|
TALKING PAST EACH OTHER: Teleprompter Trump delivered the presidential address to the nation last night on what he called “a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.” President Trump was lacking the spontaneity and energy of his extemporaneous media availabilities, but his arguments were all familiar. “Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country, and thousands more lives will be lost if we don’t act right now.” “As part of an overall approach to border security, law enforcement professionals have requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. At the request of Democrats, it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. This barrier is absolutely critical to border security. It’s also what our professionals at the border want and need.” “The federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: Because Democrats will not fund border security … The only solution is for Democrats to pass a spending bill that defends our borders and reopens the government.” “This situation could be solved in a 45-minute meeting. I have invited congressional leadership to the White House tomorrow to get this done. Hopefully, we can rise above partisan politics in order to support national security.” POINT, COUNTERPOINT: The Democrats, represented by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, delivered the response from Capitol Hill. The pair stood behind a lectern against a backdrop of American flags and evoking the grim countenance of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting. “House Democrats passed Senate Republican legislation to re-open government and fund smart, effective border security solutions,” Pelosi said, leading off. “But the president is rejecting these bipartisan bills, which would re-open government, over his obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall, a wall he always promised Mexico would pay for.” “The fact is, we all agree we need to secure our borders while honoring our values. We can build the infrastructure and roads at our ports of entry. We can install new technology to scan cars and trucks for drugs coming into our nation. We can hire the personnel we need to facilitate trade and immigration at the border. We can fund more innovation to detect unauthorized crossings.” “We don’t govern by temper tantrum. No president should pound the table and demand he gets his way or else the government shuts down, hurting millions of Americans who are treated as leverage,” said Schumer when his turn came. “Most presidents have used Oval Office addresses for noble purposes. This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.” “We can secure our border without an ineffective, expensive wall. And we can welcome legal immigrants and refugees without compromising safety and security. The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall. So, our suggestion is a simple one: Mr. President, re-open the government and we can work to resolve our differences over border security.” NO STATE OF EMERGENCY: The president’s almost 10-minute Oval Office address contained no declaration a national emergency and use of military construction funds to pay for the extension of the current 654 miles of walls, fencing, and barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Diverting money needed to renovate sub-standard facilities for military families is not a popular notion among Republicans in Congress. In a session with reporters yesterday Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the former chairman and now ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he remains “opposed to using defense dollars for nondefense purposes.” Building a wall isn’t “a responsibility of the Department of Defense,” he added. The repair and upkeep of military facilities is one thing deferred during the years of sequestration. Much of the deferred maintenance is only now being done. “Last fall, I vividly remember touring a barracks with mold growing out of the ceiling where they had to evacuate the soldiers out of certain rooms,” Thornberry told reporters, according to The Hill. “And as much as we’ve done the last two years, we have not made up for that deficit in military construction that does affect readiness, that does affect the quality of life and all sorts of things. So, to take some of that money and use it for something other than [military construction] will obviously be damaging, and I’m not for that.” WHAT’S THE ANSWER? Thornberry suggested good, old fashioned compromise. “If this were a ‘normal’ controversy, one side says ‘zero,’ another side says ‘five,’ you meet in the middle at two-and-a-half,” he said. “Those things get resolved that way every day around here.” There is another possibility if Trump and the Democrats can’t agree. It would take 67 votes in the Senate to pass a bill re-opening the government with a veto-proof margin. Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by David Mark (@DavidMarkDC). 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 add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense. |
|
