COULD WE BE WINNING? As someone who’s covered U.S. military operations for more than two decades, I’m always wary of Pentagon pronouncements of success. But the latest reports from the front lines of the war on the Islamic State undeniably show that ISIS is losing ground, and not just any ground, but key strategic territory. “We have achieved a very significant strategic effect against ISIL,” Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis asserted yesterday, describing how Turkey was down to securing the last 15 miles of its border with Syria. And in Libya, where ISIS had metastasized and taken over the port city of Sirte, forces aligned with Libya’s unity government, and backed by U.S. airstrikes, have cornered the last remnants of Islamic State fighters. “We have seen in Sirte, ISIL has collapsed to a small area of the city, basically three neighborhoods. They are literally with their backs against the ocean at this point,” Davis said.
LIBYA’S CHEM WEAPONS DESTROYED: The international organization responsible for monitoring chemical weapons reports said Libya has removed the last of its illicit stash. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said 500 metric tons of chemical weapons and their precursor ingredients were destroyed.
SECRET SLACK TO IRAN: The White House is denying the Obama administration and other Western powers agreed to give Iran “secret” exemptions from key provisions of the nuclear pact to help it meet a January implementation deadline. A White House official took issue with the word “secret” and broadly referred to claims in a new report by the independent Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security as more “misinformation and distortion” by critics of the nuclear deal.
The debate also was a point of contention over at the State Department, where spokesman John Kirby maintained that “there has been no cutting of slack” for Iran. He acknowledged that a joint commission created under the deal had provided “guidance” to Iran on how to implement the agreement, but he refused to describe the guidance. “I’m not going to talk about the specific work of the joint commission,” Kirby said. “I’m not going to do that — I can’t do that — because by the agreement itself, it’s confidential.” Watch Kirby take umbrage at a reporter’s question on the matter here.
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NICKEL AND DIMING THE TROOPS: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry is blasting President Obama for his decision to give the troops a 1.6 percent raise, which is below the 2.1 percent mandated by law. “Few people are more deserving of a full pay raise than our men and women in uniform. Yet, at the same time President Obama is proposing significant increases in military deployments and expanding existing missions, he is cutting the pay raise for our troops for the fourth year in a row,” Thornberry said in a statement. The congressman included a chart showing for E-4 over three years of service the monthly difference is just $11.34 and for an O-3 over six years of service it would mean $27.70 a month. Over four years a young military family would lose $1,500 to $2,000, Thornberry said.
PATRIOTIC TRADITION: As we approach the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, lawmakers are preparing for their annual singing of “Gold Bless America” on the Capitol steps, writes Susan Ferrechio. In 2001, the song broke out spontaneously and reaffirmed that Congress “was not cowering,” according to one account.
FULL HONORS FOR WASP AT ARLINGTON: Next week Elaine Harmon, a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP), will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It’s the first WASP burial since the Army quietly revoked WASP eligibility at Arlington in March 2015. Arizona Rep. Martha McSally sponsored the law that forced the Army to do an about-face on the policy. McSally is scheduled to speak at a family memorial service held nearby at the Women In Military Service For America Memorial next Wednesday.
SPACEX-PLOSION: A SpaceX recycled rocket set to be test-fired Thursday morning exploded on the launch pad, Kelly Cohen reports. “There was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload. Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries,” a statement reads. SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, is one of two companies that partners with the government to launch payloads and satellites into space. Watch the dramatic video here.
PUTIN US ON: It’s looking more and more as though Russia’s claim to have taken out a large group of ISIS militants last week was made up. Not only does the Pentagon believe the attempt to steal credit for killing Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, a key ISIS leader, was a ham-fisted exaggeration. It now doubts any airstrike took place at all. “We obviously watch what goes on on the battlefield very closely, and we are aware of where people fly, and where people strike, and we have not seen any evidence that supports the Russian claim,” spokesman Davis said. The U.S. is still working to confirm the ISIS leader was killed in a U.S. drone strike Tuesday.
EHRLICH ON WORLD THREATS: Former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich runs down President’s Obama’s foreign policy record in an opinion piece for the Washington Examiner. And it comes with the all-caps advisory: “WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!” His bottom line: Obama’s legacy “is not ‘peace in our time’ — but more like a reminder of what superpower passivity invites: Assad survives; ISIS proliferates; refugees flee; allies fret; and Putin is empowered. Let there be no mistake — Mr. Obama has left the world, especially the Middle East, a far more dangerous place than he found it.”
