Though Herzog did not name the lawmakers, his comments appeared to be directed at representatives who refused to attend his speech, which commemorated 75 years of Israeli independence. That group includes "Squad" members Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Cori Bush (Mo.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).

Omar and other members of the far-left "Squad" have routinely employed anti-Semitic rhetoric when criticizing Israel and working to undermine the U.S.-Israel alliance. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, drew outrage in the days before Herzog's speech when she publicly slammed Israel as a "racist state."

"I'm not oblivious to criticism among friends, including some expressed by respected members of this House," Herzog said. "I respect criticism, especially from friends, although one does not always have to accept it."

"Criticism of Israel must not cross the line into negation of the State of Israel's right to exist," Herzog said to wide applause in the chamber. "Vilifying and attacking Jews, whether in Israel, in the United States, or anywhere else in the world, is anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a disgrace in every form."

Herzog also delivered a dire warning about Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon, imploring Congress to work alongside Israel to confront Tehran's genocidal designs.

"Perhaps the greatest challenge Israel and the United States face at this time together is the Iranian nuclear program," the Israeli leader said. "Let there be no doubt: Iran does not strive to obtain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran is building nuclear capabilities that pose a threat to the stability of the Middle East and beyond."

The Islamic Republic "is the only nation on the planet publicly calling, plotting, and developing means to annihilate another nation and member of the family of nations, the State of Israel," Herzog warned. "Allowing Iran to become a nuclear threshold state, whether by omission or by diplomatic commission, is unacceptable."

Though Herzog did not openly criticize the Biden administration's secret diplomacy with Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal—an agreement that would provide Tehran's hardline regime with billions of dollars—he made clear that the Ayatollah's government will never be reformed.

"The world cannot remain indifferent to the Iranian regime's call to wipe Israel off the map," Herzog said. "Tolerating this call and Iran's measures to realize it is an inexcusable moral collapse."

Israel, he added, remains "determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities."

Herzog also revealed that efforts are underway to foster a landmark peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

"Israel thanks the United States for working towards establishing peaceful relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Herzog said. "We pray for this moment to come. This would be a huge sea change in the course of history in the Middle East and the world at large."

The Abraham Accords—the landmark peace deal between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco brokered by the Trump administration—wholly "realigned … our region," Herzog said, noting that more than one million Israelis have visited these countries since peace was struck.

"Israel's hand is extended, and our heart is open, to any partner in peace near or far," including the Palestinians, Herzog said. Peace is impossible, however, as long as the Palestinian government foments terrorism and kills Israeli citizens.

"Palestinian terror against Israel or Israelis undermines any possibility for a future of peace between our peoples," Herzog said. "Israelis are targeted while waiting for buses, while taking a stroll on the promenade, while spending time with their family. At the same time, successful terror attacks are celebrated, terrorists are glorified, and their families are financially rewarded for every Israeli they attack. This is inconceivable. It's a moral disgrace."

Palestinian terrorism "is not a bump in the road," Herzog said. "Terror is hatred and bloodshed. It contradicts humanity's most basic principles of peace. Israel cannot and will not tolerate terror, and we know that in this we are joined by the United States of America."

Even amid ongoing disagreements between Israel's conservative government and the Biden administration, the U.S.-Israel alliance remains unbreakable, Herzog said to sustained applause.

"America is irreplaceable to Israel, and Israel is irreplaceable to America," he said. "Our bond may be challenged at times, but it is absolutely unbreakable."

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The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), and the New York Common Retirement Fund are the three largest retirement funds for millions of public employees, including librarians, teachers, and firefighters. The funds have publicly committed to promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) values when investing, including the protection of human rights.

The funds, however, invest millions of taxpayer dollars in companies identified by the U.S. Department of Defense as "Communist Chinese military companies," according to a review of asset listings. The holdings belie commitments by these states to promote ESG values when investing and highlight a failure by the federal government to stop U.S. taxpayer money from funding the Chinese military-industrial complex.

New York’s retirement fund, for instance, invests in BGI Genomics, which in 2020 said it would build a gene bank and a "judicial collaboration" center in the Chinese province where Uyghur Muslims were being arrested and sent to internment camps. The projects were part of a larger effort by China to "document the genetic material of ethnic minorities," according to an Axios report. Chinese government treatment of Uyghurs has included political reeducation, slave labor, and forced sterilization. The Defense Department has identified BGI as a "Communist Chinese military company" for its role in the Uyghur genocide.

CalPERS, the largest state pension fund in the United States, and the New York retirement fund invest nearly a million dollars in 360 Security Technology, a self-described Chinese "internet security" company that was placed on an economic blacklist in 2020 for its role in "high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs." Both funds also hold stock in Zhejiang Dahua Technology, a partly state-owned company that manufactures video surveillance equipment and is also subject to the U.S. blacklist for its involvement in Uyghur surveillance.

A Free Beacon review of ESG risk scores for Chinese military companies found that they receive high ratings from the industry, which has been rocked by accusations of political bias. The risk scores, which measure a company’s exposure to unethical activity, calculated by Morningstar company Sustainalytics rated BGI Genomics, 360 Security Technology, and Zhejiang Dahua Technology more ethical than Tesla.

New York and California hold millions in these companies’ stock as they tout their commitments to ethical investing. A 2020 "ESG Strategy" document from the New York comptroller’s office pledges to consider "human rights," "supply chain labor standards," and "privacy and data security" when investing. The fund also pledges to tackle "climate change risks," "labor rights," "disability inclusion," and "factory safety in Bangladesh." The California funds make similar promises. A 2019 CalPERS "Government & Sustainability" document vows to make investments aimed at the "elimination of human rights violations in all countries" and the "development of basic democratic institutions and principles."

The state pension funds also invest millions in companies blacklisted for attempting to steal U.S. military technology. CalPERS and the New York retirement fund both invest in multiple subsidiaries owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. AVIC, a state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate, has been on the Defense Department’s list of "Communist Chinese military companies" since June 2021.

Last month, the U.S. blacklisted an AVIC subsidiary for "attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of China’s military modernization," according to a Commerce Department press release. The AVIC 612 Institute was among entities with "demonstrable ties to activities of concern, including hypersonic weapons development" and the "design and manufacture of air-to-air missiles," the statement said.

"Decades of unmitigated engagement between the United States and China have intertwined Americans' personal finances with PLA-affiliated companies," Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, told the Free Beacon. "Multiple state-managed retirement accounts invest in companies directly and indirectly linked to China's military. In effect, Americans are underwriting the defense and technological buildup of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army. Policymakers have no excuse for allowing this reality to continue."

Both California funds also invest in the holdings firm for the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which produces warships for the Chinese Navy and controls more than a fifth of the global commercial shipbuilding market. The country became the world shipbuilding leader when it combined its commercial and military shipyards.

This merger represents a broader strategy the government has adopted in recent years. China has recently adopted a strategy of "military-civil fusion" that integrates the country’s public and private sector resources. This move aims to accelerate production and innovation and give the government and military easier access to new technologies. From surveillance technologies to aircraft engines, the country’s private companies have become more deeply intertwined with the Chinese military. This development has made American companies more liable to indirectly support the military’s efforts by working with or investing in Chinese companies.

Beyond complicity in genocide and support of the Chinese military, U.S. tax dollars go to companies working to strengthen ties between China and allies like Iran.

