The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 15th, 2024: Paramilitary Groups Bring The Fight To Russia & The Drone Threat At The US Border

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Pro-Ukrainian Russian forces continue to launch attacks inside Russian territory this week, creating two active combat zones along the border as Russian citizens head to the polls. We’ll discuss some alarming testimony from the commander of NORAD, who warned that the military is seeing more than 1,000 drone incursions at the border every month, likely operated by criminals with links to human smuggling and drug trafficking. 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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Second Half 2025, all rights reserved. It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person, and give me the deal, additional terms, conditions, and restrictions supply. It's Friday, 15 March. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, pro-Ukrainian Russian forces continue to launch attacks inside Russian territory this week,

creating two active combat zones along the border as Russian citizens head to the polls to vote for president. It's anybody's guess as to who might win that contest. Also, we'll discuss some alarming testimony from the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, who warned that the military is seeing more than a thousand drone incursions at the border every month, likely operated by criminals and cartels with links to human smuggling and drug trafficking. But first, our afternoon spotlight. I want to begin today with the war in Ukraine, where forces allied with Kiev are bringing the fight to Russia's doorstep. Pro-Ukrainian Russian groups, opposed to the Kremlin, continued to launch attacks into Russian territory this week, with the Ukrainian officials claiming they've turned two Russian border regions into active combat zones. The cross-border raids targeted the Kursk and Belgarod regions and were reportedly carried out with the supportive tanks, armored vehicles, and drones. Similar to the incursion we discussed on Tuesday, the raids were carried out by three paramilitary groups made up of Russian expats, the so- called Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Siberian Battalion.

Members of the Freedom of Russia Legion reported capturing a small village in the Kursk region from Russian forces, forcing the Russian soldiers to retreat. It also appears that the village of Kozinka in the Belgarod region was heavily bombarded by the Pro-Keeve forces, with the governor of Russia's Belgarod region saying the town had been evacuated. Leaders in Moscow were quick to downplay the border incursions, initially denying that any pro-Ukrainian forces had even entered the territory. They later revised their assessment, acknowledging that the groups had pressed into the border regions, but claimed Thursday that the enemy fighters were driven back by Russian forces before they could make it very far. As is often the case, it appears the reality on the ground is,

well, not as clear as the picture painted by leaders in Moscow. As of Thursday, officials with Russia's National Guard did acknowledge that they continue to fend off attacks by pro-Ukrainian groups in the Kursk region. For their part, the Russian Defense Ministry claims they've killed 195 pro-Keeve soldiers and destroyed five tanks and four armored infantry vehicles during the battles this week, although, as you might imagine, those figures can't be confirmed. They reportedly dispatched paratroops to the region following reports of the incursions. Now, the three Pro-Keeve paramilitary groups issued a joint statement Thursday, calling on Russian authorities to evacuate civilians from the Kersk in Belgarod regions, saying, quote, civilians should not suffer from the war.

The groups opened a humanitarian corridor Thursday night into Friday morning for residents to use for evacuations. They provided an update on Friday saying that they had observed more than 7,000 civilian cars belonging to residents of Belgarod City, leaving the area, along with 600 vehicles that fled the city of Kursk. The paramilitary groups promised their attacks on military facilities in Belgarod and Kursk would continue Friday following the evacuations. The activity comes as Russians headed to the polls on Friday to vote in their presidential election. Officials with the Freedom of Russia Legion had previously expressed a desire to, quote,

influence the presidential election, and some observers speculated that the incursions into Russian territory were timed in part to remind Russians that there are alternatives to Putin. But, unfortunately, those alternatives are either deceased or imprisoned. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss reports that drone incursions at the U.S. southern border have reached alarming levels, prompting a warning from the commander of NORAD. I'll be right back. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here.

Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount? new vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usaa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin.

Senior defense officials are warning that in addition to record migrant crossings, officials are seeing alarming levels of drone incursions at the U.S. southern border. The revelation came during testimony by Air Force General Gregory Gillo, who took over command of NORAD, the North American Aerospace, Space Defense Command on the 5th of February. He was on Capitol Hill on Thursday to discuss security threats posed by the current immigration crisis. It's worth remembering that early last year, officials with the U.S. Border Patrol warned that human smugglers had begun employing unmanned aircraft systems to surveil agents along the border. It appears criminal groups have now significantly

stepped up their use of drones to aid their operations. When asked about the frequency of drone encounters, General Gio estimated that more than a thousand drone incursions likely occur each month. He said, quote, the number of incursions was something that was alarming to me as I took command last month. I don't know the actual number. I don't think anybody does, but it's in the thousands, end quote. While he noted that the level of drone activity was a pressing national security concern, he stressed that there is no indication yet that the drones constitute an imminent threat to the homeland. There's been growing bipartisan concern over the past year about the unfettered use of drones by criminals linked to drug and human

traffickers. General Gillo said he's made addressing this issue a priority as he settles into command and is actively working with the Pentagon to establish standardized procedures for dealing with potential drone encounters. Separately, the commander expressed significant concerns about the record number of Chinese nationals currently crossing the southern border. As we've previously discussed on the PDB, illegal crossings by Chinese nationals in the San Diego sector alone have increased by more than 500 percent since this time last year. CBP agents have said that since October 1st, that's the start of the new fiscal year, more than 20,000 Chinese nationals have crossed into the U.S. This makes folks from China the fastest growing demographic illegally entering the U.S.

General Gillo told Congress, quote, the number of Chinese that are coming across the border is a big concern of mine. What concerns me most about specifically the Chinese migrants is, well, one, that they're so centralized in one location on the border, and two, is the ability for counterintelligence to hide in plain sight within those numbers, end quote. The rapid influx is raising national security concerns as fears grow that some of these nationals could have ties to China's Communist Party. Well, now there's a possibility. Officials have also noted that the majority of Chinese migrants are military-age single males. The concerns echo those recently expressed by a group of former top FBI officials in a letter to Congress. They noted

that military-aged men, quote, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands, and added that it is difficult to overstate the danger represented by the presence inside our borders of what is essentially a multi-division army of young single-adulted male from hostile nations. end quote. Now again, it's worth pointing out that if you don't have a secure border, the government has failed in its primary responsibilities of ensuring the security of its citizens and also national security. The Biden administration's knee-jerk decision when they took office three years ago to end existing border policies that were put in place by the Trump administration because, well, well, it was Trump, created the problems that were currently facing today.

record numbers of unvetted illegal migrants over three plus years, enormous strain on cities across the country trying to find money to house and feed and otherwise care for the many millions of new arrivals, and public security and national security concerns as voiced by local, state, and federal law enforcement in the intelligence community. Look, the current situation is unsustainable, and regardless of who wins in November, the politicians from both parties are going to have to collectively grow a pair and figure out a way to do their job. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday 15 March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com.

And be sure to check out our new premium membership at PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.