Esper faces first challenge as Pentagon chief meeting with allied counterparts at NATO headquarters

Esper has the advantages of already having been designated by President Trump the intended nominee for the post, a background that includes combat experience as an infantry officer, and legislative experience as a staffer on Capitol Hill.

And Esper’s not the only defense minister who’s new to the job. Penny Mordaunt took over as British defense secretary last month, after Prime Minister Theresa May fired Gavin Williamson. And Mordaunt could be out after Britain’s Conservative Party picks a new leader next month, choosing between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.

NATO SPENDING UP ALMOST 4%: In his pre-ministerial news conference today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that for the fifth straight year, NATO nations have increased their defense spending in line with a pledge to spend 2% of their GDP on defense.

Stoltenberg said based on the latest 2019 figures, spending across the board is up 3.9% over last year, and he expects eight member nations to meet the 2% goal. “By the end of next year, European allies and Canada will have added a cumulative total of well over $100 billion since 2016,” Stoltenberg said. “This is a good trend. And we expect this to continue. The majority of allies have plans to reach 2% by 2024.”

The countries that currently spend more than 2% on defense are the United States, United Kingdom, Greece, Estonia, Romania, Poland, and Latvia.

On Iran, Stoltenberg said, “I think the important thing now is to reduce tensions, and I welcome the fact that the United States has stated that they are ready to sit down and talk with Iran to reduce tensions and avoid any miscalculations that can create really dangerous situations.”

ESPER’S MISSION STATEMENT: Esper laid down a marker on his first day, issuing a memo to Pentagon employees essentially saying he would be building on the foundation laid by Trump’s first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, as outlined in the National Defense Strategy.

Esper’s three lines of effort are the same three Mattis stressed during his tenure: building a more lethal force, strengthening alliances, and reforming the Pentagon for greater performance and accountability.

“Having previously served in the Regular Army, National Guard, and Reserve, I understand well the sacrifices our Service Members, Civilians, and their Families make to protect this great country,” Esper wrote, closing with a call for everyone to uphold the “values and behaviors that represent the best of the military profession.”

“Stay focused on your mission, remain steadfast in your pursuit of excellence, and always do the right thing,” he said.

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MUDDLED MESSAGE: In signing an executive order yesterday, President Trump said he was “imposing hard-hitting sanctions” on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “and many others” because of “aggressive behaviors,” by Iran, including the “shooting down of U.S. drones.”

But when asked, Trump admitted the additional measures to deny Khamenei and several other top officials access to financial resources actually had been drawn up before the latest tensions. “Basically, this is something that was going to happen anyway,” Trump said, which was confirmed later in the day at a White House briefing by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin: “Some of this was in the works, some of this is a result of recent activities.”

Iran scoffed at the new sanctions, insisting Khamenei, unlike other world leaders, doesn’t have assets abroad, but Mnuchin, citing secret intelligence, insisted the sanctions were not simply symbolic. “We’ve literally locked up tens and tens of billions of dollars. These sanctions will come along with additional entities where people are hiding money. So no, these sanctions are highly effective.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NUCLEAR: In his statement, Trump called for Iran to end its support of terrorism and belligerent acts against the United States, but he was clear that he was primarily focused on making sure Iran never gets nuclear weapons.

Asked about his message for Khamenei, Trump said, “He said he doesn’t want nuclear weapons. It’s a great thing to say, but a lot of things have been said over the years, and it turns out to be not so. But he said very openly and plainly for everyone to hear that he does not want to have nuclear weapons. So if that’s the case, we can do something very quickly.”

PROTECT YOUR OWN DAMN SHIPS: It’s often on Twitter that we find out what Trump really thinks. While his secretary of state was in Saudi Arabia, trying to put together a global coalition led by the United States to increase maritime safety in the Gulf, Trump was venting in a series of tweets about the cost of protecting other nations’ shipping.

“China gets 91% of its Oil from the Straight, Japan 62%, & many other countries likewise. So why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation,” Trump tweeted. “ All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey. We don’t even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become (by far) the largest producer of Energy anywhere in the world!”

