Battle continues against stubborn fire aboard Navy warship

The cause of the fire, which broke out at 9 a.m. Pacific time, remains under investigation, but at this time, foul play is not suspected. It appears the fire aboard the 840-foot amphibious assault ship began in the lower cargo hold, where equipment and vehicles are stored.

Because the ship was docked for maintenance, only about 160 sailors were on board at the time, instead of the normal complement of more than 1,000.

“Currently, there are two firefighting teams fighting the fire aboard the ship,” said Federal Fire San Diego Division Chief Rob Bondurant in a statement last night. “Federal Fire is rotating their crews aboard the ship with U.S. Navy firefighting crews from the waterfront to fight the fire in order to find the seat of the fire and extinguish it. Also, Navy Region Southwest tugs are also continuously combatting the fire from the bay.”

‘A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY’: “We suffered a terrible tragedy aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) when a fire broke out aboard the ship while in port San Diego,” tweeted Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday in a statement last night.

“At this point, 17 Sailors and four civilians are being treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital. The remainder of the crew is accounted for,” Gilday wrote. “We are grateful for the quick and immediate response of local, base, and shipboard firefighters aboard USS Bonhomme Richard. Our thoughts and prayers are with our BHR Sailors, their families, and our emergency responders who continue to fight the fire. Godspeed.”

SHIP’S FATE UNCERTAIN: With the fire still burning, the extent of structural damage to the 23-year-old ship is unknown. There is no ordnance on the ship, and the millions of gallons of fuel on board are below the heat of the blaze, Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“We’re absolutely going to make sure it sails again,” Sobeck vowed during a news conference Sunday night. “The sailors across this waterfront are absolutely doing a magnificent job,” he said. “They are fighting [for] their ship, and they are saving their ship.”

Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by David Sivak and Tyler Van Dyke. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. 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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NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will be on hiatus from July 20-27, as we take a short break for the summer. We’ll be back in your inbox Tuesday, July 28.

HAPPENING TODAY: Votes are still being counted in Poland’s presidential runoff election, but it appears that incumbent President Andrzej Duda has notched a razor-thin victory over his challenger, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

Duda, one of President Trump’s favorite NATO leaders, has 51.2% of the vote compared to 48.8% for Trzaskowski, which will give him another five-year term.

NEW DIA NOMINATION COMING: President Trump intends to nominate Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier to be the next director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, replacing retiring Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, according to Politico.

Berrier is currently the deputy chief of staff for Army intelligence.

CALL IN THE PLUMBERS: In his testimony last week before the House Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he’s mounting an all-out effort to plug the leaks coming out of the Pentagon.

“The illegal leaks are terrible, and they’re happening across the government, particularly in the Defense Department,” Esper said in response to a question by New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who expressed concerns that the leak about possible Russian payments to the Taliban could compromise the United States’s ability to collect intelligence.

“I’m pushing forward on a new effort to remind people of [operational security], whether it’s predecisional, unclassified items or even classified items,” Esper said. “It hurts our national security, it jeopardizes our troops, and it’s just damaging to our government and our relationships with our allies and partners.”

POINTING THE FINGER AT ISRAEL: A series of mysterious explosions in Iran that appear to have targeted its nuclear program is likely the work of Israel, former Vice Chief of the Army retired Gen. Jack Keane said over the weekend.

Iran has claimed that the explosions, including one at its Natanz nuclear facility, were accidents, but Keane, who is now a military analyst for Fox News, says that explanation is not credible, given the third explosion in the past week and dozens in the past month.

“Just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a missile production plant that exploded. We had their advanced centrifuge plant, which exploded with an incredible fire, literally destroyed the place and set the nuclear program back at least a year, possibly two,” Keane told Fox’s Eric Shawn. “And then this week, there’s been two other power plants that have had explosions and a chemical gas leak and another plant.”

“I mean, it’s pretty obvious,” Keane said “So what is happening here? This is a covert espionage campaign likely being conducted by the Israelis and being assisted by informants inside Iran and others who are part of the resistance movement in Iran.”

