Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

The New York Times [10/2/2024 5:32 PM, Zach Montague, 147417K, Negative] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not have enough funding to ride out the remainder of the hurricane season, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said on Wednesday. The announcement comes as FEMA is conducting search-and rescue-operations in remote sections of Appalachia five days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and moved north, causing widespread destruction and the deaths of at least 175 people across six states. President Biden has in recent days approved major-disaster declarations for the states affected by the storm. “We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mr. Mayorkas told reporters on Wednesday while en route to meet with officials in South Carolina. “We are expecting another hurricane hitting — we do not have the funds, FEMA does not have the funds, to make it through the season.” On Monday, President Biden suggested he might need to summon lawmakers back to Washington to approve extra funding for disaster relief, after a stopgap bill for funding the government that passed last week did not provide the agency enough money to deal with multiple disasters. And on Tuesday, a bipartisan group of 12 senators from the states affected by Helene urged colleagues in a letter to be prepared to return from recess and send the agency more funding. But on Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson said that although congressional leaders anticipated that an emergency spending package would be necessary at some point, lawmakers would not return to Washington before the November election to consider and pass one. “We are meeting the moment, but that doesn’t speak about the future and the fact, as I mentioned earlier, that these extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity,” Mr. Mayorkas said. “We have to be funded for the sake of the American people — this is not a political issue.” The AP [10/2/2024 6:39 PM, Kevin Freking and Colleen Long, 34590K, Neutral] reports Mayorkas was not specific about how much additional money the agency may need, but his remarks on Air Force One underscored concerns voiced by President Joe Biden and some lawmakers earlier this week that Congress may need to pass a supplemental spending bill this fall to help states with recovery efforts. Hurricane season runs June 1 to Nov. 30, but most hurricanes typically occur in September and October. Congress recently replenished a key source of FEMA’s response efforts, providing $20 billion for the agency’s disaster relief fund as part of a short-term government spending bill to fund the government through Dec. 20. The bill also gave FEMA flexibility to draw on the money more quickly as needed. Both chambers of Congress are scheduled, however, to be in their home states and districts until after the election, as lawmakers focus on campaigning.

The Hill [10/2/2024 6:00 AM, Aris Folley and Rachel Frazin, 19591K, Neutral] reports the widespread devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene is upping the pressure on lawmakers for a looming end-of-year fight over disaster funding. While funding negotiators on both sides acknowledge the need for additional resources for disaster recovery, it has already been a point of contention in spending talks and the dynamic could continue when a divided Congress returns from recess. President Biden on Monday said he may request Congress reconvene during the October break to pass emergency supplemental funding for storm recovery, and lawmakers from hard-hit states signaled a desire to do so. But it appears unlikely Congress will return early, with lawmakers spread across the country campaigning ahead of November and GOP leaders saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding included in last week’s stopgap spending bill is sufficient to address Helene. “Congress has previously provided the funds it needs to respond, so we will make sure that those resources are appropriately allocated,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday. And House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said this week the funding legislation Congress passed has ensured FEMA “has sufficient resources in the near term.” Congress passed a three-month stopgap last week to prevent government funding from lapsing ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a shutdown. Notably missing from the bipartisan agreement, which was passed a day before Helene made landfall in Florida, was billions of dollars in additional funding for FEMA’s disaster relief fund (DRF).

Washington Post [10/2/2024 2:53 PM, Nicolás Rivero, Allyson Chiu and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, 52865K, Neutral] reports rescue and recovery crews on Wednesday continued pushing further into areas devastated by Helene that have been cut off from the rest of the world for days, their efforts shedding more light on the reality of the storm’s true toll. The number of lives known to have been lost rose again Wednesday to at least 147. People may still be unaccounted for, though officials have emphasized that many may be safe — but just unable to communicate because of poor cellphone and internet service. Officials say the death toll will remain fluid, with many saying only that they expect numbers to rise. State officials in North Carolina, for example, said Tuesday that 42 people had died in the storm. But in Buncombe County alone, officials put their latest report of fatalities at 57. In South Carolina, at least 36 people have died; 25 deaths have been confirmed in Georgia; 19 in Florida; eight in Tennessee; and two in Virginia. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 1.2 million electric customers still don’t have power in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, according to poweroutage.us. Swaths of particularly hard-hit areas are also still without safe drinking water, with officials unable to give clear timelines for when service might be restored. “This is a multibillion-dollar, multiyear recovery,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on board Air Force One. “We have towns that have disappeared, literally.”

The Hill [10/2/2024 2:01 PM, Brett Samuels, 19591K, Negative] reports that President Biden will travel Thursday to Florida and Georgia to view areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. Biden’s trip will come one day after he tours storm damage in North Carolina and South Carolina. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the president’s trips were planned so that he could visit the impacted areas “without disrupting the emergency operations.” “What he does not want to do is in any way impair or impede the rescue that we are providing,” Mayorkas told reporters aboard Air Force One. The New York Times [10/3/2024 5:07 AM, Michael D. Shear, 147417K, Negative] reports White House officials said Mr. Biden would tour areas affected by the Category 4 storm after it slammed into Florida’s west coast and then traveled up the eastern United States, killing at least 183 people. He will also get briefings from local and federal emergency officials who are confronting widespread power outages, water shortages and communications failures. “In a moment like this, we put politics aside,” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday during a visit to the Carolinas, where the storm wreaked havoc on numerous communities. He added, “Our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can.” Officials said he would deliver a similar message to the people of Florida and Georgia on Thursday in an effort to reassure them that the federal government would support their efforts to recover in the short term and rebuild over the long term. Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have effectively dropped everything to schedule visits with the victims of the storm despite having just 34 days left to campaign against former President Donald J. Trump. Ms. Harris was in Augusta, Ga., on Wednesday after receiving a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier in the week.

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CBS Austin [10/2/2024 9:59 AM, Alexx Altman-Devilbiss, 703K, Neutral]

CBS News [10/2/2024 11:18 PM, Nicole Sganga, 59828K, Negative] reports a joint federal intelligence bulletin obtained by CBS News warns of potential violent extremism and hate crimes committed in response to the one-year mark of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas and the resulting conflict in Gaza. The bulletin, authored by FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center, was first disseminated by federal law enforcement to local law enforcement partners late Wednesday. The agencies found that the one-year mark of the attack "as well as any further significant escalations" in the Israel-Hamas war "may be a motivating factor for violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators to engage in violence or threaten public safety," the bulletin read. The bulletin provided several recent examples of such threats, including the Sept. 6 arrest of a Pakistani national by Canadian authorities who was accused of planning a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York City. The bulletin also comes as tensions have continued to ramp up in the Middle East. Following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last week which killed longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Iran on Tuesday responded with a missile salvo on Israel, launching nearly 200 ballistic missiles, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems. Hamas and Hezbollah are both proxies of Iran. Israel also began limited ground operations in southern Lebanon this week. Following Iran’s missile attack, a senior DHS official told CBS News during a briefing Wednesday, "I don’t know that we’ve got a crystal clear assessment on that at this point. We are literally in the earliest days of trying to understand what exactly Iranian intentions might be. We do, though, assess that Iran has a global capacity and a global capability, that it can draw, that it can target U.S. interests around the world – that it certainly has the reach and capacity to do, to carry out, to engage with individuals here inside the United States in ways that present potential threat to the United States, here in the homeland." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] ABC News [10/2/2024 5:52 PM, Luke Barr, 31638K, Negative] reports that actors with a range of motivations, including those who are antisemitic or Islamophobic, could be motivated to strike, especially with Al Queda and ISIS encouraging lone offenders to carry out attacks against the West, according to sources. Foreign terrorist organizations online could escalate the threat of violence in the U.S., particularly targeting Jewish community institutions and U.S. officials who support Israel, sources said. At the same time, it is unlikely that Hezbollah or Iran or its proxies would attack inside the U.S. homeland, sources said. After the events of Oct. 7, hate crimes in the U.S. skyrocketed. Hate crimes continue to be the biggest threat to members of the Arab, Jewish and Muslim communities, officials warned. Senior DHS and FBI officials are concerned that graphic images from the continuing conflict in the Middle East could contribute to radicalization, violence and even retaliatory attacks. Sources also said that the FBI and DHS are "aware" that violence can occur at local protests. The Hill [10/2/2024 2:20 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 19591K, Negative] reports “All of these factors contribute to a heightened threat environment, because at times, they are motivating factors that drive particular violent extremist groups to accelerate or plan to take action on a timeline that may not have been anticipated,” they added. The annual assessment is otherwise in line with other long-term trends seen in the U.S. Lone wolf actors and small groups continue to present the greatest terror risk within the U.S., influenced both by domestic and international developments. “Over the next year, the terrorism threat environment in the Homeland will remain high. We are particularly concerned about a confluence of factors this year, including violent extremist responses to domestic sociopolitical developments — especially the 2024 election cycle — and international events that domestic and foreign violent extremists likely will use to justify or encourage attacks,” the report concluded.

Reported similarly:
CNN [10/2/2024 2:18 PM, Holmes Lybrand, 24052K, Negative]

ABC News [10/2/2024 3:09 PM, Luke Barr, 31638K, Negative] reports domestic violent extremists will pose "the most significant physical threat to government officials, voters, and elections-related personnel and infrastructure, including polling places, ballot drop box locations, voter registration sites, campaign events, political party offices, and vote counting sites," according to a Department of Homeland Security assessment released on Tuesday. DHS believes that extremists will be motivated by policy grievances, which have also led to an uptick in the targeting of election officials. The overall threat environment in the United States "will remain high," according to the department’s annual threat assessment. "The Homeland Security Assessment provides an important overview of the dynamic and evolving threat landscape, illustrating just how varied and challenging the threats we confront are," said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. "It is because of the remarkable DHS workforce, and our close collaboration with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners, that we are able to meet the challenges and keep the American people safe and secure."

Miami Herald [10/2/2024 9:31 PM, Mike Heuer, 6765K, Negative] reports war in the Middle East and political extremism within the United States mean there is a high threat of terrorism within the nation, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday. The DHS released its 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment, which says lone offenders and small groups pose the greatest threat of committing terrorist acts within the United States next year. Foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida, continue their intent to conduct or inspire terror attacks within the United States, according to the DHS. Transnational and domestic criminal organizations and actors also pose a significant threat of committing terrorist acts while also smuggling and distributing potentially deadly drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, across the nation’s borders. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids remain the deadliest illicit drugs sold in the United States, according to the DHS. The DHS said foreign governments and organizations will continue sowing public discord while undermining confidence in domestic institutions and targeting ethnic and religious minorities, political dissidents and journalists in the United States. The influx of migrants across the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada will continue posing a danger for terrorism and a threat to national security, the DHS said. Especially dangerous are criminal organizations and individuals who exploit migrants and post a threat to public safety or national security. The DHS said threats to the nation’s infrastructure are especially prevalent due to cyber and physical attacks from China, Russia and Iran, which could target the nation’s infrastructure.

FOX News [10/3/2024 5:00 AM, Louis Casiano, 48844K, Negative] reports illegal immigrants with "terrorism ties" are expected to exploit the U.S. border as the threat environment remains high, the Department of Homeland Security warned Wednesday. The agency detailed a number of warnings in its annual Homeland Threat Assessment, which is used to inform local, state and federal agencies about public safety and security threats, saying the "terrorism threat environment" over the next year "will remain high." "Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States," the assessment states. "Individuals with potential terrorism connections continue to attempt to enter the Homeland at both the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders and also through the immigration system," it continued. There were 172 encounters of nationals on the terror watchlist at the border between ports of entry last fiscal year and more than 560 at the ports of entry. The report also laid out concerns about violence in response to the 2024 election cycle, which has already seen assassination attempts on former President Trump’s life, as well as foreign violent extremists carrying out potential attacks in response to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda "maintain the enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland and have leveraged the conflict in the Middle East to reaffirm this intent," the report said. "Among state actors, we expect Iran to remain the primary sponsor of terrorism and continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals—including current and former US officials—in the United States," the assessment warned.

