Daily SA: Military warns of hypersonic homeland threat

Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness briefing for Wednesday, 25 August 2021. You can receive this daily intel brief via email by signing up at https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa

TODAY’S BRIEFING:

• Situational Awareness
• Military warns of hypersonic homeland threat
• Havana Syndrome in Hanoi
• Food distribution slows down
• Voting rights update moves forward
• GPS vulnerability study commissioned 

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

TOP THREAT: The commander of U.S. Northern Command said Russia’s submarines and hypersonic munitions pose the greatest military threat to the American homeland. The cruise missiles can be launched from traditional air or sea platforms, but the use of nonstandard platforms like shipping containers on commercial transportation, increases detection challenges. Russia actively violates the U.S. vessel identification zones around Alaska. Going forward, Gen. VanHeck said, “So we’ll have a persistent, proximate threat off each coast and I would say all vectors 24/7/365.” (AC: China is actively modernizing their own submarines and bombers to carry hypersonic munitions to engage in similar operations. Effective military cooperation during a conflict with Russia and/or China represents a worst case scenario for the U.S. – D.M.)

SINGAPORE: Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Vietnam was delayed following a suspected directed energy attack in Singapore. The vice president’s spokeswoman offered few details saying a “possible anomalous health incident” occurred before her arrival in Hanoi. The incident and delay follows a speech by Vice President Harris’, criticizing China for hostile maritime activity. (AC: These attacks are dubbed Havana Syndrome and induce physical illness and persistent cognitive issues. No intelligence agency has publicly credited an actor for directed energy incidents, but Russia and China both possess the capability. The incident’s proximity to the VP’s visit is unlikely to be a coincidence. – D.M.)

FOOD: Wholesale food distribution companies are reporting difficulty in fulfilling orders. Companies like Sysco and United Natural Foods report labor shortages on the distribution and manufacturing side. Some grocery order items are going unfulfilled as logistics backlogs take hold. On-time delivery rates fell from over 90% to around 50%. Ben Walker, a New York distributor said, “Service levels are the lowest I’ve seen in my 16-year career, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon.” (AC: These shortages are driving prices higher but no analysts are predicting starvation-inducing food shortages. Droughts, busted supply chains, and inflation are impacting food production prices, but the U.S. remains well equipped to feed its own population. – D.M.)

VOTING: The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed the House on Tuesday. A major provision of the act restores the “preclearance” requirement for states and local election boards and institutes a 25-year “rolling look-back” period to identify suspected instances of voter suppression. The state or local election board must submit changes to D.C. and review any new laws for any link to past discrimination. (AC: This effectively gives the Federal government control over state election procedures. The 25 year look-back provision will likely be used to target states engaging in politically inconvenient activities for the party in power. -D.M.)

GPS: On 1 October, the Director of National Intelligence will begin a formal study into threats against U.S. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). Congress wants to know what the Defense and Intelligence communities are doing to protect GPS systems and implement survivable solutions. The study must detail the long-term negative impacts “with respect to the entire society”. (AC: Publicly, Intelligence and Defense officials said Russian and Chinese threats to GPS are multidomain, from direct-fire lasers or munitions to asymmetric attacks on infrastructure or tactical jamming. GPS relies on a minimum of 24 satellites to operate; with only 33 total in-orbit systems comprising the active and reserve networks, very few satellites would need to be disrupted to induce widespread issues. – D.M.)

HAZARDS WARNING

HURRICANE SEASON: The areas of low pressure off the coast of Central America will likely form a tropical depression in the next 48-72 hours. As it enters the Gulf of Mexico, it may strengthen further. According to the National Hurricane Center, the mid-Atlantic low pressure system is likely to form a tropical depression late this week and will continue moving east. A tropical wave in the southern tropical Atlantic area is unlikely to form a more substantial system this week as upper level winds remain unfavorable. 

In today’s Early Warning briefing, Dustin examines America’s domestic cyber security battlefield and Max details upcoming Far Left activity. Upgrade your Situational Awareness to Early Warning here: https://forwardobserver.com/subscribe

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