Transcript

6.2.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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June second, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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seeking an arsenal of killer drones. Pentagon turns to former hobbyists,
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US launches a contest to produce what are essentially cheap
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flying bombs. The next headline, Trump's payout fund seems to
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be circling the drain just as to obey order to
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halt initiative. A retreat would mark the latest setback for President.
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Next eran u s trade strikes as negotiations falter expanded
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Israeli attacks in Lebanon threatened to derail stall talks. Our
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next headline Board of Peace, Lacke Resources founders and Gaza.
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Next DC mayoral race. First McDuffie, a son of d
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C argues he has the experience for the job, and
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the other article in the d C meyro race is
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entitled Lewis George is fueled by union support and progressive energy. Now,
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let's turn to our first item from today's front page,
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entitled seeking an arsenal of killer drones, Pentagon turns to
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former hobbyists. US launches a contest to produce what are
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essentially cheap flying bombs by Ian Duncan, a company that
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uses drones to analyze golf course grass, another linked to
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a firm that hosts aerial light shows, and one founded
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by a twenty three year old former drone racing world champion.
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Any of them, the Pentagon says, could represent the future
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of warfare as officials scrambled a plug with they see
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as a gaping hole in the United States military arsenal.
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Conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have shown the value of small,
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cheap drones, and the Trump administration has concluded that the
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US desperately needs to catch up. Officials are turning into
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a neglectic mix of companies, some launched by one time hobbyists,
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and pitting them against one another in drone Dominance and
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eighteen month contents that launched this year. The prize is
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a share of one point one billion dollars in defense contracts,
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a sum the Pentagon hopes will be enough to buy
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three hundred thousand of what are essentially cheap flying bombs.
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The administration's ultimate goals are even grander. Next year's defense
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budget calls for fifty four point six billion dollars to
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fund a dramatically expanded drone warfare unit. A new round
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of the contest is scheduled to begin next week. At
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the head of the pack are sky Cutter, a British
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firm that is partnered with a battle tested Ukrainian manufacturer,
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and Neros, founded by Soren Monroe Anderson, the young former
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racing champion. Monroe Anderson's firm already works with the Army
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and Marines, and he said officials told him they had
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high expectations as the competition got under wigh. I do
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love the fact that is keeping everyone on their toes,
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he said. There's no free lunch in drone dominance. The
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diverse array of competitors is a facet of the Pentagon's
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plan as it aims to expand traditional weapon buying pipelines
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during the second Trump administration, officials are increasingly looking to
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private industry to develop new kinds of military care and
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are prepared to pour money into the most promising products
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to avoid what they see as bloated contracts that have
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traditionally favored a handful of big players. I'm deeply optimistic
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about how much entrepreneurial talent is out there, said Travis Metz,
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the deputy director of the Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagon
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office overseeing the competition. The Department of War does not
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need to fund the R and D for this, mets added,
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using the Trump administration's preferred name for the Defense Department.
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Officials expect the military will need to acquire huge numbers
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of small drones every year. The systems are cheap at
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about five thousand dollars each and designed to be attributable
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Pentagon jargon, meaning they can be blown up without too
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much concern. Drawing on technology from the racing world, Ukrainian
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troops have shown how the systems can zip across trench
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lines to hunt tanks, allowing them to stemy Russian forces. Iranians, too,
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have used drones to strike beyond their borders and harass
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ships in the Strait of Hormus, even in the face
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of a huge US military force. Monroe Anderson thought he
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could build a bit business when he saw how the
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tech he had grown up flying was playing an important
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role in warfare. He described how the maneuverability required to
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make sharp turns on a race course can also be
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used to precisely deliver explosives. It's not just you can
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hit the tank, you can hit the tank in the
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right two foot box, Monroe Anderson said. Yet, some experts
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say it remains unclear exactly how relevant small drones will
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be to the US military. The conflict in Ukraine has
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been fought over slow moving front lines, where drone pilots
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can get set up and fly. Conditions for American troops
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operating far from home would probably be different, said Crispin Burke,
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a retired Army helicopter pilot and drone specialist. They might
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be going a little too extreme in trying to acquire
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these devices, Burke said. If you're an army on the march,
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where are you going to carry all of these drones.
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Met said that while the tactics employed by American troops
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might be different from those in Ukraine, he still expects
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drones to dominate future front lines. Entrepreneurs watching the conflict
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have reached the same conclusion, traveling to Ukraine to get
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advice from the front as they launched new companies or
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shipt existing businesses towards the military. Kyle d'oro's first flew
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remote control planes as a five year old. After high school,
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he built in flew drones for the film industry and
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started Firefly, a Leicho company working with hobby grade parts
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in his basement. But in twenty twenty three, when he
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founded Swarm Defense to work on military systems, some of
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the staff shared between the two sister businesses were not
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keen on the pivot and refused a work on the
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new effort. It's a pretty drastic swing to go from
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commercial entertainment to defense focus war fighting tools, he said.
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But Doro said he was convinced his which allows fleets
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of drones to work in concert, could help keep American
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troops safe. It didn't sit right with me that we
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had all this capability and we weren't doing something to
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help our war fighters. The Pentagon is now trying to
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narrow down dozens of hopefuls to between three and five
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top suppliers. To do that, officials devised the Drome Dominance
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Gauntlets for increasingly challenging contests, in which troops will test
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out systems over several days. After each round, the contracts
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awarded to the winners increase, but the price the Pentagon
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will pay per drone decreases. Met said. The idea is
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to encourage rapid innovation without the pressure of an ongoing war.
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It's a slightly blunt way of trying to replicate what
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has happened in Ukraine, he said. The pace of change
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is extraordinary. The first Gauntlet round took place in February
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at Fort Benning, about one hundred miles southward west of Atlanta,
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with twenty six companies invited to compete. The competitors arrived
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at the base in small groups over the course of
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two weeks. They were given two hours to train a
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group of military pilots on their systems, a test of
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how easy they would be to use. The manufacturers then
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had the chance to pick which of the pilots would
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put the drones through their paces on the test range.
