U.S. Spies Heard Russians Discuss Ways to Sway Trump

Posted on May 24, 2017May 24, 2017 by Denise Simon

Image result for general flynn In Russia, this is called ‘active measures’ and there have been several panels before congress providing testimony highlighting with evidence all the methods used by Russia. This type of political intrusion is part of the Russian hybrid warfare not only against the United States but other countries in Europe, Eastern Europe and NATO.

Primer: The Senate has issued 2 subpoenas to Flynn’s two businesses. Additionally, another AG in Virginia has also issued a separate subpoena. Flynn had/has 2 businesses connected to him, Flynn Intel LLC and Flynn Intel Inc., both based in Alexandria, Va.

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WASHINGTON — American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence.

The conversations focused on Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman at the time, and Michael T. Flynn, a retired general who was advising Mr. Trump, the officials said. Both men had indirect ties to Russian officials, who appeared confident that each could be used to help shape Mr. Trump’s opinions on Russia.

Some Russians boasted about how well they knew Mr. Flynn. Others discussed leveraging their ties to Viktor F. Yanukovych, the deposed president of Ukraine living in exile in Russia, who at one time had worked closely with Mr. Manafort.

The intelligence was among the clues — which also included information about direct communications between Mr. Trump’s advisers and Russian officials — that American officials received last year as they began investigating Russian attempts to disrupt the election and whether any of Mr. Trump’s associates were assisting Moscow in the effort. Details of the conversations, some of which have not been previously reported, add to an increasing understanding of the alarm inside the American government last year about the Russian disruption campaign.

The information collected last summer was considered credible enough for intelligence agencies to pass to the F.B.I., which during that period opened a counterintelligence investigation that is ongoing. It is unclear, however, whether Russian officials actually tried to directly influence Mr. Manafort and Mr. Flynn. Both have denied any collusion with the Russian government on the campaign to disrupt the election.

John O. Brennan, the former director of the C.I.A., testified Tuesday about a tense period last year when he came to believe that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was trying to steer the outcome of the election. He said he saw intelligence suggesting that Russia wanted to use Trump campaign officials, wittingly or not, to help in that effort. He spoke vaguely about contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials, without giving names, saying they “raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals.”

Whether the Russians worked directly with any Trump advisers is one of the central questions that federal investigators, now led by Robert S. Mueller III, the newly appointed special counsel, are seeking to answer. President Trump, for his part, has dismissed talk of Russian interference in the election as “fake news,” insisting there was no contact between his campaign and Russian officials.

The White House, F.B.I. and C.I.A. declined to comment, as did spokesmen for Mr. Manafort. Mr. Flynn’s attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The current and former officials agreed to discuss the intelligence only on the condition of anonymity because much of it remains highly classified, and they could be prosecuted for disclosing it.

Last week, CNN reported about intercepted phone calls during which Russian officials were bragging about ties to Mr. Flynn and discussing ways to wield influence over him.

In his congressional testimony, Mr. Brennan discussed the broad outlines of the intelligence, and his disclosures backed up the accounts of the information provided by the current and former officials.

“I was convinced in the summer that the Russians were trying to interfere in the election. And they were very aggressive,” Mr. Brennan said. Still, he said, even at the end of the Obama administration he had “unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting U.S. persons, involved in the campaign or not, to work on their behalf again either in a witting or unwitting fashion.”

Mr. Brennan’s testimony offered the fullest public account to date of how American intelligence agencies first came to fear that Mr. Trump’s campaign might be aiding Russia’s attack on the election.

By early summer, American intelligence officials already were fairly certain that it was Russian hackers who had stolen tens of thousands of emails from the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That in itself was not viewed as particularly extraordinary by the Americans — foreign spies had hacked previous campaigns, and the United States does the same in elections around the world, officials said. The view on the inside was that collecting information, even through hacking, is what spies do.

But the concerns began to grow when intelligence began trickling in about Russian officials weighing whether they should release stolen emails and other information to shape American opinion — to, in essence, weaponize the materials stolen by hackers.

An unclassified report by American intelligence agencies released in January stated that Mr. Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.”