Reuters [10/2/2024 2:09 PM, Ted Hesson, 37270K, Negative] reports that the U.S. sees a growing threat of Russia, Iran and China attempting to influence the Nov. 5 elections, including by using artificial intelligence to disseminate fake or divisive information, according to an annual U.S. threat assessment released on Wednesday. Russian "influence actors" have amplified stories about migrants entering the U.S. in an attempt to stoke discord, according to the Department of Homeland Security report, and have used generative AI to create fake websites that appeared to be authentic U.S.-based media outlets. Iran has become "increasingly aggressive in its foreign influence efforts," the report said. In one example, Iranian actors posed as activists online to encourage protests over the conflict in Gaza, DHS said. The U.S. is gearing up for a close presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and Republican former President Donald Trump that could further inflame partisan tensions and offer opportunities for foreign adversaries to try to disrupt the democratic process. The DHS assessment anticipates Russia, Iran and China "will use a blend of subversive, undeclared, criminal, and coercive tactics to seek new opportunities to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and domestic social cohesion." Domestic violent extremists pose another serious threat, according to the report. Trump already has been the target of two alleged assassination attempts. The report said it expects domestic extremists to attempt violent actions "with the intent of instilling fear among voters, candidates, and election workers, as well as disrupting election processes."

FOX News [10/2/2024 10:38 PM, Bill Melugin , Greg Wehner, 48844K, Neutral] reports that, in a new, heavily redacted report, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) found that several federal agencies did not fully assess risks associated with releasing noncitizens without identification into the U.S. and allowing them to travel on domestic flights. Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari said in the report that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) failed to ensure that high-risk noncitzens without ID are not entering the country and boarding domestic flights. The IG said that according to federal law, "noncitizens without ID are not admissible into the country and "shall be detained," but that CBP and ICE are permitted to release noncitizens into the U.S. based on various circumstances. The report notes that CBP and ICE accept self-reported biographical information, which they use to give migrants immigration forms. The migrants are then able to get on domestic flights, even if they do not have identification. The inspector general said he asked DHS for data on the number of noncitizens who did not have identification and were released into the U.S. between fiscal years 2021-23, but CBP and ICE were unable to provide the information because they did not log into their system whether or not noncitizens had identification. The IG added that "immigration officers we interviewed acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without ID into the country."

USA Today [10/2/2024 8:01 AM, Lauren Villagran, 79123K, Neutral] reports the ACLU on Wednesday sued for information about the federal government’s capacity to massively detain and deport immigrants. The lawsuit comes during a U.S. election season in which immigration has been central to the presidential campaign. Republican Donald Trump has promised a "mass deportation" of unauthorized immigrants, while Democrat Kamala Harris has pushed for tougher restrictions on asylum seekers at the border. "If a mass deportation and detention system ends up being established by a future administration, we have many concerns about how that could impact the civil rights and civil liberties of immigrants," said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. In the complaint filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York, the ACLU claims the federal government spends billions each year to fund detention and deportation infrastructure, yet "much of the specific information about how this detention and deportation apparatus operates is unavailable to the public." The ACLU first sought documents under the Freedom of Information Act in August, but the requests went unanswered, Virgien said. The lawsuit targets the Department of Homeland Security and agencies under its purview including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol, as well as the Department of Justice. USA TODAY has reached out to DHS and DOJ for comment on the lawsuit. A mass deportation effort to remove 1 million people per year could cost $88 billion annually, according new research by the nonpartisan American Immigration Council. It could take 10 years to deport the unauthorized population in the U.S. and could cost more than $900 billion in total, the council said in its report.

The Hill [10/2/2024 3:56 PM, Alex Gangitano, 19591K, Neutral] reports President Biden toured hurricane-ravaged areas of Asheville, N.C., on Wednesday to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The president viewed the visible destruction, including buildings that had been flattened and trees knocked down. The president’s helicopter, known as Marine One, flew over Biltmore Village, Swannanoa and Black Mountain. He was joined on his tour by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D), Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall. Vice President Harris, meanwhile, visited the Augusta Emergency Operations Center in Georgia for a briefing around the same time as Biden’s aerial tour in the neighboring state. Harris is also expected to survey impacted areas, meet with families and business owners and visit a food distribution center while on the ground in Georgia. The New York Times [10/3/2024 4:32 AM, Zach Montague and Jacey Fortin, 740K, Negative] reports Mr. Biden’s visit to the Carolinas came as the death toll from the storm rose to at least 183 people on Wednesday, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Katrina, which caused nearly 1,400 deaths in 2005, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center. “Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore — at least I hope they don’t. They must be brain-dead if they do,” Mr. Biden said during a briefing on the rescue efforts later in Raleigh, N.C., reflecting on the devastation he saw during the flyover, including flattened mountain towns and homes swept down rivers. “Today in North Carolina, I saw the impacts of that fury,” he added. Earlier in the day, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, told reporters traveling with the president that the costly relief effort so far could burn through much of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s funding for the rest of the year, leaving the agency unprepared for another major disaster this season unless Congress returns from recess to authorize more funds. Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 8:15 PM, Christine Zhu, 60726K, Neutral] reports President Biden announced the approval of 100% FEMA Reimbursement for six months, a significant funding commitment from the federal government. The federal government is providing additional aid to North Carolina as the state recovers from Hurricane Helene, President Joe Biden shared on Wednesday. The president visited Raleigh for an emergency operations briefing with Gov. Roy Cooper, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, and other officials. Biden said he has accepted Cooper’s request for a 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures for six months. This means the federal government will cover costs for the region’s necessary emergency recovery work. “This will pay for the urgent work you need to clear landslides, to provide shelter, and to provide food and medicine,” Biden said. The funding would also cover work for addressing the impacts from debris flow, flooding, and removing fallen trees. Biden directed the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy 1,000 soldiers to assist North Carolina’s National Guard.

Reported similarly:
Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 9:38 PM, Evan Gerike, 60726K, Neutral]

Newsweek [10/2/2024 12:31 PM, Andrew Stanton, 49093K, Neutral] reports that a Trump-appointed judge ruled last week in favor of two Arizona ranchers who argued that President Joe Biden’s immigration policies caused environmental damage. Judge Trevor McFadden sided with two ranchers from Arizona-a border state that’s a battleground in the presidential race-who claimed that the Biden administration’s halt on the border wall, which violated laws requiring an environmental review, caused concrete damage to the environment. The case centers around whether the Biden administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not reviewing the potential environmental impact of halting construction of the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, an action he took on his first day in office to fulfil a key campaign promise. In a ruling issued Friday, McFadden agreed that the Biden administration "repeatedly flouted long-standing environmental law" in its "haste to reverse its predecessor’s border policies," and that those violations resulted in environmental damages for the ranchers, Steven Smith and Gail Getzwiller. The ruling came from the case Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email. The Department of Homeland Security removed its two pillars of the strategy to combat illegal immigration by halting border wall construction, and a "preponderance of the evidence" shows that Smith’s injuries "fairly trace" to that decision, McFadden wrote.

AP [10/2/2024 10:59 PM, Edgar H. Clemente and Tuxtla Gutierrez, 44095K, Negative] reports six international migrants are dead after Mexican soldiers opened fire on a truck carrying a group near the border with Guatemala, Mexico’s Defense Department said Wednesday. The department said in a statement that soldiers claimed they heard shots as the trucks and two other vehicles approached their position late Tuesday in the southern state of Chiapas, near the town of Huixtla. Two soldiers opened fire on the truck, which was carrying migrants from Egypt, Nepal, Cuba, India, Pakistan and at least one other country. Soldiers then approached the truck and found four of the migrants dead, and 12 wounded. Two of the wounded later died of their injuries. There was no immediate information on the condition of the other 10. Local prosecutors confirmed all the victims died of gunshot wounds. The Defense Department did not say whether the migrants died as a result of army fire, or whether any weapons were found in the truck. There were 17 other migrants in the truck who were unharmed. The vehicle was carrying a total of 33 migrants. The area is common route for smuggling migrants, who are often packed into crowded freight trucks. The department said the two soldiers who opened fire were relieved of duty pending investigations. In Mexico, any incident involving civilians is subject to civilian prosecution, but soldiers can also face military courts martial for those offenses. It is not the first time Mexican forces have opened fire on vehicles carrying migrants in the area, which is also the object of turf battles between warring drug cartels. In the same area in 2021, the quasi-military National Guard opened fire on a pickup truck carrying migrants, killing one and wounding four.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [10/2/2024 10:49 PM, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and James Wagner, 147417K, Neutral]

Telemundo51 [10/2/2024 5:51 PM, Staff, 325K, Neutral] reports the recent entry of several Cuban government officials into the United States has sparked a wave of reactions among the Cuban-American community and human rights activists. Under the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), Cuban judge Melody González Pedraza remains detained in the Broward center, while prosecutor Rosabel Roca and the Vice Minister of Labor and Social Security, Juan Carlos Santana Novoa, are already in U.S. territory, according to the Marti Noticias agency. This case has raised questions about the process of admitting these figures of the Cuban regime to U.S. soil. Silvia Iriondo, president of the organization Mar por Cuba, expressed outrage at what she considers failures in the U.S. immigration system. Among the cases that have attracted the most attention is that of Vice Minister Juan Carlos Santana Novoa, who, according to several testimonies, shared his stay in Mexico with other Cubans who were also seeking to enter the United States through the CBP One process. The main point of debate is the lack of specific controls to identify repressors of the Cuban regime. According to an undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there are no specific filters to detect people linked to repressive activities in Cuba.

Reported similarly:
Univision [10/2/2024 12:43 PM, Staff, 16504K, Negative]

Washington Examiner [10/3/2024 1:47 AM, Staff, 3358K, Negative] reports the United States will prohibit imports from two companies in China that are accused of using forced labor of Uyghurs in the country’s Xinjiang region. The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that it added Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd. and Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., companies that manufacture artificial sweeteners and steel, to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. This legislation made it U.S. policy to operate under the belief that the majority of, if not all, goods from Xinjiang are made through the use of forced labor of Uyghurs, a minority ethnic group in China. “The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is the Biden-Harris Administration’s most powerful tool to combat forced labor and hold its perpetrators to account,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. By refusing imports from the region, the UFLPA ensures that the United States is not complicit in funding such companies. In July, the U.S. government prioritized companies that produce seafood, aluminum, and PVC to the list, bringing the total number of entities to 75, the Department of Homeland Security noted in a press release. The ban will be enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and go into effect starting Oct. 3. “The UFLPA is catalyzing American businesses to fully examine and assess their supply chains and setting a new standard for our international partners as we work together to eradicate forced labor from the global economy,” Mayorkas said. “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to add exploitative companies to the UFLPA Entity List, enforce the law, and uphold the values of the United States.”

Reported similarly:
AP [10/2/2024 7:22 PM, Didi Tang, 16227K, Neutral

FOX News [10/2/2024 7:00 AM, Staff, 48844K, Neutral] reports that, in his remarks during last week’s United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, claimed that Iran wants to "live in peace." He demanded "a world free of nuclear weapons," and declared that Iran "is ready to disarm," if Israel does the same. But just two weeks prior, Iran and its fellow dictatorship Russia were slapped with new economic sanctions by the Biden-Harris administration for Tehran’s delivery of ballistic missiles to Moscow. In fact, the national security community is increasingly concerned about the growing relations between two of America’s top adversaries. However, as Team Biden-Harris is hyper-focused on the threat this unholy alliance poses elsewhere in the world - Ukraine, the Middle East - what about us? Is anyone in charge of protecting our homeland? As a former U.S. intelligence analyst who led Red Teams during war games, my team’s job was to come up with, thinking like our adversaries, out-of-the-ordinary ideas - no matter how implausible - that Red Force (Russia, Iran, etc.) could use against Blue Force (U.S. and Allied militaries). The goal was to enable the president, the Pentagon and other decision makers to develop plans for countering our adversaries and protecting the homeland. Here are a few insights, from the intelligence perspective, that make the Iran-Russia threat even bigger than most Americans realize.

