The President's Daily Brief - President's Daily Brief - April 14th, 2022

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

It’s April 14th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. I’m your host and former CIA Officer Bryan Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now.  First up, we have credible reports that the Biden Administration is dramatically expanding the tactical and operational intelligence that it gives Kiev. Second, lots of updates on the border. The Governor of Texas is following up on his promises to ensure we have a southern border. And, as always, I’m keeping an eye out for developing issues you should know about. Put these two on your radar: First, if you want to fly, you’re going to have to wear a mask for just a few more weeks. Second, some interesting COVID news. Did you lose your ability to smell when you had it? I sure did. I have a hopeful update on that. All up next on the President’s Daily Brief. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's April 14th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA Officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. Before we start, a quick reminder to those new to the show, the brief you're about to hear is in the same spirit of the actual President's Daily Brief, which is a top secret summary of the most critical events in the past 24 hours, all delivered to the president each morning by the nation's spy masters. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am your spy, and this is your brief. Here's what we're going to be talking about this morning. First up, a really important update coming out of Ukraine that has profound implications for you,

your family, and America. We have credible reports that the Biden administration is dramatically expanding the tactical and operational intelligence that it gives Kiev. I'm going to help you understand what exactly that is, what that means, and why it's a major problem. Second, lots of updates on the border. The governor of Texas is following up on his promises related to Operation Lone Star, which is his effort to ensure we have a southern border. Also, panicked warnings from officials in the Mexican government on what happens if Biden actually abandons Title 42 as planned. All of that coming up. And as always, I'm keeping an eye out for

developing issues that you should know about. Put these two on your radar. First, if you want to fly, you're going to have to wear a mask for just a few more weeks. Where have we heard that before? Anyway, you likely know of this story by now, but I've got an angle that I think we should talk about. Second, some interesting COVID news. Did you lose your ability to smell when you had it? I sure did. I have a hopeful update for folks like me. All up next on the President's Daily Brief. Your first piece of intel this morning, multiple reports out of Washington, D.C., that the White House is ramping up the provision of tactical and operational intelligence to Ukraine. A few friends of mine, no names can be mentioned, are saying

the same. Before we talk about what a big deal this is, let me step you through what tactical and operational intelligence actually means. Let's say we're facing an attack. We know that our enemy is somewhere out there, out of our sight, probably on the verge of attacking us, but that's about all we know. Tactical and operational intelligence, in a nutshell, is like getting a phone call from a spy inside the enemy, and they spill all the beans to us on all their critical details, like where exactly is the enemy? How many are there? What weapons are they using? Where precisely are they going to attack us? And when? Maybe that spy can also send us pictures of battle plans or of key leaders who, if those leaders are killed, the whole operation comes to a halt.

Now, once you possess that information, you can get your troops in a much better position to strike, either before your enemy gets to you or as they're attacking, so maybe you can take the enemy by surprise. Or maybe you can even send a sniper in to kill those key senior leaders and mess up the whole shabang before it ever starts. All of this is tactical and operational intelligence. By the way, this description is for civilians. It's imperfect, but it gives you a good sense of things. At any rate, back to the Biden-Ukraine news, about a month ago, I started hearing that the U.S. was giving Ukraine this kind of tactical and operational information. And it scared the hell out of me, because for the first time, we weren't just giving the Ukrainian some weapons or training and saying good luck.

What we were doing, answering those questions like, where exactly are the Russians, who are the leaders, where are they at at this very moment? Where could we put our snipers? Well, all of that was effectively like holding the trigger thing. of a Ukrainian fighter and firing the shot for them, killing the Russians ourselves. Now, your first reaction to that news might be great. Kill the Russian bastards. They invaded Ukraine, after all. They get what they deserve.

Okay. But now you have to ask the next question. What does Putin think about when America effectively pulls the trigger and kills his troops? You know where I'm going with this. Putin will likely think that we have quietly declared. war on him. And frankly, we have. The economic sanctions, the weaponry, Joe Biden saying it's time for regime change in Moscow. And a month ago, we had the beginnings of this provision of tactical and operational intelligence. But now, this morning, the news gets even more stark. Joe Biden is

increasing the amount and the quality of this operational and tactical intelligence. We're sending better satellite pictures, more timely phone calls and emails that we've intercepted. We're relaying what we hear from our human spies ever more quickly and with more lethality. Again, put aside what you think of Putin or Russia or that you believe that the war in Ukraine is awful, which, by the way, it is. No reasonable person denies that. But ask yourself once again, if America is all but pulling the trigger, how will Putin likely respond? Well, obviously he's going to be pissed, and he's going to strike back. The question is how? At this hour, we don't know, but we should expect that the Russians will use this intelligence

sharing to justify their attacks when, not if they target the U.S. homeland or kill U.S. forces and personnel abroad in revenge. And if Putin does kill Americans or attacks us, like with a cyber weapon, knocking out at an electricity plant or a water system, well, that attack will make us very angry and rightfully so, and then we will respond in kind, maybe even inside Russia. And thus it goes back and forth getting worse and worse. You know where this goes, folks, escalation. And I'm going to put it to you bluntly. The odds of this war in Ukraine escalating into a worldwide conflict just went up. Let me repeat, every day this war continues is a day closer to a conflict between nuclear-armed powers.

