HE’S EVERYWHERE: As commander of the U.S. Central Command, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who goes by Frank, has the primary responsibility for executing the orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops and American contractors from Afghanistan over the next four and one-half months.
Like any good officer, McKenzie is saluting smartly and working furiously to complete the mission, one which it is clear he has reservations about. “I have grave doubts about the Taliban’s reliability. I have expressed those publicly going back for a long period of time,” McKenzie said this week at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
Asked by Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn if he had advised President Joe Biden to withdraw by Sept. 11, McKenzie respectfully demurred. “Sir, I can tell you that I had multiple opportunities to have a detailed conversation with the president and give my advice. He heard my advice. I’m not going to be able to share it with you here this morning.”
Nevertheless, McKenzie, who kept a low profile during the presidential transition, is now back in the public eye, not only with his appearances on Capitol Hill, which are command performances, but in other venues. Today, in addition to this morning’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he will engage with reporters this afternoon in the same Pentagon briefing room where he honed his communication skills as a regular briefer when he was a three-star on the Joint Staff. And next week, he takes part in an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute.
WHEN THE FORMER DOD POLICY WONK AND GOP GREEN BERET AGREE: There was a telling exchange in Tuesday’s House hearing, in which Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a former acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, a decorated Green Beret, who also served in the Pentagon, questioned the rationale for the withdrawal plan.
“As someone who grew up as an Iraq specialist and who didn’t agree with the decision to go to zero in Iraq, and then watched in the years after we had pulled out how difficult it was to get Washington to pay attention to what was then a growing threat of ISIS,” Slotkin said. “Gen. McKenzie, help reassure my constituents that by pulling out, we won’t be going right back in because we have a threat that impacts us here in the homeland.”
“I appreciate the concern of your constituents. Like them, I’ve sent my son twice to Afghanistan, so I’m very much aware of those concerns,” McKenzie said. “We’re going to go to zero in Afghanistan. That means there will be no U.S. forces on the ground there. We will use a variety of means to monitor al Qaeda and ISIS in Afghanistan. The intelligence will decline,” he said, adding, “And I think the president’s been very clear. We’re not going to reenter to reoccupy Afghanistan under any conceivable circumstances.”
Pressed about whether the terrorist threat to the U.S. could reconstitute, McKenzie said, “I think that is a reasonable concern. And I share that concern, frankly.”
WHERE WILL THE TROOPS GO? Next up was Waltz, the Green Beret who served several combat tours in Afghanistan, who said he shared Slokin’s concerns.
“What agreements do we have with any of the neighboring countries to be able to base our forces and conduct lethal strikes or even surveillance back into Afghanistan? Do we have any currently?” he asked.
“At this time, we have none of those agreements in place,” replied McKenzie.
“General, do you think it would have been optimal to have those agreements before we announced to the world that we’re going to zero in a few months?”
“I can’t speak to that. I would tell you that right now, we’re engaged in a significant effort to evaluate where we want to put potential CT [counterterrorism] forces, where they’d be best optimized from geography, and also the diplomatic angle of it as we go forward.”
“We need to be clear with the American people that when the military goes, our intelligence assets go … and also our contracts and our contractors go, with estimates of 15,000 to 20,000 currently there, providing logistics, maintenance, and other critical support to the Afghan security forces,” said Waltz. “What’s the plan for the continuing presence of those critical contract support services?”
“Right now, most of the contractors are going to leave. Certainly, the U.S. contractors are going to leave,” McKenzie said. “We’ll try to develop ways to do distant contracting where we can. Clearly, there are going to be some things that we’re not going to be able to do anymore as the contractors leave, and I don’t want to minimize that.”
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: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be among the participants today as President Joe Biden convenes a virtual summit of 40 leaders to confront climate change. The virtual “Leaders Summit on Climate” is hosted by the State Department and will also feature remarks from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, two of the world’s top two climate polluters, have agreed to participate despite rising tensions with the U.S.
