THIS MORNING: We’re wheels up with Defense Secretary Ash Carter en route the Stuttgart, Germany. The ostensible reason for the quick trip is to preside over the change of command at U.S. European Command, and then meet with defense ministers from countries who are in the lead in the counter-Islamic State effort. But you can bet as soon as we get a chance to talk to Carter on the plane, Topic A will be the political turmoil in Baghdad, and how that could impact the fight in Iraq, in particular the plans to liberate Mosul before the end of the year.
In the Iraqi capital, it appears embattled Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has some breathing room, as supporters of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr left the fortified Green Zone Sunday as quickly and surprisingly as they came Saturday. But they vowed to be back later in the week. The U.S. has repeatedly said the battle against ISIS is going better in Iraq because the U.S. has a functioning government to partner with. Abadi huddled with Iraqi leaders yesterday, and his grip on power seemed to hang in the balance. The big question for the U.S. is, if Abadi goes, what’s Plan B?
The U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Col. Steve Warren, tells us this morning, “Sadr told his protesters to depart the Green Zone and they appear to have done so. Frankly, none of this has had any impact on our operations. We killed 149 ISIS fighters last night with airstrikes. [Iraqi security forces] expanded their area of control north of Hiit by an additional 7 Kms, the Peshmerga have begun clearing the town of Bashir and the [Syrian Democratic Forces] along the Ma’ara line took back a village.”
So is this a coup? The folks over at the Institute for the Study of War think what’s going on in Baghdad amounts to al-Sadr attempting to launch a de-facto coup against the Iraqi prime minister. Read their analysis here
Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Jacqueline Klimas (@jacqklimas) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Send tips, suggestions and anything else to [email protected]. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here.
Want to learn more about Daily on Defense? See our introductory video here.
THE COMMANDERS: The next president gets to pick his or her Cabinet, but are generally stuck with the combatant commanders picked by their predecessors. In addition to the change of Command in Germany, attended by Carter in which Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti takes over as European and supreme NATO commander, Army Gen. Vincent Brooks took command of U.S. Forces Korea, Combined Forces Command and United Nations Command in a ceremony held Saturday. Brooks replaces Scaparrotti.
Ahead of Breedlove’s departure, he told the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. doesn’t have enough assets — especially of the spy satellite variety — focused on the threat from Russia. “We see that Russia has not accepted the hand of partnership but has chosen a path of belligerence,” Breedlove said. “We need to readdress where we’re heading.”
Reporters traveling to the change of command (besides McIntyre): Bob Burns (Associated Press), Sagar Mehgani (AP Radio), Phil Stewart (Reuters), Thomas Gibbons-Neff (Washington Post), Connor O’Brien (Politico), Lucas Tomlinson (Fox News), Colin Clark (Breaking Defense), Anna Mulrine (Christian Science Monitor), Paul Shinkman (U.S. News), Paul Sonne (Wall Street Journal) and Jim Michaels (USA Today).
BULLY PULPIT A Pentagon official fired off a blunt letter to the Benghazi committee over the panel’s unending demands for would-be witnesses in its investigation of the 2012 terrorist attack, Rudy Takala reports. Stephen Hedger, the department’s assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, painted the picture of a disorganized committee that makes repeated, vague demands for hard-to-find people who are of little value to the investigation, then threatens the Pentagon with subpoenas if they don’t produce the witnesses fast enough. One example involved a demand for a man who called into a radio show, identified himself as “John from Iowa,” and said he was watching drone footage while doing his job and blamed leaders for not allowing the drones to be armed. As you probably figured out, the Pentagon couldn’t find him.
‘WHAT TOOK SO LONG?’ Lawmakers on Friday said it was all well and good that the Pentagon finally made the decision to let Green Beret Sgt. Charles Martland, who beat an Afghan child molester, stay in the Army, but some wondered why it took months of appeals to do so? “Going forward, I hope the Department of Defense will learn from Martland’s case and avoid punishing those who stand up for American values at home and abroad,” Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who also pushed the Army to allow Martland to continue to serve, said the decision is “proof” that the new Army leadership is different from the old.
