Category: Defense Department

GOP Letter: Defense Secretary Must Probe Milley. Phone Calls to Chinese General Were “Treason”

GOP Letter: Defense Secretary Must Probe Milley. Phone Calls to Chinese General Were “Treason”

BY R. CORT KIRKWOOD

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/gop-letter-defense-secretary-must-probe-milley-phone-calls-to-chinese-general-were-treason;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

More than two dozen GOP congressmen have demanded that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin open a special investigation into General Mark Milley’s secret phone calls with his Communist Chinese counterpart.

The 27 congressmen, led by Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, a retired Army general, accused Milley of treason in a letter to Austin dated September 16. Milley is chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff,

During the phone call, as The New American reported earlier this week, Milley promised General Li Zuocheng advance warning of any attack should the nations go to war. The revelation appears in a new book, Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of the Washington Post.

The Calls

Milley rang up the Red Chinese general because of what he perceived to be President Trump’s irrational tilt toward war with the nation. That claim, of course, makes it appear as Milley did the right thing.

“In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army, that the United States would not strike,” the Washington Post reported about the book.

The first call was prompted by Milley’s review of intelligence suggesting the Chinese believed the United States was preparing to attack. That belief, the authors write, was based on tensions over military exercises in the South China Sea, and deepened by Trump’s belligerent rhetoric toward China.

Woodward and Costa provide two damning quotes from Milley.

  • “General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay,” Milley told him. “We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”
  • “General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

Milley also discussed seizing control of the nation’s nuclear weapons with leftist House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The hate-Trump leftist called Milley after the mostly peaceful protest in Washington, D.C., on January 6 to say Trump was “crazy.” Milley agreed.

Milley also reminded his underlings that he would have to sign off on any nuclear attack.

President Trump called the Milley’s conversations treason, and said he had no intention of attacking China.

 The GOP Letter

After citing the two calls, the letter from the GOP congressmen accuses Milley of treason.

“Milley called the Indo-Pacific Commander and instructed him to call off all military exercises in the South China Sea, following up by assembling senior officers and mandating that any order to launch a nuclear weapon must include GEN Milley’s involvement,” the congressmen wrote. He also established a “parallel chain of command” with regard to launching nuclear weapons:

To conspire with a communist, malfeasant, hostile, and genocidal government regarding our intentions — or lack thereof — with utter disregard to the implications of said “promise” on our national security or our Service Members, is nothing short of craven (at best) and treasonous.

Mainstream media reports this story as if America were rendered a great service by Gen. Milley, as if he simply were trying to ward off the supposedly unpredictable behavior of the elected President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. To be clear, however, if Mr. Woodward’s account is true, Gen. Milley’s pledge to China is nothing less than outright treason.

Later on 8 January 2021, Speaker Pelosi reportedly contacted Gen. Milley, with the latter allegedly pledging that “the nuclear triggers are secure and we’re not going to do — we’re not going to allow anything crazy, illegal, immoral, or unethical to happen.” 

The conversation with Pelosi, the congressmen wrote, attempted to make national security a partisan issue.

The congressmen thus demanded a formal AR 15-6 investigation of the rogue general, and the results by October 6, and want his security clearance suspended.

Most AR 15-6 probes are informal and deal with minor incidents. One officer handles the probe. A formal investigation deals with serious matters and involves hearings before a panel of officers.

DoD: COVID-19 Jabs to Become Mandatory as Early as Mid-September

BY VERONIKA KYRYLENKO

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/dod-covid-19-jabs-to-become-mandatory-as-early-as-mid-september/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced he will seek President Biden’s permission to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all military members by mid-September or when the jabs get regulatory approval.

In a memo to all Department of Defense (DoD) employees, Austin wrote:

I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon licensure by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whichever comes first.