The Hill [10/2/2024 12:00 PM, Paul R. Moore, 19591K, Neutral] reports that speaking in Guangzhou, China, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently declared that “President Biden and I firmly reject the idea that the United States should decouple from China.” She added that “when needed” the U.S. would deploy its economic tools “in a narrowly targeted manner to protect our national security and that of our allies.” To Yellen, China remains a valuable and trusted partner. That trust appears to be misplaced. Days ago, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce released a long-awaited joint report on the vulnerability of our research innovations. Its chilling title alone should alarm the American people: “CCP ON THE QUAD: How American Taxpayers and Universities Fund the [Chinese Communist Party’s] Advanced Military and Technological Research.” It revealed that the Department of Defense funded more than 2,000 scientific research papers with Chinese collaborators who were directly affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s defense research and industrial base. The research collaborations involved “emerging technologies” related to hypersonic and fourth-generation nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, advanced lasers, high-performance explosives and rocket fuels and robotics.

Washington Examiner [10/2/2024 10:00 AM, Brady Knox, 3358K, Negative] reports that Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) is demanding a response from Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding a report that found nearly 300,000 migrant children disappeared from tracking. A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found that over 300,000 migrant children under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement effectively disappeared from official radar. In a letter to ICE acting Director Patrick Lechleitner, Cloud expressed worries that the "failure" in oversight left the children vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor. "The Biden-Harris administration’s failure to track thousands of vulnerable migrant children is unacceptable," he told the Washington Examiner. "Almost 300,000 children have essentially vanished under their watch, putting them at serious risk of trafficking and exploitation. This administration is sitting by and not doing nearly enough to get answers and fix this crisis." Over 291,000 children weren’t issued proper notices to appear, while 32,000 more missed their court dates, with ICE unaware of their whereabouts, according to the report. In his letter, Cloud requested information as to what steps were being taken to mitigate the problem.

CBS Austin [10/2/2024 1:24 PM, Jackson Walker, 703K, Negative] reports that Leniz Escobar, known as "Diablita" or "Little Devil," was sentenced to 50 years in prison Tuesday for the 2017 murders of four males in a New York park. Escobar, an associate of international criminal gang MS-13, participated in the 2017 killings of Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. These victims were "hacked to death with machetes and other sharp objects" after Escobar allegedly lured them into the Central Islip park, where they were attacked by other gang members. The MS-13 members believed the men to be members of a rival gang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said at least two of the victims had "offended" the gang members by posing as members of MS-13 on social media. Escobar lured five total men into the wooded park, one of which escaped, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The remaining four were attacked with "machetes, knives, an axe, and wooden clubs," and the gang left the victims’ bodies in a pile in the woods before fleeing. Authorities have captured MS-13 members nationwide in recent months. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in September announced the removal of a MS-13 member from El Salvador who was wanted for aggravated femicide, aggravated homicide and unlawful association in his home country.

FOX News [10/2/2024 5:41 PM, Greg Wehner, 48844K, Negative] reports Missouri law enforcement officials arrested two men after discovering seven children between the ages of 2 to 13 and several adults in the back of a U-Haul box truck during a traffic stop on the interstate, according to reports. KY3, a local NBC station out of Springfield, Missouri, reported that 31-year-old Shaikiem Bristol and 22-year-old Musa Omar were charged with seven counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. In the court documents, the trooper noted there were conflicting stories being told by the suspects about the trip, leading the trooper to believe they were involved in criminal activity. When the trooper asked to search the U-Haul, Bristol reportedly gave permission and said there were beds, clothing and five adults and seven kids in the back. The trooper called for backup and placed the women and Bristol under arrest. The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Family Services also responded to the scene. Bristol and Omar were booked into the Webster County Jail and held without bond.

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 2:06 PM, Bobbi-Jean Misick, 60726K, Neutral] reports that non-English-speaking immigrants detained in Louisiana are being denied access to translation and interpretation services, leaving them unable to request medical care or file complaints about abusive treatment, immigrants’ rights advocates say. In some instances detailed in a recent report, the language gap has even interfered with detainees’ legal cases. In August, human rights organizations submitted a complaint to U.S. Department of Homeland Security oversight bodies that claimed that an immigration detention center in Winnfield - Winn Correctional Center - showed a "systematic denial of language access" that prevented asylum seekers from receiving protections and violated detainee’s rights. But in interviews, advocates indicated that language access issues stretch beyond that one facility, with implications in multiple federal agencies, including ICE and the Executive Office For Immigration Review - a U.S. Department of Justice agency that oversees immigration courts. "People are detained and trapped in these jails and don’t have access to any materials in their language, let alone interpretation services to help them actually complete the [asylum] application and they’re unrepresented," Sarah Decker, an attorney at RFK Human Rights and co-author of the complaint, said. Though language access issues exist throughout the U.S. immigration system, they are pervasive in Louisiana, according to an August report on human rights abuses in detention facilities overseen by the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office.

CBS Austin [10/2/2024 1:24 PM, Jackson Walker, 703K, Negative] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on Monday announced the arrest of a Salvadoran gang member who had already been deported by ICE once before. Kevin Mauricio Guzman-Martinez, 28, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in April 2015 after illegally entering the country near Hidalgo, Texas. He was served an expedited removal order, ICE says. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) removed Guzman-Martinez, a member of international crime gang MS-13, from the U.S. later that month. He later illegally reentered the U.S. at an unknown date and time. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office in July 2023 charged him with driving a vehicle on the highway with suspended registration. He was later convicted of the offense in October by the District Court for Harford County, which hit him with a fine. Agents from ERO Baltimore along with Aberdeen, Maryland police arrested Guzman-Martinez again in September 2024. He was served "a notice of intent/decision to reinstate a prior removal order," ICE wrote. He remains in ICE custody. "Not only did Kevin Mauricio Guzman-Martinez unlawfully re-enter the United States after having been previously removed from the country, but he is also a member of a notorious transnational criminal organization and represents a threat to the members of our Maryland communities," ERO Baltimore acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker said. "We consider the safety of our Maryland residents our top priority."

FOX News [10/2/2024 7:25 PM, Louis Casiano, 48844K, Negative] reports more than 19,000 illegal immigrants have been apprehended along one northern border sector over the past year, officials said Wednesday. During fiscal year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023 through Monday, agents at the U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector along the U.S.-Canadian border caught illegal immigrants from 97 countries, sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said. The 19,222 migrants caught in the Swanton Sector amounted to more than the past 17 years combined, authorities said. In FY 2020, the agents assigned to the sector apprehended 574 illegal immigrants, followed by 365 the next year. The number of apprehensions jumped to 1,065 in FY 2022 and 6,925 in FY 2023, according to Border Patrol data. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Border Patrol and the office of Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican. The Swanton Sector encompasses 24,000 square miles and includes Vermont, as well as Clinton, Essex, Franklin, St. Lawrence and Herkimer counties of New York and Coos, Grafton and Carroll counties of New Hampshire. The sector borders the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. President Biden’s executive order restricting asylum for most illegal crossings does not apply to the northern border. His administration has come under fire for its immigration policies, particularly security at the southern border with Mexico.

Border Report [10/2/2024 8:00 PM, Julian Resendiz, 121K, Negative] reports immigration advocates are calling for asylum restrictions between ports of entry to be relaxed, as migrants placing their lives in the hands of smugglers are dying in record numbers here. A total of 176 migrants died in canals, mountains and the desert in El Paso and southern New Mexico in the recently concluded fiscal year 2024. That’s 27 more than the previous record of 149 deceased migrants border agents encountered in FY 2023. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Alan Lizarraga, a spokesman for the Border Network for Human Rights. “There is a lot of frustration to know that person was a father, a mother, somebody’s son or uncle. People arriving here are people who have families, people who work hard and have dreams. Sadly, when they arrive at the border they become just another number.” BNHR and the Hope Border Institute say they noticed a steep increase in migrant fatalities after the White House on June 4 issued an executive order banning most foreign nationals from applying for asylum if they came into the country between ports of entry. The federal government is now requiring asylum-seekers to make an online appointment at a port of entry through the CBP One app. But activists say the app has issues and that many vulnerable populations stuck in Mexico don’t have the means to survive for long periods of time and are exposed to extortion, kidnapping and assault by criminals. That’s why they get desperate and seek to enter the U.S. by any means available as soon as possible.

Border Report [10/2/2024 2:44 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 121K, Negative] reports two men have pleaded guilty to carjacking a man and using the vehicle to smuggle migrants into the country from South Texas, prosecutors said Wednesday. Jesus Rodriguez, 19, and Christian Hardy, 18, both of Houston, admitted to stealing a car from a man at a gas station on May 19 in McAllen after the vehicle they were driving had mechanical problems and they needed to smuggle undocumented migrants, U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani. At the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, about 60 miles north, agents noticed Rodriguez and Hardy appeared “nervous” and were referred for secondary inspection. There, agents “found the two undocumented people hiding in the trunk of the vehicle,” Hamdani said. Authorities also found a firearm on Rodriguez’s waistband and discovered the car had been stolen. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos is set to impose sentencing on Jan. 28. Each man faces up to 15 years in federal prison.

Newsweek [10/3/2024 4:53 AM, Billal Rahman, 49093K, Negative] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers confiscated 12.2 kilograms (27 pounds) of cocaine concealed within a hidden compartment in a motorized wheelchair at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston. The estimated street value of the drugs is thought to exceed $1 million, a CBP spokesperson told Newsweek. In late September, officers referred the wheelchair for an X-ray examination due to the "unusually large cushions" attached to the frame, the CBP said in a statement on Wednesday. Further inspection revealed a metal compartment with 11 packages containing a massive haul of cocaine concealed within the backrest and seat cushions. CBP officers also noticed that the metal compartment wasn’t produced in a factory and was inconsistent with the seat frame. K9s deployed by officers helped detect the cocaine stashed inside the wheelchair. Lab tests then confirmed the packages contained cocaine hydrochloride. Rusty Payne, a CBP spokesperson, told Newsweek: "If you can think of a drug smuggling method, it’s been done. We’ve seen drug seizures in things like wheelchairs but wouldn’t say it’s a common occurrence. "Street value is hard to nail down because there are so many factors such as geography, trafficking amounts, retail vs. wholesale, etc., but this amount could fetch over $1 million." Homeland Security Investigations has launched a criminal probe, and inquiries remain ongoing following the drug bust. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
Houston Chronicle [10/2/2024 8:26 PM, Staff, 2229K, Neutral]

ABC News [10/2/2024 7:45 PM, Staff, 31638K, Neutral] Video: HERE reports the death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached at least 182 people as of Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. Recovery efforts are ongoing across the Southeast.

CBS Austin [10/2/2024 11:42 AM, Jamel Valencia, 703K, Neutral] reports that the wrath of Hurricane Helene is still being felt in several states. Communities in North Carolina remain without essential items as rescue efforts from Helene continued Wednesday - most of them happening in the western part of the state. Communication and power outages have complicated response efforts, but progress is being Cooper assured. Cadaver dogs and search crews trudged through knee-deep muck and debris in the mountains of western North Carolina looking for more victims. At least 57 people were killed in Buncombe County alone, home to city of Asheville, a tourism haven known for its art galleries, breweries and outdoor activities. Over 345,603 customers remained without power on Tuesday, according to poweroutage.us. Cooper said that 1,100 people are housed in 29 shelters across the state. Access to water is difficult for many people across the region. Cooper’s administration said on Tuesday that more than two dozen water plants remained closed. "We’re working together to open more major routes to push supplies forward while repairing roads," said. Key roads began reopening. Interstate 40 east from Asheville and the westbound lanes reopened after a mudslide was cleared, but a collapsed stretch near North Carolina’s border with Tennessee remained closed. FEMA has provided significant aid, including a million liters of water and over 600,000 meals. More than 150,000 households have registered for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that number is expected to rise rapidly in the coming days, said Frank Matranga, an agency representative.