CASTING DOUBT ON MUELLER’S OP-ED: Among the Trump supporters questioning whether former special counsel Robert Mueller wrote Saturday’s op-ed in the Washington Post is Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence.

“Social media chatter over the weekend echoed speculation that followed Mueller’s halting testimony before Congress one year ago, at which time there were suggestions that the septuagenarian former FBI director did not even write his 448-page report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election,” writes Daniel Chaitin in the Washington Examiner.

Grenell replied to a tweet in which a user said, “Mueller didn’t write this op-ed,” adding his own comment: “Everyone who saw him testify knows this is true.”

In the op-ed, Mueller defended his Russia investigation against Trump’s charge that it was all a hoax. “The investigation did … establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. It also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts,” he wrote.

He also disputed Roger Stone’s contention that he did nothing wrong and Trump’s insistence that he was treated unfairly.

“He lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’ releases,” Mueller wrote. “The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false.”

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Toxic exposures of post-9/11 service members revealed in declassified K2 documents

Washington Examiner: Iran cites communication and alignment errors for shooting down of Ukrainian jet

Washington Examiner: ‘People will die’: Violent US-China clash possible soon, senior GOP lawmaker says

Washington Examiner: Trump at Southcom highlights counternarcotics effort and targets Venezuelan drug money

Washington Examiner: Richard Grenell and Lee Smith among those stoking doubts that Mueller wrote opinion piece

Washington Examiner: China rejects US demands to join nuclear talks

Washington Post: Within the Taliban, clashing views of Afghanistan’s future

New York Times: Suspicions About Russia’s Outreach To The Taliban Go Back Years

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Weighs Limited Options To Punish China Over Hong Kong

South China Morning Post: Beijing Blasts U.S. Over ‘Provocative Military Acts’ In The South China Sea

Washington Times: Pentagon To Send Nearly 600 Medical Personnel To Texas Amid Coronavirus Surge

Stars and Stripes: Coronavirus Crops Up At Another Okinawa Marine Base As Military Works To Stem Spread

Air Force Magazine: Air Force Academy Confirms New COVID-19 Cases

Reuters: U.S. Turns Screws On Maritime Industry To Cut Off Venezuela’s Oil

Just the News: Pyongyang, Seoul agree: Defector must stop launching leaflet-filled balloons into North Korea

AP: Russia’s Foreign Minister Mocks Intel On Bounties To Taliban For Killing American Troops

Reuters: Japan May Still Build Aegis Ashore Despite Reports Of Cancellation, Source Says

Stars and Stripes: U.S. Forces Japan Commander Orders Ban On Confederate Battle Flag

Military.com: Marine Corps Plans To Cut Back Its Force Of Working Dogs

Washington Post: As it moves aggressively to restore confidence, Boeing flies into an uncertain future

Calendar

MONDAY | JULY 13

8:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Annenberg Foundation Trust webcast: “The Sunnylands Principles on Enhancing Democratic Partnership in the Indo-Pacific Region,” with former Philippines Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales; Dhruva Jaishankar, director of the Observer Research Foundation’s U.S. Initiative; Amy Lehr, director of the Human Rights Initiative; Lynn Lee, associate director for Asia at the National Endowment for Democracy; David Lane, president of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands; and Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia at CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event

4 p.m. — Brookings Institution webinar: “Deciphering Turkey’s New Regional Policy,” with Abdullah Alshayji, professor of political science at Kuwait University; Marwan Kabalan, director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies’ Unit for Policy Studies; Taha Ozhan, academic visitor at Oxford University; Tarek Megerisi, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations; and Galip Dalay, nonresident fellow at Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/events

4 p.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program webcast: “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America,” with author Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

4 p.m — The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense hold a background briefing for reporters with senior administration officials on Operation Warp Speed therapeutics.

