Russia poses “the most significant challenge and potentially the most significant threat to our national security,” Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday. Dunford pointed to Russia’s unique “nuclear capabilities, its cyber capabilities, and its underwater capabilities” in testimony delivered before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also expressed concern over Russia’s “pattern of operations” in Ukraine and Georgia. Dunford said there was “no doubt in my mind that the Russians are responsible” for the bombing of a UN convoy in Syria on Monday. In response to questions about the nature of US coordination with Russia in Syria, Dunford insisted that “we don’t have any intention of sharing intelligence with the Russians.”
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