All three funds invest nearly $30 million in China Railway Group, which has come under scrutiny from state pension funds before for ties to Iran. In 2016, the company signed a $2 billion contract with Iran to build a high-speed rail line that National Geographic reported would give the state "military access to hard-to-control parts of the country." The same year, CalSTRS announced its stock holding of the company was "under review" and reportedly dumped it in 2020. But a Free Beacon review found CalSTRS quietly returned China Railway Group to its portfolio sometime before July 2022.

The two countries announced a 25-year cooperation deal last year. China has pledged to invest $400 billion in Iran in exchange for continuous access to Iran’s oil supply. It’s the latest investment abroad by China in a bid to advance its global influence. The communist regime’s broader strategy, labeled the "Belt and Road Initiative," has pledged trillions in new infrastructure to countries in Africa, South America, and the Middle East.

New York’s state pension fund last year divested $238 million from 21 fossil-fuel companies that state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office said "failed to show viable transition strategies." In March, the fund announced a $1.3 billion "sustainable investment program" to "capitalize on climate solution opportunities." In 2018, DiNapoli sent McDonald’s a letter "in his capacity as trustee of the $209.2 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund," according to Bloomberg, chiding the fast-food chain for its treatment of chickens.

Neither the comptroller nor any other spokesperson for the fund has made public statements or investment changes surrounding BGI Genomics, 360 Security Technology, or Zhejiang Dahua Technology, despite their blacklisted status. The New York comptroller's office and CalPERS declined to comment. CalSTRS told the Free Beacon the fund "manages a highly diversified portfolio" and "complies with the sanctions issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control."

California last year divested from two private prisons in the United States, citing its "environmental, social, and governance" policy that pledged to respect human rights.

This comes as U.S. officials soften their rhetoric toward China and retreat from the term "decoupling," as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did during her visit to China last week. Instead, Yellen said the United States should focus on less sweeping policy moves such as "diversifying critical supply chains or taking targeted national security actions."

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Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) told the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday that she is leading efforts to forge a coalition between the United States, Israel, and other Arab signatories to the Abraham Accords. The military coalition would specifically seek to thwart a massive uptick in Iranian attacks on commercial ships traversing through the region. In an unprecedented move, the countries would also link their missile detection systems together to greatly increase reconnaissance on Iran’s missile and drone programs.

Since President Joe Biden took office, Iran has tried to seize nearly 20 oil tankers as they make their way through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route. The administration also has avoided enforcing sanctions on Iran’s illicit oil trade, helping the regime rake in record profits. Tehran’s terrorism has become so problematic that the Biden administration announced on Monday it will send additional war planes into the region to help deter attacks.

Ernst blamed Biden’s "strategy of appeasement" for emboldening Iran’s hardline regime, saying the only solution is to build a coalition that can "start pushing back on these tanker seizures." The senator’s plan would significantly increase military cooperation between the United States, Israel, and Arab allies in the region at a time when the Jewish state is facing unprecedented criticism from far-left Democrats in Congress.

Republicans like Ernst, on the other hand, say they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Jewish state, even as the Biden administration works to undermine the conservative Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking to the Free Beacon following a keynote speech Tuesday morning at the Christians United for Israel annual Washington, D.C., gathering, Ernst said she is concerned by an uptick in anti-Israel activism among House Democrats.

At least four members of the Democratic Party’s progressive "Squad" announced this week they would boycott a congressional speech by Israel’s president. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and fellow progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) also faced widespread condemnation over the weekend for maligning Israel, which Jayapal claimed is a "racist state."

"Israel’s under attack from so many different angles," Ernst said. "It’s under attack from Iran, from violent extremist organizations backed by Iran, and now even from members of Congress they are under attack."

Her legislative efforts are meant to bolster Israel’s security at an uncertain time and also send the message that most in Congress still have the Jewish state’s back.

Biden is "really appeasing Iran, and then we see members of Congress in his own party who feel they can also target Israel," Ernst said. "I think it’s unacceptable to do this."

The lawmaker, who sits on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, also raised concerns about U.S.-Iran envoy Rob Malley, who recently had his security clearance revoked amid an investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified information.

"We have to know what was going on. What’s the deal here? What was released? What information may have gotten into the wrong hands?" Ernst said, joining a chorus of Republican lawmakers who are demanding answers from the Biden administration. "It’s very troubling, especially when we’re talking about an actor like Iran."

Before being removed from his post and put on unpaid leave, Malley was engaged in secret negotiations with Iran aimed at resurrecting the 2015 nuclear accord. Congress, Ernst said, is already examining several routes to block a potential deal.

"Congress really needs to step in," she said, "and try to thwart these behind closed doors, under the radar type meetings and any agreement President Biden reaches with Iran."

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) is spearheading an effort to formally reinstate the federal government’s Migrant Protection Protocols, commonly known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which required illegal immigrants seeking asylum at the southern border to stay in Mexico while awaiting immigration proceedings.

The Biden administration reversed this order in 2022, leading scores of migrants to surge across the border and eventually be released into the country, where federal authorities have no way of tracking them. Blackburn on Monday moved to revive the Trump-era policy via an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The proposal is certain to draw support from Senate Republicans, who have rallied against the Biden administration’s lax border policies, blaming them for a historic surge in illegal immigration. But with Democrats in control of the Senate, a reinstatement of the "Remain in Mexico" policy could complicate efforts to pass the NDAA, the mandatory yearly spending bill that funds national security priorities. The House passed its own version of the NDAA on Monday over the objection of the Biden administration, which opposes a host of provisions that crack down on China and defund woke cultural initiatives.

Blackburn’s measure, a version of a bill she introduced in May, would effectively stop federal border authorities from permitting most migrants from entering America. Instead, they will be sent back to Mexico and assigned a court hearing date. Proponents say this policy is critical to ensuring illegal immigrants are not freely released into the country, where it is difficult for border authorities to track their whereabouts.

"An open border is one of our greatest national security threats, as migrant children are trafficked and suspected criminals and terrorists enter undetected," Blackburn told the Free Beacon. "We must take action now to curb child trafficking and stop the flow of illegal immigration into the United States."

In May, the Biden administration directed Customs and Border Protection to release migrants into America "without court dates or the ability to track them," according to NBC News. With migrants arriving at the border "at levels not seen in more than two decades," the Biden administration’s decision to release them into the country has emerged as a top concern among border hawks.

Blackburn is pushing a second border amendment that would require DNA tests to determine the relationship between illegal immigrants and any children arriving with them at the border. The Biden administration also reversed the policy earlier in the year, with critics warning this would make it easier for human traffickers to move migrant children into America. The amendment is a revamped version of a June law that Blackburn spearheaded with the support of 10 other Republican senators.

The measure is meant to address growing concerns in Congress that migrant children released into the country are being illegally put to work, often in the sex trade. A record number of 152,000 unaccompanied minors were seen by Customs and Border Protection in 2022, with another 324,000 in the last 26 months, the Free Beacon reported in May.

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This war will surely go down as one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century. Anyone who claims to know how it will end will be surprised.

Thus, Putin’s War is history written not in historical time but as history itself is unfolding and at remarkable speed and complexity, as evidenced by the failed coup itself. As such, the reader is confronted with a mix of history and current events as dictated by publication deadlines.

Ramani writes as a historian putting together the small bits and big pieces that led to this tragedy. He documents his narrative with some 125 pages of notes and includes a detailed index for the reader. The book is over 430 pages long. As reader and reviewer, I would have welcomed a more compact version. That the author takes his time to explain events in detail, however, allows him to explore the many nuances that belie the often simple-minded narratives to which we have become accustomed.

