A U.S. Navy surveillance ship had a close encounter with an Iranian navy frigate in the Middle East, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-navy-iran-ship-close-encounter-middle-east/
The Doctor of Common Sense
A U.S. Navy surveillance ship had a close encounter with an Iranian navy frigate in the Middle East, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-navy-iran-ship-close-encounter-middle-east/
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Embracing a stronger defense, President Donald Trump is meeting with sailors and shipbuilders on an aircraft carrier in Virginia as he promotes his plans for a major military buildup.
Trump traveled Thursday to Newport News to deliver a speech aboard the Gerald R. Ford, a $12.9 billion warship that is expected to be commissioned this year after cost overruns and delays. Wearing a red USA cap, Trump saluted sailors as he arrived on the carrier.
During his trip there, Trump was joined aboard Air Force One by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
A draft budget plan released earlier this week by the White House would add $54 billion to the Pentagon’s projected budget, a 10 percent increase.
“To keep America safe, we must provide the men and women of the United States military with the tools they need to prevent war,” Trump said in his address to Congress on Tuesday night.
Trump, in his 2016 campaign, repeatedly pledged to rebuild what he called the nation’s “depleted” military and told supporters at Regent University in Virginia Beach in October that the region’s naval installations would be “right at the center of the action with the building of new ships.”
He often argued that the U.S. military is too small to accomplish its missions and pledged to put the Navy on track to increase its active-duty fleet to 350 ships, compared to the current Navy plan of growing from 272 ships to 308 sometime after 2020.
The PCU Gerald R. Ford CVN 78, located at Newport News Shipbuilding, will be the first of the Navy’s next generation of aircraft carriers and is expected to accommodate some 2,600 sailors.
Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, his first as president, included his past calls for repealing the “defense sequester,” or across-the-board budget cuts instituted by Congress. He will need the repeal to achieve the kinds of increased defense spending that he is seeking.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_NAVY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-02-11-41-57
An internal White House review of strategy on North Korea includes the possibility of military force or regime change to blunt the country’s nuclear-weapons threat, people familiar with the process said, a prospect that has some U.S. allies in the region on edge.
While President Donald Trump has taken steps to reassure allies that he won’t abandon agreements that have underpinned decades of U.S. policy on Asia, his pledge that Pyongyang would be stopped from ever testing an intercontinental ballistic missile—coupled with the two-week-old strategy review—has some leaders bracing for a shift in American policy.
The U.S. review comes as recent events have strained regional stability. Last month, North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, and the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was killed in Malaysia.
Chinese and North Korean officials are holding talks in Beijing, the first known high-level meeting in nearly a year, and Beijing recently curtailed coal imports from North Korea.
U.S. officials have underscored the possible military dimensions of their emerging strategy in recent discussions with allies, according to people familiar with the talks.
During Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s two-day summit in February with Mr. Trump, U.S. officials on several occasions stated that all options were under consideration to deal with North Korea, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
It was clear to the Japanese side that those options encompassed a U.S. military strike on North Korea, possibly if Pyongyang appeared ready to test an ICBM, this person said. The Japanese side found that scenario “worrisome,” he said.
U.S. allies in recent years have closely aligned with Washington in trying to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Pyongyang in an effort to force it to drop its nuclear program. But the new U.S. policy review has generated anxiety in Japan and South Korea about a radical shift. After North Korea said this year it was ready to test an ICBM, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, “It won’t happen!”
About two weeks ago, deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland convened a meeting with national security officials across the government and asked them for proposals on North Korea, including ideas that one official described as well outside the mainstream.
The request was for all options, ranging from U.S. recognition of North Korea as a nuclear state to military action against Pyongyang. Ms. McFarland’s directive was for the administration to undergo a comprehensive rethink of America’s North Korea policy.
The national security officials reported back to Ms. McFarland with their ideas and suggestions on Tuesday. Those options now will undergo a process under which they will be refined and shaped before they are given to the president for consideration.
North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!
The heightened prospect of U.S. military action in North Korea could encourage China, which fears the fallout of a military confrontation with its neighbor, to take steps Washington has long sought to choke off Pyongyang’s economic lifeline.
In the wake of Mr. Trump’s election, leaders in Tokyo and Seoul have sought to intensify the existing U.S. strategy of exerting economic and diplomatic pressure against North Korea.
