Daniel Defense, the US gunmaker is notorious for ‘aggressive marketing’ to young adults

Agence France-Presse
May 31, 2022

This illustration photo shows the Twitter page of Daniel Defense displayed on a mobile phone in Arlington, Virginia, US on May 25, 2022. © Olivier Douliery, AFP

The perpetrator of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 children and two adults lost their lives on May 24 – the worst US school shooting in a decade – used a semi-automatic weapon manufactured by Daniel Defense, one of the most aggressive marketers of assault weapons to ordinary Americans, notably young adults.

A week after the Uvalde school shooting, Daniel Defense shied away from attending the National Rifle Association convention.

“Daniel Defense is not attending the NRA meeting due to the horrifying tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, where one of our products was criminally misused,” the company’s vice president of marketing Steve Reed said in a statement. “We believe this week is not the appropriate time to be promoting our products in Texas at the NRA meeting.”

Indeed, the killer had acquired an AR-15 DDM4 V7 – Daniel Defense’s flagship semi-automatic rifle – to “celebrate” his 18th birthday. A few days later, he entered Robb Elementary School and carried out the massacre that revulsed the world, and shocked the US, even if it was the country's 27th school shooting in 2022.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic events in Texas this week,” read a statement on Daniel Defense’s website posted in the wake of the shooting. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and community devastated by this evil act.”

Daniel Defense also took the opportunity to remove a message – on its website’s home page until the day after the Uvalde massacre – promoting a lottery with a prize of $15,000 to spend on guns or ammunition.

This kind of advertising is typical of Daniel Defense’s aggressive promotional approach. “Daniel Defense is basically the poster child of this egregious, aggressive marketing,” Ryan Busse, a former executive at the gun manufacturer Kimber, now a prominent critic of the US gun industry, told The New York Times.

One particular image – which Daniel Defense posted on Twitter ten days before the Uvalde massacre – is emblematic of its outré marketing style. It shows a toddler clutching the same type of semi-automatic rifle the Uvalde shooter used, with the line: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

An online backlash followed the discovery of this tweet after the Uvalde massacre – prompting Daniel Defense to make its Twitter account private and limit people’s ability to comment on its Facebook page.

Trump fan CEO

This is not the first time, however, that Daniel Defense has received an avalanche of criticism for manufacturing weapons subsequently used in mass shootings. Four of its semi-automatic rifles were part of the arsenal of the shooter who killed 58 people in Las Vegas in 2017. At the time, Daniel Defense sent its “thoughts and prayers” to victims’ families – but did not change anything about its business practices.

Marty Daniel, the company’s CEO and founder, only expressed regret once – after 27 people were killed in a shooting at a Baptist church in Texas in 2017. Daniel endorsed slightly tightening gun control laws in the aftermath of this massacre, as did the NRA. But he changed his mind a few days later.

Daniel Defense’s website portrays the company’s CEO, a Donald Trump supporter and big donor to Republican candidates, as a jack of all trades who sold windows and fireplaces before finding his métier in gun manufacturing.

It also states that Daniel developed a love for firearms after failing to make his mark in golf. “Daniel Defense got its start because Marty’s golf game sucked,” the website reads. “He would spend most of his free time unwinding on the golf course, until the day a friend invited him to shoot his AR.”

Ever-widening audience

Marty Daniel founded the company in 2000 and won his first contract for the US Army two years later. His company has had more than 100 Pentagon contracts since then.

But Daniel Defense has long been keen to market its wares to private US citizens – courting the general public in its promotional efforts since 2004, upon the expiry of the ban on selling new assault weapons for civilian use that was signed into law by then president Bill Clinton in 1994.

Since then, the company has been keen to convince American gun enthusiasts that they are entitled to the same AR-15s as the soldiers it has equipped over the past two decades – making this point explicit in an advert it unsuccessfully sought to air in local media markets during the Super Bowl in 2014.

Yet Daniel Defense’s marketing ploys have reached an ever-widening audience. The firm is now one of the US’s 25 largest firearms sellers in a crowded market for its niche, with more than 500 companies making semi-automatic rifles since 2004.

The AR-15 DDM4 V7 used by the Uvalde shooter is one of 19 models Daniel Defense makes. These are often marketed at young people. A recent advertising clip shows a teenager practicing shooting, and the company has repeatedly used clips from video games like "Call of Duty" and films such as the "Star Wars" franchise to appeal to fans.

A more famous gun manufacturer, Remington, used the same tricks to sell its weapons to young people. That cost Remington dearly when families of the victims of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut were awarded a payout of $72 million in a lawsuit for irresponsible marketing, after the shooter had used an AR-15 produced by one of the company’s subsidiaries.

This article was translated from the original in French.

Pentagon spending stuck in neutral even as lawmakers back budget boost

House Democrats plan to shine a light on the dire budget situation next week when top Pentagon officials testify on the impact of temporary funding on the military.


"We can stand here … and declare our unwavering support for our troops and their families. We can claim to support a strong national defense,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy, seen here on Wednesday, said last month. “But until we put our money where our mouth is and provide the funding we say we support, then those words ring hollow." | Elizabeth Frantz/Pool via AP


By CONNOR O’BRIEN and JENNIFER SCHOLTES

01/05/2022 

Congress has overwhelmingly backed a $25 billion increase to President Joe Biden's Pentagon budget, but the battle over defense spending is far from over.

Biden last week signed annual defense policy legislation that calls for significantly boosting his $715 billion Pentagon blueprint to $740 billion. But the just-enacted National Defense Authorization Act doesn’t actually provide any money, and lawmakers have until mid-February to reach a deal to fund the Pentagon and other federal agencies for the rest of the fiscal year.

There are, however, signs that Congress is inching toward a deal, after POLITICO first reported that House Democratic appropriators are preparing to agree to a larger defense budget than either they or Biden wanted.

In the meantime, though, the Defense Department — and all other federal agencies — are stuck at even lower budget levels agreed to during the Trump administration because they are funded through a temporary measure.

"We can stand here … and declare our unwavering support for our troops and their families. We can claim to support a strong national defense,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a floor speech last month. “But until we put our money where our mouth is and provide the funding we say we support, then those words ring hollow. It's only rhetoric."


