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 ===== Matt Pottinger =====
+{{ ::matt_pottinger_getty_pic_2020.png?400|}}
+==== Early Life ====
+Wikipedia - Matt Pottinger is the son of author and former politician J. [[:Stanley Pottinger]]. He was educated at [[:Milton Academy]] and is a schoolmate and childhood friend of fellow journalist [[:John Avlon]]. Pottinger graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with an undergraduate degree in Chinese studies; he is fluent in Mandarin.
+He won numerous awards, including multiple [[:Pulitzer Prize]] nominations. He covered a variety of topics, including the [[:SARS]] epidemic and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; in the latter assignment, he met United States Marines and was inspired by their courageousness.
+==== Early Journalism ====
+=== 2002 Hutchison's Downturn Is Far From Complete ===
+HONG KONG -- Hutchison Whampoa's stock price has plunged 60% from its peak in early 2000
+By Matt Pottinger Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
+Updated Aug. 1, 2002 ((https://web.archive.org/web/20170806220954/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1028132333960685160))
+=== 2004 - A Hidden Cost Of China's Growth: Mercury Migration ===
+Turning to Coal, Nation Sends Toxic Metal Around Globe; Buildup in the Great Lakes
+By Matt Pottinger, Steve Stecklow and John J. Fialka Staff Reporters of The [[:Wall Street Journal]]
+Updated Dec. 17, 2004 ((https://web.archive.org/web/20170806222503/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB110325317062703084))
+==== 2005 - Patriot Goes to War ====
+A young man and his ideals
+The Hill By Dick Morris - 10/06/05
+Matt Pottinger has served as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in China for nearly five years. Now, at the age of 32, he is leaving to join the United States Marine Corps.
+Matt Pottinger has served as a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in China for nearly five years. Now, at the age of 32, he is leaving to join the United States Marine Corps.
+His is a story of a patriotism and commitment underscored and emphasized by the lessons he has learned living in one of the most politically repressive societies on the planet. There is so much we can all learn from him about China and about our own country.((https://web.archive.org/web/20170728064312/http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/4703-a-young-man-and-his-ideals))
+==== 2010 - Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan ====
+[[:Center for New American Security]]
+{{ ::cnas_matt_pottinger_afghan_intel.png?400|}}
+**About the Authors**
+**Major General Michael T. Flynn** has been the Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence (CJ2), for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan since June 2009. his previous assignment was [[:Director of Intelligence]], J-2, for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He has three decades of experience as an intelligence officer. he can be reached by email at michael.t.flynn@ afghan.swa.army.mil.
+**Captain Matt Pottinger** is serving in Kabul as an advisor to Major General Flynn. he was the 2009 winner of the
+lieutenant Colonel Michael D. Kuszewski Award for **Marine Corps Intelligence officer of the Year**. he can be reached by email at matthew.f.pottinger@afghan.swa.army.mil.
+Paul D. Batchelor, of the [[:Defense Intelligence Agency]]’s [[:Senior Executive Service]], is currently serving at ISAF headquarters as **Senior Advisor for Civilian/Military Integration**. He has served as the DIA’s advisor to the
+Secretary of Defense and as manager of current and **crisis intelligence support** to the Chairman of the Joint
+Chiefs. he can be reached by email at paul.d.batchelor@afghan.swa.army.mil.
+**Acknowledgements -** The authors would like to thank the staff of the [[:Center for a New American Security]], several anonymous external reviewers and especially liz Fontaine of CNAS for their help with this paper.
+((https://web.archive.org/web/20100215063118/http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/AfghanIntel_Flynn_Jan2010_code507_voices.pdf))
+==== 2011 Meet Captain Matt Pottinger, US Marine Corps ====
+The Atlantic by Peter Osnos -April 5, 2011
+I cannot do justice to the development of Pottinger's ideas in snippets from several interviews, but fortunately, as he closed out his second Afghan tour, he was **co-author with Flynn and Paul D. Batchelor** of the [[:Defense Intelligence Agency]] of an extensive analysis called "Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan." The unclassified report was eventually released by the [[:Center for a New American Security]], a **Washington think tank**. ((https://web.archive.org/web/20110409205745/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/04/meet-captain-matt-pottinger-united-states-marine-corps/236825/))
+==== Pottinger Evolves from Intelligence to Policy ====
+Matthew Pottinger: Architect of the Chinese Cold War?