Throughout his book, Ramani lays out both the Kyiv and Kremlin version of events. As to the latter, the Kremlin claim is that Putin invaded as a preemptive strike against an imminent NATO invasion, that the Kyiv government is an illegitimate "junta" dominated by Nazis and ultra-nationalists, that the Maidan revolution was organized by Hillary Clinton, and so on. In such matters, Ramani does not engage in disputation. Perhaps this is a wise approach, although the Kremlin narrative at times strains credulity. At a minimum, we need to understand Russian propaganda’s powerful hold over many in Russia and elsewhere.

Interestingly, Ramani describes the ousted president Victor Yanukovich as less of a black and white figure. It seems that Yanukovich was trying to walk a tightrope between East and West. When confronted with a stark choice, Yanukovich opted for Russia, and Ukraine exploded into its Maidan revolution.

Ramani’s account brings home that our world is divided into two competing models. The Kremlin (and Chinese) narrative favors a non-democratic empire run by a wise "power vertical" that supposedly defends traditional values, protects vast natural resources, and posits a "Russian World" that the decadent West wishes to destroy. The Western counter-narrative is of a world order that offers democracy, freedom of expression, and defends those, such as Ukraine, threatened by Russian imperial expansionism. The Kremlin narrative, to date, has been limited in its geographical appeal. Russia’s unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation apparently does not sit well, even at the fractious United Nations.

The author begins his account with Putin’s anti-NATO outburst in 2007 in Munich. He then follows with Russia’s incursion into Georgia and Putin’s siding with Assad in Syria. We then have Russia’s spring 2014 annexation of Crimea and the appearance of "little green" mercenaries in self-proclaimed Donbas "Peoples’ Republics," as administered by Moscow plenipotentiaries. As Ukraine’s defensive Anti-Terrorist Operation counterattacked, the Kremlin introduced regular troops in July 2014. The consequences were disastrous for Ukraine, which had little recourse other than to join the conference table in Minsk. What followed was a so-called cease-fire—more a frozen conflict—that made a mockery of the Minsk Accords.

Ramani raises a thought-provoking question at this juncture: Why didn't Russia, faced with weak Ukrainian resistance, proceed full speed into Ukraine’s heartland with its regular forces? The author’s answer: The Kremlin wanted a "federalist" Ukraine that possessed "special" privileges within the state, such as veto rights over any foreign alliance, either military or economic. Although the Minsk Normandie partners at first failed to understand Putin’s "federalism," Ukrainians understood that it would destroy their country from within and with little blood shed by Russia. Ukraine meanwhile garnered the support of its own people, built up its armed forces, and solicited the support of the "civilized West" and even international organizations—all upset by the Russian invasion.

After an almost decade of frozen warfare, Putin ordered a full-scale invasion from multiple directions aimed to destroy the Ukrainian state. The invasion, disguised by massive military maneuvers along the length of Ukraine’s borders, caught Ukraine and the West by surprise. But the unprovoked invasion caused the civilized West to impose sanctions and supply weapons far beyond Russia’s expectations as Russia became a pariah state with few allies and "ally" China playing an ambiguous role.

The February invasion provided a major surprise; namely, the incompetence and unpreparedness of the vaunted Russian Army, which paralyzed into a huge traffic jam expanding from the Kyiv outskirts all the way back to Belarus. A key element in Ukraine’s defeat of the invading Russian forces was the bravery of Ukraine’s relatively new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as he refused to abandon the capital for the relative safety of west Ukraine or Poland.

Ramani’s account ends in January 2023 with a clear frustration of Kremlin aims to decapitate the Ukrainian state as the Russian army disproved its designation as the world’s second strongest military and the world anxiously awaited Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

The war has seen a bunch of firsts: fierce sanctions against Russia’s rulers and war machine, embargoes on grain, the blowing up of dams and major infrastructure (the Nord Stream pipelines), new age fighting with drones, nuclear saber-rattling, clear evidence of Russian war crimes, and Russia’s isolation from the civilized world.

Ramani ends on a pessimistic note with respect to settlement of the Russo-Ukrainian war: "It is apparent that Russia cannot win and cannot afford to lose the war. Ukraine regards the full liberation of its territory as an existential need, even if a complete victory is a multiyear process."

We will be studying how this war came to be for decades after it is over. We’ll need to understand how and why the post-Soviet territorial consensus broke down as a Russian-financed and supplied invasion of Eastern Ukraine got underway.

As to Putin’s motivation, the author runs through a number of explanations—NATO expansion, an imminent invasion threat from NATO, the threat of contagion from a prosperous and democratic Ukraine, an irrational Putin—among other explanations. Ramani argues that the overwhelming motive was Putin’s urgent need to extinguish the contagion from Maidan. The author pictures Putin as "rational" and not seriously ill, as some claim. As to the threat of sanctions, Russia’s reserve funds sitting "safely" in Western banks gave Putin the confidence that he could withstand sanctions. He did not anticipate that Western central banks would freeze his war chest. Putin, moreover, counted on the fact that Angela Merkel’s Germany would stand behind the Nord Stream pipeline that would continue dependence on Russian gas.

Ramani raises the inevitable question of whether we can write good history as that history is being made. With the outbreak of the first European war of the postwar era, we have a monumental event that will dictate the course of Europe’s history for the next few decades. The question is whether we should wait for history to become history or whether we should plunge in as the author has. Ramani has indeed laid the foundations for future histories of the Russo-Ukrainian war. He largely leaves predictions to future scholars.

Putin’s War on Ukraine: Russia’s Campaign for Global Counter-Revolution

by Samuel Ramani

Hurst, 592 pp., $29.95

Paul Gregory is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the author, most recently, of The Oswalds: An Untold Account of Marina and Lee (Diversion Books).

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Kerry, who was not in government at the time, held at least three secret meetings with former Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, during which he attempted to undermine the Trump administration’s hardline policies towards Tehran. Kerry defended these powwows under questioning from Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.) during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Thursday.

"Shadow diplomacy," Kerry said, is permissible "depending on what it does. Shadow diplomacy has also saved us from a war," Kerry said, referring to back-channel discussions that helped diffuse the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Kerry’s behavior, Waltz said, "undermined current administration diplomacy." At the time Kerry met with Zarif, then-president Donald Trump was working to kill the nuclear accord and reimpose tough sanctions on Tehran. Kerry’s meetings drew widespread scrutiny after Zarif claimed the former secretary of state passed him sensitive information about Israeli strikes in Syria.

Kerry denied disclosing that information, saying that conversation "never took place," but also claimed details about Israel’s attacks on Iranian positions were "in public circulation" at the time.

Waltz dismissed this rationale, saying, "I would posit that your shadow diplomacy now has us on the verge of Iran having a nuclear weapon."

Kerry also declined to elaborate on how he communicated with Zarif, and whether any conversations took place via encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal.

"I don’t recall how I communicated with him," Kerry said.

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Kerry's comments come ahead of his visit to Beijing next week to discuss climate change issues. The former secretary of state who now serves as the first ever special presidential envoy for climate also told Congress that China's human rights violations shouldn't be "showstoppers" that hinder climate negotiations.

When Kerry was asked by Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) if he agreed with Biden's recent statement that Xi was a dictator, Kerry declined to say but conceded that Xi "wields enormous power as the leader of China."

"Frankly, all of that is water off a duck's back, and I don't think we ought to get tangled up in labels and names," said Kerry during the hearing for the House Foreign Affairs Committee's oversight and responsibility subcommittee.

