The President's Daily Brief - PDB Situation Report | November 30th, 2024: Trump’s China Strategy & Security Breaches in the UK

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Situation Report: Former President Donald Trump’s potential cabinet picks—how they could reshape U.S. policy on China. Author and expert Gordon Chang joins us for his analysis. A troubling development for America’s military abroad—three U.S. Air Force bases in the UK are experiencing drone intrusions. Retired U.S. Army Colonel John Mills weighs in on what it means for national security. 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. Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Tap the banner to switch today Terms apply limited time offer subject to change See Visible.com for plan features and network management details Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We're kicking off today's show with a close look at Donald Trump's cabinet picks,

and how some of those selections could shape America's approach to China. Now, joining us is author and good friend of the show Gordon Chang. He'll be providing his expert analysis on what these choices mean for the U.S.-China relationship. Later in the program, in what's becoming an ongoing issue for America's military, and this is very interesting, three bases in the UK used by the U.S. Air Force are getting buzzed by unidentified drones. We'll talk to retired U.S. Army Colonel John Mills about that. But first, today's situation reports spotlight. Donald Trump's cabinet choices are sending a clear signal about his administration's approach to China.

Two appointments stand out, Senator Marco Rubio, of course, for Secretary of State, and billionaire investor Scott Besson for Treasury Secretary. Now, Rubio has built his reputation as a staunch critic of Beijing, often highlighting its human rights abuses and military aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Well, he's not wrong. As Secretary of State, he would likely steer U.S. diplomacy toward a more confrontational stance against China. On the economic front, Scott Besson's nomination as Treasury Secretary, well, that suggests that an equally firm approach. A strong proponent of tariffs, Besson has argued that they're essential to countering unfair trade practices, a strategy that aligns with Trump's previous policies on China.

Now, these selections underscore a broader strategy to confront China on multiple levels from diplomacy to trade to security. For more on this, let me bring in Gordon Chang. He's the author of a great new book. It's called Plan Red, China's Project to Destroy America. You can check them out. on X at Gordon G. Chang. Gordon, thank you very much for joining us again today. Well, thanks you, Mike. Gordon, we managed to do it. We survived the election.

You know, he's pretty much settled into his nomination picks. And that's where I'd love to start today, is to get your assessment from sort of a forward look towards the China-U.S. relationship, I'd like to get your assessment of his key picks. And maybe we start with Secretary of State. We start with Treasury Secretary. and then just kind of roam wherever you want to on that one. President Trump's picks indicate that he's going to, first of all, go for tariffs, which we saw in the beginning of this week with the announcement of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and the additional 10% tariffs on China for fentanyl.

And clearly, Trump is probably going to add some more tariffs on China as well. This is important because it's going to rearrange trade flows around the world. And because of that, I think these picks are good ones because we're talking about people who will support his tariff initiatives. So I think, you know, when you look at Treasury, his nominee Bissette probably was a little bit reluctant about tariffs to start out with. But there is reporting that Trump insisted that he support tariffs should he nominate him. And so this is going, I think, in the right direction. And of course, you have China Hawks. You have China Hawks at the State Department, Marco Rubio, and as National Security Advisor, Michael Walts.

So right now, the president has made it clear where he's going, at least as a first position in his administration. Do you imagine with the tariffs, because I've heard a lot of talk about, you know, their use as a negotiating tool. Do you get the impression that a lot of this early talk related to the tariffs is more about positioning for trade talks down the road? Or do you think they're actually serious about just laying these on right from the outset? Probably both. You know, a lot of people talk about these tariffs as negotiating tools. And Trump has used that. You know, in his first term, he imposed the 25% across the board tariffs in 2018.

And in the beginning of 2020, he had his phase one trade deal, which I think was a mistake. But nonetheless, you can see that the tariffs set the stage for that agreement. This time, yeah, he could negotiate them. But we got to remember that during the campaign, he talked about tariffs continually. And it wasn't just sort of off-the-cuff talk. He actually discussed McKinley and the effect of the McKinley tariffs on the American economy. And that shows that he's actually done a lot of learning about this, because this is a president who obviously believes deeply in rearranging trade through these levies.