SPEAKING OF TAKING A WHILE: A bipartisan group of lawmakers is demanding Cold War-era sanctions against Russia for its invasion and annexation of the Crimea, Joel Gehrke reports. “As we have seen time and again, there is no stopping Vladimir Putin’s disrespect for global order, especially in regards to Ukraine. It’s time for the United States to stand up and reiterate that it will not tolerate Russia’s aggression,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
KUNDUZ REACTION: Sen. John McCain said Friday that the investigation into last year’s bombing of a hospital in Kunduz was a “testament to the professionalism” of the U.S. military, and acknowledged the civilian casualties are sometimes a cost of war no matter how much care is taken. Doctors Without Borders, the group that ran the hospital when a bombing killed staff and patients, was not as happy with the outcome, decrying the lack of consequences for those involved after the Pentagon announced none of the troops would face a court-martial.
The group also renewed its call for an independent investigation in a tweet.
Eugene Fidell, a military justice professor at Yale Law School, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times saying that the lack of a trial for those involved in the Kunduz bombing showed that the Pentagon is “treating the case as less grave than it is.”
One Green Beret on the ground during the fighting in Kunduz said the bombing was a result of “moral cowardice” and a “profound lack of strategy,” the Washington Post reports.
A careful reading of the 15-6 investigation of the mistaken bombing reveals that the operation was an offensive strike, in violation of the current authorities. The U.S. combat mission supposedly ended in 2014, but what the report shows is that at least one commander, intent on helping his Afghan allies, exceeded his authority in calling in an AC-130 gunship. The tragic incident also underscores the Afghan’s desperate need for air cover, which at the moment the Obama administration is unwilling to provide.
CALIPHATE COALESCING: Disparate pro-Islamic State hacking groups are unifying and getting their acts together, Rudy Takala reports. “With the latest unification of multiple pro-ISIS cybergroups under one umbrella, there now appears to be a higher interest and willingness amongst ISIS supporters in coordinating and elevating cyberattacks against governments and companies,” said Flashpoint co-founder Laith Alkhouri, who also serves as the group’s director of research for the Middle East and North Africa.
IT’S OFFICIAL: Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Gen. David Goldfein’s nomination to be the next Air Force chief of staff when Gen. Mark Welsh retires this summer. Carter said he hopes the Senate confirms Goldfein quickly.
SPACE WARS?: Army Chief Gen. Mark Milley’s talk of “little green men” has some believing that the Army is preparing for an alien invasion, Army Times reports. UFO believers took to online messaging boards, with one writing: “I think this guy probably vanished shortly after this speech. It seems like he’s let way too much info out. Ha!” The Army, however, was quick to clarify that little green men referenced foreign or paramilitary troops who dress in green.
WILL THE U.S. DEPLOY MISSILE DEFENSE TO SOUTH KOREA? Ask South Korea, Nicole Duran reports. “Obviously, we would defer to the preferences of our allies in South Korea about whether or not they would like to have this additional equipment located on their territory,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
BIN LADEN ANNIVERSARY: The CIA took to Twitter yesterday to relive the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, Anna Giaritelli reports. CIA Chief John Brennan, meanwhile, spoke to MSNBC on the anniversary and said the Islamic State isn’t only an organization, but also “a phenomenon.”
BUZZ OPS CONTINUE: It happened again. A Russian Su-27 fighter came with a few feet of an Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on Friday. Just two days earlier, Carter fumed before Congress, “These pilots need to get the word, hey, knock it off. This is unprofessional. This is dangerous. This could lead somewhere.” Obviously they didn’t get the word.
By the way, we’d love to see some video like the military released last month when Russian attack planes buzzed the U.S. destroyer Donald Cook.
MAD DOG BOWS OUT: Retired Gen. Jim Mattis disappointed supporters who wanted to draft the legendary Marine as a third party candidate last week, Gabby Morrongiello reports. “The thoughtfulness and patriotism — and for that matter, the modesty — Jim showed as he reflected on this decision make me more convinced than ever that he would have made a truly admirable president, and also a good candidate,” wrote Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. “But it’s not to be. So we won’t have a President Mattis.” [Note, the Weekly Standard and Washington Examiner are owned by the same parent company.]
