…Most of the #intelligence community, including the #CIA & the #NSA, agreed w/that assessment.

Only one agency, the #FBI [#KashPatel], partly dissented. It maintained the gang has a connection to the admin of #Venezuela’s #authoritarian president, Nicolás #Maduro, based on information the other agencies did not find credible.

#Carney spoke w/ Ursula #vonderLeyen, president of the European Commission, on Sunday, & military industrial cooperation was discussed….

“Our cooperation w/ #Canada has intensified & should be further enhanced, also to strengthen trans-Atlantic #security,” said the #EU document, released on Wednesday. It added that talks were underway “including on respective initiatives to boost defense industry production.”

Since #Trump’s election, #Canada has been increasingly aligning itself more closely w/partners across the Atlantic, seeking to diversify #trading partners & #defense #allies away from its core relationship w/the #UnitedStates.

In a document prepared by the #EU to lay out the plans for its #defense initiative, Canada was explicitly mentioned, hinting to the talks to absorb the country into the EU #military industry project.

…#Trump has been insisting that #Canada should simply become part of the #UnitedStates, citing the dependence on the American #military as one argument.

On Tues, PM #MarkCarney announced that Canada had struck a radar technology deal w/ #Australia.

Canada’s military industry, which is relatively small, has been used to produce Canadian equipment but has also been a regular contractor for building American military equipment or parts.

Under the current talks, #Canada would help supply the additional 35% & could go further if it brokered an additional agreement to participate even more closely.

Canada, acc/to the terms of the discussion, would also be given preferential access to the #EU market for #military equipment, an alternative to buying equipment from the #US.

The #EU is taking major steps to increase #military spending, both loosening budget rules so that countries in the bloc can spend more & proposing a 150B euro loan program to finance shared military development.

That program is meant to prioritize European-made products, with 65% of component costs coming either from within the bloc or from partners that have signed a specific type of deal with it.

2 ofcls, one from the #EU & one from #Canada, w/direct knowledge of the discussions said detailed talks were underway to incorporate Canada into the EU’s new #defense initiative. The goal is to boost the EU’s defense industry & eventually offer a credible alternative to the #US, which is now dominant.

Specifically, the ofcls said, Canada would be able to become part of the European #military manufacturing roster, marketing its industrial facilities to build European systems….

Shaken by a crisis in the 2 nations’ longstanding #alliance since #Trump’s election, #Canada has started moving closer to #Europe. The #military industry collaboration w/the #EU highlights how traditional #US #allies are deepening their ties without US participation to insulate themselves from Trump’s unpredictable moves.

Regular meetings between the NSC & #Europe’s #NationalSecurity ofcls have gone unscheduled, & the NSC has also stopped formally coordinating efforts across #US agencies, including w/the #FBI, #DHS & the #State Dept….

Reuters could not determine whether #Trump has ordered the admin to halt all its work monitoring & combatting #Russia’s campaign….

President Joe #Biden last year ordered his #NationalSecurity team to establish working groups to monitor the issue amid warnings from US #intelligence that Russia was escalating a shadow war against Western nations.

The plan was led by Biden's #NSC & involved at least 7 national security agencies working w/European allies to disrupt plots targeting #Europe & the #UnitedStates….

The letter cont, “We have reason to believe that the data from the repository has been permanently deleted. If true, this would have devastating consequences. Can you please update us as to the status of the data from the evidence repository?”

The Yale lab was one of several recipients of $26M in funding through the #State Dept to track #WarCrimes committed by #Russia in #Ukraine. Pages on the Conflict Observatory have been removed from State’s website under #MarcoRubio.

The bipartisan letter, signed by 17 lawmakers & organized by Representative Greg Landsman, #Democrat of Ohio, said that “the #ForeignAid freeze has jeopardized, & may ultimately eliminate, our informational support of #Ukraine on this front.”

The #State Dept & the Yale center “had been preserving evidence of #abducted #children from Ukraine it had identified, to be shared w/ #Europol & the govt of Ukraine to secure their return,” the letter says.

The work on the #abducted #children by the #Yale School of #PublicHealth #Humanitarian #Research Lab was frozen when #Trump signed an #ExecutiveOrder in late January halting almost all #ForeignAid. Since then, #MarcoRubio & an official under him, #PeteMarocco, have ended the vast majority of foreign #aid contracts, including the one to the Yale lab.