TILLERSON’S NATO TRIP BACK ON: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will attend the big NATO foreign ministers confab in Brussels after all, after the alliance rescheduled the ministerial for March 31 to accommodate Tillerson’s schedule. Tillerson was juggling important meetings about North Korea with China’s president Xi Jinping set for next early next month at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The NATO trip will now take place one day after he travels to Turkey, a NATO ally that has had fraught relations with the United States and European countries in recent months. “Secretary Tillerson will reaffirm Turkey’s important role in ensuring regional stability, and he will discuss the way forward with our campaign to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq,” the State Department bulletin said.
At the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum over the weekend, Sen. Ron Johnson said Tillerson made clear during a recent lunch with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he always wanted to attend, and it was just a matter of clearing up scheduling conflicts. “He certainly made this point to us that there was no slight,” Johnson said at news conference in Brussels. “There was nothing intended from that standpoint whatsoever. It’s just strictly a scheduling conflict.” Sen. John McCain, who was also attending the conference in Belgium, attributed the snafu to Tillerson’s lack of support staff. “Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a team there at the State Department, and I think it’s incumbent for the president and the administration to get people nominated and confirmed,” McCain said. “You can’t expect the secretary of state to conduct all his calendar appointments.”
ARMING UKRAINE: At the Brussels Forum, McCain renewed his call for the Trump administration to provide offensive weapons and other “lethal aid” to the government of Ukraine, which continues to battle Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country. “We owe these people the ability to defend their sovereign nation which has been invaded by the so-called separatists,” McCain said. “Vladimir Putin has recently stepped up their military activities in eastern Ukraine, as we know. And he will continue to do that as long as he thinks he can get away with it.” As for whether Trump will reverse the Obama administration’s ban on lethal aid, McCain said “I cannot predict that result, but I am optimistic. I see this administration and our secretary of defense, in particular, who are very favorably inclined.”
PROTESTS IN RUSSIA: In what is described as the biggest anti-Kremlin demonstrations in five years, hundreds of protesters have been arrested across Russia, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who appeared in court this morning, according to the AP. Tens of thousands reportedly took to the streets across the country, and Russian police said about 500 were arrested. The protests come a year before a presidential election in which Putin will run for his fourth term.
MONTENEGRO VOTE TODAY: McCain said he expects to get more than 90 votes when the Senate votes today on adding the tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro as the 29th member of the NATO alliance. The vote had been delayed by objections from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Utah Sen. Mike Lee. “We will begin the process of a vote to a closed debate and then move forward with a vote on Montenegro,” McCain said. “I’m totally confident that the vote will be in the 90s in favor of Montenegro’s inclusion into NATO.” Last week, Supreme NATO Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told Congress Montenegro’s accession to NATO was “absolutely crucial.”
CAN WE TALK? McCain, as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is arguably the preeminent voice on national security on Capitol Hill, but he said he has yet to meet with, or talk to the new president. During a panel discussion in Brussels, McCain said “I have not talked to the president. I talk almost daily to [Defense Secretary Jim] Mattis, to [national security adviser H.R.] McMaster, to [Director of National Security] Dan Coats, to all of his national security team.”
“We are close and old friends, some cases going back 30 years. So I do talk to them a lot,” McCain said. “I am not positive who the president listens to, but I am confident that if he listens to those individuals, that we’ll be in pretty good shape.” McCain called the top security officials “a very outstanding team.” “Question is,” he said, “who does the president listen to and who drives the tweets at 6 a.m. in the morning?”
Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). 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 be sure to add you to our list. Follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.
HAPPENING TODAY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the 2017 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington via remote hookup from Israel.
THE 12-CARRIER DREAM: Trump says he’s going to bring back the 12 aircraft carrier fleet, the centerpiece of his dream of a 350-ship Navy. But getting there is going to be a heavy lift and take years. One big problem is that the new Ford-class of carriers is unaffordable, said McCain, who is arguing for smaller, cheaper carriers instead of the $13 billion behemoth. Shipbuilders say they are up to task, and willing to find ways to cut costs. Read more in today’s magazine.
