ROCKY ROAD TO PEACE: The plan to withdraw roughly half the U.S. troops in Afghanistan, leaving behind a force of about 7,000 to continue to wage war against terrorists, hinges on getting a peace deal with the Taliban.

But the talks have stalled as the Taliban has launched waves of terrorist attacks while refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the government in Kabul. Twenty people were killed and dozens more wounded Sunday in the capital when terrorists attacked the offices of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani‘s running mate for the September 28 election.

“The attack on Amrullah Saleh‘s political party offices was grotesque and a clear act of terrorism,” tweeted Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat attempting to broker a peace deal. “We condemn it in the strongest terms. The perpetrators should be brought to justice. We stand with #Afghanistan in the fight against terror.”

NO ONE IN TOTAL CHARGE: In the nearly 18 years the United States has been fighting in Afghanistan, it has spent more than $18 billion to equip the Afghan security forces, providing over 600,000 weapons, 70,000 vehicles, and more than 200 aircraft, according to the latest report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction.

But progress has been uneven in part, the auditors found, because “no single person, agency, military service, or country” was responsible for the oversight of all U.S. and international activities to develop the Afghan security forces.

“While the dual-hatted U.S./NATO commander in Afghanistan is largely responsible for reconstructing the Afghan security forces, as with all NATO operations, the commander lacks absolute authority to dictate the exact methods and activities each NATO country must use when training, advising, or assisting the Afghan security forces and the Afghan ministries of defense and interior,” the report concluded.

The U.S. government was essentially “unprepared” to manage the massive task, according to special IG John Sopko, who spoke yesterday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Part of the problem was the use of a so-called “pseudo-foreign military sales program” to equip the Afghan forces,” writes the Washington Examiner’s Russ Read, with Sopko citing the example of incompatible weapons.

The U.S. supplied the Afghan National Army with NATO-standard weapons beginning in 2008 but only started doing the same for the Afghan National Police in 2016. “As a result, during a Taliban attack on Ghazni province last year, the Afghan Army was unable to supply their besieged police colleagues because their ammunition was not compatible,” Sopko said.

Good Tuesday 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 Kelly Jane Torrance (@kjtorrance). 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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HAPPENING TODAY — MAKE OR BREAK FOR HYTEN: This morning’s confirmation hearing for Air Force Gen. John Hyten to become vice chairman of the joint chiefs promises to provide some moments of high tension.

Advocates for victims of sexual assault in the military are calling for Trump to withdraw his nomination after his former military assistant Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser publicly accused Hyten of sexual assault while attending a conference in California two years ago.

Hyten has categorically denied the accusations, and an Air Force investigation found no evidence to corroborate Spletstoser’s account of what happened when the two were alone in her hotel room.

“Colonel Spletstoser’s case highlights longstanding defects in the Uniform Code of Military Justice that fail to deliver accountability to military sex offenders,” said a statement issued by the victims’ rights group Protect Our Defenders.

“The question before the Senate is not whether General Hyten should be tried and convicted, it is whether he should become the second highest-ranking member of the U.S. Armed Forces,” said the group’s president, retired Col. Don Christensen, former chief prosecutor of the Air Force.

“There is no evidence that Colonel Spletstoser has fabricated a single word of her allegations or has anything to gain by coming forward. In fact, quite the opposite,” said Christensen in a statement. “If Gen. Hyten is confirmed, the effect on military survivors will be devastating. The clear message will be stay silent, you will not be believed.”

GILDAY’S DAY TOMORROW: The decision to give Hyten a hearing today pushed the scheduled confirmation hearing for Vice Adm. Michael Gilday to become chief of naval operations to tomorrow.

Gilday is the director of the Joint Staff. In yesterday’s Daily on Defense, I inadvertently skipped over Gilday when I reported Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen VanHerck had been tapped to take over the job after Gen. Frank McKenzie left to head U.S. Central Command.

Both Gilday and VanHerck will move up only if confirmed by the Senate.

WARY OF RATCLIFFE’S QUALIFICATIONS: The 2004 law that established the position of director of national intelligence sets out one clear qualification to be the nation’s premier spymaster. “Any individual nominated for appointment as Director of National Intelligence shall have extensive national security expertise,” states Sec. 102. (a) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.

