After an 18-day lull, Supported by Russia Houthi terrorists in Yemen targeted another commercial vessel in the Red Sea on Monday. British Maritime Authorities confirmed attempted attack, but said the ship, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, Motaro– remained unharmed after three explosions occurred near the ship while it was crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Houthis too claim attacked two other ships in the Arabian Sea, but offered no evidence to support their claims, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Israeli officials say a drone launched from Yemen landed in the coastal city of Ashkelon on Tuesday. “The impact caused no injuries but started a small fire,” according to the Israel Times.

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Welcome to this Tuesday edition of The D Briefpresented by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your newsletter tips, reading recommendations, or comments here. And if you haven’t already subscribed, you can do so here. On this day in 2004, Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, broadcast a video of Osama bin Laden condemning President George W. Bush and claiming responsibility for the September 11 attacks. He said the attacks were motivated in part by the 1982 Lebanese civil war and that he intended to drag the United States into wars that would bankrupt the country.

Emerging technology

A new rule aims to prevent US investors from supporting Chinese research in AI and quantum science. Released Monday by the White House, the rule “prohibits Americans from engaging in certain transactions involving semiconductors, quantum and artificial intelligence.” And second, it requires U.S. persons to notify (the) Treasury Department of certain other transactions involving semiconductors and artificial intelligence,” a senior White House official told reporters before Jan. 1. release.

How much are US investors investing in Chinese military technology? From 2015 to 2021, they injected $40.2 billion into 251 Chinese AI companies, accounting for 37% of the $110 billion raised by all Chinese companies working in AI. This is according to February 2023 paper from the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies. Defense One Patrick Tucker has more, here.

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Space Force’s efforts to attract new launch providers have not yet worked. Officials are not surprised. Last year, the service launched a competition called National Space Security Launch Phase 3 with two categories: “Track 1” for less risky missions, and “Track 2” for more difficult missions. The idea was that new entrants to the space launch market could get their foot in the door with a Lane 1 mission. But nothing is stopping established giants like SpaceX from competing in Lane 1, and on October 18, the Space Force announced that SpaceX earned $733.5 million for the first series of launches in this category.

“I don’t see it as a failure at all. We fully anticipated it. I mean, everyone knows who’s pitching right now. We knew it was going to be a very limited series, but we knew we had to start somewhere,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, head of the Assured Access to Space program. Defense One Audrey Decker reports.

The future of American democracy

Trump’s former OMB director: ‘We want to traumatize (federal employees)’. A key ally of former President Donald Trump, Russell Vought, has plans that closely track Trump’s campaign rhetoric about using the military against domestic protesters, or what Trump called “the enemy interior”. ProPublica reported Monday after obtaining video of Vought’s private speeches over the past two years. In those appearances, Vought described his work crafting legal justifications so that military leaders or government lawyers would not stop Trump’s executive actions.

As head of the OMB, Vought sought to use Trump’s 2020 “Appendix F“executive order to eliminate job protections for nonpartisan public employees, ProPublica reminds readers. But until these private speeches were made public, he had “never spoken in such strong terms about demoralizing federal workers to the point that they no longer want to do their jobs.”

Why talk about it: “Vought is widely expected to take on a high-level government role if Trump wins a second term. His name was even mentioned as a potential White House chief of staff,” according to ProPublica.

“We want bureaucrats to be traumatized” Vought said. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them not to want to go to work because they are increasingly seen as bad guys. We want their funding cut off so the EPA can’t enforce every rule against our energy industry because they don’t have the financial bandwidth to do so. We want to traumatize them,” he said. Keep reading, here.

View from the Capitol: If re-elected, Donald Trump will behave “like a fascist” and “destroy the Department of Defense”. the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman Jack Reed of Rhode Island, warned Monday in a conversation with reporters. Reed called the meeting to call attention to what he described as “Trump’s dystopian threats to misuse the military and trample the Constitution.”

“What Trump wants is power – the power to first dismiss the lawsuits against him, then the power accumulates more and more,” Reed said. “In fact, he wants to create chaos and a dysfunctional non-governmental government, because in this context he has more power. » If he returns to power, Trump “will destroy the Department of Defense,” the senator warned. “He has already demonstrated at the end of his last term his desire to essentially return senior civilian defense officials to his Annex F episode. This was reproduced in the Project 2025 report, and it will be something that he will do. It will create chaos and force many of our best officers, frankly, to decide whether they continue to serve or whether they should leave the service.

“Why men Trump once called ‘my generals’-men like General (John) Kelly, General (Mark) Milley, General (Jim) Mattis, General (HR) McMaster, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and more, all who worked closely collaboration with him, even his own former vice president Mike Pence, why do they all think Trump is unfit to be president? » asked Reed.

Citing the recent work by historian Heather Cox Richardson, Reed stated that a March 1945 U.S. Army publication, Talks with the army“tried to explain to most of the troops what fascism was. And one of the lines in the document says that it is “government by the few and for the few.” The objective is the seizure and control of the economic, political, social and cultural life of the State. And it looks a lot like Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the gang all plotting to take over and get special powers and go after their enemies and do things like that. »

Citing this Army publication, Reed reminded reporters that fascists “make their own rules.” and change them whenever they wish… they maintain themselves in power through the use of force combined with propaganda based on primitive ideas of “blood” and “race”, through skillful manipulation of fear and hatred and by false promises of security. (That) Looks like a Trump speech” Reed said. “So I’m very concerned that he’s acting like a fascist, whatever the definition of a fascist is.”

But Reed wasn’t entirely lacking in optimism. “I have confidence in military leaders that if they detect people acting contrary to the law, the Constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, they will take action and correct it; that’s their job,” he said. However, “the question that becomes much more difficult is: If he takes office, I think he will then have powers that can essentially purge the military of people of conscience and replace them with his cronies.” It would be a disaster” because “people wouldn’t be there because they are the best strategists, tacticians, etc.” They are there because they will do whatever (Trump) says. And frankly, I don’t think he has a very good understanding of many issues affecting the world. »

• Learn more: View the eight-page 1945 U.S. Army publication in its entirety, here.

Related reading: “How autocrats play with the rules of democracy», (gift link) via Amanda Taub from New York Timeswriting Tuesday from London.

See also: “Fascism, fear and the science behind horror films”, excerpted from WNYC’s “On the Media” podcast, published Friday.