Now, last time we talked, Gordon, you said something and I thought was fascinating. And you've alluded to it in the past, but I'd like to talk about it a little bit more in light of folks like Waltz and Rubio being put in for confirmation in these important positions. And what you had said was that China essentially is on a war footing with the West. It's just that the West doesn't either understand that or chooses to ignore it for whatever reason. You obviously are in favor based on what you've just said of folks like Rubio being in these positions. But what are you seeing or what are you hearing from the Chinese regime side? In these early days, I know we're still well away from the inauguration, but have they been

positioning or saying anything or setting the table for this incoming administration? What's fascinating, Mike, is that throughout this month, we have seen China go uncharacteristically quiet. It is from seas and airspace. And that's a real indication that the regime in Beijing is very concerned about Trump. They're giving him a wide berth. They don't want to take them. on, at least at this stage. And that's a real indication of, I think, a realization of Beijing that they have got to please Trump. So at this time at least, and I don't know how long this will last, but at this time at least, things are going fairly well. You know, we've also seen some other things in China setting the stage. So, for instance, again, throughout this month,

China has been forcing down the value of the RIMB. That looks like anticipation of a trade war with the United States or an anticipation of very high tariffs. When we go back to 2018, when Trump imposed his Section 301 tariffs, China picked up somewhere between 75 to 81 percent of the cost of those impositions. And this time, they have even more incentive to do that. So, I think that this move to force down the value of the currency is a real indication that they're getting ready, as you say, setting the table. So it's not just geopolitically, it's also from an economic point of view as well.

To what degree, let's imagine that we get into a trade war, right? That relationship continues to escalate in terms of tensions. We get into a trade war. To what degree do you imagine the Chinese regime would use their advantage that they have in terms of, let's look at a variety of things, refining of rare earth minerals or their pharmaceutical industry. We saw that during the pandemic, how our supply chains have a real reliance in certain areas on Chinese production.

So I mean, I think there's a lot of complexity here and things that we need to worry about other than just our prices increasing on certain goods. Well, China has already imposed export embargoes on certain rare earths, and they could increase that. And as you point out, during the early years of the pandemic, early months of the pandemic in 2020, they threatened to cut off pharmaceuticals. Got to remember that, yes, we have got to buy, but also China's got to sell. So I think what would happen would be if they were to say impose export embargoes. and pharmaceuticals, we'd still be able to buy Chinese pharmaceuticals. We may not be able to buy

them from the Chinese directly, but we can buy them through third parties. Go back to 2010, China imposed an export ban on rare earths to Japan. Japan actually just bought them directly from Chinese-Dade-owned enterprises, which had to sell, despite the embargo. And the embargo lasted a month or two, and then Beijing just capitulated. So I think the people, probably see the same thing here. If China were to impose export embargoes on the U.S., they might be more determined with us than they were in 2010, but nonetheless, the market is a global one, and we'd be able to source what we need. Higher price initially, but we'd be able to do it, Mike. That assumes that things don't get out of control, I suppose, right? I mean, that, you know,

if things really head south, then to what degree are we? let's just keep looking at pharmaceuticals because that did create such a concern during the pandemic. And the pandemic is an ancient history, although people seem to be acting like it was, or acting like we're not going to have another one. And, of course, we will have another pandemic. So if things really had South in this relationship between China and the U.S., and I know it's all speculation, but there's a real problem there, it seems, if they say that's it. And as you refer to it, export embargo on key pharmaceuticals, you know, antibiotics and sedatives

and other things. If things really go south, and there's a possibility of that, of course, China probably wouldn't be in a position to export stuff, even if it wanted to. Yeah, and we would suffer mightily, especially pharmaceuticals, which is an indication warning to us that this is something that we need to do on an emergency basis. We should have done this a long time ago. But nonetheless, we have that critical vulnerability. Do you imagine, I mean, Senator, I haven't asked you this question in the past, but where are you on that?

Do you believe fundamentally that we're not going to get in some sort of kinetic situation? We're not going to get into a shooting war with China, but that we, I mean, where do you think this is going? Because my impression from how you just answered that was that you're a little hesitant to imagine that we would actually get to that point. Bottom line, we need to be prepared for China to do anything at any place at any time because Xi Jinping is under domestic pressure and he can lash out. And we got to remember that in Beijing today, only the most hostile answers are considered to be acceptable.

And I don't know if he can control escalation. Having said all that, at least at this moment, China is not ready to go to war. It's not ready to go to war because the senior leadership of the PLA, People's Liberation Army, is in disarray with all of these perches which are continuing. Also, we have a Chinese military that just doesn't want to go to war, which is the reason why we've been seeing the removal of officers who are posed to war. And we also have a Chinese military that although it has a lot of shiny new weapons, is not confident because they have not fought a war since 1979.

In that 1979 war, their first string army got beaten up by Vietnam's third string. We saw real failures of command in 2020 when China launched a surprise attack. against India in Gawain. This doesn't look good for the Chinese military. Also, we know the Chinese people don't want war right now. This is a populace that is really angry at the leadership, and they're in no mood to go after and kill people, especially people that they consider to be Chinese. In other words, people in Taiwan.