If a vaccine is approved by the FDA, Austin can make it mandatory without the president. According to the memo, the Pfizer-BioNTech jab is expected to receive such approval as soon as early September. If it doesn’t happen, Austin is poised to still mandate it. While legally informed consent of servicemen is required prior to receiving vaccinations issued under an emergency use authorization (EUA), such as all three COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States, the president has power to issue a waiver for informed-consent requirements if he determines that it is “in the interest of national security” to do so, and ultimately add COVID-19 jabs to the list of mandatory shots required by troops.

In the meantime, the Pentagon will continue to comply with current protocols set by the White House for the unvaccinated employees, and if the infection rate continues to rise, Austin stated, he will not hesitate “to act sooner or recommend a different course to the President if l feel the need to do so.”

Austin added the move is necessary to keep the forces “healthy and ready,” and urged all DoD military and civilian personnel, and also contractors, not to wait for the mandate, and vaccinate now. “Get the shot. Get healthy. Get ready,” the memo ends.

The memo follows the president’s announcement last month that mandated all federal workers either attest to their vaccinated status, with penalties including criminal prosecution if they lie, or submit to strict “safety” rules such as weekly testing, mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing, and general prohibition to travel for work. At the time of the announcement, Biden also asked the Pentagon to determine “how and when” the COVID-19 vaccine would be added to the list of the vaccines that armed forces “MUST get.”

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby detailed in a press briefing the plan to implement the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

First of all, he clarified all the troops will not have to be vaccinated by mid-September — but the request to the president to authorize the move will be filed no later than mid-September, unless the FDA approval comes first. Noting the urgency of the plan, he said that all the services are going to be tasked to develop and submit vaccination implementation plans within “a couple of weeks,” based on their own deployment schedules, manning constructs, and differences in number of unvaccinated personnel. Until that happens, all unvaccinated members will have to follow certain protocols and restrictions, details of which Kirby said he did not have. Finally, Kirby underlined that the Pentagon is ready to speed things up to counter the uptick in COVID-19 forces. He also added, “You can consider this memo not just a warning order to the services but to the troops themselves.”

President Biden was fast to assure the public he would approve the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the military without waiting for the FDA:

I strongly support Secretary Austin’s message to the Force today on the Department of Defense’s plan to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccinations for our service members not later than mid-September.

“We are still on a wartime footing, and every American who is eligible should take immediate steps to get vaccinated right away,” Biden also said in a statement, and added the vaccines are ”safe and effective,” and they will “save lives. Period.”

Associated Press reports that according to the Pentagon data, more than one million troops are fully vaccinated. At the same time, the branches vary widely in their vaccination rates. The Navy reported that more than 74 percent of all active-duty and reserve sailors have been at least partially vaccinated. The Air Force is a bit behind, with more than 65 percent of its active-duty and 60 percent of reserve forces having received at least one shot, while the Army only got less than half of servicemen rolling up their sleeves.

Secretary Austin reported in late July that 70 percent of personnel had received at least one dose while adding “we are going to continue to push — push hard to ensure that we’re making the vaccine available to the force.”  

While several military leaders reportedly said they did not expect much resistance from troops, who are “accustomed to getting mandatory shots,” many troops are looking for legal advice on their rights to opt-out of a mandate.

Former Army lawyer Greg T. Rinckey said he has been contacted by “hundreds” of soldiers, marines, and sailors wanting to know their rights and whether they could take any legal action if ordered to take an unapproved jab.

The rights of the active-duty personnel are limited, and refusal to comply with a mandate would be a violation of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a punishment for which includes a dishonorable or bad-conduct discharge (an officer would be dismissed), two years confinement, and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. Servicemen do have an option to resign or request to opt-out of a mandatory vaccination, since the DoD may authorize a temporary or permanent medical or administrative exemption to a required vaccine. Religious exemptions may also be granted. In June, the legislation H.R. 3860, which would ban any mandatory vaccinations for U.S. military members, was introduced by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Thus far, that legislation has garnered 30 Republican House co-sponsors.

Petition to Remove Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/petition-remove-secretary-defense-lloyd-austin-frontpagemagcom/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Editors' note: The hour is late. We need to mount a mass campaign to oppose the betrayal of our country by the Biden Administration and a military leadership that is undermining troop morale and sabotaging our country’s ability to defend itself. Please sign the petition below and spread the word.

