The ruling came as a recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll forecast Vice President Kamala Harris leading in Iowa by three points over former President Donald Trump, while other polling organizations estimate that Trump is still ahead in what has been a safely Republican state in recent years.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa filed a lawsuit on behalf of four naturalized citizens on Oct. 30, alleging that Pate’s directive to check registered voters’ citizenship status violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

On Oct. 22, Pate directed Iowa county auditors to challenge the ballots of voters who had previously identified themselves as noncitizens to the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT).

In its lawsuit, the ACLU argued that Pate’s list of voters whose ballots would be challenged was based on outdated DOT records, and that many of those listed have already been proven to be citizens.

It alleged that the secretary’s directive places “severe burdens” on the voting rights of the affected voters by keeping the list secret, which it said could undermine their ability to resolve their eligibility.

Pate responded that voters will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot instead, which will be counted if they can prove their citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher declined to grant a preliminary injunction, citing the finding that “some portion” of the registered voter names on Pate’s list have indeed been confirmed to be non-citizens.

“This portion appears to be relatively small—no more than 12 percent—but, still, the injunctive relief requested by Plaintiffs effectively would force local election officials to permit those individuals to vote,” Locher stated in a Nov. 3 ruling.

The plaintiffs had argued that Pate’s directive violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which requires that states complete any program for removing ineligible voters within 90 days before an election.

However, Locher ruled that the NVRA was not implicated in this case because the state had not removed any voters from the voter rolls, and was only requiring them to cast provisional ballots.

“Secretary Pate’s letter is likely to impose a modest additional burden on at least some voters who should not have to bear that burden. All the same, those voters are still permitted to vote and have their ballots counted. The harm is therefore not irreparable,” the judge stated.

Pate last week had blamed the federal government for blocking his office from meeting the 90-day rule, saying that the audit was delayed to October by a lack of cooperation by the Department of Transport, which did not grant access to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database for confirming citizenship.

In a statement, Pate hailed the court’s ruling as a “win for Iowa’s election integrity,” emphasizing the importance of ensuring that only eligible voters can participate in Iowa’s election process.

He said that his office would continue to seek clarity on the citizenship status of voters who had previously self-reported to be noncitizens, while urging the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office to allow the Iowa field office to release information about those voters.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird stated on X that the ruling ensured that Iowans’ votes will not be canceled out by illegal votes.

“I was glad to lead the fight in court to defend Iowa’s long-standing election integrity laws. Only American citizens can vote in Iowa elections,” she said in a statement.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the ACLU for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

(The Epoch Times)—Kristin Davison has reportedly departed as interim CEO of the Never Back Down super PAC backing Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) after serving only nine days on the job.

Ms. Davison took over as an interim CEO to replace Chris Jankowski on Nov. 22, who had quit due to an “untenable” situation within the organization. The reason for Ms. Davison’s leaving remains unclear.

Her departure follows the resignation of Adam Laxalt, the former chairman of the group. Mr. Laxalt said that he wanted to return to his law practice and family after “nearly 26 straight months of being in a full-scale campaign.”

This marks the latest shake-up in Never Back Down. Group spokesperson Jessica Szymanski said that Scott Wagner will assume the roles of interim CEO and board chairman from now on, The Hill reported.

Nevertheless, the organization reaffirmed that it has “the most organized, advanced caucus operation of anyone in the 2024 primary field” despite the series of shake-ups.

“We look forward to continuing that great work to help elect Gov. DeSantis the next President of the United States,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Aside from Ms. Davison, communications director Erin Perrine and director of operations Matt Palmisano were also departing, according to The Associated Press, citing “two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.”

Never Back Down has carried the bulk of Mr. DeSantis’ presidential organizing duties and advertising loads since he announced his candidacy in May.

The shake-up of its leadership comes as Mr. DeSantis is under growing pressure to cut into former President Donald Trump’s huge leads in Iowa and nationally. And more voters and donors are considering backing the campaign of former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

The internal discord within Never Back Down surfaced following reports by NBC News and The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, and detailing disagreements among the group’s leadership. Allegedly, a heated argument erupted during a leadership meeting, nearly escalating to a physical confrontation, according to “a source who was in the room.”

A new super PAC called Fight Right, which received a $1 million infusion, formed soon after the disagreement reportedly broke out.