Biden has stood by his description of Xi as a "dictator," a comment that sent Beijing into a fury last month, with the Chinese embassy denouncing it as "political provocation against China’s top leader."

Kerry has advocated for soft treatment of China by overlooking its human rights violations. He supports increased imports of solar panels, an industry linked to China's Uyghur slave labor. He said the Biden administration plans to keep human rights issues separate from his climate meetings in Beijing. The climate envoy appeared to stand by his comments to Congress two years ago, when he said he didn't believe human rights issues should have a role in climate negotiations because life is "full of tough choices."

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The White House on Monday announced its opposition to a range of national security provisions included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Congress is currently debating. One provision would force the Pentagon to disclose information about foreign nationals working on military-funded research programs at American universities, where Chinese spies are known to steal proprietary research. Another would order the secretary of defense to determine whether Chinese government officials assisted or were aware of the transportation of fentanyl precursors to Mexican drug cartels.

According to the provisions' author, the White House’s opposition is tantamount to capitulating to Beijing.

"The Chinese Communist Party is poisoning and killing nearly a hundred thousand Americans each year with ‘Made in China’ fentanyl while their spies infiltrate our universities and even high-level government laboratories," Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) told the Washington Free Beacon.

"It’s an upside-down world in the Biden White House," added Banks, a member of the House Select Committee on China, "where appeasing Communist China comes first and America’s national security and well-being comes last."

Banks’s measures are part of a larger effort by congressional Republicans to use the NDAA as a vehicle to combat China. China hawks, in particular, have been angling for months to increase pressure on American universities that partner with the CCP on sensitive research projects. Lawmakers are already investigating American schools that use Pentagon funding for research projects that involve entities tied to the Chinese military.

China is one the most prolific donors to American universities, handing out more than $426 million to American schools since 2011, even as the federal government warns that Beijing is using its status to steal proprietary research and spy on Americans.

Under Banks’s transparency provision, the Pentagon would have to publicly disclose the identities of all individuals working on government-funded projects, including the "date and place of birth, country of citizenship, and immigration status in the case of a foreign national."

The White House, in a Monday statement on the NDAA discussions, said it "strongly opposes" this measure because it would "impose a significant increase in disclosure requirements for university research funded by DoD."

The White House also expressed concerns the reporting requirements could "jeopardize the Department’s ability to fund universities in States with nondiscrimination laws that prohibit citizenship and nationality reporting." The administration also worries the strict parameters would "deter the ability to attract the best and brightest foreign scientists from working with the Department."

Banks’s fentanyl measure also attracted White House opposition, primarily because it would force the Pentagon to publicly acknowledge that China is pumping deadly drugs into America—an accusation that could inflame tensions at a time when American diplomats are trying to repair relations with Beijing.

The U.S. ambassador to China, for instance, recently claimed the CCP is not responsible for America’s fentanyl crisis, even though virtually all of the ingredients for the drug are produced in China and shipped to Mexican cartels illicitly running the drug into the country.

The White House says any effort to tie China to the fentanyl crisis would interfere with its ability to "ensure foreign assistance or engagement is carried out in a manner consistent with foreign policy priorities."

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France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are signaling that they will not move to reinstate the sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. Without these sanctions, a United Nations arms embargo on Iran will expire in October, possibly paving the way for Iran to legally transfer weapons to Russia, which could use Iranian drones and arms in its war on Ukraine.

The European trio’s move comes as the Biden administration is engaged in secret diplomacy with Tehran to secure a revamped nuclear deal. By not reimposing sanctions, the White House and its foreign allies are poised to secure an interim deal with Iran that will lift sanctions in return for minimal nuclear restrictions. These concessions undercut the allies’ efforts to rebuff Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine, experts say.

"The U.S. and Europe had a choice to make: Kyiv or Tehran. It appears they've chosen Tehran," Richard Goldberg, former director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction at the White House National Security Council, told the Washington Free Beacon. "There is nothing left of the [Iran deal] and yet there's an unwillingness to trigger the snapback and take away all of Iran's strategic benefits under deal."

Any nation that signed onto the Iran nuclear deal has the power to trigger the deal’s "snapback" provision, which would reimpose the pre-2015 sanctions on Tehran. The provision was meant to ensure that Iran did not violate the provisions of the deal. Triggering the snapback sanctions does not require approval from the United Nations Security Council, making it safe from a Russian veto.

Iran has repeatedly violated the nuclear agreement, most notably the restriction on how much enriched uranium it can produce. Tehran is currently enriching nuclear materials to above 60 percent purity, just shy of the amount needed to power an atomic bomb. Iran has also violated an arms embargo by sending weapons to regional terror groups, as well as Russia, one of its top allies.

The Biden administration and its European allies have been using the arms embargo as justification for their sanctions on Iran’s drone industry, which is feeding Russia’s war in Ukraine. If the arms embargo expires, the West will lose this leverage while also legalizing these sales.

"Every attack on Ukraine using an Iranian drone will be a reminder of American and European fecklessness," said Goldberg, who currently serves as a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The Biden administration has waived sanctions so that Iraq can pay Iran up to $10 billion in back payments for electricity purchases. This money will serve as a critical lifeline to the cash-strapped Iranian regime as it attempts to quash democratic protests.

The United States has also granted sanctions waivers that allow Iran to work with Russia on a range of nuclear issues, including the construction of reactors. This work has provided billions of dollars to Russia, even as the United States uses sanctions to try and restrict Moscow’s funding for the war in Ukraine.

The arms embargo’s expiration would also throw a wrench in congressional efforts to sanction the Iran-Russia military pipeline.

The Biden administration’s budding agreement with Iran would allow it to produce "up to eight nuclear weapons in three months," the Free Beacon reported last week, a move that would put Iran "closer to the nuclear threshold" than ever before.

A State Department spokesman would not outline the administration's position on sanctions snapback, but said diplomats "have long made clear our concerns about Iran’s nuclear, missile, and conventional arms-related activities, and associated procurement efforts." The U.S. continues to work closely with European allies and the U.N. to "impede these activities," according to the spokesman, who noted that "Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles pose a serious threat to regional and international security."

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The agreement, which Biden administration officials are negotiating in secret, will bring Tehran "closer to the nuclear threshold" than ever before, according to a policy analysis published on Wednesday by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

"Nothing in the reported arrangement would stop Iran from constructing a new underground nuclear facility that experts fear would make it all but impossible to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons," according to the analysis authored by Richard Goldberg, former director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction at the White House National Security Council, and Behnam Ben Taleblu, a veteran arms control expert.

The findings are likely to further galvanize Republican opponents of a new Iran deal, who are already concerned the Biden administration will violate the law by signing an agreement without first receiving legislative approval. Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House are already laying the groundwork to subpoena top Biden administration officials over their secret talks with Iran, which are reportedly being held in Oman. Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed on Wednesday that the United States is "willing to explore diplomatic paths" with Tehran, and Iranian officials have signaled a similar willingness in recent weeks.

While the contours of the deal remain heavily guarded, details that have leaked into the press indicate the Biden administration is offering Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for minimal restrictions on Tehran’s contested nuclear program. FDD says Congress should immediately intervene to stop the deal and consider issuing a "temporary restraining order against the Treasury Department" to prevent the sanctions relief.

The Biden administration rumored arrangement "adds insult to injury by capping Iran’s uranium enrichment purity level at 60 percent, which the regime can quickly enrich to weapons-grade, or 90 percent," according to the FDD analysis.