Iran was quick to agree. “@realDonaldTrump is 100% right that the US military has no business in the Persian Gulf,” tweeted Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif. “Removal of its forces is fully in line with interests of US and the world. But it’s now clear that the #B_Team is not concerned with US interests — they despise diplomacy, and thirst for war.”

SAME SALES PITCH: Trump continues to believe, in the words of Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, “that repressive regimes like North Korea and Iran are going to give up their nuclear ambitions in return for the blessings of Western capitalism.”

Trump talks about negotiating with both countries the same way. “I think North Korea has a phenomenal future and I think Iran also has a phenomenal future,” Trump said. “I think a lot of people would like to see them get to work on that great future.”

“So we’ll see what happens. I hope it’s going to be for the good. But the people in Iran are great people. And all of the people I know, so many in New York, these are great people.”

NOT BUYING IT: This morning, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, in a nationwide address flatly rejected Trump’s overture, calling the new sanctions “outrageous and idiotic” and saying the White House is “afflicted by mental retardation.”

In the live television appearance, Rouhani also mocked U.S. officials for wanting to sanction Javad Zarif: “You sanction the foreign minister simultaneously with a request for talks?”

“Imposing useless sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader and the commander of Iran’s diplomacy is the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Twitter.

I DON’T NEED PERMISSION: In an interview yesterday, President Trump asserted that he does not need congressional approval to strike Iran. Asked if he thinks he has the authority to take military action against Iran without first going to Congress, Trump answered, “I do.”

“But we’ve been keeping Congress abreast of what we’re doing … and I think it’s something they appreciate,” he said in an interview outside the Oval Office. “I do like keeping them abreast, but I don’t have to do it legally.”

WHO’S UP FOR ATTACKING N. KOREA?: A group of experts from Stanford University has been reviewing recent public opinion surveys that are trying to gauge public support for preemptive military action against North Korea. The conclusion: Americans are confused.

“Unfortunately, existing polls on North Korea are all over the map, with some finding strong support for attacking North Korea and others revealing very little support,” write the authors in a just-published article in which they conclude the surveys “are both reassuring and disturbing.”

Among the findings:

• Most Americans do not want the United States to launch a preventive war against North Korea.
• But a large minority, about a third of respondents, approves of a U.S. preventive strike across scenarios — even when U.S. use of nuclear weapons could be expected to kill one million North Korean civilians.
• Americans are deeply misinformed about U.S. offensive and defensive military capabilities, including the ability to find and destroy North Korean nuclear weapons without a ground invasion and whether missile defense would be certain to protect against North Korean nuclear missiles.
• Supporters of President Trump are particularly likely to hold dangerous misperceptions about war with North Korea.

LGBTQ SPY SUMMIT: Officers from across the U.S. Intelligence Community gathered this past weekend in Bethesda, Maryland, for their eighth annual IC Pride Summit, according to a release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“This year’s theme, As One Community, highlighted the importance of diversity and inclusion, particularly for the lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, and ally community within the IC,” the release said. Among the breakout sessions topics:

• The Oppression Olympics
• When Someone Comes Out: Demonstrating Support and Acceptance
• Exploring Intersectional Identities: Being LGBTQ+ and Deaf
• A Transgender and Non-Binary-Community-Led Discussion
• Navigating LGBTQ+ Workplace Equality in a Changing Landscape
• Queer People of Color Caucus

FOR THE RECORD: The Army put out the following statement in case anyone was confused about who is doing what now that Army Secretary Mark Esper is acting defense secretary.

“With Dr. Esper’s appointment as acting Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy will assume additional responsibilities as Senior Official Performing the Duties of Secretary of the Army. The Army’s General Counsel, Jim McPherson, will serve as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of the Army. All three officials retain their current, Senate-confirmed positions until further notice,” according to Col. Kathleen Turner, the Army’s chief of media relations.