HACKER SENTENCED: Marcel Lazar, known online as Guccifer, was sentenced on Thursday to 52 months in prison for his hacking of prominent Americans, including former secretary of state Colin Powell and Sidney Blumenthal, an aide to Hillary Clinton, writes Rudy Takala. The latter hacking exposed Clinton’s use of a private server.
THE HECKLER AND THE VEEP: Speaking at a Clinton rally in Ohio, Vice President Joe Biden faced off yesterday with a heckler who yelled “my friend died” during a recent battle in Syria. The man identified himself as a Kurdish armed forces veteran, and said his friend in the force, Levi Shirley, died near Manbij. Biden attempt to explain the U.S. strategy to keep peace between its feuding partners by insisting Syrian Kurdish fighters return to their position east of the Euphrates River after helping push the Islamic State out of Manbij. The crowd at the rally attempted to drown the heckler out with chants of “Hillary,” but Biden waved them off and invited the man to speak with him in private after the event.
POKÉMON PROBE: Democratic Sen. Al Franken says he intends to continue investigating privacy issues surrounding Pokémon Go, the smartphone game that seized control of Google accounts held by users and siphoned their personal data. Franken says he’ll investigate further after he received what he called “an incomplete response” from the game’s developer, Niantic, in response to questions he had raised about privacy and security.
THE RUNDOWN
Stars and Stripes: F/A-18 crashes rise rapidly as budget constraints have led to overused planes, undertrained pilots
Defense News: Experts Question New Armed Drone Export Policy
CNN: Navy gets sub USS Illinois sponsored by Michelle Obama
Defense News: LCS Jackson Completes Repairs, Is Back at Sea
USNI News: Opinion: To Buy the Next Fleet, We Must Change the Navy
UPI: Raytheon/Lockheed team gets $48 million foreign Javelin missile contract
USNI News: Lockheed: SM-3 Block IIA Missile Shot Next Month Will Also Test New Aegis BMD Build
Air Force Times: Air Mobility commander: Air Force needs more new tankers
UPI: Sikorsky to produce 24 Black Hawk helicopters for Taiwan
Military.com: Lawmakers Urge US Crackdown on Afghan Child Sex Slavery
Washington Post: Navy analysis found that a Marine’s case would draw attention to Afghan ‘sex slaves’
Forbes: North Korea’s Military Escalation: The Real Long-Term Goal
Wall Street Journal: Barack Obama Seeks to Cement ‘Rebalance’ on Asia Trip
UK Telegraph: Now China, too, is in Isil’s firing line
Military Times: Pakistan says it foiled ISIS bid to expand network in country
Reuters: U.S. imposes sanctions on ‘Putin’s bridge’ to Crimea
Time: Inside the Turkish Military’s Civil War
Air Force Times: Top Gun NFL-style: FAA probes military jets’ buzz of stadium
Navy Times: Blue Angels back up to six pilots after deadly June crash
Army Times: Female NCO tries out for Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment
Fox News: US set to destroy thousands of chemical weapons at Colorado plant
Military.com: Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Plans Hunger Strike in Uruguay
Calendar
TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 6
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen gives an assessment of progress and challenges that remain in Afghanistan. brookings.edu
4 p.m. 1050 15th St. NW. The Atlantic Council hosts an event on the art of cyberwar. atlanticcouncil.org
WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 7
8 a.m. Capital Hilton. Aerospace Industries Association hosts the National Aerospace and Defense Workforce Summit. aia.aerospace.org
2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The Brookings Institution hosts a panel discussion on how to stop Islamic State recruitment. brookings.edu
2 p.m. Rayburn 2154. The House Oversight and Government Reform National Security Subcommittee holds a hearing on investigations into whistleblower reprisal. oversight.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Dirksen 419. Think tank experts testify on Capitol Hill about the UN proposal for a nuclear test ban treaty. foreign.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2118. The House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on the safety and mission risks of deferring maintenance on the nuclear enterprise. armedservices.house.gov
6:30 p.m. Livestream. Sen. Bob Casey speaks about financing terrorism at the Council on Foreign Relations. cfr.org
THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 8
10 a.m. 1152 15th St. NW. Michele Flournoy, the CEO of the Center for New American Security and widely speculated to be at the top of the list for a post in a Hillary Clinton administration, participates in a panel discussion on sanctions and the next administration. cnas.org
10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The Heritage Foundation hosts a panel looking at how threats how evolved in the 15 years since 9/11. heritage.org
FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 9
7:30 a.m. Capitol Hill Club. Brig. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the director of integrated air, space, cyberspace and intelligence, speaks at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies breakfast event. mitchellaerospacepower.org
1 p.m. Livestream. The Council on Foreign Relations hosts an event looking at President Obama’s foreign policy legacy. cfr.org