Final defense bill shakes up military prosecutions, boosts Indo-Pacific fund
BY CONNOR O’BRIEN, PAUL MCLEARY, LEE HUDSON AND BRYAN BENDER

The government is now operating under a continuing resolution that runs out on Feb. 18. Lawmakers need to pass spending legislation before then or risk trapping agencies at last year’s levels, a prospect that’s particularly unpopular in the halls of the Pentagon.

House Democrats plan to shine a light on the dire budget situation next week when top Pentagon officials testify on the impact of temporary funding on the military.

While Democrats appear ready to accept a defense boost, top Republicans are also insisting on “parity” between spending on the Pentagon and non-defense programs as well as ground rules for handling contentious policy riders — including whether to renew the Hyde Amendment that bars federal funds for abortion.

The top Senate Appropriations Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), spoke with Leahy about a spending deal on the floor Wednesday, and said negotiations are headed in the right direction.

“We're still talking, and we're not there yet. We also are aware that we've got a Feb. 18 deadline,” Shelby told POLITICO. “Could we meet it? Probably not, but I'd like to see us do it."

A full-year spending package is within reach, he added, if Democrats and Republicans can agree on the balance of defense and domestic spending along with policy riders.

"If we could cut a deal, and it's something we could live with, that's what this place is about,” Shelby said. “And that's what we have to do sometimes. But it has to be something that would be palatable to our caucus and theirs too — maybe not everything everybody wants.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell underscored the framework of “basic traditional riders, no poison pills and parity for defense and non-defense” for a spending deal on Tuesday.

“To the extent that the Democrats are willing to meet those conditions, then I would think we’d have a chance of getting an omnibus appropriation Feb. 18,” McConnell told reporters.

The Pentagon side of the ledger may well be the least contentious part of the deal to clinch. Signs so far point to more defense cash if a full-year spending deal emerges.

House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and her committee staff have made calls to members over the recess to see if they’d support spending more on the Pentagon than the administration wants. DeLauro has said she’d be open to boosting defense spending to secure a full-year omnibus spending bill.

House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro and her committee staff have made calls to members over the recess to see if they’d support spending more on the Pentagon than the administration wants. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the Capitol joined forces to supersize the price tag of defense policy legislation by $25 billion. 

And while the House Appropriations Committee was the only panel that stuck with Biden’s lower budget request in its fiscal 2022 defense appropriations bill, draft Pentagon spending legislation released by Senate appropriators this fall backed the higher increases called for in the NDAA.

"I think the number on the defense side is pretty well there — everybody understands what that number's going to be, both in the House and the Senate and the White House,” Rep. Ken Calvert of California, the top Republican on the House Defense Appropriations panel, told POLITICO in a December interview. “The negotiation is on how much do they lower non-defense discretionary spending."

Despite the momentum for more military money, congressional leaders have been at odds over Democratic efforts to up spending for domestic agencies.

Republicans have long complained that the Defense Department is singled out in Biden’s budget request, whose original level they contend would be swallowed by inflation and wouldn't keep up with world threats.

With a continuing resolution now poised to consume more than a third of fiscal 2022, the military is losing out on as much as $36 billion in added cash, compared to the level endorsed by the NDAA. The Pentagon is operating at the $704 billion budget level agreed to near the end of the Trump administration, even lower than Biden’s $715 billion proposal that was rejected by Congress.

"You're losing purchasing power under the CR, 100 percent,” explained Mackenzie Eaglen of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “And you're losing it double with inflation. So it's a double whammy."

Stopgap funding also bars the Pentagon from starting new initiatives or ramping up existing ones unless lawmakers grant an exemption.

Initiatives greenlit by lawmakers in the NDAA — such as more than $7 billion aimed at deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region and a $4.7 billion increase to shipbuilding efforts to purchase five more ships than the Navy requested — won’t be fulfilled under a continuing resolution.

Lawmakers, administration officials and the defense industry have also expressed concerns that efforts to field hypersonic missiles will fall behind without increased spending this year, even as policymakers worry about China’s recent gains on the new weapons.

Others have warned that military readiness will be hurt if a 2.7 percent troop pay raise takes effect without increased funding, forcing the Pentagon to raid other accounts to cover the added cost of higher military pay.

"Reality as it is, we're operating on the Trump budget right now,” Calvert said. “And the Dems, it must drive them crazy, but that's what we're operating under."

UN says more than 200,000 people displaced in recent Myanmar fighting

AFP
Wed, November 15, 2023

More than 200,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Myanmar after an alliance of ethnic minority groups launched an offensive against the military last month, the United Nations said (STR)


More than 200,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Myanmar after an alliance of ethnic minority groups launched an offensive against the military last month, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Fighting has raged since October 27 across northern Shan state near the Chinese border after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA) launched attacks on the military.

The alliance has blocked vital trade routes to China and seized a border hub in what analysts say is the biggest military challenge to the junta since it seized power in 2021.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said that as of Wednesday, "more than 200,000 people" across Shan, Chin, Kayah and Mon states and Sagaing region have been "forcibly displaced due to the fighting".

At least 75 civilians including children have been killed and 94 people wounded in the fighting, UNOCHA said, citing initial reports from the field.

Both sides have set up checkpoints on roads they control in Shan state and mobile communication remains patchy outside the main city of Lashio, hampering the delivery of aid, the UN said.

The junta has imposed martial law on several townships in the state, further hampering relief efforts, it added.

The remoteness of the rugged, jungle-clad region -- home to pipelines that supply oil and gas to China -- and patchy communications make it difficult to verify casualty numbers.

The junta has admitted it has lost ground but dismissed claims by the alliance to have seized towns across northern Shan state as "propaganda".

This week the AA launched fresh attacks on the military in western Rakhine state, shattering a fragile ceasefire that had held in the state.

In Kayah state on the Thai border, anti-junta fighters said they were battling the military near state capital Loikaw.

- 'The ground shaking' -

A car mechanic told AFP he had spent days on the road after fleeing the town of Laukkai near the China border as MNDAA fighters closed in.

"I have no experience like this in my life," the 31-year-old said by phone from Mongyang in Shan state, where he said he and hundreds of others were sheltering after escaping.

"We heard the sound of artillery as we queued to get out of that place. On the night of November 7 or 8 there were airstrikes, we even felt the ground shaking."

