President Trump Shifting the Pentagon’s and the CIA’s Assets Away From International Counterterrorism and Towards China and Russia

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The Pentagon announced that it plans to withdraw its military support by January for the CIA’s international counterterrorism missions.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday:

The Pentagon is planning to cut most of its military support to the Central Intelligence Agency’s counterterrorism operations by January 5, according to reports.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller revealed the surprising decision in a letter to CIA Director Gina Haspel, ABC News reports.

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The Pentagon decided to withdraw the support as it reviews whether the military personnel assigned to CIA counterterrorism operations during conflicts in the Middle East, could be moved to missions in Russia and China, according to Defense One.

Defense One reported:

Few details on the scope of the review process, including how broad it is, were available on Wednesday. Two sources familiar with the matter said that Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller has sent a letter to CIA Director Gina Haspel saying that a longstanding arrangement offering DOD support to the agency is in jeopardy.

The review is the pet project of Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Ezra Cohen-Watnick, one of several top-level political appointees assigned to acting roles in the Pentagon in the wake of Trump’s Election Day loss. Several of those officials, including Cohen-Watnick, are seen as Trump loyalists.

Some may speculate that this move proposed by January may have something to do with the President’s recent actions in replacing the Secretary of Defense as much as the implications to the CIA.  CIA Director Haspel has gone stealth since the 2020 election.

The Pentagon’s actions may also be related to the President’s Executive Order regarding foreign intervention in our elections that we wrote about recently.  A report on this matter is due in a week from the Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe:

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The President has reasons for focusing military and CIA assets less on the Middle East and more on China and Russia.  Perhaps next week’s report from Ratcliffe will address this.

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