DUNFORD ON THE HOT SEAT: Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appears this morning at 10 before the Senate Armed Services Committee where he is expected to easily win reappointment for another two-year term as the president’s top military adviser. But it’s also a chance for Chairman Sen. John McCain and others to question the chairman over a raft of military issues, including the North Korea threat, spending caps, deadly naval and aviation mishaps and President Trump’s transgender service ban.
New North Korea threats: Senators are likely to pepper Dunford with questions on North Korea following amid an escalating war of words between Trump and Pyongyang. Dunford traveled last month to Asia and held meetings with China, South Korea and Japan. Like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Dunford has continued to push for a diplomatic solution to the growing crisis over the North’s missile and nuclear tests, but also warned during the trip that the U.S. military stands ready to respond if that fails. Armed Services members may want to know if diplomacy is indeed working and know more about those military options.
Looming sequester: Spending caps that are threatening the defense budget in December will also be a priority for Dunford and McCain. Without a deal by Congress, the Budget Control Act is set to hold base spending at $549 billion for 2018, potentially scuttling Trump’s $603 billion request and Senate and House proposals of about $640 billion. Expect Dunford to underscore the concerns of Pentagon leaders, who have ratcheted up warnings this month that budget woes are becoming the biggest threat to overburdened, underfunded forces. Mattis said last week that the caps are “questioning whether or not America has the ability to survive.” Expect McCain to press for details and call for action on Capitol Hill to lift spending limits, citing a spate of Navy, Marine Corps and Army non-combat mishaps that have injured and killed dozens of troops in recent months.
Transgender ban: Democrat committee members such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will also have an opportunity to question Dunford over Trump’s recent order to curb transgender military service. Efforts in Congress to block the move got new momentum this month when McCain and Sen. Jack Reed, the top Armed Services Democrat, signed on as co-sponsors with Gillibrand on a new bill to block Trump’s effort to roll back open transgender service. The senators do not think service should depend on gender. In July, Dunford assured the military that all transgender troops will be treated with dignity and respect as Mattis works toward a February deadline to determine how to implement the new personnel policy.
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RI’S THREAT: North Korea yesterday said it will shoot down U.S. bombers flying in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula in response to Trump’s denunciation of the regime last week. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho justified the threat by summarizing Trump’s comments at the United Nations, and his ensuing tweet that leaders who threaten the United States “won’t be around much longer” as a “declaration of war.” And Ri called on the U.N. to recognize North Korea’s right to self-defense.
“Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make counter measures, including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers, even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” Ri told reporters through a translator in New York City. “The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
Ri’s latest threat seemed to target such concerns. “For the last few days, the United Nations and the international society sincerely wished that the war of words between the DPRK and the United States does not turn into real actions,” he said. “Trump claimed that our leadership wouldn’t be around much longer and hence at last he declared a war on our country.”
PENTAGON RESPONDS: A Pentagon spokesman responded yesterday, saying the U.S. military won’t abandon show-of-force flights or any other military options on or near the Korean Peninsula. “In conjunction with our iron-clad alliance with Korea and Japan, we plan on ensuring that all options are on the table to make sure we safeguard our allies and partners and our homeland,” Col. Rob Manning said when questioned about plans to continue such flights.
The aircraft, which were B-1B bombers and F-15 fighters, flew over international waters where the United States has a right to operate, Manning said. “That operation was conducted in international airspace over international waters, so we have the right to fly, sail and operate and we’re legally permissible around the globe,” he said.
The mission was “unilateral,” but the U.S. did notify both South Korea and Japan, Manning said.
THEN THE WHITE HOUSE: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed Ri’s comments. “We’ve not declared war on North Korea,” Sanders said during Monday’s White House press briefing. “Frankly, the suggestion of that is absurd.”
But could they shoot our planes down? Foreign Policy is out with a piece explaining that their surface-to-air missiles probably don’t have the range to pose much of a risk to U.S. flights.
DID THE NORTH MISS IT? South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency quotes lawmakers who note that the North may not have detected the bombers, based on their lack of military response.
“We [lawmakers] heard [from the National Intelligence Service] that as the flight was close to midnight, the North might have not anticipated it at all, or the North might have been unable to take action as its radar or other systems could not clearly detect it,” said Lee Cheol-woo, the chief of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee. That lack of response could mean that its radars are experiencing some sort of electrical shortage, they say.
LITERALLY FAKE NEWS: Video footage published Friday by Iranian state news outlets that supposedly showed the successful launch of a medium-range ballistic missile is several months old and from a failed missile launch in January. The footage released by Iranian state television Friday prompted a tweet from Trump, who days earlier criticized Iran during his maiden address to the United Nations and called Iran nuclear deal an “embarrassment” to the U.S.
“Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel,” Trump tweeted Saturday. “They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!”
But two U.S. officials told Fox News the launch never occurred. Rather, the footage from Iranian state media dated back to a failed missile test that occurred in January.
LISTENING TO INDIA: Mattis is meeting today with India’s newly appointed defense minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. Afghanistan will be a topic of discussion, but Mattis said he was waiting to see whether maritime security in the South China Sea, a priority of the Obama administration and his predecessor Ash Carter, would play a prominent role in the talks. “This is my first visit to India, my first visit with my counterpart, first Cabinet official from this Cabinet to go to India to visit. The first thing I need to do is listen to them, and what are their needs,” he told reporters on the flight Monday. “What are their interests? And look to see where our interests converge, where they overlap.”
The Associated Press reports that those talks could involve a possible deal to sell fighter jets to India. Those could include F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin or F/A-18 Super Hornets from Boeing.
HOW TO SHOOT DOWN A QUESTION: Mattis was also asked by a reporter on the India trip to weigh in on the growing national controversy after Trump suggested NFL players should be fired for taking a knee during the national anthem. But his response was more like a verbal stiff arm.
Reporter: Do you have anything to say about the NFL being someone who has served in the military?
Mattis: I’m the secretary of defense. We defend the country.
VETERANS PILE ON NFL BACKLASH: The country’s biggest veteran service organizations were much less cautious in dealing with the controversy after players across the NFL protested during the “Star-Spangled Banner” at games on Sunday. Denise Rohan, the commander of the American Legion, called the athletes “misguided and ungrateful” and said “having a right to do something does not make it the right thing to do.” The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Keith Harman, also took a hard jab and said, “Wearing team jerseys and using sporting events to disrespect our country doesn’t wash with millions of military veterans who have and continue to wear real uniforms on real battlefields around the globe.”
Alejandro Villanueva, a Pittsburgh Steelers player and former Army Ranger, stood on the field alone as all of his teammates stayed in the locker room. He later said that wasn’t intentional and apologized for making it look as though he was separating himself from his team.
COLLISION FALLOUT: The leader of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet has announced last night that he plans to retire after learning that he won’t be nominated to succeed his boss as head of Pacific Command. The move comes as the Navy continues to reel from the two deadly destroyer collisions this summer.
Adm. Scott Swift, head of the Pacific Fleet, will not replace Adm. Harry Harris as the top officer in the Pacific. Swift said in a statement that he had been informed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson that he would not be moving up. “In keeping with tradition and in loyalty to the Navy, I have submitted my request to retire,” Swift said in a statement Monday evening. “I do so with great appreciation and gratitude for the honor of having served so many Sailors and their families for what will be 40 years in January.”
DISASTER OF A RESPONSE? The Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Maria’s devastating in Puerto Rico has been an inadequate “disgrace,” according to Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “A territory of 3.5 million American citizens is almost completely without power, water, food and telephone service, and we have a handful of helicopters involved in DOD’s response,” Smith said in a statement. Trump should appoint a three-star general to lead the effort, he said.
Not surprisingly, the Pentagon painted a different picture of its around-the-clock response, saying it had used the ships and aircraft of the USS Kearsarge amphibious ready group to conduct 123 airlifts and deliver over 11 tons of supplies to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands so far. Additional personnel and eight Black Hawks were headed to San Juan airport as the Navy and Marines cleared roads, helped reopen the port at San Juan, conducted search-and-rescue flights, and delivered generators. In all, the Pentagon said it had about 2,600 personnel in the Caribbean on Monday.
FIRST FEMALE IOC GRADUATE: The Marine Corps released two videos Monday highlighting the first woman to graduate its Infantry Officer Course. At the request of the officer, the Marines are not releasing her name. She can be seen and heard participating in the course’s final exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
The graduation was Monday at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va. The course began with 131 Marines, only 88 made it. Watch the videos here.
TWITTER SPEAKS: Twitter didn’t take down Trump’s tweet saying North Korean leaders “wouldn’t be around much longer” if it continued provocative statements because it’s newsworthy and in the public interest. The company tweeted a statement yesterday about why it didn’t remove Trump’s tweet from late Saturday night warning North Korean diplomats to temper their statements.
That statement led North Korea’s foreign minister to say the United States has declared war on North Korea and the Hermit Kingdom will shoot down bombers flying near the country. Twitter said Trump’s tweet didn’t meet the conditions to be removed.
“Some of you have been asking why we haven’t taken down the Tweet mentioned here,” Twitter wrote in a statement posted to @Policy, linking to an NPR story about the tweet.
“We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules. Among the considerations is ‘newsworthiness’ and whether a Tweet is of public interest. This has long been internal policy and we’ll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will.”