All right, once you catch your breath, we need to figure out what to do, because doing nothing seems wrong. I mean, there are civilians dying. Babies and mamas who didn't do anything wrong, and they can't defend themselves from Russian aggression. So we have to do something, right? Yes, we do. And here it is.

Putin expects that we'll provide Ukraine with some defensive weapons and training. In other words, he knows we're going to try to bog him down. Here's what's interesting. He'll tolerate most of that, actually, and try to blow it up. That's the gentleman's spy game and all of this. Remember, he's a former Soviet spook. He understands the secret world of supplying rebel forces with machines and weaponry and training in order to screw over your enemy.

During the Cold War, he used to do this to us, to bog us down during our, shall I say, abroad. But there is a line when the gentleman's spy game is over and it becomes open warfare. That line, I believe, is when you start providing tactical and operational intelligence. You're definitely skirting with the line at that point. Said differently, when America basically puppeteers, in this case the Ukrainian fighters on the end of strings that we control, and we tell them when and where and how to fire those weapons, I think it's a red line that we're crossing. Now, one more thing. Let's say that you are ready for a war with Russia. After all, Joe Biden said yesterday that Putin is committing genocide. Biden is also on record as saying we need regime change in Moscow, as I mentioned earlier. So here's my question to you and Joe Biden, if you agree with his assessment. How exactly would our war with Russia go? Lots of people right now like to laugh at how badly the Russians are doing in Ukraine. And it's true. Russia's war is not going well for them. But what about us? What about our military? We just got out of a 20-year

war in Afghanistan, folks, and we lost to a well-organized group of goat herders. The same generals and political leaders who lost that war in Afghanistan are still in charge of our military today and in charge of America. So unless that changes and we acknowledge our failures and our weaknesses and we fix all of that? Is it wise to wage war against a nuclear state like Russia? No, obviously it is not. Bottom line, my friends, eight months ago, America got out of a 20-year war. We retreated, and we fired no one. We've learned no real lessons. We are not ready, politically, militarily, or economically, to launch ourselves into World War III. America can and should provide minimal defensive weaponry to the Ukrainians to bog down Putin. His aggression warrants it.

And as discussed, he knows it's coming. But providing tactical and operational intelligence, that's a bridge too far. And it begs for a fight that we are not prepared to handle. So please call your representatives, call your senators, and yes, even old man Biden. Do it this morning and tell them to knock it off, tell them to cut back on the intel sharing, stick with modest amounts of defensive weaponry, redouble diplomacy, and keep us the hell out of World War 3. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion

dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Next up, the border. By the way, if you need to push pause and take a breather after that last story, go ahead and do it. Just remember, keep away from the gin. All right, I have some updates on border issues. First, Operation Lone Star. That's the effort by the governor of Texas to do Joe Biden's job, in other words, to make sure that America has a border and to prevent bad people and bad things from coming into our country.

Governor Abbott of Texas promised to do a number of things in this operation, including that he would ship illegal immigrants directly from Texas to Washington, D.C. Make them feel a little pain. A lot of people thought he was joking. He wasn't. The first bus arrived yesterday. The White House was surprised and not amused. The press secretary launched into a nasty attack on Governor Abbott.

Lots of talk about how bad he was, racist, the usual. But what was shocking was this. Jen Saki, the press secretary, said those illegals can leave D.C. they'd like. They are now free to travel about the country, like a Southwest Airlines ad. I really want us to think about this for a second. The leadership of your country just said, quite smugly, actually, that illegal immigrants can go wherever the hell they want. Just come on in, illegal immigrants, uninvited, unvetted, settle down in any city you'd like. Here's a free phone and housing, a job. And of course, now that you're here, you don't ever need to be.

to leave. That's because Democrats want to abolish ICE, as you recall. That's the agency that deports illegal immigrants. It's pretty horrifying stuff. It doesn't sound real once you think about it, but it is. It's very real. People like Governor Abbott haven't given up, thankfully. Another part of Operation Lone Star was to squeeze international trade to get Mexico to do more. It worked. Yesterday, he signed an agreement with a neighboring governor from the state of Nuevo-Leon, in Mexico. Abbott had demanded better screening of commercial trucks. The Mexican governor decided to cooperate. He will step up inspections as Governor Abbott has asked, all in hopes of stopping drugs and illegals from coming across the border. That is some Texas hardball.

