Pentagon denies new push to root out extremists in the ranks is targeting conservative troops

At the Pentagon Friday, spokesman John Kirby described Austin as “galvanized” by the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by a mob which included former and current military members and said his effort to root out extremists was informed by his experience decades ago as a young lieutenant colonel in a unit of the 82nd Airborne division that had neo-Nazi skinheads among its soldiers.

“We are worried that the numbers may be more than what we’d be comfortable seeing them be at this point, and obviously the number should be zero, but I’m saying that the numbers may be bigger than what we may think,” Kirby said. “That’s what the secretary wants to get after.”

‘IT’S NOT ABOUT POLITICS’: While the crackdown appears focused on identifying far-right extremists or white supremacists, the Pentagon says it is also reviewing how it defines an extremist.

“The definitions that we’re operating under now were based on a 2012 instruction, and so do we need to revisit that?” Kirby said. “Those are the questions … the secretary and the chiefs are asking — how do you define it?”

The Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI 1325.06), “Handling Dissident and Protest Activities Among Members of the Armed Forces,” says in part:

Military personnel must not actively advocate supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes, including those that advance, encourage, or advocate illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, ethnicity, or national origin or those that advance, encourage, or advocate the use of force, violence, or criminal activity or otherwise advance efforts to deprive individuals of their civil rights.

So what about troops who might still believe former President Donald Trump’s discredited claim that he actually won the election and that President Biden is an illegitimate commander in chief?

“it’s not about politics … It’s not about what you believe,” Kirby insisted. “It’s about what you do with those beliefs. It’s about how you act with those beliefs. And when you start acting on those beliefs, whatever they are, and not all extremists in the military are motivated by politics, but whatever the motivation is, when you violate good order and discipline, when you violate the UCMJ, or you violate civil laws, then we’ve got a problem.”

A POLITICAL LITMUS TEST? Some on the Right see the new anti-extremism campaign as a move to purge the military of their supporters.

“This is nothing but a political litmus test of our brave men & women. It is obscene & dangerous to use soldiers who risk their lives for America as political pawns,” tweeted Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, a gun rights advocate who has argued for the right to bring firearms onto the House floor, “We can hardly be surprised by these political litmus tests given Biden’s political vetting of the 26,000 National Guard troops in DC for his inauguration.”

At the White House, a reporter asked press secretary Jen Psaki if the term domestic terrorist would apply to members of antifa and left-wing rioters who attacked federal buildings in Portland and other cities in the Pacific Northwest.

The review, Psaki said, “is not a political review but is a review done by our national security team — something tasked, again, to take review of domestic violent extremism. We’ll cover incidents across the board.”

“The argument that this amounts to some sort of political litmus test, that is absolutely unfounded and untrue,” said Kirby at the Pentagon, but he added, “But again, in terms of what is and what isn’t extremism is something that I think that we all agree we need better definition on.”

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 Victor I. Nava. 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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HAPPENING TODAY: As the Biden administration is reviewing its military force posture in Iraq and Afghanistan, the four-star general in charge of those hot spots will be making his first public remarks since the new commander in chief took over. Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, will make keynote remarks at a conference this morning sponsored by the Middle East Institute. Also appearing at the conference will be former CENTCOM commander retired Gen. Joseph Votel.

McKenzie will be speaking just days after the congressionally mandated Afghanistan Study Group, co-chaired by former Joint Chiefs Chairman retired Gen. Joseph Dunford, recommended delaying the Schultzeduled withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan May 1.

ALSO TODAY: Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has his regular Monday briefing for reporters at 2:30 p.m., and at 3 p.m., the Senate meets to resume consideration of the nomination of Denis McDonough to be Department of Veterans Affairs secretary. The vote is set for around 5:30 p.m.

REED ON HICKS: Late Thursday night, the Senate Armed Services Committee, by voice vote, advanced the nomination of Kathleen Hicks to be deputy defense secretary. In a statement, Committee Chairman Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island described Hicks as “a highly regarded national security and defense policy expert with extensive experience in government and the private sector,” and he called for her speedy confirmation, noting she enjoyed “strong, bipartisan support” in the committee.

“This position is critical to national defense, and I hope the full Senate will confirm her as soon as possible, without needless delay,” said Reed.

SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE: In an interview with CBS News that ran in spurts over the weekend, President Biden insisted it’s up to Iran to make the first move if it wants sanctions relief and for the U.S. to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal.

The comments came after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the U.S. must lift all sanctions if it wants Iran to live up to the nuclear deal, which former President Donald Trump called the worst deal ever.

“Will the U.S. lift sanctions first in order to get Iran back to the negotiating table?” asked CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell in a segment that aired on Face the Nation. Biden’s one-word response, “No.”

“They have to stop enriching uranium first?” O’Donnell asked. Biden nodded affirmatively.

