N. KOREA NUKE TEST READY TO GO: All indications are that North Korea is planning to conduct its seventh nuclear test as soon as sometime this week, the State Department point man on North Korea policy told reporters yesterday.
The test — which some reports suggest could come Friday (Thursday night Washington time) — comes after the North fired off eight ballistic missiles Sunday, the most it’s launched in a single day, and bringing its total for the year to 31, surpassing its previous record of 25 in 2019.
“In addition to launching an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles, the DPRK’s senior officials have used rhetoric that could suggest the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” said Amb. Sun Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, at a State Department briefing. “We also assess that the DPRK is preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test.”
It would be the first nuclear test in almost five years, at the same testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri, where in Sept. 2017, North Korea claimed to have detonated a thermonuclear bomb that could be delivered by an intercontinental ballistic missile. The International Atomic Energy Agency says activity has been detected at the site, indicating one of the passages has been reopened.
“They’ve obviously done the preparations in Punggye-ri, and my understanding is that they could test any time, but whether that’s Friday or much later on, who knows?” said Kim. “Obviously, our hope is that they will refrain from a nuclear test, which would be terribly destabilizing to the entire region.”
‘A SWIFT AND FORCEFUL RESPONSE’: Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is on a visit to the region, and in meetings with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan, she condemned what she called North Korea’s “recent unlawful ballistic missile launches” and called for a “return to negotiations.”
“Any nuclear tests would be in complete violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Sherman said Tuesday in Seoul. “There would be a swift and forceful response to such a test.”
“It will not be just a singular response,” said Kim at the State Department. “We will work closely with our partners and allies, and we will try to be as swift as possible and make a very clear, clear response that a nuclear test is unacceptable to us and to the international community.”
RUSSIA, CHINA BLOCKING UN RESOLUTION: The United Nations has scheduled a General Assembly debate for today, after Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution condemning North Korea’s accelerated missile tests, which all violate previous resolutions.
“It was very unfortunate that China and Russia chose to veto the resolution,” said Kim. “One of the concerns is … that when [North Korea] sees that the council is unable to respond together, it might in fact encourage them to take further provocative actions.”
“So we will hear from China and Russia … They have an opportunity to explain why they vetoed the resolution,” he said. “We continue to believe that China has an important role to play and that they continue to share our ultimate objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
“It’s hard for me to imagine that Beijing would actually want North Korea to continue to provoke, violate multiple Security Council resolutions, and destabilize the region.”
KIM JONG UN NOT INTERESTED IN TALKING: The U.S. has made numerous offers, both publicly and through private channels, to pursue diplomacy without preconditions, including offering humanitarian aid to help North Korea with its current COVID crisis. All have been rebuffed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“To date, [North Korea] has not responded and continues to show no indication it is interested in engaging,” said the U.S. special representative. “Instead, we have seen a marked increase in the scope and scale of their ballistic missile tests, brazenly flaunting, flouting the international rules-based order and unnecessarily increasing regional tension.”
“Even so, we continue to reach out,” he said. “The United States harbors no hostile intent toward [North Korea].”
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HAPPENING TODAY: President Joe Biden leaves this morning for Los Angeles to host the ninth Summit of the Americas. Before delivering remarks at the opening ceremonies around 8:15 p.m. EDT, Biden will tape an appearance that will air later tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“The summit will bring together governments from across our hemisphere to focus on pressing challenges, including economic prosperity, climate change, the migration crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the White House.
But in protest of the decision by the Biden administration not to invite Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to the summit, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is skipping the event and sending his foreign affairs secretary in his place.
“There cannot be an Americas Summit if not all of the continent’s countries participate,” Lopez Obrador said Monday. Leaders from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have also indicated they will take a pass on the event, which is being hosted by the U.S. for the first time since the inaugural session in 1994 in Miami, Florida.
WHITE HOUSE DOWNPLAYS MEXICO’S ABSENCE FROM SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
AUSTIN TO MEET CHINESE COUNTERPART: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is en route to Singapore for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue after a brief stop at U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Space Force Base Colorado Springs, Colorado. On Saturday (Friday night Washington time), Austin is scheduled to deliver a major address on U.S. defense policy in the Indo-Pacific.
“Secretary Austin, in his meetings and speech will reinforce how we’re working in lockstep with our allies and partners to strengthen our collective deterrence, and resilience,” a senior defense official told reporters traveling with Austin.