Myanmar's borderlands are home to more than a dozen ethnic armed groups, some of which have fought the military for decades over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

Some have trained and equipped newer "People's Defence Forces" that have sprung up since the coup to fight the military's 2021 coup and its bloody crackdown on dissent.

bur-rma/pdw/mca

ASEAN defense chiefs call for the fighting in Gaza to cease but struggle to address Myanmar violence

NINIEK KARMINI and EDNA TARIGAN
Updated Wed, November 15, 2023 


1 / 11
Indonesia ASEAN
From left, Brunei's Second Minister of Defense Halbi Mohd Yusof, Cambodia's Defense Minister Tea Seiha, Laos' Defense Minister Chansamone Chanyalath, Malaysia's Defense Minister Mohamad Hasan, Philippine's Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, Thailand's Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang, Vietnam's Defense Minister Phan Van Giang, East Timor's Defense Minister Donaciano Do Rosario Da Costa Gomes and ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn hold hands as they pose for a family photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. 

(Mast Irham/Pool Photo via AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian defense ministers called Wednesday for an end to the Israel-Hamas war and for the world to collaborate on setting up humanitarian aid corridors in Gaza, but they struggled on how to address the prolonged civil strife in Myanmar.

Defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations meeting in Jakarta also reiterated the significance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea and respecting international rules to prevent maritime clashes in the disputed waters.

The 10-nation ASEAN includes Myanmar, but its defense minister was again barred from attending this week’s meetings due to the military government’s failure to comply with a five-point peace plan drafted to ease the violence.

“We are saddened with a deteriorating situation in Myanmar,” Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said in an opening speech. “Indonesia encourages other ASEAN member states to support Myanmar to find a peaceful and durable solution to the current situation.”

ASEAN has been trying to enforce the plan it forged with Myanmar’s top general in 2021, which calls for an immediate end to the violence, the start of talks brokered by a special envoy among contending parties, and the delivery of aid to displaced people. But Myanmar’s military government, which seized power in 2022, has done little to enforce the plan.

A joint declaration also called on the parties in a decadeslong territorial dispute in the South China Sea involving China and rival claimants from Southeast Asia to agree to an early conclusion of negotiations for a nonaggression pact.

The defense ministers on Thursday will be meeting with ASEAN's eight dialog partners, where the territorial disputes are expected to be raised.

Subianto in his speech also touched on the Israel-Hamas war. “Indonesia is deeply saddened by the deteriorating situation in Gaza, particularly the horrid humanitarian conditions,” he said, adding violence against civilians “must stop.”

“Conversely, efforts to achieve a cease-fire must continue and the safe passage of humanitarian aid must be wide and accelerated," he said.

ASEAN has not made a formal statement about the war, which is not surprising given each member of the bloc sees the conflict differently.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei — the three ASEAN members with Muslim-majority populations where religion is significant in domestic politics — have long been strong supporters of the Palestinians. None of them has diplomatic relations with Israel.

Malaysia's Defense Minister Mohammad Hasan condemned the bombings of civilians, homes and hospitals in Gaza and “the consequential massacre of innocent lives, children, women and men.”

Singapore took a firm position against Hamas and strongly condemned the attacks the militant group launched inside Israel on Oct. 7, starting the war. Singapore has close defense relations with Israel, and its strong stance against Hamas leaves it out of step with its larger Muslim-majority neighbors.

“The more important lesson for us is that peace can be stolen or lost very quickly,” said Ng Eng Hen, Singapore's defense minister. "While we are now a relative area of peace and security, we can lose it if we as leaders in our nations do not pay attention to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and Asia.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu were set to join the meetings, but there is little likelihood of a talk between them.

Subianto separately hosted talks between ASEAN and the U.S. and Japan, and said that the bloc and Tokyo agreed to bolster their defense ties and cooperation in military technology.

Austin made earlier stops in Asia aimed at showing unity over Russia’s war in Ukraine and preventing differences on the Israel-Hamas war from deepening. He also met with South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and others in Seoul to discuss boosting nuclear deterrence against North Korea.

China is represented at the meetings by Jing Jianfeng, the deputy chief of staff of China’s Central Military Commission, but it is unlikely he will meet with Austin on the meeting sidelines. China's previous defense minister, Li Shangfu, was ousted last month, and Beijing has not named his successor.

Military contacts between the U.S. and China were largely severed after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, prompting China’s military to hold unprecedented exercises near the self-governed island.

An ethnic resistance group in northern Myanmar says an entire army battalion has surrendered to it

GRANT PECK
Updated Wed, November 15, 2023 

In this photo provided by The Kokang online media, officers of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army ethnic armed organizations speak to the soldiers of the army battalion and their family members who surrendered to them two days earlier, in Kokang Self-Administered Zone in Myanmar's northern Shan state, Tuesday Nov. 14, 2023. 

(The Kokang online media via AP) 

BANGKOK (AP) — A Myanmar army battalion based near the Chinese border surrendered to an alliance of ethnic armed groups that launched a surprise offensive last month against the military, a spokesperson for one of the groups said Wednesday.

The surrender on Sunday of 261 people — 127 soldiers and 134 family members — from the infantry battalion in northeastern Shan state appears to be the biggest by regular army forces since widespread armed conflict in Myanmar broke out in 2021 following the military's seizure of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February that year.

The alliance expects to soon capture Laukkaing, the area’s major city, the spokesperson said.

The surrender — which has not been announced by the military government and could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press — came two weeks after the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a coordinated offensive on Oct. 27.

The alliance has claimed widespread victories, and the military government made a rare acknowledgement on Nov. 2 that it had lost control of three towns. One is a major border crossing for trade with China.

The offensive in the northern part of Shan state was seen as a significant challenge for the army, which has struggled to contain a nationwide uprising by members of the Peoples’ Defense Force, a pro-democracy armed group established after the 2021 army takeover. The various PDF groups that operate around the country have joined forces with well-organized, battle-hardened ethnic armed groups — including those in the Three Brotherhood Alliance — that have been fighting Myanmar’s central government for greater autonomy for decades.

The military government faced another challenge on Monday when the Arakan Army launched surprise attacks on military targets in five townships in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. A yearlong cease fire had previously been declared in the state between the military government and the Arakan Army.

The U.N. humanitarian office in a situation report on Wednesday said in addition to the attacks in Rakhine, fighting has spread to areas in Myanmar's northwest and southeast. It said there was active combat in Loikaw, the capital of the eastern state of Kayah, which resistance forces are trying to seize. The U.N agency said the city has been bombed by the military, causing civilian casualties.

“In northern Shan alone, fighting continues to rage in at least 10 townships, leading to a surge in civilian casualties, with 43 fatalities and 71 injuries reported,” it said, adding that the number of new internally displaced people since the recent fighting began has climbed to 60,000.