Bloomberg [10/2/2024 4:10 PM, Alexandre Rajbhandari, 27782K, Negative] reports the destruction from Hurricane Helene is expected to cost insurers roughly $6.4 billion, according to an early estimate from catastrophe modeling firm Karen Clark & Company. The insured losses in the estimate would cover wind, storm surge and inland flooding damage across nine states, KCC said in a statement Wednesday. Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region last week as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds reaching 140 miles per hour. The storm wreaked havoc inland as far north as Ohio, bringing catastrophic flooding and leaving more than 100 people dead and millions without power. Contrary to a typical Category 4 hurricane, Helene inflicted the highest toll far from the landfall point, with more wind damage in Georgia than Florida and the most devastation from inland flooding in North Carolina, according to KCC. Insured losses are much lower than the total economic impact, as flood damage is typically excluded from standard property policies and only covered by supplemental policies or from the National Flood Insurance Program. The total economic damage could hit $160 billion, according to an early projection from AccuWeather Inc. that also includes lost wages, canceled flights and supply-chain disruptions. This would make Helene one the five costliest storm in US history.

New York Times [10/2/2024 7:02 PM, Emily Cochrane, J. David Goodman, Edgar Sandoval and Christopher Flavelle, 147417K, Neutral] reports that, in the western mountains of North Carolina outside of Asheville, the small communities of Cruso and Canton, wrecked by Hurricane Helene, were not waiting for help from the state or the federal government. Local restaurants were dispatching food deliveries to homes each evening. Some residents were driving excavators and tractors to clear debris from roads, while others were checking on who had power and who did not. No one was sure whether any disaster relief was coming anytime soon. “We’ve never depended on them before. Why should we depend on them now?” said Amber Capps, the president of the Cruso Community Center. “We’re independent.” The overwhelming devastation wrought by Helene left many in western North Carolina without food, water or gas, cut off by impassable roads and isolated by crippled cellular networks. With each day that passes, frustration has grown in some areas over the disaster response. In interviews on Wednesday, state and local officials described a prolonged and arduous effort that had been hampered by the scale of the devastation and the heavy damage to many roadways. There appeared to be progress in some areas, with truckloads of relief supplies filling distribution centers. More remote areas remained cut off. Helicopters delivered airdrops of supplies in some places, many of them dispatched by governors of other states. Elsewhere, residents craned their necks to the sky to watch as military planes flew overhead.

Washington Examiner [10/2/2024 8:49 PM, Heather Hunter, 3358K, Neutral] reports Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) said that he’s been in North Carolina for days in a recover-and-rescue mission to help bring in supplies for victims affected by Hurricane Helene because the Federal Emergency Management Agency is short on resources due to its role in “immigration resettlement.” “[We’re] delivering insulin and oxygen bottles. For a lot of people, it is not just food, water, and nonperishables but it is medication that they are short on. So we’re trying to fulfill those needs until the federal government can get up and do what they have to be doing,” Mills told Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Wednesday. “Let’s go and point out the obvious which is that FEMA had utilized a large majority of the personnel who should be here taking care of this to be replaced or repurposed for immigration resettlement when we need to be focusing on Americans whether it be in Maui, Palestine, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, or Tennessee,” Mills said. In April 2024, the Department of Homeland Security, through FEMA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, provided $300 million in grants to communities to resettle immigrants. On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that FEMA is running out of money for hurricane season. “We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas said. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.” Mills has been working with private organizations, including Mercury One, Universal Air, and Sentinel Foundation, to help hurricane victims and said the federal government is the “missing piece” to rescue efforts. “This is a group project where Americans are coming together to answer the calls when the federal government fails to act,” he added. Mills said he’s hearing unconfirmed reports of 1,000 to 1,200 missing people in the hurricane aftermath.

AP [10/2/2024 12:11 PM, Michael Phillis and Brittany Peterson, 16227K, Negative] reports that Hurricane Helene dumped trillions of gallons of water hundreds of miles inland, devastating communities nestled in mountains far from the threat of storm surge or sea level rise. But that distance can conceal a history of flooding in a region where water races into populated towns tucked into steep valleys. “We almost always associate flood risk with hurricanes and coastal storm surge in Florida, Louisiana and Texas,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implication research at First Street, a company that analyzes climate risk. “We don’t think of western North Carolina and the Appalachian mountains as an area that has significant flood risk.” More than 160 people have died across six Southeastern states. The flood waters carved up roads, knocked out cell service and pushed debris and mud into towns. Parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains where fall colors are just starting to peek through were hit especially hard. Porter, the climate risk researcher, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps used to determine the riskiest areas where certain homeowners are required to purchase flood insurance have their limitations. He said the maps consider a specific range of flooding and underestimate flood risk in some areas — and that the problem is especially pronounced in parts of Appalachia. “It’s happening more and more often that we’re seeing these heavy precipitation events occur, exactly the type of events that this region is susceptible to,” Porter said, adding that flood zones on FEMA maps aren’t capturing these changing conditions. “Flooding events do not follow lines on a map. Where it can rain, it can flood,” said Daniel Llargues, a FEMA spokesperson. Before Helene, federal forecasters told residents in western North Carolina flooding from the hurricane could be “one of the most significant weather events to happen” since 1916.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [10/2/2024 11:49 AM, Ross Kerber, 37270K, Neutral]

AP [10/2/2024 1:35 PM, Seth Borenstein, 3336K, Negative] reports that hurricanes in the United States end up hundreds of times deadlier than the government calculates, contributing to more American deaths than car accidents or all the nation’s wars, a new study said. The average storm hitting the U.S. contributes to the early deaths of 7,000 to 11,000 people over a 15-year period, which dwarfs the average of 24 immediate and direct deaths that the government counts in a hurricane’s aftermath, the study in Wednesday’s journal Nature concluded. Study authors said even with Hurricane Helene’s growing triple digit direct death count, many more people will die partly because of that storm in future years. "Watching what’s happened here makes you think that this is going to be a decade of hardship on tap, not just what’s happening over the next couple of weeks," said Stanford University climate economist Solomon Hsiang, a study co-author and a former White House science and technology official. "After each storm there is sort of this surge of additional mortality in a state that’s been impacted that has not been previously documented or associated with hurricanes in any way," Hsiang said. Hsiang and University of California Berkeley researcher Rachel Young looked at hurricane deaths in a different way than previous studies, opting for a more long-term public health and economics-oriented analysis of what’s called excess mortality. They looked at states’ death rates after 501 different storms hitting the United States between 1930 and 2015. And what they found is that after each storm there’s a "bump" in death rates.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [10/2/2024 4:41 PM, Doyle Rice, 79123K, Negative]

AP [10/2/2024 3:33 PM, Stephany Matat and Olga R. Rodriguez, 44095K, Neutral] reports falling trees and raging floods from Hurricane Helene killed more than 150 people when it struck Florida late last week and then plowed through the Southeast as one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. People died in six states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

NPR [10/2/2024 5:02 PM, Ari Shapiro, Jeanette Woods, Marc Rivers, 40123K, Positive] Audio: HERE reports in the southeastern states hit by Hurricane Helene, FEMA is coordinating the federal government recovery effort and a grassroots network of neighbors and volunteers are helping each other.

ABC News [10/2/2024 4:15 PM, Julia Jacobo, 31638K, Neutral] reports inland communities will increasingly need to prepare for impacts from storms. The storm brought 140 mph winds and a 15-foot storm surge to parts of the Gulf Coast, along with more than 20 reported tornadoes in five states. Helene, combined with a separate system, dumped over 30 inches of rain in parts of North Carolina over the span of a few days. At least 177 people died as a result of the storm, with many still unaccounted for. Because of the far-reaching impacts of tropical systems, meteorologists are now adding a growing number of regions to their forecasts, Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News. Multiple factors played into the catastrophic rainfall near Asheville, North Carolina, which had undergone a heavy rain event just before Helene, Shepherd said.

Government Executive [10/2/2024 4:45 PM, Erich Wagner, 420K, Negative] reports the Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday announced that it would establish a temporary leave-sharing program to help federal employees who need time off from work to recover after Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction across more than half a dozen states. The storm, which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in Florida last week, has reportedly caused at least 180 deaths in the U.S. and created widespread flooding and other storm damage as far north as Virginia. In a memo to agency heads Wednesday, Acting OPM Director Rob Shriver announced that his agency and the Office of Management and Budget will establish an emergency leave transfer program for federal employees across seven states. The leave transfer program will be available to help affected employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

AP [10/2/2024 12:04 AM, Staff, 31638K, Neutral] reports Hurricane Kirk strengthened Wednesday into a Category 3 storm in the Atlantic Ocean and was expected to grow rapidly into a major hurricane, forecasters said. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not yet deemed a threat to land. Kirk reached Category 3 status on Wednesday, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was about 1,150 miles (1,855 kilometers) east-northeast of the Lesser Antilles with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). It was moving northwest at 12 mph (19kph). A gradual turn toward the north-northwest and then northward was expected this week. Swells generated by the storm could affect portions of the Leeward Islands and Bermuda by the weekend, likely causing “life-threatening” surf and rip current conditions, the center said. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Leslie formed late Wednesday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and could strengthen into a hurricane by the weekend, forecasters said. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not yet deemed a threat to land. The storm was located 490 miles (790 kilometers) southwest of the southernmost tip of the Cabo Verde Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), the hurricane center said. The storms formed as many people in the U.S. Southeast still lacked running water, cellphone service and electricity as rescuers searched for people unaccounted for after Hurricane Helene struck last week and left a trail of death and catastrophic damage.

Vermont Public [10/2/2024 4:11 PM, Peter Hirschfeld, 213K, Neutral] reports Sen. Peter Welch said "administrative bloat" at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is consuming resources that would otherwise go to disaster survivors, and he introduced legislation this week that would investigate how much of the agency’s budget is spent on bureaucratic overhead. Vermont Public published a report earlier this summer that found that, after last summer’s floods, FEMA incurred nearly $80 million in administrative costs on a recovery mission that distributed $44 million to flood survivors. Welch told Vermont Public this week that the findings highlight a pattern of "administrative bloat and bureaucratic inefficiency at FEMA." Welch said the FEMA Operational Transparency Act would direct the federal Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of administrative costs at FEMA and also recommend ways to reduce those overhead costs. Welch said the audit would track the ratio of administrative costs to recovery assistance in various FEMA programs, including public assistance, individual assistance and hazard mitigation.

Virginia Mercury [10/2/2024 4:56 PM, Charlie Paullin, Neutral] reports the federal government approved a major disaster declaration for Virginia on Wednesday, which will allow residents, businesses and local governments in Southwest Virginia reeling from Hurricane Helene’s deadly impact to apply for funding to aid their recovery efforts. In a news release, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Democratic President Joe Biden’s approval of the declaration, which the state sought in the days following the storm. First responders and the National Guard performed over 70 swift water rescues statewide to save residents from rising floodwaters. Two people died as a result of the storm. As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, Appalachian Power Company said about 36,300 customers remain without power in Virginia, after the utility saw a peak of 282,000 customers without power in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee on Friday. On Tuesday, FEMA officials began assessing how much might be requested from the federal government, according to Cardinal News.

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 7:48 AM, Greg Jordan, 60726K, Neutral] reports West Virginia’s governor declared a State of Emergency for Mercer County late Tuesday afternoon following significant damage caused across southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The powerful storm left widespread destruction in its wake, impacting homes, businesses, and other infrastructure, state officials said. This declaration allows the West Virginia Emergency Management Division to implement the Emergency Operations Plan, allowing swift mobilization of personnel, resources, and essential emergency services. "We’re still learning about reports of serious damage throughout Mercer County, and the estimates are adding up quickly," Justice said. "I’m told there’s a sizable portion of the county still without power, and there were so many downed trees that it’s been difficult to get the full scope of what’s happened. This State of Emergency will allow us to speed up the response on the ground and potentially receive federal assistance as we push forward with recovery efforts." "This storm is one that we’ll remember in Appalachia for a long, long time," Justice said. "We’ve seen some really troubling images from our neighboring states, but there’s no question that Helene has left its mark here at home, as well. We’ll continue to pull the rope together and take care of each other, because that’s what we do in West Virginia." Mercer County’s State of Emergency will remain in effect for 30 days unless terminated by subsequent proclamation.