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Missions included hitting targets the size of a desk up
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to six miles away, and carrying out a strike inside
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a building. Among those invited to fly was Boston based
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Green Site, which once marketed its golf Green monitoring system
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as military drone technology for your Course. Michael Clatworthy, the
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company's vice president for Emerging Technology said the event had
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a reality TV feel, with teams huddling together to make plans.
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Would the grizzled Navy seal be the best pilot or
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the nineteen year old private I felt like they should
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have Camra as their recording this. Clatworthy said officials have
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leaned into the theatrics, promoting the effort with a Star
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Wars style social media video and posting a leaderboard. The
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sky Cutter team hauled a television up to the roof
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of the building on the base that served as a
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launch pad, drawing a crowd to watch a drone's eye
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view video feed. The intense preparation took Monroe Anderson back
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to his racing days. Neros went head to head with Skycutter.
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The Brits had quickly opened a factory in suburban Atlanta
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and partnered with the Ukrainian firm Skyfall to bring an
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adapted Shrike drone to the competition. The two companies took
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top spots in the first missions, but once officials had
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assigned the final scores, it was Skycutter that came out ahead,
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launching the largest order for two thousand, five hundred sixty drones.
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Other companies were sent back to the drawing board. Greenside
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scored well on some of the missions at Fort Benning,
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but Joel Pedlick, its chief operating officer, said officials later
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told the company that it received zero points on an
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assessment of its ability to manufacture thousands of drones, so
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we need to raise capital and build a real factory.
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Pedlican said. The company hopes to be ready for the
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third round of the competition early next year. Neros has
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raised one hundred twenty million dollars in funding from venture
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capital firms and recently moved into a new factory in Torrance, California.
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It is on course to be the first of the
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winners to fulfill its order. According to Pentagon's leaderboard. The
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company will compete again in coming weeks as the second
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gone round gets underway in Michigan. We are not happy
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with anything besides first place, so I think it's good
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motivation for the team, Monroe Anderson said. We won't rest
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until we're number one. This article is accompanied by photos.
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The first is captioned a worker assembles a drone at
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the Neuros Factor in Torrens, California. The company is competing
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in the Pentagon's drone dominance contest. Photos by Maggie Shannon
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for The Washington Post. The next photo is captioned drones
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at Nero's new factory in Torrens, California. The company has
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raised one hundred twenty million dollars in funding from venture
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capital firms. The photo shows a mesh metal shelves with
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dozens of drones stacked three to four deep in front
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of what appears to be part of an American flag.
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The next photo is captioned Nero's founder Soren Monroe Anderson,
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a former drone racing World championship. The photo shows mister
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Anderson standing and behind him and above to his right
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is hovering a drone. The next photo is captioned drones
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being assembled at the Nero's factory. The next photo is
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captioned Monroe Anderson at the controls. The photo shows a
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control panel for a drone with an individual duel's hands
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on the controls. The next photo is captioned even before
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the Pentagon contest, Nero US was working with the Army
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and Marines. The photo shows a work table with drones
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or parts of drones on the table and on a
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metal peg board to the back of the table. The
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next photo is captioned Neros is on course to be
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the first of the initial contest winners to fulfill its
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Pentagon order. The photo shows an individual behind a computer
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screen and in the background is what appears to be
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part of an American flag. Our next item is entitled
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Trump's Payout Fund seems to be circling the drain Justice
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to obey order to halt initiative. A retreat would mark
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the latest setback for the president. By Katzakruski, Theodoric Meyer,
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Jerald Dillard, and Marianna Alfaro. The Trump administration Monday signaled
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that it's nearly one point eight billion dollar payout fund
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was on shaky ground as Republican lawmakers pushed the White
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House to abandon an idea that had prompted resistance from
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members of both parties as an inappropriate way to reward
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the president's supporters. The Justice Department announced that it would
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abide by a judge's order Friday to temporarily halt the fund.
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The Department has a little choice but to obey a
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court order, so the unprompted announcement was seen by many
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lawmakers as a signal that the administration was backing away
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from the fund. Senator Rick Scott, Republican from Florida, so
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the White House assured him Monday that it was dropping
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the fund. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican from South Dakota,
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said he has been making it clear to the White
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House for several days that it should abandon plans for
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the fund, which has proved deeply unpopular, and suggested that
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the administration is moving toward doing so. I do think
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that the best way to handle it is that the
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administration decides to shut it down themselves, soon, told reporters. Ideally,
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Thoon added the administration would simultaneously make clear that it
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will not try to resurrect the fund. The Justice Department
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statement followed a three hour meeting at the White House
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between House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, and Trump
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that included a discussion of the fund. According to a
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person familiar with the meeting, speaking on the condition of
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anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, a retreat from the
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fund would mark the latest setback for President Donald Trump,
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who has uncharacteristically backed away from some of his political
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initiatives in recent days, including his determination to remake the
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Kennedy Center and plans for an elaborate concert series to
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mark the nation's two hundred fiftieth birthday. Senators left Washington
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last month without passing one of Trump's top priorities, legislation
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to fund immigration enforcement agencies. After the administration failed to
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allay Senate republicans concerns about the fund, Democrats on Monday
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were pushing for a more concrete declaration that the fund
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would be irrevocably shut down. Trump is claiming that the
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slush fund is dead for now, but Democrats will not
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stop until it is well and truly buried, said Senate
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Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer. It can never see the
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light of day. Democrats have been pushing to dismantle the
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fund since its emergants May eighteenth, saying it amounted to
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Trump taking money from taxpayers to reward his most militant followers,
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including many who falsely claim that President Joe Biden's administration
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had quote weaponized the Justice Department against them. Schumer said
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earlier Monday that Democrats would use procedural moves to force
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Republicans to vote repeatedly on the unpopular measure. Many in
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the GOP were deeply uneasy as well. Republican lawmakers joined
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Democrats in raising concerns that people who participated in the
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January sixth, twenty twenty one attack on the U. S.
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Capitol could benefit from the fund, and they worried it
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could create new political risks for the party ahead of
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the midterm elections. It was unclear on Monday night if
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the signals of the fund's demise would be enough to
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prompt Republicans to relent and pass the immigration funding measure.