Before taking the helm of the Trump campaign last May, Mr. Manafort worked for more than a decade for Russian-leaning political organizations and people in Ukraine, including Mr. Yanukovych, the former president. Mr. Yanukovych was a close ally of Mr. Putin.

Mr. Manafort’s links to Ukraine led to his departure from the Trump campaign in August, after his name surfaced in secret ledgers showing millions in undisclosed cash payments from Mr. Yanukovych’s political party.

The Russian government views Ukraine as a buffer against the eastward expansion of NATO, and has supported separatists in their yearslong fight against the struggling democratic government in Kiev.

Mr. Flynn’s ties to Russian officials stretch back to his time at the Defense Intelligence Agency, which he led from 2012 to 2014. There, he began pressing for the United States to cultivate Russia as an ally in the fight against Islamist militants, and even spent a day in Moscow at the headquarters of the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence service, in 2013.

He continued to insist that Russia could be an ally even after Moscow’s seizure of Crimea the following year, and Obama administration officials have said that contributed to their decision to push him out of the D.I.A.

But in private life, Mr. Flynn cultivated even closer ties to Russia. In 2015, he earned more than $65,000 from companies linked to Russia, including a cargo airline implicated in a bribery scheme involving Russian officials at the United Nations, and an American branch of a cybersecurity firm believed to have ties to Russia’s intelligence services.

The biggest payment, though, came from RT, the Kremlin-financed news network. It paid Mr. Flynn $45,000 to give a speech in Moscow, where he also attended the network’s lavish anniversary dinner. There, he was photographed sitting next to Mr. Putin.

A senior lawmaker said on Monday that Mr. Flynn misled Pentagon investigators about how he was paid for the Moscow trip. He also failed to disclose the source of that income on a security form he was required to complete before joining the White House, according to congressional investigators.

American officials have also said there were multiple telephone calls between Mr. Flynn and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, on Dec. 29, beginning shortly after Mr. Kislyak was summoned to the State Department and informed that, in retaliation for Russian election meddling, the United States was expelling 35 people suspected of being Russian intelligence operatives and imposing other sanctions.

American intelligence agencies routinely tap the phones of Russian diplomats, and transcripts of the calls showed that Mr. Flynn urged the Russians not to respond, saying relations would improve once Mr. Trump was in office, officials have said.

But after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of the calls, Mr. Flynn was fired as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser after a tumultuous 25 days in office.

Reasons AG Sessions is Eradicating MS-13

Posted on May 24, 2017May 24, 2017 by Denise Simon

Primer: Body found in Queens park identified as teen member of MS-13 gang; victim was stabbed 34 times

The decomposed body of a teen stabbed 34 times and dumped in a Queens park was identified as a member of the ruthless MS-13 street gang, police sources said Tuesday.

Fingerprints from prior arrests and a distinctive tattoo across the victim’s chest helped cops come up with a name for the butchered 16-year-old, according to sources.

“He seemed like a good kid, alright to me,” said a Queens neighbor of the boy’s family. “They were a nice family … It’s sad to hear. That gang is pretty brutal.”

The family was tossed from their home about two weeks ago for non-payment of rent, the neighbors said. A one-page eviction notice was stuck to the front door, and there was a spray-painted “MS13” on a nearby concrete and brick pillar.

The youth was discovered by a bird watcher in Alley Pond Park on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The body had a half-dozen stab wounds in the chest — and 28 more in the back.

The city Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide and determined that he died about a week ago.

The MS-13 gang made headlines recently for a series of Long Island killings, including the machete murders of two teenage girls last year and the slaughter of four youths just last month. More here from NYDailyNews.

MS-13 extorting businesses in DC suburb: Police chief

Examiner: One of the most infamous gangs in the world is extorting Latino-owned businesses in a county on the outskirts of Washington D.C., a local law enforcement official warned federal lawmakers Wednesday.

Members of MS-13, a transnational gang based in El Salvador, have long demanded payments from illegal businesses that otherwise faced the threat of violence. A sheriff in Montgomery County, Md., believes they’re expanding the list of extortion targets to legitimate businesses.

“We have heard from community members that the gangs, which historically extorted money solely from illicit businesses such as ‘bordellos’ and unlicensed ‘cantinas,’ are now collecting ‘rent’ from legitimate Latino business owners and residents in certain apartment complexes,” Thomas Manger, the county’s chief of police, told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. “In some instances, if the victims of this extortion refuse to pay the fee demanded by the gang, the gang members return with detailed information on the intended victims’ family members still living in Central America.”