Miami Herald [10/2/2024 11:34 AM, Rosana Hughes, 6765K, Negative] reports that more than 400,000 Georgia customers are still without power Wednesday as Vice President Kamala Harris plans to visit parts of the state where Hurricane Helene’s wrath was felt worst. The storm pummeled South Georgia before it raged on across the state, ultimately leaving at least 25 Georgians dead and up to 1.3 million homes in the dark at its peak. The highest concentrations of outages are centered around Augusta, Savannah and Valdosta. Georgia Power assured customers Wednesday morning that restoration efforts are continuing "around the clock." "Our crews are continuing to navigate flooded areas and standing water using special equipment designed for use in marshes to reach lines, work around and remove downed trees, and even rebuild parts of the grid," said Georgia Power, in a post on the social media site X. On Wednesday, Harris will survey parts of Georgia, though exactly where she will be has not been shared. The vice president, who has already spoken to state and local officials in areas affected by the storm, will also deliver remarks and update the public on the federal response. Separately, President Joe Biden will travel to North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday. Atlanta may have escaped the worst of the storm, but flooding issues have persisted after the city experienced the most rainfall it’s seen over a 48-hour period since the 19th century. Major disaster declarations have been approved for 41 Georgia counties, making residents eligible for emergency payments and other Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance. While that is less than the request for roughly 90 counties, including metro Atlanta’s core counties, to be included in the declaration, FEMA sometimes issues disaster declarations on a rolling basis to free up funds for storm-ravaged counties sooner as it works to complete evaluations on others. That’s what happened after Hurricane Idalia bombarded the Southeast in August 2023.

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 7:40 PM, Archith Seshadri, 60726K, Neutral] reports Georgia Power says there are still around 200,000 of its customers without power as of Wednesday. The say flood waters, downed trees and broken transformers make it tough to get to all the areas — and they have to fix those first beofre they can even get to someone’s street. Thousands are still without power across georgia as the race to restore electricity continues with crews working over time. Georgia power says more than 1 million customers lost power due to Hurricane Helene. Now more than 80 percent of them have their power restored. That’s why they are working quickly with Alabama Power, and Mississippi Power. They have crews on the ground with about 20,000 resources going to some of the hardest hit areas in the state to get power back hopefully in the coming days. “Our smart grid technology to restore power quicker and it will be able to reroute power before this an outage before crews can get out. We have had about 1500 transformers destroyed and 8000 broken poles,” said Georgia Power spokesperson, Alicia Brown. Georgia power says this historic storm — one of the hardest the state has ever endured — is making it difficult to get crews to the hardest hit areas like coastal georgia, augusta and valdosta due to flood waters, downed trees, debris and broken transformers. “Our crews have faced flooding due to the extensive damage — so we have been able to access those areas. We have also utilized our drone and helicopters to get a wide eyed view to restore power for customers,” said Brown. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [10/2/2024 11:30 AM, Brett Samuels, 19591K, Neutral] reports that President Biden on Wednesday directed the Defense Department to send up to 1,000 active-duty soldiers to disaster areas impacted by Hurricane Helene to help with the distribution of food, water and other supplies. Troops will be able to be deployed starting Wednesday, the White House said, and they will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reach hard-hit areas more quickly. The White House indicated the troops would mostly be focused on North Carolina. “These soldiers will speed up the delivery of life-saving supplies of food, water, and medicine to isolated communities in North Carolina — they have the manpower and logistical capabilities to get this vital job done, and fast,” Biden said in a statement. “They will join hundreds of North Carolina National Guard members deployed under State authorities in support of the response. “Hurricane Helene has been a storm of historic proportion,” Biden added. “My heart goes out to everyone who has experienced unthinkable loss. We are here for you — and we will stay here for as long as it takes.” Biden is set to travel to North Carolina and South Carolina to tour storm damage and meet with local officials. Vice President Harris will be in Georgia on Wednesday to see how the hurricane has impacted the state. USA Today [10/2/2024 1:02 PM, Joey Garrison and Cybele Mayes-Osterman, 79123K, Neutral] reports that the federal deployment comes as Biden heads to North Carolina and South Carolina Wednesday to meet with flood victims and survey damage left by the hurricane, which killed at least 162 people across the Southeast, including 57 in Buncombe County, North Carolina, home to Asheville. The soldiers will come from a task force stationed at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. The Defense Department has activated 22 helicopters to aid search and rescue operations and provided dozens of high-water vehicles. More than 6,000 National Guard personnel across 12 states are assisting, while 4,800 workers from different parts of the federal government are involved in recovery efforts. That includes 1,200 Federal Emergency Management Agency workers and other federal employees in North Carolina. FEMA officials said the agency has distributed 8.5 million meals, more than 7 million liters of water, 150 generators and more than 220,000 tarps as part of the hurricane response. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
BNN Bloomberg [10/2/2024 11:24 AM, Akayla Gardner, 1784K, Neutral]
Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 11:54 AM, Adam Wagner, 60726K, Neutral]
Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 12:50 PM, Rachel Riley, 60726K, Neutral]

AP [10/2/2024 8:55 PM, Jeffrey Collins, 4800K, Negative] reports widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130. A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and by a lack of power and cellular service lined up for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive. At least 133 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm that inflicted damage from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. The toll steadily rose as emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadn’t been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead. President Joe Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to meet with officials and take an aerial tour of Asheville. He said earlier that the federal government would be with affected residents in the nation’s southeast “as long as it takes.” Government officials and aid groups worked to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.

CBS Austin [10/2/2024 9:22 AM, Tara Brolley, 703K, Negative] reports that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that Texas Task Force 1 has deployed to North Carolina to assist with search and rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene. The task force includes 78 personnel and six canines, according to Abbott’s social media post. They are actively engaged in rescue operations and providing resources to those affected by the storm. Hurricane Helene has caused catastrophic damage across the Southeast, killing at least 166 people and leaving over 1.2 million customers without power in the Carolinas and Georgia. President Joe Biden is set to survey the devastation in the Carolinas as floodwaters recede, revealing the extent of the damage. The storm dumped more than 2 feet of rain in some areas, causing the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. FEMA reports that over 150,000 households have registered for assistance, with that number expected to rise rapidly. Abbott stated, "Texas will do all we can to help our fellow Americans recover from Hurricane Helene."

US News & World Report [10/2/2024 4:00 PM, Steven Ross Johnson, 34590K, Neutral] reports the devastation left by Hurricane Helene has prompted a rapid response from not only state and federal agencies, but an array of nongovernmental organizations seeking to help with the massive relief and recovery effort. In western North Carolina, the relief effort has been complicated by the storm’s destruction of roads connecting rural communities, leaving residents isolated and leading responders to fly in supplies by helicopter – or to even strap them to mules. U.S News spoke with Morrow, as well as Arlan Fuller, director of emergency preparedness and response for Project HOPE, about the current situation in western North Carolina and challenges the groups face in their aid efforts.

USA Today [10/2/2024 5:56 PM, Jonathan Limehouse, 79123K, Neutral] reports hundreds of people are still missing following Hurricane Helene’s ravaging of the Southeast, including a North Carolina woman who was swept away along with her husband, their vacation home and the couple’s three dogs. Kim Ashby, 58, disappeared on Friday along with her husband, Rod Ashby, her daughter, Jessica Meidinger, told USA TODAY on Wednesday. Rod Ashby is currently in Pittsboro, North Carolina with Meidinger and her family as he holds out hope that his wife will come home safe. Meidinger said authorities have sent out dogs and have thermal imaging drones currently searching for her mother.

NBC News [10/2/2024 10:49 AM, Julian Grace, 46778K, Neutral] reports that John Norwood and Julie Le Roux were sheltering in a Marion, N.C., home when it was swept away by a mudslide as Hurricane Helene battered the state. John was rescued, but the search for Julie continues. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 6:00 AM, Andrew Dys, John Marks, 60726K, Neutral] reports that, after Helene, York County may end up short of what it takes to qualify for federal help — again. As of Tuesday York County did not have enough reported damage or destroyed homes to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance under federal guidelines, county emergency management director Chuck Haynes said in a video message released by the county on its social media. The county has to prove dollar amounts for FEMA help after a disaster, Haynes said. That would include government costs from the storm, and individual damages for people and businesses. Those numbers typically reach into the millions of dollars, with numbers of buildings destroyed part of the equation, too. “Right now we are not seeing enough numbers for that to happen,” Haynes said. The county finds itself in a similar situation to earlier this year after an April hailstorm ripped through southern Rock Hill. That storm caused several million dollars in damage to houses and businesses, but it didn’t meet the threshold the Federal Emergency Management Agency requires. County officials are still seeking Helene property damage reports from the public and assessing damage in hopes York County would meet thresholds for both government and individual aid, county spokesman Greg Suskin said. Federal money could help people to pay for damages to homes or businesses - if there is enough damage to personal property. Federal aid to local governments could help recoup costs of overtime, equipment and others costs, if there is enough cost associated with the storm, Haynes said.

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 6:01 AM, Cassandra Stephenson, 60726K, Neutral] reports that, in East Tennessee on Tuesday, Gov. Bill Lee viewed a buckled road damaged by the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. (Photo: Brandon Hull/Office of the Governor) The extent of the damage wrought in northeast Tennessee by the inland force of Hurricane Helene came into clearer focus Tuesday as Gov. Bill Lee and members of the state’s Congressional delegation toured affected areas. At least eight people are dead, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Five days after disaster first struck, 46 people reported missing have still not been accounted for. Water and sewage systems are in disrepair, requiring airlifts of drinking water to some isolated communities and boil advisories for people living in 17 water districts — some serving parts of Tennessee that lack electricity to power stovetops. As of Tuesday at 12:30 p.m., there were 5,000 reports of power outages statewide. Preliminary engineering assessments have concluded that restoring damaged or destroyed roads and bridges will take many months and hundreds of millions of dollars. “It’s evident that something historically horrific has happened here,” said Lee, speaking to reporters against the backdrop of a mangled and impassible bridge that once spanned the Nolichucky River in Unicoi County.

Washington Examiner [10/2/2024 5:59 PM, Mabinty Quarshie, 3358K, Neutral] reports Vice President Kamala Harris announced new natural disaster relief policies while visiting Augusta, Georgia, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene, a storm that has killed more than 150 people. "Today, I’m also announcing that the president has approved the governor’s request for 100% federal reimbursement of local costs," Harris continued, referring to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) as she spoke in the Meadowbrook neighborhood of Augusta. "Also, we will be covering the local government costs for food, water, and shelter," Harris added. The vice president also touted the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s $750 in benefits to help people affected to purchase immediate needs such as food, baby formula, and other necessities.

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 6:00 AM, Christopher O’Donnell, 60726K, Neutral] reports that, when floodwaters from Old Tampa Bay reached past her knees, Disney Oceana Delgado called 911 in a panic. The responder told her she and her two young daughters should immediately evacuate their first floor apartment near Rocky Point in Tampa. But her car was already partially submerged. Not knowing where else to go, Delgado gathered what dry bedding she had and led her daughters up the external stairwell to second floor apartments. The family slept as best they could on the concrete steps. “I woke at 5 a.m.,” said her daughter Lorena Delgado, 10. “We don’t sleep so much.” Delago returned Friday morning to sodden beds, clothing and some ruined kitchen appliances. The apartment is unlivable for now, and she and her daughters are staying at her brother’s home. On Tuesday morning, a relative drove her and her daughters to a Disaster Recovery Center opened Monday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Riverview. For the second consecutive day, dozen other families, many with similar hardship stories, headed to the center waiting for their turn to speak with FEMA experts about applying for emergency assistance. FEMA is working to open other centers in Pinellas and Pasco counties, which bore the brunt of storm surge damage. That could include mobile disaster recovery centers in areas directly impacted by Helen, said FEMA spokesperson Jack Pagano. FEMA is opening a disaster recovery center in Pinellas Wednesday at the Largo Public Library at 120 Central Park Drive.