“We will make sure that the North changes its erroneous calculations by further enhancing sanctions and pressure,” South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn said in a speech Wednesday.
South Korea and the U.S. kicked off major annual military exercises Wednesday, part of a long-running strategy of prioritizing defensive military preparedness to ward off North Korean aggression.
After North Korea tested a ballistic missile last month just as Messrs. Abe and Trump were meeting in Florida, the Japanese leader called for Pyongyang to comply with a United Nations ban on such tests and said Tokyo and Washington would strengthen their alliance.
In his own brief remarks after Mr. Abe, Mr. Trump didn’t mention North Korea, saying only that the U.S. “stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%.”
Japan is concerned it could get sucked into a regional conflict by a U.S. military strike on North Korea, said Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, a Tokyo think tank.
Another fear for Japan is a scenario in which the U.S. instead holds talks with North Korea and reaches a deal that would lead to Washington disengaging from the region, he said.
Under its pacifist constitution, Japan remains heavily dependent on U.S. military support, not only to counter North Korea, but also China, which has stepped up a territorial challenge against Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea.
Last month, the State Department withdrew visa approvals for top North Korean officials to visit New York for unofficial talks with retired U.S. officials following the killing of Mr. Kim’s half brother, according to people familiar with the matter, dealing a setback to any attempt at rapprochement.
Mr. Trump has recently stated the U.S.’s commitment to defending both Japan and South Korea to leaders of both countries. A spokeswoman for Japan’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the details of Mr. Abe’s talks with Mr. Trump, while a spokesman for South Korea’s foreign ministry couldn’t be reached for comment.
As annual military exercises were set to begin, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke Tuesday to South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, emphasizing that “any attack on the United States or its allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with a response that is effective and overwhelming,” said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis.
The U.S. is in the process of installing advanced missile defenses, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, in South Korea. As part of that, South Korea said this week that it has completed a transfer of land needed as a station for the system, Capt. Davis said.
Despite concerns about a military confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea, the acceleration of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile program has emboldened calls by military hawks in Japan and South Korea for capabilities to pre-emptively hit North Korean military facilities if an attack appears imminent.
Masahiko Komura, the vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said recently that Japan should begin discussing whether to acquire such an ability. In parliament, Mr. Abe said there were no plans to do so.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-explores-options-including-use-of-military-force-to-counter-north-korean-threat-1488407444
President Trump sought to repackage his hard-line campaign promises with a moderate sheen Tuesday night, declaring what he termed “a new chapter of American greatness” of economic renewal and military might in his first joint address to Congress.
Seeking to steady his presidency after a tumultuous first 40 days, Trump had an air of seriousness and revealed flashes of compassion as he broadly outlined a sweeping agenda to rebuild a country he described as ravaged by crime and drugs, deteriorating infrastructure and failing bureaucracies.
Trump’s 60-minute speech touched on his plans to overhaul the nation’s health-care system and tax code, but it was short on specifics and heavy on lofty prose. Struggling to steer a bitterly divided nation with his job-approval ratings at historic lows, Trump effectively pleaded with the American people to give him a chance and to imagine what could be achieved during his presidency.
“We are one people, with one destiny,” Trump said quietly near the end. “The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us. We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts.”
Trump extended olive branches to his opponents. He called on Congress to pass paid family leave, a reference to a long-held Democratic Party priority that brought liberal lawmakers to their feet to applaud. And he pledged to work with Muslim allies to extinguish Islamic State terrorists, going so far as to acknowledge the killings of Muslims as well as Christians in the Middle East.
Still, Trump did not back away from his most controversial policies. He used typically bellicose language to describe the fight against the Islamic State, calling it “a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women and children of all faiths and all beliefs.” He made a point to utter the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism,” which Republicans cheered heartily.
The president forcefully defended his travel ban of refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries — an executive order that was halted in federal court — as necessary to prevent the entry of foreigners who do not share America’s values.
“We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America,” Trump said. “We cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.”
The president trumpeted his plans to budget a major increase in military spending. One of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), stood enthusiastically when the president said he would end the “defense sequester” caps on Pentagon spending.
On foreign affairs, Trump said he would honor historic alliances — and explicitly stated his support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on which he had wavered during his campaign — but said he would seek new ones as well, even with former adversaries. The latter seemed an indirect reference to potentially working to combat terrorism with Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded meddled in the November election in hopes of helping Trump.
