DUELING BENGHAZI REPORTS: Today, House Republicans are expected to release their long-awaited report on the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans were killed in the Sept. 11 attack including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. CNN says it’s obtained a portion of the report, which it describes as painting a picture of “a perfect storm of bureaucratic inertia, rapidly worsening security in Libya and inadequate resources.” The excerpt reviewed by CNN apparently does not focus on Hillary Clinton, although it argues available intelligence suggested an attack was possible, and Clinton and a top aide, Patrick Kennedy, should have realized the risks posed to the Benghazi mission by extremist groups. But CNN says, “Conservative members of the panel are expected to release a more political analysis of the attack Tuesday that’s far more critical of Clinton.”
Democrats released their dissenting report yesterday in a preemptive move. It argues Republicans wasted resources to reach a conclusion similar to those of other congressional panels, Sarah Westwood reports. The minority report concludes no military assets could have reached the diplomatic compound in Benghazi in time to save the Americans. Clinton told the House Benghazi Committee last year, “there was no actionable intelligence” indicating an attack was imminent.
Paul Bedard obtained a supplement to that report written by GOP Reps. Mike Pompeo and Jim Jordan. “Despite its claims, we saw no evidence that the administration held a sincere interest in helping the committee find the truth about Benghazi. There is a time for politics and a time to set politics aside. A national tragedy is one of those times when as a nation we should join together to find the truth. That did not happen here,” said the 51-page supplemental report. Read a summary of its conclusions here.
For an interactive graphic on the evolution of the White House’s messaging (and dueling public and private statements) on Benghazi, go here.
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THIS MORNING ON THE HILL: The White House’s Brett McGurk will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 on the effort to defeat the Islamic State just one day after the Pentagon argued the terror group is on a long losing streak. “There has been no strategic victory for ISIS in over a year now. We have seen them, in fact, lose significant territory over and over again,” said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis, ticking off a string of defeats for the Islamic State since the beginning of 2015.
The liberation of Fallujah brings the tally to six major cities retaken in the past year, Davis said: Fallujah, Ramadi, Rutbah, Hiit, Sinjar and Baiji. While the Islamic State did put up a fight, the five-week operation was easier than many expected. Or as Davis put it: “Once they got through the hard candy shell and into the chewy center, things went much more quickly.”
Meanwhile, a new video from an ISIS-aligned group is promising attacks on San Francisco and Las Vegas, Anna Giaritelli reports.
McCHRYSTAL CLEAR: This morning at 9:30, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hear from retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The topic: “Improving Strategic Integration at the Department of Defense.”
TRANSGENDER FRIDAY: All signs point to this Friday as the day Defense Secretary Ash Carter will announce the end to the ban on transgender troops serving openly in the U.S. military. The estimated 15,000 transgender troops are no longer kicked out, but many are stuck in limbo as they wait for the formal lifting of the ban. Military.com has a profile of one such service member, a 23-year-old Naval Acadamy grad working as an administrative assistant at the academy, while she waits to see if she can wear the uniform of the gender she identifies with.
RUSSIAN HARASSMENT: The State Department yesterday confirmed that Russians have been harassing U.S. diplomats, Gabriella Ciuffetelli reports. “Over the past two years, harassment and surveillance of our diplomatic personnel in Moscow by security personnel and traffic police have increased significantly,” said Elizabeth Trudeau, director of the State Department’s Office of Press Relations.
Diplomats, Ciuffetelli wrote, “would often find their tires slashed or their homes broken into. On several occasions, diplomats would return home to find Russian agents had rearranged their furniture, or turned on all the lights and televisions before leaving. According to one diplomat, a Russian officer went so far as to defecate on his carpet.”
STOLEN REBEL GUNS: The State Department wasn’t commenting yesterday on a New York Times report that guns shipped by the CIA and Saudi Arabia meant for Syrian rebels was stolen by Jordanians and sold on the black market, Pete Kasperowicz reports.