Le Kyar Wai, a spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, told the AP that each soldier who surrendered in Shan state, including the commander, was awarded 1 million kyat (about $480) and family members were each given 100,000 kyat ($48).

“We give medical treatment to the injured. We delivered them safely to their desired destination,” Le Kyar Wai said, adding that the alliance groups planned to launch an operation soon to seize Laukkaing after they surrounded the city.

Laukkaing is known for hosting major organized criminal enterprises including cyberscam operations controlled by Chinese investors in cooperation with local Myanmar warlords.

The Chinese government in recent weeks has pushed a crackdown on these operations, and thousands of people involved have been repatriated to China. Many employed were tricked into working and then held against their will.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance has announced that a goal of its Oct. 27 offensive was to crack down on the scam operations. Le Kyar Wai said the alliance would rescue those held by the scam centers, arrest the people behind the operations and transfer them to relevant authorities.

The soldiers who surrendered were not the first to lay down their weapons to the alliance groups in Shan state. On Oct. 30, 41 soldiers from another infantry battalion based in nearby Kunlong township surrendered.

Since the offensive began last month, soldiers and police have also surrendered in Karen, Kayah, Rakhine and Chin states and Sagaing region, according to ethnic armed groups and independent local media.

Myanmar rebels says dozens of junta forces surrender, captured

Reuters
Tue, November 14, 2023 



A flag of one of the Myanmar rebel forces is installed next to an under-construction structure in Myanmar's Khawmawi village on the India-Myanmar border as seen from Zokhawthar village


(Reuters) - Dozens of members of the Myanmar security forces have surrendered or been captured, a rebel group said on Wednesday, as a coordinated offensive by insurgent groups battling the junta gathers pace in several parts of the country.

At least 28 policemen gave up their weapons and surrendered to the Arakan Army (AA), while 10 soldiers were arrested, said the group which is fighting for autonomy in Rakhine State in western Myanmar.

Reuters could not independently verify the information from the AA, which is one of three ethnic minority insurgent groups that launched a coordinated offensive against junta forces in late October.

A curfew has been imposed in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe, where military tanks have been sighted, the administration there said.

The rebels have captured some towns and military posts, including on the border with China, presenting the junta with its biggest test since the military took power in a 2021 coup, ousting an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

A junta spokesperson, Zaw Min Tun, on Tuesday accused the rebel groups of "destroying the whole country" and said reports of captured military posts were "propaganda".

"The enemies retreated after they lost soldiers. We are trying to combine small posts strategically," he said.

The spokesperson said fighting was going on in Shan, Rakhine and Kayah states. He did not comment on reports of junta forces surrendering.

Fighting has also been reported in Chin State in the northwest, where 43 Myanmar soldiers crossed into the Indian state of Mizoram after a rebel attack, a police official in Mizoram said.

Most of the Myanmar soldiers were flown by Indian forces to another point on the border and handed back to Myanmar authorities, said an Indian security official who declined to be identified.

Myanmar's military-appointed president last week said the country was at risk of breaking apart because of an ineffective response to the rebellion by fighters the generals denounce as "terrorists".

The military has for decades said it is the only institution capable of holding diverse Myanmar together. Critics of military rule dismiss that and call instead for a democratic, federal system.

(Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Robert Birsel)

China demands border security guarantee from Myanmar junta as rebels gain ground

South China Morning Post
Tue, November 14, 2023 

Myanmar must guarantee the safety and stability of its border with China, Beijing stressed on Tuesday, as the Naypyidaw junta lost ground to rebel groups in the country's north.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning repeated China's "high concerns" over the conflicts in northern Myanmar.

"We urge the relevant parties in Myanmar to cease fighting as soon as possible," Mao said in Beijing.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

All parties should resolve differences peacefully through dialogue and consultation, she said.

"We also urge the Myanmar side to take practical and effective measures to ensure security and stability along the China-Myanmar border," Mao said.

An alliance of three ethnic armed forces in Myanmar's Shan State bordering China's Yunnan province has launched offensives against the junta troops in the region, claiming "significant wins" in the past few days.

Since the conflict broke out on October 27, China has repeatedly asked for a ceasefire and assurance of border security. The Chinese embassy in Myanmar has also warned Chinese citizens to avoid travelling to conflict areas.

Beijing has pressured both the junta government in Naypyidaw and the self-ruled ethnic authorities of the border areas to crack down on criminal syndicates running massive telecoms scams, gambling, fraud, and human trafficking operations there.

Chinese police are also offering rewards of up to 500,000 yuan (US$68,500) for information leading to the arrest of several suspected syndicate heads in Shan state, some of whom also hold Chinese citizenship.

The rebel alliance says one of the objectives of its military operations is to eliminate "criminal syndicates protected by the junta".

Telecoms scams and online gambling were on the agenda late last month when Chinese Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong visited Myanmar and met General Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of the State Management Council of Myanmar.

Wang called for cooperation between the two countries' law enforcement and security authorities to combat the criminal activity.


Members of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army pose for a photograph in October with weapons allegedly seized from a Myanmar army outpost on a hill in Chinshwehaw town, Myanmar. Photo: The Kokang online media via AP alt=Members of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army pose for a photograph in October with weapons allegedly seized from a Myanmar army outpost on a hill in Chinshwehaw town, Myanmar. Photo: The Kokang online media via AP>

The general said his government would protect Chinese citizens and their property in Myanmar.

The Myanmar junta government is facing its toughest challenge since seizing power in a coup in 2021.

In addition to the conflict in Shan state, fighting erupted on two new fronts this week - in the western states of Rakhine and Chin, where the rebel troops are seeking to take control of the border with India.

Myanmar's military-appointed president, Myint Swe, said last Thursday the country was at risk of breaking apart due to the failure to deal with the insurgency more effectively.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

South Korea says 19 citizens held captive in Myanmar rescued

Reuters
Mon, November 13, 2023

SEOUL (Reuters) - A group of 19 South Koreans have been rescued in Myanmar after being held captive at an unspecified illegal company in the Southeast Asian country, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said it had sought the help of authorities in military ruled Myanmar after receiving a report last month that some of its nationals had been locked up in Tachileik in Shan state, near the border with Thailand.

"Myanmar police raided the company in late October and secured custody of 19 of our citizens," the ministry said in a statement, adding they were safely transferred to Yangon on Monday.