The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to deport the gang members, to the chagrin of El Salvadoran leaders. “This clearly affects El Salvador. We already have a climate of violence in the country that we are combating,” Hector Antonio Rodriguez, the director of the country’s immigration agency, told the Washington Post. “If gang members return, of course this worries us.”

Violence in El Salvador contributes to the influx of Central Americans on the southern border, a human crisis that provides profit for gangs and taxes the border security capabilities of the United States. That’s why lawmakers such as Sen. James Lankford are interested in foreign aid to countries such as El Salvador.

“How we’re spending money in our foreign aid, and how we need to be able to target this, specifically dealing with violence in those areas, has an exact connection to what’s happening here,” the Oklahoma Republican said following an exchange with Manger.

In the meantime, threats of violence against Central American family members have also helped MS-13 gather new recruits in the United States, according to Manger. “The victims here in the United States know that the threat of violence to their extended family in their native countries is a true possibility and the perpetrators are out of the reach of U.S. law enforcement,” Manger said.

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Were MS-13 gang members released into US communities? Senator demands answers

At least 16 self-proclaimed MS-13 gang members were transferred out of federal custody and into community placement centers across the country during the border surge in unaccompanied children from Central America in 2014, according to a new letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

It was unclear what happened to the members of Mara Salvatrucha, one of the most brutal transnational gangs in the world, and that’s why Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., wrote the Office of Refugee Resettlement on Tuesday demanding answers.

In 2014, the Obama Administration declared a humanitarian crisis after tens of thousands of immigrants flooded across the United States border.The dramatic increase in immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras overwhelmed border authorities at the time.

Fox News has now learned that more than a dozen teenage gang members were captured during the surge. According to Johnson’s letter and documents obtained by Fox News, the gang members “freely admitted” that they were “active MS-13 gang members” and marked bathrooms inside a placement center in Nogales, Arizona with MS-13 associated graffiti.

One teenage gang member stated he “was a drug dealer” and “would continue to do the same in the United States with his family.” Another admitted he was a member of the Surenos gang and had been “involved in multiple robberies, assaults and drug dealing” since he was 15 years old.

“These documents appear to show that the federal government knowingly moved self-identified gang members from Nogales, Arizona to placement centers in communities across the country. As you know, it is common for UACs (unaccompanied children) to be released from their placement center while awaiting a court date. It is unclear from these July 2014 documents whether any of these self-identified UAC gang members were released,” Johnson wrote in his letter to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Johnson is now asking for a complete accounting of all UACs captured at the border who have self-identified as gang members since 2010.

He also wants to know if any of the gang members were released into communities in Virginia, Washington, Texas, New York and Oklahoma. The questions come as the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs holds hearings this week on the “The Rise of MS-13 and Other Transnational Criminal Organizations”.

Fox News reached out to Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement for a response to Johnson’s letter. So far, they have not responded.

Germany’s Secret Bundeswehr

Posted on May 24, 2017May 24, 2017 by Denise Simon

The secret German army, with soldiers from other countries has a variety of duties. There is a growing concern in Europe, but what about NATO? That question goes to President Trump. The secret is, no one is talking about it openly, further there was no real reason given on why VP Pence travel to meet top NATO officials to calm the nerves regarding the viability of NATO due to President Trump. Article 5 remains a large question with European leaders.

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The original Bundeswehr has a scandalous history. Nazi Veterans Created Illegal Army

First, there will be cyber soldiers

The German military (Bundeswehr) on Wednesday is launching a brand new “cyber army” to fight against digital attacks on networks and weapons systems. But some are concerned about how this new unit might engage in cyber assaults itself.

Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen will announce the new unit in Bonn on Wednesday afternoon. The ministry wants to deploy around 13,500 soldiers and civilian workers by 2021 to protect the Bundeswehr’s networks and weapons systems, but the unit must also be capable of launching their own attacks against hackers.

The Chief of Staff of the new cyber army is Lieutenant-General Ludwig Leinhos, who is an expert in electronic warfare.