People in Taiwan don't think they're Chinese, but the people in China do, and the people in China do not want a war, especially with Taiwan. And then you've got to remember one other thing. For Xi Jinping to launch a big war, combined air, land, sea operation, he's got to give some general officer, some admiral or some general total or almost total control over the People's Liberation Army, making that person the most powerful person in China. Seijun Ping doesn't trust his general officers, even in the best of moments. He's certainly right now not going to trust any other figure to make that. person more powerful than he is. As you're saying that, what popped into my mind is sort of the

top line similarities between how you're describing the failures in command and control, the mistrust of generals between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Gordon, if you could stay right there. We'll take a quick break and then we'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Well, we did it. We survived a historical election. You might have heard something about it. Now, sure, there's going to be some change. in the White House. There always is in between administrations, but the fundamentals, well, they haven't really changed. And the problem is the dollar is in decline. With the U.S. adding, now get this, $100,000 in debt every second. Think about that, $100,000 in new debt every second. It's unsustainable. Meanwhile, BRICS nations have introduced what they call the unit.

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Big news for your kids' lunchbox. Welch's fruit snacks are now made without any artificial dyes. A snack parents can feel good about and the same delicious taste kids can't get enough of. All made with no artificial dyes. Try Welch's fruit snacks today. Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report. Joining me once again is the author of a terrific book, Plan Red, China's project to destroy America. Check it out. Go to your bookstore. I'm not sure

bookstores still exist, but wherever you get your books, go get it. Land Red, China's project to destroy America. Gordon Chang. Gordon, thanks again for sticking around with us. A bunch of questions here, but you said something just before the break that I found very interesting. You said when discussing the situations amongst the Chinese leadership in Beijing, only the most hostile answer are acceptable. What do you mean by that? Right now, I think that Xi Jinping has configured the Chinese political system in a way which is really belligerent. Got to remember that when he became China's leader in 2012, he inherited a consensual political system where no Chinese

leader got too much credit or too much blame. But by taking power from everybody else, he's created a lot of antagonism among senior figures. And he has made nationalism to be something that defines his rule, which means that only hostile answers are considered as acceptable, because he has set markers for himself. He set them over Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, elsewhere. So if he goes back on it, which I think he's trying to do now, But when he goes back on that, other people are going to hold him to account for that. So this is something which is... When you say, Gordon, I'm sorry for interrupting, when you say going back on that, do you mean

you get the sense that he's perhaps trying to moderate his position? And if that's the case, why would he be doing that? Yeah, I think, well, certainly this month, we have seen him moderate his position. And he's doing that, I think, because I was a very much. I mentioned, he does not want to take on Trump right now. He doesn't think China's ready. And, you know, we've seen Xi Jinping basically being a freed of Trump. That started in April 2017 when C was at Moralago. And you remember, at dinner, Trump stood up and said, I've just launched 59 missiles on Syria. Syria, by the way, is China's friend. And Xi Jinping was

disrespected big time by Trump. And C was quiet. I think he was flummoxed. He did not know what to say. He could not respond. And that fortunately set the tone between the United States and China for the four years of Trump's first term. Now you're seeing Xi Jinping seeing something that he really didn't want a return of Trump to the Oval Office. So I think that, you know, what we have seen at least this month is Xi Jinping cooling it. This may not last, probably won't last. But at this point, I think that Xi Jinping is trying to walk it back. And that's going to be hard for him, because as I mentioned, he's created all of these

markers for himself. And they are the test of his legitimacy. And so with a very nationalistic Wolf Warrior for diplomacy, as they call it, that means he may not be able to control escalation. And as I said, only the hostile answers are considered to be acceptable ones. What about the population in general? I mean, it's a fascinating insight that you've just laid out for Shijing-Peng's view on Trump.

But what are the people of China? What's the population think about Trump? What's their view? In the first term, they love Trump. They love Trump not because of what he said or what he did. Matter of fact, they didn't like what Trump said or did. they like his being unfiltered, being free, being spontaneous, being a human being. That is in comparison to Xi Jinping and especially his predecessor, Ujintou, who's some, you know, which is basically

lifeless. The other thing that they loved about Trump was that he took on the elites and won, and that gave them inspiration that they could do the same thing in China with the elites that they really, really hate. So from a style point, style points, Trump was just very popular in China. And by the way, that sent into the Communist Party's deepest fear about the United States. Communist Party believes it is in an existential struggle with the U.S. And it's not because of anything that our leaders say or do, but it's because of who we are. You have an insecure regime in Beijing is worried about the inspirational impact of our values and form of governance on the Chinese people. And Trump just,

makes this so much worse for the Communist Party. And how filtered is the news at this stage of the game in China? It is filtered. China realized, the regime realizes that they can't keep out all news. So what they do is they spin it. They spend an extraordinary amount of effort putting news into context because they realize that one way or another it does seep in. But yeah, they're trying to censor things.

