National Security Council News

The United States conducted a cyberattack recently against an Iranian military ship in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that had been collecting intelligence on cargo vessels, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing three U.S. officials.The cyberattack took place a week ago as part of a government response to a drone attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan late last month and wounded dozens of others, the report said.NBC reported…

The Philippines on Monday accused Chinese coastguard vessels of "intentionally" colliding with its vessels on a resupply mission in a disputed part of the South China Sea, as ties deteriorated between the Southeast Asian U.S. ally and Beijing.Both sides traded accusations after the latest incident on Sunday, which was the most serious yet in the waters around the disputed Second Thomas shoal, though no one was harmed.China said on Sunday that the Philippine boats "bumped dangerously" with the coastguard vessels and "Chinese fishing vessels" fishing there.On Monday…

China again asked the Philippines to tow away a grounded warship - a World War Two-era vessel now used as a military outpost - from a disputed shoal on Tuesday, after Manila rejected Beijing's earlier demand.Tensions have soared between the two neighbours over the South China Sea under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, with Manila pivoting back to the United States, which supports the Southeast Asian nation in its maritime disputes with China.China's embassy in Manila…

The U.S. Navy said it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the area since 2019.In a statement, the U.S. Navy said that at 0100 local time (2100 GMT), an Iranian naval vessel had approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman."The Iranian vessel departed the scene when U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived on station…

The U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC) held a Change of Command on June 16, 2023, at 10 a.m. at Fort Trumbull in New London. Current RDC Commanding Officer, Capt. Dan Keane, was relieved by Capt. Michael Chien. Capt. Keane held command since May 1, 2020. He retires with 24 years of service.During Capt. Keane’s tenure, the command operated seamlessly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research continued and the approved portfolio was executed. Highlights included the command celebrating its 50th anniversary…

Valero Energy Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil refiner, is seeking Washington's permission to import Venezuelan crude, according to four people close to the matter, hoping for a repeat of the approval granted to Chevron Corp in November after a four-year ban.President Joe Biden's administration has eased some U.S. sanctions on the OPEC-member nation in an effort to encourage a political dialogue with the country's opposition. That has led to further pressure from U.S., European and Asian energy firms…

The Solomon Islands has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, an official of the island nation said on Wednesday.The United States and its allies, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, have held concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year."This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces…

Iranian oil exports hit new highs in the last two months of 2022 and are making a strong start to 2023 despite U.S. sanctions, according to companies that track the flows, on higher shipments to China and Venezuela.Tehran's oil exports have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited a 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran's government.Exports have risen during the term of his successor President Joe Biden, who had sought to revive the nuclear deal, and hit the highest since 2019 on some estimates.

Two U.S. Navy warships sailed through international waters in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the first such operation since a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged China which regards the island as its territory.The U.S. Navy, confirming a Reuters report, said cruisers Chancellorsville and Antietam were carrying out the ongoing operation. Such operations usually take eight to 12 hours to complete and are closely monitored by China's military.In recent years, U.S.

A top economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the White House to block American companies from all trade in Russian oil and urged Western oil and gas companies to stop handling the commodity, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.In an interview with the U.S. news outlet overnight, Oleg Ustenko said the companies should hire independent accountants to verify no Russian oil is loaded onto their ships, the Times said."We need a full embargo, a full boycott.

Iran will respond promptly to any threat against its security, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after the United States, Israel and Britain blamed Tehran for an attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman.Tehran has denied any involvement in the attack on Thursday in which two crew members—a Briton and a Romanian—were killed.The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their allies to respond to the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the incident as "clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping"."Iran should face up to the consequences of what they've done…

Iran said on Wednesday the United States had agreed to remove all sanctions on Iran's oil and shipping but Washington said "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" in talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.The remarks by outgoing President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi echoed previous assertions by officials in Rouhani's pragmatist camp that Washington is ready to make major concessions at the nuclear talks in Vienna that began in April.The indirect talks adjourned on Sunday for consultations in capitals…

Fincantieri Marinette Marine and its board of directors announced that Mark Vandroff will be taking over as CEO effective July 7, replacing Jan Allman who has led the Wisconsin shipyard since 2014.“Our company’s continued growth afforded us an opportunity to expand our senior leadership team and to better organize to exceed our customer’s needs,” said Dario Deste, CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group. “Jan [Allman] has done a tremendous job working with partner Lockheed Martin and the Navy on the Littoral Combat Ship and Multi-mission Surface Combatant programs…

The United States is considering imposing sanctions on dozens of additional foreign oil tankers for trading with Venezuela, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, the latest effort to sever what Washington sees as a lifeline for President Nicolas Maduro.Some sanctions could be announced in the near term while others could be imposed over a longer period if the trading activity persists in violation of U.S. restrictions, one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.Earlier on Friday…

Taiwan is complying with international sanctions against North Korea, a senior Taiwanese security official told the United States’ deputy representative for North Korea on Tuesday, having previously been called out for breaking them.Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, is not a member of the United Nations, but says that as a responsible global player it is committed to ensuring sanctions are enforced to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.In 2018, independent U.N. monitors told a U.N.

