| | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward and Matt Berg | |  Gaza remains an active warzone and much of the enclave poses security risks to aid workers, which will complicate any efforts to get assistance to those in need. | Photo by AFP via Getty Images | With help from Connor O’Brien and Nahal Toosi Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Matt President JOE BIDEN will use part of his State of the Union address tonight to announce that he’s ordered the military to build a temporary port for Gaza. That would allow more aid to get into the enclave that currently has no infrastructure to harbor ships offloading assistance. The U.S. won’t put boots on the ground, administration officials said, noting America has “unique capabilities” that allow it to construct a port or causeway without having to send forces to Gaza’s shores. The construction is a key part of the maritime corridor the U.S. is working to establish alongside other countries, commercial partners and non-governmental organizations. But even with a pier or causeway in place, there are still three major questions about how this will all work, namely how to offload, secure and distribute the aid? Many elements remain up for discussion, according to our conversations with two U.S. officials, one Europe official and two Middle East officials. Once a coordinated plan is in place, it would take 45 to 60 days before there’s a regular cadence of large assistance packages shipping across the Mediterranean — surely too slow for Gaza’s mostly displaced and starving 2.2 million people. But the officials, granted anonymity to reveal details of the current thinking, still offered a primer on where things stand. Offload: The aid will initially flow through Larnaca port in Cyprus, located about 230 miles from Gaza. It’s already fitted with high-tech screening equipment that allows Israeli officials stationed in Cyprus to check what’s inside the deliveries. Gaza has no working port, though, which is why Biden has ordered the U.S. military to help establish the temporary pier. It’s unclear what role other partners will play in its creation. Secure: The aid needs to be protected once it's ashore, and crowds clamoring for assistance have to be managed. U.S. officials said Israel has not yet agreed to a security and crowd-control mission on the beachhead and that negotiations are ongoing, including whether Israeli forces would also be responsible for demining staging areas for the aid. Distribute: Arguably the hardest part is dispersing the aid throughout the whole of Gaza. The multinational coalition will rely on the United Nations, NGOs and other organizations to ensure the assistance gets to the right places. Chef JOSÉ ANDRÉS’ World Central Kitchen, for example, has a vast distribution network in the enclave, including ships of its own. Of course, Gaza remains an active warzone and much of the enclave poses security risks to aid workers, which will complicate any efforts to get food, water, medicine and other assistance to those in need. An Israeli official didn’t want to comment on the port itself, but said he worried about Hamas seizing the extra assistance coming in: “We see it every day when Hamas takes humanitarian aid that is brought into Gaza that is brought in for civilians and Hamas uses it for their needs.” Next steps: The biggest outstanding issue is who will synchronize all of these efforts? “The goal here is to find a way to bring synergy to every one initiative,” another senior Biden administration official told Alex. It’s unclear if that responsibility will fall to one nation or a group of them. “We will need something like that so that we can actually build connective tissue between our planners, our development professionals, etc. to work out some of the details.” The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are in talks with the Cypriots about how they can contribute to the maritime corridor, the official added. Spokespeople for both governments didn’t respond to a request for comment, though there’s reporting that UAE-funded aid will be arriving in Gaza next week. The Biden administration stresses that the maritime corridor will add to what it’s already doing to improve the humanitarian situation, namely airdropping assistance and pushing the Israelis to open more land crossings.
