National Security Archives | The Michigan Star

Commentary: Biden Signals Pivot Back to China with Controversial National Security Council Pick

January 29, 2021January 28, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

President Joe Biden is signaling a pivot back to China with his most recent choice to sit on the National Security Council, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.

Campbell wrote the book, “The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia,” where he argued, “While the Asian Century detoured to the Middle East in the years following the September 11 attacks… the United States has led a ‘Pivot’ (or ‘rebalancing,’ as many prefer) of American diplomacy toward the nuanced yet demanding tasks of engaging a rising Asia. The Pivot is premised on the idea that the Asia-Pacific region not only increasingly defines global power and commerce, but also welcomes U.S. leadership and rewards U.S. engagement with positive returns on political, economic, and military investments.”

Second Judge Blocks TikTok Ban in Latest Setback for Trump Administration

December 9, 2020December 8, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

A federal judge blocked the Department of Commerce’s proposed restrictions on Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in an order Monday evening.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols’s order is the latest setback in the Trump administration’s attempt to effectively ban TikTok from the U.S. over national security concerns, according to Reuters. Nichols is the second federal judge to block the Department of Commerce’s TikTok restrictions after Judge Wendy Beetlestone blocked them on Oct. 30.

Commentary: America Needs a Stable Bipartisan Consensus on National Security

December 5, 2020December 4, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

Those of us who remember the years before Vietnam remember when, in foreign policy matters, “partisanship ended at the water’s edge.” There wasn’t much foreign policy in the United States until a rending national debate over participating in the League of Nations in 1919 and 1920. President Woodrow Wilson invented the League and asserted that, in entering World War I, the United States was waging “a war to end war and to make the world safe for democracy.”

Michigan: Ground Zero for Biden-Led Chinese Acquisition of Automotive Manufacturer with National Security Implications

October 30, 2020October 29, 2020 Laura Baigert

A key presidential election battleground state of Michigan is also ground zero for a Chinese company’s acquisition of an automotive manufacturer with direct involvement by one of Hunter Biden’s businesses.

The transaction gave Chinese companies direct control of technology with possible military applications and, therefore, has national security implications.

U.S. Bans WeChat, TikTok from App Stores Citing Security Risk

September 18, 2020September 18, 2020 The Associated Press

The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores on Sunday and will saddle the apps with technical restrictions that could seriously limit their functionality in the U.S.

The order, which cited national security and data privacy concerns, follows weeks of dealmaking over the video-sharing service TikTok. President Donald Trump has pressured the app’s Chinese owner to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to a domestic company. It is not clear how the latest prohibitions will affect a deal recently struck by California tech giant Oracle aimed at satisfying U.S. concerns over TikTok’s data collection and related issues.

Commentary: Chinese Market Meddling in Pebble Mine Threatens National Security

September 16, 2020September 15, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

One of America’s foremost energy experts is raising alarms over China’s latest meddling in U.S. mineral production. Dan Kish, a distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, says the attempt by a dubious Chinese investment firm to undermine Alaska’s Pebble Mine is one of many “war tactics” China is using against the United States.

President Trump Says He Plans to Ban TikTok by Executive Action

August 2, 2020August 1, 2020 Ben Kolodny

President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns.

Trump said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order to enforce action on TikTok.

President Trump to Mark Completion of Border Wall’s 200th Mile

June 23, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Yuma on Tuesday to mark the completion of the 200th mile of the border wall system between the U.S. and Mexico.

Border Patrol Catches Child Sex Offender Attempting to Illegally Enter the US

April 6, 2020April 5, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

Border Patrol agents on Thursday apprehended a 29-year-old Honduran national after he unlawfully entered United States territory via the Arizona-Mexico border.

Rudy Chirinos-Hernandez was arrested by agents patrolling the desert near Sells, Arizona, according to a press release by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Following his apprehension, agents conducted a records check and discovered that Hernandez had been convicted of sexual assault against a minor — a felony offense — in 2012 in Dallas, Texas.

DHS Chief Calls Out Double Standard From Border Wall Opponents

January 21, 2020January 20, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), accused many border wall critics in Congress of having a double standard, noting how many of them became opponents during the Trump administration.

Commentary: The Genius of Trump’s Terrorist Designation for Mexican Cartels

December 2, 2019December 1, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

President Trump last week signaled his intention to designate the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTO). In doing so, he takes the most aggressive step yet toward addressing the brutal violence that plagues Mexico and is fueling a migrant crisis at the southern U.S. border.

Sources: US Opens National Security Probe of TikTok Owner’s Acquisition

November 4, 2019November 3, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

NEW YORK / BEIJING / WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has launched a national security review of TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co.’s $1 billion acquisition of U.S. social media app Musical.ly, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Trump Administration Rolling Out a Plan to Collect DNA from Migrants

October 22, 2019October 21, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to collect DNA samples from asylum seekers, a policy intended to crack down on immigration-related crime and fraud at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Commentary: ‘Orange Man Bad’ Becomes Foreign Policy

October 21, 2019October 20, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

Have you noticed an uptick in the appearance of a specific talking point from the political and military elite about President Trump’s recent drawdown in northern Syria? It goes something like this: Yes, the president was in a tight spot in Syria – caught between Turkey, a NATO ally, and the Kurds, who we were allied with against ISIS. But the president was wrong to pull U.S. forces out of northern Syria the way he did. Very often, these detractors say the president ordered the precipitous drawdown of U.S. forces in Syria without “consulting the Pentagon.”

Commentary: National Security Doesn’t Care About Your Feelings

October 18, 2019October 17, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

Ben Shapiro has become famous for the line: “Facts don’t care about your feelings!” Neither does strategy. And the last week should serve as a lesson in how to do strategy properly, and how to serve the national interest: clinically and without emotion.

President Says He’d Rather Focus on the Southern Border Than Northern Syria Border

October 15, 2019October 15, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

President Donald Trump said he would rather focus efforts on the U.S. southern border than the northern Syria border in a Monday tweet.

The Tennessee Star Report: ‘Transnational Crime is the Real Threat to America’, says Former Director of Special Ops Division Derek Maltz

September 30, 2019September 29, 2019 JCarr

On The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy was in Washington, D.C. last week talking to Derek Maltz who is the former Director of the Special Ops Division with 28 yrs in…

Commentary: Deficits Are Secondary to What You’re Paying For

September 3, 2019September 2, 2019 Michigan Star Staff

“I am not worried about the deficit,” Ronald Reagan famously said. “It is big enough to take care of itself.”

If you pay attention to the libertarian purists, President Reagan earns mixed reviews on his economic policies. After all, in 1983, the federal budget deficit exceeded 6 percent of GDP. But Reagan was untroubled by federal budget deficits for at least two reasons, and in both cases he has been vindicated by history.

Democrats Join Forces to Urge the Supreme Court to Block the Southern Border Barrier Based on ‘the Environment’

July 23, 2019July 22, 2019 Admin

by Kevin Daley Environmental groups and House Democrats urged the Supreme Court not to disturb a lower court order blocking the reallocation of military funds for border wall projects. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold while litigation continues July 12. Granting that request — called…