Petition to Remove Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin:

No institution in America – from government offices to schoolrooms to corporate boardrooms and beyond – is safe today from the divisive racism of Critical Race Theory and the “1619 Project.” both of which posit that United States history is rooted in slavery and white supremacy, and that “whiteness” is an incurable disease. The institution whose subversion poses the greatest threat to our national security is the U.S. military, whose head is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. General Austin is a determined advocate of these repulsive anti-American views.

As Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin has incorporated both Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project as core elements of the Pentagon’s military training programs, under the guise of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” He has further ordered a purging of the military ranks of what he calls “extremists,” defined as opponents of these noxious views and supporters of former president Donald Trump.

The consequence of dividing our troops by race and gender, and regarding one community of Americans as oppressors and beneficiaries of race and gender-based privileges is a direct threat to unit cohesion and military morale, the core elements of an effective military force.
That’s why I hope you’ll join me, and demand the Removal of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

If you are a 19-year old and pondering whether it is worth risking your life for your country, the teachings now current in the United States military will cause you to have second thoughts about the country you are supposed to defend.

On April 9, 2021, Secretary Austin issued a memorandum announcing the establishment of the Countering Extremism Working Group (CEWG) to spearhead the military’s internal witch-hunt of “extremism” in the ranks.

To lead the CEWG, Austin appointed as his senior adviser, a black American named Bishop Garrison, who has made no secret of his profound contempt for former President Trump and the millions of people who voted for him. In July 2019, for example, Garrison wrote: “Support for him [Trump], a racist, is support for ALL his beliefs. He’s dragging a lot of bad actors (misogynists, extremists, other racists) out into the light, normalizing their actions. If you support the President, you support that.”

As part of the re-education of our fighting force, Austin’s officers have required recruits to watch a film portraying Democrat presidents – and only Democrat presidents - as civil rights heroes, thus dividing military personnel along partisan political lines as well.
Please add your name to this petition right away, and demand the Senate remove Secretary Austin.

Richard Torres-Estrada, the new “chief of diversity” for Special Operations, has compared President Trump to Hitler. His appointment came as part of a plan for embedding intersectionality into Special Operations diversity training through the “interconnectedness of matters relating to culture, ethnicity, religion, class, race, and gender”.

“The job of the Department of Defense is to keep America safe from our enemies,” explains Austin.  “But we can't do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks.”

Or, if they preside over those ranks.

Secretary Austin claims his planned purge “is not about politics or political views.” Yet, nearly all 18 members of the Combatting Extremism Working Group in charge of the purge supported Joe Biden and the Democrats in the 2020 elections. Six of them are radical Islamists including a Pakistani national, who is not even a citizen. This is hardly surprising since in his first days as Secretary of Defense Austin ordered hundreds of former President Trump’s appointees from at least 31 Pentagon advisory boards and panels, to resign.

To guide his political purge, Austin has recruited the Southern Poverty Law Center, a notorious, fact-challenged smear operation which has routinely labeled conservative organizations and individuals like the American Enterprise Institute and Trump HUD Secretary Ben Carson as “hate mongers.”

In a world as dangerous as ours where our chief adversary China is openly and aggressively building what it hopes will be the most dominant military force in the world, having a divisive, morale-sapping, politically partisan Secretary of Defense in charge of the nation’s defenses is itself a threat to national security.

On May 10, 2021, Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, a commanding officer with the U.S. Space Force, released a self-published book titled Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military. “As a commander of young military professionals, all of whom have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” wrote Lohmeier, “I became concerned that race-based identity politics would erode the trust and confidence these young people have in their country and in the Constitution.” In his book, Lohmeier recounts stories of white officers who left the military because they grew tired of being told that “they are racists solely based on the color of their skin.” He describes high-school students as reluctant to join the armed services because “they are unsure what their country stands for anymore.” And he cites black West Point cadets who, as a result of the Marxist propaganda with which they have been indoctrinated, are “conflicted about swearing an oath to defend a white supremacist country.”