FRIENDS AGAIN: Israel and Turkey have restored diplomatic ties six years after an Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla left 10 activists dead, Kelly Cohen reports. Israel has agreed to pay $20 million in restitution for the attack. “The world is in turmoil. The Middle East is in turmoil. And my goal as prime minister is to create focus points of stability in this volatile and stormy region,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in announcing the reconciliation. He added that “the break between us didn’t benefit either of our mutual interests.”
FRIENDS AGAIN, PART TWO: Turkey is also mending fences with Moscow, apologizing for shooting down a Russian fighter jet that briefly strayed over the border from Syria last year. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret in a letter to President Vladimir Putin, a move apparently aimed at getting Russia to drop the economic sanctions it put in place after the loss of the plane and its pilot last November.
POOR PUPS: Almost 60,000 animal lovers have signed an online petition to ask the U.S. Embassy to Kuwait to take care of dogs belonging to Eastern Security after photos surfaced online appearing to show the Kuwait-based company undertook a mass euthanization allegedly because it lost a contract with state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Co. About 24 German Shepherds were allegedly trained in the U.S. before being euthanized by the company, where two top executives are reportedly U.S. citizens, Nicole Duran reports.
FROM THE NYT TO THE FDD: Veteran New York Times National Security Correspondent Michael Gordon is joining the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as a writer-in-residence. Gordon is completing a book on the American-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State, due out next year.
THE RUNDOWN
RealClearDefense: Cutting Funding for GPS OCX
Defense News: All Eyes on Farnborough, and F-35
UPI: Russian aircraft sales boosted by Syrian campaign
Defense News: Warsaw Summit Preview: Many Interests, with Deterrence at Core
Military.com: NATO Appoints First Woman as Deputy Head
USNI News: Austal USA Delivers Two Ships to Navy
Breaking Defense: How Next President Can Build New National Security Space Strategy
Defense News: Corker, McCain: Don’t Quit On Nuke Modernization
Military Times: Don’t discount military bands’ strategic value, supporters warn Congress
Breaking Defense: Drone Defense: Army Anti-Artillery Radar Tracks UAVs
Washington Post: ‘I kind of have mixed emotions’: Green Beret reacts to being denied the Medal of Honor
War on the Rocks: Fat Leonard: An unexceptional middleman
Defense News: ‘He Was a Crook, But He Was Our Crook’
Fox News: Al Qaeda urges lone wolves to target whites, to avoid ‘hate crime’ label
Associated Press: Iraqis suffer in desert camps after flight from Fallujah
Marine Corps Times: R. Lee Ermey pays tribute to ‘Full Metal Jacket’ screenwriter
Stars and Stripes: Navy Lifts Alcohol Ban For Sailors In Japan
Calendar
TUESDAY | JUNE 28
9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on strategic integration at the Pentagon. armed-services.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. CSIS hosts Assistant Attorney General John Carlin to discuss a whole-government approach to national security cyber threats. csis.org
10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIL, testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations committee. foreign.senate.gov
WEDNESDAY | JUNE 29
8:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. CSIS hosts Lt. Gen. John Wissler, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, to discuss amphibious ship development and fleet implications in the Pacific. csis.org
9:30 a.m. SVC 217. Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, will give testimony on national security cyber and encryption challenges. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. 529 14th Street NW. Arab Center D.C. hosts a panel of think tank experts at the National Press Club to discuss the impact of the presidential elections on U.S. Middle East policy. arabcenterdc.org
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a keynote address on the Warsaw NATO summit. csis.org
11:45 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The Hudson Institute hosts a panel to discuss the future of North Africa in light of current unstable conditions. hudson.org
2 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. The Council on Foreign Relations hosts CIA Director John Brennan to discuss instability and transnational threats to global security. cfr.org
THURSDAY | JUNE 30
12:30 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Stimson hosts former Rep. Mike Rogers to discuss U.S. intelligence, foreign policy, and national security. stimson.org
1 p.m 1501 Lee Highway Arlington, VA. Maj. Gen. Jeff Harrigian, director of F-35 integration office, and Col. Max Marosko, deputy director of air & space operations, discuss maintaining the 5th generation joint force advantage. mitchellaerospacepower.org