The official also confirmed that Chinese officials have requested a face-to-face meeting with Austin on the fringes of the conference. “We did in fact this week receive a formal request from the [Peoples’ Liberation Army] for a meeting and we’re currently discussing potential time, location and duration of such a meeting,” the official said. “We expect, from our perspective, the substance of that meeting to be focused on managing competition and regional and global issues.”
TOXIC EXPOSURE BILL ADVANCES: Veterans who are suffering illness and ailments believed linked to exposure to toxic burn pits are closer to getting the medical care they need after the Senate advanced a bill championed by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
The bill, the Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, cleared a cloture vote 86-12, with a dozen Republicans voting against.
“There’s a lot of different reasons why people vote against it,” said Rubio on CNN. “Some is based on costs, which I don’t think is a good rationale, and others is based on the burden they think it’ll place on the V.A.”
But Rubio argues veterans should not have to fight with the government that sent them to dangerous war zones to get healthcare they need. “We have people who are in some cases at the end of their lives, and others, struggling with this financially.”
“This bill creates a presumption. If you served on the war on terror, if you served over the last 30 years and were exposed to burn pits that, any disease that you have, you are covered,” said Gillibrand appearing with Rubio on CNN.
“It changes the current process where survivors and veterans come forward, they’re denied. They’re asked to prove epidemiological causation. They’re asked to prove what was actually burned at the burn pits,” she said. “It’s an outrage. And so, this bill fixes that. And now they’re all covered.”
SENATE ADVANCES BILL TO ADDRESS TOXIC BURN PITS AND VETERAN HEALTHCARE
CASH GRAB AS KABUL FELL: The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has released an interim report that is a must-read for anyone trying to understand what happened in Kabul as the Taliban closed in and a barefoot President Ashraf Ghani fled the country by helicopter.
The report, Theft of Funds from Afghanistan: An Assessment of Allegations Concerning President Ghani and Former Senior Afghan Officials, debunks a Russian report that Ghani and his senior advisers made off with $169 million in cash, concluding that based on payload limitations of the M-17 helicopters, the stash of cash was more likely about $500,000.
“$169 million in hundred dollar bills, stacked end-to-end, would form a block 7.5 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet tall. … This block would have weighed 3,722 pounds, or nearly two tons,” the report notes. “We could not have fit 40 people and all that cash [in three helicopters],” one former senior Afghan official remembered.
After Ghani’s departure, one former senior Afghan government official told SIGAR the official had observed the dividing up of approximately $5 million in cash discovered in the president’s residence into three to four bags, which then got loaded into the trunks of cars belonging to the president’s motorcade.
But aside from accounting for additional millions that did disappear as Kabul fell, the report provides a detailed tick-tock of how Ghani’s government imploded as it began to dawn on ministers that the Afghan military had effectively given up.
It provides a dramatic account of how Gen. Qaher Kochai, head of the Presidential Protective Service, had to plead with Ghani to leave with the first lady on the helicopters. “If the helicopters were to leave without him, ‘the president will be killed,’ he reportedly warned.”
“The departure was reportedly so sudden that the president was barefoot, forcing Kochai to find the president’s shoes. The president did not have time to get his passport,” the report says. Kochai and Ghani’s national security adviser “feared that the PPS guards — sensing the tide turning — might execute Ghani,” so they tried to discreetly take the president to the landing zone in a single car, but they were followed by a number of the PPS guards.
The report is interim because the SIGAR is still waiting for responses to questions sent to Ghani, who now lives in the United Arab Emirates.
WATCHDOG REPORT CONCLUDES OUSTED AFGHAN PRESIDENT DID NOT FLEE WITH $170M
INDUSTRY WATCH, RAYTHEON HQ TO MOVE TO N. VIRGINIA: In a move that cements Arlington, Virginia, as the best place for defense contractors to base their corporate headquarters, Raytheon Technologies is the latest to make the move to the Virginia county that hosts the Pentagon.
“The location increases agility in supporting U.S. government and commercial aerospace customers and serves to reinforce partnerships that will progress innovative technologies to advance the industry,” the company said in a statement. “The new global headquarters office will be in Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood alongside the Raytheon Intelligence & Space business.”
Last month, Boeing announced it would relocate its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arlington. Raytheon’s headquarters is currently in Boston.