You know, CNN will go off the air at times because the regime doesn't like what they're hearing. You know, they do still have the great firewall, which is the world's most sophisticated set of internet controls. They don't try to keep out everything because they know that they can't be North Korea, but they are moving in that direction. And that's why Chinese netizens say that they are West Korea. You mentioned North Korea there. That raises an interesting question for a long time.

The thought process, at least in the West and certainly in the U.S., seems as it's always been. If you need to affect change in North Korea, you, in a sense, have to go through China, right? And exert pressure on China to then exert pressure on North Korea because of their relationship. Is that true? I mean, how much leverage, how much influence does the Chinese regime have over Kim's? Kim Jong-un. I'm asking that question, obviously, because of the deepening relationship between Kim Jong-un in North Korea and Putin and his war effort in Ukraine.

China has enormous leverage over Kim Jong-un. It chooses often not to exercise it, but when China really wants something, it gets what it wants. You know, you have a lot of people in New York and Washington who say, the Chinese and the Koreans hate each other, and they've hated each other for centuries. Yes, all of that is true. But Kim Jong-Lan knows that the survival of his regime depends on China. As they say, you know, Russia is the ambulance.

China is the hospital. Also, that's true for Russia. And I think Xi Jinping believes that he not only has enormous leverage over his friend Kim in Piagam, but also his friend Putin in Moscow. because Moscow is only in this war because of Chinese continued assistance. If China cut it off, you know, Ukraine would win fairly short order. So right now there is, I think that this whole notion that China is upset about the growing relationship between Russia and North Korea, I think that's wrong.

I think that actually the sale of shells, short-range ballistic missiles, provision of troops, All of this, I think, was masterminded by China. That's really interesting because shortly after the news broke that North Korean troops were heading towards Russia for training and then deployment out on the front lines, China's limited statements about it indicated that, well, we didn't know anything about it. You know, don't ask us that. We're unaware. But what you're saying is, in reality, there's very little likelihood that that would have

taken place without both their understanding. and possibly their approval. And by the way, we've got to remember that North Korean troops have been in Ukraine for a very long time because, you know, they've been, the North Koreans have been selling the shelves and the short-range ballistic missiles. And they've had North Korean logistics people there. And there are even reports that a long time ago, North Koreans were killed in Ukrainian attacks.

Now what was new is that you have four combat brigades. So that's about 12,800 troops. And with a promise that war will be coming, you know, people are talking 100,000 or so we don't know where this will end. But yeah, this has been going on for a long time. China also has had advisors in the front lines because they've been supplying drones and other stuff. So of course the Chinese know the North Koreans have been there for months. One last question, Gordon, being mindful of your time. Just recently, the Chinese regime's defense minister refused to have a conversation with Boyd Austin,

U.S. Secretary of Defense. And there had been a lot of talk within the Biden administration over the past year about how we've rejuvenated this military-to-military conversation, which is important, I mean, which we need to maintain. There always has to be a channel of communication. But moving forward with the inauguration and then the Trump administration settling in, Do you imagine that in the near future, there could be a direct meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping?

Sure. You know, Trump always talks about negotiating with foreign leaders. You know, these military to military channels, Mike, I don't think that they're important. And the reason is the Chinese talk when they want to talk. They don't talk when they don't want to talk. The presence of, you know, a hotline or an established military. communication channel is completely irrelevant. I mean, we don't have what is necessary, which is the cell phone numbers of our counterparts, because no Chinese general, no Chinese

admiral will talk to us until they know the firm direction from the Politburo standing committee. So you can have all the established channels you want. They're not going to speak to us. And that's been the history of these hotlines that we have had with China. They don't speak with us until the direction has been set at the top of the political system. So let's stop chasing these Chinese generals and admirals. You know, if they want to talk to us, they have our phone numbers. The area code is 202. You can talk any time you damn well, please.

But just call us because we're not going to chase you to the ends of the earth to make ourselves in an inferior position. And by the way, the defense minister of China is not Lloyd Austen's counterpart. The defense minister in China is a much junior official to Lloyd Austin. So, Lloyd Austin, he shouldn't be trying to talk to the defense minister. He should be trying to talk to his real counterpart in the Chinese system. His real counterpart is actually Xi Jinping in his role as chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party.

And Lloyd Austin should insist on speaking to Xi Jinping when they have quote unquote counterpart discussions. Yeah, I don't see that happening. Also, the clock's running out with the new administration coming in. Speaking of which, I can't believe they haven't called you for a senior foreign policy position, Gordon. But I would sit by your phone because that may well happen. Gordon Chang, author of a great new book, Go Out and Get This Book. It's called Plan Red China's Project to Destroy America.