+by Michael B. Cerny
+October 2, 2019
+After graduating from the [[:University of Massachusetts]] with a degree in Chinese Studies, Pottinger embarked first on a career in journalism.  Fluent in [[:Mandarin]], Pottinger spent seven years in China as a journalist for [[:Reuters]] and the [[:Wall Street Journal]], reporting on topics ranging from Chinese government corruption to stereotypes surrounding people born in China’s [[:Henan Province]].  **Numerous articles note that, during this time, Pottinger was assaulted** by a Chinese security agent during an investigation.
+It was this incident, along with his experience of living in China and reporting on the Chinese government, that supposedly drove Pottinger to a greater appreciation of American values and democratic freedom, ultimately leading him to a career in the United States Marine Corps.
+In a 2005 article in the Wall Street Journal, Pottinger explained his decision to leave the newspaper for the Marines.  Pottinger wrote that, “living in China also shows you what a nondemocratic country can do to its citizens.” Pottinger detailed his personal experiences with the Chinese authorities, where he had been **“arrested and forced to flush [his] notes down a toilet to keep the police from getting them**” and “punched in the face… by a government goon.”
+However, Pottinger’s experience with China was not the only factor involved in his career change. He wrote that watching a gruesome **video of an American’s execution by terrorists** in Iraq also contributed to his decision to leave journalism for the military.  Another article speculated that the 2002 execution of his colleague, Daniel Pearl, at the hands of Pakistani terrorists may have further played a role.
+In any case, Pottinger’s career change reflects not only his exceptional view of American freedom, but also the positive and global role he sees for the American military.  In his 2005 article for the Wall Street Journal, “Mightier than the Pen,” Pottinger noted the instrumental role of the Marines in disaster response efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
+Pottinger returned to civilian life, becoming the 2010–2011 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the [[:Council on Foreign Relations]] and later starting work at an (UNNAMED) investment management firm.
+Prior to his appointment to Senior Director for Asian Affairs, Matthew Pottinger had never worked in a policymaking position.  In a 2017 article in the [[:New York Times]], Pottinger’s predecessor under the Bush administration noted that, “He’s a very effective bureaucratic player, which is saying something because he’s never had a policy job before.”
+Pottinger’s **meteoric rise from a military intelligence officer to the nation’s Asia-policy hotseat** is notably unprecedented.  A closer look at his second tour to Afghanistan reveals that Pottinger’s relationship with Michael Flynn, a retired army lieutenant and Trump confidant convicted of lying to the F.B.I., was his ticket into the inner circle of government
+Based upon a 2010 report co-authored by [[:Michael Flynn]] and Michael Pottinger, it appears that the two men met in Afghanistan during Pottinger’s deployment to the country in 2009.  At that time, Flynn was serving as the Deputy [[:Chief of Staff in Intelligence]] for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and Pottinger served as his close advisor.
+Flynn and Pottinger quickly discovered from conducting local interviews across Afghanistan that there were severe deficits in American intelligence, a conclusion likely thanks to Pottinger’s wit and expertise in journalism.  Their report, which publicized the failure of United States intelligence in this regard, reportedly angered the Pentagon and C.I.A., raising concerns that Flynn and Pottinger might be fired.
+Pottinger retired from military service in 2010, and **limited information is available about Pottinger’s civilian activities.**  In the run-up to the election, he hedged his bets by donating to both Republican and Democratic candidates.  [[:Politico]] Magazine reports that, shortly after the election, Flynn invited Pottinger into the administration.
