Biden administration won't seek to rejoin Open Skies Treaty after 2020 exit
CNN
The Biden administration will not seek to reenter the Open Skies Treaty with Russia in response to that country's "failure to take any actions to return to compliance," a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.
The 1992 treaty allows member countries to conduct short notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the other countries to collect data on their military forces and activities. The US formally withdrew from the treaty last year under the Trump administration, citing Russia's violations. But the Biden administration's decision to not seek reentry is especially notable as it takes one potential area of immediate collaboration off the table as President Joe Biden prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
Donald Trump is considering a right-wing media personality and people who have served on his US Secret Service detail to run the agency that has been plagued by its failure to preempt two alleged assassination attempts on Trump this summer, sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking tell CNN.