Lawmakers and experts worry the Biden administration will provide Tehran with sanctions relief before presenting Congress with a chance to approve the deal, a move that would violate a 2015 law enacted after the Obama administration circumvented Congress to ink the original accord.

"The release of funds for Iran prior to the Biden administration’s submission of any agreement for congressional review may already entail a violation of" the law, according to Goldberg and Ben Taleblu.

Additionally, "the Biden administration may be violating U.S. law by allowing the [International Monetary Fund] to provide Iran, a designated state sponsor of terrorism, with a multibillion-dollar bailout," according to the analysis.

Congress "should immediately launch an investigation" into the Biden administration’s proposed bailout for Iran and also force top American diplomats to disclose details of the agreement to the American public, the report says. Lawmakers could also "seek injunctive relief" if the Biden administration waives sanctions without first obtaining legislative approval.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, claim that talks surrounding a deal could formally resume in the near future at the Biden administration’s urging.

"Considering the series of messages that have reached us from the United States and European countries [the United Kingdom, Germany, and France], negotiations to revive the JCPOA will probably be resumed soon," Shahriar Heidari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, said last month.

The post Biden’s Iran Deal Will Bring Tehran Even ‘Closer to the Nuclear Threshold,' Analysis Finds appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, painted herself as the most hawkish Republican nominee in the field in a Tuesday foreign policy speech and accused President Joe Biden of kowtowing to the Communist regime. She also sharply rebuked her former boss and presidential rival, Donald Trump, claiming his friendly dealings with the CCP showed "moral weakness."

"China is preparing its people for war," Haley said at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "Communist China is an enemy. It is the most dangerous foreign threat we’ve faced since the Second World War. We have to stop wasting time."

Haley’s early focus on China signals that pressing foreign policy challenges could play an outsized role during the campaign season, as Republican nominees seek to set themselves apart from one another. Haley repeatedly singled out China as America’s number one enemy, saying her "top priority" as president "will be strengthening America’s economy and America’s military" to confront the Communist threat.

Even with a Russian-led war unfolding in Europe and Iran marching towards a nuclear weapon, "Communist China is the greatest threat to American security and prosperity, by far," Haley said before laying out her day one priorities.

"We will tackle Chinese meddling in our society and its manipulation of our economy," she said. "And we will hold the Communist Party accountable, while putting it on the global defensive. This is a sea-change in American policy. It’s grounded in the reality that our leaders have failed to admit."

Haley would restrict American universities, which are among the largest beneficiaries of Chinese cash, from receiving federal contracts if they work with the CCP.

"We should ban all propaganda centers and eliminate federal funding for universities that take Chinese money," Haley said. "Universities must choose—China or America. It shouldn’t be a hard decision."

Haley would also bar China from purchasing American land. Beijing currently owns around 400,000 acres of lands located near sensitive military sites.

"We aren’t just talking about any old property. China has bought miles of farms near sensitive military facilities. And China has taken majority control of agricultural industries," Haley said. "We must prevent China from buying more land and force it to sell what it already owns."

Under Haley’s plan, members of the CCP would not be allowed to lobby American lawmakers.

"We should ban all lobbying from the Communist Party and Chinese companies and prevent former members of Congress and military leaders from lobbying on China’s behalf," she said. "Beijing should never be allowed to influence our laws."

Haley also said she would move to "revoke permanent normal trade relations" with China until it stops pumping lethal fentanyl into American communities and restrict American technology trade with Beijing.

"We must end the export of sensitive technology to China, full stop," she said.

Haley also worked to set herself apart from Trump—who is widely seen as the Republican front runner in 2024—saying the former president "did too little" to stop China’s malign activities.

"He did not put us on a stronger military foothold in Asia. He did not stop the flow of American technology and investment into the Chinese military. He did not effectively rally our allies against the Chinese threat," Haley said. "Even the trade deal he signed came up short when China predictably failed to live up to its commitments."

Though successive presidential administrations have ignored the threat posed by China, Haley noted that "it is not too late to wake up and take charge of our destiny."

The post Haley Talks Tough on Beijing in Major Foreign Policy Speech appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The White House earlier this month moved to formally boycott all scientific cooperation with Jewish Israelis living in so-called Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Golan Heights. A State Department spokesman confirmed the policy shift in comments to the Free Beacon, saying it is "simply reflective of the longstanding U.S. position" on disputed areas of Israel.

"The Department of State recently circulated foreign policy guidance to relevant agencies advising that engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel in geographic areas which came under the administration of Israel after June 5, 1967, and which remain subject to final status negotiations, is inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy," the spokesman said.

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday, "I object to the decision and think it is wrong," according to the Times of Israel.

When grilled about the move during a press briefing on Monday, the State Department would not rule out declaring all so-called Israeli settlements as illegal. The United States, the State Department maintains, cannot fund programs that are being carried out in areas the administration considers to be part of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Republicans disagree.

"Biden boycotting Israeli scientific projects does nothing to promote peace and is no way to treat an ally," said former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley, a Republican presidential candidate and vocal opponent of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, slammed the Biden administration for what she sees as foreign policy hypocrisy.

"If this was scientific projects in China, Biden would be for it," Haley told the Washington Free Beacon Monday, calling the plan "Ridiculous."

"This is just another example from President Biden where he has abandoned unambiguous support for our ally Israel, emboldened our enemies, and turned their back on the policy that yielded historic peace deals in the Middle East," former vice president Mike Pence told the Free Beacon. Pence, who is also seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, slammed Biden for replacing "strength with weakness, moral clarity with confusion, and loyalty with betrayal."

The White House’s move reverses a Trump-era policy that allowed collaborative projects with Jews living in disputed territories.  A spokesman for Trump's presidential campaign slammed the reversal Monday, telling the Free Beacon that "President Trump followed through on his promises" and that "Israel had no greater friend than President Trump."

The ban will impact at least three U.S.-Israeli scientific collaborations, according to Axios, which said the State Department moved to crackdown on this funding after one of the Israeli groups approached them for new funding opportunities. The ban quickly drew pushback from Republicans in Congress, who accused the Biden administration of outwardly supporting the BDS movement, which wages economic warfare on Israel.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) lashed out at the Biden administration over the weekend, saying the policy shift was kept hidden from public view.

"The State Department is telling the entire U.S. government not to cooperate with Jews in Judea and Samaria," Cruz said, referring to portions of Jerusalem and the West Bank that Israel controls. "And of course, it was sent to Congress in secret, and only revealed because reporters found out."

"Joe Biden and Biden administration officials are pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel," Cruz said, adding that he will do "everything possible to reverse this decision and prohibit such antisemitic discrimination by the U.S. government in the future."

The Biden administration has repeatedly come under fire for trying to undermine the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. In addition to hiring several officials who have promoted the BDS movement, the administration was recently caught funding left-wing Israeli advocacy groups seeking to unseat Netanyahu, as the Free Beacon first reported in March.

Grants to these anti-Netanyahu groups were personally approved by outgoing U.S. ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, according to internal State Department emails first disclosed by the Free Beacon earlier this month.

The post Biden Administration Defends Controversial Move to Slash Israeli Research Funding appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, written as a result of the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, laid out what the intelligence community knows regarding China’s now-infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology, its capabilities, and the actions of its scientists. Though there was much anticipation for the report, it fails to elucidate much new information but states that "all" intel agencies continue to consider both a natural and laboratory-associated origin theory.

