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U.S. NEWS Saturday 7 May 2022
U.S. seeks to downplay role in sinking of Russian warship

By BEN FOX, AAMER MAD- “We provide them what
HANI, and NOMAAN MER- we believe to be relevant
CHANT and timely information
Associated Press about Russian units that will
WASHINGTON (AP) — allow them to adjust and
The Biden administration execute their self-defense
sought Friday to downplay to the best of their ability,”
the role of American intel- Kirby said. “The kind of in-
ligence in the high-profile telligence that we provide
sinking of the Russian missile them, it’s legitimate, it’s
cruiser Moskva, distancing lawful, and it’s limited.”
itself from any direct role in An American official said
one of the greatest embar- Thursday that Ukraine
rassments for Russia since it alone decided to target
attacked Ukraine. and sink the Moskva using
A day after an American its own anti-ship missiles.
official confirmed that the But given Russia’s attacks
U.S. provided Ukraine with on the Ukrainian coastline
information on the location from the sea, the U.S. has
of the ship, the White House provided “a range of intelli-
and Pentagon described a Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Friday, gence” that includes loca-
limited role in last month’s May 6, 2022. tions of those ships, said the
attack and said the Ukrai- Associated Press official, who was not autho-
nians make their own deci- rized to speak publicly and
sions. target Russian naval ves- Friday that included artil- do something with that in- spoke on condition of ano-
The effort reflected the fine sels, as they did in this case. lery rounds, radar systems telligence, then they make nymity.
line President Joe Biden “ capable of detecting artil- the decisions about acting The Biden administration
walks as he touts increasing Amid strong, bipartisan sup- lery projectiles, and other on it,” Kirby said. has ramped up intelligence
support for Ukraine while port for Ukraine, the admin- equipment. American officials insist this sharing with Ukraine along-
fighting off criticism he isn’t istration has provided more Asked about reports that is a fight launched by Presi- side the shipment of arms
doing enough and simul- than $3.4 billion in military the U.S. provided intel- dent Vladimir Putin against and missiles to help it repel
taneously trying to avoid assistance, and U.S. forces ligence on the Moskva, Ukraine, not a proxy war Russia’s invasion. The disclo-
dragging the U.S. into a di- are actively training Ukrai- Pentagon spokesman John with the U.S., and the in- sure of U.S. support in the
rect conflict with Russia. nian troops in the use of Kirby said Ukraine receives telligence assistance stays Moskva strike comes as the
“We had no prior knowl- howitzers, drones and other “relevant and timely” intel- within these limits. White House is under pres-
edge of Ukraine’s intent hardware in a war now fo- ligence from the U.S., but The Pentagon spokesman sure from Republicans to do
to target the ship,” White cused on the eastern Don- also gets assistance from said the U.S. had no ad- more to support Ukraine’s
House spokeswoman Jen bas region of the country. other nations and makes its vanced knowledge of the resistance and as polls sug-
Psaki said. “The Ukrainians The White House an- own decisions about how attack on the ship, the flag- gest some Americans ques-
have their own intelligence nounced an addition $150 to use it. ship of Russia’s Black Sea tion whether Biden is being
capabilities to track and million in military support “And if they do decide to Fleet. tough enough on Russia.q
Census ready to study combining race, ethnicity questions

By MIKE SCHNEIDER the biggest changes to the questions were separated
Associated Press census questionnaire in re- on the 2020 census form,
U.S. Census Bureau officials cent years. leading to overwhelmingly
said Friday they are ready Several years before the large numbers of Hispanic
to start examining changes last census in 2020, support respondents to answer
that would combine race was growing for combin- "some other race" for the
and ethnicity questions and ing the race and ethnicity race category, Census Bu-
add a Middle Eastern and questions into a single ques- reau officials said.
North African category to tion and adding the Middle "We are not surprised by the
the 2030 census question- Eastern and North African results. Our research pre-
naire, but they have to wait category, also known as dicted them," Merarys Rios-
for another federal office MENA. Census Bureau re- Vargas, chief of the Ethnic-
to start the conversation. search said doing so would ity and Ancestry Branch at
That office is the White increase the accuracy of the Census Bureau, told
House Office of Manage- the once-a-decade U.S. members of the Census
ment and Budget, which head count, particularly Bureau's National Advisory Residents have begun receiving the U.S. Census Bureau's re-
sets the definitions on race among Hispanics and peo- Committee on Friday. quest for information receiving letters with a census identifica-
and ethnic background for ple of Middle Eastern or One of the committee tion number to answer questions about their households online.
all federal agencies. The North African descent who members, Helen Hatab Associated Press
Census Bureau has been are unsure how to answer Samhan, a retired execu-
using Office of Manage- the race question. tive at the Arab American Native Hawaiian. race when they did answer
ment and Budget stan- But those efforts were Institute, said it was prefera- Among the items the the question and whether
dards which were set in dropped after President ble to add MENA as an eth- Census Bureau wants to the location of the respon-
1997. Donald Trump became nic category, such as His- research is the lack of re- dents made any difference
If the proposals are ad- president. As a result, there panic, rather than a race sponses to the race ques- in whether they answered
opted for the 2030 census, was no MENA category, category like white, black, tion among Hispanics, how those questions, officials
they would mark one of and the race and ethnicity Asian, American Indian or Hispanics identified their said.q