STATE SERVICE, FEDERAL PAY: Defense Secretary Mark Esper has moved to address a major complaint of some states that called up National Guard troops to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic but had to pay for the troops with state funds.
On Friday, Esper signed an order streamlining the process for activating Guard troops under Title 32 authority, which places the troops on full-time duty status under the command and control of states’ governors but with their state mission funded with federal dollars.
“This authorization enables your timely use of the National Guard to save lives and protect public health and safety,” Esper said in a letter sent to every state governor. “The men and women of the National Guard are Citizen-Soldiers who stand ready to serve their communities as we fight COVID-19.”
States can now apply to FEMA, and Esper promised governors that the Pentagon will immediately approve requests, so long as the mission is related to the whole-of-government COVID-19 response effort.
APPEALS HEARD: The action comes after a week of appeals from states that have already called up Guard troops in response to the coronavirus but were awaiting Title 32 funding.
“Despite the ‘U.S. Army’ and ‘U.S. Air Force’ emblazoned on the front of their uniforms, the federal government has thus far declined to authorize activation of Guard members under Title 32 of the United States Code, except in California, New York, and Washington,” wrote Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen, adjutant general of Maryland, one of the states affected.
In a commentary distributed by the National Guard Association of the United States, Gowen said it’s not just about the money. Under Title 32, the troops become eligible for a host of federal protections, he said, “including protection from employment discrimination resulting from their service and — most significantly, given the nature of the emergency — military medical care.”
NOT ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL: Also on Friday, Esper received authority from President Trump to order units and individual members in both the Guard and Reserves to augment forces responding to the coronavirus outbreak.
“Decisions about which individuals may be activated are still being reviewed,” said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hioffman in a statement. “Generally, these members will be persons in headquarters units and persons with high demand medical capabilities whose call-up would not adversely affect their civilian communities.”
“We’re very conscious of where we pull the Reserves from,” said Esper last week. “As we draw people to staff up the ships or the hospitals, [we’re very conscious of] where we’re pulling them from because you’re robbing — you’re taking away from Peter to pay Paul, and you’ve got to make sure that you don’t, you know, have an impact on an area that really needs it simply because you’re trying to staff up a ship or a hospital.”
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HAPPENING TODAY: North Macedonia’s flag is flying over NATO headquarters for the first time this morning, as the Balkan nation assumes its spot as the 30th NATO ally. “This is indeed a moment of celebration, a moment we have all been looking forward to for many years,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “The road to membership has been long and challenging, but with courage and determination, you have done it.”
“North Macedonia’s accession also reaffirms to other aspirants that NATO’s door remains open to those countries willing and able to make the reforms necessary to meet NATO’s high standards, and to accept the responsibilities as well as benefits of membership,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement. “As NATO welcomes its 30th member, we reaffirm our commitment to collective defense under Article 5, the cornerstone of the Transatlantic Alliance.”
COMFORT SEND OFF: On Saturday, Secretary Esper joined Trump at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, where they watched the dispatch of the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort as it left for New York City to handle non-COVID-19 patients.
“This great ship behind me is a 70,000-ton message of hope and solidarity to the incredible people of New York,” Trump said, “a place I know very well, a place I love. We’re here for you, we’re fighting for you, and we are with you all the way, and we always will be.”
Trump said the Comfort will arrive at Pier 90 in Manhattan today, three weeks ahead of schedule, and will begin treating patients tomorrow.
ALTERNATE CARE FACILITIES: The Comfort, and its sister ship the USNS Mercy, which is docked at the port of Los Angeles, is part of the Pentagon’s plan to provide what’s been dubbed “alternate care facilities” to handle other medical cases so that hospitals can free up beds and focus on the ever-increasing influx of COVID-19 patients.
At the forefront of the effort is the Army Corps of Engineers, headed by Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, who briefed reporters Friday after stepping off a plane from New York City, where the Corps is retrofitting the Javits Center to convert the convention venue into a hospital.
Yesterday, Trump lavished praise on the project during his daily coronavirus briefing. “They built 2,900 beds’ worth of hospital, an incredible hospital, in the Javits Center, which I know well,” he said. “That was unreal. They did it in less than four days. People have never seen anything like that. And it’s an incredible, complex, top-of-the-line hospital. They did it so quickly. Everyone is trying to figure out how they did it, including me. And I was a good builder.”
BUILD ON CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE: Semonite explained to reporters that the Corps, working with FEMA, was able to maximize the design of the cavernous Javits Center to accommodate four 250-person hospitals that came in big boxes.
“The nice thing about convention centers, you might not know this, every 10 feet, there’s a great, big steel door in the floor. You open it up, and in there is all of the electrical, there’s cold water, there’s hot water, and there’s a place for sewage,” he said. “So, you can actually do things like sinks right in the middle of the convention center to be able to make that happen.”
Currently, the Corps is looking at building or converting 114 facilities in 50 states and five territories, Semonite said, including creating some facilities with “negative pressure” so they can be used to treat COVID-19 patients.
“We’ve never done a pandemic capability. We don’t have on-the-shelf designs, how to modify hotels into, you know, COVID centers,” Semonite said. “The ability to do negative pressure in a hotel room is pretty easy. But when you go into a gigantic, voluminous room like a convention center, to try to bring the pressure down, we didn’t think it was attainable.”
