MATTIS VISITS THE DMZ: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made the standard visit to the world’s most militarized border, the Demilitarized Zone, which has divided the two Koreas since 1953. In brief remarks alongside South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, Mattis reiterated the message he has been foot-stomping for months: The U.S. is banking on diplomacy and tough sanctions to convince the North to forsake its nuclear weapons.
“North Korean provocations continue to threaten regional and world peace, and despite the unanimous condemnation by the United Nations Security Council they still proceed,” Mattis said. “As U.S. Secretary of State [Rex] Tillerson has made clear, our goal is not war, but rather the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Speaking at the Panmunjom “truce village,” Mattis noted that while South Korea has a vibrant economy enjoyed by “peace-loving members of free society,” the oppressive regime of Kim Jong Un “shackles its people, denying their freedom, their welfare and human dignity” in the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Song called on North Korea to “stop reckless provocations and come the path of peace and dialogue.”
You can watch the complete remarks here.
AMERICA’S ‘NON-COMBAT’ COMBAT IN AFRICA: While Congress and most Americans were not paying attention, the Trump administration was busily expanding the war against the Islamic State into Africa. While it’s true that U.S. troops, including the ones ambushed in Niger Oct. 4, are under strict orders to avoid combat if possible, it’s also true that their mission objectives closely mirror the “by, with and through” strategy the U.S. has employed to successfully defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The only thing missing is airpower, and that may not be far off. A report by NBC News says that in the wake of the deadly attack on a U.S. special operations advise and assist team, the U.S. is pressing Niger for permission to arm drones already being flown from a base inside the country. Pentagon officials would neither confirm nor deny the report. “We’re not gonna talk about anything that’s pre-decisional,” said Dana White, the Pentagon’s chief civilian spokesperson at a briefing yesterday afternoon. Other officials said they were not aware of plans to arm drones, something they said would not be necessary unless the mission in Niger, in which French forces have the lead, was expanded, something that sources say is not under consideration.
ISIS MOVING TO AFRICA: Following a classified briefing on the Hill yesterday, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee emerged to express a consensus view: ISIS, on the verge of defeat in Iraq and Syria, is trying to set up shop in Africa. “The more we succeed on the Middle East, the more we are going to see the snakes run to Africa and we’ve got to be prepared to advise and assist the nations there that are willing to work with us,” Sen. Thom Tillis said. The U.S. has about 6,000 troops deployed to advise and assist partner countries across the continent, including about 800 in Niger. Sen. Ted Cruz echoed Tillis’ comments. “There is no doubt that there is a rising terrorist threat in West Africa and indeed that threat may be growing with the fall of Mosul, the fall of Raqqa,” Cruz said. “So I have no doubt that there will be a continued need for U.S. military presence in Africa because of the proliferation of radical Islamic terrorists with the stated intention of murdering Americans.”
ON THE OTHER HAND: Earlier in the week Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said there is no exodus of ISIS fighters to Africa, in part because they are surrounded in Syria with no way out. “We don’t see that at all. We don’t see large numbers of fighters coming out of Syria and Iraq,” Dunford said Tuesday. Instead, he says other groups are rebranding themselves as ISIS, and ISIS leaders are trying to leverage that trend. “We see in Africa a number of local insurgencies that rebranded themselves and pledged allegiance to ISIS over the past year.”
QUESTIONS MOUNT ON NIGER: At yesterday’s Pentagon briefing there was a concerted effort not to answer any more questions about the Niger ambush until the investigation is compete. “All of these questions are fair questions, but it is under investigation,” White said. “So we will have more details when we have them.”
White’s co-briefer Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said the Pentagon was just following the orders of Dunford, who wants to avoid putting out constantly shifting narrative as new facts are revealed. “I think the chairman would prefer to provide a single consolidated investigation, rather than drip it out in dribs and drabs from unnamed sources.”
DRIPS, LEAKS AND NEW QUESTIONS: Meanwhile new details continue to dribble out about the attack. McKenzie himself confirmed that investigators are looking into whether the mission changed at some point from what was supposed to be a routine patrol in a relatively benign threat environment. “When the mission was conducted, where we thought contact was unlikely, it’s possible that changed during the mission,” McKenzie said. “We don’t have an answer to that yet.
The New York Times reports the four American soldiers who were killed became separated from their main unit, and were missing when the smoke cleared after the two-hour firefight. French helicopters evacuated the wounded but the four were “left behind, no longer in radio contact and initially considered missing in action by the Pentagon, a status that officials say raises the possibility they were still alive when the helicopters took off without them,” the Times reported.
