The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | November 19th, 2024: Kyiv Launches First US-Backed Long-Range Strike On Russia & Pentagon Unable To Account For Trillions Of Dollars

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, Ukraine has launched their first barrage of U.S.-made long range missiles into Russian territory after getting approval from the White House on Sunday, prompting Vladimir Putin to officially revise the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine, significantly lowering the stated threshold for the possible use of nuclear weapons. Then, we turn stateside, where the Pentagon has failed their mandatory annual audit for the seventh year in a row, apparently unable to account for trillions of dollars in assets and liabilities. 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 President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's Tuesday, 19 November. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, Ukraine has launched their first barrage of U.S. made long-range missiles into Russian territory after getting approval from the White House on Sunday. This prompted Vladimir Putin to follow through with his previously stated plans to officially revise the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine, significantly lowering the stated threshold for the possible use of nuclear weapons. Well, how about that? You know, nuclear annihilation wasn't something I had on my Christmas Then we turned stateside, where the Pentagon has failed their mandatory annual audit for the seventh year in a row. Well done, fellas. Apparently unable to account for trillions of dollars in assets and liabilities. Now, to be fair, who hasn't lost a trillion dollars down the back of the sofa at some point? Come on. But first, our afternoon spotlight. It appears that Ukraine is wasting no time

employing U.S. long-range missiles inside Russian territory after getting the green light from the White House on Sunday. Russia accused Ukraine of launching a barrage of U.S. made long-range missiles into the Brijansk region on Tuesday morning, the first known use of these weapons by Ukraine since the war began. While Keev has not yet officially commented on the strikes, two U.S. officials confirmed the action to CNN, saying Ukraine fired six ballistic missiles at a military facility in Bryansk, including American-built, attack. Hackams, a supersonic ground-launched tactical ballistic missile with a range of roughly 190 miles. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian air defenses shot down five of the missiles and damaged the sixth. Fragments of that missile reportedly struck a military facility causing a fire. No injuries

or casualties were reported by Russian officials as a result of the attack. As I mentioned, officials in Kiev have not formally commented on the attack. However, an anonymous source from the Ukrainian military told the BBC, quote, Indeed, for the first time, we used attackers to strike Russian territory, end quote. As we discussed yesterday, President Biden authorized on Sunday Ukraine's use of U.S. supplied

long-range missiles to strike deeper into Russian territory, relaxing long-standing restrictions that were aimed at keeping the conflict from escalating further. The move, while hailed by the U.S.'s NATO allies, has prompted concerns about nuclear escalation

and the threat of a wider conflict breaking out in Europe. In response, President Biden said, quote, come on my way out the door, good luck with that nuke thing. Um, yes, that that was a fake quote. Back in September, Russian President Putin floated the idea of making changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine, warning that Moscow could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional Western missiles, a message clearly meant to intimidate the U.S. and other Western nations. He claimed that the approval of Ukraine's use of Western long-range weapons would constitute the, quote, direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries, and the war in Ukraine. On Tuesday,

following Ukraine's first official strike with these advanced munitions, Putin officially updated Russia's nuclear doctrine, significantly lowering the stated threshold for the possible use of nuclear weapons. Specifically, the revision says that an attack on Russia by a non-nuclear power, but with the participation in support of a nuclear power would now be seen as a, quote, joint attack on the Russian Federation. To be clear, the altered doctrine doesn't specify if Russia will use nuclear weapons in such a scenario, only that they could, obviously leaving room for interpretation and speculation. Additionally, the doctrine says that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if its ally Belarus comes under attack by conventional Western weapons.

