As Biden touts massive $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan, White House prepares ‘flat’ budget for Pentagon

The White House Office of Management and Budget has promised to release the bare-bones document, which some are calling the “skinny budget,” this week. “I know people love the term ‘skinny budget,’ but it is actually just a discretionary guide,” said White House press secretary Jon Psaki yesterday. “So it should be out soon.”

HICKS LEADING THE EFFORT: The race to put the Biden administration’s imprimatur on the proposed Pentagon budget has fallen to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who’s been on the job just seven weeks.

During her confirmation hearing last month, Hicks said it would require some “hard choices,” given the assumption that defense spending will remain flat. “It would be hard to significantly squeeze the defense budget in light of the threats that we face without that kind of effort together to get to some hard choices.”

A memo Hicks issued after she was sworn in indicated her initial priorities will be shipbuilding, aircraft acquisition, including the F-35, and modernizing the nuclear triad.

At a defense forum this week, Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense for policy, said she expects a major shift away from older “legacy systems” to new technologies, including hypersonic weapons, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

“All of the war games that the Pentagon has done recently, if accurately reported, suggest that the currently programmed force is not going to keep our edge over the next decade,” Flournoy said. “And the reason for that is that we’re overinvested in legacy systems and underinvested in the technologies and capabilities that are going to ensure that those aircraft carriers, those fighter squadrons, those Army units are actually survivable and resilient and able to move, communicate target strike in a much more contested lethal environment where our networks are going to be under constant attack and disruption.”

PROGRESSIVE HIT LIST: Meanwhile, more than 25 progressive national security and taxpayer organizations are calling on Congress to cut more than $80 billion out of the defense budget.

In a letter to the heads of House and Senate appropriations and armed services committees, the groups advocate slashing many high-profile programs, including canceling the B1 bomber, the new replacement ICBM, the Ford-class aircraft carrier, and additional F-35s, as well as eliminating the Space Force, reducing the size of the nuclear triad, and deferring the B-21 long-range stealth bomber.

Earlier this month, a letter signed by 50 Democrats in the House urged Biden to roll back the increases in defense spending under the Trump administration and use the money for “health, housing, education, and jobs.”

The “Defense Spending Reduction Caucus” is led by Rep. Barbara Lee of California and Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.

BEATING BACK DEFENSE CUTS IS THE NO. 1 GOAL OF THE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE’S NEW RANKING MEMBER

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HAPPENING TODAY: Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, Biden’s nominee to head the U.S. Transportation Command, chats with retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula at 1 p.m. at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Aerospace Nation event.

And at 3:30 p.m., Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, takes part in a conference call with reporters in a Defense Writers Group event sponsored by the George Washington University Project for Media and National Security.

AFGHANISTAN COUNTDOWN, DAY 31: As of today, there are 31 days left before U.S. and international troops are scheduled to withdraw fully from Afghanistan under the Feb. 29, 2020, agreement negotiated with the Taliban by the Trump administration.

At the Pentagon yesterday, spokesman John Kirby held the line that President Joe Biden has not yet made a decision about whether to try to pull all 2,500 U.S. troops out of the country, despite the logistical hurdles that would seem to make that impossible.

“The president said himself that it would be tough,” Kirby admitted, “but I would also point you to what the secretary said when we were in Kabul a week or so ago, that if there’s a decision to leave, that he’s confident that Gen. Miller and Gen. McKenzie will be able to do that in a safe, effective, and orderly way.”

THAT WAS QUICK: The newly named “diversity and inclusion chief” at U.S. Special Operations Command has been reassigned, as an investigation begins into his social media posts, reports the Washington Examiner’s Abraham Mahshie.

Among the offending tweets posted by Richard Torres-Estrada was one comparing former President Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler.

“Here I leave this and slowly retire (to continue working from home),” Torres-Estrada tweeted on June 2 with a photo of Hitler holding a book next to a photo of Trump holding the bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, following the controversial June 1 clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square.

“I’m not going to get ahead of the Special Operations Command’s investigation,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “The secretary was made aware by Gen. [Richard] Clarke of their investigation into these social media posts … We certainly want that work to be transparent, to be credible, to be effective and, of course, professional.”

ARCTIC THAW: The Center for a New American Security is out with a new policy brief, “Russia and China in the Arctic: Partners, Competitors, or a Little of Both?” which examines Russia-China relations in the region.

The authors, Jim Townsend and Andrea Kendall-Taylor, conclude the “deepening Sino-Russian partnership in the Arctic will be consequential for the United States as Beijing works with Moscow to improve its military capabilities and as Russia increases its economic reliance on China in ways that may raise Moscow’s willingness to back Beijing’s priorities in other regions and on other issues.”

INDUSTRY WATCH: Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries has been awarded a contract to build a 10th Virginia-class submarine for the U.S. Navy.

“In December 2019, Newport News and teaming partner General Dynamics Electric Boat received a $22 billion contract to build nine Virginia-class submarines. The contract modification, which exercises an option for the last fast-attack submarine of the block, brings the total value of the contract for Newport News to $9.8 billion,” the company said in a news release. “In total, Newport News and Electric Boat have built and delivered 19 Virginia-class submarines. Construction on the 10th submarine of the Block V is expected to begin in early 2024.”

And Austal USA has announced it’s entering the steel shipbuilding market. The company’s shipyard in Alabama, which has specialized in aluminum ship construction, has broken ground on a new steel manufacturing line, which will position the company to start steel production in April 2022, according to a company release.

“This addition of steel capability ensures Austal USA will remain a major contributor to the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base,” the company stated.

