Washington – Archyde.com
The United States needs to continue modernizing its nuclear command and control system to combat potential espionage from foreign companies’ equipment installed in cell phone communication towers near nuclear missile fields, the head of US Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard, said on Wednesday.
The comments came following he was asked regarding a report that the US Department of Commerce is investigating the national security threat posed by the Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei, amid concerns that the company’s facilities may capture sensitive information regarding locations and transmit it to Beijing.
“We are well aware of the potential threats to our nuclear command and control,” Richard told reporters. This isn’t new, is it? The attraction of nuclear command and control to your opponent has made it very ambitious for decades, and we know that.” He added, “I have great confidence in the system, but I will point out that those threats that you are talking regarding are not fixed, and we must continue to modernize our nuclear command and control system to enable it to overcome these threats.” Richard did not mention Huawei by name.
The US Department of Commerce summoned Huawei in April 2021 to learn the company’s policy on sharing data with foreign parties that its devices can pick up from mobile phones, including messages and geo-location data.
Huawei has long faced US government allegations that it may spy on US customers, although authorities in Washington have not disclosed sufficient evidence. The company denies the accusations.
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Nuclear weapons
War in Ukraine | Russia tests launch of nuclear-capable missiles, says ministry | Iskander | Vladimir Putin | Volodymyr Zelensky | WORLD
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Russia said on Wednesday that its forces rehearsed a simulated launch of nuclear-capable missiles in the western enclave of Kaliningrad, amid its military campaign in Ukraine.
The announcement came on the 70th day of Russian military action, which has left thousands dead and more than 13 million displaced, in Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.
After sending troops to Ukraine in February, the Russian president Vladimir Putin he has made veiled threats suggesting his willingness to use his country’s tactical nuclear weapons.
On Wednesday during military games in the Baltic Sea enclave, located between Poland and Lithuania, Russia tested simulated “electronic launches” of its Iskander mobile ballistic missile system, nuclear capablethe defense ministry said in a statement.
Russian forces practiced single and multiple attacks on targets emulating missile launch systems, airstrips, protected infrastructure, military equipment and command posts of a simulated enemyaccording to the statement.
After the “electronic” releases, military personnel carried out maneuvers to change their position seeking to avoid “a possible retaliatory attack”added the Russian ministry.
The combat units also practiced “actions in conditions of radiation and chemical contamination.
More than 100 soldiers participated in the trials.
CIA does not rule out use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine | The World | D.W.
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
The director of the CIA, William Burns, assured on Thursday (04.14.2022) that the United States should not “take lightly” the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, given the complications it has encountered in the 50 days of its military offensive in the country.
“Given the potential desperation of (Russian) President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks they have encountered militarily, no one can take lightly the threat that tactical nuclear weapons may be resorted to or low-power,” Burns said following a speech at a Georgia state university in the United States.
The head of the CIA pointed out, however, that they have not seen evidence that Russia is preparing to use this type of missile.
“Although we have seen rhetorical positions on the part of the Kremlin around raising its nuclear alert level, we have not seen much tangible evidence of these types of deployments … to support these concerns,” he added.
Burns was thus referring to some previous statements by Vladimir Putin, in which he assured that he was going to put his nuclear weapons system on alert. This same Thursday, Russia warned that it might transfer nuclear weapons to the Baltic Sea region if Finland and Sweden joined NATO.
The United States has warned that Russia might use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, but these public comments by Burns are the most explicit to date by the US on the Kremlin’s use of nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine.
Burns also claimed that President Joe Biden is trying to prevent a third world war from breaking out, which has led Washington to avoid closing Ukrainian airspace or rejecting Poland’s plans to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine.
However, on Wednesday Biden announced a military aid package to Ukraine valued at 800 million dollars, which includes for the first time, since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, 18 155-millimeter Howitzers with 40,000 ammunition; To which are added 10 AN/TPQ-36 type anti-artillery radars and two AN/MPQ-54 air surveillance radars.
gs (efe, afp, Archyde.com)
Putin is desperate and could use nuclear weapons, CIA warns
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Russia’s setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine may lead Russian President Vladimir Putin to use low-yield or tactical nuclear weapons, CIA Director William Burns said Thursday.
Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, as well as the setbacks they have thus far faced militarily, none of us can take lightly the nuclear threat of the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” he warned. Burns in a speech in Atlanta.
The Kremlin said it put the nuclear deterrent forces on high alert shortly following the invasion began on February 24, but the United States has not seen “much practical evidence” of deployments of greater concern, Burns added when speaking to Georgia Tech University students.
Obviously, we are very concerned. And I know that President (Joe) Biden is deeply concerned regarding avoiding a third world war, regarding avoiding the threshold where a nuclear conflict becomes possible,” the CIA chief said.
Russia has many tactical nuclear weapons, less powerful than the bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in World War II.
Russian military doctrine lays out a principle called “escalation to de-escalation,” which would involve striking a first blow with a low-yield nuclear weapon to regain the initiative if things go wrong in a conventional conflict with the West.
But under this hypothesis, “NATO might intervene militarily on the ground in Ukraine in the course of this conflict, and this is not something that, as President Biden has made clear, is on the cards.”
Recalling that he once served as ambassador to Russia, Burns had harsh words for Putin, calling him an “apostle of revenge” who for many years “has been kept in a flammable combination of nonconformity, ambition and insecurity.”
Every day Putin proves that powers in decline can be just as disruptive as those on the rise,” he said.
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