The ministry declined to elaborate on the nature of the operations at the company or identify the group, but said it was working closely with Myanmar officials to help its citizens and prevent any crimes.

A spokesperson for Myanmar's junta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South Korean broadcaster KBS reported that the group had been lured by the company's promise of high profits.

Some border towns in Southeast Asia have emerged as the centre of cyber scam operations including fake romance ploys, illegal casinos and investment pyramid schemes.

In August, a U.N. report said that hundreds of thousands of people were being trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centres and other illegal online operations that have sprung up across Southeast Asia in recent years.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Ed Davies and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

 

IDF cyberdefense system, three other top secret projects awarded top security prize

Gallant says classified ventures send ‘clear message to our adversaries’; officer receiving award says his team developed tools to deal with ‘the most advanced’ cyberattackers

By EMANUEL FABIAN 13 June 2023, 5:38 pm  

0

President Isaac Herzog (2R) awards a Navy officer with the Israel Defense Prize, alongside IDF chief Herzi Halevi (right) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center), June 13, 2023. (Defense Ministry)

President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday awarded the Israel Defense Prize, one of the highest honors bestowed by the state, to four teams for top secret work they accomplished over the past year.

The winners, announced last month, included an army team behind a “groundbreaking” cyberdefense system aimed at giving Israel “freedom of action in the digital space,” and three other completely classified projects led by various security organizations, according to the Defense Ministry.

The ceremony took place at Herzog’s residence in Jerusalem, with military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Mossad chief David Barnea, and Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir in attendance.

“Officers, soldiers, and fellow citizens, the women and men of our esteemed defense establishment — your invaluable contributions to Israel’s national strength are truly remarkable. Through your accomplishments, inventions, developments, and outstanding achievements, the security of our beloved nation is safeguarded, ensuring our ability to defend ourselves independently,” said Herzog.

Gallant said the classified projects “send a clear message to our adversaries that we are always prepared for any threat.”

The Israel Defense Prize award, which is named for the commander of Israel’s pre-state Hagana militia Eliyahu Golomb, is presented each year to people and projects deemed to have made a significant contribution to the country’s security.

President Isaac Herzog (right) stands with Mossad chief David Barnea (left) in front of members of various security organizations awarded the Israel Defense Prize, at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, June 13, 2023. (Defense Ministry)

The development of the cyberdefense system was led by the so-called Spectrum Division in the Israel Defense Force’s Computer Service Directorate, which is tasked with the defense of the electromagnetic spectrum, or radio waves. The development and deployment of the system also involved the Air Force, Military Intelligence and Navy.

“The cyber-dimension is abuzz, even when silence prevails in the physical dimensions. States, armies, criminal organizations, and terror groups clash with each other all the time. Cyber​​defense is a fascinating field with great complexity; the defender has to block all breaches, while the attacker only needs one loophole to succeed,” said Lt. Col. “Aleph,” a senior officer in the Spectrum Division, who can only be identified by his first initial in Hebrew due to security concerns.

“However, when you understand the laws of the dimension, it is possible to turn the attacker’s advantage into a disadvantage. In the project… we were able to create concepts and tools to deal with the most advanced attackers, through research and development that lasted for years and in which we reached global breakthroughs in the field,” the officer said after receiving the prize.

The Defense Ministry said the “unique” system makes “groundbreaking use of the world’s most advanced technologies in order to guarantee the IDF security and freedom of action in the digital space, in the face of advanced and developing cyberthreats.”

Illustrative. An IDF soldier from the C4I Corps types on a computer. (Israel Defense Forces)

The other three projects that won the prize this year remain largely classified.

One was a joint effort by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence’s Unit 8200. The ministry said the goal of the project was “the development and implementation of a unique technological system that enables intelligence and security superiority in many sectors.”

“The system is groundbreaking and has a significant contribution to the intelligence community’s efforts in the face of security challenges,” it added.

Another project was a joint effort between the Mossad spy agency and Unit 8200, which has a “significant and unique strategic contribution to the security of the country, embodying within it technological innovation and groundbreaking and extraordinary operational courage,” the ministry said.

The last was a project that involved Military Intelligence’s Special Operations Division, along with the Air Force, Navy, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael defense firms.

The ministry said that project was “an extraordinary technological solution that led to a breakthrough in operational capability… that directly contributes to maintaining the qualitative advantage of the IDF and the security of the State of Israel.”

“The project combines a number of innovative and unique technological developments made possible by the vision, determination and creativity of all project partners,” the ministry added.

Soldiers of the IDF Intelligence Unit attend a ceremony for the appointment of the new chief of Intelligence at Glilot military base, near Tel Aviv, March 28, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“The Military Intelligence Directorate is all over the field and achieves a unique intelligence superiority with all the means at its disposal, thanks to the people who dedicate their lives to this challenging work,” said a senior officer in the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, who cannot be named due to security concerns.

Last year’s winners included Israel’s Ofek spy satellites. The others were also mostly classified. Among the winners in 2019 were the Mossad agents behind the operation to steal Iran’s nuclear archive the year before.

The prize has been awarded annually by the president since 1958. Though the prize is sometimes given for lifetime achievement, generally the recipients are responsible for the creation of a new piece of technology or a specific operation.

Over the years, the prize has been awarded both to individuals, like Uzi Gal who received the first Israel Defense Prize in 1958 for creating the Uzi submachine gun, and to entire teams, like the group responsible for the development of the TROPHY anti-missile system that protects Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers, which won in 2014.

Senate passes defense policy bill with 5.2% pay raise for troops, the biggest boost in decades

THE ONLY GOOD THING IN THE BILL

KEVIN FREKING
Wed, December 13, 2023 


The Pentagon is seen on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. 

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a defense policy bill Wednesday that authorizes the biggest pay raise for troops in more than two decades, but also leaves behind many of the policy priorities that social conservatives were clamoring for, making for an unusually divisive debate over what is traditionally a strongly bipartisan effort.

Lawmakers have been negotiating a final bill for months after each chamber passed strikingly different versions in July. Some of the priorities championed by social conservatives were a no-go for Democrats, so negotiators dropped them from the final product to get it over the finish line.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 87-13 It now heads to the House, where opponents have been more vocal about their concerns.