The declassified report states that several scientists who worked on animal respiratory viruses at the Wuhan Institute fell sick with symptoms "consistent with but not diagnostic of COVID-19" in the fall of 2019. The report also identified a lack of bio-safety measures being taken by staff prior to the pandemic in handling SARS-like coronaviruses, and therefore increasing their risk for accidental exposure to viruses.

Lawmakers have long derided China for hindering investigations into the origins of COVID-19. The report came on the heels of revelations that Ben Hu, a scientist who worked on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute, was one of the first people to fall sick with what is now believed to be COVID-19. Both Hu and his boss, Shi Zhengli, who ran the bat coronavirus lab at the institute, adamantly denied Hu was sick in late 2019 and that their lab contributed to the COVID outbreak seen in Wuhan in late 2019.

"I swear with my life, [the virus] has nothing to do with the lab," Zhengli said on Chinese social media shortly after the virus emerged in the United States.

SARS-like coronavirus experiments were taking place as early as January 2019 in labs at the Wuhan Institute that were not ranked among their most secure, the report indicated. There was also a shortage of appropriately trained personnel on biocontainment protocols. Months after the coronavirus first emerged, the Wuhan Institute’s high-containment laboratories were found to have aging equipment, a lack of disinfectant, and a lackluster ventilation system. The COVID-19 virus was isolated by scientists at the Wuhan Institute in December 2019, roughly a month before the virus hit the United States.

The integrity of China’s disease control agency has been placed into question by the National Institutes of Health, as was reported earlier this month by the Washington Free Beacon. In 2019, the United States funded research integrity training for scientists at China’s Centers for Disease Control and other Chinese research institutions, citing concerns over "research misconduct," "inadequate ethical review," and "publication fraud."

Though the report states that "almost all" intelligence agencies agreed the virus was not engineered, the report admitted "that some scientists" at the Wuhan Institute did genetically engineer coronaviruses and that the techniques used made it "difficult to detect intentional changes." But the report says that only "most" of the intelligence agencies were of the consensus that the virus was not "laboratory-adapted."

The report also confirms the presence of Chinese military scientists at the Wuhan Institute and indicated that some of the research conducted by Chinese military and civilian scientists there included work with coronaviruses. It chronicles a number of "what if" scenarios that leave the door open to the idea that COVID started in a lab and potentially by the Chinese military for bio-weapon or national defense purposes.

Classified portions of the report were not released publicly.

The post Intel Report Says Lab Leak is Now Considered a Possibility by Every US Intelligence Agency appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

"The Iranian regime has consistently sought to obtain technology for its illegal nuclear program and ballistic missile apparatus," according to a summary of separate intelligence products published by the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden during the first half of this year.

The Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service disclosed in April that it had "succeeded a number of times in preventing Russia and Iran from acquiring Dutch knowledge or technology for their nuclear weapons programs," according to a translation of the report published earlier this week by the Middle East Media Research Institute. The country’s intelligence service also determined that Tehran’s advancements, including the enrichment of uranium to levels needed to power a bomb, "brings the option of a possible [Iranian] first nuclear test closer."

The findings come as the Biden administration engages in secret negotiations with Iran aimed at securing an altered version of the 2015 nuclear accord. Reports indicate the administration is promising Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for minor restrictions on its contested nuclear program. Republicans in Congress are already warning that the administration plans on violating the law to secure a deal, which would likely not be authorized by the legislative branch. These plans could result in senior White House and State Department officials being subpoenaed on the matter, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Thursday.

The Netherlands’ intelligence community determined that Iran is "ignoring the agreements" it made as part of the original nuclear deal, including by "deploying increasingly more sophisticated uranium enrichment centrifuges [and] enlarging its enrichment capacity."

The country’s intelligence agencies also "succeeded a number of times in preventing Russia and Iran, among others, from procuring materials, technology, and (applied) scientific knowledge in the Netherlands that they could have used for their nuclear weapons programs."

Swedish intelligence authorities made similar determinations in a February assessment.

"Swedish technology as products with dual uses and critical cutting-edge products for both civilian and military use is of interest to Iran," the Swedish Security Service disclosed. "Iran procures both technology and knowledge through illegal methods, and develops its own ability through Swedish universities and research institutions."

German authorities also disrupted Iranian nuclear procurement plots in the last year.

In one instance, a businessman was charged with "violating the foreign trade law by allegedly supplying spectrometer systems and laboratory equipment intended for the Iranian nuclear and missile program."

The post Foreign Intel Agencies Say Iran On Cusp of Testing First Nuke appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Three amendments that Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) successfully added to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday would bar the Department of Defense from funding EcoHealth Alliance, which conducted research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the lead-up to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The legislative measures would have a devastating impact on EcoHealth Alliance’s bottom line. The Department of Defense has doled out $46 million to the group since 2008 to conduct studies on bat diseases in Asia.

"To prevent a repeat of what happened in Wuhan somewhere else in the world, we are pulling the plug on Pentagon funding for EcoHealth, which has proven it can’t be trusted—with taxpayer dollars or dangerous diseases," Ernst said in a statement Friday. "The tax dollars of hardworking Americans must never again be misspent underwriting risky research or subsidizing communist China’s state-run institutions. Our defense dollars should make the world a safer, not more dangerous, place."

EcoHealth Alliance worked closely with the first known Chinese citizens that were infected with COVID-19 in November 2019, all of whom were researchers at the the lab. One of those researchers, Ben Hu, specialized in modifying coronaviruses so they could bind to human cells, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ernst said the amendments were an important first step in completely severing EcoHealth Alliance from the taxpayer spigot. While her measures would not bar other federal agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services from funding EcoHealth Alliance, Ernst said the tide had turned against the group in Congress. She told the Washington Free Beacon her amendments to the NDAA were fully supported by her Democratic colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"Democrats agreed with me that we needed those answers," Ernst said. "Those three scientists that we think were the first ones that got COVID, we need to know when they knew this and why they didn’t share this information."

"This is the first bite of the apple," Ernst said. "There will be more to follow on the other funding that’s been released to EcoHealth."

Ernst’s amendments would also direct the Pentagon to investigate if EcoHealth Alliance diverted any of its funds to Chinese labs or to conduct risky gain-of-function experiments on deadly viruses.

The Senate’s move to ban the Defense Department from funding EcoHealth Alliance comes as President Joe Biden missed a congressionally mandated deadline to declassify documents related to the origins of COVID-19. In March, the president signed a bill requiring the White House to release the documents by June 18.

Ernst pledged to do everything in her power to pressure the Biden administration to release its records on the pandemic’s origins.

"We don’t want to see anything like this again," Ernst said. "In order to prevent it, we need to know what happened."

The post Senate Takes Critical Step Towards Permanently Defunding Group Blamed for COVID-19 Origins appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC), Congress’s largest conservative caucus, is leaning on party leadership to immediately launch a multi-pronged investigation into the Biden administration’s secret negotiations with Iran, which are expected to result in a fresh agreement that evades congressional oversight. As part of these investigations, the group wants to subpoena U.S.-Iran Envoy Robert Malley and White House national security aide Brett McGurk, both of whom are key players in the administration’s backdoor diplomacy with Tehran.

"Biden's diplomats are trying to unlawfully implement a secret deal with the Iranian terrorist regime to give them tens of billions of dollars," the RSC wrote in an action memo obtained by the Free Beacon that will be blasted to all House Republicans later on Thursday. "They do not want Congress or the American people to know what's in the Biden Iran deal or how much money they will send the Ayatollah."

