Letters to the Editor: California's wolves present a complicated problem for ranchers and plenty of opinions
Wolves play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. The resurgence of wolves in California signifies a positive step toward ecological balance after their near eradication.
Protections under the California Endangered Species Act are in place to ensure the species' continued recovery and to promote coexistence strategies. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program, which not only compensates for direct losses but also supports nonlethal deterrent measures, should be expanded and at least partly funded by those that profit off our public lands, such as the Cattlemen's Assn. and corporations such as Tyson, JBS and Cargill.
Other Western states allow killing wolves indiscriminately. California must set the example where nature is the priority, not industries that disproportionately contribute to climate change and degrade ecosystems.
Judie Mancuso, Laguna BeachThis writer is founder and president of animal advocacy nonprofit Social Compassion in Legislation.
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To the editor: I am an environmentally concerned citizen, but it just seems the aggressive wolves in Northern California need to have their fear of human beings restored. Common sense tells me that the ranchers should be allowed to clip a few here and there.
Mike Sovich, Glendale
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To the editor: This article made me wonder why cattlemen don't put several donkeys into their herd of cattle. Donkeys can bond with the cattle, and they are smart and capable of helping keep wolves from attacking them. It would be a natural way to reduce or eliminate the threat.
Deborah Sheflin, Norco
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To the editor: The most prolific cattle killers are not the wolves, as the article states, but the barbaric industry that slaughters tens of millions of these gentle beings annually just so we can buy cheap burgers. When a wolf pack kills what is now easy prey, it's so an endangered species can survive. If we hadn't decimated the habitat that supported a healthy wildlife population, then this conflict wouldn't exist.
Tim Viselli, La Cañada Flintridge
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To the editor: Wolves, a native species, roamed these lands for hundreds of thousands of years and are returning after a brief human-caused interruption. Ranchers raise cattle, a nonnative species, on public lands under inexpensive grazing permits subsidized by taxpayers. Even with wolves, the ranchers have a great deal.
Thomas Bliss, Los Angeles
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Atlantic
an hour ago
- Atlantic
Trump Keeps Defending Russia
Donald Trump loves to speak extemporaneously, and usually, he makes very little sense. (Sharks? The Unabomber? What?) Trying to turn his ramblings into a coherent message is like trying, as an old European saying goes, to turn fish soup back into an aquarium. But he is the president of the United States and holds the codes to some 2,000 nuclear weapons. When he speaks, his statements are both policy and a peek into the worldview currently governing the planet's sole superpower. This morning, the commander in chief made clear that he does not understand the largest war in Europe, what started it, or why it continues. Worse, insofar as he does understand anything about Russia's attempted conquest of Ukraine, he seems to have internalized old pro-Moscow talking points that even the Kremlin doesn't bother with anymore. The setting, as it so often is when Trump piles into a car with his thoughts and then goes full Thelma & Louise off a rhetorical cliff, was Fox & Friends. The Fox hosts, although predictably fawning, did their best to keep the president from the ledge, but when Trump pushes the accelerator, everyone goes along for the ride. The subject, ostensibly, was Trump's supposed diplomatic triumph at yesterday's White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders. The Fox hosts, of course, congratulated Trump—for what, no one could say—but that is part of the drill. A Trump interview on conservative media is something like a liturgy, with its predictable chants, its call-and-response moments, and its paternosters. Trump ran through the usual items: The war was Joe Biden's fault; the 'Russia, Russia, Russia hoax'; the war never would have happened if Trump had been president. Unto ages of ages, amen. But when the hosts asked specifically about making peace, the president of America sounded a lot like the president of Russia. The war, Trump said, started because of Crimea and NATO. Considering his commitment to being a 'peace president,' Trump was oddly eager to castigate his predecessors for being weak: Crimea, he said, was handed over to Russian President Vladimir Putin by Barack Obama 'without a shot fired.' (Should Obama have fired some? No one asked.) Crimea, you see, is a beautiful piece of real estate, surrounded by water—I have been to Crimea, and I can confirm the president's evaluation here—and 'Barack Hussein Obama gave it away.' Putin, he said, got a 'great deal' from Obama, and took it 'like candy from a baby.' Trump did not explain how this putative land swindle led to Putin trying to seize all of Ukraine. But no matter; he quickly shifted to NATO, echoing the arguments of early Kremlin apologists and credulous Western intellectuals that Ukraine existed only as a 'buffer' with the West, and that Putin was acting to forestall Ukraine joining NATO. Russia was right, Trump said, not to want the Western 'enemy' on their border. This might be the first time an American president has used Russia's language to describe NATO as an enemy. Perhaps Trump was simply trying to see the other side's point of view. He then added, however, that the war was sparked not only by NATO membership—which was not on the table anytime soon—but also by Ukrainian demands to return Crimea, which Trump felt were 'very insulting' to Russia. Trump is a bit behind on his pro-Kremlin talking points. The Russians themselves long ago largely abandoned any such blather about NATO and Crimea. Putin claimed early on that Ukraine was infested with Nazis —in the case of Zelensky, apparently Jewish Nazis—and that even if it weren't for NATO and Nazis, Ukraine is organically part of Russia and belongs under Kremlin rule. For three years, Putin has been slaughtering Ukrainian civilians to make the point that his Slavic brothers and sisters need to either accept that they are part of Russia, or die. Trump then stumbled through a discussion of security guarantees, wandering off topic repeatedly while the hosts tried to shepherd him back to the safety of their questions. And then the president of the United States showed the entire world why the past few days of international diplomacy perhaps haven't been going so well, and why a delegation of European leaders had to parachute into Washington to stop him from doing something reckless. 'Look,' Trump said, 'everybody can play cute, and this and that, but Ukraine is gonna get their life back, they're gonna stop having people killed all over the place, and they're gonna get a lot of land.' Notice how the president described people getting killed as if mass death is just a natural disaster that no one has any control over. (Later, he added that he was in a hurry to get to a peace deal because thousands were dying each week—again, as if people were perishing from regularly scheduled earthquakes instead of Russian bombs.) His comment about Ukraine getting lots of land also betrays his default acceptance of Moscow's imperial demands: The land Trump is describing already belongs to Ukraine, and any deal that does not return all of it is a net loss. The American president, however, is speaking as if Kyiv should be grateful for the scraps of territory that Trump and Putin will grudgingly allow to fall from their table. And then the discussion got worse. 'Russia,' Trump ruminated, 'is a powerful military nation.' (Well, yes.) 'You know, whether people like it or not, it's a powerful nation. It's a much bigger nation,' Trump said. 'It's not a war that should have been started.' (Again, a perfectly reasonable statement.) 'You don't do that. You don't take on a nation that's 10 times your size.' Wait, what? Who doesn't take on a bigger nation? Who does Trump think began this war? Trump's answers to the uneasy Fox courtiers summarized his belief that Ukraine, not Russia, was the aggressor, merely by refusing to roll over and hand its land and people to the Kremlin. The president seems to have embraced Putin's sly use of the term root causes (an expression Putin used again in Anchorage). When the Russian dictator says 'root causes,' he means Ukraine's continued existence as an independent nation, which Russia now views as the fundamental justification for its barbarism. Trump then bumbled into several other verbal brambles, but none of them mattered as much as this revealing moment. Zelensky and Ukraine are the problem, and the rest is just an ongoing tragedy that the Ukrainians can end by being 'flexible' and by putting their president in a room with the man conducting atrocities against them. In the end, Trump even suggested that cutting through the knot of war in Ukraine could be the ticket to salvation. 'If I can get to heaven,' he said, 'this will be one of the reasons,' because he will be recognized, presumably, as one of the great peacemakers. As for Putin, Trump knows they can work together: 'There's a warmth there,' he said of his relationship with an indicted war criminal. Blessed, perhaps, are the warmongers.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
The Ukraine-Russia peace talks meet reality
NO PROMISES — If Monday was a day of promising resets and unexpected breakthroughs on the road toward peace in Ukraine, today was something of a regression to the mean. The auspicious talk of security guarantees and bilateral and trilateral meetings gave way to reality. Russia bombed Ukrainian villages and cities near the front in the hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington for meetings with President Donald Trump and top European leaders, and then attacked again overnight — Russia's largest bombardment this month, according to the Ukrainian air force. The security guarantees promised by Trump remained aspirational and vague. Russia tempered expectations of a forthcoming Zelenskyy-Vladimir Putin bilateral, followed by a session that also includes Trump. It's a bracing reminder that, for all the historic visuals of recent days, the summits, good vibes, signs of renewed Western unity and Moscow's supposed openness to talks on ending its war on Ukraine, only incremental progress toward peace has been achieved. Putin has not yet committed to face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy. Trump has merely floated an ambiguous security guarantee, without sketching out any details or making any meaningful defense commitments. And it's a slippery guarantee, as evidenced by the president's various descriptions. If European leaders were looking for a commitment comparable to NATO's Article 5, they didn't get anything close to it. There were promises of 'very good protection' and 'very good security' and 'a lot of help when it comes to security' but no real obligation of any kind. Once chatter about the possible scope of American security guarantees began to penetrate the MAGA-sphere Monday — an issue with the potential to fracture his coalition — Trump made sure to explicitly close the door on the idea of boots on the ground in Ukraine. It's left Ukraine in an awkward and uncertain position, even after the show of solidarity in Washington. Today's events only illuminated the predicament. While White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin has promised to meet with Zelenskyy, Moscow told Russian state news media that there is no commitment to such a meeting. And reports of a prospective venue for a possible trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian presidents — Budapest — won't exactly bring comfort to Kyiv. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been a consistent opponent of increased military aid to Ukraine and a foe of the country's bid to join the European Union. And Budapest, in particular, has a fraught history when it comes to the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine — it is the site and namesake of a failed 1994 accord that was designed to protect Ukrainian sovereignty and independence in exchange for nuclear disarmament. And yet, the harsh reality, writes POLITICO's Nahal Toosi, is that Ukrainians have little choice but to consider any offer Trump puts before them. 'Ukrainians obviously cannot trust Putin, a man with a long history of broken promises. But they also cannot trust Trump, another man with a long history of broken promises. Somehow, though, these are the two men pressuring Kyiv to go for a 'peace agreement' that could force Ukraine to give up a huge chunk of its territory to an invading Russia.' Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's authors at cmahtesian@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @PoliticoCharlie. What'd I Miss? — Gabbard revokes security clearances of 37 former intelligence officials: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revoked the security clearances of 37 former intelligence officials, the Trump administration's latest move against Obama-era officials whom the White House accuses of undermining the Trump administration. In a memo she posted today on social media, Gabbard directed the heads of several national security agencies to immediately revoke the clearances of the officials, at the direction of the president, alleging they politicized or weaponized intelligence for personal or partisan gain. 'All personnel are reminded that holding a clearance is a privilege, not a right, and this privilege is contingent upon continued adherence to the principles and responsibilities of our profession,' Gabbard wrote in the memo. 'Any betrayal of these standards compromises not only our mission, but also the safety and security of the American people.' — Adam Schiff forms legal defense fund: California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, a longtime adversary of President Donald Trump, has formed a legal defense fund, amid the Justice Department probe into his finances. Schiff, who led the first impeachment effort in the House against Trump and aided the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, has become a frequent target of the president in his second term. Earlier this summer, Trump alleged in a post on Truth Social that the California Democrat 'engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud' — an allegation Schiff vehemently denies. 'It's clear that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies will continue weaponizing the justice process to attack Senator Schiff for holding this corrupt administration accountable,' Marisol Samayoa, a spokesperson for Schiff, said in a statement. 