HAPPENING TODAY: Democrats plan to call up the first of seven bills that would reopen portions of the government but without any of the border wall funding that Trump wants. All told, the bills would fund nine agencies and departments that closed Dec. 22 at midnight and left 800,000 federal employees poised to miss paychecks beginning Friday. But House Republicans say they expect most of their caucus members to vote against the bills, and — at least for now — won’t buckle to Democratic pressure to abandon Trump’s push for a border barrier funding “I think our conference is united,” Republican Conference Vice Chairman Mark Walker of North Carolina told the Washington Examiner, adding that maybe a dozen or so Republicans could vote for the first of several bills that will come up today. THE RELUCTANT WARRIOR: In an off-the-record lunch with television anchors, which apparently didn’t stay off the record for long, President Trump reportedly predicted his Oval Office address and his planned border visit to Texas tomorrow would be a waste of time but said he had been talked into it by advisers. “It’s not going to change a damn thing, but I’m still doing it,” The New York Times quoted Trump as saying of the border visit, according to one person who was in the room. The trip was merely a photo opportunity, Trump reportedly said. “But,” he added, gesturing at his communications aides Bill Shine, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway, “These people behind you say it’s worth it,” according to Times reporter Peter Baker. POMPEO IN BAGHDAD: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has just shown up in Iraq in an unannounced stop on his Mideast tour. Pompeo’s arrival in Baghdad was reported by the Iraqi news channel Al-Sharqiya and the Saudi state broadcaster Al-Arabiya, the AP reports. The State Department did not immediately confirm Pompeo was in Baghdad and had no comment about the reports. In his visit to Iraq last month, President Trump said U.S. could use its 5,200 U.S. troops at bases in Iraq as a platform for continued operations against the Islamic State group in Syria. AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL DOWNSIZED: Several thousand fewer U.S. troops may be withdrawn from Afghanistan than originally suggested by White House officials, The Washington Post reported yesterday. Planning continues to cut the current deployment roughly in half, but the Post quotes two senior White House officials as saying the withdrawal will “probably” be far fewer than 7,000. “Military advisers have convinced him that a smaller, and slower, withdrawal is best for now — although officials cautioned that a final decision had not been reached and that the president could order a full pullout at any moment,” the Post said. Asked for comment Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman said simply, “The Department of Defense remains in support of Ambassador [Zalmay] Khalilzad’s reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.” Talks with the Taliban have been postponed a week in a dispute over the agenda and are now set to resume Jan. 15. BOEING BOOSTER? Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is being accused of subtly promoting his former employer, even as he has recused himself from any decision involving Boeing, where he worked for more than 30 years. Politico is reporting that people who have witnessed Shanahan’s private remarks say he is boosting Boeing, raising questions about whether he harbors an unfair bias against other big military contractors. Politico says Shanahan’s recusal “hasn’t stopped him from praising Boeing and trashing competitors such as Lockheed Martin during internal meetings,” quoting two former government officials who say they heard his remarks. “The remarks raise questions among ethics experts about whether Shanahan, intentionally or not, is putting his finger on the scale when it comes to Pentagon priorities,” Politico says. “They also call new attention to a recent decision by the Pentagon to request new Boeing fighters that the Air Force has said it does not want — a request that Bloomberg has reported came after ‘prodding’ from Shanahan.” Politico reported that in one meeting Shanahan, called Lockheed Martin’s F-35 “f—ed up” and argued that Lockheed — which edged out Boeing to win the competition to build the plane in October 2001 — “doesn’t know how to run a program.” “If it had gone to Boeing, it would be done much better,” Shanahan said, according to a former official. SHANAHAN GETS HIS OWN CHIEF: The Pentagon announced yesterday that Eric Chewning, a top Defense Department official who reports to the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer Ellen Lord, has been named the chief of staff to acting Secretary Shanahan. Chewning is replacing retired Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney, who announced Saturday he was stepping down from his post and would return to the private sector. KIM HEADS HOME: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un’s train has left Beijing for the 14-hour trip back to Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. Kim spent two days in the Chinese capital at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. There are no details of Kim’s meeting with Xi, which is believed to have been a precursor to a second summit between Kim and President Trump later this year. TURKEY TURMOIL: America’s contentious relationship with NATO ally Turkey continues, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has flatly rejected the conditions that U.S. national security adviser John Bolton has put on the planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria. In Jerusalem Monday, Bolton said the U.S. departure would be delayed until ISIS was fully defeated, and Turkey guaranteed the security of the Syrian Democratic Forces that are backed by the U.S. Turkey considers the YPG militia, which makes up part of the U.S.