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‘POISON PILL’ WARNING: Senators passed two amendments Monday and two are slated for votes today as the chamber continues to debate a minibus spending bill that includes defense appropriations for fiscal 2019. The chamber is looking to plow through even more amendments in the coming days. That is, as long as disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over which amendments get votes does not blow up the possibility. “I hope with consent we’ll be able to vote on more amendments this week, and then I look forward to passing this legislation for our service members and for middle-class families across our country,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Passage of the defense legislation, which includes $675 billion for the Pentagon, would give a House and Senate conference committee weeks to negotiate a final bill before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. It is enough time to provide the military its annual funding and avoid the stopgap continuing resolutions that have become the bane of Pentagon planners in past years. But the minibus spending bills can be a magnet for potentially divisive amendments. Sen. Mark Warner introduced one Monday that would block President Trump from stripping security clearances from ex-officials such as CIA Director John Brennan. Sen. Richard Shelby, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, warned that pushes for “poison pill” amendments scuttled on-time budgets in the past and could snarl debate on this one too. “There are reasons to believe that this year will be a different year, that we will produce a different outcome,” Shelby said. “I hope my optimism is not misplaced. The stakes are simply too high. We have a lot to do this week, but we can do it.” MONEY FOR NORTH KOREA REMAINS: One of the amendments added to the Pentagon appropriations legislation so far shifts $10 million to help identify U.S. troops among the 55 boxes of remains turned over by North Korea this month. It was sponsored by Sen. Deb Fischer, a Senate Armed Services subcommittee chairwoman, and Sen. Tammy Baldwin. The money will go to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency as it begins DNA testing and analysis of the bones and bits of uniforms that were handed over by North Korea. “For the families of those who are lost, this is a long-awaited opportunity to gain closure and to give their loved ones the respectful, dignified remembrance that they deserve,” Fischer said on the Senate floor. LCS AMENDMENT: Senators have filed dozens of proposed amendments to the minibus bill since last week, including one that adds to the debate over the Navy’s purchase of littoral combat ships. Baldwin is proposing an additional $437 million to add a third LCS to the service’s budget in 2019. The amendment was filed after the White House objected to the Senate defense appropriations bill’s plans to fund two of the ships. Baldwin’s state of Wisconsin is home to the Marinette shipyard where Lockheed Martin builds its single hull, Freedom-class LCS. The shipyard and another in Alabama where Austal USA builds the trimaran Independence-class LCS warned of layoffs after the Navy asked for just a single ship in 2019. Here are some of the other amendments that have been filed:
Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense. |
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HAPPENING TODAY — DOD NOMINEES: With the Senate still in session during August, the Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing this morning at 9:30 to consider Pentagon nominees. Its last nominee hearing was at the end of June. Here are the nominees who will testify today:
ROCKET ATTACK IN KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was delivering his holiday message for the Muslim celebrations of Eid al-Adha today when a volley of rockets was launched into the super secure area of the capital city that includes the presidential palace. The U.S. military reported 30 mortar rounds were fired from two separate but nearby locations by nine insurgents. “Afghan forces responded swiftly to the attack with coordinated combined arms, which speaks to growing capabilities of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces under the NATO-led Resolute Support train, advise and assist mission,” said Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a U.S. military spokesman, in an email this morning. “Afghan police cordoned off the area, while MD-530 helicopters from the Afghan Air Force destroyed one firing position and Afghan Special Security Forces destroyed the other. In total, four of the nine insurgents were killed. The other five insurgents surrendered to Afghan forces.” Ghani, who was in the middle of a live broadcast, acknowledged the sound of the rockets. “If they are thinking the rocket attack will keep Afghans down, they are wrong.” No one was hurt in the attack, which came a day after Ghani offered a conditional two-month ceasefire to the Taliban to coincide with the Muslim holiday. WHAT DIFFERENCE DID A YEAR MAKE? Today marks the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s announcement of his new strategy in Afghanistan, in which he promised to end micromanagement from Washington and give U.S. commanders “the necessary tools and rules of engagement to make this strategy work, and work effectively, and work quickly.” One year later, while there are signs many of the Afghan people are war-weary and ready for peace, there have been few signs that the strategy has succeeded in its main goal, to convince the Taliban they can’t win, and must negotiate for peace. Trump admitted a year ago he was going against his gut. “My original instinct was to pull out. And historically, I like following my instincts,” he said. Pentagon officials privately worry Trump might grow impatient with the strategy and pull the plug. CHANGE OF COMMAND: Tomorrow, Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, will give his final briefing from Kabul to reporters at the Pentagon. Nicholson, who said last year that Trump’s policy was a “game-changer” and that the U.S. and its Afghan partners had “turned a corner,” will no doubt accentuate the positive. He will say that while the Taliban have mounted attacks, they can’t hold new ground. He will say the Afghan forces are now more capable than ever, and backed by their own fledgling air forces. And he’ll talk about the rise of a peace movement, the fragile ceasefire and the prospect of successful parliamentary elections. Next month, Nicholson turns over the Afghan mission to Army Lt. