UPDATE: The Pentagon announced at 9:15 a.m. that due the shutdown of federal government offices in Washington, D.C., Secretary Austin’s planned news conference would be rescheduled for another time.
READY FOR HIS CLOSE UP: It’s been nearly a month since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin assumed control of the Pentagon, and later today, he’s scheduled to take questions from reporters for the first time.
Spokesman John Kirby promised Austin would make his debut in the commodious Pentagon briefing room after he finishes participating in the virtual meeting of NATO defense ministers, wrapping up today.
“I am pleased to let you know that Secretary Austin will be right up here with you tomorrow following his second and final day of the NATO defense ministerial. He’ll be up here to give you a readout of that and to take your questions.”
During his January Senate confirmation hearing, Austin pledged to “establish a good relationship with the media and provide them the access and the information required to do their job of reporting out to the American people.” And reporters have a host of questions.
AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: The U.S. said going into today’s NATO session on Iraq and Afghanistan that it was not ready to say whether the Biden administration will seek a delay in the departure of the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces from Afghanistan in just over two months, as required under last year’s agreement with the Taliban. Austin is in the middle of a “global posture review” that will determine U.S. troop deployments worldwide but promised his fellow defense ministers the U.S. will not decide the future of the Afghanistan mission without fully consulting with NATO allies.
“NATO allies welcome that message from the United States, not least because there is a significant non-U.S. presence in Afghanistan. There are roughly 10,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan now, and the majority of them are not from the United States,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general. “We will make a decision together,” he said. “But I think the main focus now should be on reenergizing the peace talks because that’s the only way to a peaceful solution.”
RESPONSE TO IRAQ ATTACK, ‘THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES’: The U.S. is not ready to blame Iran for Monday’s rocket attack on a base in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, where U.S. troops and contractors are based, even though a Shia group calling itself Awliya Al Dam has claimed responsibility and is believed to be a front for an Iranian-backed militia group.
“The group that claimed responsibility for this heinous attack has a history of claiming assaults on coalition targets in Iraq. Importantly, this group is widely believed to have ties to Iran-backed fighters in Iraq,” said Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “I urge the Biden administration to make clear these attacks are unacceptable by holding those responsible accountable,” he said in a statement.
Photos of the aftermath of the attack, posted by Defense One, show the damage inflicted when 14 107mm rockets rained down on the base. One non-American civilian contractor was killed and eight civilian contractors injured along with one U.S. service member. But the pictures of burned out structures show the death toll could have easily been higher had the troops not received a last-minute warning of the incoming fire.
“Our Kurdish partners, our Iraqi partners, together they are working on this investigation to determine who precisely was responsible,” said spokesman Ned Price at the State Department. “We’re not going to preview a response, but it is fair to say that there will be consequences for any group responsible for this attack,” he said, adding “Any response we take will be in full coordination with the government of Iraq and with our coalition partners as well.”
Good Thursday 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: Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets virtually with Quad counterparts Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. “This discussion with the quad foreign ministers is critical to advancing our shared goals of free and open Indo-Pacific and rising to the defining challenges of our time, including coordinating our efforts on COVID-19 response as well as climate change,” said spokesman Ned Price.
VACCINE RESISTANCE IN THE RANKS: The effort to return to normal operations and restore full readiness in the U.S. military is being hampered by resistance among some members of the military and their families to getting the coronavirus vaccine.
“I think our initial, and this is of course very early data, is acceptance rates are somewhere in the two-thirds territory, and of course it varies by different groups,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeff Taliaferro, the vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs, told the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. That means, so far, one-third of the 1.3 million active-duty forces are turning down the vaccine over concerns about its safety or possible long-term side effects.
Because the various vaccines are approved on an emergency use basis by the FDA, they cannot be mandated for military members, unlike other routine vaccines that are required for deploying troops. “It’s clearly safe for service members, and we need to continue to educate our force and help them understand the benefits and ensure there’s leadership involvement in the discussion of the benefits of the vaccine,” Taliaferro said.
The military has had to adapt its training, deployments, and exercises to mitigate the spread of COVID, but the impact on readiness has been minimal, Taliaferro testified. “There is some quality lost in those larger formation training and exercises, but I would say the overall C-ratings, or readiness ratings, for all the services and combatant commands have stayed within historic norms, largely because of the adaptive and aggressive action by the services and the combatant commands.”
GAINS FOR AFGHAN WOMEN IN JEOPARDY: The latest lessons learned report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction warns that a potential peace deal and power-sharing arrangement between the Afghan government and the Taliban is likely to undermine U.S. efforts to support women, girls, and gender equality in Afghanistan.
“We must not forget the bitter lesson we learned following our previous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Cutting off those whom you have previously encouraged to rise up can lead to tragedy not only for them, but for our nation as well,” said John Sopko, the special inspector general. “We cannot be naive about the challenges that women and girls in Afghanistan continue to face. Make no mistake — though they have greater access to healthcare and education, and work as legislators, judges, teachers, health workers, civil servants, journalists, and business and civil society leaders — Afghanistan still remains one of the most challenging places in the world to be a woman.”