While the administration has denied engaging in discussions with Iran, multiple reports have surfaced in recent months indicating that U.S. diplomats are holding indirect talks with Tehran via mediators in Oman. The Biden administration is aiming to secure a series of "mutual understandings" with Tehran that will ease sanctions on the hardline regime in exchange for minimal restrictions on the country’s nuclear program. This deal, congressional sources told the Free Beacon, is specifically being constructed to skirt laws mandating that lawmakers have a vote on the agreement.

"This is unacceptable," the memo states. "Malley and McGurk should testify before a public hearing regarding this deal, and the committees of jurisdiction—including the House Foreign Affairs Committee, House Oversight Committee, and House Financial Services Committee—should be prepared to use the subpoena power if necessary."

To date, both Malley and McGurk have refused to publicly testify before Congress, although they have participated in classified briefings. McGurk–who was caught having an extramarital affair with a reporter in 2008 while serving as the Obama administration's ambassadorial nominee to Iraq—is believed to be the driving force behind the talks in Oman and is working under orders from the White House, congressional sources told the Free Beacon.

The RSC further assesses that "a formal congressional investigation is warranted to determine whether the Biden administration conspired to violate the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act." This law was passed in 2015, after the Obama administration unilaterally bypassed Congress to ink the original nuclear deal with Iran.

"It seems clear," the RSC writes, "that the Biden administration does not plan to submit the agreement for a vote in Congress, despite being required to do so by law."

A Biden administration ally appeared to confirm these plans in recently unearthed video from a conference organized by the anti-Israel group J Street. During the roundtable, which featured earlier remarks from Malley, former Obama administration lawyer Tess Bridgeman said it is important for the administration to prevent Congress from authorizing any new deal

"With elections coming up, we are not going to see the administration do anything that requires voting in Congress, so I think it’s really important to keep in mind ... that [agreements] be in that realm of discretionary, unilateral gestures," Bridgeman said. "Something that’s written down on a piece of paper for all sides to try to implement is a recipe for Congress making it impossible."

This statement, the RSC says in its memo, "makes it clear why the administration is denying entering into any agreement or deal."

Rep. Kevin Hern (R., Okla.), the RSC’s chairman, said the contours of the new agreement are "even worse than Obama’s Iran deal."

"Biden can call it whatever he wants but it’s clear what he is doing—negotiating a deal with the terrorists in Iran behind Congress’ back," Hern told the Free Beacon. "Paying ransom to terrorists is only going to encourage more terrorism and put more Americans at risk of kidnapping around the world."

The talks with Iran have been making progress, leading Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly accuse the Biden administration of appeasing the hardline regime at a time when it is facing an unprecedented wave of popular protests that threaten its grip on power.

The United States has also granted several sanctions waivers in the past several months, including permitting Iraq to make multi-billion dollar payments to Iran. These side deals are believed to be part of a concessions package meant to cajole Tehran into rolling back portions of its nuclear enrichment program.

"Biden’s Iran Deal will gift tens of billions in sanctions relief to Iran—the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism—and lead to even weaker restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program," the RSC warns in its memo. "It will also fund both sides of the war in Ukraine even, as Iran is providing Russia with hundreds of drones to use in Ukraine and helping Russia build a drone factory."

In its attempt to interfere with the Biden administration’s latest deal, the RSC is urging its members to fast track new sanctions legislation that could derail the talks and prevent the White House from using executive orders to ease economic pressure on Iran.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.), chair of the RSC’s national security task force, said there is no doubt that a new deal "would be rejected on a bipartisan basis."

"We are betraying the ‘woman, life, freedom’ revolution and the women of Iran by bailing out this terrorist regime right at its weakest point," Wilson told the Free Beacon.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the ongoing discussions in Oman provide "proof that deal-making was never really on the back-burner, as many administration officials previously alleged."

"This agreement," Taleblu added, "will help Iran pay off its debts and improve its liquidity, which means that more resources will be freed up for Iran to continue to improve its missile and drone programs."

The post Congress Pushes to Subpoena the Biden Administration's Iran Deal Ringleaders appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The proposal is included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act and comes months after the Washington Free Beacon reported that President Joe Biden was considering appointing a civilian for the first time to run the Missile Defense Agency—drawing concerns from the defense community. Following the backlash, Biden in May nominated Air Force major general Heath Collins to the position.

Now lawmakers are working to ensure that civilians are barred from the position in the future. The NDAA provision would "amend current law to require the director of the Missile Defense Agency to be a military officer," according to the defense funding bill. The Missile Defense Agency oversees U.S. military defense systems and coordinates with other agencies under the Department of Defense umbrella.

The push to keep the nuclear arsenal in military hands comes amid heightened aggression from Russia—which recently moved some of its warheads to Belarus as a warning to Ukraine and U.S. allies—and nuclear build-up by China and North Korea. Biden said on Monday that the chance of the Putin regime launching tactical nukes is "real."

Defense hawks and national security officials raised alarms earlier this year after the Biden administration privately told members of Congress that it was looking at non-military candidates to replace outgoing Missile Defense Agency director Jon Hill, a vice admiral. The agency's civilian deputy director, Laura DeSimone, was one of the names being floated at the time, according to congressional sources.

The possibility prompted four former agency directors in January to write a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee asking that the committee reject any non-military nominee and arguing that "it would have been impossible in our experience for this job to have been effectively executed without a senior military flag officer."

"Any suggestion that the next director could be a civilian leader should be carefully scrutinized and almost certainly rejected," wrote former Missile Defense Agency directors Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, and Vice Adm. James D. Syring.

"Now is not the time to experiment with the leadership of the agency best suited to defend against those threats to the American people, their allies and partners, and the deployed sons and daughters in uniform," the former directors wrote.

Collins, whom Biden has nominated for agency director and who has also been tapped for a promotion to lieutenant general, is the agency's program executive for ground-based weapon systems. His selection is expected to go forward without controversy, according to a Republican congressional source.

The post 'Not the Time To Experiment': Congress Moves To Bar Civilians From Leading Missile Defense Agency appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

The legislation, introduced last week by Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, would significantly alter federal disclosure laws by forcing schools to provide the Education Department with information about all money donated by foreign adversaries, specifically China and Russia.

Current law requires schools to report gifts of $250,000 or more, and the Biden administration has been hesitant to enforce this rule following a lobbying campaign from multiple high-profile universities. The administration has nixed several federal investigations into CCP influence at U.S. universities, fueling concerns in Congress that China is being given free reign to peddle influence at some of the most prestigious American institutions of higher learning. The reporting requirements included in Banks’s bill are some of the strictest to date and are certain to rankle schools like Stanford University and the University of Delaware, which have both taken millions of dollars in Chinese money while disclosing little information about these donations and research partnerships.

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken wraps up his trip to China aimed at cooling tensions between the countries, Republicans are amping up their efforts to crack down on CCP influence operations in America. The legislation is just one effort by the GOP-controlled House to expose how China infiltrates American schools by showering them with cash. The Communist country has doled out more than $426 million to U.S. schools since 2011, even as the federal government warns that Beijing is using this foothold to steal proprietary research and spy on Americans.

The new House bill, known as the Safeguarding American Education From Foreign Control Act, would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 so that every donation made by China or other adversarial nations covered in the measure is reported to the federal government. In addition to China, the bill extends these reporting requirements to Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

The Education Department would also be required under the legislation to pass along information about these donations to the director of National Intelligence and the FBI so that they can more easily investigate Chinese influence peddling and keep track of the CCP’s spending in American academia.