ALSO TODAY, FOUR-STAR BRIEFINGS: At 10 a.m., Adm. Charles Richard, commander, U.S. Strategic Command, briefs reporters at the Pentagon. Then at 3:30 p.m., Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, takes the podium to take reporters’ questions.
ALSO AT 10 A.M.: Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, discusses defense budget priorities with the American Enterprise Institute’s Mackenzie Eaglen.
COLIN KAHL’S PRECARIOUS PATH TO CONFIRMATION: The usually bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee is bitterly divided over President Joe Biden’s nomination of Colin Kahl to be undersecretary of defense for policy, the No. 3 position at the Pentagon.
It took a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris to discharge Kahl’s nomination from committee and send it to the Senate floor for a vote, which again will require all 50 Democratic votes plus Harris for confirmation.
The Armed Services Committee lead Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe, took to the Senate floor to urge rejection of Kahl.
“When President Biden nominated Dr. Kahl for this position, my expectation was that, if confirmed, he and I would often disagree on policy but would find a way to work together, but I quickly learned that this would be impossible with Dr. Kahl,” Inhofe said. “Republicans on the committee did not vote against Dr. Kahl simply because we disagreed with his policy views,” he said. “What I cannot support are nominees who reduce complex national security conversations to partisan soundbites.”
Inhofe cited tweets and statements, which he characterized as “name-calling, ad hominem attacks, and conspiracy theories,” including referring to Republicans as “the party of ethnic cleansing” and alleging a “Kushner-Kremlin quid pro quo,” referring to former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
“When given the opportunity to correct this type of conspiracy theory during his confirmation hearing, Dr. Kahl declined,” Inhofe said. “It would set a terrible precedent if we confirmed someone like him to the job.”
LATEST NAT SEC NOMINEES: The White House announced three nominees for national security positions yesterday:
- Stacey Dixon, deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for principal deputy director, Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
- Ely Ratner, special assistant to the secretary of defense and director of the department’s China Task Force for assistant secretary of defense, Indo-Pacific security affairs.
- Rena Bitter, a career member of the senior foreign service, for assistant secretary of state, consular affairs.
“I welcome the President’s nomination today of Dr. Ely Ratner as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a statement. “Ely has already proven an invaluable member of our team as Director of the China Task Force, and his deep knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region will prove invaluable as we begin to shape our operational concepts and strategy for dealing with threats and challenges in that part of the world. There is simply no better person for the job.”
NATO SUMMIT JUNE 14: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced this morning that the planned summit of alliance leaders at NATO headquarters in Brussels will be held June 14.
“This is a unique opportunity to reinforce NATO as the enduring embodiment of the bond between Europe and North America,” Stoltenberg said in a statement. “We will take decisions on our substantive and forward-looking NATO 2030 agenda to deal with the challenges of today and tomorrow: Russia’s aggressive actions, the threat of terrorism, cyber attacks, emerging and disruptive technologies, the security impact of climate change, and the rise of China.”
DOD VACCINE UPDATE: The Pentagon has rolled out a new website tracking the department’s progress in the vaccination of military members and civilian DOD employees.
Beginning today, the department will be sharing our vaccine administration numbers with all of you on a regular basis, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to include total doses received and administered DOD-wide,” said Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Health Agency. “As of yesterday afternoon, we’ve administered over 2.62 million doses to those eligible within the Department of Defense. At least another 440,000 doses have been administered to our beneficiaries in our Tricare pharmacy and provider networks.”
INCENTIVES NOT ALLOWED FOR VACCINATION, BUT MORE SERVICE MEMBERS GETTING THE JAB
INDUSTRY WATCH: Lockheed Martin yesterday reported better-than-expected profits for the first quarter of the year on net sales of $16.3 billion, compared to $15.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
Net earnings for the quarter rose from $1.7 billion in the same period a year ago to $1.8 billion, or $6.56 per share, beating analyst estimates of $6.31 per share, according to Reuters.
