that 32-year-old staff sergeant named Steven Carrillo.
Four of Carillo’s fellow militiamen were named in the new charges, which allege that as police closed in on Carillo on the afternoon of June 6, “the four defendants each deleted records of the WhatsApp group communications from their phones, including the prior discussions regarding violence against law enforcement.”
The costs for destroying evidence could be as many as “20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each of the conspiracy, obstruction, and destruction charges,” the Justice Department said. Read over the full charges, here.

The Taliban say they’re not ready to talk about peace Friday in Istanbul, the group’s spokesman told the BBC today. Afghan Tolo News confirmed the development Monday, citing unspecified details yet to be worked out ahead of the group’s travel to Turkey. The Kabul government, meanwhile, has reportedly begun naming members of its negotiating team … whenever it is that they get to talk to the Taliban again.
How the Taliban wants to shape the near-term future: Tolo reports the group is requesting some 7,000 prisoners be released in exchange for the U.S. military remaining past its May 1 withdrawal deadline, which was a deadline reached 13 months ago in a deal with the Trump administration. 

  • How the Taliban is shaping the near-term future: By continuing its bloody war with Afghan troops. The latest known violent attack involved a car bomb detonating at an outpost in western Herat province today, triggering a gunbattle in Shindand district. At least 17 Taliban were allegedly killed in fighting around Shindand since Sunday. More from Tolo, here

The White House’s top Afghan diplomat just finished a four-day trip to Kabul where Zalmay Khalilzad reportedly urged participants to hurry this whole peace process up, Voice of America’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports. According to a statement from Khalilzad’s office, he said it was “essential” to include the “full and meaningful participation of women and minorities in the peace talks.” More from Tolo, here.
America’s top diplomat tempered expectations that the U.S. would support a future Afghan government that includes the Taliban. Here’s State Secretary Antony Blinken speaking to Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press” on Sunday: “Look, ultimately, any peace that is going to be lasting and that is going to be just has to be Afghan-led, and what we’re doing now is really energizing our diplomacy to try to bring the parties together — the Taliban, the Government of Afghanistan, other key players, but also countries in the region that have interests and influence in Afghanistan — to try and move in that direction.  I don’t think anyone in Afghanistan, whether it’s the Taliban, whether it’s the government, and certainly not the people, have an interest in that country falling back into civil war. They’ve been in conflict for 40 years. If the Taliban, for example, wants recognition, if they want international support, if they are part of some kind of new government going forward in Afghanistan, that can’t happen; that support won’t be there.”
One more thing from that Blinken interview: China striking Taiwan “would be a serious mistake.” Elaborating somewhat, Blinken said “we have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that’s existed for many, many years, to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and to make sure that we’re sustaining peace and security in the Western Pacific. We stand behind those commitments. And all I can tell you is it would be a serious mistake for anyone to try to change the existing status quo by force.” Read over the full Blinken-Todd interview, here

And lastly: New WH intel and cyber postings coming today: The Biden administration is expected to nominate former National Security Agency deputy director Chris Inglis to a new top White House cyber position and former NSA official Jen Easterly to be in charge of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Washington Post reports today.
Worth noting: “As national cyber director, Inglis will coordinate the defense of civilian agencies and review agencies’ cyber budgets,” the Post’s Ellen Nakashima writes. “But because the position is outside the National Security Council, he will not oversee offensive cyber policy conducted by military and intelligence agencies.”
Neither Inglis nor Easterly is expected to face tough objections during the approval process, which could take two months or so. More here.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.