THAT TRUMP FOREIGN POLICY SPEECH: The reviews keep rolling in, this one from Hillary Clinton, who didn’t think much of Donald Trump’s vision, Anna Giaritelli reports.
SELECTIVE PROSECUTION? The Project on Government Oversight is out with an op-ed saying punishment for revealing classified info depends on who you are. “In the same interview [regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server] in which he said, ‘There’s classified and then there’s classified,’ President Obama said nobody gets treated differently by the Justice Department ‘because nobody is above the law.’ But the Administration’s arbitrary approach to the classification system and its double standard in prosecuting some individuals but not others, significantly undermines this claim,” POGO’s Danielle Brian and Elizabeth Hempowicz write in The Hill.
THE PRESIDENT’S FINAL NERD PROM: President Obama, and comedian Larry Wilmore both “killed” at the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner in Washington Saturday night. In case you missed it on C-SPAN, Obama’s best line skewered Hillary’s lucrative Wall Street speechifying, “If this material works well,” joked the president, “I’m going to use it at Goldman Sachs next year. Earn me some serious Tubmans.” Read the rest of Obama’s zingers.
Wilmore’s unkindest cut: “A little bit about me: I am a black man who replaced a white man who pretended to be a TV newscaster. So yeah, in that way, Lester Holt and I have a lot in common.” Ouch!
The Pentagon showed up to the black tie gala in full force. Carter attended the dinner at the CBS table along with his wife, Stephanie. Several staff in his office were also at the event, including press secretary Peter Cook, with former employer Bloomberg.
CATCH-22: The man who introduced the beloved catchphrase for the classic no-win situation into both the military and civilian lexicon would have been 93 yesterday. Joseph Heller died in 1999. Anyone know what number was originally in the title of his 1961 novel?
THE RUNDOWN
CNN: Security camera footage shows Aleppo hospital during deadly airstrike
USNI News: Bath Iron Works Will Build First Flight III Arleigh Burke DDG
Defense Daily: Ingalls Shipbuilding Enthusiastic for Additional Amphibious Shipbuilding Opportunities
Washington Post: Senators don’t want veto power over the president’s national security adviser
Task and Purpose: North Korea Whines About US Troops Making Faces At Its Border Guards
Breaking Defense: Carter: ‘Yes’ To Arms Sales To Vietnam; DoD Won’t Elaborate
Defense News: Report: Carter Should Focus Innovation Push Internally
AP: Kerry seeks path to calm in Syria
Defense News: Could Connectivity Failure Ground F-35? It’s Complicated
USA Today: China’s rejection of U.S. carrier port call signals more trouble in South China Sea
Navy Times: Accused Navy officer innocent of espionage: Attorney
Daily Beast: Military trying to smear officer accused of spying, family says
Navy Times: Carriers’ deployment extended in move to crush ISIS.
UPI: Harris producing more electronic jammers for Navy jets
Washington Post: ‘Fat Leonard’ bribery scandal claims Navy officer who escaped Cambodia’s killing fields as a child
UPI: Raytheon producing targeting system variant for Air Force
War on the Rocks: Top Gun at 30: A retrospective from two naval aviators
The Hill: Experts warn weapons gap is shrinking between US, Russia and China
Military Times: Appeals ruling clears way for Bowe Bergdahl case to resume
Calendar
MONDAY | MAY 2
8:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. The Atlantic Council hosts its inaugural Global Strategy Forum, including reports from Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Arati Prabhakar, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. atlanticcouncil.org
WEDNESDAY | MAY 4
11 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, talks about the future of war. csis.org
THURSDAY | MAY 5
3:30 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The Brookings Institute hosts an event where analysts will look at America’s role in the world’s foreign policy. brookings.edu
FRIDAY | MAY 6
9 a.m. 1150 17th St. NW. Scholars from the Army War College discuss how to make the Army organizational structure less bloated and more efficient. aei.org
MONDAY | MAY 9
2:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. The airland subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a closed mark up of its portion of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov
