Defense Secretary Mark Esper discusses and defends President Trump’s smart decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Northern Syria in advance of Turkish forces launching an assault into Syria against Kurdish forces and the SDF.
The background here goes back to Turkish President Recep Ergodan, a gatekeeper between the middle-east and Europe; and his intention to use his ideological alignment with political Islam, via the Muslim Brotherhood, to recreate the Ottoman Empire.

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Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) employee Henry Kyle Frese was arrested yesterday and charged with leaking multiple classified intelligence reports to media. (Full pdf below).

According to the indictment Mr. Frese was caught leaking classified intelligence information to two journalists, one of which he was romantically involved.
Mr. Kyle Frese has a twitter account HERE. Cross-referencing information from within the indictment, research by Matthew Keys has indicated journalist #1 is Courtney Kube from NBC, and journalist #2 is Amanda Macias from CNBC.  The intelligence leaked by Mr. Frese to Ms. Macias likely revolves around North Korean defense systems. [DOJ Announcement Here]

WASHINGTON – A U.S. counterterrorism analyst was arrested at the Defense Intelligence Agency where he worked on charges related to alleged leaks of information to two journalists, the Justice Department said.

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Earlier this evening President Trump held a meeting with senior military leadership prior to a dinner with spouses at the White House. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, everybody. This is a group gathering of very talented people. And somebody was saying before, I think Mark Esper, our new Secretary of Defense — and, by the way, congratulations.
SECRETARY ESPER: Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Congratulations on really having done already a really great job. But you were saying this is the first group where just about everybody — they’re appointed by Trump. And that’s good. That’s good. Just about everybody. So we have the people that we want. We’re very happy with them.
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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks to honor the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript, POTUS remarks @5:32] –  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mike. And I have to start off by saying that all of my life I’ve heard that if it rains on a big occasion, it brings luck. So, Mark, I think you’re going to be the luckiest general in history. (Laughter.)
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Chopper pressers are the best pressers; even when they are from the tarmac at LAX in California.  Moments ago President Donald Trump talked to the press pool with his newly named national security adviser, Robert O’Brien.  [Video below Transcript ADDED]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. We’re with Robert O’Brien, who, as you know, is the new National Security Advisor. He’s worked with me for quite a while now on hostages, and we’ve had a tremendous track record with respect to hostages. Robert can tell you about it.
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Robert C O’Brien (pictured left) is currently the State Department’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.  A founding partner of the Los Angeles-based law firm Larson O’Brien.

NYT – Mr. O’Brien served with Mr. Bolton when he was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations and has advised Republican candidates like Mitt Romney, Scott Walker and Ted Cruz. In both the Bush and Obama administrations, Mr. O’Brien worked on an initiative to train lawyers and judges in Afghanistan.  (link)

People describe O’Brien as similar to his friend John Bolton without the virulent twitchy trigger finger. In his capacity as special envoy for hostage affairs, O’Brien wrote a letter to Swedish prosecutors urging them to release A$AP Rocky.  According to CBS O’Brien’s work “on Rocky’s case endeared him to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and one of his top advisers.”
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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks during a Pentagon 911 observance ceremony. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, Secretary Esper. Today, our nation honors and mourns the nearly 3,000 lives that were stolen from us on September 11th, 2001. On these grounds, 184 people were murdered when al Qaeda terrorists overtook American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon.
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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were greeted at the Pentagon by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and his wife and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dunford and his wife.  The Defense Secretary of Joint Chief Chairman joined with the President and First Lady as they placed a wreath to remember the fallen. The wreath is red, white and blue.

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Steve Harrigan reports from Abaco Island in the Bahamas as search and rescue efforts continue.  The scale of the devastation is incredible; everything is gone, and worse yet the topography has changed removing the ability of deep water ports to be used in/around most of the northern Bahama islands.  The anticipated death toll is expected to be dramatic. [Disturbing Content]

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The duration of Hurricane Dorian has changed the underwater topography making access to the Island communities even more difficult, if not impossible. The Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency and the Royal Bahamian Defense Force have warned all ocean vessels to stay clear of the Northern Bahama islands.
The equipment needed, and the fuel to make the equipment operational, is not able to reach the Islands because the underwater topography has changed. Deep water channels and port routes need to be remapped.  Most previous ports in/around the Northern Bahamas are no longer feasible for use.  What used to be deep water is now shallow water.
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Warning, Toxic Masculinity Alert! LOL

After a hurricane, lunch-buckets are the second-best ‘buckets’… believe me.
So far over 3,000 power crews have arrived at the Daytona Intl Speedway staging area, with more en route.  That’s a not-so-small army of over 16,000 lineman and electrical utility personnel staged and prepared to jump into action depending on the impact zone of Hurricane Dorian.

The power crews are from all over the United States and Canada, with more on the way to alternate staging areas. The logistics of assembling an army of hardhats is intense, but these calloused and determined hands are some of the true-grit heroes in the aftermath of any hurricane event.
The Daytona International Speedway works great and holds almost perfect facility structure to support the scale of food, fuel and logistics.  Daytona is one of twenty-four staging areas throughout the Southeast where crews are assembling.
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