Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Tuesday, 05 October 2021. You can receive this daily briefing by signing up at https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa
TODAY’S BRIEFING:
- Senate wants U.S. military partnership with Taiwan
- Whistleblower expected to rip Facebook on Capitol Hill
- Treasury issuing clawback order for pandemic relief funds
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
TAIWAN: The Senate is proposing a new “explicit policy” to assist Taiwan in defense and governance. The focus on U.S support to the island nation has renewed in recent weeks following ongoing Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). The Pentagon is being tasked to “conduct an assessment of the current defensive asymmetric capabilities of Taiwan and the ability of Taiwan to defend itself from external conventional military threats” as well as “the feasibility and advisability of assisting Taiwan in the domestic production of defensive asymmetric capabilities.” (AC: Similar amendments are included in the 2022 Defense spending bill, indicating a broad focus by the U.S. on Taiwan and China. Further plans for integrating National Guard units into Taiwan’s military training are expected next year. These are not strategic moves toward de-escalation and indicate rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. – D.M.)
FACEBOOK: The social media company faced sharp scrutiny on Capitol Hill this morning as a whistleblower is testifies about the results of internal Facebook research, which indicated potential harm to the mental health of its users. Bipartisan regulators and lawmakers are keen to take action against the company. “It’s clear that Facebook has done nothing to earn that trust, not from us, not from parents, not from the public,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said during the hearing. (AC: Facebook is criticized for doing little to police disinformation, extremist content, violent group organization, and misinformation. Separately, many users were unable to use WhatsApp, Facebook, or Instagram yesterday in an hours-long outage that remains under investigation. The House 6 January Commission subpoenaed records from Facebook in late August to determine their level of accountability in facilitating extremism online. – D.M.)
RENT: The Treasury Department said cities and states have until 15 November to allocate pandemic-related rent relief funding. States and localities must allocate and account for at least 65% of the funds or face federal clawbacks. The total program participation and expenditure is 3% of roughly $40 billion in funding. Far Left politicians want to expand and extend this program in the Human Infrastructure bill, despite scant nationwide participation. (AC: The Far Left “cancel rent” crowd backs continued rental relief assistance for allegedly millions who will be homeless. Previously, we discussed the administrative issues as applicants and recipients do not need to provide basic items like a rental agreement. Clawbacks are likely to renew protests against landlords and property owners, should they take effect before Congressional action. – D.M.)
HAZARDS WARNING
HURRICANE SEASON: Nothing significant to report.
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