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, a former Delta Force commander and head of Joint Special Operations Command. At his Senate confirmation hearing in June, Miller said he couldn’t guarantee a timeline, an end date or even a turning point to the 17-year-old war. “I know that going into this position,” he said. UNDER REVIEW: In an interview with the Reuters news agency yesterday, Trump said he is keeping close tabs on what’s happening in Afghanistan, as well as Iraq and Syria. “I’m constantly reviewing Afghanistan and the whole Middle East. We never should have been in the Middle East. It was the single greatest mistake in the history of our country,” Trump said. He denied he’s considering replacing U.S. troops in Afghanistan with private contractors, as advocated by the founder of Blackwater. “I’m not reviewing an Erik Prince plan,” he said. TRUMP THINKS HE’LL MEET KIM AGAIN: In his interview with Reuters yesterday, Trump said he’s done more to solve the North Korean problem in three months that his predecessors have in 30 years. “I stopped nuclear testing. I stopped missile testing. Japan is thrilled. What’s going to happen? Who knows? We’re going to see,” he said. Trump told three Reuters reporters in the Oval Office yesterday that he expects to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, but didn’t say where or when. “I don’t want to comment on that, but it’s most likely we will,” he said. And he again credited his “great chemistry” for lowering the threat from the North Korean nukes. “I like him. He likes me. There’s no ballistic missiles going up, there’s a lot of silence. … I have very good personal relations with Chairman Kim, and I think that’s what holds it together.” IRAN’S PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI, NOT SO MUCH: “I didn’t say I would meet. … If he wants to meet, fine. If he doesn’t want to meet, I could not care less. … But I have not asked to meet.” LIFTING SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA: Asked if he might lift sanctions against Russia, Trump first ruled it out, and then ruled it in. “No. I haven’t thought about it. But no, I’m not considering it at all. No,” he said. But in the next breath he said he would consider it “if they do something that would be good for us. “In other words, I wouldn’t consider it, even for a moment, unless something was go — we have a lot of things in common. We have a lot of things we can do good for each other. You have Syria. You have Ukraine. You have many other things. I think they would like economic development. And that’s a big thing for them.” MORE SANCTIONS, NOT FEWER: Meanwhile the Senate is holding simultaneous hearings today on the relationship between the United States and Russia as it weighs a possible sanctions bill aimed a cracking down on election interference. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will interview State and Treasury department officials about U.S.-Russia relations, while the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a separate hearing on the effectiveness of Russia sanctions and “potential next steps” for dealing with the country. MORE RUSSIAN SUBTERFUGE: Microsoft says it’s discovered new Russian hacking attempts targeting the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute, two conservative think tanks, as well as three other fake domains that looked like official U.S. Senate websites. The company says the sites appear tied to the Russian government, and were set up over the past few months. Microsoft says it has taken the fake sites down. The Washington Post was the first to report the story. “The effort by the notorious APT28 hacking group, which has been publicly linked to a Russian intelligence agency and actively interfered in the 2016 presidential election, underscores the aggressive role Russian operatives are playing ahead of the midterm congressional elections in the United States.” UK CARRIER MEETS F-35s: The Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is set to meet up with two U.S. F-35 joint strike fighters for landing trials, the British embassy said Monday. “As a critical step towards delivering the UK’s new Carrier Strike Group, this deployment demonstrates the astonishing collaborative effort that will enable the new F-35 jets to fly routinely from our Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers,” Commander Andrew Betton, who will take the helm of UK Carrier Strike Group, said in the statement. The UK just received its first F-35 jets in June. The two test aircraft, which are the F-35B short-takeoff-vertical-landing variant, will be flown out of Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. They will conduct 500 takeoffs and landings during an 11-week period at sea. CRUISER CONTRACT: Defense contractor BAE Systems won a $146 million contract for work on the USS Gettysburg, part of a class of guided-missile cruisers whose weapons and computer systems are undergoing upgrades to ensure they reach their 35-year