Mr. DeSantis, first seen as the main alternative to Mr. Trump in the Republican primary, trails significantly behind him in polls at 13.6 percent to President Trump’s commanding lead at 62 percent support. Ms. Haley follows at 9.6 percent, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 4.8 percent.

Ms. Haley, once considered a long-shot, has also made notable gains in some state-level polls, emerging victorious in a mock Iowa caucus and winning a bipartisan New Hampshire poll against President Joe Biden.

Caden Pearson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

According to the department, Task Force Lima “will assess, synchronize, and employ generative AI capabilities” across the department, ensuring the United States remains at the forefront of cutting-edge technology while safeguarding national security.

The task force was established under the direction of Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary of Defense, and will be led by Craig Martell, the department’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.

Mr. Martell said the United States will need “to identify proper protective measures and mitigate national security risks that may result from issues such as poorly managed training data” when adopting generative AI.

“We must also consider the extent to which our adversaries will employ this technology and seek to disrupt our own use of AI-based solutions,” Mr. Martell said in a press release.

Generative AI refers to AI algorithms that create new content “based on the data they have been trained on,” according to the World Economic Forum. The U.S. military aims to use this technology to enhance its warfighting, business affairs, health, readiness, and policy.

Last month, U.S. Air Force Colonel Matthew Strohmeyer told Bloomberg that the U.S. military conducted live assessments of generative AI models to determine their viability in decision-making.

Colonel Strohmeyer said that AI tools could process “secret-level and classified data” within 10 minutes, a significant reduction compared to the hours or days a human would typically take to complete such a task.

“That doesn’t mean it’s ready for primetime right now,” he told the news outlet. “But we just did it live. We did it with secret-level data.”

Declaration on Responsible Use of AI in Military

Earlier this year, the United States launched an initiative promoting international cooperation on the responsible use of AI and autonomous weapons by militaries, seeking to impose order on an emerging technology that has the potential to change the way war is waged.

Bonnie Jenkins, the State Department’s undersecretary for arms control and international security, said the U.S. political declaration contains guidelines outlining best practices for the responsible military use of AI.

Ms. Jenkins said that advancements in this technology “will fundamentally alter militaries around the world,” as demonstrated by the Ukrainian army’s application of AI to analyze battlefield situations.

“As a rapidly changing technology, we have an obligation to create strong norms of responsible behavior concerning military uses of AI, and in a way that keeps in mind that applications of AI by militaries will undoubtedly change in the coming years,” she said on Feb. 16.

The U.S. declaration has 12 points, one of which highlights the need to “maintain human control and involvement for all actions critical to informing and executing sovereign decisions concerning nuclear weapons employment.”

Military AI Increases Strategic Risk

The Center for a New American Security warned in a report (pdf) that the use of artificial intelligence in the military, combined with ongoing tensions between the United States and communist China, increases the risk of a strategic catastrophe.

The report says that “the intensifying geopolitical rivalry between the United States and [China]” is combining with “the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies, including for military applications.”

“Taken together, the emergence of military AI will likely deepen U.S.-China rivalry and increase strategic risks.”

The report thus seeks to examine the potential “pathways” through which military AI could undermine global stability or contribute to a new war and provides policy recommendations to avoid such a catastrophic conflict.

Andrew Thornebrooke and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

Burns said that Xi’s order to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military may not represent his timeline for the CCP’s invasion of Taiwan, but it demonstrates his “seriousness” in pursuing this goal.

“Our assessment at CIA is that I wouldn’t underestimate President Xi’s ambitions with regard to Taiwan,” Burns said at an event at Georgetown University in Washington.

Burns said he believes that Xi was likely “unsettled” by the Russian military’s performance in the Ukraine war and that he likely tried to evaluate the effectiveness of Russia’s weapons systems in Ukraine for his ambition toward Taiwan.

The CIA chief also warned against underestimating the motivation behind the China-Russia “no limits partnership” declared last year.

“I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the mutual commitment to that partnership, but it’s not a friendship totally without limits,” Burns noted.

China has refrained from condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, citing Russia’s “legitimate concerns on security issues” as justification. In February 2022, the two nations declared a “no limits” partnership.