“America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where share interests align,” Trump said. “We want harmony and stability, not war and conflict.”
Trump declared the time had come to rewrite trade deals and alliances in terms that benefit the United States, irrespective of global pressures.
“My job is not to represent the world,” Trump said. “My job is to represent the United States of America.”
Trump was adamant that the United States cannot continue to abide by what Republicans and Democrats see as free trade. “It also has to be fair trade,” Trump said. He cited Abraham Lincoln, who, he said, “warned that the ‘abandonment of the protective policy by the American government [will] produce want and ruin among our people.’ ” He said he would not let workers “be taken advantage of anymore.”
As is tradition when the president addresses a joint session of Congress — typically known as a “State of the Union,” although the speech is not called that during a president’s first year — Trump invited guests to sit with first lady Melania Trump in the balcony.
The night’s emotional high point came when Trump singled out one of the night’s guests, Carryn Owens, the widow of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who died in a Jan. 29 raid in Yemen.
Although Ryan’s father has spoken out against the raid that killed his son, Trump said Tuesday night that Ryan died “a warrior and a hero,” with Carryn looking on with tears in her eyes. The audience stood with sustained applause. Trump peered up at Carryn and said, “Ryan is looking down right now. You know that. And he’s very happy.”
Trump, as he typically does, basked in his electoral feat and cast his ascent to the presidency in epic terms. “In 2016, the earth shifted beneath our feet,” he said, saying that a “rebellion” that started as “a quiet protest” morphed into “a loud chorus” and finally “an earthquake.”
He said he was sent to Washington to deliver on the promises he made on the campaign trail — arguably chief among them, to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Trump argued that everyday Americans cannot succeed “in an environment of lawless chaos” at the borders.
“To any in Congress who do not believe we should enforce our laws, I would ask you this one question: What would you say to the American family that loses their jobs, their income or their loved one, because America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders?”
As he spoke, Trump turned toward Jamiel Shaw, a black man whose son was killed by an illegal immigrant. Shaw, who frequently traveled with Trump during last year’s campaign, sat stone-faced and then grew visibly emotional as Trump spoke to him and Shaw stood to applause.
On the seemingly intractable issue of immigration, Trump signaled he would be open to a reform bill — though he did not state what terms he would find acceptable in such a compromise.
“I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation’s security, and to restore respect for our laws,” Trump said. “If we are guided by the well-being of American citizens, then I believe Republicans and Democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades.”
Trump said he supports a “merit-based immigration system,” such as those in Canada and Australia, that allow people to enter the country who can support themselves financially and contribute to society.
Trump challenged both parties in Congress to move quickly to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the signature health-care law of former president Barack Obama.
“Obamacare is collapsing, and we must act decisively to protect all Americans,” Trump said. “Action is not a choice; it is a necessity.”
House Republicans immediately rallied behind Trump’s remarks, interpreting his words as an endorsement of several key parts of their own plan. In an email to reporters, an aide to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) wrote that Trump “embraced” the House plan and demonstrated that “the White House and Congress are coalescing around a particular approach” that includes individual health-savings plans and tax credits.
“The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we are going to do,” Trump said, calling for Democrats to work with him. He said he would “ensure that Americans with preexisting conditions have access to coverage and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges.”
Turning to the states, he said he would give governors “the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out,” a supportive mention of a program whose budget some Republicans would like to see pared back.
Trump also called for a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that he said would be the biggest program of national rebuilding since former president Dwight Eisenhower built the interstate highway system in the 1950s. Trump said his projects would be financed through a combination of public and private capital, but he offered no further details.
Trump was more somber than usual, toning down his bravado, but there were moments where he reveled in his celebrity. He glad-handed Supreme Court justices as he made his way to the rostrum and shared small talk with a reverential congressman, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.). As he left at the end of his speech, he paused to autograph books in the aisle.
An uncharacteristically disciplined Trump stuck mostly to the script running on his teleprompters, but he veered off his prepared text at times to make playful asides. During a discussion about taxes, Trump recalled his visit with Harley-Davidson executives and ad-libbed, “They wanted me to ride one and I said, ‘No, thank you.’ ”
Trump opened his address by noting the wave of anti-Semitic vandalism and threats targeting Jewish cemeteries, community centers and schools. “We are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms,” Trump said.
