BREAKING THIS MORNING: In northern Afghanistan, two American service members were killed and two more wounded as they helped Afghan Security forces who were battling the Taliban in Kunduz province. Details are sketchy, but both U.S. service members were gravely wounded and died later. “Our wounded soldiers are receiving the best medical care possible and we are keeping them and their families in our thoughts today, as well,” said Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan in a statement. “Despite today’s tragic event, we are steadfast in our commitment to help our Afghan partners defend their nation.”
At least 15 U.S. troops have died in combat there since the official end of combat operations in December 2014. So far this year there have been 10 deaths: 6 U.S. troops, 2 U.S. civilians, and 2 Romanian troops, according to U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.
WHAT’S UP WITH RAQQA? Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s statement that the offensive to liberate Raqqa, Syria, from Islamic State control will begin in weeks has some at the Pentagon scratching their heads. At a briefing this week, reporters pressed spokesman Peter Cook to explain what Carter meant. Was the defense secretary talking about a full-scale Mosul-style operation? Or was the idea to begin “shaping” operations by encircling the city with Syrian Kurdish fighters? “The fight for Mosul is underway. The fight for Raqqa will begin soon,” was Cooks only answer. The reason for the skepticism is that nothing seems to be in place for a major offensive. Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said it’s imperative to get the “isolation” of Raqqa in place, because “external attack planning” is underway by ISIS there. Isolation is not the same as liberation. Townsend also said he hoped to train more local forces, but also when the time came he would go with the fighters he had on hand. Not to mention Turkey is not on board with any of the plans. It all seems to point to an offensive that is months away, not weeks.
NO PLACE TO HIDE: America’s hunter-killer drones are continuing to carry out their unblinking mission executing America’s most wanted terrorists with deadly accuracy. Yesterday the Pentagon boasted that in a single week, senior al-Qaida leaders were killed in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, although the results of the Afghanistan strike have not yet been 100 percent confirmed. Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said the three strikes in three countries in seven days shows the long reach of the U.S. military. “Al-Qaida doesn’t recognize borders when they conspire to commit terrorist attacks against the West,” Davis said. “And we continue to work with our partners and allies to find and destroy their leaders, their fighters and their cells that are planning attacks externally.”
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WHO NEEDS MANILA? Carter sent a pointed warning to long-time U.S. ally the Philippines yesterday. Answering a question during a troop talk at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Carter casually said the U.S. has a lot of friends in the Asia-Pacific region and could, if necessary, do without the close military relationship it enjoyed with Manila before the election of President Rodrigo Duterte. Carter ticked off Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, even Vietnam as countries that are anxious to have America’s military might as a counter-balance to China. Duterte’s call for a “separation” from the U.S. has already cost him the support of former president Fidel Ramos who resigned as China envoy, as Duterte has been cozying up to Beijing.
MONKEYS AND FOOLS: Carter’s off-the-cuff comment came in the wake of another rant by Duterte, who railed against the U.S. for halting the sale of M4 rifles to Manila. “Look at these monkeys, the 26,000 firearms we wanted to buy, they don’t want to sell,” Duterte said. “Son of a bitch, we have many home-made guns here. These American fools.” The sale of the rifles was effectively blocked by Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who is concerned about human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings in Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.
Foreign military sales overall in the first month of fiscal 2017 are off to a slow start, according to a report released Tuesday from Cowen Washington Research Group. October saw only four potential deals valued at $415 million, compared to four deals in October 2016 valued at just over $12 billion, analyst Roman Schweizer wrote.
NDAA TO-DO LIST GROWS: The National Defense Authorization Act conference committee has yet another issue to consider as it hammers out a compromise final bill. Rep. Vern Buchanan sent a letter to the Big Four negotiators this week asking them to make sure the bill allows California National Guardsmen who already repaid their bonuses to get their money back. We’ll learn if negotiators took Buchanan’s request to heart when we see a final bill, likely sometime in December.
