Pentagon cites ‘no corroborating evidence’ to support Russian bounty payments to Taliban

“Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan — and around the world — most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats,” Hoffman said.

SPYMASTERS WARN LEAKS HARMFUL: Both CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe released statements Monday warning that leaking raw intelligence that is still being evaluated hampers the ability of intelligence agencies to do their jobs.

“Leaks compromise and disrupt the critical interagency work to collect, assess, and ascribe culpability,” said Haspel in a statement. “When developing intelligence assessments, initial tactical reports often require additional collection and validation.”

“This is the analytic process working the way it should. Unfortunately unauthorized disclosures now jeopardized our ability to ever find out the full story,” said Ratcliffe in a tweeted statement. “We are still investigating the alleged intelligence referenced in recent media reporting and we will brief the President and Congressional leaders at the appropriate time,” he said.

LOST IN THE FINE PRINT: The New York Times reported Monday that U.S. intelligence suggesting that a Russian military intelligence unit was paying the Taliban to kill U.S. troops was included in a written summary, known as the President’s Daily Brief, provided to President Trump in late February.

But congressional Republicans who were briefed by administration officials Monday said it appears the information was never highlighted to Trump in his oral briefings. “The question is: Was it in the briefing book, or was it briefed to him? Because it’s two separate things,” said Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of eight Republicans briefed Monday.

“Everything I understand is that the president was not briefed about this. Now, if it was in his book, that’s one thing. Maybe he didn’t read it — most presidents don’t read the entire book every day. They rely on intel to brief them,” Kinzinger added. He said that based on what he heard, the intelligence was not actionable.

“It shouldn’t have been told to the president,” Kinzinger said on CNN. “That’s where you have to make a decision, especially on something as big as Russia. Do you want to present the president with the idea that Russia has put bounties out on U.S. troops if you don’t fully know yet and if there’s conflicting intelligence, or is it better to gather the rest of that?”

DEMOCRATS TO BE BRIEFED TUESDAY: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, who led the impeachment effort against Trump, is among the Democrats due to be briefed at the White House Tuesday, a day after the Republicans.

“We need to get an explanation. We need to get an explanation, a briefing from the intelligence community leadership,” Schiff said on MSNBC. “What do they know of these allegations? What kind of confidence do they have in what they may or may not know about these allegations? And have there been policy debates within the administration about what they’re planning to do?”

Schiff was also among the Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who suggested that Trump advisers were afraid to share in the intelligence with the president. “If they’re going to sit on their hands because this president can’t stand up to Vladimir Putin, Congress needs to take steps to protect our troops and to protect our national interest.”

“If they had this intelligence, they should have briefed the president. Why didn’t they? Because they know it makes him very unhappy,” said Pelosi on CNN. “And all roads, for him, as you know, lead to Putin.”

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 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 not publish on Friday, July 3, or Monday, July 6, as we celebrate the long Independence Day weekend. We’ll be back in your inbox bright and early Tuesday morning, July 7.

HAPPENING TODAY: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith will discuss Wednesday’s full committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 in a conference call with reporters sponsored by the George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group.

BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO BLOCK GERMANY TROOP WITHDRAWAL: Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney has introduced an amendment to next year’s National Defense Authorization Act to stop Trump from withdrawing roughly 10,000 troops from Germany, which has bipartisan support.

“Specifically, the amendment would prevent funds from being used to reduce the number of troops serving in Germany until the Secretary of Defense submits a report to Congress and then certifies to Congress, after consultation with the allies of the United States, that such a reduction” meets several criteria concerning U.S. interests and NATO defense positions, says Romney on his website.

The amendment is co-sponsored by Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, along with Democrats Chris Coons of Delaware, Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

“The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany would be a gift to Russia, and that’s the last thing we should be doing,” Romney said. “In addition to undermining our NATO alliance, a withdrawal would present serious logistical challenges and prevent our military from performing routine military readiness exercises.”

ALSO TODAY: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks virtually to the U.N. Security Council at 11 a.m. from the Department of State. Pompeo will discuss Iran and the expiring U.N. arms embargo, according to a State Department statement.

