SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE: National Security

[CLARENCE 2015!]

:-)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Are we gonna close this vote sometime Ben?

Not that it matters since Clarence's appointment was made conditional on Sjoyce resigning and as far as I can tell, he has not.

[Donerail]

Not that it matters since Clarence's appointment was made conditional on Sjoyce resigning and as far as I can tell, he has not.

I hereby resign as Secretary of External Affairs, effective immediately.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

For some reason it never displayed as new post on the thread and I missed it. I wish I had been corrected in Nathan's thread. By the time we get the confirmation thread finished, the term will be over and Marokai wants a complete sweep.

This is my fault entirely and for that I offer my deep apologies.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Ah.  Well, the NSC voted 2-0 to confirm Clarence, so hopefully Clarence can take solace in that fact.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Everybody has 48 hours to get settled in, and then we'll begin some hearings.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I trust that will begin as soon as that give time period expires in about 40 minutes?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I trust that will begin as soon as that give time period expires in about 40 minutes?

I was actually on my way here to post

We're going to begin with some overview hearings from SoEA Polnut.  Mr. SoEA, please come testify about your plans for the near future, particularly how you intend to handle the situation with North Korea.  Other members of the NSC should feel free to inquire as well.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Thank you for the invitation.

The nature of diplomacy is a mix of reacting and also being steadfast to certain values and principles.

So, answering your general question is quite difficult. Each situation requires a different approach. You mentioned North Korea, so I'll start there.

The sabre-rattling we've seen since the death Kim Jong-Il has obviously been concerning, we know that Kim Jong-Un is trying to establish his authority within North Korea. So in that kind of isolated and totalitarian state the way you do that is to show yourself in full control and to show you're a true threat. I think we need to be careful about not overreacting, while at the same time making sure that they can't abuse their place as an actor on the world stage.

I will say this, the test firing of a missile that landed in the ocean, within less than 1000 miles from Atlasian soil. That's a concern, North Korea cannot continue to act like the thin-skinned bully of North Asia. Its focus should be on their constantly starving people, and giving them the opportunities known to their Southern sister and their acquaintances in China.

I have spoken to my counterparts in China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, we want to re-establish the 6-party talks. But while we will meet in Tokyo after Easter, North Korean representatives will not be invited until they sign a formal pledge not to test nuclear weapons nor to fire any weapon that poses a threat to the territorial sovereignty of any other state.

We need to not focus purely on military threats. Let's look at what's happening in Europe right now. There is a concerted effort going on to ensure the stability of the Eurozone, and when I was in Europe last week I spoke very clearly that the entire world is watching and waiting on how this period goes. A de-stabilisation of the Eurozone will trigger a global financial shock with the results you'd expect from something like that. So while military issues such as North Korea, Iran and what may or may not be happening in Syria ... those other important issues need to be considered as risk to national security and stability also.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Mr. Secretary, can you elaborate on the recent story discussing possible chemical weapons in Turkey (basically, as full a briefing as possible)?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Thank you Senator for the question.

At the moment, exact details are difficult to ascertain. What we do know is that at 2am local time a Turkish military installation near the town of Kilis, which had chemical weapons detectors, noted the presence of a chemical that is known to form part of a number of known agents.

The Turkish Government has informed us that while they did ensure that all possible precautions were being taken, they did not have enough evidence to justify either an evacuation of the military personnel or the nearby civilian populations.

We are in close contact with officials in Ankara and they will provide information to us, possibly confidentially, as soon as they know.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Mr. Secretary, please update the NSC ASAP on all information.  If chemical weapons are discovered, what does the DoEA plan to do?

[Napoleon]

Does the Administration have a plan to respond?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The Senator understands, more than anyone as a former Secretary that there may be information presented to me, that the Turkish authorities for reasons of their own defense must not be made public. However, that is a hypothetical as the additional information I present is not of that nature. I will ensure that the committee will be furnished will all information, but that some elements may have to be privately transmitted.

I can tell the Committee that we have told that at present that the exact compound is yet to be indentified, but the detected amounts are defined as trace-level, and have a similar structure to a nerve gas compound.

The thing we more than likely need to consider that this facility is less than 25 miles from the Syrian border and 250 miles from Aleppo. So we will be working with the Turkish to determine the likely origin of this gas, and whether it was directed at Turkey or is evidence if the use of chemical weapons in Syria that has travelled on the wind.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Our plan will be considered based upon the conclusion of discussions with the Turkish Government. We obviously condemn the use of such weapons and that would obviously cast the current conflict in Syria in a much more serious and alarming light.

But considering the current delicacy of the situation we cannot consider our course of action until we are sure what we are acting against. Also, this is a situation involving two separate sovereign entities although one is in a civil war. We are not engaged in a physical sense in Syria or Turkey.

I will do what I can to collect as much information as is possible and will provide a brief to this Committee this evening, but I have no further information.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Follow up: do you have any plan of action for helping Syrian refugees in Jordan?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

What's going on in Jordan is increasingly difficult to be sustained with the resources currently available.

I have been invited by King Abdullah of Jordan to visit the refugee camps, I was unable to visit when I was in Israel last week. But I have cleared my schedule and will be on the ground in Jordan early next week. I will use that trip to get as clear a picture of what assistance is needed as possible.

I will then speak with the President to determine that support could be provided.

As for additional information, the Turkish military believes that considering the very low-level amounts detected suggests that if, and I stress if, there was a normal concentrated release of such an agent and considering the winds, that any release would have been up to 300 miles away and to the south, therefore somewhere in Syria.

We are now working to analyse the limited data available.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

The Committee is now discussing this legislation:

A Bill to Provide Aid to Jordan and Syrian Refugees

1.  $200 million shall be appropriated to the Government of Jordan for ensuring a minimum quality of life at Syrian refugee camps in Jordan.
2.  The Department of State shall oversee the deliverance of those funds, with further oversight to be provided by the Atlasian Embassy at the direction of the Secretary of State.

Mr. Secretary, feel free to comment.

[Napoleon]

I can't help but wonder if we (actually and more importantly, the refugees) would be better off giving them $200 million worth of food, water, supplies, shelter and so on instead of giving the money to another government where it may never get to the refugees.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm inclined to agree, personally.  I typed this bill up in about a minute to get it in line.  It'll have to be thoroughly amended.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I fully support the direct provision of any aid to the refugees. While I disagree that we couldn't expect the aid to be provided if given to Jordan, I believe direct provision will enable us to use our logistical skills and strengths to ensure that supplies arrive as quickly as possible.

I believe we would be able to undertake the operation in a very short space of time.

[Napoleon]

I believe its best we amend the bill now, so no time is wasted in getting this aid to the refugees.

Mr. Chair, Mr. Secretary, what do you think of this?

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[Kaine for Senate '18]

Perfectly fine by me.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'm comfortable with this.