'This fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job.' — Air Force chief announces he's leaving post early: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said Monday that he plans to retire in the fall, a surprise move just halfway into his four-year term atop the military service. Allvin made the announcement in a statement, and did not give a specific reason for leaving. He said that while he plans to retire in November, he will serve until a replacement is confirmed. Allvin is the fourth U.S. military service chief to depart since President Donald Trump took office. In January, Trump directed the firing of Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, and in February, he fired Gen. C.Q. Brown as chair of the joint chiefs of staff and removed Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. In April, he fired Cyber Command chief Gen Timothy Haugh. — White House aims to fast-track key Federal Reserve pick: The White House is working over the August recess to build momentum for a key Federal Reserve nominee the administration wants in place next month. Stephen Miran, whom President Donald Trump tapped to temporarily serve on the Federal Reserve's board, has been meeting with members of the Senate Banking Committee, which will need to green-light his nomination before the full Senate can vote on confirmation. Miran met today with Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a member of the panel, and had a call last week with Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Miran is scheduled to have additional meetings with senators in the coming days, with invitations for one-on-ones extended to Republican members of the Banking panel. — Northern Virginia schools at risk of losing funding over transgender bathroom policies: Five northern Virginia school districts are at risk of losing their federal funding after they rejected the terms on an agreement with the Education Department to resolve probes into their transgender student policies. Districts representing Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Prince William County have been placed on high-risk status, the agency said today. All federal funding sent to these school districts will now be done by reimbursement only, forcing the schools to pay their education expenses up front. AROUND THE WORLD A HYPOTHETICAL HOST — Switzerland would grant 'immunity' to Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits the country for hypothetical peace talks with Ukraine, the Swiss foreign minister said today. In a post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had begun arranging a summit, albeit offering scant details. French President Emmanuel Macron suggested today that such a meeting could take place in Geneva. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani concurred, saying the Swiss city 'could be the right venue.' Putin, who has been the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since 2023 for war crimes in Ukraine committed during the Kremlin's full-scale invasion, would not be arrested if he came to the Alpine country to participate in a 'peace conference,' Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced, adding Switzerland was 'ready for such a meeting.' DISEASE SPREADS IN GAZA — Dangerous viruses that cause severe paralytic illness are thriving in Gaza, where starving children living under an Israeli blockade can't access the food or treatments they need to recover. For months, health officials have warned that the destruction of the Gaza Strip's sanitation facilities by Israel could fuel the surge of infectious diseases, as seen in last year's polio outbreak. Now, doctors are reporting a surge in cases of acute flaccid paralysis, a rare syndrome causing muscle weakness that can make it hard to breathe and swallow. Cases in Gaza include acute flaccid myelitis, which mostly affects children, and the better-known Guillain-Barré syndrome, said Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP THE CODE MASTER — 'Kryptos,' a copper sculpture covered in perforated letters that form a code stands in a courtyard of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Sculptor Jim Sanborn designed the code in four parts, three of which have been solved, but the meaning of the final 97 characters is only known by Sanborn. Since its installation in 1990, the CIA, NSA, and hobbyist puzzlers have been unable to crack the code. People have hounded Sanborn for the answer to the point of him charging a $50 fee to answer questions or guesses over email. Oliver Roeder reports on Sanborn's burden of keeping the secret for FT Magazine. Parting Image Jacqueline Munis contributed to this newsletter. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
Politico
4 hours ago
- Politico
Election security advice from Putin
