National Security officials are watching how Iran, China, North Korea, and Russia react to President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.
Specifically, they are looking to see how the foreign adversaries will try to exploit word of Trump testing positive for the coronavirus, Politico said. Of particular interest are influence operations and disinformation that they might try to inject into the national conversation just weeks from the presidential election.
"The U.S. military stands ready to defend our country and its citizens," said Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler. "There’s no change to the readiness or capability of our armed forces."
Officials are keeping a close eye on the social media feeds of the U.S. adversaries for any effort to exploit any perceived weakness to American leadership, according to Politico.
"What we are anticipating is that the Russian actors and probably the Iranians will play this up," one defense official told Politico.
Intelligence officials will likely be on the lookout for a "subtle increase in activity against us, knowing we are preoccupied, and the opportunity to test us, perhaps," said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA Senior Intelligence Service officer.
He added: "Our enemies will see us in a vulnerable state."
Meanwhile, Fox News reported two U.S. military planes, used to provide command of American nuclear forces in the event any ground-based centers are inoperable, were detected flying along both coasts of the mainland early Friday — about the time the president announced he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19.
But a spokesman for the U.S. Strategic Command said the flights were "pre-planned." He maintained the timing was "purely coincidental."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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