Most notably, the bill does not include language blocking the Pentagon's abortion travel policy and restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender service members and dependents. Republicans prevailed, however, in winning some concessions on diversity and inclusion training in the military. For example, the bill freezes hiring for such training until a full accounting of the programming and costs is completed and reported to Congress.

The bill sets key Pentagon policy that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. Lawmakers were keen to emphasize how the bill calls for a 5.2% boost in service member pay, the biggest increase in more than 20 years. The bill authorizes $886 billion for national defense programs for the current fiscal year that began Oct. 1, about 3% more than the prior year.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the bill would ensure “America’s military remains state of the art at all times all around the world.”

The bill also includes a short-term extension of a surveillance program aimed at preventing terrorism and catching spies. But the program has detractors on both sides of the political aisle who view it as a threat to the privacy of ordinary Americans. Some House Republicans were incensed at the extension, which is designed to buy more time to reach a compromise.

The extension continues a program that permits the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country to gather foreign intelligence.

U.S. officials have said the tool, first authorized in 2008 and renewed several times since then, is crucial in disrupting terror attacks, cyber intrusions and other national security threats. It has produced vital intelligence that the U.S. has relied on for specific operations, such as the killing last year of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

But the administration’s efforts to secure reauthorization of the program have encountered strong bipartisan pushback. Democrats like Sen. Ron Wyden, who has long championed civil liberties, have aligned with Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump to demand better privacy protections for Americans and have proposed a slew of competing bills.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., unsuccessfully sought to keep the extension out of the defense bill. He argued that the extension would likely mean no reform to the surveillance program in the next year.

“That means that once again the intelligence agencies that ignore the constraints on their power will go unaddressed and unpunished, and the warrantless surveillance of Americans in the violation of the Bill of Rights will continue,” Paul said.

Enough opposition has developed within the GOP ranks that it has forced House Speaker Mike Johnson to tee up the defense policy bill for a vote through a process generally reserved for non-controversial legislation. Under that process, at least two-thirds of the House will have to vote in favor of the legislation for it to pass, but going that route avoids the prospect of a small number of Republicans blocking it through a procedural vote.

While such a process may ease passage of the bill, it could hurt Johnson’s standing with some of the most conservative members in the House. It only takes a few Republicans to essentially grind House proceedings to a halt or even to end a speaker’s tenure, as former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy learned when eight Republicans joined with Democrats to oust him.

The White House called for swift passage of the defense bill, saying it “provides the critical authorities we need to build the military required to deter future conflicts while supporting the servicemembers and their spouses and families who carry out that mission every day.”

Consideration of the bill comes at an especially dangerous time for the world, with wars taking place in Ukraine and the Middle East, and as China increasingly flexes its military might in the South China Sea.

On Ukraine, the bill includes the creation of a special inspector general for Ukraine to address concerns about whether taxpayer dollars are being spent in Ukraine as intended. That’s on top of oversight work already being conducted by other agency watchdogs.

“We will continue to stay on top of this, but I want to assure my colleagues that there has been no evidence of diversion of weapons provided to Ukraine or any other assistance,” the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, told lawmakers this week in advocating for the bill.

On China, the bill establishes a new training program with Taiwan, requires a plan to accelerate deliveries of Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Taiwan, and approves an agreement that enables Australia to access nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and more capable than conventionally powered vessels.

Dozens of House Republicans are balking because the bill would keep in place a Pentagon rule that allows for travel reimbursement when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. The Biden administration instituted the new rules after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, and some states have limited or banned the procedure.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., had for months blocked the promotion of more than 400 senior military leaders over his objections to the policy. He recently dropped most of his holds except for four-star generals and admirals, but many House Republicans were supportive of his effort and had included a repeal of the reimbursement policy in the House version of the defense bill.

___

Associated Press staff writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.


Senate passes $886 billion defense spending bill with pay raises for troops, Ukraine aid

Rachel Looker, USA TODAY
Wed, December 13, 2023 


WASHINGTON − The Senate passed an $886 billion defense spending plan Wednesday, supported by President Joe Biden, that includes funding for Ukraine and annual pay raises for troops in a last-minute rush to authorize spending before the end of the year.

The National Defense Authorization Act provides funding each year for Pentagon priorities such as training and equipment. The Senate passed the legislation by a bipartisan vote of 87-13. Congress has advanced the must-pass defense spending bill consecutively for the last 61 years.

"At a time of huge trouble for global security, doing the defense authorization bill is more important than ever," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "Passing the NDAA enables us to hold the line against Russia, stand firm against the Chinese Communist Party and ensure America's defense remain state of the art at all times."

The bill now heads to the House, where some ultraconservative Republicans have threatened to tank it after lawmakers dropped contentious provisions that would have modified the Pentagon's abortion policy and some gender affirming health care. They are also unhappy with a temporary extension of a domestic surveillance program included in the bill without reforms.
What is in the NDAA?

A local resident sorts out debris at the site of a private house ruined in the Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.

The Senate's NDAA is a compromise version of the spending bill the House passed earlier this year. The House version included provisions targeting transgender health care policies in the Pentagon and an amendment that would revoke a Pentagon policy that reimburses out-of-state travel for service members who receive abortions. The abortion policy is one Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., protested for 10 months by blocking all military promotions in the Senate.

The Senate NDAA includes provisions that will:

Authorize $844.3 billion for the Department of Defense and $32.4 billion for national security programs within the Department of Energy


Support Defense department activities among Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States


Extend the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through fiscal year 2027 and authorize the full budget request of $300 million in fiscal year 2024


Provide a 5.2 percent pay raise for military servicemembers and the Defense department civilian workforce


Support requested funding for naval vessels, combat aircraft, armored vehicles, weapon systems and munitions

A handful of Senate Republicans threatened to delay the passage of the spending bill over the last few weeks because of the missing amendments on social issues.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, forced procedural votes in an effort to delay the bill's passage in the upper chamber.

"Shame on Schumer for backing the Biden admin’s radical abortion agenda. I never back down from a fight," Ernst wrote Tuesday on X. "The Pentagon should be focused on protecting innocent life, not destroying it."

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also looked to block the NDAA's package after the final version stripped his proposed legislation that would provide compensation for victims of nuclear contamination. He forced a procedural vote on the NDAA last week, but failed to delay its package.
Republicans debate surveillance program

Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington.

The Senate's NDAA also includes a four-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a domestic surveillance program which is set to expire this month. The program allows the government to gather private messages of foreign nationals overseas who are using U.S.-based messaging platforms.