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Some Republicans said the Justice Department's statement made them comfortable
16:27
with moving forward with a reconciliation bill. It makes it moot,
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Senator John Cornyn, Republican from Texas, told reporters, but other
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Senate Republicans said they still had concerns. Senator James Langford,
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Republican from Oklahoma, said the Trump administration needs to say
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what they actually mean and settle it and say we're
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setting this whole thing aside. Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican from Iowa,
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the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was
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looking for more clarity. It's pretty clear that the President
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has to say very explicitly that there's not going to
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be a weaponization fund. Grassly said the pressure on Capitol
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Hill against the fund has been growing on several fronts.
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Senator's Adam Shiff, Democrat from California, Mark Kelly, Democrat from Arizona,
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and Elisa Slotkin, Democrat from Michigan, said Monday they would
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introduce legislation to shut down the fund, hoping to force
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Republicans to take a difficult vote. The apparent White House
17:31
retreat on the fund, which the administration has characterized as
17:34
an effort to help people unfairly targeted by the government,
17:38
came as Trump faced setbacks on several fronts domestically and overseas.
17:44
Ran on Monday announced it was breaking off talks with
17:47
a White House to end the unpopular US Iran war
17:51
and reopened the Strait of Hormus. Trump brushed aside that announcement,
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telling CNBC that he couldn't care less. I don't care
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if they're over, honestly, he said of the negotiations, adding
18:04
that the talks had started to get very boring around.
18:08
The announcement came following an escalation of Israeli military action
18:12
in Lebanon and more air strikes around the Persian Gulf,
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undermining Trump's signals Friday that he was nearing a deal
18:19
that would extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait. In
18:24
another area, a judge on Friday ordered Trump's name removed
18:28
from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
18:31
Trump responded with a seven hundred word blast on truth
18:34
social one of one hundred nineteen messages the president has
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posted or reposted in recent days. The president suggested he
18:43
would drop the Kennedy Center project, including much needed repairs,
18:47
if the courts continue to limit him. Unless I am
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free to do what I do better than anyone else,
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bring this institution back physically, financially, and artistically. I have
18:58
no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey,
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he wrote on social media. The president also announced that
19:06
he would headline an opening ceremony for the Great American
19:09
State Fair this summer, shifting plans after many of the
19:12
musical performers scheduled for the event canceled because of the
19:16
event's association with the president. Trump shared seventy four posts Saturday,
19:21
marking his fourth busiest day on social media this year.
19:25
According to a Washington Post analysis, posts included multiple images
19:29
of himself and President George Washington, criticism of the pope,
19:34
and a number of AI generated posts depicting drones on
19:37
the roof of the White House. He had not posted
19:40
about the payout fund as of Monday evening. Perry Stein,
19:44
Clara and Smors, and Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.
19:49
This item is accompanied by a photo caption Senate Majority
19:52
Leader John Thune, Republican from South Dakota, talks to reporters
19:56
outside his office Monday chipsomilad Villa Getty Images. Our next
20:02
item is entitled Iran US trade strikes as negotiations falter
20:08
expanded Israeli attacks in Lebanon threatened to derail stalled talks
20:13
by Steve Hendrix and Susannah George. Escalating violence in the
20:18
Middle East is threatening to derail stalled peace talks between
20:21
Iran and the United States as negotiators struggled to extend
20:25
a shaky cease fire and end the war. Iran suspended
20:30
talks with the US on Monday after Israel intensified attacks
20:34
in Lebanon. According to state media reports and an Iranian
20:37
official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, because he
20:40
was not authorized to brief the press, but Israel appeared
20:45
to be holding off Tuesday on what Prime Minister Benjamin
20:47
Netanyahu had described as imminent strikes on Beirute. Defense Minister
20:53
Israel Katz said the Israel Defense Forces continued to operate
20:57
in an expanding security zone in southern lyad On, but
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had refrained from powerful strikes in the capital except for
21:05
targeted assassinations following a U S request. He warned, however,
21:10
that it would strike Daia, a Beirut suburb where the
21:13
militant group Hezbulas holds sway. If Israel's northern communities are targeted,
21:20
there will no longer be a situation where there is
21:22
quiet in Beirut while Israeli communities are under attack, he said,
21:27
adding the nat Yahoo had conveyed this message to President
21:30
Donald Trump. The Americans validated the principle and notified the
21:35
Lebanese government and all relevant parties Israeli communities versus Beirut,
21:40
Katz said. Trump on Monday insisted that negotiations were ongoing.
21:46
Talks are continuing at a rapid pace with the Islamic
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Republic of Iran, Trump wrote in a social media post.
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Trump also said Monday that Hezbollah and Israel pledged to
21:57
hold off on expanded military operations before Netnahu said that
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his forces will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.
22:06
Netnaho had previously announced imminent strikes on Beirut. Orders had
22:11
sent large numbers of civilians fleeing from southern parts of
22:14
the Lebanese capital. Over the weekend, Israeli ground forces made
22:19
their deepest incursion into Lebanese territory in decades. Trump said
22:24
he spoke by phone with net Nyahu and with Hesbolah
22:28
through highly placed representatives. Hesbollah agreed that all shooting will stop,
22:33
that Israel will not attack them, and they will not
22:36
attack Israel, Trump wrote on social media. Lebanon's embassy in
22:41
Washington said Hesbolah had accepted the U S proposal and
22:45
under the proposed arrangement, Israel would not launch a broad
22:49
offensive on Beirut in exchange for Hesbolah's stopping attacks on Israel.
22:54
Further negotiations Tuesday and Wednesday would expand on the progress made,
22:59
it said in this state. Monday evening. Overnight, Israel said
23:04
it intercepted two projectiles from Lebanese territory, while Hesballah said
23:08
it targeted Israeli forces with rocket barrages in retaliation for
23:13
attacks on villages in southern Lebanon. The expanded Israeli military
23:18
operations are complicating peace talks between Iran and the US
23:22
because Iranian officials insist that a cessation of hostilities in
23:26
Lebanon was included under the ceasefire announced in April. Hesbillah
23:31
was funded and trained by Iran over decades and remains
23:35
a key ally. The seasfire between Iran and the US
23:39
is unequivocally an ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.
