Briefing Skipper: Russian spies, Eikenberry, Taiwan, Space, North Korea
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. These are the highlights of Tuesday’s briefing by spokesman Gordon Duguid: The State Department was in contact with Russian officials this week on the issue of the Russian spy ring arrests, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not ...
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. These are the highlights of Tuesday's briefing by spokesman Gordon Duguid:
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. These are the highlights of Tuesday’s briefing by spokesman Gordon Duguid:
- The State Department was in contact with Russian officials this week on the issue of the Russian spy ring arrests, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not talk with her counterpart about it yet, and State was not directly involved in the investigation, Duguid said. He could not confirm that State assisted the FBI in identifying the second secretary of the Russian mission to the United Nations as part of the investigation, as the court papers allege. "And as to the timing, the Department of Justice conducted a 10- year, as I understand it, investigation and moved forward on that investigation when it felt it was time to move," he said.
- Duguid said he was "completely unaware" of the allegation by Afghan attorney general Mohammed Ishaq Aloko, who said in a news conference that Ambassador Karl Eikenberry threatened to have him removed if he did not pursue a particular bank fraud case
- The State Department is celebrating the new trade and tariffs agreement between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). "The United States welcomes the increased dialogue and interaction between the PRC and Taiwan that this new agreement represents. We are encouraged by recent improvements in cross-strait relations and hope those relations will continue to expand and develop," said Duguid.
- The new administration Space policy is out, and in a big departure from the Bush administration, calls for arms control in Space. It also calls for more international cooperation and a focus on commercialization and privatization. "The United States calls on all nations to share its commitment to act responsibly in space and to help prevent mishaps, misperceptions and mistrust, and reaffirms the long-standing posture that all nations have the right to access, explore and use space for peaceful purposes in accordance with international law," Duguid said.
- Ambassador Wi Sung-lac, Republic of Korea special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, is visiting Washington today for consultations on North Korea. He met with Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg, Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell, Special Representative for North Korea Policy Ambassador Stephen Bosworth and Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks Ambassador Sung Kim. There is no definite schedule for when the U.N. will act on the North Korean sinking of the Cheonan, but the administration did announce that transfer of operational control of military forces in South Korea will now be delayed from 2012 to 2015.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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