TRUMP TRAIN ROLLS INTO D.C.: Fresh off yesterday’s sweep of five primary states, Donald Trump is set to deliver a major foreign policy speech in Washington today, Gabby Morrongiello reports. The now self-declared “presumptive nominee” has been pretty scant on details so far, but “Trump’s campaign said in a statement that the candidate plans to articulate his views on ‘many serious foreign policy issues facing [the U.S.] and our allies’ in a serious and substantive speech hosted by the Center for the National Interest and The National Interest Magazine.” Dimitri Simes, president of CNI, laid out the issues he hopes Trump addresses. Read all about it here.
But before you watch his speech, you might also want to check out Huffington Post’s brutal takedown of Trump as would-be commander in chief. “In the last two months,” writes Andy Kroll, “I spoke with dozens of people in the national security realm—current and retired officers, veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former White House, State Department, Pentagon and CIA officials. The words they used to describe their mood: Terrified. Shocked. Appalled. Never before, they say, has a candidate gotten so close to the White House with such little respect for the military.” Long read, but neatly recaps the history of civil-military relations from MacArthur to McChrystal.
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“OCO GIMMICK?” This morning, look for Defense Secretary Ash Carter to complain about moves in Congress to get around the budget agreement by funneling money through “overseas contingency operations” (OCO), where the Pentagon has less discretion in how the money is spent. Carter and JCS Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford will appear before Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on the DoD fiscal year 2017 budget request.
DEJA VU: If it’s a day that ends in “y,” someone is beating up on the pricey F-35 for being over budget, overdue, and overly complex, riddled with bugs like sensors that reset once every four hours during flight. This time, it was Sen. John McCain, who called the program “a scandal and a tragedy” during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday.
But the Pentagon defended the Lockheed Martin program, arguing that the bulk of its problems are in the past. “The F-35 is no longer a program that keeps me up at night,” said Frank Kendall, undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.
The committee also confirmed generals to three new posts during the hearing by voice vote: Gen. Vincent Brooks to lead U.S. Forces Korea, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti to lead U.S. European Command and Gen. Lori Robinson to head U.S. Northern Command. Robinson is now the first woman to lead a combatant command.
Gen. David Goldfein was also tapped on Tuesday to become the next Air Force chief of staff when Gen. Mark Welsh retires this year. The committee will still need to confirm his nomination.
NDAA DAY: The House starts at 10 this morning and will mark up the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill until they finish, though informal bets among defense reporters range anywhere from 14 to 17 hours. The Heritage Foundation’s Justin Johnson writes about the 12 amendments you should look out for, including fights on the RD-180 Russian-made rocket engines, whether women should have to sign up for the draft and the contract protest process for defense industry.
Johnson has also created a crowd-sourced Google doc to track what amendments have been introduced. Check it out or add what you know here.
One amendment we know is coming from Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., would loosen language in the House draft that seeks to restrict which Afghan translators who helped the U.S. military can apply to come to the U.S.
Moulton, a former Marine infantry officer, will try to change the language in the chairman’s mark, which he believes “would prevent hundreds of Afghans who have risked their lives working for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan now facing daily death threats from even being considered for resettlement in the United States,” according to a staffer.
Daily on Defense will be tracking the mark up, so check out our site for the latest updates throughout the day.
You know it’s NDAA Day when … your Twitter feed starts blowing up with pictures of sage grouses, a unique looking bird with its own mating dance.
The fight over whether to protect the birds started a day early this year, when leading Democrats on the committee released letters from military officials on Tuesday stating that the birds can be protected without any impact on military operations or readiness.
“These letters put to bed once and for all the silly speculation that a few birds could hamstring the greatest fighting force in the history of the world,” Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said.
Read the letters for yourself here and here and here and here.
The chairman’s mark prevents the birds from being listed as endangered for 10 years.
COULD “MISSION CREEP” BECOME “MISSION LEAP”?: The White House would consider sending more troops to Syria beyond the 250 announced on Monday, spokesman Josh Earnest said. Nicole Duran reports that if conditions show that sending more operators helps the Kurds and other fighters do a better job, Obama would “consider” sending more.
ISIS RECRUITING DOWN 90%: The No. 2 U.S. commander in the war against the Islamic State says the flow of foreign fighters replenishing the ranks of ISIS has been dramatically reduced, from a high of about 2,000 a month to about 200 a month.
