IT’S NDAA WEEK!: We now officially have the first draft of military priorities for fiscal 2017 that House lawmakers will tweak until the early hours on Thursday morning. Rep. Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, released his mark of the National Defense Authorization Act on Monday. In it, he reversed many of the cuts to ships and aircraft that President Obama made in his budget request.
Some of the numbers: Thornberry authorized nine more Lockheed Martin F-35s than the president’s ask, 14 more Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, three more Lockheed C-130J cargo planes, two more Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys, as well as an additional destroyer and littoral combat ship.
The bill also shoots down the Air Force’s request to pay to develop an entire new space launch system. Instead, Thornberry continues the mandate that funds only be used to design a new rocket to replace the Russian-made RD-180.
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THIS ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE: The Pentagon is still assessing just what North Korea did in the sea off its northeastern coast, but it’s looking like it did indeed pop a ballistic missile out of a submarine, as claimed. The test wasn’t a complete success, but as one senior official told us: “This is something that started as a joke, but has turned into something very serious.”
NOBODY KNOWS: If the nation’s top spymaster doesn’t exactly know the state of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, who does? Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is quoted by DefenseOne, as saying “We don’t really know” if North Korea tested a “boosted” nuclear device this year.
PROFIT WATCH: The big five U.S. defense giants report first quarter profits this week. First up: Lockheed Martin Corp. We’ll have the numbers for you later this morning here.
F-35 SCRUTINY: Lockheed makes the F-35, the much-maligned next-generation multi-role fighter jet. Pentagon officials will defend the program before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 10 this morning, arguing costs are coming down, and early software problems are on track to be corrected.
MORE ON THE MARK UP: The House will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, with the marathon mark up expected to last well into Thursday morning (last year’s ended at 4:39 a.m. after more than 18 hours)
Justin Johnson, an analyst with the Heritage Foundation, told us he expects most fights to be over lawmakers wanting to add to the bill, not strike things from Thornberry’s draft.
“At first blush, I don’t see a ton in the full committee mark that will get the minority that upset,” he said.
Thornberry also said last week he expects fights over the sage grouse, a point of much entertainment to those watching last year’s mark up, to return this year. One reporter called the bird with a funny mating dance the “patron saint of 4am NDAA markups.”
More NDAA details: House staffers said last week that Thornberry would introduce an amendment to cap the size of the National Security Council well below the current number of 400. Sen. John McCain told us on Monday that a similar proposal will “very likely” make its way into his mark on the Senate side as well.
While lawmakers say the proposal would aim to end micromanagement of the Pentagon, it’s already devolved into sniping between the administration and Congress over who needs more staff, Susan Crabtree reports.
“Apparently these lawmakers feel that they should have more national security staffers than the president of the United States,” an administration official told Crabtree. “Indeed, this effort would accomplish little beyond handicapping the next president by depriving that individual of resources needed to respond to an increasingly complex national security landscape.”
Thornberry’s draft could also prevent 6,000 Afghan translators and their families who have already applied to come to the U.S. from doing so. The bill does not add to the total visas to the special program for those who served with U.S. troops, and severely restricts who is eligible.
The military services, meanwhile, would have budget flexibility to try out new technologies, according to Thornberry’s markup of the Pentagon policy bill, Defense News reports. “The language … would allow the services [to] have budget flexibility to ‘experiment with, prototype, and rapidly deploy weapon system components and other technologies’ without requiring those programs be tied to an existing major program.”
FACE TO FACE with Rep. Martha McSally, the first woman to fly in combat after the prohibition for women was lifted in 1991. Watch as McSally shares her journey to Capitol Hill with Lisa Boothe.
IT DEPENDS ON YOUR DEFINITION OF “BOOTS,” “GROUND,” “ON” AND “THE”: Jaws collectively dropped yesterday when State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has never promised there would be no boots on the ground, Pete Kasperowicz reports. “’There was never this “no boots on the ground,'” … Kirby said Monday. ‘I don’t know where this keeps coming from.’ Surprised reporters noted that numerous senior officials, and even Obama himself, have said over and over that there would be ‘no boots’ in Syria.”
Don’t believe it? Here’s the proof, compiled by NBC News.
YOUR HANDY PENTAGONESE-TO-ENGLISH TRANSLATOR: Over at the Pentagon, Kirby’s counterpart Peter Cook was speaking the language of the building in trying to explain the mission of the 250 special operations forces the president announced would be going to Syria, without actually saying what they would be doing, or where they would be doing it. Fortunately, we speak Pentagonese and can translate, here.
Speaking of words, to much fanfare last month, the administration declared that the Islamic State is committing genocide. So now what? Susan Crabtree writes about how nothing has happened since then.