In a tweet, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin welcomed Raytheon to Virginia, and noted that with four of the five major U.S. aerospace and defense contractors now based in the Commonwealth, Arlington is the “best destination” for defense companies.
‘Raytheon Technologies has not accepted or sought any financial incentives from any state or municipality to support the establishment of the global headquarters office in Virginia,” the company said.
RAYTHEON TO RELOCATE GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS TO VIRGINIA
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: 40,000 Ukrainian civilians killed or wounded since war began: Report
Washington Examiner: Ukraine hopes to buy Iron Dome from Israel
Washington Examiner: Ukraine to release ‘Book of Torturers’ naming soldiers responsible for war crimes
Washington Examiner: Russia signals plan to annex more territory from Ukraine
Washington Examiner: Satellite images show Ukraine peppered with artillery strike craters
Washington Examiner: ‘Every president before him’: White House defends possible Saudi visit
Washington Examiner: Khashoggi widow wants Biden to uphold husband’s legacy, not hurt Saudi relations
Washington Examiner: FBI seizes retired general’s data related to Qatar lobbying
Washington Examiner: Watchdog report concludes ousted Afghan president did not flee with $170M
Washington Examiner: Senate advances bill to address toxic burns and veteran healthcare
Washington Examiner: Bipartisan call for Biden to bring Americans home from Iran as talks stall
Washington Examiner: Thousands of unvaccinated Border Patrol agents fear for their future
Washington Examiner: Raytheon to relocate global headquarters to Virginia
Washington Post: Kyiv Seeks More Rocket Systems As Kremlin Warns West
AP: Russia draws closer to capture of Ukraine’s Donbas region
Los Angeles Times: Russia Claims ‘97% Control’ Of Eastern Ukrainian Province Amid Fierce Battles
AP: Lavrov in Turkey to discuss plan to ship Ukrainian grain
AP: US wins case to seize Russian superyacht in Fiji, sails away
Military Times: House lawmakers eye 4.6% pay raise for troops in 2023
Defense One: Lawmakers Plan to Save Some of the 24 Ships the US Navy Wants to Cut
Defense News: House Panel Sides With Marine Corps In Protecting Amphibious Fleet Size
Defense News: U.S. Nuclear Commander Backs Sea-Launched Cruise Missile Biden Would Cancel
Breaking Defense: With Hypersonic Worries, Lawmakers Request Reports On U.S. Missile Defense
Air Force Magazine: Proposed NDAA Would Let Air Force Retire More Tankers, C-130s
Air Force Magazine: Andrews Is 4th Base Tapped to Get New MH-139 ‘Grey Wolf’ Helos
Air Force Magazine: Study: Combine Missile Warning, Tracking Constellations Into One Multi-Orbit System
Financial Times: Taiwan: Preparing For A Potential Chinese Invasion
USNI News: China Denies Harassing Canadian, Australian Patrol Aircraft In The Western Pacific
Reuters: Russia’s Sole Aircraft Carrier Suffers Another Repair Delay – Tass
19fortyfive.com: America Is Waging a Technology War on Russia
19fortyfive.com: Video: Watch Ukraine’s RK-3 Korsaw Destroy Three Russian Vehicles
19fortyfive.com: Idea: Why Not Send Old U.S. M60 Tanks to Ukraine?