-backed forces fighting ISIS, to be terrorists. “Bolton has made a serious mistake and whoever thinks like this has also made a mistake,” Erdogan said, according to Hurriyet Daily News. “It is not possible for us to make compromises on this point.” Yesterday Erdogan, who clearly believes he had a deal with President Trump, indicated he might wait to launch his offensive against Kurds in the north of Syria. “Very soon, we will take action to neutralize terrorist organizations in Syria,” Erdogan said. Erdogan did not meet with Bolton in Ankara yesterday and instead denounced him in a televised address to members of his political party. “The message that Bolton gave in Israel is unacceptable. It is not possible for us to swallow,” Erdogan said. ZINNI EXITS: Retired four-star Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, who previously led U.S. Central Command, announced yesterday he’s resigned from his post at the State Department, where he was tasked with resolving the conflict in Qatar. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt severed ties with Qatar in June 2017 after it was suspected Qatar had financially assisted terrorist groups. Zinni told CBS News he stepped down because he did “not feel I could successfully help resolve the Qatar dispute because of the unwillingness of the regional leaders to agree to a viable mediation effort that we offered to conduct or assist in implementing.” Zinni was for the position by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. SERVICEMEMBERS INVESTIGATED: Two U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman assigned to a Marine Special Operations unit in northern Iraq are being investigated over the death of a defense contractor during a New Year’s Eve fight. The contractor, who worked for Lockheed Martin, was transported from Erbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region, to Landstuhl, Germany, and was pronounced dead on Jan. 4, Pentagon officials told The New York Times. The investigation is the latest of several into deadly misconduct among elite U.S. forces. In November, two Navy SEALs and two Marines were charged with murdering Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, who was found strangled in Mali in 2017. THE RUNDOWN AP: Fate of IS fighters captured in Syria a lingering question Bloomberg: Pentagon Whiffed on Spending $28 Billion as Time Ran Out (1) Washington Post: Can Trump declare an emergency and start building a wall? Maybe. USNI News: Navy May Deploy Surface Ships to Arctic This Summer as Shipping Lanes Open Up Bloomberg: Navy Boss to Trump: ‘Fire Me’ If $13 Billion Carrier Isn’t Fixed USNI News: Navy Quietly Fires 20 Hyper Velocity Projectiles Through Destroyer’s Deckgun Defense One: Why China’s Military Wants To Beat The US To A Next-Gen Cell Network AP: Taiwan Announces New-Look Military Drills To Counter China War on the Rocks: The Naval Power Shift In The Black Sea Breaking Defense: State Blocks Israeli Sale of F-16s To Croatia: Deal All But Dead Washington Post: U.S. lawsuit by Post journalist seeks $1 billion in damages from Iran to deter taking of hostages Stars and Stripes: Navy testing smartphone app for mobile access to sailor records Virginia Pilot: Domestic Violence, Same-Sex Affairs Among New Military Crimes In 2019 |
CalendarWEDNESDAY | JANUARY 9 10:45 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 400. “The Ambassadors Series: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S.-South Korean Relations.” www.hudson.org 3:00 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. “2019 U.S.-Japan Security Seminar: Challenges and Opportunities for the Alliance.” www.csis.org 4:30 p.m. 1401 Lee Highway, Arlington. National Veteran Small Business Coalition Dinner Meeting (DC Chapter). www.nvsbc.org THURSDAY | JANUARY 10 7:15 a.m. NDIA Washington, D.C. Chapter Defense Leaders Forum Breakfast With General Mark Milley, 39th Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. http://www.ndia.org 10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. “Maritime Security Dialogue: Maritime Priorities for the New Year from the Senior Enlisted Perspective”. www.csis.org FRIDAY | JANUARY 11 9 a.m. 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW. “Japan’s New National Defense Program Guidelines: Alliance Strategies for the Third Post-Cold War Era”. www. http://carnegieendowment.org 12:15 p.m. 740 15th St NW #900. “Seventeen Years of Guantanamo”. www.newamerica.org MONDAY | JANUARY 14 10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW. “The future of U.S. policy in Afghanistan.” www.brookings.edu 3 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Lessons from the Hawaii Nuclear Missile Scare. www.wilsoncenter.org WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 16 6:30 a.m. 1700 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Arlington. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chief of staff of the United States Army, will speak at the Association of the U.S. Army Institute of Land Warfare. www.ausa.org 12 p.m. Russell 485. “Winning Great Power Competition.” www.defensepriorities.org 1 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW. “Securing maritime commerce — the U.S. strategic outlook” www.brookings.edu |
|
