US to move aircraft carrier out of Mideast amid Iran tension

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has decided to send home the only Navy aircraft carrier operating in the Middle East, a move that will reduce American firepower in the region amid heightened tensions with Iran.

The decision, announced Thursday by the acting secretary of defense, Christopher Miller, came one day after Air Force B-52 bombers flew nonstop from the United States to the Persian Gulf in a show of force that military officials said was intended to caution Iran against carrying out attacks against U.S. forces or interests.

Sending the aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, home to the U.S. West Coast would seem at odds with the idea that a show of force is needed to deter Iran. This might reflect a split within the defense establishment on whether Iran poses a heightened threat to strike in the waning days of the Trump administration.

In announcing the decision to send the Nimitz home, Miller made no mention of Iran.

Earlier this week, an American military officer close to the situation told reporters that the U.S. had detected signs that Iran had made preparations for possible attacks on U.S. or allied targets in Iraq or elsewhere in the Mideast. This was the reason for dispatching two B-52 bombers from the U.S. to briefly overfly the Gulf on Wednesday, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.

Ga. senator quarantines:

Republican Sen. David Perdue was forced into quarantine Thursday in the home stretch of Georgia’s high-stakes Senate runoffs, disclosing five days before the election that he had been exposed to a campaign worker infected with the coronavirus.

Perdue’s campaign did not say how long he plans to stay in quarantine, but guidelines of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say those exposed to the virus can resume normal activities after seven days if they have a negative test result. Following that guidance would keep Perdue in isolation for the remainder of the campaign.

“This morning, Senator Perdue was notified that he came into close contact with someone on the campaign who tested positive for COVID-19,” the Perdue campaign’s statement said. “Both Senator Perdue and his wife tested negative today, but following his doctor’s recommendations and in accordance with CDC guidelines, they will quarantine.”

Both Perdue and fellow GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler are on Georgia’s runoff ballot Tuesday. Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff, while Loeffler faces Democrat Raphael Warnock.

If both Republican incumbents lose, Democrats will control the Senate.

President Donald Trump has scheduled a rally Monday to fire up turnout for Perdue and Loeffler in heavily conservative northwest Georgia.

Democrats are also bringing their heavy hitters to the state. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris plans to campaign Sunday for Ossoff and Warnock in Savannah, followed by President-elect Joe Biden sharing a stage with the Democrats on Monday in Atlanta.

Deeper Microsoft hack: Microsoft said Thursday in a blog post that hackers tied to a massive intrusion of dozens of U.S. government agencies and private companies sneaked further into its systems than previously thought, although the intrusion doesn’t appear to have caused any additional harm.

The company said the hackers were able to view some of the code underlying Microsoft software, but weren’t able to make any changes to it.

Microsoft played down any risk associated with the additional intrusion, noting that its software development relies on code sharing within the company, a practice called “inner source.”

The company said it found no evidence of hacker access to customer data and no indication that its systems were used to attack others.