For expressing his concerns, Lohnmeier was fired from his command and removed from his Space Force unit, whose task is the tracking of ballistic missile launches.

Sincerely, 

David Horowitz

SIGN THE PETITION TO REMOVE SECRETARY AUSTIN NOW

Biden Ended Use of Defense Funds for Border Wall. Here’s Where The Money’s Going Instead.

Biden Halts Use of Defense Funds for Border Wall. Here’s Where the Money Is Going Instead

BY LUIS MIGUEL

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/biden-halts-use-of-defense-funds-for-border-wall-heres-where-the-money-is-going-instead/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

The fate of America’s border wall is uncertain as the Biden administration pursues a markedly different course on immigration than that of former president Donald Trump.

Biden is reportedly giving back more than $2 billion that had been redirected from Defense Department projects in order to fund the border wall long sought by President Trump. Furthermore, the Biden White House is asking Congress to cancel other remaining border wall funds.

On the campaign trail, Biden vowed not to build “another foot” of the wall along the southern U.S. border. One of the president’s first actions in the Oval Office was to pause the wall’s construction. He also called for a plan for use of the wall funds to be submitted within 60 days, a deadline that lapsed in March.

“Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border and costs American taxpayers billions of dollars is not a serious policy solution or responsible use of Federal funds,” read a release from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The Department of Defense (DoD) has already started ending border wall construction projects that used diverted funds. The Biden administration has said they are halting expansion of the wall wherever legally possible.

The monies that had been allocated for the wall will now go to 66 different defense projects, including for military housing, on-base schools, and training facilities.

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing land that was acquired by eminent domain over the past year for the border wall. If DHS deems tracts of land not to be needed, it “will work to return the land to its prior owners.”

Yet the administration is required to use an estimated $1.9 billion in funds on border barriers because they were directed to do so by Congress. For this reason, the White House is “reiterating its call for Congress to cancel funds it previously appropriated for border barrier projects so that these resources can instead be used for modern, effective border management measures to improve safety and security.”

The Biden DHS seeks to use those funds to prioritize “urgent life, safety, and environmental issues resulting from the previous Administration’s wall construction,” as well as for clean-up of DoD-funded construction sites.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration said it would resume construction of a flood wall in the Rio Grande Valley area of south Texas and address soil erosion on the U.S. border along San Diego, California.

Under President Trump, the federal government built 52 miles of new slatted structures where no barrier had previously existed and added hundreds of miles of replacement fencing. 

Supporters of the wall argue that using defense funds for the wall is not “diverting” at all because a border barrier that repels foreign invasion is a core national defense activity.

In the absence of presidential initiative on border security, some Republicans are seeking to stop illegal immigration at the state level.

Texas Governor Greg Abbot, a Republican, has announced that he will build a wall along the southern border.

“Long term, only Congress and the president can fix our broken border,” Abbott said in Del Rio. “But in the meantime, Texas is going to do everything possible, including beginning to make arrests, to keep our community safe, to keep the cartels and smugglers out, and to keep your community safe.”

Earlier this month, Abbot moved to close more than 50 shelters in Texas that house approximately 4,000 migrant children, arguing that the federal government cannot legally force the state to continue issuing licenses in reaction to a federal problem. The Biden administration has threatened to sue unless that order is rescinded.

Even Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency whose purpose it is to enforce federal immigration law, has taken a softer approach under Biden. The agency has terminated a Trump-era office that focused on victims of crimes linked to illegal immigration.

Notably, Texas Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Biden’s pick to lead ICE, opposed ICE raids to deport illegal aliens during the Trump administration.

“I do not support #ICERaids that threaten to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom do not represent a threat to the U.S.,” Gonzalez tweeted in July of 2019. “The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats. Not others who are not threats.”

‘Papers Please’: Government Prepares to Issue COVID-19 Vaccination Cards

A Department of Health and Human Services employee holds a COVID-19 vaccine record card Nov. 13, 2020, in Washington D.C. The cards will be sent out as part of vaccination kits from Operation Warp Speed. (Department of Defense photo)

A display shows items that will be provided with COVID-19 vaccines at Operation Warp Speed headquarters in Washington, D.C. Nov. 13, 2020. Operation Warp Speed is an effort by several U.S. government components and public partnerships to facilitate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.

BY STACEY LENNOX

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2020/12/05/papers-please-government-prepares-to-issue-covid-19-vaccination-cards-n1192529;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
You knew it was coming, and now it is official. COVID-19 vaccinations could begin distribution in the next three weeks, according to WSAV in Savannah, Georgia. With the glorious two-step vaccine that is likely to make you feel ill for a few days with each dose, you will get a COVID vaccination card:

The Department of Defense on Wednesday released the first images of a COVID-19 vaccination record card and vaccination kits.

“Everyone will be issued a written card that they can put in their wallet that will tell them what they had and when their next dose is due,” Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, said in a CNN report.

There is a rationale for providing the patient with a record. According to the CDC:

“For most COVID-19 vaccine products, two doses of vaccine, separated by 21 or 28 days, will be needed. Because different COVID-19 vaccine products will not be interchangeable, a vaccine recipient’s second dose must be from the same manufacturer as their first dose.”

Of course, the information on the type and date you received the vaccine could be given on a piece of paper or something less formal than a card. It is not hard to figure out how this record is likely to be used, so if you get the vaccine, laminate it. They were nice enough to make them wallet-sized.

This will allow a whole range of businesses and services to require you to show the card in order to shop, get a haircut, or use other services. Hotels and airlines may decide to require proof of vaccination to travel. This is despite no significant outbreaks on planes or associated with hotels.

This is insane for several reasons. First, the news regarding immunity in recovered patients is very positive. Studies of those who have had COVID-19 demonstrate that while antibodies provide the initial response, a long-term response from T & B memory cells in the immune system is durable and provides protection from reinfection. If COVID-19 is similar to SARS, studies have shown this long-term immune response is still active after 17 years. The good news is that the two viruses have a structure that is 80% similar, and they utilize the same method to enter cells.

Why would someone with active immunity need to receive a vaccine? The short answer is they don’t. The CDC and the testing companies should be working on an accurate test for commercial use to detect this response. If the experts assert that this virus will act wildly different from its close cousins, they will need an extraordinary explanation.

Next, some percentage of the population has the same-long term immune response based on exposure to other coronaviruses. The same commercially available test for recovered patients could be administered before vaccination to see if it is necessary. This is not to encourage anti-vax sentiment, but if natural immunity exists, it seems the decision to take one should be between a patient and his or her doctor.

Finally, there is some rather disappointing rhetoric coming out of Pfizer’s chairman. With all we have understood about how vaccines function for decades, the statement also stretches credibility. Albert Bourla told Dateline NBC  that the pharmaceutical company was “not certain” if the vaccine prevented the coronavirus from being transmitted, adding, “This is something that needs to be examined.”

This makes one wonder what 90% effective means. It appears it means it is effective in causing a vaccinated person to develop antibodies against COVID-19. It is hard to understand why this would not be sufficient to stop transmission if it effectively stops illness. According to the CDC, people who don’t become ill with COVID-19 are not primary drivers of infection, and a recent study in China found 300 asymptomatic cases with no transmission to their nearly 2,000 close contacts.

It also seems like this is something that could have been tested during the trials. The COVID-19 vaccine does use new technology, but how the immune system works once it is triggered is not. If the virus can be transmitted from a vaccinated person, these companies have developed a therapeutic, not a vaccine by any traditional definition. Vaccines provide immunity, and vaccinated persons act as a brake on transmission. If this is not the case, it would require another extraordinary explanation.

It will be tough to sell a vaccine that changes absolutely nothing about the public policies governing the way many Americans live. Masks, distancing, and shutdowns will still be possible. Figuring out the answer to the possible transmission after vaccination is now job #1 for Pfizer.

 

 

 

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