The report concludes, among other things, that the U.S. has spent $787 million for programs to support Afghan women and girls from 2002 to 2020, with mixed results. “Afghan women and girls have achieved significant gains … including health, education, political participation, access to justice, and economic participation,” the report says, but cautions, “The positive story of these gains is tempered by the reality that significant barriers — including restrictive sociocultural norms and insecurity, continue to impede progress.”
“The kind of life Afghan women will face under any government in which the Taliban exert an influence will be a product of the Taliban’s ability — or inability — to negotiate their differences with the Afghan government and local communities, and the varying beliefs and practices within their own ranks.”
SPACE COMMAND HQ NOT DONE DEAL, YET: One of the most ardent supporters of last month’s surprise Air Force decision to award the future permanent headquarters of the U.S. Space Command to Alabama admits there’s going to be a political battle royal to keep it there.
“I’ve been here a long time, and I’ve seen this show repeatedly,” says Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers. “Every time there’s a big competition for some big project, the states that don’t win yell, ‘Politics, it was all political,’ and that’s what’s happening here.”
In an interview with the Washington Examiner magazine, Rogers, the new ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, says he has little doubt the decision will be subject to review by the Biden administration.
“I don’t have a problem at all with there being a review of the selection process, and I’m confident that Huntsville is going to prevail, and it’s going to stay there,” said Rogers, who consulted with Barbara Barrett, Trump’s lame-duck Air Force secretary, after the selection was made. “She emphasized to me that this is all objective data and there was no politics involved, and I take her at her word.”
In response to the Washington Examiner, the Pentagon said so far no review has been ordered. “Secretary Austin has communicated to Air Force leaders that he supports their decision-making process about the preferred location of Space Command Headquarters,” said spokesman John Kirby. “He understands they will not make a final decision until 2023, and he looks forward to staying informed as they work through those deliberations.”
You can read the full interview with Rogers in the upcoming edition of the Washington Examiner magazine, available by subscription.
THE REVIEWS ARE IN: Defense Secretary Austin’s charm offensive appears to have won over skeptical NATO allies who were traumatized by the confrontational approach of the previous administration, which often berated and belittled the contributions of some member nations.
“Successful first day of the Defense Ministers Council concluded. Highlight was a strong [U.S.] @SecDef statement to turn a new page, revitalize alliances, and a reaffirmation of the ironclad art 5 guarantee,” tweeted Belgium’s NATO Ambassador Pascal Heyman.
Florence Parly, France’s minister of armed forces, tweeted, en français, that the first day of discussions were “très constructives.” The full translated tweet said, “First NATO ministerial with our new American counterpart @SecDef Austin, Very constructive discussions. We share the same ambition of a revitalization of the alliance. France will play its full part in this collective work of strategic reflection between allies.”
“I wanted them to know the United States was going to lead again. I wanted them to know we were going to be good teammates,” Austin wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Post the first day of the NATO session. “But teams succeed only when every player is trusted and respected. And our alliance teammates haven’t always felt that respect.”
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Decision to award military’s new space headquarters to Alabama likely to be reviewed
Washington Examiner: Biden administration says response to SolarWinds hack will ‘holistically’ consider ‘likely Russian’ activities
Washington Examiner: Decision to award military’s new space headquarters to Alabama likely to be reviewed
Washington Examiner: ‘Good conversation’: Biden finally phones Netanyahu — a month into presidency
AP: Thousands Of Service Members Are Refusing Or Putting Off COVID-19 Vaccine
Task & Purpose: Pentagon Considers Sending More Than 18,000 Troops To Help Vaccinate America
New York Times: The Coronavirus Forces Closures And Quarantine At The Guantánamo Bay Base.
New York Times: Promotions for Female Generals Were Delayed Over Fears of Trump’s Reaction
Washington Times: Navy Memo On Anti-Extremism Stand-Down
Air Force Magazine: Brown Launching Major TacAir Study with CAPE, Considering ‘5th-Gen Minus’
Breaking Defense: ‘Clean Sheet’ F-16 Replacement In The Cards: CSAF Brown
USNI News: IKE Carrier Strike Group Commands SEALs, Marine Missile Teams in First-of-a-Kind, Large-Scale Drill
Marine Corps Times: 31st MEU Tests Artificial Intelligence Sensing Gear To Help Marines, Soldiers See Invisible Threats
The Hill: U.S., Japan Extend Cost-Sharing Pact For Hosting American Troops
AP: Killings surge in Syrian camp housing families of Islamic State extremists
Yonhap: N. Korea Expands Missile Facilities, But No Unusual Signs At Nuclear Sites: Defense Ministry
New York Times: Rethinking China Policy Has Biden on a ‘Short Leash’
Reuters: Satellite Images Show China Emptying Military Camps At Border Flashpoint With India
Stars and Stripes: First Lady Recommits To Helping Military Children, Families
Defense News: With The Submarine Threat On The Rise, The U.S. Navy Looks To Autonomous Water Sensor Drones
Washington Post: Can Computer Algorithms Learn to Fight Wars Ethically?