Trump plans to take his message to the American people on a traditional road show, like those his predecessors undertook to sell their agendas following major addresses to Congress.
On Thursday, Trump plans to give a speech aboard the USS Gerald Ford, a newly christened aircraft carrier in Newport News, Va., and lead a roundtable discussion with military officials and shipbuilders. And on Friday, he will visit St. Andrew’s Catholic School in Orlando to conduct what aides described as a listening session on school choice.
At a moment when more Americans oppose him than support him, Trump sought to sell the country on his vision for transformational change. He wanted people to imagine America on its 250th anniversary in 2026 following what he hopes will be a two-term presidency.
He said dying industries like coal would come roaring back to life, new roads and bridges would be built, and the drug epidemic would not just slow down, but stop.
“Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed,” Trump said. “Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing, and hope.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-prepares-to-address-a-divided-audience-the-republican-congress/2017/02/28/183138ce-fced-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?utm_term=.9352a795b572
Hundreds of federal workers have been caught watching porn on the job, including viewing child pornography, according to a new investigation.
NBC News 4 in Washington, D.C., identified over 100 “egregious” cases during the past five years where federal employees watched porn for hours during the day or required an inspector general investigation into their porn habits at work. The report relied on records obtained through Freedom of Information Act from 12 separate government agencies.
“The cases include workers who admitted spending six hours a day surfing illicit images and videos and maintaining tens of thousands of adult images on their office desktops,” the report said.
The investigation revealed over 20 cases at the Justice Department during the past two years, and numerous cases at the Environmental Protection Agency.
The report includes the notorious case of an EPA employee in the Office of Air and Radiation who, while earning a $120,000 salary, watched porn between two and six hours every day, masturbated at work, and received bonuses.
The employee said that “‘a lot’ of his time each workday is spent ‘organizing’ the pornography he downloaded into saved folders,” according to the records obtained by NBC News 4.
The report noted that although being caught watching porn “opens employees to possible disciplinary action,” including being fired, several agencies said penalties are “flexible” and can carry just a written reprimand.
The EPA employee was not fired and stayed on the payroll for years even though he had been banned from the building. He continued to receive his six-figure salary for two years after being caught, including a year of paid leave before he retired in April 2015.
“This is not just an isolated incident at one single agency,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), who is pushing legislation for a zero tolerance policy toward viewing pornography on government computers. “We’re starting to find it across almost every agency.”
New cases uncovered by NBC News 4 included another EPA employee in San Francisco who watched porn at work an average of two hours a day, and an EPA contractor in North Carolina who viewed porn for three to four hours a day.
Workers at a Department of Transportation office in Washington, D.C., that was monitored for two months were found to be searching on government computers for “teen+underwear+blonde,” “teen+slut+tight+pants,” “orgy+prague+OR+Czech,” and “petite+blonde+teen.”
A Department of Justice worker in Tucson, Ariz., visited 2,500 adult websites and downloaded over 1,100 pornographic pictures at work, spending the “majority of his duty time viewing inappropriate adult websites.”
Another Justice employee in Dallas, Texas, watched porn between four and six hours every day at work and had “tens of thousands” of pornographic pictures on a work computer, “including some which might have been child pornography.”
Several other cases involved child pornography as well, including an FBI employee in Virginia who had explicit email exchanges with a ninth grader and admitted to “receiving, viewing, and saving approximately 50 images of suspected child pornography.”
The investigation covered the departments of Transportation, Justice, Interior, Labor, Commerce, Energy, and Health and Human Services, as well as the U.S. Postal Service, NASA, Export-Import Bank, the EPA, and the Social Security Administration.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/hundreds-feds-caught-watching-porn-work/
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say that under the new Trump administration, they’ve been empowered to carry out their jobs, instead of being punished for insubordination and told not to arrest illegals.
The New York Times interviewed 17 ICE agents across the country to talk about how the new atmosphere created under the Trump administration has allowed them to properly deport illegals. The Times described the agency under Trump as a “whirlwind of activity.”
“Before, we used to be told, ‘You can’t arrest those people,’ and we’d be disciplined for being insubordinate if we did,” said one ICE agent, who had worked with the agency for 10 years. “Now those people are priorities again. And there are a lot of them here.”
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s goal was to “take the shackles off” agents.