With help from Felicia Schwartz, Daniel Lippman and Nicole Markus Subscribe here | Email Eric HELP US OUT: We want to know what you think about your favorite national security newsletter and how we deliver the news every day to your inbox! Time is running out to complete our survey, so let us know what's working for you, what isn't and what we're missing. Take the survey here. And with that, to the news at hand. As President DONALD TRUMP pledges to roll back mail-in voting, election officials are concerned that steps to limit America's voting systems will only make it easier for foreign hackers such as Russia to interfere in future elections. On Monday, Trump announced in a post on Truth Social his intention to sign an executive order 'to lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots,' along with ending the use of 'Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES,' though he did not elaborate on what types of machines he was referring to. Should Trump ban both mail-in ballots and voting machines, ballots would either need to be tediously and meticulously hand counted or the U.S. would need to create a system for voting online — which security experts warn could threaten the privacy and safety of America's elections — providing an opening for Russia. 'There is no feasible way to hand count U.S. general elections,' HARRI HURSTI, co-founder of the Voting Village at the annual DEF CON conference — where hackers can hunt for vulnerabilities in voting machines — told your host. 'Humans are slow and error-prone and also sometimes dishonest. … You would need to take a significant part of the whole labor force and dedicate those to election work for weeks.' Rep. JOE MORELLE (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Administration Committee with jurisdiction over federal election issues, noted that hand counting ballots 'is an open invitation to being able to mess with the results.' Russia has sought to influence elections around the world to peddle propaganda and to undermine global Western alliances such as NATO. The U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election, and Moscow has been accused in recent years of attempting to influence elections throughout Europe, including Romania, Moldova and Georgia. In 2018, DHS' top cyber official cautioned that U.S. election infrastructure is regularly targeted by hackers to 'cause disruptive effects, steal sensitive data and undermine confidence in the election.' Trump's latest attacks on U.S. election infrastructure come after he met with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN in Alaska on Friday. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity following the meeting, Trump praised the Russian leader and suggested that he supported his debunked claims that the 2020 election was rigged. 'He said: 'Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,'' he told Hannity. Trump has long claimed that mail-in voting leads to increased voter fraud, though there has been little evidence to support this. Around one-third of the electorate submitted their ballots by mail in the 2024 elections. It's worth noting that state governments are in charge of holding elections, according to Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, and any executive order or law seeking to overturn states' rights on this issue is certain to be challenged in court. Still, the Trump administration has already taken steps in recent months to weaken U.S. election security in other ways. The administration froze efforts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to help secure votes and challenge election-related misinformation. In addition, the team at the FBI that responds to foreign election interference was disbanded in February. The White House insisted that Trump's effort to end the use of mail-in ballots is meant to enhance election security. 'President Trump wants to secure America's elections and protect the vote, restoring the integrity of our elections by requiring voter ID, ensuring no illegal ballots are cast, and preventing cheating through lax and incompetent voting laws in states like California and New York,' HARRISON FIELDS, White House principal deputy press secretary, said in a statement. But the timing of Trump's announcement — right after a high-stakes meeting with Putin — has heightened concerns that Trump's actions, nudged by Putin, are aimed at suppressing certain voters and downgrading election security by eroding trust in the electoral process. Colorado Secretary of State JENA GRISWOLD (D), the chief election official in her state, said through these actions, Trump had 'already made our elections less secure.' 'Russia attacked our elections in 2016 unsuccessfully. Russia is not a friend of the United States, and if the U.S. president does not realize it, this just shows how deranged Donald Trump's leadership style is,' Griswold said. The Inbox FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — RWANDAN ARRIVALS: Rwanda tells our own Felicia Schwartz that the first seven migrant deportees arrived in the country Saturday, after she reported earlier this month that Kigali was the latest to bow to diplomatic pressure from the Trump administration to accept some of the thousands of migrants targeted under its mass deportation agenda. The seven individuals are being visited by officials from the International Organization for Migration, and Kigali is providing social services, said YOLANDE MAKOLO, spokesperson for the Rwandan government. Three of the migrants have said they will return to their home countries, while four have indicated they