Lockheed reported 17 deliveries of its F-35 jets in the quarter, down from 22 a year earlier, with plans to deliver between 133 and 139 of the jets this year.
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The Rundown
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Washington Examiner: ‘We don’t need to panic’: US and European powers alarmed by growing ‘danger’ from Putin’s Russia
Washington Examiner: Incentives not allowed for vaccination, but more service members getting the jab
Washington Examiner: DOJ indicts Illinois professor for secretly working for China while getting US government grants
Washington Examiner: GOP governors on shaky legal ground rejecting migrant children from Biden administration
Washington Examiner: Space Force is suddenly the go-to armed service
Air Force Magazine: Space Force Finalizing Plans to Absorb Army, Navy Systems
New York Times: Pentagon Asks For A Carrier To Shield Its Afghan Exit
Wall Street Journal: Putin Intensifies Warnings as Protests Widen
Washington Times: China Engaged In ‘Breathtaking’ Nuclear Expansion, STRATCOM Commander Warns
South China Morning Post: Japan Troops Won’t Get Involved If China Invades Taiwan, PM Yoshihide Suga Says
Stars and Stripes: China’s Base In Africa Now Big Enough To Host Aircraft Carriers, AFRICOM Boss Says
Navy Times: Navy’s First-Ever Unmanned Fleet Exercise Launches Off West Coast
Air Force Magazine: Air Force to Upgrade MQ-9’s Mission and Capabilities for Near-Peer Fight
Air Force Magazine: Cooley 1st USAF General Referred for Court-Martial
Calendar
THURSDAY | APRIL 22
9 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual Nuclear Deterrence Forum with Air Force Lt. Gen. James Dawkins, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration; and retired Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute. Video posted afterward at https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/
9:30 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2022 and the Future Years Defense Program, with Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander U.S. Africa Command; and Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander, U.S. Central Command. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
9:30 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittees on Tactical Air and Land Forces and Readiness Joint hearing: “Update on F-35 Program Accomplishments, Issues, and Risks,” with Diana Maurer, director, military structure and operations issues, GAO; Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of aeronautics, Lockheed Martin; Matthew Bromberg, president, military engines, Pratt & Whitney; Lt. Gen. Eric Fick, program executive officer, F-35 Joint Program Office; Brig. Gen. David Abba, director, F-35 Integration Office, U.S. Air Force. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
9:50 a.m. — U.S. Army Futures Command and the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare at West Point virtual seminar: “The Future Character of War and the Law of Armed Conflict, with Gen. John. Murray, commanding general, Army Futures Command. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-character-of-war
10 a.m. Pentagon Rm. 2D972 — Adm. Charles Richard, commander, U.S. Strategic Command briefs reporters in the Pentagon Briefing Room. https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events
10 a.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research event “Priorities for the fiscal year 2022 defense budget,” with Rep. Adam Smith, chairman, House Armed Services Committee; and Mackenzie Eaglen, resident fellow, AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/a-conversation
10 a.m. — Billington Cybersecurity virtual CyberSecurity Defense Summit with Acting Defense CIO John Sherman; Eric Goldtien, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Homeland Security Department; and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. https://hopin.com/events/billington-cybersecurity-defense-summit
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activities in Europe, with Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
12 p.m. — Cato Institute virtual book discussion on “The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency,” with John Mueller, adjunct professor of political science at Ohio State University; Christopher Fettweis, professor of political science at Tulane University; and Brandon Valeriano, senior fellow at Cato. https://www.cato.org/events/stupidity-war
1 p.m. — Space Foundation “Space Symposium 365” virtual discussion with Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory. https://spacesymposium365.org
3 p.m. Pentagon Rm. 2D972 — Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, briefs reporters in the Pentagon Briefing Room. https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events