THE RUNDOWN
Wall Street Journal: U.S. to Curb Russian Military Flights Over American Territory
New York Times: Russia committed ‘grave’ rights abuses in Crimea, U.N. says
Wall Street Journal: Iraqi Kurds vote in independence referendum
Fox News: Surveillance program had 106,000 foreign targets in 2016, officials say
Roll Call: On North Korea, some lawmakers see scattershot Trump approach
Navy Times: Canada recognizes Chelsea Manning as a traitor, won’t let her into the country
Foreign Policy: California is already preparing for a North Korean nuclear attack
Defense News: Israeli lawmakers: F-35 get is fine, but must ‘meticulously assess’ follow-on buys
AP: Accused leaker asking again for pre-trial release from jail
Calendar
TUESDAY | SEPT. 26
9 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Transatlantic forum on strategic communications and digital disinformation with Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Andrea Thompson, national security adviser to the vice president, and Ambassador Tacan Ildem, assistant secretary general at NATO. atlanticcouncil.org
10 a.m. Hart 216. Hearing on the reappointment of Gen. Joseph Dunford to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Redesign of the State Department with John Sullivan, deputy secretary of state. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 419. Managing security assistance to support foreign policy with Tina Kaidanow, acting assistant secretary of state; Thomas Harvey III, acting assistant defense secretary; and Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. foreign.senate.gov
4 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Book discussion on “Why Wilson Matters: The Origin of American Liberal Internationalism and Its Crisis Today” with author Tony Smith. wilsoncenter.org
5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Bob Schieffer series: North Korea and the next steps. csis.org
WEDNESDAY | SEPT. 27
8 a.m. 2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy. Integrated Air and Missile Defense Conference with Brig. Gen. Tim Lawson, deputy commanding general for U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. airmissiledefenseevent.iqpc.com
8:15 a.m. 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW. 2017 Women in Defense National Conference with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson; Gen. Lori Robinson, head of U.S. Northern Command; Leda Chong, senior vice president at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.; and Sharon Dunbar, vice president at General Dynamics Mission Systems. womenindefense.net
9 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Europe’s pressure points. aei.org
10 a.m. Dirksen 342. Full committee hearing on threats to the homeland. hsgac.senate.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Joint subcommittee hearing on the president’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget request for Afghanistan and Pakistan. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Rayburn 2212. Hearing on the strategy for modernizing the Army’s tactical network with Lt Gen. Bruce Crawford, Army deputy chief of staff; Maj. Gen. James Mingus, director of the Mission Command Center of Excellence at the Army Combined Arms Center; and Gary Martin, program executive officer for Army Control and Communications-Tactical. armedservices.house.gov
2:15 p.m. Dirksen 419. Hearing on the nominations of Richard Duke Buchan III to be ambassador to Spain, Richard Grenell to be ambassador to Germany, and Edward T. McMullen, Jr. to be ambassador to Liechtenstein. foreign.senate.gov
2:30 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Burma’s brutal campaign against the Rohingya. foreignaffairs.house.gov
4:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Debate on the future of the INF treaty. csis.org
THURSDAY | SEPT. 28
8 a.m. 2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy. Integrated Air and Missile Defense Conference with Rear Adm. Jon Hill, deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency. airmissiledefenseevent.iqpc.com
9 a.m. House Visitor Center 210. Full committee hearing on document production. intelligence.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Committee markup of eight bills. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Assessing the defense industrial base with Jerry McGinn, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense. heritage.org
FRIDAY | SEPT. 29
8 a.m. 2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy. Integrated Air and Missile Defense Conference with Brig. Gen. Sean Gainey, commanding general of the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. airmissiledefenseevent.iqpc.com
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Global hotspots and security challenges: A conversation with Sen. Joni Ernst. csis.org
10 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. What the new Russia sanctions law does and how to make it work. atlanticcouncil.org
12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. A conversation with Sen. Jack Reed. cfr.org
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Strengthening the federal government’s cyber defenses with Rep. Will Hurd and Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. csis.org
3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. A panel discussion with veterans and experts on Ken Burns‘ “The Vietnam War.” csis.org
MONDAY | OCT. 2
10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Public opinion on “America First” with Rep. Mike Gallagher. wilsoncenter.org
6 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Realism and democracy: American foreign policy after the Arab Spring. cfr.org
TUESDAY | OCT. 3
9:30 a.m. Dirksen 342. Nomination of John M. Mitnick to be general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. hsgac.senate.gov
10 a.m. Capitol Visitor Center. Issue brief launch on Ukraine’s internally displaced persons holding a key to peace with Rep. Marcy Kaptur. atlanticcouncil.org
10 a.m. House Visitor Center 210. Examining the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity mission. homeland.house.gov