Listen, Gordon, I can't thank you enough. Great friend of the show. And I hope next time we call, you'll pick up the phone and we'll have you back. I certainly will do that, Mike. And by the way, on that other point, I've already got one boss, and I don't think I need enough for fun. Yeah, I know the feeling we're in the same boat, man. Listen, thank you very much, Gordon. I'll see you again.

Thanks, Mike. Coming up next, an alarming trend, unidentified drones, overflying U.S. military bases. Yeah, I'd call that alarming, raising serious questions about aerospace security and what's being done to stop it. Well, have more on that with retired Army Colonel John Mills when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here, look, if you're tired of the same old coffee from those mega corporations, and you know the ones I'm talking about, right, pushing their woke agendas will listen up. It's time now to take a stand and support a brand that truly embodies American values. Of course, I'm talking about blackout coffee.

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I want to turn now to an ongoing challenge for the U.S. military. Unidentified drones overflying or buzzing American bases. Last week, small unmanned aerial systems, drones, were spotted over and near three Royal Air Force bases in eastern England that are used by the United States Air Force. Now, the Air Force confirmed the incidents at RAF Lincoln Heath, Mildenhall and Felwell, with sightings occurring between 20 and 22 November. Now, as of now, it's unclear whether these drones were hostile or part of some other activity,

perhaps hobbyists. But with both the U.S. and U.K. acknowledging the incidents, this raises serious questions about airspace security around critical military installations. Yes, it does. And it raises the question, what are the militaries doing about it? Well, the news comes just weeks after the Pentagon confirmed that for 17 days last December, a fleet, not just one, I'm talking about a fleet of unidentified drones, flew over Langley Air Force Base and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval port, so somewhat important. What's going on here? And why does the U.S. military seem unable to defend the airspace around the installations? Well, those are very good questions, and I'm glad you ask. For more on this,

We've got retired Colonel John Mills with us. He's the former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Department of Defense, and you can't fit that all on one business card. And he's the host of In the Situation Room. You've got to check that out, please. It's on Patriot TV. Colonel Mills, thanks very much for joining us. Hey, Mike, thank you so much, and I'm going to be on your show again.

Let's dive into the drone situation. I'm somewhat confused, as is most of America, when you've got drones flying over. sensitive and classified sites, why we just let it happen and then we say, well, we don't know what their intent is. Well, yeah, of course we don't because we're not doing anything to stop it. It seems. Am I wrong? Well, Mike, I actually happen to work, have worked this issue for a number of years. I read press releases very closely because I've done a number of press releases in my career. And you have to read every single word because there's so much legal nuance built into those press releases. But also on metrics, three data points mean a trend line.

We now have three data points. Ampton Roads, Newport News, Virginia Beach in December of 23. Earlier in November, Picotany Arsenal up in New Jersey, now we have the UK bases. Now, in the press release, what got my attention was they used the term that the drones flew over the three UK facilities, which I think was Milden Hall. I think it was Lake and Heath Mill, like, Hall and one other felt well, which is a kind of logistics space. I'm not sure that even has a runway, but they flew over the fence line. This is extremely important because in New Jersey and then, just... the 17 nights in December 23, I don't believe they actually ever crossed a DoD or U.S.

government fence line. Very important, especially in the American airspace environment, because it's all about roles and missions between the different departments and agencies. And what I worry about, I believe this was a state actor, is China is not just ripping off our classified stuff. They actually read our laws, policies, and regulations closer than we do and analyze them better than we do. Now, the running joke on the inside was, well, if they do that, we'll just rip it off through our signals intelligence, and then we'll read it and we'll understand it, too, once they do their analysis. But they understand the gaps in seam lines and who's doing what in the domestic airspace.

In the UK, they said they actually flew over the facilities. Not apparently. Now, in the Virginia Beach area, you got a U.S. government facility you may be familiar with way in the upper left. And then you have Cheetah Manix. Then you have Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Then you got Langley, got four. You got all the way down to Damnak Annix where we have a very sensitive special operations facility. I don't believe they flew for 17 days.

I don't believe they actually flew over a DoD or U.S. government facility. But they very, they were testing us. But now, I mean, people look at that, right? And they say, well, why aren't we shooting them down? And the typical answer, at least in the U.S. is, well, it's out of concern over civilian, you know, security and safety. Are there protocols currently in place, or are we just playing catch up, but are there protocols in place that you know of that allow for a shootdown of, of unauthorized, whether there is a drone or anything else, on a classified or secure facility? Well, without revealing the classified information, there is a smattering of facilities that have

approvals to engage through various methods. Okay? And I'll just leave it at that. It can't be a smattering. It has to be pervasive. So there are a handful. Now, there's four. I think it was the Congressional Research Service did a great piece. Look up CRS's report on domestic airspace encountering drones. There's four U.S. government agencies that departments agencies have authority. First is Department of Energy. But it's at very specific locations like the Nevada test site. Okay.