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Lockheed Martin is developing advanced IAMD capabilities to give sailors more options using existing capabilities. Integrating PAC-3 MSE into the Aegis Weapon System would deliver an advanced, combat-proven IAMD capability to U.S. Sailors. Learn more. | | | | | BIDEN’S SOTU PLAN: You can expect President JOE BIDEN to address Israel’s war with Hamas “head-on” during his State of the Union address tonight, White House chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS told our friends over at Playbook. “The president is working hour by hour to negotiate an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks as part of a deal that would release hostages, and get significantly more humanitarian aid in,” Zients said. But the prospect of a deal coming before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is unlikely. Today, Hamas said its negotiators left Cairo and that negotiations on a cease-fire and hostage release will continue next week, The Associated Press’ SAMY MAGDY, ABBY SEWELL and AAMER MADHANI report. The U.S., Egypt and Qatar have tried to broker a deal for weeks but have said the militant group won’t agree to the terms yet. While the stakes of SOTU speeches are always high, “you could argue that this is a particularly big moment, and I think there’s no one better at handling high stakes than President Biden,” Zients said, not specifically talking about the Gaza war. Across the ocean, around a dozen senior figures from across the Continent who spoke to our own DAN BLOOM, NAHAL TOOSI and BARBARA MOENS all urged Biden to use his State of the Union address to push Congress to finally pass his $60 billion military aid package for Kyiv. “It is a delicate, difficult situation,” one U.K. official said. “We would like to see anything that can be done to convince lawmakers to get it over the line.” An EU diplomat agreed that Ukraine aid “will be the most important thing to look out for” in Biden’s speech, “even though we know that the problem is not with him.” ISRAEL ‘LIKELY’ KILLED REPORTER: An Israeli tank crew in Lebanon fired a pair of shells at a group of clearly identified journalists, killing a Reuters reporter, before “likely” shooting at them with a heavy machine gun for almost two minutes, a report out today found. The October attack killed journalist ISSAM ABDALLAH and severely wounded Agence France-Presse photographer CHRISTINA ASSI. Reuters contracted the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research to analyze evidence and put out the report. "It is considered a likely scenario that a Merkava tank, after firing two tank rounds, also used its machine gun against the location of the journalists," TNO's report said. After a Reuters investigation late last year that determined Abdallah was killed by Israel, Israel said the journalists were in an active combat zone and that the incident was under review. At least 95 journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas conflict began. ‘AT LEAST NOT YET’: A senior Cuban official denied that her country hosts a Chinese military base despite multiple reports on the matter confirmed by the Biden administration. “There are no military bases from China in Cuba — at least not yet,” JOHANA TABLADA, a senior Cuban official who focuses on relations with the U.S., told Nahal in an interview this week. “I don’t know if 10 years from now, after the U.S. keeps treating Cuba like garbage.” Nahal asked if Cuba would ever welcome such a base. “I don’t think so, because we are proxies of no one. I don’t know. I’m not ruling my country,” she said. “We are not a threat.” Tablada said Cuba has aided U.S. law enforcement in areas such as curbing money laundering, migration and trafficking, and she stressed that Havana wants better overall ties with its giant neighbor. Last summer, the Biden administration said that China was spying on the U.S. from a base in Cuba — and that it was an issue it inherited from previous administrations. China, a U.S. official said at the time, “conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record.” Tablada sounded pessimistic that U.S.-Cuba relations would improve any time soon. Speaking of Biden, she said “he had the opportunity to ease sanctions when we were under the more vulnerable situation. He had the opportunity to reciprocate Cuban gestures.” And what if DONALD TRUMP returns to office? “Well, it depends on his entourage, if crazy people will come back to run Latin American policy,” Tablada responded. “The only thing that they couldn’t accomplish [was] to break diplomatic relations with Cuba and invade Cuba, so that’s what I will be waiting for: an invasion with any pretext.” IT’S THURSDAY: 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 award@politico.com and mberg@politico.com, and follow us on X at @alexbward and @mattberg33. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco, @reporterjoe, and @JGedeon1.
| | | | YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics. | | | | | | | | | TRUMP TO GET INTEL BRIEFINGS: U.S. intelligence officials are planning to brief Trump on national security matters if he secures the GOP nomination this summer, our own JOHN SAKELLARIADIS and ERIN BANCO report, despite concerns about his handling of classified information. The Biden administration intends to share intelligence with the former president no matter the outcome of his trial in Florida, according to a senior intelligence official and a second person with knowledge of internal conversations. The sit-down is not legally required, but for the last 72 years, incumbent administrations have tapped the spy agencies to read in the candidates of both major political parties on some of the most pressing threats to the country. While often this is just one meeting, sometimes candidates receive several briefings. The briefings, which are managed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and approved by the White House, normally take place after the national conventions in late summer.
| | CRANE, CRANE GO AWAY: Chinese-built cargo cranes operating in the U.S. had communications equipment that a congressional probe feared might be used for espionage, The Wall Street Journal’s DUSTIN VOLZ reports. “Over a dozen cellular modems were found on crane components in use at one U.S. port, and another modem was found inside another port’s server room,” an aide on the House Homeland Security Committee told Volz. “Some of the modems had active connections to operational components to the cranes.” U.S. intelligence officials have long warned about the potential for cranes built by ZPMC, a Chinese company that accounts for 80 percent of ship-to-ship cranes in operation at U.S. ports, to spy. “While it isn’t unusual for modems to be installed on cranes to remotely monitor operations and track maintenance, it appears that at least some of the ports using the ZPMC-made equipment hadn’t asked for that capability,” Volz wrote. ICYMI — Engineer accused of stealing Google’s AI secrets for Chinese startup by our own JOSH GERSTEIN Read: House Republicans warn Chinese crane maker could ‘manipulate’ US port operations by our own MAGGIE MILLER (for Pros!)
