| | | | |  | | By Matt Berg | |  More resignations could come since President Joe Biden's administration couldn’t steer Israel away from invading Rafah, the southern city in Gaza where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering. | Alex Brandon/AP | With help from Joe Gould, Joseph Gedeon, Lara Seligman and Alex Ward Subscribe here | Email Matt | Email Eric There’s been an increase in U.S. officials who have quit recently due to the Biden administration’s Israel policy — and there could be more to come soon for two reasons, the four U.S. officials who publicly resigned told NatSec Daily. First, the State Department was expected to issue a report on Wednesday about whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law since the war in Gaza began. If so, the U.S. would be expected to stop sending Israel military assistance, and hopes are low among the former officials that such a determination will be made. “I have seen a clear uptick in non-public resignations in the past few weeks, and would not be surprised to see more follow a sham report,” said JOSH PAUL, a former State Department official involved with transferring arms to American allies who resigned in November. But the report is now delayed. The Biden administration notified the Hill that it will miss Wednesday’s due date, without providing a clear reason, three Senate aides and a House aide told your host and JOE GOULD. “The report is not yet finished,” State Department spokesperson MATTHEW MILLER told reporters today, noting that it’s a self-imposed deadline. “We are trying very hard to meet that deadline … It’s possible it slips just a little bit, but we are trying to get it done by tomorrow.” Second, more resignations could come since the Biden administration couldn’t steer Israel away from invading Rafah, the southern city in Gaza where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering (more on that below). Aid groups have warned that any invasion would put civilians at risk and devastate humanitarian operations. If Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU doesn’t respect President JOE BIDEN’s “red line” on Rafah and Israeli troops kill civilians there, how much influence does the White House have over Israel? That’s a question administration officials will be asking themselves in the coming days, the formers said. “We have no ground to stand on anymore,” HALA RHARRIT, a former career foreign service officer who worked for State for more than 18 years and resigned last month, told NatSec Daily. The U.S. efforts to bring the war in Gaza to an end are “a failed policy,” she added. Speaking about the unsigned letters and advocacy pushing Biden to change course on Israel, “doing it anonymously isn’t enough,” said TARIQ HABASH, a former policy adviser in the Education Department who resigned in January. “Be willing to leave, whether or not you decide to do it publicly.” As loyal NatSec Daily readers know, internal dissent over Israel policy isn’t likely to change the Biden administration’s mind or factor into whether the U.S. continues to send weapons to Netanyahu. Still, 185 lawyers, including 27 currently in the administration, sent a letter first obtained by our own JOSEPH GEDEON to top U.S. officials last night saying that sending weapons to Israel is illegal, arguing that Israel has violated U.S. and international humanitarian law. The National Security Council didn’t respond to NatSec Daily’s request for comment. There’s also growing momentum among Democrats who support conditioning assistance to Israel. Last week alone, 57 Democrats urged the Biden administration to “withhold certain offensive military aid” to deter an invasion of Rafah, and 88 Democrats urged the administration to consider its power to “suspend certain transfers” of offensive weapons to press Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. According to Paul, lawmakers could respond by introducing legislation to block arms transfers, demanding an explanation and documentation from the administration, or trying to have the U.S. undergo the process of determining compliance again. “A lot of people are watching,” said ANNELLE SHELINE, a former foreign affairs officer in State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor who resigned in March.