According to their joint statement, Russia said it recognized Taiwan as “an inalienable part of China” and rejected Taiwan’s independence “in any form,” while the CCP backed Russia’s opposition to the enlargement of NATO.

Taiwan’s Independence

Taiwan has been a self-governing democracy since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949. Still, the CCP regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be united with mainland China by any means necessary.

Chinese incursions into Taiwan have occurred almost daily as the CCP has increased military pressure on the self-ruled island. Taiwan’s military detected 23 Chinese aircraft and four vessels on Feb. 2, with 17 of the aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Jan. 18 that China is “more likely” to make a move against Taiwan in 2027 as he believed that Xi might see aggression against Taiwan as a way to leave a legacy from his third term in office.

“In 2027, Xi Jinping is likely to go into his fourth term. And if in his previous three terms, he cannot claim any achievement during his office, he might need to think about something else for him to claim as his achievement or his legacy,” Wu said in an interview with Sky News.

Suspected CCP Spy Balloon

Burns said that China represents the “biggest geopolitical challenge” to the United States, and that global competition with the CCP could be “more intense” than it was with the Soviet Union.

“Competition with China is unique in its scale, and that it really, you know, unfolds over just about every domain, not just military, and ideological, but economic, technological, everything from cyberspace, to space itself as well,” he said.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Defense announced on Thursday that it had been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had been hovering over the continental United States.

The balloon was detected over Montana on Wednesday. Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. authorities “acted immediately” to protect against the collection of sensitive information, but he did not elaborate.

A senior defense official said the U.S. government has communicated with the CCP regime about the issue “with urgency.” It also appears that this is not the first time such a balloon has been seen above the United States.

“Currently, we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collective collection perspective,” the official said, according to the DOD. “But we are taking steps, nevertheless, to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information.”

The U.S. authorities decided not to shoot down the balloon and instead allowed it to keep floating over the country following recommendations from defense officials.

“We did assess that it was large enough to cause damage from the debris field if we downed it over an area,” the official said. “I can’t really go into the dimension—but there have been reports of pilots seeing this thing, even though it’s pretty high up in the sky. So … it’s sizable.”

Reuters contributed to this report. Article cross-posted from The Epoch Times.

Alternative Video Sources:

CIA Chief Warns of China’s ‘Serious’ Intent to Invade Taiwan by 2027 https://t.co/SJ6q5mOfeb

— JD Rucker (@JDRucker) February 3, 2023

The two allies issued a joint statement after a vice ministerial-level meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) on Friday, in which they expressed “serious concern” over North Korea’s nuclear law.

The U.S. and South Korea said that they would use “all available levers,” including diplomatic, informational, military, and economic instruments, to strengthen deterrence against the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

“The United States committed to strengthen coordination with [South Korea] to continue to deploy and exercise strategic assets in the region in a timely and effective manner to deter and respond to [North Korea] and enhance regional security,” it stated.

They referred to the combined training of F-35A fighter jets in July and the upcoming deployment of the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group in the region as “a clear demonstration of such U.S. commitment.”

“The United States and [South Korea] reaffirmed that [a North Korean] nuclear test would be met with a strong and resolute whole-of-government response,” it stated.

The two allies agreed to enhance alliance strategic readiness through improved information sharing, training, and exercises. They pledged to cooperate closely and “stand ready for all possible scenarios.”

North Korea’s Nuclear Law

North Korea last week passed a new law allowing it to conduct a nuclear strike “automatically” against any “hostile forces” posing an imminent threat to the nation, according to state mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The law states that North Korea will employ nuclear weapons only as a last resort, but that nuclear forces will be the primary policy of national defense to protect the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and people.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the law will make North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state “irreversible,” according to KCNA.

In his speech, Kim referred to the United States as North Korea’s “nuclear enemy state” and blamed South Korea for aggravating military tensions in the region with its joint defense posture with Washington.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sept. 9 reiterated that Washington holds “no hostile intent” toward North Korea and continues to pursue diplomacy.

She stated that Washington is willing to meet without preconditions, but North Korea has ignored the efforts.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol had offered to provide North Korea with what he called an “audacious plan” that would “significantly improve the country’s economy and its people’s livelihoods in stages” in exchange for complete denuclearization.

But North Korea rejected Yoon’s offer. Kim said that there will be no denuclearization talks, negotiations, or “bargaining chips” in that process.

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.