IRAN SEEKS TRUMP’S ARREST: Meanwhile, Iran has issued an arrest warrant for President Trump and 35 others for what it claims was the illegal assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleiman, according to the Fars News Agency.

Soleimani, Iran’s top general, was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq on Jan. 3.

Tehran’s prosecutor-general, Ali Alghasi Mehr, was quoted saying the 36 individuals are accused of murder and terrorist action, adding that “U.S. President Donald Trump stands at the top of the list and will be prosecuted as soon as he stands down presidency after his term ends.”

HAPPENING TOMORROW: Outgoing Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein will discuss the state of the Air Force and the Space Force in a Brookings Institution conversation with Michael O’Hanlon and Frank Rose. 11 a.m.

NAVY COURSE CORRECTION NEEDED: In a scathing bipartisan rebuke of the Navy’s broken shipbuilding efforts, Sens. Jim Inhofe and Jack Reed, the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, are calling for a major overhaul of how the Navy designs and builds new warships.

“We must accelerate innovative research and development, acquire new capabilities faster, and transform the way the U.S. military fights,” they write in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings. “Unfortunately, results have been mixed at best, with absurd acquisition debacles that have set back the country tens of billions of dollars and delayed necessary weapon systems for years.”

The two cite a GAO report that outlines problems and cost overruns for the eight most recent lead combatant ships — the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the destroyer Zumwalt, littoral combat ships Freedom and Independence, amphibious assault ships America and San Antonio, and submarines Virginia and Texas.

“The GAO found that a total of $8 billion more than the initial cost estimate was required to construct these ships, each lead ship experienced cost growth of at least 10 percent, and three lead ships exceeded their initial budgets by 80 percent or more. Further, each lead ship was delivered to the fleet at least six months late — five were more than two years late — and most lead ships had dozens of uncorrected deficiencies when the Navy accepted them.”

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: US spy chiefs warn leaks on alleged Russia-Taliban plot ‘jeopardize’ ability to find the truth

Washington Examiner: John Bolton briefed Trump on Russian bounties on US troops in 2019: Report

CNBC.com: Mom Of Marine Killed In Afghanistan Wants Investigation Of Claim Russians Paid Taliban To Kill U.S. Soldiers

Washington Examiner: Pentagon releases ‘initial’ list of Chinese military-linked companies operating in US

Breaking Defense: China Threatens In Paracels; Three U.S. Carrier Groups Sail The Philippine Sea

Military.com: Pentagon Lifts Travel Ban in All States Except Florida, California

The Drive: Army Releases Ultra Rare Video Showing Green Berets Training In Taiwan

Wall Street Journal: Russia Reinforces Foothold In Libya As Militia Leader Retreats

Washington Post: What’s behind Russia’s growing ties with the Taliban

Breaking Defense: New Iranian Missile Could Strike Central Europe: Analysis

New York Times: Iranian Missile Facility Blows Up, and Conspiracy Theories Abound in Tehran

Stars and Stripes: Allied Subs, Warships Launch Large Underwater Warfare Drills Off Iceland

Seapower Magazine: Marine Corps Activates Second F-35B Fleet Replacement Squadron

Washington Post: Senate defense bill may challenge Trump on renaming military bases with Confederate names

Washington Post: Congress begins probe into federal officers’ use of force to clear protesters near Lafayette Square

Forbes: Marine CH-53K Emerges As The Fastest, Cheapest Way To Find A Future Army Heavy Lifter

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Why Russia’s GRU would kill Americans in Afghanistan

Proceedings: Opinion: Inhofe Reed: The Navy Needs a Course Correction

Calendar

TUESDAY | JUNE 30

8 a.m. — The Atlantic Council book discussion webcast, on Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West, with author Catherine Belton, Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times; Clark Gascoigne, interim executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition; and Anders Aslund, senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. .https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/putins-people