want to stay in Rwanda. He declined to provide more details, citing the deportees' privacy. TRUMP'S MIXED SIGNALS: Trump's keeping everyone guessing about what he meant by U.S. support for security guarantees for Ukraine. On 'Fox & Friends' this morning, Trump said, 'You have my assurance, and I'm president,' that there won't be American boots on the ground to defend against another Russian incursion. But he didn't specify whether he'd offer air assets or other kinds of military support as a backstop to any European effort to protect Ukraine. Europe has similarly been less committal about what it can provide to Ukraine. The Germans have said they can't commit troops on the ground. France and the U.K. are expected to lead some kind of response from the coalition of willing allies, but Paris is leaving the final contours vague as allies continue discussing security guarantees. Trump added that Putin also may not want a deal with Ukraine, and Moscow may have vindicated his point. As all sides haggle over the location of a potential trilateral meeting, Putin pitched Trump on a meeting with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY in Moscow; that would likely be a no-go for Kyiv. Read: Nahal Toosi, POLITICO: The Existential Meets the Absurd in Latest Ukraine Talks ISRAEL'S PROPOSAL REVIEW: Israel is reviewing a ceasefire proposal mediated by Arab allies that would see a phased hostage release. Hamas agreed to the plan earlier this week, offering a potential glimmer of hope that the war would soon come to an end after nearly two years of fighting. Felicia writes in to suggest you view these developments cautiously, if not skeptically. She says the talks have reached this stage many times, only to fall apart again — often when one party has been ready to accept the deal, the other felt they were better off still fighting. Trump also appears to have lost interest in the negotiation effort; he pulled the U.S. out of the current round of talks last month and said during meetings with European leaders that Ukraine was the only conflict he had worked on but not solved, leaving out Gaza. The president has recently suggested that the remaining hostages in Israel will only be returned 'when Hamas is confronted and destroyed.' SHEINBAUM DENIES DEA DEAL: The Drug Enforcement Agency announced a major bilateral initiative to dismantle Mexican drug trafficking networks, but Mexico's government is claiming it doesn't know anything about it. 'The DEA issued this statement; we do not know on what basis. We have not reached any agreement through any of the security agencies with the DEA,' Mexican President CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM told a morning press conference. Sheinbaum, however, did note that Washington and Mexico City have negotiated for months on a security coordination agreement, which she described as 'practically ready.' That deal would provide a framework for coordination initiatives. The program DEA announced, dubbed Project Portero, would create joint training programs for U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials to collaborate. DEA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. SOME NEWS ON THE HOME FRONT: We have a new anchor of NatSec Daily! DANIELLA CHESLOW, who has served as POLITICO's deputy tech editor and contributed to your favorite natsec newsletter, is taking the helm at NatSec Daily — starting tomorrow. A former foreign correspondent, Daniella has already brought her interest in national security issues to reporting tech stories. Take a look at her pieces detailing how Israel's high-tech defenses failed to stop the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the potential for conflict in Iran to threaten tech companies' expansion plans in the Gulf and how NATO countries' commitments to spend more on defense are sparking an 'AI gold rush.' Send tips and well wishes to Daniella at dcheslow@ ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL, your friendly NatSec Daily co-writer, is also embarking on a new role covering the Department of Homeland Security, as it becomes increasingly central to the Trump administration's foreign policy priorities, including deportations, drug control and border policing. Fear not, though, Eric will still be popping in here to bring you juicy details on Latin America policy and the increasing role of migration policy in U.S. statecraft and national security strategy. And for the next few weeks, he'll be co-writing NatSec Daily with Daniella as she gets settled into the new role. 