+This invitation was something of a surprise, as some in Washington “found it **remarkable that a man who had never worked a day in civilian government** or played a role in U.S. Asia policy would now have such a consequential post.”  Despite his relative inexperience, Steve Bannon, a former White House chief strategist, described Pottinger as **“one of the most significant people in the entire US government**.”((https://web.archive.org/web/20221215230836/https://uscnpm.org/2019/10/02/matthew-pottinger-architect-of-the-chinese-cold-war/))
 ==== Trump Transition Team ====
@@ Line 5: / Line 91: @@
 May 18, 2017
-On the security policy side of Trump’s Asia team, the only sure candidate is Matt Pottinger, who will be the NSC’s senior director for Asia. Notwithstanding his close relationship with Trump’s national security advisor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former US Marine is an unusual choice.11
+On the security policy side of Trump’s Asia team, the only sure candidate is Matt Pottinger, who will be the NSC’s senior director for Asia.
+Notwithstanding his close relationship with Trump’s national security advisor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former US Marine is an unusual choice.11
 Unlike his predecessors, Pottinger has **never held a government position and has no background on Asia-Pacific security policy**.12 Nor does he have established relationships with many Asia policy officials in the US and abroad.
-But Pottinger might bring unconventional qualifications to his role. Originally trained as a Mandarin linguist, he spent seven years as a journalist in China — an experience that has given him an inside-out perspective on the country’s challenges and opportunities.13
+But Pottinger might bring unconventional qualifications to his role. **Originally trained as a Mandarin linguist, he spent seven years as a journalist in China** — an experience that has given him an inside-out perspective on the country’s challenges and opportunities.13
 Likewise, after joining the Marines Pottinger gained **valuable operational experience in military intelligence** and demonstrated in a major report on US intelligence failure in Afghanistan — co-authored with Flynn — his ability to design sweeping changes to institutionalised operating procedures.14 These skills could make him an effective change-maker on Asia policy coordination.
@@ Line 64: / Line 152: @@
 Washington — Former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who served under former President Donald Trump, claimed **China attempted to cover up the coronavirus** in the early days of the crisis, cutting out its [[:Center for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC) and instead relying on its **military to contain the deadly virus**.
-In an interview with "[[:Face the Nation]]" that aired Sunday, Pottinger said the head of the Chinese CDC was unaware the coronavirus was spreading throughout the nation until late December 2019.
+In an interview with [[:Face the Nation]] that aired Sunday, Pottinger said the head of the Chinese CDC was unaware the coronavirus was spreading throughout the nation until late December 2019.
-"It looks like the Chinese CDC to some extent was cut out because the Chinese Communist Party turned to its military to try to cover this thing up, to try to contain it until it was too late," Pottinger said. "And the consequences we're all feeling now."
+"It looks like the [[:Chinese CDC]] to some extent was cut out because the Chinese Communist Party turned to its military to try to cover this thing up, to try to contain it until it was too late," Pottinger said. "And the consequences we're all feeling now."
 Transcript: Matthew Pottinger on "Face the Nation"
-The first cases of the coronavirus were discovered in Wuhan, China, though the virus' exact origins remain unclear. Still, Mr. Trump and other top officials in his administration criticized Beijing for its handling of the pandemic, which has led to more than **2.4 million deaths** worldwide. In the United States, the death toll from COVID-19 is approaching 500,000.
+The first cases of the coronavirus were discovered in Wuhan, China, though the virus' exact origins remain unclear. Still, Mr. Trump and other top officials in his administration criticized Beijing for its handling of the pandemic, which has led to more than **2.4 million deaths** worldwide. In the United States, the death toll from [[:COVID-19]] is approaching 500,000.
 Reflecting on the early days of the pandemic, Pottinger said there "undoubtedly" were Chinese officials who wanted to share information about the coronavirus but couldn't do so.