| | | |   | | | | | DRONE-N’T DO IT: With an eye on drone threats to U.S. military installations, Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.) said he may try to include his bipartisan legislation to criminalize the dangerous use of uncrewed vehicles in the next NDAA, our friends at Morning Defense (for Pros!) report. Kelly was among SASC lawmakers who received a classified briefing Wednesday on the drone threat in the U.S. and overseas, as well as military efforts to counter it. The briefing was prompted by a series of drone incursions in December at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, which is adjacent to Newport News, Virginia. Kelly’s bill would make it illegal to use drones to interfere with military, law enforcement or emergency response activity. He is a co-sponsor with Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa). “What we need is penalties,” Kelly told our colleagues. “My concern is there are adversaries who are clearly using these to collect information. Another aspect is hobbyists that just don’t realize what they’re doing — and then you wind up sucking a drone down the intake of an F-35 and you just lost your $90 million airplane.” SWEDE VICTORY: Sweden became NATO's newest member today, dropping its long-standing neutrality and joining the alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, our own STUART LAU reports. Read: What Sweden brings to NATO by our own LUCIA MACKENZIE
| | IRAN DETERRED, BUT NOT: The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. ERIK KURILLA, assessed that U.S. strikes last month against Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq have deterred Tehran in those countries for the moment, our own CONNOR O'BRIEN writes in. But in a Senate hearing on CENTCOM's posture, Kurilla tempered expectations on the more than monthlong lull in attacks by Iranian proxies there, noting attacks continue in the Red Sea. "I would tell you Iran is undeterred in support to the Houthis. They're undeterred in their support to Hezbollah, their support to Hamas, their support into the West Bank," Kurilla told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "They are deterred right now in Iraq and Syria and their support to the Iranian aligned militia groups ... in terms of attacks, but not necessarily in terms of their funding and equipping." Kurilla warned that "deterrence is temporary" in Iraq and Syria, but said strikes there in early February that hit dozens of targets and killed a senior commander of Kataib Hezbollah had had an impact. "The key to establishing deterrence is Iran has to understand there are consequences to their actions," he said. “I think on the last attack that we did against 85 targets, our messaging matched our actions."
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | | ‘LEGAL ARM OF HAMAS’: Israel accused South Africa of acting on behalf of Hamas as the country continues to petition the International Court of Justice to take measures against Israel for its war in Gaza, Reuters’ ARI RABINOVITCH and BHARGAV ACHARYA report. "South Africa continues to act as the legal arm of Hamas in an attempt to undermine Israel's inherent right to defend itself and its citizens, and to release all of the hostages," Israel's foreign ministry said. CLAYSON MONYELA, a South African spokesperson, told Reuters that Israel knows “what they are doing. It is absurd to keep saying that South Africa is acting on behalf of Hamas." In January, South Africa asked the ICJ to declare that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza in an attempt to stop the fighting. The court instead ordered Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide.
| | | | — BRAD CARSON has cofounded and is the president of Americans for Responsible Innovation. Carson, who will remain the president of the University of Tulsa, was the Army under secretary for personnel and readiness.
| | — JOSH ROGIN, The Washington Post: The State of the Union gives Biden a key chance to pivot on Gaza — CHARLOTTE ALTER, Time: The fight to free EVAN GERSHKOVICH — AARON BATEMAN, Foreign Affairs: Why Russia might put a nuclear weapon in space
| | — United States Institute of Peace, 9 a.m.: Fragile but intact: understanding India and Pakistan's three-year ceasefire — Hudson Institute, 9:15 a.m.: Taking on the China challenge Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who we’re ready to offload as our editor. We also thank our producer, Raymond Rapada, who makes us feel secure.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: PAC-3 MSE: Enabling a Hardened Defense against Maritime Threats
To succeed in a multi-domain environment, sailors need more advanced options to stay ahead of evolving threats. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
