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The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | February 13th, 2026: Trump Sends World’s Largest Warship Toward Iran & CIA Moves to Exploit Turmoil Inside China’s Military
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It's Friday the 13th of February. Oh, Friday the 13th. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, first up, President Trump is sending the largest warship in the world toward Iran. The USS Gerald R. Ford will join another carrier group already operating in the region as nuclear negotiations appear to be, well, going nowhere. We'll have the details later in the show. The CIA is making a rare public move, releasing a recruitment video designed to turn disaffected officers inside China's military into potential informants or recruitment assets. The campaign comes as Xi Jinping's sweeping purge exposes instability within the PLA's leadership. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The US is sending a second aircraft carrier to the waters off the coast of Iran, and this time it's the largest warship in the world. President Trump has ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford to deploy to the Middle east, adding to an already significant American military buildup amid mounting tensions with Iran. That's according to sources that spoke with Axios and the Associated Press. The Ford is not just another carrier. It's the largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built, a nuclear powered vessel capable of launching dozens of aircraft in rapid succession while sustaining high tempo operations for extended periods. Its arrival would place two US Carrier strike groups, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the Ford, within operational reach of Iran. Its deployment shifts the scale of America's posture in the region, sending a clear message to the mullahs that the US Is ready to use the full might of America's naval power should the regime fail to engage in meaningful negotiations. According to Axios, the Ford is expected to take roughly three to four weeks to arrive in the region as it travels from the Caribbean, where it's being used. It has been used in the pressure campaign against Venezuela that aligns with the timeline that President Trump referenced on Thursday when he said he hopes to finalize a nuclear agreement with Iran within the next month, but would shift course if no deal is reached. Now, the White House has not explicitly framed the deployment as a precursor to military action, but officials have made clear the move is intended to increase pressure on leaders in Tehran as negotiations continue, or sort of continue. Trump himself drove that point home on Thursday, telling reporters that while he's optimistic that Iran will agree to US Nuclear demands, if they don't, the consequences will be very traumatic on that score, as we've been tracking here on the pdb, negotiations between the US And Iran remain alive, although it seems more like life support, at least for now. But initial talks in Oman last week yielded little progress. The mullahs claim they want to fight a diplomatic off ramp. Of course they do. But what they've offered so far is extremely limited in scope. The regime says it is willing to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium somewhat, but only in exchange for full sanctions relief and without addressing their ballistic missile program or regional proxies. Trump, meanwhile, has said that any successful agreement would need to address both nuclear weapons and missiles. This position aligns more closely with what Israel would like to see covered in the negotiations, as we discussed earlier this week. Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, with Netanyahu pressing for a tougher American stance on Iran's missile program. That meeting ended without a final decision on Iran, with Trump reaffirming afterwards that diplomacy remains active for now. But the gulf between Washington and Tehran remains wide, which is why it's not much of a surprise that Trump followed through on his threat from earlier this week and moved to redeploy the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East. US Forces have already surged Patriot missile defense systems, expanded aerial refueling assets, and increased strike and electronic warfare aircraft across multiple regional bases. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is obviously already operating in the broader region, giving Washington a significant naval presence within range of Iran. But by moving the Ford into the Middle Eastern theater, Washington is significantly raising the stakes. Two carrier groups operating simultaneously bring overwhelming strike power and far greater operational endurance, allowing the Navy to essentially sustain round the clock operations and project force without relying solely on land bases. Coming up next, as Xi Jinping cleans house inside China's military, the CIA is publicly inviting insiders to defect. Never let an opportunity go to waste. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, if you're anything like me, the holidays, right, which we just finished recently, well, they were a blur of travel and missed gym days and big meals. So since then I've been focused on getting back to my routine. And one Part of that routine is Bub's Naturals look. Part of the problem is the holidays hit harder as you get older. You know what I'm talking about. Joint soreness, Longer recovery times for workouts. That's why I started using Bub's Naturals Collagen peptides. It's an easy daily habit that helps support your joints as well as your hair and skin and nails. All the things that start changing as collagen naturally declines. And the truth is we all start producing less collagen once we get past our 20s. I know it will surprise you, but I, I am past my 20s. Anyway. 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Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, you likely know me as the host of the President's Daily Brief, but I'm also quite the expert on gift giving for Valentine's Day. It's true. I'm constantly fielding questions like, Mike, what should I get my wife or girlfriend for Valentine's Day? I'm a bit like Delilah, really. Constantly helping folks improve their relationships. So you may ask, Mike, what are you getting the amazing Mrs. Baker for Valentine's Day? Well, besides flowers and a witty card and of course, her favorite bottle of bourbon. The go to stop is Cozy Earth. It's right there in the name Cozy.
