Defense Ministry shuts down net acquisition office allegedly involved in Trump-Russia investigation

The Defense Department dissolved its net takeover office – Republicans claim the Pentagon’s think-tank-like department involves Trump-Russian investigation.

Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said when the Department of Defense develops a plan “aligns with the department’s strategic priorities,” civilian employees in the office will “reassign themselves to mission-critical roles.”

The office aims to provide long-term strategic analysis at the Department of Defense, but it has become a target for Republicans who claim it is engaged in “projects that are not related to the mission.”

“Praise the Lord. This wise move saves U.S. taxpayers $20 million a year,” Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement.

Mark Milley is called by the Pentagon

He called the office “waste and ineffective.”

In recent years, the office has been committed to developing a potential war with China. It advocates a strategy called the “Airsea Battle”, in which blind campaigns against the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of stealth bombers and submarines will withdraw from China’s long-range surveillance before the naval attacks.

But Grasley scrutinized Onna’s signing practices over the years.

Ona has failed to conduct a confidential net assessment for years, and reporting analyst Adam Lovinger once complained to director James Baker that the office seemed to attract overpriced academic-style papers rather than classified network assessments.

“About quality issues, more than once I heard our contractor research labeled ‘derived”university level’ and based on secondary sources,” Lovinger wrote in a September 2016 email. “One of our contractor research was actually cut and pasted from the World Bank report.”

Lovinger complained about the conferred suspicious government contracts granted to FBI informant Stefan Halper, who monitored the Trump campaign in 2016.

The Department of Defense Inspector General’s report later found that Harper failed to properly document the research he did as a contractor on four studies worth $1 million. Four contracts from 2012 to 2016 were intended to cover relations between the United States, Russia, China and India.

Secretary Heggs says the Ministry of Defense has no “climate change”

An ONA contractor approached former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)

The report found that Halper has not provided proof of any meetings he had attended during part of his studies or any location he visited.

“ONA staff cannot provide us with any evidence that Professor Halper visited these locations, established a consulting group or met with any specific person listed in the worksheet.”

To study how China’s relations will look like in 2030, Halper proposed a trip to London and Tokyo.

ONA contractor Stefan Halper also contacted Carter Page. (Reuters/Sergey Kalpkin)

“The contract is based on a fixed price for accepting the delivery and does not require Professor Halper to submit a travel receipt. ONA staff cannot provide documents for Professor Halper’s travel for this contract.”

The contract shows that Halper listed a Russian intelligence official as an advisor to the ONA project, the same intelligence officer listed as a source in Trump’s archives for monitoring Carter Page. Grassley said he was in contact with Page and former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, “raised questions about whether Harper uses U.S. taxpayer funds to connect with Trump campaign officials.”

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Halper is also a confidential human source for the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which records conversations with campaign officials.

The senator claimed Ona asked about the relationship between Halper and the Trump-Russian investigation.

Senator Jack Reed, a senior Democrat of the Armed Forces Committee, called the office’s closing ceremony “myopia” and added that it would “undermine our ability to prepare for future conflict.”