@@ Line 86: / Line 174: @@
 They praised the Chinese government for shutting down domestic travel in China while simultaneously criticizing the United States for shutting down international travel, which is a morally and logically indefensible position," Pottinger said.((https://web.archive.org/web/20221215204815/https://news.yahoo.com/ex-trump-official-matt-pottinger-161204463.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall))
-==== Background ====
+==== China Cover-up Narriative ====
+Former Trump Official Says Chinese Scientists 'Systemically Silenced' By Gov't—Here's What He's Talking About
+BREAKING News FORBES - May 30, 2021 by Jonathan Ponciano - **Forbes Staff Investing**
+In a Sunday morning appearance on [[:NBC News]]' [[:Meet the Press]], former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger said Chinese scientists have been "systemically silenced by their government" from discussing the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, referencing a slew of whistleblowers who reportedly faced retaliation from Chinese officials for speaking out about the virus last year and at times contradicting the information officials disclosed to the public.
+"If [the virus] came out of a lab, there are people in China who probably know that," Pottinger, who served under former President [[:Donald Trump]], said Sunday, adding that President [[:Joe Biden]]'s call for a **90-day U.S. intelligence investigation might "embolden" scientists to speak up** despite the Chinese government's retaliatory measures targeting whistleblowers.
+Though Pottinger didn't specifically reference anyone, the Chinese government was quick to displicine people speaking out about the virus' origins, with state media broadcasting on Jan. 1, 2020 (while there were less than 40 known Covid cases) that Wuhan officials had investigated and punished eight people for "spreading rumors" about the virus on the Internet.
+One of those people was Dr. [[:Li Wenliang]], a doctor at [[:Wuhan Central Hospital]] who warned colleagues and friends about a potential outbreak on WeChat after treating seven patients—all of whom had gone to a local seafood market—with SARS-like symptoms in late December 2019.
+The same day as Li's warning, Wuhan's local health commission told medical institutions about the unknown illness spreading but warned them not to share unauthorized information publicly, **according to [[:CNN]],** and days later, Li was charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly spreading false information and disturbing the public order; he died of the virus in February 2020.
+Dr. [[:Ai Fen]], another [[:whistleblower]] who worked in the emergency department of the same Wuhan hospital, warned colleagues with a **photo of lab results on Dec. 30, 2019, that a coronavirus had infected a patient**, and was later reprimanded by the hospital's Communist Party Secretary for spreading rumors and "harming stability."
+Chinese authorities reportedly said in late January (after Li's death) that the eight people arrested shouldn't have been censured, but reports have since surfaced that Beijing is still censoring social media discussions about the pandemic's origins and arresting journalists whose coverage disputes the government's official narrative.
+China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Forbes request for comment.
+Crucial Quote
+"I think there's a lot that can be learned in 90 days. It's conceivable that we'll have an answer," Pottinger said Sunday of the intelligence investigation. "And even if we come up short with a definitive answer, what we're going to have is a foundation for additional revelations to come out from scientists around the world who previously were frightened… are now going to be emboldened because they know that this is a priority of the United States."
+Key Background
+Tensions over the origins of Covid-19 have reached a boiling point over the past week after a Wall Street Journal report last Sunday detailed that three researchers working at a Wuhan virology lab went to the hospital with Covid-like symptoms weeks before the first case was confirmed, **lending credibility to the unconfirmed theory that the virus may have leaked from a lab**.
+Conservative lawmakers quickly latched onto the theory as a way to cast blame on China for the pandemic, especially as it intensified in the U.S., but Democrats and scientists largely dismissed it. [[:Yuan Zhiming]], the director of the [[:Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory]], told Chinese state media the report was “a complete lie" last week. U.S. lawmakers are now calling for additional investigations into the matter.
+**Biden says intelligence officials believe** the virus either developed naturally and spread from animal to human, or leaked from a lab.
+=== Chief Critic ===
+"Some in the US, turning a blind eye to facts, science, the questionable study of origins and botched response at home, keep clamoring for additional investigation in China," Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said Thursday when asked whether the country would consider cooperating with investigations supported by scientists around the world.