WEST POINT CLASS OF ’23: Next week, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point will begin six weeks of basic training for the 1,190 new cadets from every state in the nation who will make up the Class of 2023.

The incoming class was selected from a pool of nearly 12,300 applicants and includes 285 women, 400 minorities (180 African Americans, 145 Hispanic Americans, 99 Asian Americans, and 19 Native Americans), as well as 16 international students and 17 combat veterans, according to a release from the academy.

“These young men and women are coming here to devote themselves to becoming guardians of Duty, Honor, Country — the West Point motto — and our United States Constitution. They represent our nation’s promise for the future,” said Deborah McDonald, director of admissions.

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Taking out the kill house: The bloody battle for survival that earned Staff Sgt. David Bellavia the Medal of Honor

Washington Examiner: ‘Long past due’: David Bellavia and his 15-year journey from Fallujah to the Medal of Honor

Wall Street Journal: U.S., Israel Look to Coax Russia Away From Iran Alliance

Stars and Stripes: USS Boxer Arrives In 5th Fleet Waters Amid Tensions With Iran

Washington Examiner: ‘Horse soldier’ from Afghanistan becomes GOP Senate candidate in New Hampshire

AP: What’s An Advanced Russian Warship Doing In Havana Harbor?

Reuters: Russia Warns Of Repeat Of 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Air Force Magazine: F-22 Won’t Make 80 Percent Mission Capable Rate on Time

Wall Street Journal: Afghans Repel Taliban Amid Talks

Stars and Stripes: Taliban Threaten Afghan Journalists Unless Media Outlets Stop Airing Anti-Insurgent Ads

Reuters: North Korea’s Kim Not Ready To Denuclearize: U.S. Intelligence Agency Chief

UPI.com: Defense Bill Calls For Military Port On Arctic Ocean

Calendar

TUESDAY | JUNE 25

8 a.m. 2201 G Street N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Dana Deasy, DoD’s Chief Information Officer. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

8:30 a.m. 300 First St. S.E. The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies forum “Can We Extend New START, Keep Arms Control, Stop Proliferation, and Modernize Our Nuclear Deterrence?”

Speakers: Susan Koch, research fellow at the National Defense University, and former Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation Paula DeSutter. www.mitchellaerospacepower.org

9:30 a.m. 14th and F Streets N.W. National Desert Storm War Memorial Association releases “Report to America: The Building of the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial 2011-2019.” Speakers: former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater; retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, principal airstrike planner during Operation Desert Storm; retired U.S. ambassador to Kuwait Skip Gnehm; Joe Davis, communications and public affairs director at Veterans of Foreign Wars; Scott Stump, president and CEO of the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association.

10 a.m. 310 Cannon. House Homeland Security Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee hearing on “Artificial Intelligence and Counterterrorism: Possibilities and Limitations.” Witnesses: Ben Buchanan, assistant teaching professor at Georgetown University and senior faculty fellow in the Center for Security and Emerging Technology; Kimberly Glasgow, head of social media analytics in the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; and Alex Stamos, adjunct professor in the Freeman Spogli Institute and program director of the Stanford Internet Observatory. homeland.house.gov

10 a.m. HVC-210 Capitol. House Veterans’ Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on “Learning from Whistleblowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.” Witnesses: Katherine Mitchell, specialty care medicine consultant for the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System; Minu Aghevli, coordinator of Baltimore Veterans Affairs Health Care System’s Opioid Agonist Treatment Program; Jeff Dettbarn, VA federal employee; Rebecca Jones, policy counsel for the Project On Government Oversight; Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project; and Jacqueline Garrick, founder of Whistleblowers of America. veterans.house.gov

11:45 a.m. 1800 M Street N.W. Foundation for the Defense of Democracies forum “Post-Erdoganism? Turkish Politics After the Istanbul Face-Off,” with Aykan Erdemir, senior fellow at FDD; Alan Makovsky, senior fellow for national security at the Center for American Progress; Giran Ozcan, Washington representative of Peoples’ Democratic Party; and Merve Tahiroglu, research analyst at FDD. Moderated by Eric Edelman, senior adviser at FDD. www.fdd.org

