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ON THE AGENDA — IRAN, NORTH KOREA, CHINA, RUSSIA: President Trump is in New York this morning as he prepares to assert his “America first” policy in a series of events at the United Nations, including delivering an address to the world body tomorrow and chairing a session of the Security Council Wednesday. In his General Assembly speech, Trump “will talk a lot about American sovereignty, how that fits into America’s place in the world as a whole,” national security adviser John Bolton said on Fox yesterday. At the Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Trump will contrast the way he is dealing with the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran. “Very important to show how different his handling of those is because of the different circumstances,” Bolton said. ON NORTH KOREA: This morning, Trump will take part in a relatively noncontroversial “call for action” to deal with the opioid crisis. This afternoon, the president meets at Trump tower with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who will brief Trump on the latest inter-Korean summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Moon is expected to relay Kim’s desire for some sort of formal declaration ending the 1950-1953 Korean War. That would be a major concession especially considering North Korea has yet to declare or give up a single missile or nuclear weapon. On Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. will keep the pressure on North Korea until it takes verifiable, irreversible steps toward denuclearization. “Everybody’s got their own idea of what a concession might be. Some thought it was a concession for President Trump to go to Singapore. I certainly didn’t think so. President Trump doesn’t,” Pompeo said. “But what we’ve made clear is the economic sanctions, the driving force to achieve the outcome we’re looking for, will not be released. The U.N. Security Council will not reduce those sanctions until such time as we’ve achieved that final denuclearization.” ON IRAN: On NBC yesterday, Pompeo held out the prospect that Trump could talk to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, but then just as quickly dismissed the idea as unlikely. “I think the president’s been clear … he is happy to talk with folks at any time,” Pompeo told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “If there is constructive dialogue to be had, let’s get after it.” But don’t hold your breath. “It doesn’t seem likely. Their behavior wouldn’t indicate any intention to change the fundamental challenge that Iran presents to the world,” Pompeo said. “Trump’s offer of direct talks with Iran is not honest or genuine,” Rouhani wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Post yesterday. “How can we be convinced of his sincerity while his secretary of state has gone so far as to set a long list of openly insulting pre-conditions for talks? Worse still, how can we trust the U.S. government now that it has officially reneged on its international commitments?” Over on Fox, Pompeo said Rouhani is not the person to talk to if Trump wants to have a real engagement with Iran over the flawed nuclear deal. “The leader of the country is Ayatollah Khamenei. That’s who’s running the show in Iran. I think that would be an important and interesting conversation,” Pompeo said. “But make no mistake about it, there’s no indication that they have any intent of doing this.” ON CHINA: Trump is also expected to challenge China on both trade and its military expansionism. On Fox yesterday, Bolton said China is creating new facts on the ground by building and militarizing artificial islands. “They talk in the Middle East about ‘creating facts on the ground’ in the Israel-Palestinian issue,” Bolton said. “China’s creating the ground in the South China Sea and putting more facts on top of it. It’s very dangerous, very aggressive, something that the administration has confronted.” On Fox, Pompeo said China has been waging a trade war against the United State for years. “To the extent one wants to call this a trade war, we are determined to win it,” he said. “We’re going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power, a global power, transparency, rule of law, you don’t steal intellectual property, the fundamental principles of trade around the world, fairness, reciprocity.” ON RUSSIA: Pompeo said the United States is willing to confront Russia if it plays any role in the use of chemical weapons in Syria. “We’ve sanctioned Russia for a chemical, biological weapons use,” Pompeo said. “The president is deadly serious to make sure that chemical weapons don’t become the norm in the way nations act around the world.” In a separate interview, Bolton again issued a warning to Syria’s Bashar Assad. “If Syria uses chemical weapons again, in Idlib or anywhere else, they will face a third response militarily from the United States. And it will not be small, because we want to make it clear that we expect this is never going to happen again.” Russia and Turkey are working to establish a demilitarized zone in the north to head off a massacre of opposition forces and a humanitarian crisis. “The president was very clear. He expects that Syria is not going to engage in a brutal invasion of Idlib province,” Bolton said. BREAKING THIS MORNING: “Russia announced Monday that it will supply the Syrian government with modern S-300 missile defense systems following last week’s downing of a Russian plane by Syria, a friendly fire incident that sent regional tensions over the war-torn country soaring,” the AP reports. Good Monday 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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FINAL VOTE ON DEFENSE BILL: Congress is set to put the Pentagon’s annual funding bill on Trump’s desk by the end of the week. The House Rules Committee holds a hearing tomorrow evening