DARPA WANTS IN ON ENCRYPTION: Our Rudy Takala reports that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to develop a mobile messaging program that can be hidden from prying eyes. “In a request for proposals, [DARPA] asked for submissions from contractors aimed at creating ‘a secure messaging and transaction platform’ capable of allowing ‘anyone anywhere the ability to send a secure message or conduct other transactions across multiple channels.’”
WAIT, WHAT? You’d think the U.S. intelligence community wouldn’t be so hot on making sure citizens can text each other without the government seeing it, but you’d be wrong. Takala reports on comments made by Clapper yesterday, saying the community thinks encryption needs to be strong. And it matches comments from other top intel officials. Reason being, if the U.S. weakens encryption or creates backdoors, terrorists will just use foreign messaging services.
DEADLY LISTICLE: And Takala also reports the Islamic State has distributed a “kill list” containing the names of U.S. government personnel at the Pentagon, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security, as well as several other federal agencies.
MORE REFUGEES TO THE U.S.: Paul Bedard reports that Washington and the U.N. are teaming up to find ways to boost the number of Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. from 10,000 to as many as 200,000.
“U.S. officials, meeting with United Nations human rights officials in Geneva, joined in a project that looks to ‘alternative safe pathways’ to setting Syrian refugees in America and Europe that include pushing colleges and universities to offer tuition programs and encouraging Syrians already in the country to open their homes to those who’ve fled the war-torn Middle East nation. The plan already has one victory. Last week, the University of Southern California revealed that it is offering five free tuition programs for Syrian refugees, including one in the school’s journalism program.”
STATE SECRETS: A Republican lawmaker told Takala that the intelligence community is almost certainly assessing how much damage may have been caused from Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to send and store classified emails.
“This is the intelligence community doing its job, just like it does every day, to determine the risk of any breaches and minimize the damage as much as possible,” said Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, who serves on the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
CONGRATS!: Gen. Lori Robinson, who is in line to become the first female leader of a combatant command, was named by Time as one of its top 100 most influential people for 2015-2016, Air Force Times reported.
COOL VIDEO: A video posted to the Facebook page of Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, shows a Russian soldier walking through a testing range in a bomb suit as explosions go off all around her. H/T: Task & Purpose.
THE RUNDOWN
Washington Post: A breakdown of some of the gear U.S. Special Operations forces are using in Syria.
Flightglobal: USMC buys long-lead items for Sikorsky CH-53K production.
Voice of America: What will new US forces do in Syria?
Washington Post: The Pentagon will be required to track military hazing if this legislation passes.
NPR: Meet two of the first female Marines applying for combat infantry.
Washington Post: Naval Academy teacher is removed as sexual misconduct scandal grows
CNN: U.S. sends F-22 warplanes to Romania
CNN: Norway F-16s shoot up control tower
Calendar
WEEK AHEAD
TUESDAY | APRIL 26
8 a.m. 37th and O St. NW. Adm. Michael Rogers, the head of U.S. Cyber Command, delivers a keynote address as part of a day-long cyber engagement conference at Georgetown University. georgetown.edu
8:30 a.m. 101 Constitution Ave. NW. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments unveils a new report titled, “Winning the Salvo Competition: Rebalancing America’s Air and Missile Defenses.”csbaonline.org
10 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s top acquisition chief, along with officials working on the F-35 program will testify on the fiscal 2017 budget for the Joint Strike Fighter. armed-services.senate.gov
11 a.m. Dirksen 106. Maj. Gen. Jeff Newell and Lt. Col. Andy Massie of the Royal Air Force speak about air superiority. mitchellaerospacepower.org
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 27
9 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Stimson hosts a two-day conference on understanding terrorism.stimson.org
10 a.m. Cannon 311. The House Homeland Security Committee hosts a hearing on the Islamic State in Southeast Asia and the threat to the U.S. homeland.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Richard Olson, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the fiscal 2017 budget request. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. The House Armed Services Committee hosts its full committee mark up of the National Defense Authorization Act. armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. 1150 17th St. NW. Analysts will discuss defense in 2017 at an event titled “Confusion among chaos.” aei.org
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 192. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford testifies on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2017 budget request. appropriations.senate.gov
12 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. Donald Trump delivers a foreign policy speech at the National Press Club. press.org
1:30 p.m. 1152 15th St. NW. Journalist Vago Muradian moderates a panel discussion on Army readiness.cnas.org
THURSDAY | APRIL 28
9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford testify on counter-Islamic State operations. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Cannon 311. The House Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing on the implications for states and local communities if Gitmo detainees are brought to the U.S. homeland.house.gov
1:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Analysts talk about the future of U.S. defense and national security partnerships. atlanticcouncil.org
MONDAY | MAY 2
8:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. The Atlantic Council hosts its inaugural Global Strategy Forum, including reports from Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Arati Prabhakar, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Atlanticcouncil.org