3:30 p.m. The White House. President Trump awards the Medal of Honor to former Staff Sgt. David Bellavia for conspicuous gallantry in Iraq on Nov. 10, 2004. www.whitehouse.gov

5 p.m. 1776 I Street N.W. Nuclear Threat Initiative discussion on “Weapons of Mass Destruction and Insider Threats: Who Would Do Such a Thing?” with Ronald Schouten, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Law and Psychiatry Service and associate psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School. www.tfaforms.com

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 26

Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper attends a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday and Thursday. www.nato.int

6:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. Sgt. Major of the Army Daniel Dailey speaks at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare breakfast at AUSA headquarters. www.ausa.org/events

7:30 a.m. 2101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. National Defense Industrial Association discussion on “Congressional Perspectives” with Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and retired Air Force Gen. Hawk Carlisle, president and CEO of NDIA.

8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. National Defense Industrial Association, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Air Force Association, and the Reserve Officers Associationforum on “The United States Air Force Role in Nuclear Modernization and Sustainment,” with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. www.afa.org/events

8:50 a.m. 900 South Orme St. Arlington. Institute for Defense and Government Advancement fourth annual Directed Energy Systems Summit, June 26-28. Speakers: Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., co-chair of the Congressional Directed Energy Caucus; Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-chair of the Directed Energy Caucus; Gary Woltering, deputy chief of the Air Combat Command’s Advanced Weapons Systems Division. www.idga.org/events

11:30 a.m. 1667 K Street N.W. Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments discussion on “Revolution and Aftermath: Forging a New Strategy toward Iran,” with former defense undersecretary for policy Eric Edelman, and co-author Ray Takeyh, senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. csbaonline.org/about/events

11:45 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Hudson Institute discussion, “Maritime Irregular Warfare: Preparing to Meet Hybrid Maritime Threats.” www.hudson.org/events

12 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Defending the Arctic,” focusing on the recent release of the June 2019 Defense Department Arctic strategy and Russian and Chinese influences, with Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee. www.csis.org

THURSDAY | JUNE 27

7:30 a.m. 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Defense One Tech Summit. Final agenda includes Sue Gordon, principal deputy director of national intelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; Henry “Trey” Obering, former director, Missile Defense Agency; William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, ODNI; B. Edwin Wilson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, and more. www.defenseone.com

12 p.m. 385 Russell. Charles Koch Institute and the Center for Strategic Studies discussion on the “Military Intervention Project,” which tracks the use of America’s force since the country’s founding, with Monica Duffy Toft, leader of the project and professor at Tufts University, and Emma Ashford, research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute. www.eventbrite.com

2:30 p.m. 1030 15th Street N.W. Atlantic Council and the NATO Defense College Foundation discussion on “NATO at 70: Refocusing for Change?” Speakers include former secretary of state Madeleine Albright.

FRIDAY | JUNE 28

10:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Should the United States severely restrict Huawei’s business?” with Martijn Rasser, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security’s Technology and National Security Program; Dan David, CIO of FG Alpha Management; Paul Triolo, practice head for geo-technology at the Eurasia Group; and Erin Ennis, senior vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council. www.csis.org

11 a.m. 2301 Constitution Avenue N.W. United States Institute of Peace discussion with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad on helping Iraq recover from ISIS, the plight of the Yazidi people, and stabilization and resilience in the country. Speakers: Kelley Currie, head of the State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice; Knox Thames, special adviser for religious minorities in the Near East and South/Central Asia at the State Department; Stanley Kao, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to the United States; Michael Yaffe, vice president of the USIP Middle East and Africa Center; and Sarhang Hamasaeed, director of the USIP Middle East Programs. www.usip.org/events

2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Brookings Institution discussion with Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the joint chiefs, on “The future of U.S. defense strategy.” www.brookings.edu/events