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Lockheed Martin’s mission is to protect the ones who serve in their service to the nation. It’s why we lead the way in developing new defense tech and pushing the capabilities of what’s possible to bring security to an unsecure world. Learn more. | | | | | US HOLDS UP WEAPONS FOR ISRAEL: The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations told our own LARA SELIGMAN, LEE HUDSON, PAUL MCLEARY, ALEXANDER WARD and NAHAL TOOSI. The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions — both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons — and Small Diameter Bombs. While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction — holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process — to send a message to Israel, an administration official familiar with the process told my colleagues. It appears to be the first time the U.S. administration has delayed a potential weapons sale to Israel since Hamas attacked Israel in October. BIDEN’S MIXED MESSAGING ON RAFAH: The Biden administration says it has been “clear” on what kind of Rafah invasion is acceptable, but Israel’s mission into the city has blurred those lines, Alex also reports. Three administration officials said Israel’s Monday night campaign into eastern Rafah, which came hours after an evacuation order for 100,000 people, has the U.S. “concerned.” Still, they stress the operation has fallen short of the major ground invasion the White House has warned against, one that would put the 1.4 million Palestinians in the line of fire. “This is not what we’ve been worried about,” one of the officials said. All three said that no review of U.S. Israel policy is happening now. National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY later told reporters “This is an operation of limited scope, scale and duration,” noting the U.S. would “be watching this one very, very closely.” Two of the administration officials said the U.S. is monitoring to ensure the precise counterterrorism mission doesn’t grow into an all-out invasion of the city. A Rafah invasion “is absolutely crucial to prevent Hamas from gaining weapons,” IDF spokesperson Maj. NIR DINAR told Alex. Speaking about the cease-fire deal, “We have always said that military operations are a necessary measure in order to bring the hostages home.” SOLDIER STAYING IN RUSSIA: A U.S. soldier who is detained in Russia on charges of theft had traveled there through China, and did not get U.S. government approval for his travel plans, according to an Army spokesperson, Lara also reports. Staff Sgt. GORDON BLACK was most recently stationed at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. He processed out of Eighth Army on April 10, and told his superiors he was heading to Fort Cavazos, Texas, Army spokesperson CYNTHIA SMITH said in a statement. But instead of returning immediately to the U.S., Black flew from Incheon, South Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for “personal reasons,” Smith said. “Black did not request official clearance and [the Defense Department] did not authorize his travel to China and Russia. Official and leave travel is currently restricted pursuant to the DoD Foreign Clearance Guide,” Smith said. Black will remain in jail at least until July while authorities look into the theft charges he’s being held for, The New York Times’ ANATOLY KURMANAEV reports, citing Russian media. Read: Putin’s inauguration set to kick start Kremlin reshuffle by our own EVA HARTOG IT’S TUESDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at mberg@politico.com and ebazail@politico.com, and follow us on X at @mattberg33 and @ebazaileimil. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @alexbward, @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco, @reporterjoe, and @JGedeon1.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF DEFENSE POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like defense, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other. Our defense reporting team—including Lara Seligman, Joe Gould, Paul McCleary, Connor O’Brien and Lee Hudson—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of defense policy and the defense industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | TRUMP’S ASSASSINATION SQUADS: If he’s elected in November, DONALD TRUMP plans to send covert “assassination squads” to Mexico to combat drug cartels, Rolling Stone’s ASAWIN SUEBSAENG reports. Trump hasn’t presented public details about the plan, including how many American troops he’d be willing to send to Mexico. But Trump has privately talked about sending special-ops units, with or without Mexico’s consent, to kill leaders and enforcers of powerful drug cartels, the outlet reports. “In some of these discussions, Trump has insisted that the U.S. military has ‘tougher killers than they do’ and pondered why these assassination missions haven’t been done before,” Rolling Stone writes. Trump has floated several controversial ideas to combat Mexican cartels, in the past and in recent weeks, including sending “special forces” into Mexico and using “cyber warfare” to target cartel leaders.
| | TIKTOK TAKES BIDEN TO COURT: TikTok and its parent company ByteDance sued today to challenge a law Biden signed to force the sale or ban of the video-sharing app, our own REBECCA KERN reports. The petition, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, claims the law violates the First Amendment rights of the app’s 170 million American users. It says the law shuts down the platform based on “speculative and analytically flawed concerns about data security and content manipulation.” “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban,” the filing said. These challenges were widely expected after Biden signed the law, setting up what’s expected to be a drawn-out legal battle. BLIMEY! Britain's defense ministry was hit by a suspected Chinese cyberattack, affecting hundreds of thousands of troops, our own NOAH KEATE and STEFAN BOSCIA report. The hack targeted a defense ministry payroll system, which includes names and bank details of current and former armed forces members. Every troop apart from the U.K.'s special forces was affected, amounting to around 270,000 people. The breach also includes a few thousand home addresses.