23:44
Iranian Foreign Minister abas Aarrokshi posted Monday on x violation
23:49
on one front is a violation of the seasfire on
23:52
all fronts. US and Iranian negotiators have been engaged in
23:57
talks for weeks but have failed to resolve key differences
24:00
on the future of Iran's nuclear program and control of
24:04
the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the seasfires increasingly coming under strain,
24:09
with a two size trading tit for tat attacks. In
24:12
recent days, the US military said it struck Iranian radar
24:17
and drone sits near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend,
24:20
prompting Iran to retaliate Monday with missile fire into Kuwait.
24:25
Iranian and US negotiators had signaled progress on finalizing a
24:30
memorandum of understanding last week, but the Iranian officials said
24:33
Monday that he was less hopeful of an eminent deal.
24:37
In addition to Israeli operations in Lebanon, the officials said
24:41
last minute changes to the deal's terms by US negotiators
24:45
over the weekend also frustrated progress. The official said US
24:50
negotiators had not informed the Iranian counterparts of the new
24:53
deal terms. Tehran's decision to pull back from the talks
24:58
highlights a difficulty Trump his fa facing and bringing an
25:01
end to an unpopular war that has caused worldwide economic disruption,
25:06
including spiking energy prices. U S military planners across several
25:11
continents were on heightened alert for the potential expansion of hostilities,
25:16
according to people familiar with the issue, who spoke on
25:19
the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues. The
25:23
people familiar emphasized that preparations alone do not indicate strikes
25:28
are imminent. U S military officials in Europe and Africa
25:32
raise their force protection measures as a proactive step in
25:36
case fighting resumes in earnest. The people said Trump has
25:40
insisted that the U S dealt Iran a resounding military
25:44
defeat and that he would be able to impose his
25:46
top demands, including an end to Iran's nuclear program and
25:51
the containment of its stockpile of enriched uranium. Iran, however,
25:56
has countered with its own steep demands, including its refuge
26:00
usual to fully dismantle its nuclear program, demands for the
26:03
release of billions in frozen funds, and extensive sanctions relief.
26:09
US Central Command said its most recent strikes, carried out
26:12
in the coastal city of Goruk and on Keshim Island,
26:16
targeted Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and to
26:20
attack drones that it said posed clear threats to ships
26:23
in regional waters. Its strikes came after Iran shot down
26:27
a US drone operating over international waters. Both Garuk and
26:32
Kesham Island are strategic sites overlooking the Strait, where Iran
26:37
has sought to blockade most international shipping, and the US
26:41
has been escorting commercial vessels through in defiance of Tehran's closure.
26:46
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched missiles
26:51
from Kezuzshtan Province in retaliation for what it said was
26:55
a US strike on a telecommunications tower on Syric Island.
27:01
The IRGC said its targets were destroyed and warrant that
27:05
any repeated strike would draw a completely different response. Kuwait's
27:10
military posting Monday on X said it was responding to
27:14
hostile missile and drone threats and that any sounds of
27:17
explosions were the result of air defense systems intercepting Iranian attacks.
27:23
No casualties or damage were reported, according to local media,
27:27
although civil aviation was disrupted with diversions and holding patterns
27:31
over parts of the Persian Gulf region. Iran said it
27:35
had targeted a US linked air base in Lebanon. Israel
27:40
has intensified its attacks in recent weeks, killing dozens of
27:44
people and issuing forced displacement orders for two of the
27:47
largest cities in the South. Hazbollah has stepped up strikes
27:51
against Israeli forces, including with new generation fiber optic drones.
27:56
The Iran U S tats are aimed at negotiating a
27:59
memory random of understanding to extend the ceasefire by sixty
28:03
days and open a new round of talks on Iran's
28:06
nuclear program. Vice President j d Vance said last week
28:10
that the two sides continued to go back and forth
28:13
on a couple of language points, and that it was
28:17
hard to say exactly when or if the President's going
28:20
to sign the MoU. Among the core sticking points, officials
28:25
said are iran stockpile of highly enriched Uranian and the
28:29
reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has stepped in
28:32
to review and tweaked the latest proposals. He has played
28:36
down the significance of the back and forth attacks, telling
28:39
critics to just sit back and relax. It will all
28:42
work out well in the end. France has requested an
28:45
emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the expanding
28:49
violence of Lebanon. Alex Horton, Dan Lomouth, Leor Soroca and
28:55
Victoria Kraus contributed to this report. This item is accompanied
28:59
by a photo captioned an Israeli flag and an Israel
29:03
Defense Force's brigade flag fly atop Beaufort Castle and Southern
29:07
Lebanon on Monday, after Israel's military took over the medieval
29:11
fortress a f P Getty images. Our next item is
29:16
entitled Board of Peace Lacking Resources, Founders and Gaza. The
29:21
President's plans for a grand reconstruction in the region appeared
29:25
distant by Karen de Young and Gary Shee. Seven months
29:30
after President Donald Trump announced his peace plan for Gaza,
29:34
and more than four months since he convened his Board
29:36
of Peace to implement and pay for it, the plan
29:39
is stalled, and expected donations to the fund it created
29:43
are non existent. Disarmament negotiations with Hamas, a crucial part
29:48
of the plan, have remained deadlocked. The heavily armed militants
29:53
still control Gaza's two million people, now confined to less
29:57
than half of what was before the war, already one
30:00
of the most densely populated places on Earth. Israel's military
30:05
has expanded its occupation of sixty percent of the enclay
30:09
that has been cleared to Palestinians and says it intends
30:12
to take more. Despite the ceasefire declared on October ninth,
30:16
Israel's mere daily strikes have killed more than nine hundred Palestinians,
30:21
according to Gozen Health authorities, Security and reconstruction of the
30:25
destroyed territory seem a distant dream. The glitzy proposal of
30:30
apartment complexes, high tech industries, and waterfront tourist resorts, displayed
30:35
by Jared Kushner, Trump's son in law and Gozen negotiator
30:39
at the board's February meeting, has been shelved for now.
