NDAA WEEK, PART II: Now that the House has finished its marathon mark up of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate begins its own debate today. The positive? The Senate mercifully splits its sessions into multiple days over the course of the week instead of powering through a 16+ hour all nighter like the House. The cons? Most of the sessions are closed to press and the public.
Once the Senate finishes its bill this week, it’ll be up to the conference committee to iron out differences, of which experts expect there to be many, including fights over the number of Russian rocket engines the Air Force can use to get to space, whether the Air Force will be required to disclose the price tag for the new bomber and what reforms can be made to Goldwater-Nichols.
There are some areas of agreement. Sen. John McCain said he’s likely to support a proposal on the House side that requires women to register for the draft. But that doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. The conference bill still has to get buy-in from the full House and Senate, where experts expect more debate on the controversial issue.
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BLURRED LINES: The New York Times is out this morning with a deeply-reported piece that picks up and expands on insights we gleaned from the investigation of the Kunduz hospital report last month. The Times reporting adds yet more ammunition to critics who argue the Obama administration’s declaration of the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan is largely fiction. The Times talked to investigators and some of the Green Berets on the ground and concludes the fierce firefight “offered the starkest example to date of a blurry line in Afghanistan and Iraq between the missions that American forces are supposed to be fulfilling — military training and advising — and combat.” Reuters also has a dispatch from Kabul, showing how U.S. troops are confused about the limits of their mission.
RUNNING OUT GAS? The front page of the Washington Post suggests the war against the Islamic State is stalling, that Pentagon officials believe the fight is “entering a new and potentially harder phase, one that will entail a deeper level of U.S. involvement.”
CAN’T WAIT UNTIL HE EXPLAINS THAT TO HIS KID: Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland said on Friday that he intends to name one of the twin boys he and his wife are expecting after Rep. Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who helped him salvage his military career, Joel Gehrke reports.
Martland was nearly kicked out of the Army for beating up an Afghan police officer who repeatedly raped a young boy he kept chained to his bed as a sex slave. Hunter’s intervention in the case helped Martland appeal and eventually win the right to continue serving.
“If it was not for your leadership, my career would be over,” Martland wrote. “My wife and I can never thank you enough.”
KERRY-ZARIF BROMANCE: Republicans are increasingly worried that the tight relationship between Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is hampering Washington’s ability to enforce the Iran deal and all the other security and economic issues it touches, Susan Crabtree reports.
IVF FOR WOUNDED VETS: Families struggling with fertility due to injuries sustained in combat are heading to Capitol Hill this week to lobby lawmakers to approve a bill in the Senate that would pay for in vitro fertilization for injured vets.
The provision, included in the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill by Sen. Patty Murray, would pay for IVF for troops who sustained injuries that made it impossible to start a family naturally and their spouses. As it stands now, families must pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.
WHAT STRATEGY? In a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” on Friday, Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, levied a criticism at the Russians that many of Obama’s critics have been hurling at this administration. Asked what he thought of Russia’s strategy, the blunt spox said: “What Russian strategy? If they send it to me I’ll be happy to comment on it.”
Warren also gave his input to an oft-argued Reddit debate: would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck? “Between duck sized horses or horse sized ducks, I’d want to face duck sized horses. They wouldn’t be able to fly so you could punt them like footballs. A hundred isn’t really that many so I don’t think you’d even break much of a sweat booting them all,” he said.
GENERAL HAYDEN’S OFFENSIVE? Former CIA Director Michael Hayden is out with a “tell-most” memoir, which is extensively and critically reviewed by the New York Review of Books. Charlie Savage, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times, writes “While I believe that major aspects of his book are flawed, I also think that other parts are excellent. Hayden spent his career grappling with some of the world’s most complex problems and he has many interesting, if often bleak, things to say about them — especially when his account is less driven by his concern to defend the record of the intelligence agencies.”