HawaiiPublicRadio.org [10/2/2024 11:10 PM, Catherine Cruz, 95K, Neutral] reports that, amid labor strikes around the state and the nation, disaster cleanup workers are among the many facing workforce struggles. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, labor organizer Saket Soni founded the group Resilience Force to protect those who clean and rebuild communities after disasters. He said he watched a new disaster economy rise up out of Katrina. "There are a group of workers inside of that who are doing the work of rebuilding and repairing, and they’re mostly on the mainland, mostly immigrants, immigrant workers who follow storms and floods and fires, who crisscross across the country, who in essence, have become the white blood cells of our recovery efforts," Soni said. "So many people depend on these workers, but the workers are being mistreated, and there aren’t enough of them. So our work is to protect and build up this workforce that we all need to get back on our feet after a climate disaster," he told HPR. Just last week, Hurricane Helene barreled through the Southeastern U.S., devastating parts of Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia and more. Soni said workers are descending on the area to start the rebuilding process. "They’re working without protective equipment, without safety gear. They’re working in the heat, rebuilding roofs under the sun at the peak of summer," he said. "Most of these workers are undocumented, but they’re afraid to come forward and report abuse because they fear deportation."

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 6:19 AM, Cheryl McCloud, 60726K, Neutral] reports a tropical disturbance expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico could become a tropical depression by the end of the week or the weekend, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. After that, it’s still too early to tell where it’ll go or how much it will strengthen, but residents along the entire Gulf Coast have been advised to closely monitor the system and to be prepared. AccuWeather warned Florida "may be the prime target" for any budding system next week. That’s unwelcome news to Florida, which was hit by Category 4 Hurricane Helene less than a week ago. Hurricane Helene made landfall east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, on Sept. 26 at 11:10 p.m. With winds reaching 140 mph, the Category 4 storm ranks among the most powerful to strike the United States, according to NOAA. "Traumatized" Gulf Coast, Florida and the Southeast need to keep a close eye on this potential threat," said Dr. Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist with WeatherTiger. Truchelut is a Florida meteorologist who works with the USA TODAY Network.

Yahoo! News [10/2/2024 9:02 PM, Staff, 60726K, Positive] reports Siouxland residents that are starting to rebuild their homes after the June floods got some advice at Olson’s Ace Hardware in Beresford, South Dakota. FEMA is providing free mitigation, repair, and rebuilding advice in Union County. Mitigation specialists encourage all residents before they even begin rebuilding to make sure to pick the right contractors for the job. “One of the things I stress is selecting and working with contractors” Robert Nix with FEMA said. “FEMA always recommends, when you deal with contractors, do not give cash up front. Investigate, make sure they’re legitimate companies, and get a contract in writing before anything is done, especially before you give them any money.” FEMA will be located at Olson’s Ace Hardware through Oct. 5 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as on Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for any residents in need of advice. South Dakota residents affected by the June floods have until Oct. 15 to apply for FEMA assistance.

AP [10/2/2024 8:00 PM, Rebecca Boone, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, and Alanna Durkin Richer, 16227K, Negative] reports that the wildfire that killed at least 102 people on Maui last year erupted from an earlier brushfire, sparked by downed power lines, that firefighters believed they had extinguished, officials confirmed Wednesday as they presented their findings on the cause. The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze — the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century — emerged in the afternoon in the same area as the blaze that began earlier that morning. Driven by strong, erratic winds, the fire raced through the historic town of Lahaina, destroying thousands of buildings, overcoming people trapped in their cars and forcing some residents to flee into the ocean. It had been unclear whether the blaze was a separate fire or a rekindling of the morning fire, and whether firefighters should have left the scene after they spent hours dousing it. The answers could prove significant to questions about liability for the destruction, though a tentative $4 billion settlement has been reached. In presenting their findings, officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maui Fire Department did not address liability but found that the wildfire was clearly a rekindling of the morning fire — most likely from winds blowing an undetected ember into a dry, overgrown gully nearby.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [10/2/2024 9:57 PM, Mike Baker and Glenn Thrush, 6765K, Neutral]
CBS News [10/2/2024 7:14 PM, Staff, 59828K, Negative]
NBC News [10/2/2024 7:39 PM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 46778K, Neutral]
Miami Herald [10/3/2024 3:21 AM, Darryl Coote, 6765K, Neutral]

Univision [10/2/2024 5:17 PM, Staff, 16504K, Negative] reports Hurricane Kirk formed in the Atlantic, and after showing rapid intensification it threatens to become a Category 4 hurricane in the next few days. Although the center of the system is far from the Caribbean, meteorological authorities are closely monitoring its path, which could indirectly affect Puerto Rico with dangerous surges and strong rip currents. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Kirk is moving northwestward at a speed of 10 knots, driven by a subtropical ridge located to the northeast of the system. Currently, Kirk’s sustained winds reach 75 knots (approximately 85 mph), with gusts reaching 90 knots. However, over the next 24 to 48 hours, the hurricane is expected to intensify considerably, reaching maximum winds of up to 115 knots (130 mph), which would make it a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The official NHC forecast indicates that Kirk will follow a path that will lead it to move northward into the Atlantic over the next few days, away from the Caribbean, but its influence will extend well beyond its center due to its increasing size. The hurricane is increasing its radius of action, with tropical storm force winds extending up to 170 nautical miles in its northeast quadrant, making it a major system.

New York Post [10/2/2024 11:57 PM, Victor Nava, 25717K, Negative] reports Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he’s “always worried” about safety at his rallies, blaming the White House for making it “very difficult” to ensure proper security. Trump, 78, made the remark during an interview on NewsNation’s “CUOMO” show, as he prepares for a weekend rally in Butler, Pa. – the site of the first assassination attempt against him. “Well, I’m always worried,” the former president said, when asked if he’s concerned about safety ahead of his highly anticipated return to Butler. “I think that the White House isn’t treating us very good,” he added. “I get crowds that are ten times bigger than anybody else, 20 times bigger than anybody else, and we’re entitled to security.” Calls for Trump to receive the same level of Secret Service protection as President Biden mounted after a second failed assassination attempt at the former president’s Palm Beach, Fla., golf course last month. An eagle-eyed Secret Service agent was able to foil suspected would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh’s apparent plot to gun down Trump, but security was lighter around the golf course because the GOP nominee for president is not the sitting commander-in-chief. The House and Senate unanimously passed legislation last month enhancing Secret Service protection for Trump – up to the same level currently provided to a sitting US president and vice president. Biden, 81, signed the bill into law on Tuesday. “The White House makes it very difficult,” Trump said of getting the necessary security measures in place for his massive rallies. “We had something in Wisconsin last week, we would’ve had 60,000 people, but they couldn’t provide us with the security,” he claimed.

New York Times [10/3/2024 4:32 AM, By Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, 740K, Negative] reports that when told by an aide that Vice President Mike Pence was in peril as the rioting on Capitol Hill escalated on Jan. 6, 2021, President Donald J. Trump replied, “So what?” When one of his lawyers told him that his false claims that the election had been marred by widespread fraud would not hold up in court, Mr. Trump responded, “The details don’t matter.” On a flight with Mr. Trump and his family after the election, an Oval Office assistant heard Mr. Trump say: “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.” Those accounts were among new evidence disclosed in a court filing made public on Wednesday in which the special counsel investigating Mr. Trump made his case for why the former president is not immune from prosecution on federal charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. Made public by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the Federal District Court in Washington, the 165-page brief was partly redacted but expansive, adding details to the already extensive record of how Mr. Trump lost the race but attempted nonetheless to cling to power. The brief from the prosecution team led by the special counsel, Jack Smith, asserts that there is ample evidence that Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in office were those of a desperate losing candidate rather than official acts of a president that would be considered immune from prosecution under a landmark Supreme Court ruling this summer. “The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct,” prosecutors wrote. “Not so. Although the defendant was the incumbent president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one.” The brief was unsealed three months after the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, less than five weeks from Election Day and one day after Mr. Trump’s current running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, declined during the vice-presidential debate to say that Mr. Trump had lost in 2020. Mr. Smith’s brief was initially filed under seal last week. It was designed to help Judge Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, to determine how much of the indictment can survive the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in July granting Mr. Trump a broad form of immunity against prosecution for many official acts while in office.

WSBTV.com [10/2/2024 3:18 PM, Staff, 60726K, Negative] reports a 36-year-old metro Atlanta man pleaded guilty to his involvement in a million-dollar money order scheme. According to court records, between December 2019 and September 2022, Jeremiah Carbon, 36, of Lithonia, bought almost 1,500 money orders from retail stores in Georgia. On February 22, 2022, Gwinnett County deputies conducted a traffic stop while Carbon was driving due to an unrelated traffic violation. During the stop, deputies found several blank money orders, a receipt for the recently purchased money orders, a printer/copier, and a paper cutter. The Lithonia man also had a semi-automatic gun, which he was forbidden to have due to his status as a convicted felon. "Carbon believed he could evade law enforcement when he resumed his criminal ways," said Frederick D. Houston, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Atlanta Field Office. On June 6, Carbon pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud conspiracy, bank fraud, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to three years and five months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

FOX News [10/2/2024 11:03 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 48844K, Neutral] reports federal prosecutors requested an indefinite delay Wednesday in scheduling the trial for Ryan Routh, the suspect in the second assassination attempt on former President Trump, citing an enormous amount of evidence gathered since his arrest. In a filing on Wednesday, prosecutors asked Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon to officially designate Routh’s case as "complex." Prosecutors revealed the scope of the investigation, which spanned multiple states, involved hundreds of interviews and included hundreds of digital media for review. "The government has worked diligently since September 15 to investigate the incident. Over the past two weeks, the United States has interviewed hundreds of witnesses," the filing said. "It has also executed 13 search warrants in Florida, Hawaii, and North Carolina, and seized hundreds of items of evidence, including multiple electronic devices. Investigators claimed that they have more than 100 outstanding subpoena returns that are still pending, and they estimate that they have "thousands of videos to review" from the large volume of electronic devices seized.