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Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. I want to turn now to China and a development that suggests Washington believes Beijing's recent internal turmoil may present an intelligence opportunity. The CIA has launched a new public campaign aimed at recruiting informants within China's military, releasing a carefully produced video that targets disaffected mid level officers inside the People's Liberation army, the pla. That's according to a report from Warriors. The video, released in Mandarin, portrays a fictional Chinese military officer grappling with corruption and mistrust inside the system, themes that clearly mirror Beijing's recent purge of top military figures. In one scene, the fictional officer says, quote, anyone with leadership qualities is bound to be subject to suspicion and ruthlessly eliminated, end quote. It's a line meant to capitalize on current anxieties within the pla. The character goes on to describe his superior's power as being, quote, built on countless lies. The CIA also included instructions on how officials could securely contact U.S. intelligence. Well, that's very thoughtful, and this isn't the agency's first move of this kind. It's part of a broader effort to expand human intel collection on Washington's chief strategic rival. Reuters notes that the latest video follows a similar effort from last May, when the CIA released recruitment content aimed at officials within China's Communist Party. That video also provided step by step guidance in Mandarin on how to establish secure communications with U.S. intelligence regarding their broader campaign. CIA officials say they're confident that the content is penetrating China's great firewall, Internet restrictions, and reaching its intended audience. In fact, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the agency believes its outreach efforts have already drawn significant engagement and described the effort as offering Chinese officials, quote, an opportunity to work toward a brighter future together. And as I mentioned, the push comes at a time when the Chinese military does look oddly vulnerable. As we reported last week, President Xi Jinping's sweeping purge of China's top general, as well as multiple lawmakers and defense industry figures, has exposed deep instability within the military establishment. Analysts have long warned that corruption inside China's military industrial complex could undermine Xi's modernization goals. And it appears US Intelligence is moving swiftly to exploit the current discord. For some background, the CIA is still working to rebuild its human intelligence network inside China after Beijing dismantled much of it between 2010 and 2012, when numerous US sources were killed or imprisoned. At the same time, American officials say China's own spy agencies continue to work aggressively to recruit current and former US personnel. These high stakes intelligence battles are, of course, unfolding against the backdrop of a widening military and technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing. By rolling out this recruitment campaign now, the CIA is looking to take advantage of the apparent internal turmoil, betting that the mistrust and paranoia and anger that Xi's moves create could likewise create disaffected military personnel, possibly with an ax to grind. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon bulletin for Friday 13th February. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the firsttv.com and if you do suffer from paraskevy the Katria Fovea well, just focus on the good things about Fridays. Like, well, every Friday we launch a brand new episode of our extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. See how I did that? Clever marketing. This week's guests include Josh Phillip, senior investigative reporter for the Epoch Times, to talk us through the geopolitical realities connecting China, Iran and Latin America. It's a reminder that the world is a very small place and nothing happens in isolation anymore. Also, we spent time talking with Art Arthur from the center for Immigration Studies. We focus on the events in Minneapolis, the winding up of Operation metro surge and ice efforts in general. Catch it tonight at 10pm on the First TV and as always on our YouTube channel, Residence Daily Brief and podcast platforms everywhere. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Mike Baker here. Let me take a moment of your time to talk about security, specifically your online security, and to tell you about a great company out there that's working hard to make people safer online. And that would be Delete Me Right now. 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