Many in the Senate were surprised by President Trump’s pick of three-term Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to replace Dan Coats and are withholding judgment, writes Susan Ferrechio in the Washington Examiner.

“I don’t know Rep. John Ratcliffe at all, and the White House has yet to submit his nomination to the Senate Intelligence Committee,” Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, told Ferrechio. “When that occurs, the Senate Intelligence Committee will thoroughly consider his nomination and hold a public hearing.”

Ratcliffe’s confirmation vote could be quite close, making Collins’ approval critical. She helped author the law creating the DNI post following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that revealed a serious lack of coordination within the intelligence community. The position, she said, “is of special interest to me.”

DEMOCRATS LINED UP TO OPPOSE: Democrats are already denouncing Ratcliffe, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who says he’ll vote against Ratcliffe because of his lack of relevant experience, as required by statute.

“Ratcliffe, a third-term congressman, was chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas and served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from 2007 to 2009. But he has no other intelligence experience aside from a recent appointment to the House Intelligence Committee,” reported Politico.

Groups representing the intelligence community are also mounting a campaign against Ratcliffe. “President Trump, by nominating a hyper-partisan defender whose intelligence experience totals mere months on the House Intelligence Committee, has again placed his own personal and political interests above the national security imperatives of the American people,” said a statement issued by National Security Action.

GIVING TURKEY AN OUT: Now that Turkey has been booted from America’s F-35 program, Trump is resisting slapping additional sanctions on the NATO ally for its purchase of Russian S-400 air defenses that could compromise the F-35’s stealthy flight profile.

“The president is eager to essentially cut a deal with Turkey in terms of offering a free-trade agreement or other economic incentives for Turkey to move away from the S-400 system,” Tyler Stapleton at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies tells the Washington Examiner. “Trump believes that his relationship with Erdogan is going to win the day, in terms of being able to resolve issues without any kind of major sanctions being imposed on Turkey.”

In comments last week, Pompeo indicated that Turkey could avoid the sanctions if it just never turns on the Russian system. “We’ve made clear to the Turks that the activation of the S-400 is unacceptable,” he said. “There could be more sanctions to follow, but frankly what we’d really like is the S-400 not to become operational. That’s our objective. It’s what we’ve been talking to the Turks about for months and months.”

PRESIDENT POMPEO?: Pompeo is not interested in running for Senate in his home state of Kansas, but president? Maybe.

Asked during his interview at the Economic Club of Washington yesterday if he might ever consider running for president, Pompeo didn’t rule it out.

“I have never been able to predict what my next gig will be, and I suspect that’s the case, with respect to this,” he said. “I’m almost 20 years now in federal service — 18 years of federal service in my time in the Army and then in Congress, and now in the executive branch. It has been a blessing. I hope I’ve left things a little bit better, and I do feel an obligation. America’s given me an awful lot, and if I thought I could do a good turn, there’s nothing I wouldn’t consider doing for America.”

But the Senate in 2020 to replace retiring Republican Pat Roberts? “It’s off the table. As a practical matter, I’m going to serve as secretary of state,” Pompeo insisted.

PERHAPS A KEYCHAIN?: TSA officers at BWI airport inspecting a checked bag that belonged to an active-duty military service member returning from Kuwait found a missile launcher.

“[H]e wanted to keep the missile launcher as a souvenir,” TSA said in a statement, adding military weapons are not allowed in either checked or carry-on bags.

The unnamed man was released and allowed to board his flight home. TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that “perhaps he should have picked up a keychain instead.”

The Rundown

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sanctions North Korean Over Illicit Trade, Missile Program

New York Times: Fears of Navalny Poisoning Are Rooted in Previous Attacks on Kremlin Foes

Bloomberg: Senators Call For Russia Debt Sanctions In Defense Policy Bill

The Diplomat: Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces Test Fire Nuclear-Capable Topol ICBM

Bloomberg: Rising South China Sea Tensions Cast Shadow Over Asean Summit

Washington Examiner: GOP lawmaker blocked restrictions on lenders near military bases while wife worked for bank lobby

Washington Post: Pentagon issues forceful rebuke of Oracle as debate over a massive federal contract turns caustic

Bloomberg: Flawed Elevators on $13 Billion Carrier Miss Another Deadline

Washington Examiner: Two men arrested for allegedly attempting to join ISIS: ‘I want to be the beheading person’