30:43
The most ambitious proposal is to build temporary housing for
30:46
tens of thousands of Palestinians once still unrealized governance and
30:51
security plans are in place. Trump, who declared the gods
30:55
of war over when the twenty nine member Board of
30:57
World Leaders gathered in Washington on February nineteenth for its
31:02
first and only meeting, pledged We're going to make Gaza
31:05
an example of success and safety and unity. Less than
31:09
ten days later, the US and Israel launch strikes against
31:13
Saran Tromp. Has rarely mentioned Gaza since then. While the
31:17
Board says that seventeen billion dollars has been pledged by
31:20
its members toward Gaza reconstruction, out of an estimated seventy
31:24
billion dollars required, little of it has been collected and
31:28
virtually none has been spent. Humanitarian aid deliveries food, fuel, water,
31:34
medical care have improved since the ceasefire, but are still insufficient.
31:40
One in five families is eating only once a day,
31:43
the United Nations reported last month, and mothers are skipping
31:46
meals so their children can eat. Most of Gaza's borders
31:51
to the outside world, all of them controlled by Israel,
31:54
remained closed. Israel has been clearing rubble in the uninhabited
31:58
area it controls, and there are board plans to build
32:02
a logistics hub and operational base for the International Stabilization
32:06
Force i s F that is intended to provide security
32:09
oversight during a transition period. But the board has no
32:14
money and there not going to get any money, said
32:17
one person familiar with the reluctance of Arab governments to
32:20
contribute funds, while long term peace and a credible paths
32:24
of Palestinian state remain in doubt. The person spoke on
32:28
the condition of anonymity about internal discussions. Bradley Clapper, spokesperson
32:33
for the board to whom the White House referred requests
32:36
for comment, emphasized the positive. While the ambitions are great
32:41
and much work remains, let's put the progress achieved in
32:44
this short time in perspective. He said. All Hamas held
32:48
hostages were released by mid October. Israel Defense Forces attacks
32:53
that killed an average of about three thousand people a
32:56
month in the two years before the cease fire have
32:59
been reduced by ninety nine percent, Clapper said. Among the
33:03
plan's achievements, he said, is that a committee of Palestinian
33:06
technocrats has been appointed to serve as interim government while
33:10
Gaza is rebuilt, Recruits are being vetted for a new
33:14
non Hamas Gaza Police force, and five countries have said
33:18
they will commit troops to the ISF, but none of
33:21
these elements, to the extent they exist, have been deployed
33:25
inside Gaza. Instead, the National Committee for the Administration of
33:30
Gaza or NCAG, remains in Cairo and has yet to
33:35
enter the enclave. The Board of Peace has sought approval
33:38
from the Israeli government to allow the Committee inside the
33:41
IDF controlled part of Gaza, according to an Israeli official
33:45
speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberation,
33:49
but it is not clear if or when that will happen.
33:53
Although what Clapper called a framework for the ISF has
33:57
been established and potential donor country's habits named, the force
34:01
so far exists only on paper. The Board has posted
34:05
requests for bids on construction work, primarily a logistics side
34:09
for the future ISF and Israeli held territory, where some
34:12
rebel has been cleared, but no contracts have been signed
34:16
and no work has begun in the rest of Gaza.
34:20
In increasingly plaintive terms, Nukolai Ladinov, the Bulgarian diplomat who
34:25
serves as high representative for the board, has called for
34:28
movement seven months since the ceasefire. The door to the
34:32
future of Gaza is still closed, he told reporters in
34:35
a news conference last month. It is not what the
34:38
Palestinians were promised. In a May twenty first briefing to
34:42
the UN Security Council, which has blessed the Trunk Plan,
34:46
Ladinov said he would not stand before this Council and
34:50
call this recovery because there is no recovery. Around eighty
34:55
five percent of the buildings in Gaza are damaged or destroyed.
34:58
Some seventy million tons of rubble lie where homes and
35:02
schools and hospitals used to stand, much of it mixed
35:06
with unexploded ordinance. More than a million people are living
35:10
this morning in tents and in the broken shells of buildings.
35:13
He said, roughly eighty out of every hundred working age
35:17
Palestinians in Gaza have no work. Water is scarce, the
35:22
health and education systems have not been rebuilt. Civilians are
35:26
still being killed, Families still live in fear and uncertainty.
35:31
Restrictions and delays continue to obstruct humanitarian access and ordinary life.
35:38
Other reports by the UN and aid organizations cite dangerous
35:42
infestations of rats and other vermin and the spread of disease.
35:46
Palestinians are prohibited from almost all of Gaza's agricultural land,
35:52
most of which lies behind the expanding lines drawn by
35:55
Israel's occupation. The people of Gaza are still in desperate
36:00
need of everything, said Sobeya Ayas, forty seven, who now
36:04
lives on a rooftop in Old Gaza City with her
36:07
husband and five children, after relocating four times since they
36:11
abandoned their home at the beginning of the war. While
36:15
some goods are available in markets, she said on WhatsApp,
36:18
they cannot afford meat, fresh fruit or vegetables, nor replacements
36:23
for the tattered clothes and blankets they have carried from
36:25
place to place. Food aid packages largely consist of dried beans,
36:30
and flour, and there has been no electric power since
36:33
the war began. She said, the situation has become unbearable,
36:38
especially with the intensified air strikes. Ayas said, we no
36:42
longer know where to go or what to do. The board.
36:47
M Ldenov cited hamasa's refusal to disarm as a key
36:51
sticking point, saying that a regular and adequate flow of aid,
36:55
internal security reconstruction and is rarely withdrawal cannot begin with that.
37:01
Ladenov and Egyptian negotiators have sought for months to coax
37:05
Hamas leaders into a framework agreement that would see its
37:09
fighters turn in their arms in exchange for Israel beginning
37:12
a phase withdrawal from Gaza. Under the fifteen point detailed
37:17
version of Trump's original twenty point plan that forms the
37:20
operating basis for Ladenov's efforts, Hamas fighters would be granted
37:25
amnesty and could be absorbed into the National Police Force
37:29
or choose to go abroad. Hamas could also compete in
37:32
national elections as long as it gives up its weapons
37:36
and violent resistance. We are not asking Hamas to disappear
37:40
as a political movement, Ladanov told reporters recently in Jerusalem.