The new doctrine states, quote, aggression of any state from a military coalition against the Russian Federation and its allies is considered as aggression by the coalition as a whole, end quote. The Kremlin stressed that their revised doctrine is meant as a deterrence, or a threat, neither one, and aims to make it abundantly clear to the West what their red lines are regarding the use of nuclear weapons. It's a significant revision, considering their last published nuclear doctrine issued in 2020, said Russia would only consider using nuclear weapons if it first came under a nuclear attack by an enemy and Russia was facing an existential threat. Now, look, I don't want to minimize fears about

nuclear escalation, but we've heard these threats before from the Putin regime, and Ukrainian leaders have increasingly encouraged the West to ignore such saber-rattling. They say the success of the curse concurution in August exposed Putin's arbitrary red lines as, frankly, meaningless, and that the dictator's threats should no longer be taken seriously by the West. On the other hand, Putin is a wildcard, and in addition to the revised nuclear doctrine, reports indicate that Russia has recently been mass-producing mobile bomb shelters that can protect against radiation and shockwaves. On Tuesday, a Russian lawmaker called the situation, quote,

a very big step towards the start of World War III, end quote. On that cheery note, coming up, We turn to the U.S. where the Pentagon has failed their mandatory annual audit for the seventh year in a row, unable to account for trillions of dollars. But, hey, who's counting? Obviously not the Pentagon. I'll be right back. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%.

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at 24 hours. Parade. Adelante. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. For the seventh year in a row, the Department of Defense, the DoD, has flunked

its mandatory annual audit unable to account for trillions of dollars in assets and liabilities. Since the audits began in 2018, the Pentagon has yet To pass one, mandatory audits for the DOD were introduced as part of broader financial accountability measures. Yeah, that seems like a good idea.

Despite ongoing efforts to improve transparency, the DOD has faced repeated public criticism for its inability to meet standards, a failure that comes as its annual budget continues to rise, swelling to over $824 billion just this year, which they've probably already misplaced. The latest results, announced on Friday by Michael McCord, the Undersecretary of Defense, the comptroller and the chief financial officer, oh, they have one, reported the result was, quote, expected. Of the, what? Of the 28 entities audited, more than half, 15 to be exact, received disclaimers of opinion, meaning they failed to provide sufficient data for a comprehensive evaluation. Sounds like Chief Financial Officer McCord has also failed.

Nine entities achieved unqualified or clean opinions, up one. from last year. Wow, well done you, signaling a slight improvement. McCord noted that eight of these entities resolved or corrected previous audit issues in collaboration with the Treasury Department, pointing to, quote, progress in resolving issues. Well, I don't think the chief financial officer has a firm grasp on the definition of progress. Regardless, that so-called progress came at a price of $178 million for 1,700 auditors to sift through $4.1 trillion in assets and $4.3 trillion in liabilities. Now, in case you miss the humor in that, apparently the Pentagon spent $178 million conducting an audit to find out that the Pentagon yet again failed the audit. Now, I'm no chief

financial officer, but that doesn't sound like a bargain. For reference, last year's DOD audit involved 1,600 auditors and cost $187 million. The primary hurdle for the DOD, aside from being able to find anything, remains accounting for physical assets and property. McCord identified the Department of the Army, Navy, and Air Force as critical components for achieving an overarching clean audit. McCord stated, quote, without all three of those turning green, it is mathematically impossible for the department to have a clean opinion, end quote.

Despite the disappointing results, there was a milestone. The Marine Corps made history earlier this year by passing its first audit for the prior fiscal year, becoming the first branch to do so. Well, well done, Leathernecks. This year's audit added the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to the list of entities receiving clean audits. Other entities with clean records include the Defense Health Agency, Military Retirement Fund, National Reconnaissance Office, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Civil Works. While McCord acknowledged that challenges remain, do you think, he expressed optimism about the department's trajectory, stating, quote, momentum is on our side. In 2020, the Pentagon originally thought it might pass by 2027. Following that string of

failures, Congress gave it an extra year, mandating a clean audit by 2008 in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Now, it's important to note that three entities are still undergoing review. That would be for this year the Marine Corps, the Defense Logistics Agency's National Defense Stockpile Transact, Action Fund, whatever that is, and the Office of Inspector General. As Congress and taxpayers push for greater transparency, the DOD has four years left to meet the 28 congressional mandate for a clean audit. And I'll bet you a trillion dollars. That doesn't happen.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday, 19 November. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. Now, as you probably recall from your old Sunday school sermons, to listen to the show ad-free, well, just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB Premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars.

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