ZARIF: ‘IRAN NEVER LEFT THE DEAL’: On CNN, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif argued nothing will be negotiable until the U.S. returns to full compliance.

“It is very clear. It was the United States that left the deal. It was the United States that violated the deal, Zarif told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “If the United States and its partners return to the deal, return to full compliance, Iran will reverse its actions. All the actions we are taking are reversible.”

“Iran never left the deal. Iran is in the deal,” he said. “It’s a decision that President Biden and his advisers need to take. Whether they want to break with the failed policies of President Trump or whether they want to build on his failures. If they want to build on his failures, they will only get failure as a result.”

GRAHAM: ‘IRAN’S IN A BOX’: “If I were President Biden, I would keep the sanctions on until Iran changed its behavior. I would not want to go into an old deal with Iran, because they’ve been up to no good for too long,” said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on Face the Nation. “I would caution President Biden because Trump did it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. So, I would slow down if I were President Biden and reevaluate some of these Trump policies and keep them in place if they make sense.”

“So he’s going to have three problems here, what to do with Iran differently than Trump, what to do with China different than Trump, and how to change Trump immigration policies without creating a run on the border,” Graham said.

ON CHINA: ‘I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT THE WAY TRUMP DID’: In his CBS interview, Biden said he had not yet reached out to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“We haven’t had occasion to talk to one another yet,” Biden told O’Donnell. “There’s no reason not to call him. I have probably spent more time with Xi Jinping, I’m told, than any world leader has, because I had 24, 25 hours of private meetings with him when I was vice president, traveled 17,000 miles with him. I know him pretty well.”

Biden signaled he plans a firm, but less confrontational, approach with the rising superpower. “I have said to him all along that we need to not have a conflict. But there’s going to be extreme competition,” he said. “I’m not going to do it the way Trump did. We’re going to focus on international rules of the road.”

His assessment of Xi: “He’s very bright. He’s very tough. He doesn’t have, and I don’t mean it as a criticism, just the reality, he doesn’t have a democratic, small ‘d,’ bone in his body.”

REMEMBERING GEORGE SHULTZ: There are dozens of remembrances this morning for former Secretary of State George Shultz, universally considered among the most consequential diplomats in American history, who died yesterday at age 100.

Permit me to suggest one, written by my friend and mentor from my earliest days as a cub reporter at WTOP radio here in Washington to the time we served together at CNN — he covering the State Department and me, the Pentagon.

Ralph Begleiter was a CNN world affairs correspondent and traveled the globe with Shultz. He’s retired now, but like many journalists, has a platform on Substack. I recommend his short inside look at what it was like covering Shultz in the 1980s.

LII + II+ I = LV: Am I the only one who didn’t get the secret meaning of having a B-52, a B-2, and a B-1 fly over the Super Bowl? Once I looked at the numbers, it all seemed to add up.

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: George Shultz, Reagan’s secretary of state, dies at 100

Washington Post: Opinion: Opinion: Condoleezza Rice: George Shultz will be remembered as one of the most influential secretaries of state in our history

Washington Examiner: Biden explains delay in arranging call with ‘very bright’ Chinese leader Xi Jinping

Washington Examiner: Mandatory vaccine? Pentagon declines to say as troop shot refusals continue

Washington Examiner: Pentagon to support FEMA COVID-19 vaccination sites with 1,100 troops to start

Washington Examiner: Minnesota governor activates National Guard ahead of trial for police officer involved in George Floyd’s death

Washington Examiner: Turkey’s Erdogan picks first fight with Biden

Defense One: Biden Extends Ban on Turkey Buying F-35 Stealth Fighter

AP: Iran: US must lift sanctions before it lives up to nuclear deal

CNN: China’s Top Diplomat Takes Hardline Stance In First Call With New U.S. Secretary Of State

Agence France Presse: Afghanistan’s brightest look for a way out as murders rise

The Hill: Biden Faces Familiar Dilemma In Afghanistan

Breaking Defense: Exclusive: Navy CNO On Rooting Out Extremists

Military.com: The Military Doesn’t Bar Troops From Being Members Of Hate Groups. That Could Change

USNI News: Navy Boot Camp Instructor Dies From COVID-19 Complications; 5 Sailors Dead Related To Virus

Stars and Stripes: Too many deployments to blame for stress on Fort Bliss battalion, investigation finds

Military.com: Nearly 90% Of Military Hazing Complaints Come From The Marine Corps, Data Shows

USNI News: Wittman: HASC Republicans Will Keep Up Push for Larger Navy

Just the News: Air Force launches Red Flag mock combat exercise amid COVID

Reuters: Philippines Says To Meet U.S. To Iron Out Differences On Troop Deal

CNN: Transgender Navy SEAL: Biden Order ‘Going To Give A Lot Of Other Individuals That Chance To Finally Be Themselves’

Financial Times: Taiwan War Games Raise Risk Of U.S.-China Conflict

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Countering China, Biden Rightly Doubles Down On The Quad