| | | PIER COMPLETE: The U.S. military has completed the offshore construction of the temporary port — both the floating pier and the causeway that will be anchored to the beach — that will help flow additional aid to Gaza, Pentagon spokesperson SABRINA SINGH told reporters today. As Lara writes in, the area is still experiencing high winds and sea squalls, which over the weekend prompted the U.S. military to move the construction project to the port of Ashdod, in Israel. But the Pentagon hopes the pier will be able to officially begin operations later this week, Singh said. Aid is currently being loaded onto the Sagamore, a cargo vessel, which will transport the resources from Cyprus to Gaza.
| | | | POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today. | | | | | | | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — SHARING IS CARING: Rep. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-N.J.) introduced a bill today aimed at strengthening intelligence-sharing practices that have helped U.S. allies in the Russia-Ukraine war and could de-escalate future conflicts. The Defense Information Sharing Review and Regional Integration Act would require the Pentagon to study how sharing info about defense has affected the Ukraine war. DOD would then brief Congress on which best practices worked in that conflict and how they could be integrated into other combatant commands. “Proper information sharing channels and processes must be at the ready so if conflict occurs, information can flow as expeditiously as needed to prevent wars and save lives,” Rep. Sherrill, a former Russia policy officer in the Navy, said in a statement. Sherrill, a House Armed Services Committee and the China Select Committee member, specifically noted that the new process of reviewing intel sharing could help deter conflict between China and Taiwan. CALL TO ARREST BIBI: Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.), the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, demanded the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, our own ANTHONY ADRAGNA reports. Her call comes as Democrats are grappling with divisions over the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and the IDF’s military operations in Rafah. "There is nowhere safe in Gaza," Tlaib said in a statement. "I urge the ICC to swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide." ICYMI — Bipartisan opposition builds to Biden’s plan for military space personnel by our own CONNOR O’BRIEN
| | ZELENSKYY HIT FAILS: Ukraine’s security service said today that it had foiled a plot to assassinate President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY by undercover Ukrainian security officials who were working for Russia, our own VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA reports. Two unnamed colonels from the Ukrainian State Security Department, the SBU — the main organization protecting top officials including Zelenskyy — were part of a group of covert agents helping Russia’s security service, the FSB, to plot the assassination, Kyiv said. The colonels were arrested and Kyiv said the conspiracy included plans to also murder SBU chief VASYL MALYUK and Military Intelligence boss KYRYLO BUDANOV. Zelenskyy has previously said he has survived more than 10 assassination attempts. “But it is the first time such a high-ranking official of the state security department has become [the] enemy’s moles,” ARTEM DEHTIARENKO, SBU spokesperson, told Veronika.
| | | — The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative tapped NEIL BECK to serve as acting assistant U.S. Trade Representative for World Trade Organization and Multilateral Affairs. Beck previously served as deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative in the same office.
| | | |   | | | | | — SERGE SCHMEMANN, The New York Times: Israel shutters one of its few links to the Arab world — CONNOR PFEIFFER and RYAN BERG, Foreign Policy: Mexico and the United States need to talk about China now — HANS KRISTENSEN, MATT KORDA, ELIANA JOHNS, MACKENZIE KNIGHT, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: United States nuclear weapons, 2024
| | — Middle East Institute, 10 a.m.: Israel's regional relations and the war in Gaza: the economic dimension — Hudson Institute, 12 p.m.: How civil defense boosts deterrence: A view from Sweden with Swedish Minister for Civil Defense CARL-OSKAR BOHLIN — House Homeland Security Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence Subcommittee, 2 p.m.: Hearing on silent weapons: examining foreign anomalous health incidents targeting Americans in the homeland and abroad — House Financial Services National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee, 2 p.m.: Hearing on restoring national security as the focus of Defense Production Act reauthorization, part II — Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, 3 p.m.: Hearing on military and civilian personnel programs in the DOD in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2025 and the Future Years Defense program — Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, 4 p.m.: Hearing on Air Force modernization in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2025 and the Future Years Defense program — Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, 4:45 p.m.: Hearing on DOD missile defense activities in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2025 and the Future Years Defense program Thanks to our editor, Rosie Perper, who we wish would resign from NatSec Daily, publicly or not. We also thank our producer, Gregory Svirnovskiy, whose resignation we would never accept.
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