Military author Anthony Tata releases 16th thriller book

NEWS AND OPINION:

Just arrived from military-thriller novelist Anthony J. Tata: “Total Empire: A Garrett Sinclair Novel.” The book focuses on the heroic, nimble and fictional Gen. Garrett Sinclair, who has been sent on a rogue mission in the Sahara to thwart “China’s globalist agenda” and an “ongoing international nuclear threat.”

Well. That is certainly a timely focus.

“The ‘Chinese-U.S. Partnership,’ or CUSP, intends to combine the world’s two largest economies and militaries to usher in a new era of partnership and leadership. But China’s offer has a deadline and penalties for noncompliance. As a safeguard, China has five high-tech hypersonic glide vehicles armed with nuclear weapons orbiting the Earth ready to strike,” publisher St. Martin’s Press said in advance notes for the 352-page book — which was published Monday and is filled with strategic details, intricate plots and cliffhanger events.

“My men were hidden behind rocks the size of cars. The landscape was barren of any vegetation and looked a lot like the Mojave Desert, where we trained frequently. Wadis cut paths through the terrain, hillocks rose high into the air, and I could see why this had been a tough nut for my men to crack. It was a defender’s dream and an attacker’s nightmare,” the author wrote in one description.

Meanwhile, does his name sound familiar? It should.

Mr. Tata is a retired Army brigadier general who served as former deputy commander in Afghanistan, and most recently performed the duties of undersecretary of defense for policy. The author’s 28-year military career includes commands in the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions and the 10th Mountain Division, and operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Haiti, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Panama.

Mr. Tata is a founding partner of Boundary Channel Partners, a consulting firm, and has written 15 other military thriller novels.

KEEPING COUNT

The crisis on the southern U.S. border continues, and takes on more significance when the following analysis comes into play.

“In fiscal year 2017, when Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, the U.S. Border Patrol encountered just two individuals on the terrorist watchlist trying to sneak across the southern border between the ports of entry. In fiscal year 2018, it encountered six. In fiscal year 2019, it encountered none; and, in fiscal year 2020, it encountered three,” wrote Terence Jeffrey in an essay for The Daily Signal, a publication of The Heritage Foundation.

Things change, however.

“In fiscal year 2021, the year President Joe Biden was inaugurated, there was a substantial shift in the trend. That year, the number of individuals on the terrorist watchlist that the Border Patrol encountered trying to sneak across the southern border increased fivefold to 15,” continued Mr. Jeffrey, who is editor in chief of CNSNews.com.

“Then, in fiscal year 2022, it climbed to 98. So far in fiscal year 2023, which isn’t even half over yet, the Border Patrol has encountered 69 individuals on the terrorist watchlist trying to sneak across our southern border between the ports of entry. How many on the terrorist watchlist have actually succeeded in illegally crossing our southern border into the United States? There is no way to know,” Mr. Jeffrey said.

“What we do know is that it only took 19 foreign terrorists who had made their way into the United States to hijack four domestic flights on Sept. 11, 2001,” he advised.

FOXIFIED

In the week of March 13-19, Fox News Channel earned an audience of 1,985,000 prime-time viewers, compared with MSNBC with 1.1 million viewers and CNN with 383,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox News also aired 83 of the top 100 cable-news telecasts, including the entire top 10.

Among the standouts: “Fox & Friends” enjoyed 1.1 million viewers, besting its morning cable-news competition for the 104th week in a row. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earned an audience of 762,000 and CNN’s “This Morning” drew 317,000 views last week.

“Tucker Carlson Tonight” was the most-watched cable news program of the week with a nightly average of 3.2 million viewers, followed by “The Five,” with an audience of 3 million.

And one more peek — at weekend programming. Maria Bartiromo’s “Sunday Morning Futures” drew an audience of 1.6 million, beating the debut of MSNBC’s “Inside With Jen Psaki,” which posted 1.1 million viewers.

THE UKRAINE CAUSE

Things are still complicated overseas.

The Defense Department announced Monday that it has offered $350 million in security assistance to Ukraine — “the thirty-fourth drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories since August 2021.”

Items on the list include ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS); High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs); 81 mm and 60 mm mortar systems and mortar rounds; AT-4 anti-armor weapon systems; grenade launchers, small arms and associated ammunition.

Also included: Demolition munitions and equipment for obstacle clearing; mine clearing equipment; heavy fuel tankers; thermal imagery systems, optics and laser rangefinders; riverine patrol boats; testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair; plus spare parts and other field equipment.

POLL DU JOUR

• 72% of U.S. adults say “things in the U.S. have gotten off on the wrong track”; 94% of Republicans, 76% of independents and 47% of Democrats agree.

• 73% of men and 71% of women also agree.

• 68% overall disapprove of the job Congress is doing; 71% of Republicans, 70% of independents and 63% of Democrats agree.

• 67% of men and 68% of women also agree.

• 53% overall disapprove of the job Vice President Kamala Harris is doing; 90% of Republicans, 57% of independents and 16% of Democrats agree.

• 59% of men and 46% of women also agree.

• 51% overall disapprove of the job President Biden is doing; 92% of Republicans, 57% of independents and 9% of Democrats agree.

• 57% of men and 45% of women also agree.

SOURCE: A Monmouth University poll of 805 U.S. adults conducted March 16-20.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.