CNN Correspondent Arwa Damon visited the area, and talked to a unnamed Nigerien soldier who was said to have arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting stopped. The soldier said that when he first encountered the U.S.-Nigerien patrol the day before, the troops appeared to be lightly-armed and wearing t-shirts and baseball caps, not body armor and helmets. “I was surprised that the Americans would go out into the zone with such a light convoy and no air cover, no drones to keep watch over them,” the soldier told CNN.
Asked at yesterday’s briefing if the U.S. troops were wearing body armor, McKenzie said, “I think that’ll be uncovered as part of the investigation. As I stand before you right now, I don’t know the answer to that question.” But he disputed the idea that the troops were ill-equipped or ill-prepared, “Those soldiers were armed for the type of mission they set out to do. In the course of the investigation that’s underway now, we’ll uncover further facts that may shed more light on it.”
CNN also reported that despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the joint U.S.-Nigerien force killed 20 of the attackers
THE SGT. JOHNSON MYSTERY: Senators who emerged from yesterday’s classified Armed Services Committee briefing said the Pentagon still hasn’t concluded what happened to Sgt. La David Johnson and why his body wasn’t found for two days. The fate of Johnson and a firm timeline of the attack remain among the major questions they said were unanswered by an assistant defense secretary and a general with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“I emerged with more questions than answers,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. The briefing came after weeks of public pressure on the Pentagon and the Trump administration to explain how the four soldiers were surprised and killed by the fighters. “Why did it take 48 hours to find Sgt. Johnson? We don’t know that yet and I take it that the guys down there briefing us didn’t know that, that they haven’t drawn that conclusion from [U.S. Africa Command] headquarters,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, a senior member of the committee.
Asked at yesterday’s briefing if the U.S. troops were wearing body armor, McKenzie said, “I think that’ll be uncovered as part of the investigation. As I stand before you right now, I don’t know the answer to that question.”
Good Friday 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.
RAYTHEON 3Q: Missile-maker Raytheon Company is the latest defense contractor to report strong third quarters results, posting sales of $6.3 billion, up 4.5 percent compared to $6 billion in the third quarter 2016. Third quarter earnings per share, a measure of the company’s profitability, was $1.97, up from $1.84 in the third quarter 2016. “We delivered strong bookings and solid operating performance in the third quarter,” said Thomas Kennedy, Raytheon chairman and CEO. In the third quarter 2017, the company repurchased 1.1 million shares of common stock for $200 million, bringing the year-to-date buyback to 4.4 million shares of common stock for $700 million.
NOMINEE LOGJAM BROKEN: In one positive note from the grim Niger briefing, Sen. John McCain came away satisfied with Pentagon transparency for the first time in months and said he would now consider lifting his hold on some of President Trump’s Defense Department nominees. “It’s progress. We expect more, but this is what we’ve been asking for,” McCain said. Just hours after that comment, Senate Republicans announced that John Gibson, the nominee for deputy chief management officer, has been teed up for an expected vote next week. There are 22 pending Trump nominees in the Senate, and 19 of those are awaiting Armed Services hearings. McCain has held up nominees to prod the Pentagon for information about military strategy and operations in Niger, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. “We are certainly talking about that and we’re making progress and I will lift some of those [holds],” McCain said. Gibson’s nomination has languished since the end of July.
McCain would not say whether he will now move the nomination of Mark Esper, a top lobbyist for defense giant Raytheon who is Trump’s pick to be Army secretary. The nomination is the highest position among the 39 out of 57 total Senate-confirmed Pentagon seats that have yet to be filled by the Trump administration. “We are discussing it right now, we just got the [Niger] briefing,” McCain said about Esper’s nomination.
RUSSIA SANCTIONS: The Trump administration on Thursday took a step toward implementing new congressional sanctions against Russia, nearly a month after it was mandated to do so under federal law. State Department officials provided Congress a list of Russian defense and intelligence industry entities that Western companies should avoid working with, pursuant to legislation passed in August and signed by Trump.
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan briefed Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker on the update Thursday afternoon, following criticism from lawmakers who noted the State Department had missed an Oct. 1 implementation deadline. “It took a little bit of time,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Thursday during the press briefing. “The secretary himself said that these are complex matters and we want to get it right.”