Washington Post: Newly released documents shed light on 1983 nuclear war scare with Soviets
Air Force Magazine: First of 17 B-1Bs Heads to the Boneyard
Calendar
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 18
9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar on Korea and China, with Chung Jae Ho, professor and director of the Seoul National University Program on U.S.-China Relations; former Republic of Korea Ambassador to Russia Wi Sung-lac, visiting professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy; Bonnie Glaser, director of the CSIS China Power Project; Victor Cha, Korea chair at CSIS; and Mark Lippert, nonresident senior adviser at CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event-korea-chair-capital-cable-20
10 a.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Middle East Program and Kennan Institute webinar, “Turkish-Russian Relations,” with former State Department Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS James Jeffrey; Habibe Ozdal, assistant professor of international relations at Istanbul Okan University; and Matthew Rojansky, director of the WWC Kennan Institute. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/global-perspectives-turkish-russian-relations
10 a.m. — Arab Center webinar “Yemen Policy Under Biden: Opportunities and Challenges,” with Abdulwahab Alkebsi, managing director for programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise; Nadwa Al-Dawsari, nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute; Sama’a Al-Hamdani, founder and executive director of the Yemen Cultural Institute; Nabeel Khoury, senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council; Summer Nasser, CEO of Yemen Aid; and Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
11 a.m. — Ronald Reagan Institute virtual event: “China, Targeted Decoupling, and the Economic Long War,” with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Roger Zakheim, director Ronald Reagan Institute. https://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan-institute/events
11:30 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Scott-St. Louis Chapter virtual discussion with Air Force Brig. Gen. Chad Raduege, director of cyberspace and information dominance and CIO of the Air Combat Command. https://scott.afceachapters.org/?even
12 p.m. — Center for the National Interest invites you to a Zoom webinar: “The Challenge of Iran,” with Gary Samore, professor, Brandeis University; Ellen Laipson, distinguished fellow, Stimson Center; Shai Feldman, president, Sapir Academic College; and Geoffrey Kemp, senior director for regional security, Center for the National Interest. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
1 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group webinar: “Cyber Defenders: Securing the Supply Chain,” with Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Katherine Arrington; and Principal Deputy Assistant VA Secretary for Information Dominic Cussat, deliver remarks. https://cyberdefenders.nextgov.com/register
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19
10:30 a.m. — House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security hearing: “A Pathway for Peace in Afghanistan: Examining the Findings and Recommendations of the Afghanistan Study Group,” with former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, retired Gen. Joseph Dunford, and Nancy Lindborg, co-chairs of congressionally-chartered U.S. Institute of Peace Afghanistan Study Group. https://oversight.house.gov
11:15 a.m. — Munich Security Conference “Special Edition” virtual event: “A New Transatlantic Agenda,” with U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron. https://securityconference.org/en/msc-special-edition-2021/
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion: “The Future of U.S. Seapower: A View from Congress,” with Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee; Rep. Robert Wittman, R-Va., ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee; and Seth Cropsey, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Center for American Seapower. https://www.hudson.org/events/1920-virtual-event-the-future-of-u-s-seapower-a-view-from-congress22021
12:15 p.m — Howard University virtual symposium on “Re-Shaping U.S.-Africa Policy and the Role of HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities,” with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former assistant secretary of State for African affairs. https://cfas.howard.edu/Symposium-US-Africa-HBCUs
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems hearing: “Innovation Opportunities and Vision for the Science and Technology Enterprise,” with Christine Fox, former acting deputy secretary of defense, assistant director for policy and analysis, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; Victoria Coleman, former DARPA director, senior adviser to the director, CITRIS, UC Berkeley; and Klon Kitchen, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
1 p.m. — Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute virtual event: “Building a 21st-Century Foreign Policy,” with Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., chair of House Republican Conference; and Roger Zakheim, director, Reagan Institute. https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs
3 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing: “Near-Peer Advancements in Space and Nuclear Weapons,” with retired Gen. Robert Kehler, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University; Madelyn Creedon, nonresident fellow, The Brookings Institute; Todd Harrison, director, Aerospace Security Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Tim Morrison, senior fellow, The Hudson Institute. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
7 p.m. — Stimson Center and Sejong Institute Zoom webinar: “US and ROK Approaches to North Korea: Challenges and Opportunities,” with Jungsup Kim, senior research fellow, Sejong Institute; Jihwan Hwang, professor, University of Seoul; Suzanne DiMaggio, senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Jenny Town, fellow, Stimson Center and deputy director, 38 North; and moderated by Joel S. Wit, senior fellow, Stimson Center and Director, 38 North.https://www.stimson.org/event
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 24
11 a.m. — Business Executives for National Security virtual forum; “Sharpening DOD’s Competitive Edge: Tail-to-Tooth At 20,” with former Defense Secretaries Ash Carter, Mark Esper, and Leon Panetta. https://www.bens.org/pages/events
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The effort to promote women’s rights may be hampered by a growing narrative in Afghanistan that the country can either have women’s rights at the cost of peace, or peace at the cost of women’s rights.”
Report from Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, “Support for Gender Equality: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan.”