CIVILIAN DEATHS IN MOSUL: What’s not in dispute is that a large of number of civilians died in West Mosul over a week ago, when the building in which they were taking shelter collapsed. More than 100 people, maybe as may as 200, died including women, children and babies. U.S. Central Command has opened a formal investigation, known as a “Civilian Casualty Credibility Assessment” to determine who died and if an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition was responsible.
The U.S. has determined that a coalition strike was carried out in West Mosul on March 17 against a target called in by the Iraqi Security Forces on the ground. The intended target was a group of ISIS fighters and unspecified equipment, which some reports said included a massive truck bomb. It is unclear if the nearby building where the deaths occurred collapsed at the time of the strike, or a day or two later after being weakened by the blast. The New York Times quotes U.S. military officials as suggesting the building may have come down a few days later, and are also investigating whether ISIS may have used the strikes “as an opportunity to detonate an explosive in the building.” The Wall Street Journal reports the Iraqi military is now blaming the the deaths on an Islamic State booby trap.
The Pentagon said that whether the building suffered a direct hit, or was taken down some other way, the deaths were not a result of any loosening of the rules designed to limit unintended civilian casualties. “The Coalition respects human life, which is why we are assisting our Iraqi partner forces in their effort to liberate their lands from ISIS brutality,” a CENTCOM statement issued over the weekend said. “Our goal has always been for zero civilian casualties, but the Coalition will not abandon our commitment to our Iraqi partners because of ISIS’s inhuman tactics terrorizing civilians, using human shields, and fighting from protected sites such as schools, hospitals, religious sites and civilian neighborhoods.”
MARRIOTT MASTERMIND KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: The Pentagon confirmed late Friday that an airstrike it conducted on March 19 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, resulted in the death of al Qaeda leader Qari Yasin, Daniel Chaitin reports. In a statement, the Defense Department said Yasin, from Balochistan, Pakistan, was responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent victims, including two American service members.
He plotted multiple terror attacks, including the Sept. 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad resulted in the deaths of Air Force Maj. Rodolfo Rodriguez and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew J. O’Bryant, the statement said. He also played a leading role in the 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
YEMEN POLICY SHIFT: Mattis has sent a memo to the White House seeking wider latitude to use U.S. military force in Yemen to support America’s Persian Gulf allies who are fighting Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, the Washington Post reported. Mattis sent the memo to McMaster requesting authority to provide “limited support” for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “Approval of the request would mark a significant policy shift,” the newspaper reported. “U.S. military activity in Yemen until now has been confined mainly to counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda’s affiliate there, with limited indirect backing for gulf state efforts in a two-year-old war that has yielded significant civilian casualties.’
NUNES UNDER FIRE: The question debated over the weekend: Does House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes’ “midnight run” to the White House show that a special independent panel is needed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election? “I think the chairman has to make a decision, whether to act as a surrogate of the White House, as he did during the campaign and the transition, or to lead an independent and credible investigation,” said ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff on CBS. “I do think the events of this week call out the need for an independent commission, quite separate and apart from what we do in Congress.”
But later in the program Rep. Trey Gowdy called the move unnecessary because the FBI is already on the case. Gowdy called the FBI the world’s “premier law enforcement agency.” “It doesn’t get any more independent than that,” he said.
CRACKDOWN ON IRAN: Congressional Republicans and Democrats are proceeding with the most aggressive crackdown on Iran since former President Obama‘s first term, Joel Gehrke writes. House and Senate lawmakers unveiled separate sanctions legislation last week, just in time for the annual AIPAC conference, which began yesterday. The legislation imposes mandatory sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and tightens enforcement of an international ban on selling weapons to Iran. The packages diverge in one key area — the designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization — that holds significant policy ramifications and the threat of political pain, as well.
Curiously, the often slow-moving Senate took the more aggressive approach, applying the terrorist label to the IRGC. “This legislation demonstrates the strong bipartisan support in Congress for a comprehensive approach to holding Iran accountable by targeting all aspects of the regime’s destabilizing actions,” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker said when announcing the bill. “These steps will allow us to regain the initiative on Iran and push back forcefully against this threat to our security and that of our allies.”