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 ebazail@ and follow Eric on X @ebazaileimil. While you're at it, follow the rest of POLITICO's global security team on social media at: @dave_brown24, @HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @ @PhelimKine, @felschwartz, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130 and @delizanickel Keystrokes BRITAIN BACKS OFF APPLE: The British government has let go of its demand that Apple give 'backdoor' access to user data, Director of National Intelligence TULSI GABBARD said today in a post on X. She said she'd been working with 'partners' in the U.K. to 'ensure Americans' private data remains private and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected.' Our colleague Mizy Clifton reports that the U.K. had ordered Apple to give it access to information secured by its 'Advanced Data Protection' software. Instead, Apple withdrew the software from the British market in February, saying it had 'never built a backdoor or master key' to its products and 'never will.' Washington and London had clashed over the dispute, with The Financial Times reporting that Vice President JD VANCE was pressing the U.K. to back down. The Complex NATIONAL GUARD MEETS NDAA: As more Republican states send National Guard troops to Washington to support the president's alleged crackdown on violent crime in the nation's capital, two DMV lawmakers are working together to limit Trump's powers to deploy the Guard and plan to weave it into the NDAA. Washington Del. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, and Maryland Sen. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, both Democrats, introduced a bill last week to grant the city autonomy over both its police forces and part-time military forces. Norton told our friends at Morning Defense that she's looking to include the legislation in the NDAA as an amendment when Congress reconvenes in September. The legislation is unlikely to pass, given GOP control of both chambers. But it shows that the deployment of the guard remains a sharply contested issue along party lines. On the Hill AIDING AFGHAN ALLIES: A bipartisan group of lawmakers is looking to reinstate a State Department role tasked with finalizing relocation and protection efforts for Afghan allies who supported the U.S. during two decades of military operations in Afghanistan. The bill, introduced by Reps. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-Calif.), DINA TITUS (D-Nev.), MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas) and MIKE LAWLER (R-N.Y.) would codify the role of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts and improve the processing of Afghan relocation cases. That role was axed during Secretary MARCO RUBIO's overhaul of the State Department earlier this summer, but lawmakers are concerned that the absence of the position will hurt the U.S.' ability to help Afghan allies. Kamlager-Dove called the effort a 'matter of moral responsibility, national honor and global credibility' and praised Afghan allies 'who risked everything to protect our servicemembers.' 'Their courage helped save American lives, and now it is our duty to protect theirs. This is not just about policy — it's about principle,' she continued. The bill's future is uncertain. Though lawmakers in both parties have championed the plight of Afghan allies, the Trump administration has refused to expand legal pathways for migration. The administration also revoked temporary protected status for 9,000 Afghan refugees. Transitions — CHRISTOPHER KIRCHHOFF is joining Scale AI as head of applied AI strategy and global security. He founded the Pentagon's Silicon Valley office and previously worked for the White House National Security Council and Google. — Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. DAVID ALLVIN said Monday that he plans to retire in the fall, a surprise move just halfway into his four-year term atop the military service, as our own Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Connor O'Brien reported Monday night. — Former Homeland Security Secretary KIRSTJEN NIELSEN has joined the advisory board of Auburn University's McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security. — BECCA WASSER is now defense lead at Bloomberg Economics. She was previously deputy director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. — BISHOP GARRISON has launched Orange Court Strategies. He most recently was vice president for policy with the Intelligence and National Security Alliance and worked at the Defense Department during the Biden administration. — COREY BROSCHAK is now senior director of institutional affairs at the Brookings Institution. He most recently was acting deputy director of the global resilience team within the Arctic and Global Resilience Office at the Defense Department. — MAHEEN HAQ is now a program and policy administrative assistant at the U.S. Council for International Business. She previously was at DGA Group. What to Read — Jared Mitovich, POLITICO: 'I Don't Think There's a Government in Latin America That Has Given In More' — Chao Deng, The Wall Street Journal: How an Impossible Journey to the U.S. Gave an Injured Boy From Gaza a New Chance — Heather Conley: American Enterprise Institute: Putin Embraces 'Russian America' Tomorrow Today — Center for Strategic and International Studies, 10 a.m.: The Future of U.S.-Australia Critical Minerals Cooperation — New America, 10 a.m.: A virtual book discussion on 'Great Power, Great Responsibility: How the Liberal International Order Shapes U.S. Foreign Policy' Thanks to our editors, Rosie Perper and Emily Lussier, who should never be trusted to count ballots by hand.
