Democrats seek Iran intel as doubts grow over strikes’ effectiveness

WASHINGTON — Democrats and a few Republicans let out their frustrations Tuesday with the last-minute postponement of classified briefings for lawmakers about the weekend military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities amid media reports that leaked intelligence findings indicate the U.S. assault delayed, but did not destroy, Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon.

Top administration officials from the intelligence community, State Department and the Pentagon, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, were supposed to deliver briefings to the full House and Senate about the justification and ramifications of President Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.

Senate Democrats are working to build consensus among their ranks in support of a war powers joint resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would prohibit any offensive U.S. military attacks against Iran if Congress has not issued a declaration of war or a new authorization for use of military force. The resolution is expected to come up for a vote as soon as Thursday while a similar war powers measure in the House could be stymied by GOP leaders when it ripens for a floor vote in July.

After Tuesday’s intelligence briefings were postponed, The New York Times and CNN reported that a preliminary classified report from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that the U.S. airstrikes, which dropped multiple “bunker buster” bombs on Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility, did not completely destroy the structures inside, which were built deep inside a mountain.

—CQ-Roll Call

Want to become a Dallas police officer? No college required

DALLAS — Dallas police applicants no longer need higher education to make the force.

The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved changing police hiring standards to include applicants without prior college experience.

The move is the latest attempt by the city to boost recruitment amid a charter mandate approved by Dallas voters in November requiring a police force of at least 4,000 officers. Department officials in early June said Dallas has 3,215 officers.

Dallas already requires applicants for police officer trainees to be between the ages of 19 and 45, be legally able to drive in Texas and have an honorable discharge from any completed military service.

The new rule adds a minimum qualification for entry-level Dallas police officer applicants who are at least 21 years old: hold a high school diploma or a GED and have three years of steady, full-time work experience.

—The Dallas Morning News

Trump’s plan to strip protections from federal forests affects 62,000 acres in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration’s plan to roll back protections of “roadless areas” of federal forests would open up 62,000 acres in Superior National Forest, some of it in the Boundary Waters watershed.

The areas affected, in St. Louis, Lake, and Cook counties, are small compared to many other states like Alaska, where nearly 15 million acres could be opened up. A forest industry representative said the change isn’t likely lead to more logging and road construction in Minnesota because of the low quality of the timber.

But some scientists and environmental advocates criticized the proposed elimination of a rule first adopted in 2001, saying it will harm natural resources without accomplishing its stated goal of reducing wildfires.

Protections from logging and road construction are still intact for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), which encompasses 1.1 million acres. These safeguards were passed by Congress in 1978 and can only be repealed through the legislative process.

—New York Daily News

Wary of Washington, Europe frets it will be left behind on an AI battlefield

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Days before NATO was set to convene in the Netherlands, one of its top commanders, Pierre Vandier, tasked with transforming the alliance for the next fight, put out a call: Britain will need to step up its intelligence contributions to the alliance going forward.

"The U.K. has this in its DNA," Vandier said.

It was an acknowledgment that the United States, pivoting toward a far greater intelligence threat from China, may leave its European allies behind in their own existential fight with Russia. A lack of reliability on the world's leading AI superpower, European officials say, will render the continent vulnerable in a race for intelligence superiority set to revolutionize global battlefields.

The rush toward artificial intelligence has been a strong undercurrent at the NATO Summit in the Hague this week, serving not only as a gathering for leaders of the alliance, but also as a defense industry forum for emerging power players in Silicon Valley, treated in Holland's gilded halls as a new kind of royalty.

—Los Angeles Times