Good morning. Here’s the Daily Situational Awareness for Monday, 28 June 2021. You can receive this brief via email by signing up at https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa
BORDER: Gov. Abbot of Texas is asking for statewide support to border sheriffs in detaining, housing and processing illegal immigrants. After a months-long war of resource attrition and inaction by the federal government, Texas began Operation Lone Star in an attempt to secure the border. Last week, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice began moving 1,000 prisoners from the Briscoe Unit to make room for individuals arrested for entering the U.S. illegally. – D.M.
INVEST ACT: The House is expected to vote on the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST) Act this week. The bill would provide $715 billion for overall infrastructure improvements, with $148 billion going to the Highway Trust Fund. This is separate from the Senate and White House infrastructure plan but will likely be absorbed into a final legislative package. A key issue within this bill is that the Department of Transportation would “establish a pilot program to demonstrate a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee”. – D.M.
HOUSING: Federal Reserve officials are warning the U.S. economy cannot suffer another “boom and bust cycle” in the housing market. “It’s very important for us to get back to our 2 percent inflation target but the goal is for that to be sustainable,” said Eric Rosengren, the president of the Boston Fed. While he doesn’t currently predict a housing bust, the median price for existing home sales is up 23.6% since May 2020. The current market for housing is problematic beyond inflated housing prices as borrowers are being actively targeted by banks with low interest rates and remote workers upending regional price stability. – D.M.
STRIKE: The Canadian Border Service Agency is holding a vote today to authorize a strike. Many of the workers are legally prevented from going on strike so their intent is to target non-essential goods from inspection and port clearance. Union President Jean-Pierre Fortin said, “We don’t need to have a shutdown of all the ports of entry to have an effect.” Despite working since 2018 without a collective agreement, Canadian pandemic restrictions and generalized worker solidarity movements appear to be the motivation behind this strike. – D.M.
CYBER: The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems will receive testimony on the Pentagon’s cybersecurity posture and digital modernization strategy for the coming fiscal year. The recent spate of cyber attacks, ransomware events and persistent collection efforts signal a deep divide between U.S. offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The SolarWinds breach cost companies an average of 11% of their total revenue, marking a substantial financial impact in an otherwise low intensity situation compared to Colonial Pipeline. – D.M.
IRAN: The U.S. military conducted airstrikes against two Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq overnight. The Pentagon accused them of plotting drone attacks against U.S. troops in the region. Meanwhile, the militias are vowing revenge attacks against U.S. forces or interests in the region. – M.S.
In today’s Early Warning brief, we look at Far Left activism and violence over the weekend. You can get our full Early Warning briefing by becoming a subscriber here: https://forwardobserver.com/early-warning
@Dustin and Mike for cyber: The Posse Comitatus Act will go a long way to explaining cyber’s “shortcomings”