Newsweek: Opinion: Eyeing China, Biden Pentagon Nominee Advocates for Robust Defense Budget

Calendar

MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8

9 a.m. — The Middle East Institute MEI-CENTCOM Annual Conference, with keynote remarks by Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, moderated by Amb. Gerald Feierstein, MEI senior vice president; followed at 10:20 a.m. by Kathryn Wheelbarger, former assistant defense secretary for international security affairs; and retired Gen. Joseph Votel, senior national security fellow and former commander of the U.S. Central Command. https://www.mei.edu/programs/defense-and-security/centcom-conference

12 p.m. — Truman Center for National Policy virtual discussion” “The Future of U.S.-Russia Arms Control,” with Rose Gottemoeller, former chief U.S. negotiator for New START, and former NATO deputy secretary general; Pranay Vaddi, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Kingston Reif, director of disarmament and threat reduction at the Arms Control Association; and Naomi Egel, nuclear security visiting fellow at Truman. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register

1 p.m. — Atlantic Council webinar: “Can Biden Get Putin Out of Ukraine?” with former Ukrainian Minister of Defense Andriy Zahorodniuk; David Kramer, senior fellow at Florida International University; Hanna Shelest, director of the Foreign Policy Council’s Security Studies Program; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center; and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow, fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Center for Strategy and Security. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event

2:30 p.m. Pentagon Briefing Room — John Kirby, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs briefs reporters at the Pentagon. https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events/

3 p.m. — The U.S. Senate meets to resume consideration of the nomination of Denis McDonough to be Veterans Affairs secretary, with vote scheduled for 5:30 p.m. http://www.senate.gov

TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 9

7 a.m. — International Quality and Productivity Center’s Defence iQ virtual 2020 International Armoured Vehicles Conference, with Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, director of the Army Futures Command’s Network Cross-Functional Team. https://www.defenceiq.com/events-iav-online/

9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “Post-New START Arms Control: Lessons from a U.S.-Russian Bilateral Expert Dialogue,” with Amy Woolf, specialist in the Congressional Research Service’s Nuclear Weapons Policy, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division; and Andrey Baklitskiy, senior research fellow in the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Institute of International Studies. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event

10 a.m. — Space Foundation virtual discussion: “State of Space 2021,” part of “Space Symposium 365,” with Gen. David Thompson, Space Force vice chief of space operations; retired Navy Rear Adm. T.E. Zelibor, CEO of the Space Foundation; former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, former NASA astronaut; David Kaufman, president of Ball Aerospace; Tidiane Ouattara, coordinator of the African Union Commission’s Africa Program; and Chris Quilty, founder and partner at Quilty Analytics. https://spacesymposium365.org

11 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “Defense in the 21st Century,” as part of the Smart Women, Smart Power series, with Kathy Warden, chairman, CEO and president of Northrop Grumman. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event

WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 10

TBA — President Biden visits the Pentagon

7 a.m. — International Quality and Productivity Center’s Defence iQ virtual 2020 International Armoured Vehicles Conference, with Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. https://www.defenceiq.com/events-iav-online/

8 a.m. — Henry L. Stimson Center webinar: “The Security Environment in Western Pacific Waters,” with Emma Chanlett-Avery, specialist in Asian affairs at the Congressional Research Service; Yurika Ishii, associate professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan; Susumu Takai, president of the Security Strategy Research Institute of Japan; and Kathleen Walsh, associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. https://www.stimson.org/event

9 a.m. — German Marshall Fund of the United States webinar: “EU-Turkey Relations: In Search for a Positive Agenda,”” with Angelina Eichhorst, managing director of the European External Action Service; Fuat Keyman, director of the Istanbul Policy Center; Guven Sak, managing director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation; Zeljana Zovko, member of the European Parliament; Kadri Tastan, senior fellow at GMFUS; and Ian Lesser, vice president and executive director of GMFUS. https://www.gmfus.org/events/eu-turkey-relations

1 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group webinar: “Warfighter and Intelligence Mission Success,” with retired Lt. Gen. Karen Gibson, former deputy director of national intelligence for national security partnerships in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and Nand Mulchanandi, chief technology officer in the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. https://awsnatsecseries.com

1 p.m. — Association of Old Crows virtual discussion with Bruce Jette, assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics, and technology, part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Leadership series. https://www.crows.org/general

5 p.m. — Meridian International Center virtual discussion with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on “U.S.-China-APAC (Asia-Pacific) policy.” https://www.meridian.org/announcement

THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 11

4 p.m. — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs webinar: “The Biden Administration and the World: What to Expect,’ with David Shambaugh, director of the GWU China Policy Program; Kimberly Morgan, professor of political science and international affairs at GWU; Marc Lynch, director of the GWU Project on Middle East Political Science; and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker, fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. https://calendar.gwu.edu/biden-administration-and-world-what-expect