19fortyfive.com: H-20: China’s Plan for a New Deep-Strike Stealth Bomber
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | JUNE 8
8:30 a.m. — Department of Defense virtual Digital and AI Symposium, with Deputy Defense Kathleen Hicks (@1:45 p.m.); Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Sherman; and Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer Craig Martell https://www.defense.gov/News/Live-Events/
9 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and George Mason University virtual 2022 AFCEA-GMU Critical Issues in C4I Symposium, with Brig. Gen. John Olson, chief data and artificial intelligence officer at the Air Force Department; Andrew Malloy, technical director of the Defense Information Systems Agency; and Gregg Judge, CIO and deputy director of the Army’s Enterprise Cloud Management Office https://www.afcea.org/event/GMU-Home
10 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Forerign Relations Committee hearing: “The Path Forward on U.S.-Syria Policy: Strategy and Accountability,” with testimony from Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs; Dana Stroul, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East; Milena Sterio, professor of law and LLM programs director, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings
10 a.m. — House Armed Services Subcommittee markups of H.R.7900, the FY2023 NDAA
- 10 a.m. — Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Subcommittee
- 12 p.m. — Strategic Forces Subcommittee
- 2 p.m. — Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee
- 3:30 p.m. — Military Personnel Subcommittee
http://www.armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. 2360 Rayburn — House Committee on Small Business hearing: “Military to Main Street: Serving Veteran Entrepreneurship, with Mike Haynie, vice chancellor and executive director of the Syracuse University D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families; Brenton Peacock, director, Florida Veterans Business Outreach Center at Gulf Coast State College; Laurie Sayles, president and CEO, Civility Management Solutions; and Joe Shamess, founder and general partner. https://www.youtube.com/watch
10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies-Chey Conference: “Cooperation on Scientific Innovation, Supply Chains, and Geopolitical Risk in Northeast Asia,” with David Honey, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research & Engineering
https://www.csis.org/events/csis-chey-conference
10 a.m. 2172 Rayburn — House Foreign Affairs Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Nonproliferation Subcommittee hearing: “Resourcing U.S. Priorities in the Indo-Pacific FY2023 Budget.” http://foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion on nuclear deterrence,” with Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/nuclear-deterrence
11 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual forum: “Russia, France, and global disorder,” with French Ambassador to the U.S. Phillippe Etienne; Fiona Hill, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the U.S. and Europe and former deputy assistant to the president and former senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council; Thomas Gomart, director of the French Institute of International Relations; and Celia Belin, interim director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on the U.S. and Europe https://www.brookings.edu/events/russia-france-and-global-disorder/
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Noon Report” webinar: “Washington’s War: Lessons in Leadership for a Modern Army,” with retired Lt. Gen. James Dubik, AUSA senior fellow https://info.ausa.org/e/784783/G-James-Dubik
12:30 p.m. 1030 15th Street N.W. — Atlantic Council forum on “Strengthening Black Sea Security and Defense in a New Era,” with Romanian Ambassador to the U.S. Andrei Muraru https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/strenghtening-black-sea-security
2:30 p.m. — Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, and Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes participate in a panel discussion at the Civil Society Forum in Los Angeles, California. Livestreamed on www.state.gov and www.YouTube.com/statedept
3:30 p.m. — Heritage Foundation event: “Maintaining American Nuclear Deterrence,” with Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., ranking member, House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces; and Patty-Jane Geller, Heritage senior policy analyst for nuclear deterrence and missile defense https://www.heritage.org/missile-defense/event
3:45 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual book discussion of Getting China Wrong,” with author Aaron Friedberg, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University https://www.csis.org/events/book-event-getting-china-wrong
7:30 p.m. 7920 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, Va. — Intelligence and National Security Alliance discussion on the Defense Department’s strategic outlook for digital modernization and cybersecurity with Pentagon CIO John Sherman; and retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency https://www.insaonline.org/event/leadership-dinner-with-the-hon-john-sherman/
THURSDAY | JUNE 9
8 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee markups of H.R.7900, the FY2023 NDAA
- 8 a.m. — Readiness Subcommittee
- 9 a.m. — Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee
- 10 a.m. — Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee
http://www.armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. 419 Dirksen — House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation hearing: “European Energy Security: America’s Role in Supporting Europe’s Energy Diversification Agenda,” with testimony from Amos Hochstein, U.S. senior adviser for energy security, U.S. Department of State https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings
7 p.m. — Henry Stimson Center virtual discussion: “Arms Racing in Northeast Asia and Implications for the Korean Peninsula” https://www.stimson.org/event/arms-racing-in-northeast-asia
FRIDAY | JUNE 10
11 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Are Sanctions on Russia Working?” with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Molly Montgomery; and Svitlana Zalischuk, adviser to the Naftogaz CEO
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/are-sanctions-on-russia-working
SATURDAY | JUNE 11
TBA — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin deliver a “major speech” on US defense policy in the Indo-Pacific at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore https://www.iiss.org/press/2022/sld-secdef-austin
WEDNESDAY | JUNE 22
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee full committee markup of H.R.7900, the FY2023 NDAA http://www.armedservices.house.gov
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We seek dialogue with Pyongyang without preconditions. We continue to remain committed to diplomacy even as the DPRK launches an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles … However, to date, the DPRK has not responded, and continues to show no indication it is interested in engaging.”
Sung Kim, U.S. special representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, at a State Department briefing Tuesday.