The bill is part of a larger push this summer by House Republicans to crack down on "Joe Biden’s soft-on-China agenda," Banks told the Free Beacon.

"Joe Biden and far-left officials like [Education Department] secretary [Miguel] Cardona are doing less than the bare legal minimum to track illicit Chinese influence at our universities," the lawmaker said. "My bill removes any ambiguity from the law and tells federal law enforcement when the Biden administration ignores it. Thanks to this administration, the Chinese Communist Party has an even tighter hold on U.S. higher education."

Banks and other top GOP lawmakers began raising the issue earlier this year, warning that Chinese funding to American schools has been skyrocketing under the Biden administration since it stopped enforcing a federal code governing how foreign gifts and donations are reported. The new bill would force the administration’s hand and publicly expose every cent that China gives to American universities.

Banks and other supporters of the legislation—including Reps. Jodey Arrington (R., Texas), Troy Nehls (R., Texas), Brandon Williams (R., N.Y.), Glenn Grothman (R., Wis.), and John Moolenaar (R., Mich.)—are pushing to include it in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

China’s foothold in the American academic system has long been a source of concern for federal authorities and emerged as a top agenda item when Republicans took control of the House. The Select Committee on China, of which Banks is a member, has been probing a host of schools for their partnerships with Beijing.

Stanford University, for instance, has taken $27 million from China since 2021, as the Free Beacon reported in April. This funding has drawn concerns given Stanford’s work on sensitive U.S. military research on behalf of the Pentagon.

The House China committee also is investigating China’s establishment of Confucius Institutes on American college campuses. The CCP-controlled hubs are known to serve as a spy base for China as it works to steal proprietary American research.

While Congress has banned U.S. schools from receiving federal funds while hosting Confucius Institutes, the Biden administration began offering waivers earlier this year for schools looking to skirt the prohibition.

The post Congress Wants Increased Transparency of Chinese Funding to American Universities appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

"Joe Biden’s weakness led to disaster in Ukraine and Taiwan easily could suffer the same fate," Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), a member of the House Select Committee on China, told the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday, just as Blinken wrapped up a two-day tour through China meant to thaw chilly diplomatic relations with the communist regime. "Blinken basically promised the current embarrassment of an administration will do nothing to safeguard Taiwan’s independence and gave Chairman Xi a two year window to invade."

Blinken’s statement on Taiwan, while consistent with longstanding U.S. policy, rankled China hawks in Congress who see the Biden administration kowtowing to a ruthless regime that continues to spy on America, create economic havoc, and position its military for a siege on Taiwan. For these lawmakers, Blinken’s trip did little to assuage concerns that the United States is being bullied by Beijing.

The secretary’s closely watched trip to China was initially postponed in February, after U.S. officials discovered a Chinese spy balloon traversing the country and surveilling sensitive military sites. The Biden administration waited days to shoot down the balloon, drawing widespread criticism from Republicans who saw the delay as a boon to China’s spy efforts. Four months later, Blinken finally arrived in China, where he held high-level talks with Communist Party leaders but failed to secure any significant diplomatic breakthroughs. This outcome has left lawmakers and regional experts questioning the costs of Biden’s outreach to China.

"PRC diplomats told Secretary Blinken that the United States must choose between cooperation with China and conflict," Rep. Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, told the Free Beacon. "The CCP seeks to paint any competitive action that does not further its authoritarian vision as a provocation. The Biden Administration must push back against this insidious framing, and not-so-veiled threat."

"Only one party," Gallagher said, "seeks to upend the peaceful status quo in the Taiwan Strait, only one party is committing genocide, only one party is militarizing islands in the South China Sea—the Chinese Communist Party."

Blinken struck a conciliatory note on every leg of his trip and emphasized the need to deescalate tensions between the world’s two largest economies. However, he offered little substance in his attempt to fulfill this mission, relying instead on platitudes about the "importance of responsibly managing the competition between the United States and the PRC through open channels of communication." In a media interview on Tuesday, Blinken also gave China a pass on the spy balloon, saying that chapter in U.S.-China relations "should be closed."

President Joe Biden praised the visit, saying Blinken "did a hell of a job."

A State Department spokesman declined to comment on Blinken’s remarks about Taiwan and the administration's adherence to the "One China" policy, which recognizes Taiwan as part of the CCP’s domain. While this has been the official United States position for decades, Blinken’s decision to emphasize the policy while standing on Chinese soil drew outrage among many Republicans.

"Blinken flew to Communist China to appease Xi Jinping and state the Biden administration does not support Taiwan’s independence," Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) wrote on Twitter, echoing the sentiments of many GOP legislators. "Why won't this administration stand up to bullies and stand for freedom?"

When asked if Blinken privately addressed China’s threats to invade Taiwan, a State Department spokesman pointed the Free Beacon to the secretary’s Tuesday afternoon press conference.

"I raised U.S. concerns—shared by a growing number of countries—about the PRC’s provocative actions in the Taiwan Strait, as well as in the South and East China Seas," Blinken told reporters. "On Taiwan, I reiterated the longstanding ... policy."

"That policy has not changed....we do not support Taiwan independence," Blinken said. "We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side."

These comments conflict with earlier promises by Biden to defend Taiwan’s borders if China launches an invasion, which the United States estimates could occur anytime within the next two years.

Michael Sobolik, senior fellow in Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council think-tank, said Blinken’s "trip was a disaster," and noted that the secretary failed to secure any of the bilateral deals he hoped for.

"Blinken did not secure the primary deliverable he hoped to secure: a bilateral military hotline. Beijing shot the proposal down yet again," Sobolik said.

This failure came after the Biden administration offered several concessions to China in order to secure a face-to-face with Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping, including: "Lying about China's spy balloon, blocking the release of the FBI's investigation into the balloon, freezing human rights sanctions, and delaying export controls on Huawei," Sobolik said.

"This is not ‘responsible competition.’ This is not ‘managed competition,’" he added. "The Biden administration is detering itself from actually competing with America's greatest geopolitical adversary."

The post Blinken's Weak Taiwan Remark Paves the Way for Chinese Invasion, Critics Say appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Kirby acknowledged that China has for years been developing "intelligence-gathering capabilities in Cuba" and "elsewhere in the hemisphere" to spy on the United States. Kirby's comments come days after he flatly dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that China had struck a deal with Havana to set up an eavesdropping base in Cuba as "not accurate."

Biden administration officials first backtracked over the weekend, admitting that China has been using Cuba as an intelligence-gathering hub since the last administration—but quibbling that the Journal story framed the spy operations as a new development.

During a White House press briefing on Monday, Kirby defended his decision to initially deny the story, saying the "sensitive nature of this information is such that we just simply couldn't go into more detail even before the first story appeared."

"We were as forthcoming as we should have been at the time the first stories appeared," he said. "I wasn't about, in any way, shape, or form, to violate operational security by talking in any more detail."

He also objected to the notion that his reversal was a "walk-back" and claimed that the Journal story was still "inaccurate" because the eavesdropping operations weren't new.

"The fact that we came out a couple of days later and provided some clarifying information should not be taken, as I've seen in some of the press reporting, as some kind of walk-back," he said.

Kirby said it was "not a new development that China's been trying to achieve some intelligence-gathering capabilities in Cuba, and, frankly, elsewhere in the hemisphere." He added that the Biden administration has "taken some steps to try to mitigate the vulnerability" and that "we're confident that we can continue to protect our nation's secrets in this hemisphere and beyond."

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