Cyber attacks are a growing concern in Germany, with the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) reporting last year that the government’s computer networks are hit by around 20 highly specialized attacks per day.

German intelligence agencies and the BSI last year began work on setting up their own special cyber response teams.

According to broadcaster N-tv, the Bundeswehr’s new cyber soldiers will be on equal ranking with their colleagues in the army, air force and marines – and their new beret colour will be grey.

Parliamentary ombudsman for the Bundeswehr, Hans-Peter Bartels (SPD), warned that the new cyber unit should be kept under parliamentary control, though, as part of their work would entail launching cyber attacks of their own.

Bartels told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Wednesday that the cyber army must seek permission from the Bundestag (German parliament) before launching such assaults.

“Every offensive measure of our constitutionally enshrined parliamentary army needs to have the explicit mandate of the Bundestag,” Bartels said, adding that this policy goes for not only military assaults, but also virtual attacks on the data network of an adversary.

Bartels stressed that the cyber army was desperately needed to protect the Bundeswehr’s computer and weapons systems. But he also criticized the fact that the new unit is only now being created.

“Germany is not a pioneer here,” he said. “One can already learn from the experiences of other countries, like the USA or Israel.”

Second, the conventional forces

Germany is to increase the size of its armed forces amid growing concerns over the security of Europe.

Troop numbers in the Bundeswehr will be raised to almost 200,000 over the next seven years, under new plans announced on Wednesday.

The move comes days after Mike Pence, the US vice-president, called on Nato’s European members to increase military spending.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded Europe pay more towards the cost of its own defence.

The move also comes amid growing concern in European capitals over Mr Trumps’ commitment to Nato, after he described the alliance as “obsolete”.

Under the new plans, Germany will recruit 20,000 more troops by 2025, bringing its total service personnel to 198,000.

That is slightly more than the British armed forces’ current strength of 196,410.

In a statement announcing the plans, Ursula von der Leyen, the defence minister, said: “The Bundeswehr has rarely been as necessary as it is now.

“Whether it is the fight against Isil terrorism, the stabilization of Mali, continuing support of Afghanistan, operations against migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean or with our increased Nato presence in the Baltics.”

The announcement came as Germany deployed tanks and hundreds troops to Lithuania as part of a Nato force to deter Russian aggression.

During the Cold War, West Germany was considered the first line of defence against a Soviet invasion and at its height the Bundeswehr had 500,000 active service personnel.

But in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification defence spending dropped sharply.

Germany ended conscription in 2011 and troop numbers fell to an all-time low of 166,500 in June last year.

Cold War historians described West Germany’s army as “perhaps the best in the world”.

But in more recent years it has been better known for embarrassing equipment shortages that saw soldiers forces to use broomsticks instead of guns on Nato exercises, and use ordinary Mercedes vans to stand in for armoured personnel carriers.

The German air force was forced to ground half of its ageing Tornado fighters last year over maintenance issues, including six that are deployed on reconaissance missions against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria.

There are growing calls for Europe to do more to secure its own defence after Mr Trump described Nato as “obsolete” in an interview in January, and earlier this month Angela Merkel’s government was forced to take the unusual step of denying that it is interested in becoming a nuclear power.

Mr Trump has repeatedly accused Nato’s European members of not paying enough towards the cost of their defence and during the US presidential campaign Mr Trump warned the US may not necessarily come to the aid of Nato allies if they are attacked.

German Bundeswehr Soldiers of the ‘battalion of armored infantryman’ called ‘Panzergrenadierbataillon 122’ sit on a wrecker called ‘Bueffel’ during vehicles wait to be loaded onto a train in Grafenwoehr, Germany, 31 January 2017, before being deployed as part of a NATO force in Lithuania Credit: LUKAS BARTH/EPA

Mr Pence sought to reassure jittery European allies in a speech at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Monday in which he said the US’ “commitment to Nato is clear”. But he demanded “real progress” in increased European defence spending.

Ms von der Leyen has been attempting to reverse the decline of Germany’s armed forces, and already announced a smaller increase in troop numbers last year. Those targets were revised upwards with Wednesday’s announcement.

It is estimated the increases will cost Germany between around €900m (£760m) a year. But the amount is still far short of the extra €25.4bn Germany would have to spend on defence each year to meet Nato’s annual target of 2 per cent of GDP.