37:45
What is not negotiable, however, is that armed factions or
37:49
militias with their own military command and control systems, whether
37:52
their arsenals or tunnel networks, can exist alongside a transitional
37:56
Palestinian authority. Hamas leaders have so far refused to sign on,
38:01
in part, they say because of Israel's continued strikes and
38:05
seizure of additional territory, all an apparent violation of the
38:09
cease fire. Responding at a recent conference in Israel to
38:14
a member of the audience who urged him to seize
38:16
all of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin net Nahu acknowledged that
38:21
his latest directive to the army was to take seventy
38:24
percent as a start, and possibly even more. That's up
38:28
from the fifty three percent it initially controlled under terms
38:32
set out in the peace plan, from which it eventually
38:34
is supposed to fully withdraw. In recent statements, Ramas accused
38:39
Meldenov of absolving Israel's daily violations of the agreement and
38:44
said Israel was deliberately sabotage in the mediator's efforts to
38:49
carry out the plan and flagrantly define all agreed upon
38:54
understandings and guarantees net Nyahu, who has his eye on
38:58
approaching elections this year, has repeatedly said Israel will never
39:02
accept the existence of a Palestinian state. The main problem
39:07
for Israel is that although it is taking more and
39:10
more territory and Israel kills more and more senior members
39:14
of Hamas, I see no sign for flexibility from Hamas
39:18
regarding disummerment, said Michael Milstein, formerly the top analyst for
39:22
Palestinian affairs in Israeli military intelligence for net Yahou. Milstein
39:28
said there is a big gap between all the big
39:31
slogans and promises of total victory and the current situation.
39:36
So you need to fill this gap with all kinds
39:38
of alternative promises of taking more territory. Bishah A Baba,
39:43
a Palestinian American who has been a mediator between HAMAS
39:46
and the White House, said HAMAS officials do not feel
39:50
assured that their personal safety would be guaranteed after turning
39:54
over their weapons, and that the US was allowing Israel
39:57
to get away with cease fire violations and territorial gains
40:01
in Gaza. We're at a deadlock right now, Baba said.
40:05
There's growing to be a point of explosion if they
40:08
feel further cornered, I wouldn't be surprised if there's renewed
40:12
fighting in Gaza, and the last thing Trump will want
40:15
to see is images of Israel butchering people in Gaza
40:19
at a massive scale. Si Ham Shamalach and Lyor Soroka
40:23
contributed to this report. This item is accompanied by photos.
40:29
The first is caption President Donald Trump holds a board
40:33
of Peace Charter during a signing ceremony in January Marcus
40:37
Schreiber AP. The next photo is captioned people wait to
40:42
receive donated food at a distribution center in communist Gaza
40:46
on May twenty seven, Abdel Kharimhana AP. The photo shows
40:52
a tightly packed crowds with children, women and men thrusting
40:57
out bowls and platters trying to receive some food. The
41:01
next photo is captioned men sit around the fire at
41:05
the site of an Israeli strike on a house at
41:07
Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on May twenty ninth,
41:11
Dawooed Obasa kas Reiters. The final photo accompanying this item
41:17
is captioned people mourned during a funeral last week in
41:20
Gaza City, almad Hospala getting images. The photo shows a
41:25
number of young men carrying a body on a stretcher.
41:30
In the background are partially destroyed buildings. Next from the
41:34
front page are two articles about the DC mayoral race.
41:38
The first is entitled McDuffie a son of d C
41:42
argues he has the experience for the job, by Jenny
41:46
Gathwright Kenyon R. McDuffie reminds voters often that he used
41:52
to deliver mail and homage's blue collar roots and the
41:55
opportunity that turned his life around. The former DC Council
42:00
started delivering letters out of Friendship station when he was
42:03
a year out of high school, struggling to find work
42:06
and making what he has called horrible decisions. The postal
42:10
service offered solid pay and benefits, taking him from a
42:13
neighborhood scarred by the crack epidemic to a law degree
42:17
and a career in politics, one he hopes will turn
42:20
a son of the city into its next mayor. This
42:23
city needs to be more affordable, needs to be more
42:26
opportunity rich. We need a government that is more accountable
42:30
to residents across DC. But you don't get it just
42:34
by talking about it. McDuffie fifty told supporters at a
42:38
recent get out the vote event. You get it by
42:41
living in this city, coming up in this city, carrying
42:44
mail in this city, going to school in this city,
42:47
and fighting and representing as a council member for thirteen
42:51
and a half years. There's another component of the letter
42:54
carrier theme, though. McDuffie prides himself on building a campaign
42:59
around what he believe he can actually deliver. While he
43:03
has announced a few lofty goals, like hiring one thousand
43:06
new police officers and launching investment funds for low income children,
43:11
his proposals on issues such as housing and child care
43:14
are markedly more modest than those of his chief opponent
43:17
in June's Democratic primary for Mayor, Janice Lewis. George McDuffie
43:22
has repeatedly accused her of making empty promises. A key
43:26
question is whether voters will find his calibrated ambition, crafted
43:30
in recognition of the city's shrinking budgets, exciting enough as
43:34
the city chooses fresh leadership after a dozen years with
43:38
Mayor Muriel E. Bauser, Democrat at the helm, his cautious
43:42
approach is frustrating even some of his supporters. He doesn't
43:46
want to promise too much, said Mary m Jay, a
43:50
former Ward three council member who has endorsed mc duffie,
43:53
but is a campaign, for Heaven's sake, say what your
43:56
aspirations are. McDuffie's other challenge is an effort by Lewis
44:01
George and others to paint him as Bowser two point zero,
44:05
an association that McDuffie appears hesitant to fully embrace in
44:09
an election where many voters are weary of the status quo,
44:13
the mayor's cabinet officials and business community allies have lined
44:17
up behind him, and labor unions that endorse McDuffie earlier
44:21
in his political career have defected to Lewis George. McDuffie, however,
44:26
argues he's a more proven champion for the cities most vulnerable,
44:31
running on a bold but also achievable vision of economic
44:34
revival that benefits not just a few but all residents.