+He countered by saying the U.S. should allow international investigations into [[:Fort Detrick]], a military lab studying dangerous microbes that **shut down for months in 2019** after the CDC declared it did not have "sufficient systems in place to decontaminate wastewater. "What secrets are hidden in the suspicion-shrouded Fort Detrick and the over 200 US bio-labs all over the world?"((https://web.archive.org/web/20210530185707/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/05/30/former-trump-official-says-chinese-scientists-systemically-silenced-by-govt-heres-what-hes-talking-about/))
+(())
+==== China's Hacking - Propaganda & Surveillance Threat to American Data Privacy ====
+{{ ::matt_pottinger_china_hacking_propaganda_threat.png?600|}}
+NY Post by Emily Crane - August 9, 2021 image Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
+Senate panel warned China has enough data for dossiers on all Americans
+Matthew Pottinger told a Senate panel that China's penetration of digital networks worldwide has taken data theft "to a new level."
+China has stolen enough data from the US to compile **a “dossier” on every single American adult** — material used to “influence and intimidate, reward and blackmail, flatter and humiliate, divide and conquer” — a Senate panel has been warned.
+Matthew Pottinger, a deputy national security adviser for the Trump administration, sounded the alarm about Beijing’s perusal of data during the [[:Senate Intelligence Committee]] hearing.
+“Assembling dossiers on people has always been a feature of Leninist regimes but Beijing’s penetration of digital networks worldwide has taken this to a new level,” Pottinger told the panel Wednesday.
+“The party compiles dossiers on millions of foreign citizens around the world, using the material it gathers to influence and intimidate, reward and blackmail, flatter and humiliate, divide and conquer.
+“Beijing has stolen sensitive data sufficient to build a dossier on every American adult — and on many of our children too.”
+China is exploiting US social media platforms, **Pottinger said**, and using them to spread [[:propaganda]].
+“Over the past few years, **Beijing has flooded US platforms with overt and covert propaganda**, amplified by proxies and bots,” he said. “The [[:propaganda]] is focused not only on promoting whitewashed narratives of Beijing’s policies but also on exacerbating social tensions within the United States and other target nations.”
+He argued that the US government should stop funding technologies in China — such as facial recognition and data mining — that Beijing can use to advance its surveillance.
+The US and its allies last month slammed China for a wide range of **“malicious cyber activities,”** including the massive hack of [[:Microsoft]]’s email service that exposed the private information of thousands of Americans.
+The White House accused China at the time of fostering “**an intelligence enterprise that includes contract hackers** who also conduct unsanctioned cyber operations worldwide.”((https://web.archive.org/web/20210809173220/https://nypost.com/2021/08/09/senate-panel-warned-china-has-enough-data-for-dossiers-on-all-americans/))
+==== Unnamed Corporate Shells in the Background ====
 {{  ::matt_pottinger_china_six_llc_-_daily_beast.png?400|}}
@@ Line 277: / Line 434: @@
 He **outlasted three Trump national security advisors** and was ultimately named deputy national security advisor.((https://web.archive.org/web/20220703215252/https://www.thewirechina.com/2022/06/26/matthew-pottinger-on-flipping-the-u-s-china-paradigm-on-its-head/))
-==== Renarks University of Virginia May 2020 ====
+==== Remarks University of Virginia May 2020 ====
 Remarks by Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger to the Miller Center at the University of Virginia
@@ Line 285: / Line 442: @@
 The following is the English language version of a speech that was delivered by Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger in Mandarin Chinese.((https://web.archive.org/web/20200518081819/https://hk.usconsulate.gov/n-2020050401/))
+==== AEI Interview - Cold War Posture with Russia & China ====
+American Enterprise Institute AEI is grandfather of NeoCon think tanks..
+AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE | 1789 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202.862.5800 | aei.org
+{{ ::matt_aei_really_sick_not_covid.png?800|}}
+Matt Pottinger: Thanks for having me. It's great to see you both.