The UK is one of only five Nato members to meet the target at present, along with the US, Greece, Estonia and Poland.

Despite boasting the largest economy in Europe, Germany lags far behind, spending only 1.19 per cent of its GDP on defence in 2016.

Philippines Declares Martial Law, Duterte’s call with Trump Transcripts

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by Denise Simon

Philippines: Martial law declared as Islamic State jihadis storm city and battle national army

In Mindanao. This is a global war, and of the most curious type imaginable: no one in authority wants to admit that it is actually going on, and Western governments generally treat each enemy attack in this war as a separate and discrete criminal incident.

“Philippines soldiers battle Isis-linked gunmen on Marawi city streets,” by Gabriel Samuels, Independent, May 23, 2017:

A group of heavily-armed militants from a group linked to Isis have reportedly stormed a city in the Philippines and engaged in firefights with the national army.

Residents of Marawi City, in the south of the country, were urged to remain indoors as at least 15 gunmen from a Muslim rebel group called Maute stormed the streets brandishing assault rifles.

The group, which is also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, have reportedly received support from Isis.

Troops and a special police force were deployed to the city after residents in a nearby village raised the alarm and appealed for help.

President Rodrigo Duterte then declared martial law and a state of emergency in the province of Mindano [sic]. General Eduardo Ano, the military chief of staff, said at least one police officer was killed and eight soldiers were wounded in the fighting. More here.

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It was enormously controversial that President Trump placed a friendly call to Philippine strongman Duterte on April 29. Now, we can read what they said. In short, Duterte has been on a killing rampage and frankly has called the United States all kinds of nasty names. Humm…. Then there was the part of the phone call that included North Korea’s nuclear program.

Read all about it with the transcripts here.

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Duterte Lands in Russia for Visit Cut Short After Martial Law Declaration

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has landed in Russia for what was planned as an extensive visit including one-on-one talks with President Vladimir Putin, but the trip has been cut short following a jihadist attack in the Philippine’s south.

Breitbart: Duterte alluded to this trip as the month began, following a personal invitation to the White House, saying he could not confirm travel to America because he is “supposed to go to Russia.”

Duterte arrived in Moscow Monday night for a four-day visit, accompanied by a large Filipino business delegation. While Duterte will seek more Russian business investment in his country, a key objective of his visit will be signing a defense cooperation agreement expected to provide the Philippines with more weapons to use in the ongoing war against drug traffickers that has become a staple of the Duterte presidency.

Duterte had previously claimed Putin had offered him a “buy one, get one free” deal on firearms.

The Philippines is also facing jihadist attacks by Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State affiliate in the country, which has become increasingly aggressive in the Muslim-majority south of the country, where Duterte is from.

Abu Sayyaf ultimately led to Duterte’s decision to leave Russia early to address the jihadist threat. Duterte declared a 60-day period of martial law in his native Mindanao island and will return home. According to the Philippine Star:

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said at the same press conference that the president will be cutting his visit to Russia short because his presence is needed in the country.

The signing of bilateral agreements with Russia will push through but the meetings with Russia President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were postponed. Cayetano said Duterte may just speak with the two leaders via phone.

“The agreement on military technical cooperation will pave the way for the Philippines to explore a possibility of military procurement from Russia,” Foreign Assistant Secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad told reporters before Duterte left to Russia. The agreements would also reportedly create an extradition agreement, which the two countries had not previously had, and allow for “information sharing, training, and technical cooperation,” according to the regional news outlet Rappler.

Officials have also expressed a hope that Duterte’s visit will help end the propagation of negative Russia stereotypes in the country. “There’s been a lot of stereotypes in the Philippines and I don’t really blame it. I mean, growing up watching James Bond movies, the villains were either an evil Russian scientist or some beautiful nubile Russian assassin,” Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said on Monday. “The reality is we have not had a deeper exchange with Russia even though we’ve had good relations, so we’re 40 years. And that’s going to change.”

Sorreta hoped the Russian visit would expand the “kind of independent foreign policy [they are] trying to achieve.”