Then you have the Department of Defense, which has material. ensure procedures and capabilities at a very small number of facilities, okay? And I'm not going to say which ones. Then you have Department of Justice slash DHS that have legal authorities over special situations, such as the airspace over the White House, which is actually the one airspace sector that is not managed by the FAA, but managed by Secret Service, obviously. But you have national sensitive security events, which are declared such as the State of the Union, the Super Bowl.

And that's where FBI that has a very robust counter drone, but again, they have to be, it just, we don't have a pervasive agreed upon. And this is the domestic airspace. This is not a forward operating base in Iraq or Syria, where we set up the San Francisco. Turin system, which is the Army version of the Navy Gatling gun, that thing works, that thing works awesome. I've got one at home. Yeah.

Yeah, I've got my very own at home. It's fantastic. For home defense, couldn't ask for anything more. Yeah, I mean, it works great, but firing 20 millimeter rounds over desert space to zap an incoming mortar round or a small drone or a big drone, no problem. Firing a stream of 20 millimeter rounds over residential area, that's a really bad idea. Okay, that is not going to end well. So we have to develop a protocol for alerting, alerting, and not just that the government

agency is responsible, but also the local civilian population. We might have to bring back the old air raid sirens that used to go off at 12 o'clock noon Wednesday during the Cold War. We know it might have to bring those back. All those things have been, I actually got an old one in the workshop over here. Those sirens are going on. I'm old enough to remember those air raid siren drills and also duck and cover under your school desk. And I remember one of my buddies as we were sitting under our school desks.

I think it was, I forget what year I was in, looking at me and saying, I don't think this is going to protect us. And I was like, well, you're obviously headed towards great things because you're a genius, son. But look, I think we do have the technology. I mean, my understanding is, and without going into gruesome sources and methods, but we do have the technology without firing off rounds to stop drones. And we have that ability.

I guess the question keeps coming back to the same thing, which is, so if that's the case, and they're engaged in, if we imagine, they're engaged in surveillance, if they're engaged in intel collection, if they're engaged in just an effort to test what our reaction is because that's also extremely important to know what the other side is going to do in any given scenario, then the idea that we are not at the top of our game and just because it's insuriating.

If we have these incidents and in the UK, you know, days after the officials are saying, well, we really don't know what the intention was. I'm left speechless. How does the U.S. military and our allies? How do we not have protocols in place, as you pointed out, that are not just sort of case-by-case or for certain facilities to say, no, you can't do this. Whether you're a hobbyist or whether you're the Chinese regime or anyone else. This is industrial grade. These are not a bunch of hobby shoppers.

General Kelly described what he saw. And again, they never crossed the fence line at Langley. This is Langley Air Force Base, not Langley CIA headquarters. I've had, there's some folks have been flying over CIA headquarters. Wrongly. This is Langley Air Force. Oh, no. Trust me, John, if they flew over, if they flew over Langley headquarters, the CIA facility, you know, we've already got protocol out there.

What happens is all the interns run out and throw classified documents up in the air towards the drones. And that's our plan. Probably be more effective than what we have in place now. I mean, this is, this has been a debating system. society for the last two years at the White House in interagency proceedings. This is one of the things in the first 60 days of the Trump administration. We got to come to closure. It's always about roles and missions, roles and missions.

Who is responsible for what? And we got to settle this. This debating society is over. I've been in too many of these meetings at the Eisenhower executive office building in room 4405, not to be too specific. You know, these debating days are over. And we've got to cut this out, define roles in mission, the domestic airspace, and execute. And we've got to do it quick.

Now, Kelly described this as a large 20-foot wing, fixed-wing, drone mothership, and then shepherding a group of industrial-grade quadcopters. These are like agricultural-grade. quadcopters. And just that description itself in my mind, I'm going, wow, I mean, you got two different flight types of flight vehicles that don't normally, you know, work cooperatively together, but they were. And wow, was this thing launching and recovering the quadcopters? This is crazy. And, hey, this is all about. Well, those setups, those swarms, when you look at the technology involved in those swarms sometimes. And you look at, again, as you described it, a mothership,

which, you know, is capable of command and control of the swarm and can provide a variety of assistance, in a sense, right, to the mothership does to the swarm. It is astounding what's possible. But then, again, I keep coming about beating that dead horse here, John. I keep coming back to how, how, as the U.S., with all our abilities, and we are very, very good, how have we Because I think, and maybe I just answered my own question, our science and technology capabilities are outstanding, our ability to put in place protocols because that involves humans and it involves bureaucratic meetings, which, as you pointed out, you sat through way too many of them.