NOTHING MILD ABOUT HARRY: The New York Times has a profile of U.S. Pacific Commander, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., who it reports “has turned heads – and caused headaches – in Beijing as well as in Washington with language starker than any coming from his commander in chief, President Obama.”
NON-COMBAT DEATH: The Pentagon announced over the weekend the death of a U.S. soldier, but said 1st Lt. David Bauders died in a non-combat related incident. Also Saturday, two NATO troops were reported killed in Afghanistan.
THE RUNDOWN
Daily Beast: She Spoke Up About Cooked ISIS Intel. They Booted Her—for Cursing.
Defense One: F-35 Production Set to Quadruple As Massive Factory Retools
Defense News: Shaping the Fleet of the Future
Politico: Why Middle Eastern Leaders Are Talking to Putin, Not Obama
National Defense: Northrop Grumman Looks Overseas for Innovation and Growth
USNI News: Shock Trials, Missile Launches, CONOPS Refinement Await LCS Program This Summer
Scout: CHINA WATCH: The Pace of Chinese Naval Modernization is Getting Attention at the Pentagon
Navy Times: Nothing scares Hornet pilots more than losing oxygen — and it happens all the time
AP: Reporters in N. Korea for congress get wire factory instead, BBC journalist booted
Reuters: Russia showcases Syria hardware in grand Red Square military parade
Medium: 20 Questions with David Barno and Nora Bensahel
Breaking Defense: Tiltrotor Touters Hope First Sea Lord Is Easy Prey
Politico: The Democrats’ secretary of war
Calendar
MONDAY | MAY 9
11 a.m. Defense Secretary Ash Carter marks the 25th Anniversary of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program in the Pentagon Center Courtyard. Live-streamed on defense.gov.
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
3 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The Wilson Center hosts an event on the rise of military welfare state created by the all-volunteer force. wilsoncenter.org
TUESDAY | MAY 10
9:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. The Senate Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee holds a closed mark up for the fiscal 2017 NDAA. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Dirksen 419. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing with State Department officials on terrorism in sub-Saharan Africa. foreign.senate.gov
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Frank Kendall, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, talks about the state of defense acquisition. csis.org
11 a.m. Dirksen G-50. The SASC Personnel Subcommittee holds an open mark up for its piece of the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill. Armed-services.senate.gov
2 p.m. Dirksen G-50. The SASC Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support holds an open mark up for its piece of the fiscal 2017 NDAA. armed-services.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. Dirksen G-50. The SASC Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities holds an open mark up on the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill. armed-services.senate.gov
5:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. The SASC Strategic Forces Subcommittee holds a closed mark up on its piece of the NDAA. armed-services.senate.gov
5:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Bob Schieffer hosts an event with State Department officials on how to break the Islamic State’s brand. csis.org
WEDNESDAY | MAY 11
All day. Pentagon courtyard. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency holds a demo day at the Pentagon’s outdoor courtyard where some of its latest technology will be on display. defense.gov
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Two panels of experts discuss the next steps in addressing the Islamic State’s genocide. heritage.org
9:30 a.m. Russell 222. The Senate Armed Services Committee begins three days of 12-hour closed mark ups that will wrap up on Friday on the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill. armed-services.senate.gov
THURSDAY | MAY 12
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Think tank experts testify at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the risks of economic engagement with Iran. foreignaffairs.house.gov
FRIDAY | MAY 13
8:30 a.m. Kennedy Caucus Room, 325 Russell. Aerospace Industries Association hosts a “Rockets on the Hill” event with 50 teams from Team America Rocketry Challenge. Aia-aerospace.org
MONDAY | MAY 16
8:45 a.m. 201 Waterfront St., Oxon Hill, Md. The Navy League’s three-day Sea-Air-Space Exposition gets underway at National Harbor. Seaairspace.org
2 p.m. 1150 17th St. NW. Think tank experts look at rethinking the map of the Middle East 100 years after the agreement that served as the foundation for the border lines in the region. aei.org