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The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Extremism discussions a ‘first step’ as Pentagon wary of policy changes after Capitol riot

Washington Examiner: Special Ops diversity officer quickly reassigned after anti-Trump tweets discovered

Washington Examiner: Blinken orders most State Department staff out of Myanmar

Washington Examiner: Blinken repudiates Pompeo’s human rights commission

Washington Examiner: US and allies question integrity of WHO-China report on coronavirus origin

Washington Examiner: GOP House member tells Blinken ‘China must pay’ for its COVID-19 cover-up

Colorado Springs Gazette: Bipartisan group of senators questions pulling Space Command from Colorado Springs

Air Force Magazine: Navy, Air Force Team on New Fighter as Navy Aims for 50 Percent Robot Jets

USNI News: Navy: NGAD Will be Family of Systems, Super Hornet Replacement Likely a Manned Fighter

Defense News: Top Level Nominees Still Missing At DoD, Three Months After Last Announcements

Washington Post: Two Capitol police officers sue Trump for ‘physical and emotional injuries’ suffered in riots

New York Times: Taliban Believe The War’s Over And They Won

AP: A growing challenge for Iraq: Iran-aligned Shiite militias

Reuters: U.S. Open To Discussing Wider Nuclear Deal Road Map If Iran Wishes

New York Times: After Months Of Inactivity, Fight Restarts In Ukraine

Agence France Presse: Russia Stages Fresh Military Drills In The Arctic

Defense One: New Small Aircraft Carrier Unlikely, Admiral Says As US Navy Begins New Assessment

Stars and Stripes: Army Not Trying To Muscle In On Marine Corps’ Mission In The Pacific, General Says

Military.com: These 4-Stars Want To Help Commanders Avoid Information Overload In The Next War

19fortyfive.com: Why Was An F-35 Stealth Fighter Damaged By Its Own Bullet?

AP: Australia to build guided missiles to boost defense capacity

Washington Post: Opinion: People who put themselves in jeopardy to help U.S. forces are dying in red tape

War on the Rocks: Opinion What to Expect When You’re Expecting NATO in Iraq

Defense One: Opinion: The Suez Grounding Was an Accident. The Next Blocked Chokepoint Might Not Be.

Calendar

WEDNESDAY I MARCH 31

9:50 a.m. — Institute for Defense and Government Advancement virtual Counter Summit: “Update on DOD Counter Small UAS Strategy,” with Nicole Thomas, division chief for strategy and policy in the Army Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Office. https://www.idga.org/events

12:30 p.m. — Hampton Roads World Affairs Council Virtual Symposium virtual panel discussion: “Stronger Together: Perspectives on Strengthening the Alliance,” with the current and three former commanders of Allied Command Transformation, including French Air Force Gen. Andre Lanata; Retired French Air Force Gen. Denis Mercier, retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, and retired Adm. Ed Giambastiani, ACT’s first commander. https://zoom.us/webinar/register

1 p.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Aerospace Nation event with Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, commander of Air Mobility Command and nominee to head the U.S. Transportation Command; and retired Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Video posted afterwards at www.mitchellaerospacepower.org

1 p.m. — Center for Security Policy webinar: “Where is the Biden Administration’s Iran Policy Going?” with Fred Fleitz, president and CEO, Center for Security Policy; Victoria Coates, senior senior fellow, Center for Security Policy; and David Wurmser, director of the Project on Global anti-Semitism and the US-Israel Relationship, Center for Security Policy. https://register.gotowebinar.com/register

1 p.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and Signal Magazine virtual discussion: “The Warfighter Advantage: Shaping Cloud Apps through Operational Monitoring,” with Paul Puckett, director of the Army Enterprise Cloud Management Office; Steve Mazzuca, defense and intel director at Dynatrace; and Kimberly Underwood, senior editor at Signal Magazine. https://www.workcast.com/register

2 p.m. — Defense One webinar: “The Future of Army Modernization,” with Maj. Gen. John Epperly, deputy commanding general of the Army National Guard – U.S. Army Futures Command; and Andrew Hunter, senior fellow of the International Security Program and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group. https://www.defenseone.com/feature/the-future-of-army-modernization

2:30 p.m. — National Iranian American Council webinar: “The Iran Nuclear Deal or No Deal?” with Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association; Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; Barbara Slavin, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; Peter Beinart, professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York; and Jamal Abdi, president of NIAC. https://secure.everyaction.com/

3 p.m. — Blue Star Families panel discussion on military children’s mental health, with Dr. Terry Adirim, acting assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. https://bluestarfam.org/events/

3:30 p.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group Conversation with Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/

THURSDAY | APRIL 1

9 a.m. — Atlantic Council webinar: “Whose Voices Count on Afghanistan? The Politics of Knowledge Production,” with Orzala Nemat, director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit; Bashir Safi, former senior adviser to the Afghan National Security Council; Mariam Safi, co-director of the Afghanistan Mechanism for Inclusive Peace; Obaid Ali, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network; and Sahar Halaimzai, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/whose-voices-count

9:50 a.m. — A Institute for Defense and Government Advancement virtual Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems Summit, with Navy Rear Adm. John Fuller, deputy director for force protection, Joint Chiefs of Staff. https://www.idga.org/events

3 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studiesvirtual book discussion on This is How They Tell Me the World Ends, with author Nicole Perlroth, New York Times cybersecurity reporter. https://www.csis.org/events/how-they-tell-me-world-ends

FRIDAY | APRIL 2

8:30 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies “Space Power Forum” event with Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, U.S. Space Force; and retired Maj. Gen. Larry Stutzriem, director of research at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org

9:50 a.m. — Institute for Defense and Government Advancement virtual Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems Summit, with Spanish Brig. Gen. Enrique Silvela Diaz-Criado, commander of the Spanish Army Air Defense Command. https://www.idga.org/events

MONDAY | APRIL 5

2:30 p.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group conference call conversation with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/