Defense Department investigators have discovered
“potential security risks” in a Pentagon program that has enrolled more than
10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces since 2009, Fox News
has learned exclusively, with sources on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon
expressing alarm over “foreign infiltration” and enrollees now unaccounted for.
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Other News
What you missed around
the world during the Mooch saga
By Shane Savitsky
The departures of Reince
Priebus and Anthony Scaramucci from the White House that bookended the weekend
sucked up most of the media's attention. During that time, the United States
found itself at the center of some massive international developments.
The two big U.S.-driven
storylines: Branding Venezuela's leader
as a dictator following a highly controversial vote over the weekend, and
causing serious waves around the world with a sanctions bill against Russia,
North Korea, and Iran that passed both houses of Congress.
Venezuela
Contested constitutional
election: Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro held an election on Sunday to select members of a constituent assembly
that will rewrite the country's constitution, which led to clashes that left at
least 10 dead and was decried by the opposition — which refused to participate
— as a tactic to keep Maduro in power as he alters the country's laws to secure
his own power. The move led National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to brand Maduro a dictator, freezing his assets and preventing
Americans from doing business with him.
Arrest of opposition
leaders: Maduro took things a step further overnight as the Venezuelan secret service took away two
key opposition leaders from house arrest — just days after they had posted
videos online decrying Maduro's vote.
Russia
Embassy payback: After both houses of Congress passed a sweeping
sanctions bill, Russia ordered the United States over the weekend to cut its diplomatic staff in the
country by 755 employees in order to match Russia's presence in the United
States. That move will mostly affect Russian employees at the embassy, grinding
the visa process to a halt and forcing those employees to enter an uncertain
job market as "tainted" workers, per the NYT.
Military buildup: At a time of increased tensions with the West, Russia is
planning to move ahead with a long-planned military exercise along its western
border — including Belarus and the exclave of Kaliningrad — that will bring up
to 100,000 troops to its border with NATO nations. The big worry among security
experts, per the NYT: those troops may never leave the area as a show of
force, further ratcheting up tensions in a fraught time.
North Korea
Missile launches: North Korea launched another intercontinental ballistic missile on a
45-minute flight on Friday with a splashdown off the coast of Japan. Per CNN, the launch was the reclusive regime's most advanced yet
— with Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago almost certainly within its range if
fired at a flatter trajectory.
Submarine activity: In concert with North Korea's missile launches, the
United States detected that the country has engaged in an "ejection
test," which is a key part of determining if a missile can be fired from a
submarine, per CNN. It comes as "highly unusual and unprecedented
levels" of North Korean submarine activity have also been noted by
military analysts.
Iran
Pushing ahead with
missile program: Iran also responded
to both houses of Congress passing new sanctions against it surrounding its
ballistic missile program with its foreign ministry spokesman calling them a
move to undermine the Iran nuclear deal and blasting them as "hostile,
reprehensible, and unacceptable," per Al Jazeera. Iran promised to forge ahead with its ballistic missile
program, stating it is a domestic program that cannot be interfered with
internationally.