44:39
It doesn't always fit into a campaign sound bite, he said. Ultimately, though,
44:45
I think that campaigns are about honesty, trustworthiness, and the
44:49
ability to actually deliver on your ideas. Stronghold shaken, McDuffie
44:56
was always introverted. Even as a child, he said, I
44:59
would walk into a room and before saying anything, have
45:03
to understand what was going on. He wasn't sure, he said,
45:07
how much of that vigilance was baked into his personality
45:10
and how much was a product of his environment. Mc
45:14
duffie's neighborhood in northeast Washington, at the time, a working
45:18
class black community dubbed Stronghold by his father's group of friends,
45:22
was in many ways a haven, a place where kids
45:25
played outside all day. But the city's descent into the
45:29
crack epidemic in the nineteen eighties, a shift that mc
45:32
duffy distinctly remembers, started to puncture the stability that his parents,
45:37
both government workers, fought hard to maintain. Gunshots, he said,
45:42
god so common that we knew what direction and what
45:45
neighborhood they were coming from by the way the sound
45:49
bounced off the walls. Unechoed, adults in the neighborhood started
45:52
to wither from addiction, he said. The National Guard arrived.
45:56
Police spotlights heightened the feeling of surveillance. The violence of
46:01
that era marred mc duffie's childhood multiple times. He was
46:06
thirteen when an off duty police officer fatally shot his
46:09
godfather after a bar fight near his middle school. Mc
46:13
duffie says he was arrested three times as a teenager
46:17
for disorderly conduct and other minor charges, all examples of
46:21
police abuse in his view. He recalled the time he
46:24
and his father tried to intervene when an officer was
46:28
racially profiling his brother. All three mc duffies were arrested
46:32
for disorderly conduct. He said during his junior year, he
46:36
was at Archbishop Carroll High School when somewhat opened fire
46:39
outside a dance, hitting sixteens, killing one of them. All
46:44
of the victims were his friends. McDuffie said, I was
46:48
literally on the other side of a door and heard
46:50
the shots. He said, all that stuff really made me
46:54
question a lot of stuff at that point in my life.
46:57
In nineteen ninety three, the year he graduate waited from
47:00
high school, the city saw four hundred and sixty seven homicides,
47:05
more than triple the total in twenty twenty five. According
47:08
to police, mc duffey found peace and protection in family
47:12
and older mentors and stronghold and on basketball teams that
47:16
took him across the city for games. But after high
47:19
school his future got murkier. He worked a sweaty, low
47:24
wage gig the summer after graduating, selling ice cream at
47:27
the zoo. He tried to find other work, but nothing stuck.
47:31
Following his mother's advice, he enrolled in two classes at
47:35
the University of the District of Columbia. He failed one,
47:38
dropped the other, and gave up on college. He took
47:42
the Civil Service exam but did not hear back for months.
47:46
Mc duffy had shared his life story on the campaign trail,
47:49
but is often vague when he describes what came next
47:52
for him, a period marked by risky choices that he
47:55
said could have easily landed me in prison or dead.
48:00
That was why the call from the Apostle Service in
48:02
October nineteen ninety four, a delayed response to a civil
48:06
service application, was so significant, he said. He delivered the
48:10
mail for four years, amassing more stability with each paycheck,
48:14
until he lost two more friends to gun violence in
48:17
nineteen ninety eight. Their desks were like an epiphany, he said,
48:22
and he decided to go in a different direction. With
48:25
money in the bank and the encouragement of his girl friend, Princess,
48:29
mc duffy decided to go back to school. This time
48:32
it clicked. He returned to u d C then transferred
48:36
to Howard University, where he graduated. He worked for Delicate
48:40
Elinor Holmes Norton, then went to law school at the
48:43
University of Maryland, worked as a county prosecutor, and ultimately
48:47
landed at the Justice Apartment, where he investigated police departments, jails,
48:51
and prisons accused of violating people's rights. Along the way,
48:56
Princess became his wife and they had two daughters. In
49:00
his thirties, while living with his family in the Stronghold
49:03
row house where he grew up, he decided to run
49:06
for the d C Council. Our family were not really
49:09
public facing folks. We don't look for spotlights, cameras, things
49:13
like that, said his older brother Damien mc duffy. But
49:17
if you want to do good for your community, sometimes
49:20
you have to put yourself out there from political nemesis
49:24
to bowser ally. When mc duffy first approached Janette Mobley,
49:29
a prominent Ward five civic leader, about running, she told
49:32
the Young Civic Association chief he wasn't ready. Her advice,
49:37
you need to go and get more involved in the community,
49:40
get yourself known. He lost a twenty ten Democratic primary
49:44
for the Ward five seat finishing third out of four candidates.
49:47
Then did what Mombley told him. He stayed involved in
49:51
Ward five issues and took a job working under Deasey's
49:54
deputy mayor for Public Safety and Justice. Then Ward five's
49:58
political dynasty fell apart. Harry Thomas Junior, who had followed
50:03
his father as a Ward's long time representative, resigned in
50:07
disgrace after being accused of stealing taxpayer finds. This time,
50:12
Mobley said she and her husband put their efforts behind McDuffie,
50:16
feeling his downright sincerity. His willingness to work hard, selling
50:21
ice cream, delivering mail, returning to college showed his resilience,
50:26
determination and perseverance, she said. McDuffie won the crowded special election,
50:32
promising a new brand of ethical leadership. During his first term,
50:37
his childhood experiences with violence and policing came to bear
50:41
when he took control of the Council's Judiciary and Public
50:44
Safety Committee in twenty fifteen. McDuffie's work also pitted him
50:48
against Bassar, so much so that a Washington Post story
50:52
at the time called him an emerging political nemesis who
50:56
was critical of the mayor's emphasis on stepped up policing
50:59
and in cars as solutions to crime. One of his
51:03
first big policy swings was legislation that kickstarted a violence
51:07
interruptor program that hired hundreds of workers, many of them
51:11
formally incarcerated or involved in violence themselves, to find and
51:15
support the people most at risk of using a gun
51:18
or being shot. McDuffie says the program offers an alternative
51:23
to the beliefs that the city can arrest its way
51:25
out of gun violence, though he has joined gun violence
51:29
researchers in criticizing Bowser's implementation of it. The legislation also
51:34
included new police accountability measures, including their requirement to report
51:39
stop and frisk data. McDuffie also built a progressive record,
51:43
pushing for tenant legal aid, juvenile justice, reformed their prioritized
51:48
rehabilitation over detention, and hiring protections for people with criminal records.
