
The U.S. “homeland is no longer a sanctuary,” according to the four-star general in charge of both U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Peer-level adversaries are probing U.S. defenses in multiple domains, and the continental United States is well within their sights.
“We’re in a changing security environment,” O’Shaughnessy said. “We used to think about the sanctuary we had with oceans and friendly countries to our north and south, but that’s changing with adversaries that are actually able to reach out and touch us now.”
The concern falls in line with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ new National Defense Strategy, which prioritizes peer-level adversaries as greater threats than lower-end insurgent forces like those seen in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade.

These peer-level foes are Russia and China, according to O’Shaughnessy and Mattis.
Anyone surprised by this? Anyone? Bueller? Nah. Didn’t think so. Nothing new to see here. Move along.
Frankly, the ‘reach out and touch us’ notion isn’t new, either, since Cuba and Krushchev had that “thing” going on in 1961 with Fidel Castro and there was the very annoying Cuban missile crisis and US Navy blockade in October that year.
Oh, also, SecDef Mattis says that Russia did sanction the 2016 election meddling and he has outlined proper protections for the upcoming midterm elections here: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/08/07/mattis-says-russia-sanctioned-2016-election-meddling-outlines-protections-for-midterms/
Just thought you’d like to know that Mad Dog has it on his plate.