Seapower Magazine: High Latitudes, Higher Tension: Ice-Diminished Arctic Does Not Extend a Warm Welcome

AP: Video From Iran Shows Iranian Revolutionary Guard Warning Away UK Warship

Washington Examiner: Alleged 9/11 mastermind attempting to avoid ‘martyrdom’ in lawsuit against Saudi Arabia

Wall Street Journal: Budget Deal Is No Win for the Military

Calendar

TUESDAY | JULY 30

8:50 a.m. 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria. Institute for Defense and Government Advancement International Military Helicopters USA conference (Day 2), with Brig. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of the Army Futures Command’s Future Vertical Life Cross-Functional Team. www.idga.org/events-militaryhelicoptersusa

8:50 a.m. 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria. Institute for Defense and Government Advancement International Fighter USA conference (Day 2), with Air Force Maj. Gen. Kevin Kuyck, director of operations at Headquarters Air Combat Command. www.idga.org/events-internationalfighterusa

10 a.m. SD-G50 Dirksen. Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing to consider Gen. John Hyten’s nomination to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings

10 a.m. 1030 15th Street, N.W. Atlantic Council discussion “Managing the Escalating Crisis in the Gulf,” with former Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman James Cartwright, CSIS; Ali Shihabi, founder, the Arabia Foundation; Dov Zakheim, senior fellow, CNA Corporation. Moderated by Joyce Karam, Washington correspondent, the National. www.atlanticcouncil.org/events

WEDNESDAY | JULY 31

8:50 a.m. 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria. Institute for Defense and Government Advancement International Military Helicopters USA conference (Day 3), with Randy Rotte, director of business development for cargo helicopters and future vertical lift programs at Boeing, and Carvil Chalk, director for aviation development at the U.S. Army Combat Capability Development Aviation and Missile Center. www.idga.org/events-militaryhelicoptersusa

8:50 a.m. 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria. Institute for Defense and Government Advancement International Fighter USA conference, (Day 3), with Air Force Maj. Gen. David Krumm, director of strategic plans in the Air Force office of the deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements. www.idga.org/events-internationalfighterusa

9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies conference on “Are Sanctions Working” against North Korea, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, with Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker and Peter Flanagan, partner at Covington & Burling LLP. www.csis.org

9:30 a.m. SD-G50 Dirksen. Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Vice Adm. Michael Gilday’s nomination to be chief of naval operations. www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings

2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Brookings Institution discussion on “Assessing Space Security: Threat and Response,” with former principal deputy national nuclear security administrator Madelyn Creedon; former deputy assistant defense secretary for arms control verification and compliance Mallory Stewart; former assistant secretary of state for arms control verification and compliance Frank Rose; Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings. www.brookings.edu/events

2:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “5G Innovation and Security: Perspectives from Industry and Government Leadership,” with Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Director Christopher Krebs, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy Robert Strayer, and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. www.csis.org/events/5g-innovation

THURSDAY | AUGUST 1

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on challenges in making generational changes in military systems, with Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell, and Andrew Philip Hunter, director of the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group. www.csis.org/events

3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Japan’s Security Challenges and the Japan-U.S. Alliance,” with Gen. Koji Yamazaki, chief of staff of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff, and Michael Green, Japan chair at CSIS. www.csis.org/events

6:30 p.m. 1325 G Street N.W. Military Reporters and Editors (MRE) Workshop: Investigative Reporting on the Military, with John Donnelly, senior defense writer, CQ/Roll Call, MRE president; Lara Seligman, Pentagon correspondent, Foreign Policy; Sam LaGrone, Naval reporter and editor, USNI News. Live streamed at www.facebook.com. www.eventbrite.com/e/mre-workshop

FRIDAY | AUGUST 2

2:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies “Japan-U.S. Military Statesmen Forum 2019,” with retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Michael Mullen; retired U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Vincent Brooks; retired Japanese chief of staff Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki; retired Japanese chief of staff Gen. Ryoichi Oriki; retired Japanese chief of staff Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano; former director of national intelligence Adm. Dennis Blair; and Yoichi Funabashi, chairman of the Asia Pacific Initiative. www.csis.org/events