TUESDAY | JULY 14

9 a.m. — Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Public Affairs David Stilwell delivers keynote address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies South China Sea Conference. https://csis.zoom.us/webinar/register

10 a.m. — Association of the U.S. Army Thought Leaders webinar with Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson, commanding general, U.S. Army North (5th Army). https://www.bigmarker.com/ausaorg/Thought-Leaders

10 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association virtual Army Signal Conference, with Army CIO Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford; Undersecretary of the Army James McPherson; Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commanding general of the Army Cyber Command; and Ronald Pontius, deputy to the commanding general at the Army Cyber Command. https://www.afcea.org/event/armysignalconference

10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies book discussion webcast: “How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict,” with author Nina Jankowicz, disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event

1:00 p.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual event: “The U.S. Withdraws from Open Skies: The Right Call?” with Tim Morrison, senior fellow, Hudson Institute; Peter Brookes, senior research fellow; Pranay Vaddi, fellow, Carnegie Endowment of International Peace; and moderated by Patty-Jane Geller, policy analyst, nuclear deterrence and missile defense, Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/arms-control/event

No time given — Air Force Association Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Aerospace Nation conversation with Uzi Rubin, former director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization. https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/aerospace-nation

WEDNESDAY | JULY 15

9 a.m. — Navy Vice Adm. Nancy Norton, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and commander of the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Network, delivers keynote remarks to the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association virtual Army Signal Conference. https://www.afcea.org/event/armysignalconference

10:30 a.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual event: “How to Make the Pentagon Work Better and Cost Less,” with Peter Levine, senior research fellow, Institute for Defense Analyses and former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness; and Thomas Spoehr, director, Heritage Center for National Defense. https://www.heritage.org/defense/event

1 p.m. — Center for a New American Security National Security Conference: “Closing the Deal: National Security and Investment Scrutiny,” in which a mock White House meeting will weigh the economic and security concerns around a hypothetical foreign investment in a U.S. artificial intelligence firm. https://conference.cnas.org/session/closing-the-deal/

3 p.m. — Jewish Institute for National Security of America National Leadership Webinar: “Mysterious Explosions at Iran Nuke Sites,” with retired IDF Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror and Michael Makovsky, President and CEO at JINSA. https://jinsa.org/events/

No time given — Air Force Association Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Aerospace Nation conversation with Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander, 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber). https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/aerospace-nation

THURSDAY | JULY 16

10 a.m. — SETA Foundation at Washington D.C, webinar: “The Future of U.S.-Turkey Defense Cooperation,” with Ismail Demir, president of the Defense Industries of Turkey; retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, operating executive at the Carlyle Group; and Kadir Ustun, executive director of SETA. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register

1:15 p.m. — Aspen Security Forum webcast: “A Conversation on U.S.-China Relations: Where Do We Go From Here?” with Kurt Campbell, chairman, CEO & co-founder, the Asia Group, LLC and chairman of the board, Center for a New American Security; Amb. Robert Zoellick, senior counselor, Brunswick Geopolitical and senior fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; and Anja Manuel, director, Aspen Strategy Group. https://aspeninst.zoom.us/webinar/register

MONDAY | JULY 20

All week — Daily on Defense goes on summer hiatus until Tuesday July 28.

10 a.m. — Association of the U.S. Army Thought Leaders webinar with Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command; and John Hamre, president and CEO, Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://www.bigmarker.com/ausaorg/Thought-Leaders

TUESDAY | JULY 21

3:30 p.m. — Johns Hopkins SAIS Merrill Center for Strategic Studies webinar: “The State of the U.S. Air Force,” with Gen. David Goldfein, chief of staff; and Prof. Mara Karlin, director, Strategic Studies Program and Merrill Center for Strategic Studies. Register at https://jh.zoom.us/webinar/register.

WEDNESDAY | JULY 22

12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army Thought Leaders webinar with Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3,5,7, U.S. Army; and retired Gen. Carter Ham, president and CEO, AUSA. https://www.ausa.org/events/noon-report-flynn

1 p.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual wargame: “A Deadly Game: East China Sea Crisis 2030 Play.” The CNAS Defense team and leading experts conduct a virtual wargame in the year 2030, exploring command and information concepts in a “New American Way of War.” https://conference.cnas.org/session/a-deadly-game