service life. Work on the Gettysburg, which will be performed at London-based BAE’s shipyard in Norfolk, Va., is scheduled for completion by 2020, and includes maintenance, modernization and repair, the Department of Defense said in a statement on Monday. The contract includes options that could bring its total value to $151.3 million. BOMB-MAKER KILLED: Al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri was killed in a 2017 U.S. drone strike in Yemen, U.S. officials believe. CBS reported Monday that al-Asiri was killed in a drone strike in Yemen last year. The United Nations released a report last week claiming al-Asiri might have been killed in the latter portion of 2017. CHINA’S HARSH WORDS: Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to NASA headquarters drew an angry rebuke from the Chinese government, which accused the United States of jeopardizing international relations by aiding “separatist forces” on the island. “The Taiwan separatist forces should not be aided nor have any space on the international stage,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during his Monday press briefing. AMBIEN OR AMBUSH? Pentagon reporters were scratching their heads over something Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reportedly said according to the official Pentagon transcript. Asked about Trump’s abrupt cancelation of his military parade, Mattis was quoted as saying, “I’ve been since last night. I missed having had a chance to review anything. I want to confess, the first time I’ve been up this late in the day without it, knowing I might have to be ready for an Ambien.” Ready for an Ambien? After reporters asked for a clarification at yesterday’s off-camera briefing by Col. Rob Manning, at which other complaints were lodged about inaccuracies in the Pentagon transcripts, the Press Office went back and reviewed the audio and revised the transcript. What Mattis actually said was: “I’ve been busy since last night on this. I haven’t had a chance to read the Early Bird today, Bob, I confess, the first time I went this late in the day without it, knowing I might have to be ready for an ambush, you know?” More importantly, yesterday we quoted the transcript with Mattis saying, “I missed having had a chance to review anything.” In fact, he said, “I haven’t had a chance to read the Early Bird today.” That’s a significant difference. The former indicates he was out of the loop. The latter indicated he was so busy he didn’t read the daily press clippings. At yesterday’s briefing, Manning said inaccuracies in the transcript reflect poorly on him, and promised to come up with a way to ensure more quality control. “You should have absolute confidence in the transcript, and the fact that there has been a slow degradation in the quality is clearly my responsibility,” Manning said. THE RUNDOWN Defense One: Someone Is Waging a Secret War to Undermine the Pentagon’s Huge Cloud Contract New York Times: U.S. Criticism of ‘Suspected’ Nuclear Sites May Derail Talks, North Korean Media Warns Roll Call: Brennan Fracas Could Rip Through Senate’s Defense Spending Debate Reuters: Trump vows ‘no concessions’ with Turkey over detained U.S. pastor Defense News: Lockheed Martin poised to be hypersonic powerhouse Breaking Defense: Army Takes Its Radio Network Commercial Daily Beast: C.J. Chivers Vividly Chronicles Bloody Missions of Misadventure in Iraq Defense One: The US Will Spend Billions in Syria—Just Not on Rebuilding It Military Times: Commence jealousy — the Royal Navy just opened a pub on its prized new carrier Task and Purpose: An Australian Exercise Showed Us What Light Aircraft In Support Marine Ospreys Looks Like |
CalendarTUESDAY | AUG. 21 7 a.m. 801 Mt. Vernon Pl. NW. Army Science and Technology Symposium and Showcase with Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James McConville. ndia.org 9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Committee Hearing on Nominations: Alan Shaffer to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; Veronica Daigle to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management; Casey Wardynski to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs; and Alex Beehler, to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy, Installations, and Environment. armed-services.senate.gov 10 a.m. Webcast only. A Speech and Q&A by United Kingdom Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt on Foreign Policy. usip.org 10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Full Committee Hearing U.S.- Russia Relations. foreign.senate.gov WEDNESDAY | AUG. 22 7 a.m. 801 Mt. Vernon Pl. Army Science and Technology Symposium and Showcase with Mary Miller, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. ndia.org 10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Reimagining the U.S.-South Korea Alliance. brookings.edu 10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. US-Turkey Relations in Crisis: Where Are We Headed? wilsoncenter.org 4 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. The Challenge of Cyber Strategy with Lt. Gen. Loretta Reynolds, Deputy Commandant for Information at Marine Corps Forces Cyber Command, and Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, Deputy Commander of U.S. Cyber Command. atlanticcouncil.org THURSDAY | AUG. 23 2 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Afghanistan: 17 Years On. hudson.org MONDAY | AUG. 27 8 a.m. 2121 Crystal Dr. Electronics Division Meeting. ndia.org 1 p.m. 2101 Wilson Blvd. Industry Dialogue – Shay Assad, Director of Defense Pricing, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. ndia.org 1 p.m. 5000 Seminary Rd. iFest 2018. ndia.org TUESDAY | AUG. 28 8 a.m. 2121 Crystal Dr. Electronics Division Meeting. ndia.org
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