SANCTIONS ANNOUNCED: Chinese and North Korean companies were hit with U.S. sanctions last week in response to their support for Iran’s ballistic missile program, the State Department announced Friday. “Iran’s proliferation of missile technology significantly contributes to regional tensions,” the State Department explained Friday. “As an example, we have seen indications Iran is providing missile support to the Houthis in Yemen. This destabilizing activity only serves to escalate regional conflicts further and poses a significant threat to regional security.”
The sanctions package, implemented on March 21, applies to “30 foreign entities and individuals in 10 countries,” but just 11 of those entities were sanctioned specifically for their involvement with Iran’s missile program. Ten of the 11 companies are Chinese or North Korean, while the remaining company is based in the United Arab Emirates. The punishment of foreign entities follows on sanctions imposed on 25 entities within Iran last month.
THE RUNDOWN
Fox News: US sending around 200 more troops to Middle East, official says
Military Times: Senators want Sinai Peninsula reclassified as a war zone
Military.com: Did the Air Force Dash Hopes for Building More F-22s?
Defense News: Already a year delayed, KC-46 program at risk of further schedule slips
Associated Press: US-backed forces capture Syrian air base from IS
BuzzFeed: The US Military Can’t Say If It’s Responsible For Strikes That Killed Hundreds Of Civilians
CNN: US-led strike caused civilian deaths in Mosul, Iraqi official says
Defense One: This Is How Russian Hackers Will Attack the US Next
Reuters: Conflicting casualty figures a week after Iraq Mosul blast
Roll Call: Jimmy Panetta Takes a Hard Line on Military Spending
Wall Street Journal: Iran Slaps Sanctions on 15 U.S. Companies as Animosity Grows
Calendar
MONDAY | MARCH 27
10:30 a.m. The Pentagon. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meets with Qatar’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah.
10:30 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Experts discuss Islam in France. brookings.edu
1 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Experts discuss regional collaboration in the Arctic. wilsoncenter.org
TUESDAY | MARCH 28
9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, Va. William Roper, the director of the strategic capabilities office at the Pentagon, speaks at a Mitchell Institute event. mitchellaerospacepower.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, head of U.S. European Command, testifies at a hearing on Russian activities and security challenges in Europe. armedservices.house.gov
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 419. Two think tank experts testify on U.S. policy toward Iran. foreign.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2212. Two admirals and a general discuss issues and concerns over naval strike fighters. armedservices.house.gov
4 p.m. 1030 15th St. N.W. Experts discuss the Russian military in the Ukraine and what the U.S. can learn from the situation. atlanticcouncil.org
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 29
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, testifies on security challenges in the Middle East. armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. Russell 222. Think tank experts discuss the Russian influence in Ukraine. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. HVC 210. The House Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing on terrorism in North Africa. homeland.house.gov
2 p.m. HVC 210. Retired officers discuss “Threats to Space Assets and Implications for Homeland Security.” armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Personnel chiefs from all four services testify on pilot shortages. armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. 2172 Rayburn. Three experts discuss Iran’s provocative actions and its ballistic missile program. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2:15 p.m. Dirksen 419. Former Rep. Randy Forbes and Georgetown University’s Robert Gallucci testify on Asia-Pacific security issues. foreign.senate.gov
2:15 p.m. Russell 232-A. Systems command senior leaders from the four services testify on the defense industrial base. armed-services.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. Russell 222. Three Air Force generals testify on Air Force modernization. Armed-services.senate.gov
THURSDAY | MARCH 30
9 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Gen. Darren McDew, head of U.S. Transportation Command, testifies on the current state of his command. Armedservices.house.gov
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G50. The Senate Armed Services Committee considers the nomination of former Rep. Heather Wilson to be Air Force secretary. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Dirksen 106. Experts discuss Russian influence campaigns in an open hearing, and will hold a second hearing at 2 p.m. intelligence.senate.gov
10:30. Rayburn 2172. Three former officials discuss Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty. armedservices.house.gov