But in Chicago’s McCormick Convention Center, Semonite said, they’re solving the problem. “We’re bringing the pressure down in the entire convention center. It’s going to be lower pressure. Keeps all the containment in.”
INDUSTRY WATCH: After accusing General Motors of moving too slowly to begin producing ventilators and after invoking the Defense Production Act, Trump is back to praising the company for promising to produce the life-saving breathing machines at a rate of 10,000 per month starting in about two weeks.
“General Motors is doing a fantastic job. I don’t think we have to worry about General Motors now,” Trump said yesterday.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: ‘No metro area will be spared’: Birx warns every city could face significant coronavirus outbreak
Washington Examiner: ‘A 70K-ton message of hope’: Trump sends off Navy hospital ship bound for New York
Washington Examiner: US Army Corps of Engineers to convert Chicago convention center into 3,000-bed field hospital
Washington Examiner: Army Corps to switch to convention center hospital model in coronavirus response
Washington Examiner: Trump administration uses light touch on Defense Production Act in coronavirus fight
AP: Blissful ignorance? Submariners likely unaware of pandemic
AP: Iran defends virus response as Syria reports first death
Real Clear Defense: What’s in the $2.2 Trillion Stimulus for Defense?
Military.com: ‘We Are Putting Lives In Danger’: Recruiters Urge Boot Camp Closures Amid Pandemic
Bloomberg: Pentagon Taps Four Contractors to Build 8,000 Ventilators
Time: Trump’s Iran Gamble: Will “Maximum Pressure” And COVID-19 Bring Tehran to the Bargaining Table?
Defense News: Nearly 4 years after commissioning, the US Navy is about to get a fully working stealth destroyer
AP: U.S. Pulls Out Of A Third Base In Iraq
Reuters: Saudi Intercepts Missiles In Attacks Claimed By Yemen’s Houthis
Yonhap News Agency: N.K. fired missiles from launcher similar to one unveiled last year: JCS
South China Morning Post: Beijing May Step Up Drills In South China Sea Amid Rising Tensions With U.S. Military, Analysts Say
USNI News: China Calls USS McCampbell Taiwan Strait Transit ‘Provocative
Talk Media News: US, other democracies still poised to win Great Power competition despite short-term Russia, China
Stars and Stripes: Marines Fire Okinawa-Based Helicopter Squadron Commander Over ‘Loss Of Trust And Confidence’
Task & Purpose: The Navy refused to let Tom Cruise fly an F/A-18 Super Hornet in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’
Calendar
NOTE: Many events in Washington have been canceled or moved online in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Pentagon has been conducting almost-daily pop-up briefings, which are often only announced at the last minute. Check https://www.defense.gov for updates to the Pentagon’s schedule.
MONDAY | MARCH 30
10 a.m. — Korea Economic Institute of America webinar on “The State of Human Rights in North Korea,” with former U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Human Rights Robert King, non-resident fellow at KEI; Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; and Mark Tokola, vice president of KEI. http://www.keia.org/event
10:30 a.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia and Middle East Programs hold a webcast on “What’s Next for the Peace and Reconciliation Process in Afghanistan?” with former Acting U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Laurel Miller, director of the WWC Asia Program, International Crisis Group; Sami Mahdi, bureau chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Afghanistan Service (Radio Azadi); Nilofar Sakhi, lecturer at George Mason University; Ashley Jackson, research associate with the Overseas Development Institute; and Michael Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at WWC. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/webcast
TUESDAY | MARCH 31
9:30 a.m. — Atlantic Council webcast book discussion on “The Return of Great Power Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Ancient World to the U.S. and China,” with author Matthew Kroenig, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Center for Strategy and Security. https://atlanticcouncil.org/event
2 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group webcast on “Life From Space: The Future of Technology and Space Ops,” with retired Army Brig. Gen. Tim Coffin, consultant at Leidos; Richard French, director of Global Government Launch Services Rocket Labs; Todd Harrison, defense budget analysis director and senior fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies Aerospace Security Project; and Patrick Tucker, technology editor of Defense One. https://www.defenseone.com/feature/life-from-space-1/
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 1
8 a.m. — Defense Writers Group audio conference call with Vice Adm. Thomas Moore commander, Naval Sea Systems Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu
5:30 p.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace online discussion on “Crisis Upon Crisis: The Geopolitical & Economic Implications of the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Livestream at https://carnegie-mec.org.
THURSDAY | APRIL 2
12:15 p.m. — New America discussion webcast on the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation’s annual report on U.S. hostage and detainee policy, “Bringing Americans Home 2020,” with report author Cynthia Loertscher; former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, partner at O’Melveny and Myers; Diane Foley, president and founder of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation; and Peter Bergen, vice president of New America. Webcast: https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/events/bringing-americans-home-2020
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s anywhere, in the model, between 80,000 and 160,000, maybe even potentially 200,000 people succumbing to this. That’s with mitigation … We’re hoping that the models are not completely right, that we can do better than what the predictions are.”
Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, on the latest projection of COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