YOU GUYS FIGHT IT OUT: The White House won’t wade into the fight between Congress and the Pentagon over sex assault findings. Military officials are accused of skewing stats submitted to Congress that make civil law enforcement agencies appear less responsive to assault cases than military ones. These were used bolster the case that commanding officers should continue to oversee sex assault cases, not military lawyers, Duran reports.
“This information has been the subject of long-running controversy between Congress and the Department of Defense, and while this is an important issue, the difference … is something they are going to have to resolve,” Earnest said on Tuesday.
Earnest also pushed back on proposals to cut the size of the National Security Council, Duran reports, saying lawmakers should look at cutting their staffs first.
“I have also seen that some of those proposals suggest that the National Security Council staff should be capped at 50 people,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday. “I might note that the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee is larger than that. That seems like a rather curious apportionment of resources when you consider the important work that is done at the National Security Council every day.”
Roll Call reports that Thornberry wants to cap the NSC at 50 people.
BUSINESS IS BOOMING: Lockheed Martin boasted a successful first quarter of 2016, posting $11.7 billion in sales, $1.6 billion more than the same time period last year.
Bruce Tanner, the company’s chief financial officer, said that boost is largely due to Lockheed’s acquisition of helicopter-maker Sikorsky as well as an uptick in F-35 production.
Lockheed was the first of the big five to release its Q1 results this week. General Dynamics, Boeing and Northrop Grumman are up today. We’ll be following and will have the rundown for you here.
WHILE YOU SLEPT: CNN reports Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has been extradited to France to face prosecution, citing Belgian authorities.
WAGING MODERN WAR: At yesterday’s Pentagon briefing, Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, the deputy commander for Iraq and Syria, told a riveting story of how the U.S. tried to take out a major Islamic State money man, while sparing the women and children who were with him. The U.S. took a page from the Israeli playbook and tried a “knock operation.”
THE ONLY TIME IT’S OK TO FIRE AT ANOTHER SHIP: Check out this video of an underway replenishment, or UNREP, involving the Navy oiler Big Horn and amphibious assault ship Wasp. It’s standard stuff for surface sailors, but pretty cool to see if you haven’t had the pleasure.
THE RUNDOWN
Bloomberg: McCain to Press for Disclosure of Bomber Bid in Defense Measure
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sees New Flashpoint in South China Sea Dispute
Janes: U.S. approves possible sale of AMRAAM to Australia
Politico: On North Korea, Obama says U.S. preparing ‘shield’
Defense One: What’s wrong with Obama’s National Security Council?
Navy Times: Coast Guard needs an aerial drone fleet now, lawmaker says
Marine Corps Times: The Marine Corps aviation fleet is in peril
Military Times: Pentagon funding cuts may silence Stars and Stripes
TRADOC News Center: Army experiments on providing ‘unlimited magazine’ to 2025 soldiers
War on the Rocks: Give The Empire Its Due: Can The Fate of The Death Star Tell Us Anything About Aircraft Carriers?
UPI: Army taps BAE Systems for M88A2 recovery vehicles
Seapower: Future Navy, Air Force Fighters Will Develop Separately, Defense Acquisition Boss Says
Calendar
WEEK AHEAD
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 27
9 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Stimson hosts a two-day conference on understanding terrorism. stimson.org
10 a.m. Cannon 311. The House Homeland Security Committee hosts a hearing on the Islamic State in Southeast Asia and the threat to the U.S. homeland.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Richard Olson, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the fiscal 2017 budget request. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. The House Armed Services Committee hosts its full committee mark up of the National Defense Authorization Act. armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. 1150 17th St. NW. Analysts will discuss defense in 2017 at an event titled “Confusion among chaos.” aei.org
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 192. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford testify on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2017 budget request. appropriations.senate.gov
12 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. Donald Trump delivers a foreign policy speech at the National Press Club. press.org
1:30 p.m. 1152 15th St. NW. Journalist Vago Muradian moderates a panel discussion on Army readiness. cnas.org
THURSDAY | APRIL 28
9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Carter and Dunford testify on counter-Islamic State operations. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Cannon 311. The House Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing on the implications for states and local communities if Gitmo detainees are brought to the U.S. homeland.house.gov
1:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Analysts talk about the future of U.S. defense and national security partnerships. atlanticcouncil.org
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
