ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Worried that the information might be compromised or leaked, U.S. intelligence officials have kept some sensitive items from President Trump, current and former officials told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday. In some of the cases, it was because officials did not want Trump to know about sources and methods used to collect information. In the past, presidents and members of Congress have not always been told every last detail of a case, the officials told WSJ, but it was always to protect a source and not because they were concerned about the person's trustworthiness or discretion. The officials also said they did not know of any instances where the intelligence agencies omitted major information on terror plots or security threats. A White House official told WSJ there is "nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening."

By Damon Linker The United States is much better off without Michael Flynn serving as national security adviser. But no one should be cheering the way he was brought down. The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America's democratic institutions — not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn's ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination ) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn't the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function. Unelected intelligence analysts work for the president, not the other way around. Far too many Trump critics appear not to care that these intelligence agents leaked highly sensitive information to the press — mostly because Trump critics are pleased with the result. "Finally," they say, "someone took a stand to expose collusion between the Russians and a senior aide to the president!" It is indeed important that someone took such...

The German Air Force has serious problems with the new Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. The Airbus A400M military transport aircraft of the German Air Force (Photo: Airliners.net / Tamás Terjék) After a serious incident with the new Airbus A400M military transport aircraft of the German Air Force, prospects of German military have became clear, the Les Echos information website reported.  As of February 9, 2017, only one of eight German A400Ms was in good working condition, the German Air Force reported, just two days after the А400М aircraft with the German Defense Minister on board broke on its way to Lithuania. A spokesman for the German Air Force explained that three A400Ms, including the aircraft, which were flying to Lithuania, do not fly due to conducting of unplanned maintenance, two others undergo scheduled inspection, while another one is a subject of scheduled upgrade. The seventh aircraft is still at the stage of putting into operation after its accept...

Written Dmitry Drobnitsky; Originally appeared at Life , translated by AlexD exclusively for SouthFront This week another scandal erupted around the activists against global warning. Climatologist, member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the USA (NOAA), John Bates told the press that his office falsified data of scientific observations, so the arguments of the environmental-alarmists would sound convincing at the Paris conference on climate, which was held in 2015. Thus, facts were destroyed indicating that in the period from 1989 to 2013 the average Earth temperature did not change. This is by far not the first scandal of this type. And, probably, not the last. Everyone knows that the 44th president of the USA, Barak Obama, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. The whole world was talking about this award given in advance with irony and sarcasm and with poorly hidden anger, especially towards the end of the “peacemaker’s” presidency. International awards are...

The Syrian Army is preparing for a large-scale offensive against the Islamic State terrorist group in Deir ez-Zor. According to last reports, Syrian troops, deployed in Deir ez-Zor, have been reinforced by fresh forces and advanced military hardware, as they are preparing for a large-scale offensive on positions of terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group in order to recapture lands in the region, which are currently under control of the terrorist group. Reportedly, in recent weeks, a large number of military equipment arrived to the Deir ez-Zor military airport from Qamishli, located in northeastern Syria, in order to boost combat capabilities of the Syrian Army and allow it to launch the operation against the IS in the region. According to the al-Hadath TV-channel, experienced commanders of the Syrian Armed Forces also were dispatched to Deir ez-Zor. They will head the offensive against the terrorist group in the region, which should be started in coming days. In late January, i...

The US Army has lost the RQ-7Bv2 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle during a training mission at Fort Huachuca. The RQ-7Bv2 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle (Photo: uasvision.com) During nine days, the Pentagon was looking for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which lost control and started an autonomous flight, the Military information website reported. The incident occurred during a test of the new RQ-7Bv2 Shadow reconnaissance drone at a landfill of the Fort Huachuca military base, located in the south of Arizona. According to a press release, issued by US military, the UAV, worth $1.5 million, lost contact with a ground control station and flew far beyond the military base. The search for the drone was being conducted for nine days, as the RQ-7Bv2 Shadow is capable to stay aloft for nine hours and can cover a distance of 109 kilometers during this time. As spokesman for the 7th Infantry Division, Lt. Col. Fredrick Williams said, US military asked police and representatives of public o...

According to the Syrian state television, the water supply in Aleppo city is expected to be restored in the very near future. Syrian children collect buckets of stagnant murky water from the side of a road in a rebel-held area in the northern city of Aleppo on July 5, 2014 (Photo: AFP / Zein al-Rifai) The water supply in the city of Aleppo has already been partially restored; however, local residents will get access to potable water only after it is tested, the Syrian state television reported on Tuesday. The water’s tests are expected to be conducted in the very near future. A technical failure at a pumping station, located in Aleppo countryside, in the area, controlled by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group , forced the authorities to cut off the central water supply in Aleppo on January 14. Since this time the city has been staying without steady water provision. During the past month, IS terrorists did not allow maintenance crews to reach the area and restore the work of the w...

The Tiger Forces are an elite unit of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). This unit specializes in offensive operations. It is one of the main battle units of the Syrian army. Acting at the most difficult parts of the front, in fact, it has not suffered a single defeat, and it has repeatedly emerged as the winner of the fiercest battles of the conflict. The Tiger Forces belong to so-called “new divisions”, which were created during the Civil War, in the age when the Syrian Army had lost combat effectiveness, having been demoralized after several years of armed hostilities. The Tiger Forces are still playing a crucial role in the war waged by the Syrian people against international terrorism and foreign intervention. The unit of Tigers was created by colonel Suheil al-Hassan by the order of the state leadership of Syria in the autumn 2013. According to some sources, the new assault unit was funded by Rami Makhlouf, Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and prominent investor. The main body of the Tiger For...