Follow us on social

Politico’s defense industry funded newsletter hypes banal news about China's military

Politico’s defense industry funded newsletter hypes banal news about China's military

Beijing built a base for some of their nuclear weapons we already knew about and apparently that’s a big scoop.

Reporting | Media

Politico’s foreign policy newsletter National Security Daily on Monday published what appeared to be somewhat of a scoop: “Suspected new Chinese missile garrison found by commercial satellite,” the headline blared. 

NatSec Daily had apparently combed through the Pentagon’s new report on China’s military and found "the existence of a new People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) bomber brigade stationed near the city of Xiangyang,” noting that it didn’t appear in last year’s report. 

The newsletter then noted that an analysis by Janes, an open source intelligence firm, of commercially available satellite imagery taken on October 25 indeed shows that a new missile garrison was built in the area between 2019 and 2021. And according to the author of that report, the “unit assigned to the Xiangyang garrison is unknown, but the garrison may be intended to house 664 Brigade. 664 Brigade is a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile unit equipped with the DF-31AG and previously thought to be garrisoned at Yiyang.” 

NatSec Daily then points to a report from the Federation of American Scientists from last December which said that the 664 Brigade had been stationed nearby. 

But … that was it. 

Politico’s big scoop essentially boiled down to: China built a base for a nuclear weapons brigade that we already knew about. 

That may be interesting to a small group of people who follow the Chinese military’s comings and goings fairly closely. But why is such banal information being hyped as big news in mainstream media outlet?

NatSec Daily then tried to put the information about this new base in some kind of wider anti-American context, saying the “revelation” adds to news of “recently captured pictures of a fake U.S. aircraft carrier in the northwestern desert of China, which might be used by Beijing’s forces to practice battling the United States.”

It probably is being used by Beijing’s forces to practice battling the United States but how these two things are related at all is unclear. 

But this sort of national security threat-inflation isn’t new for Politico. This summer, the outlet spent about a week following around some Iranian oil tankers — which Politico referred to as “warships” — that may or may not have been heading to Venezuela, making it seem like they were part of some grand naval armada coming to the Western Hemisphere to challenge American regional hegemony. (They actually ended up landing on the west coast of Africa.)

Oddly enough though, there actually is potentially alarming news about recent developments from the Chinese military — but that’s about recently discovered missile silos that are part of what experts believe is a nuclear modernization plan, not some new base to house a nuclear brigade that we already knew about. 

FAS called it a “worrisome development” but the group didn’t hype the threat. Instead, FAS said that it’s “important to exercise caution” and the news “may ironically also create new opportunities for arms control discussions and potential agreements.”

Perhaps the FAS report didn’t hype these revelations because, unlike Politico, it isn’t funded by the defense industry. Indeed, NatSecDaily is brought to you by Lockheed Martin. And only those who build the bombs meant to be aimed at the Chinese could be happy with a headline like this: 

Screen-shot-2021-11-09-at-4.17.40-pm-1024x521


Photos: OleksandrShnuryk and Sharaf Maksumov via shutterstock.com|
Reporting | Media
Kim Jong Un
Top photo credit: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the construction site of the Ragwon County Offshore Farm, North Korea July 13, 2025. KCNA via REUTERS

Kim Jong Un is nuking up and playing hard to get

Asia-Pacific

President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a series of “shock and awe” campaigns both at home and abroad. But so far has left North Korea untouched even as it arms for the future.

The president dramatically broke with precedent during his first term, holding two summits as well as a brief meeting at the Demilitarized Zone with the North’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Unfortunately, engagement crashed and burned in Hanoi. The DPRK then pulled back, essentially severing contact with both the U.S. and South Korea.

keep readingShow less
Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one
Top photo credit: U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper speaks to guests at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, November 17, 2023. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one

Middle East

If accounts of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities this past month are to be believed, the president’s initial impulse to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict failed to survive the prodding of hawkish advisers, chiefly U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Michael Kurilla.

With Kurilla, an Iran hawk and staunch ally of both the Israeli government and erstwhile national security adviser Mike Waltz, set to leave office this summer, advocates of a more restrained foreign policy may understandably feel like they are out of the woods.

keep readingShow less
Putin Trump
Top photo credit: Vladimir Putin (Office of the President of the Russian Federation) and Donald Trump (US Southern Command photo)

How Trump's 50-day deadline threat against Putin will backfire

Europe

In the first six months of his second term, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his love for three things: deals, tariffs, and ultimatums.

He got to combine these passions during his Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday. Only moments after the two leaders announced a new plan to get military aid to Ukraine, Trump issued an ominous 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. “We're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal within 50 days,” Trump told the assembled reporters.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.