Before his departure, Duterte emphasized the need to expand cooperation with Russia. “Russia must cease to be at the margins of Philippine diplomacy,” he said. “Overdependence on traditional partners has limited our room to maneuver in a very dynamic international arena. This is a strategic oversight that has led to many missed opportunities for our country. I am determined to correct this.”

Duterte has repeatedly stated that he would like to diminish the role of the United States in Philippine foreign relations, at one point declaring, ” You know, if China and Russia would decide to create a new order, I would be the first to join.”

Prior to Duterte, the government of Benigno Aquino kept close ties to the United States and maintained a distance from Russia. The Philippine Star notes that a head of state from that country has not visited Russia since President Gloria Arroyo did in 2009, and prior to that, no visit is on the record since 1997.

Duterte has eagerly expressed his fondness for Putin. “I like Putin. … We have similarities. When it comes to girls,” Duterte said in August 2016, in anticipation of their first meeting. Following that meeting, Duterte gushed that Putin had a “wide laugh” and had reserved a gun as a present for him in Russia. Neither country has confirmed whether Putin will hand over the present during this visit.

U.S. is Doing ‘That’ Extreme Vetting in Australia

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by Denise Simon

Remember on the campaign trail when President Trump said it was stupid to take the Syria refugees Australia was holding on a remote island that was under agreement by Barack Obama? Remember when there was a discussion between President Trump and the Prime Minister of Australia where apparently Trump hung up the phone, terminating the conversation. The Prime Minister visited the Trump White House and now all is allegedly fine between the two countries.Remember when VP Pence finally agreed to honor the deal and accept those refugees? The reason? The US. is accepting a number of those refugees.

Exclusive: U.S. starts ‘extreme vetting’ at Australia’s offshore detention centers

Reuters: U.S. Homeland Security officials have begun “extreme vetting” interviews at Australia’s offshore detention centers, two sources at the camps told Reuters on Tuesday, as Washington honors a refugee swap that U.S. President Donald Trump had called “a dumb deal”.

The Trump administration said last month the agreement to offer refuge to up to 1,250 asylum seekers in the centers would progress on condition that refugees satisfied strict checks.

In exchange, Australia has pledged to take Central American refugees from a center in Costa Rica, where the United States has expanded intake in recent years, under the deal struck with former President Barack Obama.

DailyMail

The first security interviews finished last week at Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island detention center, two refugees who went through the process told Reuters.

The refugees told Reuters that interviews began with an oath to God to tell the truth and then proceeded for as long as six hours, with in-depth questions on associates, family, friends and any interactions with the Islamic State militant group.

VOANews

“They asked about why I fled my home, why I sought asylum in Australia,” said one refugee who declined to be named, fearing it could jeopardize his application for U.S. resettlement.

The security interviews are the last stage of U.S. consideration of applicants.

Manus Island is one of two Australian-operated detention centers, which hold nearly 1,300 people who were intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat.

Human rights groups have condemned the intercept policy and the harsh conditions of the camps. Australia says offshore processing is needed as a deterrent after thousands of people drowned at sea before the policy was introduced in 2013.

A decision on the fate of the first 70 people interviewed is expected to be reached within the next month, a different source who works with refugees said.

A spokesman for Australia’s immigration minister refused to comment on the resettlement process.

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman said that refugees from the Australian-run facilities will be subject to the same stringent vetting applied to all refugees who are being considered for entry to the United States.

“The United States remains deeply committed to safeguarding the American public, just as we are committed to providing refuge to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. These goals are not mutually exclusive,” she said.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for extreme vetting have extended to those traveling to the United States from Muslim countries.

Australia’s relationship with the new administration in Washington got off to a rocky start when Trump lambasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the resettlement arrangement, which Trump labeled a “dumb deal”.

Details of an acrimonious phone call between the pair soon after Trump took office made headlines around the world. Australia is one of Washington’s staunchest allies and has sent troops to fight alongside the U.S. military in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The relocation of asylum seekers to the United States is designed to help Papua New Guinea and Australia proceed with the planned closure of the Manus detention center on Oct. 31.

But the fate of approximately 200 men deemed non-refugees is uncertain.

Those not offered resettlement in the United States will be offered the chance to settle in Papua New Guinea or return home.

Australia has already offered detainees up to $25,000 to voluntarily return home; an offer very few have taken up.