Identifying and dealing with potential threats to port security operations was at the core of a three-day workshop in Belize City, Belize (18-20 July). The event took a closer look at security needs and associated risks. Through interactive presentations and discussions between participants the workshop helped identify opportunities for increased collaboration between government agencies and port owners/operators as well as assessing port security training priorities. The workshop also discussed specific issues around Port Facility Security Assessments (PFSAs) in keeping with the international requirements in International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code…

Japan will agree this month to give Australia classified submarine data, an unprecedented step signalling Tokyo's intent to join competitive bidding to sell Canberra a fleet of stealth subs, said two Japanese officials familiar with the plan. The "competitive assessment" will see Germany's ThyssenKrupp and France's state-controlled naval contractor DCNS separately competing with a Japanese government-led bid for such contractors as Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Japan had been the front runner in the planned sale of around 12 vessels, for as much as $40 billion, to replace Australia's ageing Collins class submarines, sources have said, until Prime Minister Tony Abbott opened up the bidding under pressure from opposition and ruling party lawmakers.

Pakistan is close to signing a $4 to $5 billion deal to buy eight submarines from China, the Financial Times said on Thursday, in what it added would likely be China's largest overseas arms sale. The Pakistan Navy says Islamabad has given the green light to the military's plan to purchase eight conventional submarines from China, reports Huanqiu, the Chinese-language website of China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times. Pakistan has been negotiating the submarine purchase with China since 2011, with initial plans to purchase six, and subsequently raising the number to eight. The plan is viewed as a means to address the country’s force imbalance with India.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed to collaborate more closely with India on the strategic Chabahar port development. Rouhani made the pledge when India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval called on him in Tehran. The implementation of Chabahar-Zahedan Railway project and expanding Port of Jask to make it an important oil export port, President Rouhani said Iran is ready to cooperate more closely with the Indian private sector. The Port of Chabahar is a seaport in southeastern Iran. Its location lies in the Gulf of Oman. It is the only Iranian port with direct access to ocean. Doval said Chabahar can become the North-South Corridor in the region and India looks to it as a place for quick development of relations.

The number of people evacuated due to Malaysia's worst-ever floods jumped to more than 160,000 on Saturday, as Prime Minister Najib Razak reached the worst-hit state after cutting short a vacation in the U.S. Najib arrived in Kelantan, which has the biggest problems among eight affected states, following his return from Hawaii on Friday after public criticism he had been absent as flooding worsened. On Saturday, Najib announced an additional 500 million ringgit ($143.31 million) will be spent to aid victims after the flood subsides, following an initial government allocation of 50 million ringgit two days ago. The number of people evacuated topped 160,000 at 0700GMT Saturday, according to the New Straits Times newspaper, a sharp increase from 100,000 a day before.

The board of directors of General Dynamics has elected Rudy deLeon to be a director of the corporation, effective September 30, 2014. DeLeon is a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, a position he has held since November 2007. He began his career with the federal government, where he served for 25 years until 2001. In his final position as deputy secretary of defense, he was the chief operating officer at the Pentagon, a member of the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council and a member of the National Partnership Council. He was also undersecretary of defense for Personnel and Readiness from 1997 to 2000, and he was undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force from 1994 to 1997.

A tanker carrying crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan was anchored near the Port of Galveston, Texas, and must undergo a routine safety inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday before it can unload its cargo, an official said. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker United Kalavrvta sailed from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in June bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast despite Washington's concerns over independent oil sales from the autonomous region and threats from the Iraqi central government. Crude offloading could begin as early as Sunday, if the tanker passes the Coast Guard inspection "and there are no other issues," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Andy Kendrick. The Coast Guard was communicating with the U.S.

Kremlin. warned it will act to protect eastern Ukraine's Russian-speakers if they come under attack. operation" to re-assert Kiev's control in Slaviansk. flying over the town's police headquarters where militants were holed up. windows," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page. any one had been hurt. into Slaviansk, but there was no independent confirmation of this. Sunday business. Ukraine that began when the Moscow-backed president was pushed out, and Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. to a Russian military incursion, though Moscow has strenuously denied any such intention. further military intervention," said Laura Lucas Magnuson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Kiev on April 22, becoming the most senior U.S.