on the $674 billion appropriations and will tee it up for a final vote as early as Wednesday. The bill must be signed into law by Trump by Sept. 30 or the Pentagon will face another stopgap continuing resolution, though that appears unlikely. The president has indicated he plans to sign the bill, which provides a $20 billion boost in funding compared to this year. It also hikes the number of F-35 joint strike fighters and Navy littoral combat ships that the Pentagon requested. KOREA COMMANDER HEARING: As the U.S. negotiates with North Korea, the Senate Armed Services Committee is set to consider a new Army general to head U.S. forces on the Korean peninsula. Gen. Robert “Abe” Abrams, head of Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., will testify in a committee hearing Tuesday on his nomination to command U.S. Forces Korea and two other key military commands in South Korea. The committee will also consider the nomination of Vice Adm. Craig Faller to head U.S. Southern Command. Abrams was thrust briefly into the public spotlight this year during the court-martial of Bowe Bergdahl. He was the convening authority and in June approved Bergdahl’s sentence of a demotion in rank, fine and a dishonorable discharge. Senators may also ask, at least in passing, about his father Gen. Creighton Abrams, who commanded U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, managed a drawdown during the latter period of that war, and was serving as Army chief of staff when he died in 1974. TRUMP SIGNS WARHEAD FUNDING: The Pentagon now has $65 million to develop a new low-yield nuclear warhead after Trump signed a minibus spending bill on Friday that includes the funding. The W76-2 warhead will be placed on ballistic missiles fired by submarines and is envisioned as a deterrent to Russia using its own tactical nuclear weapons. Democrats introduced legislation last week that aims to ban the warhead, but it is unlikely to gain any traction as long as Republicans control both chambers of Congress. The minibus bill includes nuclear weapons funding as well as billions for military construction projects. “This bill also includes $15 billion for the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Weapons Security program, which is so important, to modernize our nuclear arsenal and keep the deadliest weapons from falling into the wrong hands,” Trump said during a signing ceremony in Las Vegas. SEX ASSAULTS BY BASE: After pressure from senators, Rand has publicly released a study for the Pentagon looking at the number of sexual assaults ranked by military installation. The data is already four years old but shows that six large bases — nearly all Army installations — were estimated by Rand to have had more than 500 sex assaults among both men and women during fiscal 2014. Release of the politically charged data had been delayed by the Pentagon as it questioned the methodology, but Senate Armed Services Committee members Joni Ernst and Kirsten Gillibrand pushed for it to be made public, according to USA Today. “This deeply troubling report confirms what thousands of military sexual assault survivors already knew: that military sexual assault is still pervasive, and the Pentagon isn’t doing nearly enough to stop it,” Gillibrand said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “The Pentagon should have released this report much sooner, but now that they have finally made this important analysis public, they have an obligation to take these findings seriously and do everything they can to end sexual assault in our military.” THE LIST: Here are the bases listed by Rand to have the largest number of estimated sex assaults of both women and men during fiscal 2014:
BLINDSIDED CONFIRMED: In the months after Trump ordered by tweet a ban on transgender troops last summer, it became clear that the Pentagon was taken entirely by surprise by the president’s pronouncement. Now internal emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group, confirm that senior DoD officials had no warning or formal guidance about the policy change. The emails published by BuzzFeed span the three hours after the president’s tweets and indicate frantic activity as senior officials scramble to figure out how to respond. “Sirs – POTUS just tweeted the below on Transgenders not being able to serve in the military in any capacity,” emailed Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, the spokesman for Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford. “Everyone was caught flat-footed,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Kyle Kremer, the director of manpower and personnel at the Joint Chiefs, wrote Dunford and Vice Chief Gen. Paul Selva a half hour later. “More to follow.” NORTH KOREA PLAN: An international coalition of American allies will start “detecting and disrupting” North Korean oil smuggling operations at sea, the State Department announced Saturday. “The United States has deployed aircraft and surface vessels to detect and disrupt these activities,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a news release. SPLIT ON YEMEN: A new leak revealing a State Department split about the U.S. policy of helping Saudi Arabia fight in Yemen shows the U.S. policy could be on the verge of unraveling, according to Sen. Robert Menendez. Pompeo informed Congress this month that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates “are undertaking demonstrable actions” to avoid civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict. But subsequent reports suggest that he did so over the objections of much of his regional policy team. “This insight suggests that individuals in the executive branch are increasingly aware that maintaining the status quo of current U.S. policy on Yemen is difficult to defend,” Menendez said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. Menendez was reacting to a report in the Wall Street Journal that said Pompeo was cautioned not to oppose the Yemen agreement, since doing so could imperil a deal to sell $2 billion worth of weapons to the Gulf countries. Pompeo later pushed back on the report. “I find that suggestion offensive,” Pompeo told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “The reason we’re continuing to work in Yemen is to try and resolve that situation through the U.N.