9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webcast: “Russia’s Military in the Arctic,” with Katarzyna Zysk, deputy director and head of the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies’ Center for Security Policy; Michael Kofman, senior research scientist and director of the CNA Russia Studies Program; and Heather Conley, senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic at CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event

9 a.m. — United States Institute of Peace webinar: “Where Do Iraq’s Religious and Ethnic Minorities Stand Post-ISIS?” with Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Robert Destro; William Warda, member of the Alliance of Iraqi Minorities General Assembly’s External Relations Committee; Susan Aref, director and founder of the Women Empowerment Organization; Osama Gharizi, Iraq senior program adviser at USIP; and Lee Tucker, senior program officer for the Middle East at USIP. https://www.usip.org/events

10 a.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group conference call conversation on the markup of the National Defense Authorization Act, with Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman, House Armed Services Committee. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

10 a.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webcast: “Can Cooperation on Missile Defense Avoid a U.S.-China Nuclear Arms Race?” with Oriana Mastro, assistant professor at Georgetown University; Susan Thornton, senior fellow at Yale University Law School’s China Center; Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, China reporter at Axios; and Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the CEIP Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. https://carnegieendowment.org

10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webcast” “Party on the Bridge: Political Commissars in the Chinese Navy,” with Zi Yang, senior analyst in the Nanyang Technological University’s China Program; Jude Blanchette, chair in China studies at CSIS; and Jeff Benson, military fellow in the CSIS International Security Program. https://www.csis.org/events

12 p.m. — Association of the United States Army “Noon Report,” with Gen. Paul E. Funk II, commanding general, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. https://www.ausa.org/events/noon-report-funk

12:30 p.m. — The Heritage Foundation book discussion webinar on The Return of Great Power Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Ancient World to the U.S. and China, with author Matthew Kroenig, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Center for Strategy and Security; Daniel Twining, president of the International Republican Institute; James Jay Carafano, vice president of the Heritage Institute for International Studies; and Helle Dale, senior public diplomacy fellow at the Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/event/webinar

WEDNESDAY | JULY 1

10 a.m. Longworth 1100 and Cisco Webex — Full House Armed Services markup of National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings

10 a.m. — Air Force Association Mitchell Institute Aerospace Nation webcast: “A Conversation with the Commander of Air Force Materiel Command,” with Gen. Arnold Bunch. Invitation only, but a recording will be posted afterward at https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/aerospace-nation.

11 a.m. — Brookings Institution webinar: “Assessing the State of the Air Force.” with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. https://www.brookings.edu/events

11 a.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webcast: “Twenty Years After Camp David: Where do Palestinians and Israelis Go From Here?” with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak; former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabeel Shaath; and Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at CEIP. https://carnegieendowment.org

1 p.m. — Aspen Security Forum book discussion webcast: “Exercise of Power: A Conversation with Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates,” moderated by Anja Manuel, director, Aspen Strategy Group. https://aspeninst.zoom.us/webinar/register

2 p.m. — Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies webcast with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on American foreign policy priorities during and after COVID-19. https://fedsoc.org/events/capital-conversations

4 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webcast: “Civics as a National Security Imperative: Addressing Racial Injustice – Part 1: Racial Injustice as a National Security Threat,” with former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson; Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, former general counsel to the CIA and NSA; and Wyndee Parker, national security adviser to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event-civics

THURSDAY | JULY 2

10 a.m. — Middle East Institute “Defense Leadership” series webinar: “U.S. Middle East policy during the Obama administration and future U.S. strategy for the region,” with former Defense Undersecretary for Policy James Miller; and Bilal Saab, MEI Defense and Security Program director https://www.mei.edu/events/mei-defense

2 p.m. — Brookings Institution webinar: “The National Guard in the Era of COVID-19,” with Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau. https://www.brookings.edu/events

FRIDAY | JULY 3

Independence Day holiday — The U.S. military will conduct a “Salute to America” flyover at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where President Trump and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will preside over a fireworks display.

TUESDAY | JULY 7

5 p.m. — George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School “NatSec Nightcap,” with Lisa Monaco, former White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser. https://nationalsecurity.gmu.edu/natsec-nightcap