CNN [10/3/2024 3:03 AM, Simone McCarthy, 24052K, Neutral] reports China’s Coast Guard claimed it entered waters of the Arctic Ocean for the first time as part of a joint patrol with Russia – in the latest sign of enhanced coordination between the two in a region where Beijing has long wished to expand its footprint. The statement came a day after the US Coast Guard said it spotted four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard in the Bering Sea – the “northernmost” location it said it had ever observed the Chinese ships. The joint patrol “effectively expanded the scope of the coast guard’s ocean-going navigation” and tested their ability “to carry out missions in unfamiliar waters,” the China Coast Guard (CCG) said in a post on its official social media account Wednesday. The CCG did not release the exact location of the patrol. A banner visible on one of the vessels in accompanying photos read “China Coast Guard devoting its heart to the Party; demonstrating loyalty in the Arctic Ocean,” referring to China’s ruling Communist Party. The Russian government has not officially acknowledged the patrol, which Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said took place “a few days ago.” Russian state media TASS published a report on the patrol, citing the CCG statement. The US Coast Guard (USCG) on Monday said it spotted the four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard “transiting in formation in a northeast direction” in the Bering Sea, some five miles inside Russia’s Exclusive Economic Zone on Saturday. The Bering Sea stretches between Russia and Alaska and is part of the North Pacific Ocean. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, a narrow passage separating Asia and North America. “This recent activity demonstrates the increased interest in the Arctic by our strategic competitors,” Rear Adm. Megan Dean, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, said in the USCG statement.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [10/2/2024 12:46 AM, Staff, 34590K, Neutral]

Newsweek [10/2/2024 8:53 AM, Ryan Chan, 49093K, Positive] reports the United States Coast Guard encountered four vessels from the Russian and Chinese counterparts near Alaska on Saturday as they transited toward the Arctic Ocean for patrols. A U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J long-range surveillance aircraft spotted two Russian border guard ships and two Chinese coast guard ships approximately 440 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement on Tuesday. It is the northernmost location where the U.S. Coast Guard has so far spotted its counterpart from China. The four ships were sailing northeastward and were inside the economic waters of Russia, which extend 200 nautical miles beyond the country’s territorial sea. St. Lawrence Island is situated west of mainland Alaska and south of the Bering Strait, a waterway that connects the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The remote island, which is closer to Russia (50 miles) than to Alaska (116 miles), is just south of the Arctic Circle. This "near Arctic" encounter came after Russia and China staged a joint coast guard drill in Russia’s Far East region from September 16 to 20. They formed a task force and headed for the waters in the Northern Pacific Ocean to conduct a joint patrol afterward. China’s presence in the Northern Pacific Ocean has been growing recently. It has deployed warships and bombers near the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and in the Bering Sea, while its coast guard fleet continued to patrol the area for what it called fisheries law enforcement. "This recent activity demonstrates the increased interest in the Arctic by our strategic competitors," said Rear Admiral Megan Dean, the commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, which has an area of responsibility that covers Alaska’s mainland and islands. "As part of Operation Frontier Sentinel, the Coast Guard meets presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters," the lead federal maritime law enforcement agency in the U.S. responded to a previous inquiry from Newsweek.

Newsweek [10/2/2024 12:23 PM, Ryan Chan, 49093K, Neutral] reports that the United States has deployed at least three warships near Alaska to support homeland defense operations as China and Russia began a joint patrol in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Photos released by the U.S. Navy show that destroyers USS Kidd and USS Sterett, as well as cruiser USS Lake Erie, conducted homeland defense operations in the Northern Pacific Ocean last month. The images did not reveal the exact location of the operations. A U.S. Northern Command spokesperson told Newsweek that the Kidd and the Sterett were deployed to support the command’s maritime homeland defense mission. The command is charged with U.S. homeland defense, including air and sea around Alaska. Regarding the Lake Erie’s mission, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson told Newsweek that the U.S. Navy "frequently conducts exercises and operations in the North Pacific Ocean to maintain readiness, refine tactics, deter conflict, and support maritime homeland defense." Chinese and Russian warships began a series of maneuvers at the same time. A China-led exercise, the Northern/Interaction-2024, was held in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, both northwest of the Pacific Ocean. The first stage of the exercise was completed in the Sea of Japan on September 15. The U.S. Coast Guard spotted four vessels from the Russian and Chinese counterparts near Alaska on Saturday as they transited northeastward in the Bering Sea. The Chinese Coast Guard later claimed that its ships had arrived in the Arctic Ocean for the first time ever.

CBS News [10/2/2024 12:03 PM, Kerry Breen, 59828K, Neutral] reports that two men are in the custody of the Drug Enforcement Agency after Coast Guard officials seized nearly 400 pounds of cocaine from a boat in Puerto Rico. The crew of a Coast Guard aircraft spotted a suspicious vessel in international waters on Sept. 28. The vessel was steering towards Rincó, a beach town on Puerto Rico’s western coast, the agency said in a news release on Wednesday. The Joseph Tezanos, a 154-foot fast response cutter craft ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was diverted to intercept the vessel. The Joseph Tezanos stopped and searched the vessel, officials said, and Coast Guard crew members found 142 "brick-sized packages of suspected contraband" inside the boat. Those packages tested positive for cocaine, the Coast Guard said, with an estimated value of $4.3 million. The two men who were aboard the ship were arrested and transferred to the custody of the DEA. Both men are United States citizens, and face federal charges including possession to with intent to distribute a controlled substance aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the Coast Guard said. The charges carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. "I congratulate the United States Coast Guard personnel for this successful interdiction of an international drug smuggling venture," said United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow in the news release. "We greatly appreciate the U.S. Coast Guard’s unwavering support and dedication to keeping Puerto Rico and our nation safe."

AP [10/2/2024 6:07 PM, Christina A. Cassidy and Ali Swenson, 44095K, Negative] reports that nearly a month out from Election Day, the head of the nation’s cybersecurity agency is forcefully reassuring Americans who have been swept into the chaotic churn of election disinformation and distrust that they will be able to feel confident in the outcome. State and local election officials have made so much progress in securing voting, ballot-counting and other election infrastructure that the system is more robust than it has ever been, said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. As a result, she said, there is no way Russia, Iran or any other foreign adversary will be able to alter the results. “Malicious actors, even if they tried, could not have an impact at scale such that there would be a material effect on the outcome of the election,” Easterly told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. Easterly’s trust in the election process comes as intelligence officials have warned of escalating efforts by foreign adversaries to influence voters, deepen partisan divides and undermine faith in U.S. elections. Recognizing that many Americans’ confidence in elections “has been shaken,” Easterly emphasized how prepared election officials are for emergencies, simple mistakes and attacks — and how motivated they are to protect Americans’ votes.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [10/2/2024 5:19 PM, Natalie Venegas, 49093K, Negative]
Chicago Tribune [10/2/2024 6:58 PM, Christina A. Cassidy, 5800K, Neutral]

Federal News Network [10/2/2024 2:26 PM, Michael Saintcross, 600K, Neutral] reports that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently issued an emergency directive calling on federal agencies to take immediate action to reset compromised credentials in order to mitigate the risks posed by nation-state actors exploiting vulnerabilities to access Microsoft’s corporate email systems. CISA’s emergency directive follows the January breach of Microsoft corporate email accounts by Russian state-sponsored cyber actor Midnight Blizzard (also known as Cozy Bear and APT29). During that attack, information was exfiltrated from the corporate email systems, including authentication details shared between Microsoft customers and Microsoft by email. Since the initial attack, the threat actor has been running an extended intrusion campaign to attempt to gain additional access to Microsoft customer systems. According to Microsoft, “Midnight Blizzard has increased the volume of some aspects of the intrusion campaign, such as password sprays, by as much as 10-fold,” presenting extremely high risk to all federal agencies whose email correspondence with Microsoft was identified as exfiltrated by Midnight Blizzard. The directive, which is only applicable to affected agencies, requires all agencies whose emails have been identified as exfiltrated by Midnight Blizzard to analyze potentially affected emails and reset any compromised credentials. CISA and Microsoft have contacted all affected federal agencies whose emails have been identified as compromised thus far.

Federal News Network [10/2/2024 1:02 PM, Michele Sandiford, 600K, Positive] reports that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) program for sharing cyber threat data is struggling with a steep decline in participants. That’s according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general. The IG said CISA made some good improvements to the Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) program in recent years. But the number of participants dropped from 304 in 2020 to 135 in 2022. The IG said CISA did not have a good outreach strategy for AIS. In response, CISA told auditors that it’s working on a new threat intelligence strategy aimed at addressing challenges with AIS. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Federal News Network [10/2/2024 4:00 PM, Jason Miller, 600K, Neutral] Video: HERE reports by preserving and expanding the culture of questioning the status quo and seeking better ways of doing things, Greene believes he’s heeding Goldstein’s most important advice: Build relationships across CISA, DHS, the White House, federal agencies and, of course, Capitol Hill. Greene said he believes the JCDC platform is working well and helping to better establish long-term partnerships across all sectors. He added the success of JCDC, both from a government and a private sector perspective, results from clear expectations on both sides of what it means to partner and what information can or cannot be shared. Greene said CISA is leaning on JCDC to provide a level of detail around tactics, techniques and procedures of Volt Typhoon’s targets as well as potential mitigations, even though some information remains at a high classification level.

MeriTalk [10/2/2024 2:08 PM, Cate Burgan, 21K, Neutral] reports that the Department of Justice (DoJ) Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) today announced its new Strategic Approach to Countering Cybercrime. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri unveiled the new guidance this morning during a CSIS event, highlighting the strategy’s three critical goals. "The Strategic Approach to Countering Cybercrime emphasizes the division’s focus on using all tools to disrupt criminal activity and hold criminal actors accountable, developing law and policy to prevent and prosecute cybercrime, and promoting cybersecurity through capacity building and public education," Argentieri said during the opening keynote of the event. "It also highlights the division’s expertise in collecting and using electronic evidence." Argentieri offered examples of how CCIPS is working with Federal and international partners to implement each of the three strategic goals. CCIPS has worked with the FBI and other partners on successful cyber disruptions and prosecutions against prolific cybercrime groups, including the notorious ransomware groups LockBit and AlphV/Blackcat. "While we are proud of these successes, we know our work is not done. We remain especially vigilant about the next generation of technology that criminals are employing to commit cybercrime," she said. "Because bad actors are already exploiting AI for criminal purposes." The second goal in the new strategy emphasizes the Criminal Division’s role in ensuring that the department has effective tools to combat cybercrime and that it protects civil rights in cybercrime investigations.

CBS Detroit [10/2/2024 10:38 PM, DeJanay Booth-Singleton, 59828K, Positive] reports Wayne County officials say they are investigating a cyber incident that is "targeting some internal systems." "The County Information Technology team is aware of a cyber incident targeting some internal systems. We are currently investigating the scope of the incident with our cybersecurity partners which include the FBI and Michigan State Police," county spokesperson Doda Lulgjuraj said in a statement. In a statement to CBS News Detroit, the FBI said it could confirm or deny if it was conducting an investigation. No other details have been released on the investigation or the cyber incident.

Newsweek [10/2/2024 7:13 PM, Sophie Clark, 49093K, Negative] reports that new data shows last month was the worst September for deaths and injuries from school shootings for the past decade. The School Shooting Data and Analysis report, written by David Riedman of the K-12 School Shooting Database, reveals that September 2024 saw eight people killed, and 38 people injured from school shootings, higher than any previous September - typically the first month of school after summer break - since 2014. The K-12 School Shooting Database is composed of data for all gun-related activity at a school, including incidents where a gun is brandished or fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason. The data from September shows a decrease in the number of school shootings - 33 in September 2024 compared to 38, 36, and 55 in the same month for the prior three years respectively. However, the shootings have been more dangerous. This September saw a sharp rise in shooting-related injuries, with 38 students wounded during the month compared to 20 in September of 2023, and 33 in September 2022. It also shows an increase in deaths. In September 2024, eight students were killed, the highest number for the same month since 2014.

Washington Post [10/2/2024 5:54 PM, Jasmine Hilton and Nicole Asbury, 52865K, Negative] reports Prince George’s County police have charged 10 young people, and identified four others, in connection with nearly four dozen school-related threats a little over a month into the academic year, police said Wednesday. The threats, which targeted schools across the county, were mainly spread through social media platforms, police said. The 10 students who were criminally charged are between the ages of 13 through 16, according to a news release from police. Four other youths are under the age of 13 and cannot be charged under state law, police said. Police did not specify what charges the teens are facing, or immediately offer more details on the threats. But officials said the department’s Homeland Security division has investigated 47 school-related threats since classes began in late August. Threats of school violence have recently risen throughout the Washington region, including in Montgomery County, the District and Virginia, prompting schools to lock down and leading to other arrests of young people. D.C. police recently arrested a 15-year-old from Brandywine, Md., and charged him with threats to kidnap or injure a person, in connection with threats at several schools.

