The Washington Times

Threat Status for Wednesday, January 8, 2025. Share this daily newsletter with your friends, who can sign up here. Send tips to National Security Editor Guy Taylor.

Key Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee have sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding a briefing on what is known about the trips Shamsud-Din Jabbar made to Egypt and Canada before carrying out the New Year’s Day New Orleans massacre in the name of the Islamic State terror group.

… While investigators say Jabbar acted on his own, questions still swirl around his radicalization and whether or not he had contact with any operatives of the group also known as ISIS. In their letter, the GOP lawmakers also cite reports that Jabbar had explosive compounds never before used in the U.S. or Europe.

… President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

… The Biden administration is trying to draw attention to the civil war in Sudan before leaving office, saying Tuesday that a Sudanese paramilitary group and its proxies are committing genocide.

… Threat Status examined aspects of the Sudan war in a recent video, including how China, Russia and Iran are exploiting the conflict to gain influence in Africa.

… Ukrainian forces claim to have struck a key military fuel depot deep inside Russia.

… And the Hudson Institute has a new report examining how protecting American air assets on runways and at bases in the Pacific will be critical in conflict with China — asserting that the Pentagon’s current approach is “largely ignoring this threat.”

How the North Korean threat has 'arrived in Europe'

North Korea’s deployment of troops to help Russia’s war against Ukraine underscores how Kim Jong-un’s regime is “selling the blood, sweat and tears of the people of North Korea in order to stay in power,” Greg Scarlatoiu, who heads the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told a virtual panel discussion hosted this week by The Washington Times Foundation.

Appearing on The Washington Brief, Mr. Scarlatoiu explained the Kim regime’s strategy of exporting “instability and violence to troubled areas of the world, for profit.” He stressed that the Ukraine war deployment now brings that strategy to Europe, with Russia paying the regime for providing troops and equipment.

“I’ve talked to a lot of members of the European Parliament,” Mr. Scarlatoiu told the panel. “They’re really worried. The European Union was all about human rights and humanitarian issues in North Korea, which has been great. … Now they realize that the North Korean threat has arrived in Europe.

“The operation is fundamentally about money. As far as we know from available sources, we’re talking about $2,000 per soldier. Perhaps missile technology is also transferred. Perhaps there are some humanitarian supplies being transferred to North Korea,” he said. “One sure thing is that this is the largest for-profit exportation of instability and violence in the history of North Korea.”

Japan warns of fallout from Biden veto of steel deal

Japan, a usually reticent U.S. ally, is making it clear that it will not go quietly in its fight to overturn President Biden’s decision to block Nippon Steel’s $14.1 billion takeover bid of U.S. Steel.

Mr. Biden has cited “national security concerns” in denying Nippon’s offer. Washington Times Asia Editor Andrew Salmon offers an in-depth analysis of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s warning that the rejection could have real consequences for the bilateral relationship, where annual two-way trade topped $300 billion in recent years.

Mr. Ishiba says Japan deserves a “proper explanation on why there are concerns on national security.” Eiji Hashimoto, the chairman and CEO of Nippon Steel, seconded those concerns in a press conference in Tokyo Tuesday, the day after his company, in a joint action with U.S. Steel, filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify Mr. Biden’s veto in two U.S. courts.

Mr. Biden had been under strong political pressure from Democratic-leaning labor unions to nullify the sale of the iconic but troubled American steelmaker to a foreign rival. Mr. Trump, the president-elect, has said he, too, would have blocked the merger and vows to impose tariffs protecting U.S. Steel from foreign rivals.

Pentagon expands targeting companies tied to China's military

The Pentagon has added the Chinese social media giant Tencent Holdings and electric car battery maker CATL to its list of some 134 Chinese commercial entities identified as having links to the country’s military.

The designations announced Tuesday are part of the Pentagon’s “1260H list” that identifies firms working with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and operating in the United States. Tencent is the parent company of the popular instant messaging, social media and mobile payment app WeChat, which is available in the U.S. Both Tencent and CATL called the listing, which prohibits those named from serving as a supplier for the U.S. Defense Department, a mistake.

A third new addition to the Pentagon list is the China COSCO Shipping Corp., the country’s largest shipping company. The COSCO roll-on/roll-off freighter Bang Chui Dao was used in a 2019 PLA exercise. The Pentagon believes the firm’s freighters would play a role in ferrying troops and tanks across the Taiwan Strait during any future invasion of the island.

Key GOP lawmaker seeks to sanction ICC over Israel warrants

Rep. Brian Mast, Florida Republican and the new chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is pushing for legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in the conduct of the military operation in Gaza.

The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act would sanction anyone working to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute American citizens or an official from a country such as Israel that is allied with the U.S. It would cover officials with NATO along with major non-NATO countries such as Japan and Taiwan.

If the legislation becomes law, sanctioned ICC officials and their immediate family members would be denied visas to enter the United States. Those already in the country would have their visas revoked and face deportation. The U.S. does not recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court. In November, Mr. Biden called the ICC’s decision to issue the arrest warrants “outrageous.”

Opinion: Border security is national security

Throwing open the southern border and allowing — according to a recent House Judiciary Committee report — more than 8 million illegal immigrants from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America to stream into the country is “an extreme and dangerous policy,” writes Threat Status opinion contributor Clifford D. May.

“It has been President Biden’s policy,” writes Mr. May, who points to “this uncommon sense from the economist and social philosopher Thomas Sowell: ‘The first responsibility of any government is to protect the people already in the country.’”

“Reminder: One can oppose illegal immigration — especially on a massive scale — while also supporting legal and controlled immigration,” writes Mr. May. “When conventional politicians shirk their first responsibility, expect unconventional politicians to take up the mission.”

Threat Status Events Radar

• Jan. 8 — The U.S.-Japan Alliance for the Future, Stimson Center

• Jan. 9 — Georgia on Your Mind: An Event with President Salome Zourabichvili, Hudson Institute

• Jan. 9 — What do people in Taiwan and the United States think about Taiwan’s security situation? Brookings Institution

• Jan. 14 — Passing the Baton 2025: Securing America’s Future in an Era of Strategic Competition, U.S. Institute of Peace

• Jan. 14 — Reflecting on the Commerce Department’s Role in Protecting Critical Technology with Undersecretary of Commerce Alan Estevez, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Jan. 15 — Infrastructure Security in the Cyber Age: A Conversation with CISA Director Jen Easterly, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

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If you’ve got questions, Guy Taylor and Ben Wolfgang are here to answer them.