The Senate voted to block an amendment proposed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would remove the extension of Section 702.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has said allowing the program to lapse would jeopardize national security.

Some lawmakers agree and view Section 702 as necessary for keeping the country safe. But others say it has been misused.

"Congress has the chance to say no more unconstitutional searches on Americans authorized only by secret courts," Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., wrote on X. "We must stand our ground and protect Americans’ civil liberties."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pulled two bills from consideration on the House floor last week after facing opposition from within his caucus over how to address the program's reauthorization.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called Section 702 the "biggest abuses and violations of the fourth amendment in our country’s history."

"Our Republican base is concerned with stopping the weaponized government and right now there is no accountability," she wrote on X.
Will it pass in the House?

The NDAA now heads to the House where it needs two-thirds of votes to pass.

But there is strong opposition among some Republicans over the missing provisions on social issues.

"The sole focus of the NDAA should be on national defense and security issues, but instead it funds transgender surgery in the military and still allows drag queen shows on military bases. Time to go back to the drawing board," Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senate OKs $886 billion defense bill with pay raises, Ukraine aid


Senate passes sweeping defense policy bill

Clare Foran, Ted Barrett and Morgan Rimmer, CNN
Wed, December 13, 2023 

The Senate voted on Wednesday to pass a critical defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets the policy agenda and authorizes funding for the Department of Defense annually.

The final negotiated version of the NDAA for fiscal year 2024 authorizes $886 billion in national defense funding, an increase of $28 billion over last year.

It is expected to be approved by the Senate with bipartisan support and would next go to the House, with lawmakers hoping it will pass through both chambers before the end of the week. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 87 to 13.

The sweeping legislation authorizes a 5.2% pay raise for members of the military as part of a wide range of provisions related to service member pay and benefits, housing and childcare.

In a move that sparked anger from some lawmakers, the bill will include a short-term extension of a controversial law that permits warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals. Supporters argue it is a critical tool for safeguarding national security, but it has come under criticism from some lawmakers over alleged misuse.

The law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, enables the US government to obtain intelligence by collecting communications records of foreign persons based overseas who are using US-based communications services.

The searches are governed by a set of internal rules and procedures designed to protect Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, but critics say that loopholes allow the FBI to search the data it collects for Americans’ information – as opposed to from foreign adversaries – without proper justification.

Tensions have flared on Capitol Hill over the issue with some conservative Republicans expressing significant frustration over the extension’s inclusion in the defense policy bill. The extension will run through April 19.

Congressional leaders have said that they hope to negotiate consensus legislation to make changes to FISA authorities aimed at preventing abuse that could pass both chambers in the new year.

According to a summary of the bill from the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee, the bill would also put in place a watchdog to oversee US aid to Ukraine in the form of a special inspector general as well as set up a collection at the National Archives of government records on unidentified anomalous phenomena, commonly known as UFOs, that will be accessible to the public.

The legislation does not include two controversial provisions related to abortion and transgender health care access, which were in the House defense policy bill that passed this summer.

Senate passes mammoth annual defense policy bill

Wed, December 13, 2023 

The Senate on Wednesday passed the annual defense policy bill, a compromise $886 billion package that lays out how the Pentagon will be funded through the next fiscal year.

The vote to approve the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was 87-13.

House lawmakers will next take up the legislation. The bill faces resistance in the House from far-right lawmakers who are opposed to the package, in part because it fails to include House-passed provisions to rid the Pentagon of what they say are “woke” policies.

In addition to keeping the Defense Department’s programs and policies funded, the defense bill will authorize tens of billions of dollars for aircraft and ships and give a historic 5.2 percent pay raise to troops.

The NDAA also eyes bolstering U.S. national security abroad, with $11.5 billion slated to deter China in the Indo-Pacific region and another $800 million to support Ukraine.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday urged senators to pass the NDAA as the U.S. faces challenges across the globe.

“At a time of huge trouble for global security, doing the defense authorization bill was more important than ever,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Passing the NDAA enables us to hold the line against Russia, stand firm against the Chinese Communist Party and ensure that America’s defenses remain state-of-the-art.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also championed the NDAA for bolstering national security and ridding the Defense Department of cultural politics.

“It will focus the Pentagon more squarely on tackling national security challenges instead of creating new ones with partisan social policies,” McConnell said.

The only major resistance to the NDAA in the Senate came from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who said he would vote against the bill because it failed to include compensation for victims of radiation exposure in his state and extend those protections. He put up a couple procedural hurdles in its path to a final vote.

“When the government causes injury the government should make it right,” Hawley said this week. “It is wrong to let it expire, it is an injustice, it is a scar on the conscience of this body and on this nation.”

The NDAA is one of the largest bills passed annually by lawmakers and is a yearlong process for Congress.

The defense bill was finalized by conference negotiators in the House and Senate last week, after the chambers passed vastly different versions over the summer, with House Republicans slipping in provisions on the culture wars engulfing America.

The final bill dropped many of the controversial House amendments. An amendment to block the Pentagon’s abortion policy failed to make it into the NDAA, as did another preventing the Defense Department from funding gender-affirming surgery.

Hard-line Republicans, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), are vowing to vote against the NDAA in the House because those amendments are not included.

They are also upset about a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad but is controversial because Americans can get swept up in the surveillance.

Some senators took to the Senate floor to protest the FISA extension, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Ahead of the NDAA vote, an effort to remove the FISA Section 702 extension from the bill was defeated in a 35-65 vote. In remarks, Paul accused senators of trying to “rubber stamp this and look the other way” to allow FISA to continue without any reforms.

Lee said the American people deserve freedom from “warrantless searches.”

“The American people aren’t going to take this anymore,” he said. “The American people expect more, and the Constitution demands it.”

Other provisions of the NDAA may draw objections from Democrats, including one restricting critical race theory at military academies and another banning unauthorized flags on military bases, which Republicans have said would prohibit LGBTQ flags.

The NDAA also directs the Pentagon to consider reinstating troops who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and includes limitations on the Biden administration’s ability to build out Space Command headquarters in Colorado.

Here’s what’s in the $886 billion defense bill

Tami Luhby, CNN
Wed, December 13, 2023



The Senate and House Armed Services committees have rolled out their must-pass $886.3 billion defense bill, which would provide the largest raise for service members in more than two decades, temporarily extend a controversial surveillance program and strengthen the US posture in the Indo-Pacific region to deter Chinese actions.