Finally, one more border update. A Mexican government official who helps oversee migrant issues in Tijuana is sounding an alarm this morning offering up his fear that there's going to be a rush of over 140,000 illegal immigrants if Biden continues with his plan to abandon Title 42. Quick reminder here, Title 42 is a rule begun under President Trump to prevent migrants from coming into this country to, amongst other things, apply for asylum. The idea was that these people could bring in additional cases of COVID, thus if you stop these migrants, then you would help stop COVID. Now, whether or not you believe that or it's good, the bottom line is that the policy in fact, helps slow the onslaught of people coming into this country.

Now, all that would change if the rule were repealed as Biden intends to do next month. The mad rush would be on. That is the explicit warning from the aforementioned Mexican government official. He's predicting those migrants will leave the shelters all at once and either stand in line, which would be a humanitarian mess, or they'll just rush the border. That's going to create chaos, this Mexican government official said. for America and us. All right, he's right, obviously.

And contrary to the smears of Democrats lately, he's not some Republican trying to win the white vote. He's just a smart guy who's being honest. It's refreshing, actually. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage

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mandate on planes expire, as expected on April 18th, it will be extended to May 3rd. At least, we'll see. If you're wondering, the answer is yes, this extension is bonkers and unscientific. There are two reasons why. First, just days ago, Tony, Tony, Fauci said that each of us has to assess our own individual risk to COVID and shape our own individual mitigation efforts, like wearing a mask, based on those individual risks. In other words, if you want to wear a mask that protects you, well, go ahead and do it. If not, that's fine. That's your choice. It's your risk. Your body. But now Fauci and the CDC are reversing themselves and frustrating everyone. Again, nothing new there. There's also a second reason,

another reason for why this CDC decision is bonkers. And here it is. Case counts versus hospitalization. All right. Remember, the current CDC guidance is that we should focus on hospitalization levels to guide our COVID responses. We should not, they said, focus on case counts. Why? The logic is that just because you have an increase of infections cases, that doesn't necessarily mean hospitalizations will go up as well. They may, in fact, remain flat. So that's logical and reasonable. Focus on hospitalizations, not infections. Well, when the CDC announced the mask extension yesterday for airplanes, they justified the move by saying, wait for it, the case counts are going up. Yeah, They did that.

Okay. To be fair, they gave themselves some wiggle room saying there's a new variant. So the rules have to be flexible in this particular case. But the new variant has been seen in Europe and elsewhere, and it doesn't seem to be changing hospitalization rates. So here we go again. The goal lines are shifting because I don't know why. Remember, folks, COVID can be a very serious disease for some people, especially for those over age 65 or those. who are obese. For most everybody else, it's largely the sniffles. There are exceptions. I'm one,

by the way. I have a stint in my neck because an artery almost burst after my COVID infection. Nasty stuff. That's why I think we should have some humility with this disease because it's novel and it may well have been cooked up in a lab in China. Regardless, we know a lot about this virus now. It's largely survivable. We have to move on. But we have to do it smartly, logically, and consistently. But that's not what the CDC is doing here with this mask mandate on planes rule. Instead, it just creates the impression, right or wrong, that none of these folks have any idea what they're doing. And whatever the goal is, it's not about public health. The second quick story, another COVID piece. As I just said, it can be a nasty bug. Many of us who have had it,

myself included, lost our sense of taste and smell when we had it. Why is that? Scientists are starting to crack the code on that mystery, especially on the smell issue, and their findings are somewhat surprising. They studied the nasal passages of folks who died from COVID, may they rest in peace, trying to settle the debate around why people like me lost our sense of smell. The results were interesting. Turns out it wasn't the actual virus that did the damage that caused the lack of smell. Rather, it was the inflammation that gets kicked up when the body's trying to fight off the bug. Now, in some ways, this is hopeful news for people who struggle with long-term effects.

People like my mom, actually, who even a year post-infection still can't properly smell or taste. The lead researcher of this study commented that anti-inflammatory treatments may be beneficial, something she and others plan to study further. So, mom, keep her chin up, better days ahead. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, you have, your morning brief. By the way, I'm curious, what did you think of today's brief or any other day? What else should I be talking about? Send me an email, if you would. The address is PDB at thefirsttv.com. Again, that's PDB at thefirsttv.com. By the way, the first is a great group of folks that helped launch this podcast.

incredible team. And with that, I will see you again tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. for the latest edition of the President's Daily Brief. I sure hope that you're a subscriber of the podcast by now, but most importantly, as I leave you this morning, a reminder of why we're here talking about the country that we love. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John, Chapter 8, 1st 32, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you here. Dig.