4 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “Department of Defense Inspector General and the Services Inspector Generals: Roles, Responsibilities and Opportunities for Improvement,” with Gordon Heddell, former inspector general of the Department of Defense; Mandy Smithberger, director of the Center for Defense Information Project on Government Oversight; Sean O’Donnell, acting/inspector general of the Department of Defense; Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, inspector general of the Army; Lt. Gen. Sami Said, iInspector general of the Air Force; Vice Adm. Richard Snyder, inspector general of the Navy; and Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi, inspector general of the Marine Corps. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
5 p.m. — National Security Institute “NatSec Nightcap,” with Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla,; and Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director, National Security Institute. https://nationalsecurity.gmu.edu/natsec-nightcap
FRIDAY | APRIL 23
9 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “Securing Critical Minerals Supply Chains,” with Andrew Miller, product director at Benchmark Minerals Intelligence; Andrew DeWit, professor at the Rikkyo University School of Economic Policy Studies; and Marco Giuli, researcher at the Free University of Brussels’s School of Governance. https://www.csis.org/events/securing-critical-minerals-supply-chains
12 p.m. — Heritage Foundation and Texas A&M University Bush School of Government and Public Service webinar: “U.S. Intelligence: How Does It Adapt to a Rapidly Changing National Security Landscape?” with former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Steve Cambone, associate vice chancellor for cybersecurity initiatives at Texas A&M University; Gary Ross, associate professor and director of intelligence studies at Texas A&M University in Washington, D.C.; Jay Silveria, executive director of the Texas A&M Bush School of Government and Public Service; and David Shedd, visiting fellow at Heritage. https://www.heritage.org/defense/event
1 p.m. — Henry L. Stimson Center webinar: ‘The Intersection of Technology and National Security,” with Clint Watts, research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute; and France Hoang, co-chair of the Stimson Center’s Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council. https://www.stimson.org/event
2 p.m. — The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research virtual discussion “The Outlook for Air and Space Power,” with Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff Mike Wigston; and Mackenzie Eaglen, AEI resident fellow. http://www.american.com/watch/aei-livestream
TUESDAY | APRIL 27
8:30 a.m. — Raytheon Technologies First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call https://investors.rtx.com/events/event-details/first-quarter-2021-earnings-conference-call
12:40 p.m. — Modern War Institute at West Point and the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare virtual event: “The Future Of Proxy Warfare,” with Maj. Alex Deep, MWI fellow; Army strategist Maj. Matt McDaniel; and British army officer and attorney Maj. Jenny Maddocks. https://lieber.westpoint.edu/event/the-future-of-proxy-warfare/
1 p.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research event “A conversation with Commander of U.S. Central Command,” with Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie; and Elaine McCusker, resident fellow, AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/a-conversation
1 p.m. — Center for a New American Security conversation: “The U.S. Army’s Strategic Priorities,” with John Whitley, acting Secretary of the Army; Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the Army; and Gen. John Murray, commanding general of Army Futures Command; moderated by Stacie Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director, CNAS Defense Program. https://cnas.zoom.us/webinar/register
2 p.m. — Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments virtual roundtable on “The future of the U.S. Navy,” with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday; and Thomas Mahnken, president and CEO, CSBA. https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 28
10:30 a.m. — Boeing conference call to release financial results for the first quarter of 2021, with David Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO; and Greg Smith, executive vice president of enterprise operations and CFO. https://investors.boeing.com/investors
THURSDAY | APRIL 29
9 a.m. — Northrop Grumman conference call to release earnings and financial results for the first quarter of 2021 https://edge.media-server.com
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“His public declarations of policy judgment are consistently partisan and consistently wrong. The undersecretary of defense for policy serves as the defense secretary’s top national security adviser. It requires a leader with sound judgment and an even temperament. Colin Kahl simply does not possess those qualities.”
Senate Armed Services lead Republican Jim Inhofe, urging rejection of Colin Kahl’s nomination as it comes before the full Senate.
