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☆ CNN's Chris Licht is facing an outraged newsroom and some are wondering if he'll survive — here are 16 top execs he's counting on to help him dig out
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Lucia Moses | Alison Brower | Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

CNN CEO Chris Licht hopes to win back his staff's trust after a damaging magazine profile of him. Discovery exec David Leavy has been dispatched to help Licht run the network. Here are the 16 key CNN deputies under Licht leading news efforts, business development, and more. CNN boss Chris Licht has had the most scrutinized and toughest year of all Warner Bros. Leavy will report to Licht when he officially starts June 20, taking oversight of operations, marketing, and PR.

Persons: Chris Licht, David Leavy, Licht, Jeff Zucker, Oliver Darcy, Brian Stelter, that's, Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Athan Stephanopoulos, Chris Marlin, Ted Turner's, John Malone, Donald Trump, Christiane Amanpour, He's, Kaitlan Collins, Gayle King, Charles Barkley, Barbara Starr, Ana Cabrera, Don Lemon, Nikki Haley wasn't, Lemon Organizations: CNN, Top Warner Bros, Discovery, Warner Bros, CNBC, Trump, White House, CBS News, WBD Sports Locations: WBD, York

CNN —The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official. Unlike smaller air defense systems, Patriot missile batteries need much larger crews, requiring dozens of personnel to properly operate them. The training for Patriot missile batteries normally takes multiple months, a process the United States will now carry out under the pressure of near-daily aerial attacks from Russia. Last month US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN that the US is “very focused” on providing air defense systems to Ukraine. “We’re now very focused on air defense systems and not just us, many other countries,” Blinken told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

CNN —The US killed two ISIS officials in a helicopter raid early Sunday morning in eastern Syria, US Central Command said in a statement. One of the officials killed was “Anas,” a regional ISIS leader who was involved in planning operations in eastern Syria. “The death of these ISIS officials will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carry out destabilizing attacks in the Middle East,” said Central Command spokesman Col. Joe Buccino. Two weeks ago, the US welcomed news of the death of ISIS leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al- Qurayshi. He was not killed in a US operation, unlike the previous leader, Hajji Abdullah, who was killed in a US raid in February.

☆ CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is leaving the network after more than two decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Barbara Starr, the Pentagon correspondent who has covered some of the most consequential stories with a signature style and steady hand, is leaving CNN after more than two decades with the network. Starr announced her departure in a memo sent to her CNN colleagues on Friday. “With the expiration of my contract in the coming days I have made the decision to move on,” Starr wrote. “Let me say this…you never say goodbye to your friends, so I won’t.”Starr’s exit from CNN follows that of several notable personalities at the network. “Barb has been a coworker, a mentor, and a role model since I came to the Pentagon,” CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian artillerymen load an M109 self-propelled howitzer during training exercises with US and Norwegian at Grafenwoehr Training Area on May 12. Since the start of the conflict in February, the US has trained only a few thousand Ukrainian soldiers, mostly in small groups, on specific weapons systems. The proposal, which was made at the behest of Ukraine, is still under inter-agency review by the administration. But the primary variable on the battlefield right now is the availability of ammunition on both sides, he said. "The Ukrainians aren't going to be as effective at combined arms maneuvers if they don't have enough artillery ammunition."

New York CNN Business —Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday that the Justice Department formally introduced regulations barring department employees from secretly seeking journalists’ records except in limited circumstances. Within CNN, the Trump administration secretly sought and obtained the 2017 phone and email records of Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. The Biden Justice Department informed Starr last May that prosecutors had obtained her records covering two months between June 1, 2017 and July 30, 2017. Under previous DOJ regulations, investigators could secretly obtain journalists’ records through a court order without the journalists’ knowledge. After news organizations first reported the records seizures in the summer 2021, President Joe Biden vowed to end the practice.

☆ Suellen Tennyson: American nun held hostage in Burkina Faso is released with help of US forces
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-01 | by ( Barbara Starr Jennifer Hansler Katie Bo Lillis Ellie Kaufman | Barbara Starr | Jennifer Hansler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —An 83-year-old American nun from Louisiana who was held hostage by terrorists in Burkina Faso for almost five months was released on Monday. Sister Suellen Tennyson was released from the custody of terrorists to Nigeriens (Niger borders Burkina Faso) then turned over to US officials, a US official with knowledge of the situation said. US Africa Command personnel “facilitated the safe turnover,” of the American citizen from the terrorists, Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Pietrack, US Africa Command spokesperson told CNN in a statement. US Africa Command worked with “African and international partners” in order to secure Tennyson’s release, Pietrack said in the statement.

Washington CNN —ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed Wednesday during a US counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning. It was the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room. US says suicide bomb killed ISIS leaderThe Pentagon will conduct a more thorough after-action review of the raid. But Wednesday’s operation was the largest in scale since a two-hour raid killed ISIS leader Baghdadi in northwest Syria in October 2019.

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