President Trump’s canceling Secretary Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang is certainly a surprise since is comes only 24 hours after announcing a new envoy for North Korea and affirming the diplomatic mission. This reflects poor coordination on the administration’s North Korea policy.
Remember Reality Winner? Well she is about to be sentenced for leaking Secret information to the media and it is not looking good for her:
Reality Winner
A Georgia woman who mailed a secret U.S. report to a news organization faces the “longest sentence” ever behind bars for a federal crime involving leaks to the news media, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner, 26, is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 23 by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall in Augusta. She pleaded guilty in June to a single count of transmitting national security information when she worked in Augusta as a translator at an NSA facility.
Winner’s plea deal with prosecutors calls for imprisonment of five years and three months. But the sentencing judge isn’t bound by that agreement. Winner’s crime carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
The Trump administration has made prosecuting government employees who leak sensitive information to the media a high priority, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged to clamp down on leaks last year.
In a court filing Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Winner’s case said the 63-month sentence they’re recommending is plenty stiff to deter other government workers from leaking sensitive information, even if it could be tougher. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but I have no sympathy for people who leak Secret information to the media. What makes this even more pathetic for her is that the information she leaked CNN had already reported on back in October 2016. A federal official told CNN that Russia may have compromised the personal information of Florida, Illinois, and Arizona voters. Reality Winnner’s leak of the document just confirmed what was already known.
It looks like for the next year USFK can count on maintaining a troop strength of at least 22,000 personnel:
President Donald Trump has objected to a series of provisions in the newly passed 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, including limits on the reduction of troops in South Korea and recognizing Crimea as a Russian province.
The defense legislation, which Trump signed into law Monday, sets new restrictions to keep the administration from decreasing troops in South Korea to less than 22,000. It also prohibits U.S. funds from helping legitimize Russia’s control of Crimea.
Both provisions, among several others in the NDAA, reflect congressional concerns about the president and drew objections from the White House. [Stars & Stripes]
It looks like Ambassador Harris is being consistent in the messaging coming from the White House towards Pyongyang that major concessions will not happen until real steps towards denuclearization occur:
Ambassador Harry Harris
New U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris said there must be “demonstrable moves” from North Korea toward denuclearization before any declaration of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War is made between the two sides.
Harris, who held a news conference for local media on Thursday at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, is making his views known only a few weeks after arriving in South Korea.
“One of the things that hasn’t happened is the demonstrable moves toward denuclearization before we can entertain something like the end-of-war declaration,” Harris said, according to Yonhap.
“I think for the denuclearization to happen, we need to see the move and I haven’t seen that yet.” [UPI]
Fairly amazing how Trump has normalized widespread penny-ante corruption in his administration in just 18 months. Rather disturbing how quickly the norms folded when confronted by T’s brazenness. Another sign that there’s an anti-democratic potential in US we didn’t really expect https://t.co/pwxbSac0Nf
I can’t help but think that there is more to this story:
Spc. Yea Ji Sea, has served four years in the U.S. Army. She filed a lawsuit Thursday, July 19, 2018, asking for a response to her American citizenship application after the military moved to discharge her.
A U.S. Army specialist born in South Korea has sued asking for a response to her American citizenship application after the military moved to discharge her.
Yea Ji Sea, a 29-year-old from Gardena, California, who has served four years and is assigned to the duty station at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court.
She came to the country as a child on a visitor visa and held other visas before enlisting in 2013 under a special government program for foreign citizens who want to serve in the U.S. military. Under the program, recruits agreed in their enlistment contracts to apply to naturalize as soon as their honorable service was certified. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but the article states she had a forged document from a defunct language school that caused her first application to be revoked causing her to reapply in 2016. It is hard and time consuming to get citizenship without the drama of forged documents.
A Rocket has not been launched by North Korea in 9 months. Likewise, no Nuclear Tests. Japan is happy, all of Asia is happy. But the Fake News is saying, without ever asking me (always anonymous sources), that I am angry because it is not going fast enough. Wrong, very happy!
Admiral Harris is now on the job in South Korea and he has decided to keep his little mustache he has grown out since retiring from the Navy:
Harry Harris
New U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris on Saturday expressed his resolve to further cement Washington’s alliance with Seoul, casting the security partnership as a “pillar of strength and stability” in the region and beyond.
The retired admiral issued a brief public statement after arriving at Incheon International Airport on Saturday to fill the ambassadorial post that has been vacant since his predecessor Mark Lippert stepped down upon the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017.
“President Trump and his administration have made clear strengthening even further America’s alliance with Korea is one of our top priorities. Our presidents have been in regular contact as we work together to persuade North Korea to chart a new course,” he told reporters.
“Over the past 65 years, the U.S.-ROK (Republic of Korea) alliance has served as a pillar of strength and stability throughout the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. America could not ask for a better friend, partner and ally than the ROK,” he added. The Republic of Korea is South Korea’s official name. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