F-35 PRICE LOCKED IN: Enough! That was the message from the Pentagon, which moved to end the haggling over the price it would pay for initial low rate production for Lot 9 of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Essentially the F-35 program office invoked a contract provision allowing it to end negotiations and set a price at its last offer, $6.1 billion for 57 planes, which Lockheed Martin is now obligated to accept, although not happily. “We are disappointed with the decision by the Government to issue a unilateral contract action on the F-35,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement. This could end up in court.
DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH: Could a new president and a new congress mean a new chance of passing an authorization for the use of military force tailored to today’s fight against the Islamic State and global terrorism? Don’t bet on it. Analysts surveyed by the Washington Examiner are pessimistic that much will change in 2017. While support for military action remains strong in Congress, no one seems to have the stomach to put in in writing. “The underlying contradiction and lack of trust between Congress and the White House is pretty likely to stay the same even if the names are different,” said Tom Donnelly, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute.
OUR BAD: A senior State Department official offered something close to an apology for the U.S. response to a failed coup attempt in Turkey, as he worked to ease tensions with a crucial ally, Joel Gehrke writes. “The truth is I don’t think that many of us fully understood — or maybe we didn’t communicate that we understood — the depth of feeling and emotion in Turkey for the events of July,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday night. “This was a dagger aimed at the heart of the Turkish state — and at the Turkish people.” The No. 2 official at the State Department was speaking at the 35th Annual Conference on U.S.-Turkey Relations in Washington D.C. — a fraught topic in recent months, since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western allies of “siding with coup-plotters and terrorists.”
NUCLEAR CSI: Toenail clippings and snips of hair could be the next tools to catch nuclear smugglers, according to researchers at the University of Missouri. The scientists at the MU Research Reactor Center collected hair, fingernail, and toenail clippings from workers in nuclear research facilities from around the country. Then they say they were able to develop tests to differentiate between exposure to natural and manmade sources of uranium. The next step is to work with the National Science Foundation and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to finds ways in which law enforcement officials can use specialized equipment to identify individuals who have been exposed to special nuclear material within 48 hours.
THE RUNDOWN
Defense News: Army Debuts Strategy to Counter Drone Threats
Navy Times: Navy’s MQ-4C Triton community gets its very first squadron
Defense News: Two Operational F-35s Flying Again After Undergoing Insulation Fix
Breaking Defense: Ford Getting Fixed, But No Delivery Date Yet: NAVSEA
CNN: Another mishap for Navy’s $360 million warship
UPI: Ceradyne producing next-gen helmets, body armor
Military.com: Survey: Vets Back Trump’s Plan for More Private Health Care
Military Times: Pentagon chief draws fire over ‘dangerous’ plan to relax military recruiting standards
Military.com: Iraq Threatens War Over Turkey’s Troop Presence, Buildup
Reuters: IS leader confident in victory, in first message about Mosul battle
Calendar
THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 3
9 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. A panel of experts discusses the relationship between Russia and the West after the U.S. presidential election. atlanticcouncil.org
11 a.m. Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford attend the U.S. Strategic Command change of command ceremony. Live streamed www.defense.gov.
12 noon. Pentagon Briefing Room. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve briefs the media live from Baghdad. Live streamed www.defense.gov.
MONDAY | NOVEMBER 7
9:30 a.m. Capitol Visitor’s Center 208/209. Pilots of the F-35 and F-22 talk about fifth generation air combat and maintaining air superiority. mitchellaerospacepower.org
10:30 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. A panel of experts discusses how to improve the security relationship between the U.S. and Georgia. heritage.org
WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 9
4:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. The Atlantic Council hosts an event with industry leaders titled, “Corporate-Venture Investing in Aerospace & Defense.” atlanticcouncil.org
THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 10
9:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Officials speak on a panel on preventing terrorists from getting chemical weapons. csis.org
10:30 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Think tank experts talk about security and insecurity in the relationship with Iran after the nuclear deal. stimson.org
5:30 pm. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. National Journal’s James Kitfield speaks about his new book, Twilight Warriors: The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War. csis.org