McCain and and Sen. Ben Cardin, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a joint statement calling the move “a step in the right direction,” but warning they would watch closely how the sanctions are implemented. “Moving forward, we will closely examine how the administration decides to define ‘significant transaction.’ The guidance allows for notable discretion in this regard as cases arise. We will conduct focused oversight on this issue and stand ready if appropriate and necessary to apply relevant provisions of the sanctions law related to congressional review,” the senators said.
IRAN SANCTIONS: The House has voted to impose new sanctions on entities that help supply Iran’s ballistic missile program. The bill sailed through the House with the help of 323 cosponsors. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce wrote the bill as a way to pressure an aspect of the regime’s military program that has long troubled Western officials but was not addressed directly by the nuclear deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama’s team.
“America will not be weak any longer,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday when the bill was being debated. He said the bill would undermine Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as “the terrorist warriors of Hezbollah whose pockets are filled with Iranian money just as their hands are covered with American blood. This is an important part of our nation’s new Iran strategy.”
IRANIAN COMMANDER: ‘WE WILL STRIKE’: In an interview on Iran’s Al-Alam TV this week, Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, deputy commander in chief of the Iranian army, said if the U.S attacks Iran, “We shall strike at the Americans in any region.” In a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the general said, “We have also determined our tactical doctrine, in the event of an American attack. We have also practiced this in our maneuvers, so that if America decides to attack us, we will be entirely ready to defend ourselves. We are fully aware of the weaknesses of the Americans. This does not mean that if the Americans attack, we will restrict the defense of our homeland to within our borders.”
THE 3 CARRIER MESSAGE: The Pentagon yesterday downplayed the presence of three U.S. aircraft carriers in 7th Fleet as “nothing new,” even though it’s the first time in 10 years it has happened. “It’s been long scheduled,” McKenzie said. On Wednesday, the Navy announced that the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group had entered the 7th Fleet, which covers the eastern half of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. Nimitz joins the Japan-based USS Ronald Reagan on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which arrived this week. “I wouldn’t read anything more to it than it’s just an opportunity to exercise three carrier strike groups together. We always seek to do that when we have an opportunity to do it. It doesn’t come along very often. But it does demonstrate a unique and powerful capability that has a very significant assurance effect on our allies in the Western Pacific.”
Asked to describe the “capability,” McKenzie said, “It would be the capability associated with three aircraft carriers.”
McCAIN LOOKS BACK: McCain says “the honor” of his life was serving alongside the heroes in Vietnam as he looks back on the 50th anniversary of the day his plane was shot down in combat. “Hard to believe 50 years ago today my plane was shot down in Vietnam. The honor of my life was to serve in the company of heroes in Vietnam,” the veteran Republican senator tweeted Thursday.
The tweet was accompanied with a heartfelt video message from those who served alongside McCain on the battlefield and in the Hanoi prison camps, where McCain was held as prisoner of war.
END OF ASSAD? Syrian President Bashar Assad’s days in power remain numbered despite his support from Russia and Iran, Tillerson said. “The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end, and the only issue is how should that be brought about,” Tillerson told reporters in Switzerland.
That’s a sharp difference in tone from a March trip to the Middle East, when Tillerson told reporters in Turkey that Assad’s future would “be decided by the Syrian people.” Tillerson’s latest denunciation of Assad came just days after the liberation of the Islamic State’s capital in Syria.
SARIN USE CONFIRMED: Trump’s top diplomat at the United Nations hailed a report that blamed Assad for the use of chemical weapons, calling it a corroboration of Western assessments and a shame to Assad’s supporters.
“Today’s report confirms what we have long known to be true,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Thursday. “Time and again, we see independent confirmation of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime. And in spite of these independent reports, we still see some countries trying to protect the regime. That must end now.”
That finding comes weeks before the expiration of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, comprising the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, responsible for investigating such incidents in Syria. Russia vetoed a U.S.-led effort to extend the life of the investigative panel, after months of arguing that the deadly April chemical attack may have been staged by terrorists.
“The panel is confident that the Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhun on 4 April 2017,” the report said, according to Agence France-Presse.
REX IS FEELING ALL OF 2017: Tillerson joked Thursday that some days he feels like he needs to “curl up in a ball.” Tillerson, who is in Geneva, made the remark during a visit to the Swiss city when he came upon a sculpture in a park. The sculpture appears to depict two people wrapped in an embrace and curled up to form a ball.