That seems to be where the log jam is. Colonel, if you'll stay right there, we've got some terrific sponsors. We've got to go to them right now, hear from them, and then we'll have more on this story. I've got some other questions for you. Make Mother's Day even more special at Whole Foods Market. Kick off brunch or dinner with quality cheese and charcuttery with no synthetic nitrates. Then go seafood. There's an abundance on sale at Whole Foods Market, where it's all sustainable while caught are responsibly farmed.

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Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report. I'm joined again by Colonel John Mills, U.S. Army retired and host of In the Situation Room. You should check that podcast out. All right. Well, John, we've been talking about the drone swarms. For me, it's incredibly frustrating just because of our lack of action. But let's pivot to something else that's been. somewhat covered, not much, but we've talked about it on the PDB for sure. And it's happening

at our ports here in the U.S., at a variety of ports. And here it is. This week, the U.S. Coast Guard, right, they rolled out a new cybersecurity directive. I'm sure you're fully aware of this one. It's aimed at Chinese-made ship-to-shore cranes, which some officials see as potential backdoors for national security vulnerabilities. Now, what that means is essentially, in layman's terms, is, you know, Chinese cranes for ship-to-shore operations at U.S. ports account for about 80% of our crane operations. Think about that. And there's a good chance, and by that I mean there's every chance that the Chinese regime has been using that opportunity to place espionage equipment, basically, on these cranes for their own purposes. What are your thoughts

on this? Oh, absolutely. The GPMC Corporation is the Chinese company that has 80% market share on port cranes, those iconic cranes you'll see at the ports. And as we re-industrialize America, we're going to get American-made cranes or from and or trusted nations with trusted source componentry. But right now, ZPMC has a stranglehold, 80% market share. These cranes are IP enabled, which means they are endpoints on a worldwide network. Anything that is IP enabled is essentially a listening post or an observation post in military or intelligence terms. I mean, this is stupid.

I mean, I was pointing this out like three years ago and everybody's going, oh, no, there's no way anybody could be coming through the network to that end. point. These cranes are replete with listening audio, with cameras. So, you know, the MSS, you know, sitting, sitting in Shenzhen, China, you know, they're just having a field day, you know, eating their popcorn coming in, doing their shift and just watching everything that's going on at our port. They go, what is being loaded on what shop? And they're also in the Log Inc. network, which is the worldwide network for transportation movement. So they know, By manifest, what is on what ship or aircraft?

What could possibly go wrong here? I'm fascinated. When you would talk about this years ago, when you would point this out, was it just that they didn't believe that the Chinese regime would be engaged in this sort of information collection or they just didn't understand the process and the technology involved? It's just gross ignorance. And also, it is the latent, but hopefully it's going away the effect of. You brought up China.

You're racist. It is that D-I-C-R-T cancer. No, it's stupid. We've shown it in so many ways, except for election machines, because election machines are secure, but everything else has been broken into. But election machines are secured.

And my thesis is, well, if that's the case, the election machine company should be put in, we should be using their equipment for national nuclear command and control, because they are the only things that haven't been broken into. Everything else has been broken into. We got salt typhoon, flax typhoon, bolt typhoon. Those are the Chinese intrusion sets. In the last few days, have you been having network issues with your phone, with your computer?

About a 90% chance it's related to a salt typhoon. Ladies and gentlemen, if your IP enabled, you are an endpoint. No matter how bad the network gets, I can still get my TikTok, which keeps me happy. Look, the idea, I think part of the problem is this mindset that, how to put this, look, I spoke with Gordon Chang earlier, and he's a terrific friend of the show as well, and Gordon has a point, which is the Chinese regime, in a sense, is on a war footing with us, and they have been for a very long time, and part of that is information collection. Part of that is economic espionage.

Part of that is hoovering up everything possible about what the U.S. is doing and what our allies are doing. And so the idea that people might not think that the Chinese regime, with all their aggressiveness, wouldn't be interested in our supply chains, which is, you know, the ports, the U.S. ports play an incredibly important role, obviously, in U.S. supply chains, which then play an important role in keeping America happy, is astounding. it's very disappointed here that you've been pointing this out and that others have been pointing it out, I'm sure. And yet we're just now talking about it as if it's a brand new issue. There was a culminating point, I think, in December of 23. The national offense authorization was passed. And really, it went right over most people's heads. Section 1088 said we have to do

a national cyber tabletop exercise on the security of domestic critical infrastructure in case of conflict with China over Taiwan. So clearly those in government, now I was actually working for somebody who was a little bit related to the 1088 exercise, but this is all, it's clear. It was the FBI director who earlier this year, Ray, who's going to be run out of office on January 20th, but even he said this, it's called Advanced Force Operations. This is preparation for conflict. And everybody said, that's interesting. What's next on the, what's next?

