text: YELLEN: SECURE GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “Our supply chains are not secure, and they’re not resilient, and I think that’s something, in terms of long-term risk to the U.S. and to other countries, that’s a threat that needs to be addressed.” (AC: Yellen’s long-term calculation is incorrect, supply chain vulnerability is immediately exploitable and by some estimations is already being leveraged against the U.S. She may be referring to a future catastrophic economic decoupling from China. – D.M.GAO SAYS CBP MISSING MIGRANT DATA INSUFFICIENT: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Missing Migrant Program has incomplete migrant death data. The GOA also said CBP’s plan to collect the missing data is currently insufficient. The Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Act of 2019 requires CBP to annually report unidentified remains; however, the GAO report claims CBP is not recording migrant deaths if an external entity is first to discover the remains. The missing data limits the visibility of the full scope of death occurring on the border to drive effective prevention methods. The report highlights many CBP efforts have prioritized prevention with the latest initiatives, including rescue beacons and 9-1-1 placards distributed across the U.S. southwestern border. – D.F.POLITICSCONGRESS COMES BACK TO DC: Congress returns to Washington tomorrow after a two-week break in legislative activities. Before November’s elections, the Democrat-controlled Congress is attempting to pass another $10 billion in pandemic relief, at least $800 million more in Ukraine aid, and a trimmed Build Back Better social spending bill. – D.M.MILITARY/DEFENSEOH AND WV GUARD SEND TROOP CARRIERS TO UKRAINE: Part of the White House’s latest $800 million round of military assistance to Ukraine, the Ohio and West Virginia National Guards are transferring M113 armored troop carriers and other equipment to the war stricken European nation. (AC: The U.S. is likely making these equipment decisions based on the unit’s lifecycle and total force distribution. The U.S. updated its inventory from Vietnam-era M113’s to M2 Bradley’s and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected carriers. – D.M.)US SENDING 72 MORE HOWITZERS TO UKRAINE: The U.S. is sending five battalions worth of M777 155mm howitzers. The artillery comes with an additional 144,000 rounds and support vehicles. These longer range variants from BAE will support fire missions in Eastern Ukraine. U.S. troops are currently training the Ukrainians in Poland on use of the M777. – D.M.PENTAGON TO REALLOCATE $1 BILLION TO HELP DHS COUNTER DRONES: The Pentagon Comptroller notified the Army, Navy, and Air Force of the $600 million reprogramming of the fiscal year 2022 budget to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to counter small unmanned aerial systems (C-sUAS). The services will also have to reprogram $480 million to cover U.S. Central Command’s (USCENTCOM) C-sUAS needs. (AC: The move comes after DHS testified about challenges regarding cartels using preprogrammed missions and automation in sUAS cross border smuggling. The domestic C-sUAS authority was given to DHS in 2018; however, the tools used have been limited to jamming and remote takeover capabilities. Preprogrammed missions uploaded internally to the drone have the potential to bypass these attacks. DHS testified they did not have the capability to shoot the drones out of the sky and would have to rely on support from the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD has demonstrated the ability to disable drones using direct energy and kinetic defeat capabilities. – D.F.)