Tillerson is on the last leg of a six-day trip to seven countries. In addition to visiting Switzerland, the secretary of state also traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and India. While in Geneva, the secretary of state met with staff and families at the U.S. mission in Geneva, as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
THE RUNDOWN
Politico: Leaked document shows Tillerson power play
Washington Post: Top U.S. general frustrated with media’s ‘drip, drip, drip’ of details on deadly Niger attack
New York Times: As ISIS is driven from Iraq, Sunnis remain alienated
Military.com: NATO chief says allies concerned about Russian phone jamming
Foreign Policy: U.S. troops are on the ground in Africa, but diplomacy is missing in action
War on the Rocks: Time to step back from the war on terror
Wall Street Journal: U.S., Pakistan spar over fight against terrorism
Defense News: In first, DIUx hands off cyber pilot project to Army
AP: Experts blame Syria for chemical weapons attack in April
USA Today: Is Philippines’ Marawi free from ISIS influence?
UPI: Despite strong Q3 earnings, Boeing hit with $349M loss over Pegasus
Navy Times: Questions about soldier’s remains after Niger attack prompts internal review
Stars and Stripes: U.S. orders more attack planes to boost Afghanistan’s air capability
Reuters: While advising Trump in 2016, ex-CIA chief proposed plan to discredit Turkish cleric
Calendar
FRIDAY | OCT. 27
8 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. Mitchell space breakfast series: U.S. allies in space with Air Vice-Marshal “Rocky” Rochelle, of the Royal Air Force, and Wing Commander Steven Henry, Australian exchange officer at the Defense Department. michellaerospacepower.org
2 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Inclusion in combat and security: A book event with Maj. M.J. Hegar. wilsoncenter.org
2 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Book discussion of “Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America’s Destiny” with authors Brian Kilmeade, co-host of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” and Don Yaeger. heritage.org
3 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. The Syrian-American community will announce its support for initiatives of the interim government. press.org
MONDAY | OCT. 30
5701 Marinelli Rd. IPPM: Future dimensions of integration. ndia.org
9 a.m. 901 N. Stuart St. Microelectronics manufacturing models workshop. ndia.org
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. A conversation on women and girls in Afghanistan with First Lady of Afghanistan Rula Ghani. csis.org
9:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Iraqi public opinion on the rise, fall and future of ISIS. csis.org
11 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Book discussion of “Inside Terrorism” with author Bruce Hoffman. wilsoncenter.org
2 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Russia’s demography: The basis for a prosperous future? atlanticcouncil.org
5 p.m. Dirksen 419. The administration perspective on the Authorizations for the Use of Military Force with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. foreign.senate.gov
5:30 p.m. 1667 K St. NW. Book talk on “Safeguarding Democratic Capitalism: U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security, 1920-2015.” csbaonline.org
TUESDAY | OCT. 31
10 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. A preview of U.S. and Philippine priorities for the 2017 ASEAN and East Asia summits. stimson.org
10:30 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The unfinished business of the 1989 East European revolutions. wilsoncenter.org
WEDNESDAY | NOV. 1
8 a.m. 1550 W. Nursery Rd. Cyber DFARS workshop. ndia.org
9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Open hearing on social media influence in the 2016 U.S. elections. intelligence.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. 1152 15th St. NW. Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Summit with Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, Inc. and the chair of the Defense Innovation Advisory Board. cnas.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. An insider’s look at the North Korean regime with Thae Yong-ho, former deputy chief of mission at the North Korean embassy in the United Kingdom. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2154. Overview of 16 years of involvement in Afghanistan. oversight.house.gov
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Press briefing on President Trump’s trip to Asia. csis.org
10:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. From enemies to partners: Vietnam, the U.S. and Agent Orange. csis.org
2 p.m. House Visitor Center 210. Russia Investigative task force open hearing with social media companies including Kent Walker, general counsel for Google; Colin Stretch, general counsel for Facebook; and Sean Edgett, general counsel for Twitter. intelligence.house.gov
5:30 p.m. 1152 15th St. NW. Screening event for “The Long Road Home” with Rep. Jim Banks, Rep. Ruben Gallego and retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the former Army vice chief of staff. cnas.org
THURSDAY | NOV. 2
10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Trump’s vision for Asia: What to expect from the U.S. presidential visit to the Asia-Pacific region with Kurt Campbell, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. wilsoncenter.org
FRIDAY | NOV. 3
2:30 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. China’s 19th party congress and its implications for China and the United States. wilsoncenter.org