-directed peace operation. We support that effort. We’ve continued to support that effort.” THE RUNDOWN Reuters: Iran warns U.S., Israel of revenge after parade attack Fox News: John Bolton previews Trump’s United Nations speech New York Times: An Undiplomatic Trump? At This U.N. Meeting, His Aides Fear the Opposite Daily Beast: Inside the Sometimes Surreal North Korea-China Border Town of Dandong Reuters: Cuba’s new president makes first trip to old Cold War foe United States Defense One: America Needs a Non-Unipolar Foreign Policy Business Insider: Nikki Haley hits back at Iran’s president blaming the US after military parade attack Defense News: New head of Strategic Capabilities Office wants to focus on AI USA Today: UK Prime Minister Theresa May says she disagrees with Trump, Iran is honoring nuke deal Wall Street Journal: Russia Rejects Israel’s Denial Over Plane Shot Down by Syria Foreign Policy: Military Worship Hurts U.S. Democracy |
CalendarMONDAY | SEPT. 24 8 a.m. 3701 Post Office Rd. The Industrial Committee on Test and Evaluation. ndia.org 1:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Press Briefing: The Third Inter-Korean Summit. Csis.org 4 p.m. Pentagon River Entrance. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis welcomes Malaysia Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu to the Pentagon. TUESDAY | SEPT. 25 8 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. Missile Defense Perspectives with Retired Lt. Gen. Richard Formica, Vice President of Defense Accounts at Calibre, and Retired Brig. Gen. Kenneth Todorov, Vice President of Missile Defense Solutions at Northrop Grumman. mitchellaerospacepower.org 9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Nomination Hearing for Gen. Robert Abrams to be Commander, United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea; and Vice Adm. Craig Faller, to be Commander of U.S. Southern Command. armed-services.senate.gov 10 a.m. Marine Corps Base, Quantico. Modern Day Marine Exposition with Assistant Navy Secretary James Geurts. marinemilitaryexpos.com WEDNESDAY | SEPT. 26 8 a.m. 1250 S. Hayes St. A Discussion with Brig. Gen. Chance “Salty” Saltzman, Director of Current Operations at Headquarters U.S. Air Force. mitchellaerospacepower.org 8:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Beyond the Water’s Edge with Reps. Adam Smith and Ted Yoho. csis.org 10 a.m. Rayburn 2141. Full Committee Hearing on the Impact of National Defense on the Economy, Diplomacy, and International Order. armedservices.house.gov 12:15 p.m. 740 15th St. NW. America’s First Foreign Fighter for al Qaeda After 9/11: Bryant Neal Viñas Tells His Story. newamerica.org 12:30 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. NPC Headliners Luncheon: Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. press.org 2 p.m. Rayburn 2200. Subcommittee Hearing on Countering Iranian Proxies in Iraq. foreignaffairs.house.gov 2:30 p.m. Hart 216. Subcommittee Hearing on Cyber Operational Readiness of the Department of Defense with Essye Miller, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer; Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, Deputy Commander of U.S. Cyber Command; Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, Commander of U.S. Army Cyber Command; and Brig. Gen. Dennis Crall, Principal Deputy Cyber Advisor and Senior Military Advisor for Cyber Policy. armed-services.senate.gov 3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2123. Subcommittee Hearing on the U.S. Strategy in Syria with Robert Story Karem, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, and Brig. Gen. Scott Benedict, Deputy Director J5 Strategic Plans and Policy for Middle East Joint Staff. armedservices.house.gov 7 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. A Conversation with Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. cfr.org THURSDAY | SEPT. 27 9 a.m. 37th and O St. NW. Kalaris Intelligence Conference with Eric Fanning, CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, and Valerie Browning, Director of Defense Sciences at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. kalaris.org 12 noon. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Oceans Ventured: A Discussion with Former Navy Secretary John Lehman. hudson.org 1:30 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Subcommittee Hearing on U.S. Policy Toward Syria (Part I). foreignaffairs.house.gov 3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2322. Subcommittee Update on Military Review Board Agencies. armedservices.house.gov 4 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. From Inside the Pentagon: The Work of Women in National Security with Kathleen McInnis, Security Analyst for the Congressional Research Service; Christine Wormuth, Director of RAND’s International Security and Defense Policy Center; and Loren DeJonge Schulman, Deputy Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security. atlanticcouncil.org 5:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Book Discussion: The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age with Author David Sanger. csis.org FRIDAY | SEPT. 28 9 a.m. House Visitors Center 210. Subcommittee Hearing on Contributing Factors to C-130 Mishaps and Other Intra-Theater Airlift Challenges with Air Force and Navy Officials. armedservices.house.gov 11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea with Former Navy Secretary John Lehman. heritage.org |
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