The chambers are expected to vote this week on the nearly 3,100-page National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 before sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature. The package authorizes $28 billion, or about 3%, more than the previous fiscal year.

The legislation outlines the policy agenda for the Department of Defense and the US military and authorizes spending in line with the Pentagon’s priorities. But it does not appropriate the funding itself.

Also notable, the joint package does not include two controversial provisions related to abortion and transgender health care access, which were in the House defense policy bill that passed this summer. The House version would have prohibited the secretary of defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services. It also would have barred a health care program for service members from covering hormone treatments for transgender individuals and gender confirmation surgeries.

But the final version of the bill does include multiple measures aimed at “ending wokeness in the military,” according to a summary provided by the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee.

Funding for a separate $105 billion national security package that would provide more assistance to Israel and Ukraine continues to be a point of contention in Congress, with Senate Republicans insisting that more foreign aid be paired with major border security policy changes. While there have been talks to try to find consensus, no bipartisan deal has been reached.

The defense authorization bill would extend the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through the end of 2026 and authorize $300 million for the program in the current fiscal year and the next one. The program provides funding for the federal government to pay industry to produce weapons and security assistance to send to Ukraine, rather than drawing directly from current US stockpiles of weapons.

Here are some key provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act, according to summaries provided by the House and the Democratic-led Senate Armed Services committees:

Support for service members and their families

The package contains several measures to improve service members’ wages and benefits in hopes of aiding in recruitment and retention.

It would provide a 5.2% boost in service member basic pay and authorize a monthly bonus for junior enlisted members. The bill would also adjust the Basic Allowance for Housing calculation to boost reimbursement for junior enlisted service members so they could better afford rising rents. And it would expand the Basic Needs Allowance to help low-income service members with families.

The bill would also authorize $38 million over the budget request for new family housing and $356 million over the budget request to renovate and build new barracks.

To help military spouses, it would expand their reimbursements for relicensing or business costs and help those working for the federal government keep their jobs by allowing them to telework when service members transfer locations.

And the legislation would reduce child care expenses for military families and authorize $153 million over the budget request for the construction of new child care centers.

Plus, it would authorize the Department of Defense to fund – and Armed Services members to participate in – clinical trials using psychedelic substances and cannabis to treat post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries.

Warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals

The bill includes a short-term extension of a controversial law that permits warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals, extending authority for the program through April 19.

The law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, enables the US government to obtain intelligence by collecting communications records of non-Americans overseas who are using US-based communications services.

Supporters argue Section 702 is a critical tool for safeguarding national security, but it has come under scrutiny from some lawmakers over alleged misuse.

Focus on Indo-Pacific region

To counter Chinese aggression, the package would authorize $14.7 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and extend it through fiscal year 2024. And it would establish a training, advising and institutional capacity-building program for the military forces of Taiwan.

It would enable the implementation of the AUKUS agreement between the US, United Kingdom and Australia and authorize the eventual sale of nuclear-capable submarines to Australia. The bill would also establish the Indo-Pacific Campaigning Initiative, which would facilitate an increase in the frequency and scale of exercises conducted by the US Indo-Pacific Command, among other efforts.

‘Ending wokeness in the military’

The package would prohibit funding for the teaching, training or promotion of critical race theory in the military, including at service academies and Department of Defense schools, according to the House summary. And it would prohibit the display of any unapproved flags, such as the LGBTQ pride flag, at military installations.

It would also put in place a hiring freeze on diversity, equity and inclusion positions until the US Government Accountability Office completes an investigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs. Plus, the bill would cut and cap the base pay of DEI staffers at $70,000 a year.

The package includes a Parents Bill of Rights, which would give parents of children in Department of Defense schools the right to review curriculum, books and instructional materials, meet with teachers and provide consent before schools conduct medical exams or screenings of students.

In addition, the legislation reiterates that no funds may be spent on drag shows, Drag Queen Story Hours or similar events.

Help service members who did not get the Covid-19 vaccine

The legislation would require the defense secretary to inform the 8,000 service members who were discharged for not receiving the Covid-19 vaccine of the process they can follow to be reinstated.

It would also treat the lapse in service as a “career intermission” so future promotions are not affected, and it would require the Defense Department to grant requests to correct the personnel files of those discharged so they can receive full retirement benefits.

CNN’s Clare Foran contributed to this report.


US Senate passes mammoth defense policy bill, next up vote in House

Updated Wed, December 13, 2023

U.S. military personnel train on the waters near Coronado, California


By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate backed a defense policy bill authorizing a record $886 billion in annual military spending with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday, sidestepping partisan divides over social issues that had threatened what is seen as a must-pass bill.

Separate from the appropriations bills that set government spending levels, the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, authorizes everything from pay raises for the troops - this year's will be 5.2% - to purchases of ships, ammunition and aircraft as well as policies such as measures to help Ukraine and pushback against China in the Indo-Pacific.

This year's bill is nearly 3,100 pages long, authorizing a record $886 billion, up 3% from last year.

The NDAA "will ensure America can hold the line against Russia, stand firm against the Chinese Communist Party, and ensures that America's military remains state-of-the-art at all times all around the world," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote.

But the final version of the NDAA left out provisions addressing divisive social issues, such as access to abortion and treatment of transgender service members, that had been included in the version passed by the House over the objections of Democrats, threatening to derail the legislation.

The 100-member Senate backed the NDAA by 87 to 13. The House is expected to pass it as soon as later this week, sending it to the White House where President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.

The fiscal 2024 NDAA also includes a four-month extension of a disputed domestic surveillance authority, giving lawmakers more time to either reform or keep the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The Senate defeated an attempt to remove the FISA extension from the NDAA on Wednesday before voting to pass the bill.

The Republican-majority House passed its version of the NDAA earlier this year, followed by the Senate, where Biden's fellow Democrats have a slim majority. Negotiators from both parties and both chambers unveiled their compromise version last week.

The bill extends one measure to help Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for the program in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024, and the next one.

However, that figure is a tiny compared to the $61 billion in assistance for Ukraine that Biden has asked Congress to approve to help Kyiv as it battles a Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

That emergency spending request is bogged down in Congress, as Republicans have refused to approve assistance for Ukraine without Democrats agreeing to a significant toughening of immigration law.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday to make his case for the funding requested by Biden, but emerged from meetings with lawmakers without Republican commitments.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Leslie Adler, Sandra Maler and Grant McCool)

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