51:54
DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelssohn, a Democrat, described him as
51:58
a quiet but detas determined legislator. One of Kenyon's policices
52:03
that at the same time doesn't work in his favor
52:06
is he fairly low key, said Mendelssohn. So I think
52:09
folks underestimate him. McDuffie also fashioned himself a champion for
52:14
small business during his later years on the council, after
52:17
he started sharing its Business and Economic Development Committee, he
52:21
shepherded legislation that helped entrepreneurs purchase their own storefronts so
52:25
they wouldn't be at the mercy of the landlord's rantikes.
52:29
The work all follow the pattern, said mc duffie's former
52:32
chief of staff, Jonathan mc nair, a belief that the
52:36
right government policies can provide hope and opportunity to people
52:40
the city had left behind. Mc duffie's first bid for
52:44
a higher office came in twenty twenty two, when he
52:47
ran for Attorney General, but was disqualified from the ballot
52:50
after the Elections Board ruled he did not need the
52:53
requirements for actively practicing law. He pivoted to the at
52:57
large council race and won in a contests against former
53:01
colleague Lisa Silverman. He started thinking about running for mayor
53:05
as he clashed with Bowser over funding for his most
53:08
ambitious attempt to address the city's economic inequity. Baby Bonds,
53:13
the bill, which would create trust funds that low income
53:16
residents can access when they turn eighteen, has never been
53:19
fully funded, the mayor has never prioritized it in her
53:23
budget proposals, and mc duffy did not secure long term
53:26
funding for it either. The fight made him think that
53:30
we needed somebody who was bold and understands a required
53:34
investment to change the odds for people, he said. But
53:38
now as mc duffie runs for mayor, his alignment with
53:41
Bowser on business friendly policies and a shared uninterest in
53:45
raising taxes has become more salient than their differences. Bowser
53:50
has not endorsed any one in their race, but at
53:53
an Economics Club event last year, she told the crowd
53:55
that if they liked her, you're going to love Kenyon.
53:58
Wink wink growth with guard rails. On an afternoon in April,
54:04
a woman poked her head into mc duffy's Brooklyn campaign office.
54:08
Is he pro landlord, she asked of volunteers inside. I
54:12
heard he's trying to lock out tenants and change tenant laws.
54:16
Mc nair now, a campaign volunteer, tried to say that
54:20
while there are some small landlords mc duffie wants to protect,
54:24
it was the farthest thing from the truth that he
54:27
wanted to lock out tenants. Mc duffie last year voted
54:30
for housing legislation that weakened some tenant protections, a move
54:35
that proponents saw as necessary to shore up the city's
54:38
struggling affordable housing market, but that opponents, like Louis George,
54:42
said undermined essential tenant rights. McNair handed the woman some
54:48
campaign literature, she took it and walked away. The exchange
54:52
elucidated a central tension in the race. Louis George and
54:56
her backers are trying, with some success, to convince voters
55:00
that McDuffie is the pro establishment, anti worker, and anti
55:04
tenant candidate, even as McDuffie seeks to pitch himself as
55:08
a more effective champion for the city's working class. Lewis
55:12
George has criticized his oversighted utility regulators while on the council,
55:17
lending him for sky rocking bills. McDuffie has accused Lewis
55:21
George of mischaracterizing his record. Her backers have also gone
55:25
after his support of a failed sole sourced sports betting contract.
55:30
McDuffie says he later authored reforms that improved the system.
55:34
In past elections, McDuffie received endorsements from unions and other
55:38
progressive groups, but now his campaigning without their support as
55:43
unions have flocked En Moss to Lewis George. Jimmy Contreras,
55:48
executive vice president of SEIU thirty two b J, the
55:52
region's service workers union, said one tipping point came during
55:56
talks about the Washington Commander's Stadium project and broader development,
56:01
when he thought mc duffie did not fight as hard
56:03
as other lawmakers for certain conditions sought by labor unions
56:07
before the final votes. Mc duffie says he supported union
56:11
jobs at the development. Another came during debate over eliminating
56:15
the tipped wage, a thorny policy fight in which mc
56:19
duffie has sided with the Restaurant Association over hospitality worker unions.
56:25
Contreras said he sees mc duffie as similar to Bowser,
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with similar backing from developers and business interests. They're all
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part of the same machine, he said. McDuffie, who noted
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that both he and his parents have been union members,
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chalked up the shift in labor support to national political
56:43
pressures and the fact that Lewis George entered the mayoral
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race earlier and was able to secure many endorsements before
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he formally announced a campaign. We have the broadest coalition
56:54
of any campaign for mayor right now, and that's how
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you win, he said. And he pushes back against the
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idea that he would be a continuation of Bowser, calling
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it intellectually lazy to say I am an extension of
57:07
any former mayor or the current mayor. Instead, McDuffie said
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he represents a different economic vision for the city than
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those of some of his predecessors, whom he says grew
57:19
the city's budget but did not distribute that prosperity equitably enough.
57:24
He at once praised and criticized former DC Mayor Anthony Williams,
57:28
who recently endorsed him, arguing that William's pro development posture
57:32
positively transformed the city's economic standing, but we also displaced
57:37
thousands of black people in the process. McDuffie said he's
57:41
pitching economic growth with guardrails, building up the sports, entertainment
57:46
and technology industries in DC to replace lost federal jobs,
57:50
while investing in measures to close the district's dramatic and
57:54
enduring racial wealth gap. Sitting in his campaign office, McDuffie
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rejected the idea that he was a moderate, pointing to
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a support on the Council for Policing and Criminal Justice
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reforms and a pilot that gave no strings attached cash
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to low. In comparis, if people understood the things I
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did at the Council, they wouldn't be calling me a moderate,
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he said, But a sawn taped to his office wall
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under the heading Kenyon R. Mc duffie's platform was calling
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him just that. Due to time constraints, we will be
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unable to complete this item. This concludes the reading of
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the Washington Post for today, Tuesday, June second, twenty twenty six.
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Your reader for today has been Cindy Fraser. If you
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have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please
58:43
feel free to call us at eight five nine four
58:46
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