Yeah. Oh, we got drones. We got drones flying over our bases. Well, what else do we have going on? Did you see the game the other day? Yeah, there's a lack of concern over a lot of these things that I hope will be a point of focus in the new incoming administration. Look, John, I mean, I'm sure you're aware, too.

It's not just the crane operations, right? And yes, okay, the government said, we're trying to do something about it. We put some tariffs on these cranes had no impact because the Port Association then complained about rising costs instead of being concerned with national security. But if you look at telecoms equipment and you look at the amount of Chinese telecoms equipment that has been utilized over many years now, and particularly with regional telecoms providers, It's the same issue. And no surprise, a lot of the, that telecoms equipment is set up somewhat close to U.S. military bases here in the U.S. Yeah, well, Huawei routers, Lenovo computers, and DJI drones are all part of the collection architecture for China. Get a grip on reality.

And where did they learn this from? they learned it from us, okay? Come on, you've got to be kidding. The original supply chain attack was the 82 blowing up of the Siberian pipeline. I mean, come on. The Chinese watch and learn everything we do, and then they play it right back at us tenfold without any legal guardrails or bumper cushions.

Come on, this is ridiculous. Now, with the ZPMC cranes, you say, okay, they're spying on us. Well, we'll just tape over the cameras or we'll use advanced cybersecurity methods. Okay, yeah, right. How well has that worked out? But, okay, so what can you do remotely? Well, one of the things you can do remotely is you can override the safety features of the ZPMC because one of the things they're constantly assessing on that crane is safety standards for center of gravity.

Well, one of the things you can do with the trickery is you can trick the same. system into thinking it's maintaining its center of gravity as they're moving those counterweights as that crane reaches over the ship and lifts, you know, a 60 ton container. You know, those weights are sliding to maintain that center of gravity. You override that. Next thing you know, the crane, hey, everything's good. Everything's good. Whoa. And you want that, you know, you know, 500 ton crane is now toppled over onto the ship. And you just, you know, put that birth out of commission and that ship for six months for the cleanup. You can reduce the duly thing.

In 2009, there was a Russian dam, a spinning thing, center of gravities. You mess with that spinning thing, that turbine at that Russian dam. I'm not saying we did that. But, you know, that thing next to you know, you got a 500-ton turbine pop shooting out of its mount into the ceiling of the dam and falling down. destroying the dam. I don't know how that happened. I mean, things happened, but, you know, so you can reach in the cyber. I got to tell you, John, I'm just glad that you clarify that a spinning thing is a turbine. Because, you know, we're very focused on technical terms here on

the situation report. So we want to make sure we get it right. Look, no, you're raising, I mean, you're singing to the choir with me, John. I've been, I've been, I've been, banging on about the aggressiveness of the Chinese regime and their theft of intellectual property and their economic espionage. People say, well, why should we even care if they've got equipment sitting on our cranes and our ports? And, you know, they're watching flow of goods as well. I mean, everything is of interest to them from an intelligence perspective, right? They hoover it all up, and then they figure out how important it is, and they utilize it either for military purposes or for their state-sponsored entities. It doesn't matter.

We seem to be behind the curve once again. It kind of goes back to the drone conversation we just had the same issue with the cranes, whether it's that or the telecoms equipment or whatever. We just seem to be behind the curve and understanding how aggressive the Chinese regime is. And that's not racist, to your point. The Chinese culture is fantastic. The history is amazing. The people are great.

It's the regime that we're talking about here, folks. All right, listen, John, I hate to say this, but we are out of time. And so that means, I've got more questions for you. That just means you're in an unfortunate position of having to come back on the show at some point. Now, looking forward to it, Mike. Yeah, absolutely. A lot more we can talk about. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. Colonel John Mills, really appreciate you stopping by. And again, folks, check out John's podcast. It's called In the Situation Room. And thanks again for stopping by sharing your expertise. All right. That is all the time we have for the PDB Situation Report. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com.

The entire PDB production team loves hearing from you. And I mean that seriously. Every couple of days, don't forget, Carl O'Mell, man, he's a great guy. He stops by our secret lair, which is, of course, under a dormant volcano, and drops off another meal bag, stuffed full with your thoughts and questions and your faxes and your postcards and your emails. and then we get busy selecting the best questions and compiling those into our monthly Ask Me Anything episodes.

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