+Marc Thiessen: We were all together at the AEI World Forum recently, which is an off-the-record event, and you were kind enough to speak in the plenary. And you had some fascinating comments, and you kindly agreed to come on the podcast and share them with our listeners. So, let me just start here by asking you where we are right now in what you described as the start of a new Cold War.
+Matt Pottinger: Yeah. So, this term Cold War is, for some people, contentious. It's interesting. There are, a lot of people understandably, have wanted to avoid admitting that we're really in some kind of a Cold War construct, again, except with the roles of Russia and China reversed, right? With China really as sort of the giant power, and the Russians in the junior partner role.
+But a Cold War is, it's a long-term strategic competition, right? It a competition between nuclear-armed great powers for whom military power is extremely important. And of course, there's a risk of a head-on confrontation militarily between the nuclear-armed great powers, but both sides in the first Cold War, as in the second, have an interest in trying to constrain the competition to non-military decisive means, so really competing in terms of technology and economic might, ideological and informational power.
+pdf page 8
+Matt Pottinger - Why not just aim to win? I would be doing a couple of things. One, is that even as we rush munitions and supplies to Ukraine, and I think we should be doing everything possible to facilitate that the arsenals of other NATO members get front- loaded into this fight, right, we should be doing the same thing with, for Taiwan right now.
+We've seen, there was a rumor of a [[:KGB]] leak or an [[:FSB]] rather, leak that Beijing had, that they believe
+that Beijing was going to move on Taiwan later this year, which is conceivable. It is conceivable. So, we're already in the window of danger for Taiwan. So, **why not ensure that we are cranking out munitions**, so that we show that we are able, that Taiwan is able, just as we want to show and demonstrate that our European friends are able to sustain a long-term costly fight if, for Putin and for Xi Jinping alike, if she takes such a big step as
+invading Taiwan.
+Danielle Pletka: Matt, you make me very nervous. Listening to you describe this, what Xi Jinping is talking about is by no standard a Cold War, and by no standard an offer to allow us more time with which to bolster our own defenses, potentially undermine his, to decouple economically, and to somehow undermine the Chinese economy.
+What it sounds like we're faced with is an admittedly, not terribly competent, but nonetheless, very dangerous leader in Russia. We don't know how competent the Chinese military is, but those are very, very dangerous speeches. None of this sounds like Cold War to me. Am I misreading? Is he just being bellicose for another purpose?
+Matt Pottinger: Well, I think he's gearing up to invade Taiwan. I do. I think that we're in that wind of danger now, and that he is someone who talks a lot about taking decisive steps and not waiting. So, he's someone who is very patient when it came to building his own power.
+He's very patient in cultivating the relationships he needed to cultivate, to ultimately climb the ladder to the pinnacle of power in China. He's not in a patient mode anymore. That's, the patient time is now passed, if we were to believe what he's saying, when he's speaking in his own language to his own party leadership. So, what that tells me is that we need our business leaders to pay very, very close attention to the possibility that we are going to be in a head-on conflict or in a series of proxy fights, proxy wars, launched, not by us.
+Matt Pottinger:
+Remember, we didn't, just like the first Cold War, we didn't pick this one. We didn't start it, okay? This was started by Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin and some of their supporting role players like the Ayatollah, to a lesser extent, Kim Jong-un in Korea. But, we are now facing an actual war in Europe that is being underwritten by Xi Jinping and prosecuted by Vladimir Putin.
+If that's not a wake-up call to Volkswagen to start coming up with a new business model that doesn't rely entirely on the Chinese market, or Apple, if that doesn't wake up Apple to start finding alternatives to its supply chain, besides China, then those companies are going to go the way of the dodo, eventually.((https://web.archive.org/web/20221215231246/https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/FINAL-Pottinger-Transcript-3.23.22.pdf))
+==== Linked In Profile ====
+((https://web.archive.org/web/20221216005445/https://www.finnotes.org/people/matt-pottinger))