The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 24th, 2024: FBI Warns Of Unprecedented Threats To US Homeland & America Recommits To Israel's Defense

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    FBI Director Christopher Wray recently got candid about the multitude of threats facing the American homeland, warning he’s never seen a threat environment this dangerous over his lengthy career. We’ll take a deeper dive into the long delayed foreign aid package that President Joe Biden signed into law today, particularly how the U.S. is strategically deploying funds in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First up, FBI director Christopher Ray is sounding the alarm over the unprecedented threat environment currently facing the U.S., which he says is the most dangerous he's seen in his entire career. Also, we'll take a deeper dive into the long-delayed foreign aid package that President Biden signed into law just today, particularly how the U.S. is strategically deploying funds in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region. But first, our afternoon spotlight. FBI director Christopher Ray recently spoke about the multitude of threats facing the American homeland,

warning that he's never seen a threat environment this dangerous over his lengthy career. Speaking with Lester Holt of NBC News, Ray said America is besieged on all sides by adversaries, whether it's the threat posed by belligerent nation states like Russia, Iran, and China, the heightened risk from Islamic terror, or the scourge of anti-Semitism that is proliferating in American cities. Ray told Holt, quote, as I look back over my career in law enforcement, I'm hard-pressed to come up with a time where I've seen so many different threats all elevated and all at the same time. Even before October 7th, he said, if you and I were having this conversation then, we would have said that the terrorism threat was already elevated, but post-October 7th, it's gone to a whole other level, end quote.

We should note, Director Ray has been sounding the alarm on the significantly increased risk of attacks within America's borders for weeks now, making a concerted effort to drive home the seriousness of the situation to both lawmakers and the American public. Earlier this month, Ray testified to Congress about the risk of an organized terrorist attack inside the U.S., similar to the massacre carried out by ISIS-K at a Russian concert hall in March. His urgency in getting this message out suggests that the risk of an attack is high, particularly as tensions remain inflamed in parts of the Islamic community due to the ongoing war in Gaza. Ray also touched on the controversial push to ban the China-linked social media giant TikTok. President Biden signed a bill today that will either force TikTok's parent company to sell the app or to see it banned from American app stores. Now, as we discussed this morning, despite its ties to the CCP,

Americans are wary of the effort to restrict the app, particularly young voters who see it as an overreach, or more likely who simply don't care. I mean, frankly, have you seen the cute cat videos on TikTok? Director Ray, however, drilled into the specific threats posed by TikTok and why every American should think twice before engaging with the app. Ray told Holtz, quote, TikTok for us, represents a national security concern. TikTok's parent company is beholden to the Chinese government,

so that for us manifests itself in three specific ways. It has to do with the data, it has to do with the recommendation algorithm, and it has to do with the software, end quote. Ray noted that the data collected through the app can be leveraged by the CCP for all manner of influence operations, which the CCP regularly employs to sway the opinions of the American electorate. He also warned that the data is informing China's foray into AI technologies, which he noted are, quote, not remotely constrained by the rule of law, and quote. Ray said he would tell Americans who feel attached to the social media app to consider the aims of the Chinese government. Ray said, quote, my message is you need to take into account

who the Chinese government is, who the Chinese Communist Party is. Even if for some reason you don't care about that, he said, which I would argue you should, what about all of your friends, your family members, classmates, co-workers, neighbors, maybe they would care about the ability of the Chinese government and the Chinese intelligence services to access all of that, end quote. M-meh. Nice try, Director Ray. But honestly, most of them probably don't care either. Look, honestly, I've spoken with more people who rant that the U.S. government is watching their every move, and then they jump on TikTok to while away the hours checking out dance clips and pet videos. Getting the average TikTok user to understand or appreciate the counterintelligence implications

of using a CCP-controlled app, an app that now is a primary source of news for young people in America, an app that the CCP does not allow its own youth to use in China, well, it's almost in a possible lift. And it doesn't help that the U.S. president, who signed the TikTok's sell-or-ban legislation today and his campaign team, use TikTok relentlessly to try and influence voters on the upcoming November election.

That's what we would call a mixed message. Finally, Ray addressed the virulent anti-Semitism, spreading throughout America as the war in Gaza plays out. Asked to comment on the chaotic scenes coming out of America's elite universities this past week, and again, can I really call them elite anymore, Ray said that while the FBI steers clear of monitoring specific protests, they regularly share intelligence regarding specific threats. He noted that in recent months, the Bureau has seen a significant increase in anti-Semitic threats and anti-Semitic violence, and they only expect that situation to worsen.

Ominously, Ray has said the FBI's ability to deal with the vast array of threats facing America is currently being hampered by budget constraints. Officials told Congress earlier this month that their 2024 budget was around $500 million short. Oh, is that all? $500 million, a short of the funds that they need to fulfill their duties. Coming up after the break, we'll take a deeper dive into the long-delayed foreign aid package that President Biden signed into law today, particularly what the U.S. is doing to help strengthen Israel, as well as our allies in the Indo-Pacific region. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. I want to return to the topic of the foreign aid bill, signed into law by President Biden today. As we've been reporting, the total package is worth roughly $95 billion. However, up until this point, we've largely focused on the $61 billion that's been earmarked for Ukraine. Today, I want to take a quick look at some of the other beneficiaries of the legislation, namely Israel and Taiwan. First, a little over $26 billion will be headed to Israel and Gaza. Of that total, roughly $15 billion will come in the form of military aid. The package focuses mostly on boosting Israel's defensive capabilities, providing more than

$5 billion to replenish the Iron Dome, David's Sling, and Iron Beam Air Defense systems. Those systems were utilized heavily during the recent large-scale Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel. An additional $2.4 billion has been earmarked to support U.S. military operations, in the region. Now, another $9 billion will go to worldwide humanitarian aid, including funding for civilians in Gaza. However, the package prevents any funding from going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA. That's the main United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians in Gaza, which has been accused by Israel of harboring staff members with links to Hamas.

In addition to Israel and Ukraine, about $8 billion from the foreign aid package will be going to help U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region and to counter China. Now, only a small portion of that is going directly to Taiwan. More than $3.3 billion would go towards submarine infrastructure and development, with an additional $2 billion to replenish U.S. weapons provided to Taiwan and other regional allies. Taiwan's president-elect Lai Ching-Tei said Tuesday, that the funding would help, quote, ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan straight and also boost confidence in the region, end quote. Not surprisingly, China isn't too happy with the U.S. assistance headed to the region, saying it's bringing Taiwan into a, quote, dangerous situation.

A Chinese government spokesperson told reporters that the bills, quote, send the wrong signal to Taiwan independent separatist forces and we are resolutely opposed to it, End quote. The spokesperson did add, we urge the United States to take concrete actions to fulfill its commitment not to support Taiwan independence and to stop arming Taiwan in any way, end quote. Well, you know, it might be more effective and influence more folks if the CCP spokesperson gave the same message on TikTok while holding a puppy and doing a cute dance. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 24A. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirstTV.com.

And if you want to listen to the show ad-free, plus enjoy exclusive content, be sure to check out our premium membership at PDBPremium.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Ryan Reynolds here from MintMobil, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird.

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