Houston Chronicle [10/2/2024 10:09 PM, Staff, 2229K, Negative] reports a 14-year-old Willis High School student was arrested Wednesday and charged with making a false alarm after shouting that he had a firearm, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. The student, who was not identified, allegedly yelled, “I have an AK-47 in my bag,” while in the hallway in between classes, the department said in a Wednesday evening news release. Multiple students and faculty reported the student immediately following the incident, and he has since been transported to a juvenile detention center. “Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind the community that threats to a school, even in jest, are no laughing matter,” the department said. “Such actions disrupt the learning environment, cause fear, and strain school and law enforcement resources. We urge parents to have conversations with their children about the seriousness of making threats, whether real or false, and the potential life-long consequences they may face as a result.”It is the latest of three similar incidents at Willis Independent School District in less than a month. In late September, two students were arrested and charged after allegedly making similar threatening comments at school and on social media. The arrests came amid a general increase in similar incidents across the area, authorities said. According to a video posted by FBI Houston, officials have received more false threats of school violence in September than in any month in the past three years."While most of the threats we come across are hoaxes, the consequences for those who make these threats are no joke," said Christopher Soyez, assistant special agent in charge at FBI Houston. "Threatening to commit acts of violence against a school, joke or not, is a crime. The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, investigates every threat we come across."

CNN [10/2/2024 5:05 PM, Josh Campbell and Cindy Von Quednow, 24052K, Negative] reports a total of 68 suspected gang members with ties to White supremacy were charged in the Los Angeles area Wednesday in a large-scale takedown, federal prosecutors said. The Peckerwoods Gang members and associates were charged in a sweeping federal indictment, which included allegations of racketeering, firearms trafficking, drug trafficking and financial fraud, according to officials. More than 40 of the suspected members and associates of the Peckerwoods Gang were arrested Wednesday or were already in custody in what was "one of largest takedowns in the history of the Department of Justice against a neo-Nazi, White supremacist, violent extremist organization," Estrada said. The arrests involved multiple federal and local law enforcement tactical officers, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force and resources brought in from the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, a source previously told CNN.

Miami Herald [10/3/2024 12:00 AM, Darryl Coote, 6765K, Negative] reports forty-two alleged members and associates of the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods have been arrested in an operation authorities on Wednesday called one of the largest crackdowns on a neo-Nazi White supremacist gang in the history of the Department of Justice. Many of the suspects were detained throughout the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas on Wednesday morning, as local and federal officers, including members of the the Joint Terrorism Task Force, executed 29 arrest warrants and conducted multiple searches. The operation came as a 76-count federal indictment was unsealed Wednesday, charging 68 people either in or connected to the White supremacist gang. Authorities told reporters in a press conference that they are continuing to hunt the remaining 26 suspects, whom they described as fugitives. Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office said that they expect this investigation to "significantly cripple" the domestic extremist organization. "It’s not hyperbole to say the sheer scale of this operation is historic," Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office said. "This is a historic event to federally indict this many members of a hate group." The SFV Peckerwoods is a mix of street, prison and racist skinhead gangs, according to the Jewish nonprofit Anti-Defamation League, which said on its website that the organization’s "White supremacy is more often crude than sophisticated and they have a high association with criminal activity, such as drugs."

Bloomberg [10/2/2024 2:03 PM, Laura Dhillon Kane, 1784K, Neutral] reports that Canada is working with Nordic countries to create a new Arctic security coalition that would exclude Russia and offer a place to coordinate on defense, intelligence and cyber threats. Security talks among the northern allies are needed because they don’t meet privately at the political level anymore, partly due to Russia’s presence on the Arctic Council, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said. The Nordics are now all NATO members after Sweden’s accession earlier this year. "For a long time Canada, we thought we were protected by our geography. But now we need to reckon that we are a country facing Russia and because of climate change, more countries are interested in the Arctic, including China," she said in an interview with Bloomberg News. "We need to be addressing this new reality." Canada has pledged to strengthen its military presence in the Arctic after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China’s growing interest in the far north, shattered its sense of security in its vast northern territories. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is also trying to prove to the US that it’s a reliable partner on defense, especially as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump places a heavy emphasis on allies paying their share of security costs.

Miami Herald [10/2/2024 7:49 AM, Paul Godfrey, 6765K, Neutral] reports the Israeli military said Wednesday it was sending more troops into southern Lebanon as part of a limited ground incursion aimed at neutralizing Hezbollah’s ability to attack Israel. The announcement a second division was being deployed to assist the 98th paratrooper division which crossed into Lebanon early Tuesday came as Hezbollah claimed its fighters had routed an Israeli patrol in a dawn battle at the border town of Adaisseh and inflicted losses on them. "Soldiers of the 36th Division, including troops of the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armored Brigade, the 6th ‘Etzioni’ Infantry Brigade and other forces, are joining the targeted and delimited ground operation in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure," Israel Defense Forces said in a news release. The forces would, the IDF added, be supported by an "air force attack effort and covering artillery fire from the 282nd Brigade." The military issued fresh alerts Wednesday to villagers in 24 settlements in southern Lebanon urging them to leave saying it was a matter of life and death. "Hezbollah’s activities force the IDF to act against it forcefully. The IDF does not intend to harm you, so for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Awali River. Save your lives," IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X. "Anyone who is near Hezbollah elements, installations, and combat equipment is putting his life at risk. Any house used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted. Evacuate your homes immediately. "Be careful, you must not go south. Any southward movement may put you in danger. We will let you know when it is safe to return home," said Adraee.

Aspen Public Radio [10/2/2024 12:30 PM, Geoff Brumfiel, 7K, Neutral] reports that Iran’s strike on Israel appears to have been more effective at reaching its targets than an attack in April of this year. Videos posted to social media and geolocated by NPR and the online investigations group Bellingcat show multiple warheads landing around two Israeli air bases: Nevatim Airbase in the south of the country and Tel Nof Airbase in central Israel. One video filmed near Tel Nof also appeared to show possible secondary explosions, indicating that ammunition or fuel may have been struck by a missile. Videos also showed warheads landing in northern Tel Aviv, near the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad. Those warheads appear to have missed their target, and did not inflict any real damage. One video showed a large crater around 500 yards from the spy agency’s headquarters. Experts say the attack was somewhat more successful than the one in April of this year, which was almost completely neutralized by Israeli and American air defenses. "It looks like more missiles seem to be hitting targets in Israel this time around," says Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. That could be in part because "the Iranians seem to be using newer, more sophisticated missiles." Both the U.S. and Israel downplayed the strikes. "This attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a briefing Tuesday. The U.S. said it had fired about a dozen interceptors from warships in an effort to blunt the Iranian assault. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [10/2/2024 1:07 PM, Nabih Bulos and Tracy Wilkinson, 26099K, Negative] reports that as war in the Middle East widens, Iran and Israel on Wednesday traded threats of mutual destruction following the Islamic Republic’s missile barrage against Israel, while the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel reported the first "close-quarter" combat between their forces in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah reported clashing with Israeli troops just over the Lebanese side of the border near the villages of Odaisseh and Maroun Al-Ras, saying its fighters "repulsed" an infantry unit after "inflicting losses." The Israeli military confirmed the fighting and announced the deaths of seven soldiers. Israel released footage of its tanks rolling into the neighboring country, the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 18 years. Smaller incursions by Israeli special forces have been taking place fairly regularly over the last year, Israel said. Mohammad Afif, spokesman for Hezbollah, whose leadership has been pulverized in days of Israeli airstrikes, said the Iranian-backed group was prepared to mount a fierce resistance to the invasion despite its losses. Hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the strikes, Lebanese officials said.

Reported similarly:
NPR [10/2/2024 7:11 AM, Steve Inskeep, 40123K, Negative]

Washington Examiner [10/2/2024 7:30 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 3358K, Neutral] reports that, for decades, critics of missile defense derided the effort as “a costly boondoggle” and “pie in the sky,” but systems fielded by Israel, with an assist from U.S. warships, fired anti-missile interceptors and rendered yesterday’s attack by Iran a massive dud. Damage from the 200 missiles was negligible, with the only recorded death being a Palestinian in Jericho. “The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is testament to Israeli military capability and U.S. military,” President Joe Biden said yesterday afternoon after the damage assessment was in. “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.” “Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken added from the State Department. “We have demonstrated, once again, our commitment to Israel’s defense.” This morning, Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling systems blunted a Hezbollah attack that saw some 100 rockets fired into its country. Missile defense — it turns out — may be the thing that prevents the conflict from spiraling into a wider war between Israel and Iran, but that may depend on Israel’s response. In remarks at the start of a meeting of his security council Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited “Israel’s air defense array, which is the most advanced in the world,” for thwarting the Iranian missile barrage. “I also thank the U.S. for its support in our defensive effort.” “This evening, Iran made a big mistake, and it will pay for it,” Netanyahu said. “The regime in Tehran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and to exact a price from our enemies.” “We have a bank of potential targets that would inflict pain and pressure on the regime,” Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, told CNN this morning. “It would be irresponsible for me to reveal any specific plans, so let’s just say the regime in Iran made a poor decision when they decided to launch such a hostile action against Israel and the citizens and people of Israel. Ten million people took shelter yesterday. That cannot be acceptable anywhere.”

Newsweek [10/3/2024 4:15 AM, Ryan Chan, 49093K, Negative] reports the United States Navy released videos showing its destroyers fired interceptors to bring down Iranian ballistic missiles in defense of Israel from the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday. According to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, destroyers USS Bulkeley and USS Cole fired a dozen interceptors against the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles to help defend Israel. The U.S. Navy Sixth Fleet later confirmed that the warships were stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and they engaged "multiple" Iranian ballistic missiles. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran claimed that the attacks have been conducted over the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, as well as the killings of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC General Abbas Nilforushan. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the air defense systems of Israel and the U.S. operated effectively to engage 180 ballistic missiles fired from Iran. It acknowledged some missiles hit Israeli air bases, but the impacts were ineffective as no Israeli air force aircraft were damaged. According to Ryder, Iran launched around 200 ballistic missiles targeting several locations in Israel. Although the Pentagon still assessed the outcomes of the destroyers’ interception, the Sixth Fleet said, "multiple missiles are believed to have been successfully engaged." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [10/2/2024 1:56 PM, Colleen Long and Aamer Madhani, 44095K, Neutral] reports that President Joe Biden said Wednesday he will not support an Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program in response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel. "The answer is no," Biden told reporters when asked if he would support such retaliation after Iran fired about 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday. Biden’s comments came after he and fellow Group of Seven leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom spoke by telephone about coordinating new sanctions against Iran. The U.S. and allies are scrambling to keep the Mideast conflict -sparked by Iran-backed Hamas militants’ in Gaza’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel-from spreading further. They are urging Israel to show restraint as it weighs retaliation against Iran for Tuesday’s attack. Israel is now carrying out what it has described as limited ground operations across its northern border with Lebanon to dig out Hezbollah, another Iran-backed group, after carrying out a series of massive air strikes that killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and decimated its leadership. Biden stated his opposition to Israel hitting Iranian nuclear facilities as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed a range of options in how to respond to Tuesday’s attack. It was the second such attack by Iran on Israel in less than six months.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [10/2/2024 7:00 PM, Michael D. Shear, 147417K, Negative]
The Hill [10/2/2024 1:32 PM, Brett Samuels, 19591K, Negative]

Newsweek [10/2/2024 7:13 PM, Jordan King, 49093K, Neutral] reports that if Israel retaliates against Iran, it will suffer a "stronger and more powerful" response, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi warned. Iran fired an estimated 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in an attack that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) called self-defense over the killing of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and in response to "the intensification of the regime’s evils with the support of the United States" over attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. Iran’s "action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation," Araghchi said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful." But "Israel doesn’t care anymore about these declarations," said Beni Sabti, a researcher in the Iran program at The Institute for National Security Studies. "I think [Araghchi is] talking to the U.S. between the lines, so the U.S. will prevent an Israeli attack," he told Newsweek. Dr. Nimrod Goren, senior fellow for Israeli affairs, Middle East Institute, who said Iran’s message will not be coming as a surprise to Israel, added that he believes Israel’s next steps will "probably be taken in close coordination with the U.S." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already vowed to retaliate against Iran, when he said in a statement: "Iran made a major mistake tonight—and it will pay for it." "We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us—we will attack him," Netanyahu added.

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