Are military doctors under pressure to become ‘spin doctors’ when treating their commander in chief?

“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had,” Conley said. “And in doing so, you know, it came off that we’re trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that he’s doing really well.”

In fact, Conley said Trump could be released as soon as today to continue treatment at the medical facilities at the White House.

FUELING SPECULATION: The military team treating Trump continues to give evasive answers to some key questions about the severity of his condition, giving rise to speculation by outside medical experts that his doctors may be shading the truth to reflect the president’s wishes that he be portrayed as on the mend even as he is administered several treatments usually reserved for the most serious cases of the disease.

Army Col. Sean Dooley, a pulmonary critical care doctor, said Trump “remains on room air,” and “is not complaining of shortness of breath, or other significant respiratory symptoms.”

Asked if Trump showed signs of pneumonia, Conley gave an ambiguous answer. “There’s some expected findings, but nothing of any major clinical concern,” he said, which leaves open the possibility there was damage to Trump’s lungs, something that would be “expected” with a case of coronavirus infection that required oxygen treatments.

KEY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED: Conley said Trump has had two instances where his blood oxygen levels dropped to a level of concern but said he was only administered supplemental oxygen Friday morning, before he went to Walter Reed, despite the fact “he was fairly adamant that he didn’t need it.”

Asked if Trump’s readings dropped below 90% (below 94% is an indication of a problem), Conley said, “No, it was below 94%. It wasn’t down into the low 80s or anything,” which left open the possibility it was below 90%.

Johns Hopkins lung specialist Dr. Brian Garibaldi said that in response to “transient low oxygen levels,” Trump began therapy with dexamethasone, a steroid — like the drug remdesivir, which Trump is also getting — usually reserved for critically ill patients, according to the World Health Organization.

The biggest question left unanswered is how far along Trump is with his infection, something that can only be determined by now when he last tested negative. The White House has refused to divulge that information. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters she won’t give “a detailed readout with timestamps of every time the president’s tested,” only saying his first positive test came after he returned from a trip to his country club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

TRUMP’S THANK-YOU RIDE: The president made a surprise appearance outside Walter Reed in the early evening. Riding in his armored Chevrolet Suburban and wearing a mask, he waved behind a rolled up window at dozens of flag-waving supporters who had gathered outside the gates of the Navy base.

The drive-by immediately drew criticism from outside medical professionals who noted it was highly unusual for a contagious patient to be allowed to leave the hospital, and that even with masks, the Secret Service agents in the SUV with the president could be at risk of infection and may have to quarantine for 14 days. The White House said the short trip was cleared by his doctors.

Dr. James Phillips, an attending physician at Walter Reed, who is not part of the president’s team of doctors, questioned whether Trump commanded his doctors to approve the ride as “political theater.”

“At what point does the physician-patient relationship end, and does the commander in chief and subordinate relationship begin, and were those doctors ordered to allow this to happen?” Phillips told the New York Times.

Good Monday 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.

Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!

HAPPENING TODAY: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Tokyo, where later today (tomorrow Japan time), he meets with Quad foreign ministers: Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to discuss promoting a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” https://www.state.gov/

ALSO TODAY: The U.S. and Russia are holding another round of arms control talks in Helsinki today with the goal of reaching a new agreement to replace the New START treaty that expires in February. U.S. negotiator Amb. Marshall Billingslea and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov are meeting in the Finnish capital to follow up on negotiations in Austria over the summer.

“If the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is not extended in the next couple of months, the United States and Russia will be completely free of bilateral arms control for the first time in decades,” argues Eric Gomez, director of defense policy for the Cato Institute.

“Mutual inspection and monitoring items in New START make it much easier for the United States to monitor Russia’s nuclear arsenal, freeing up considerable intelligence-gathering resources for other missions,” Gomez says. “While Washington could gain a short-term advantage in terms of the number of deployed nuclear warheads by pulling warheads from the stockpile and uploading them onto U.S. missiles, in the long run, Russia will have much more upload capacity on their next generation of missiles.”

ESPER COVID NEGATIVE: In the wake of President Trump’s positive diagnosis for COVID-19 Friday, the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has just returned from a five-day trip to Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Kuwait, has continued to test negative for the coronavirus infection.

Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley last met with Trump a week ago Sunday at a White House Gold Star families event. “The Secretary has expressed his appreciation for the White House’s military medical team and is confident that they will ensure that the President and First Lady – like all members of our military family — will continue to receive the best medical care in the world,” said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman in a statement.

ESPER ON THE DOWN-LOW: If you missed the fact that Esper was traveling last week, it’s because he didn’t make any big news, part of a strategy to avoid being pulled into election politics. Unlike Pompeo, who has been actively campaigning for President Trump, Esper deliberately kept his travel low-key, posting anodyne updates to his Twitter page and issuing innocuous read-outs as he met with leaders of four African countries.

“Esper made few public remarks and fielded no on-the-record questions from reporters,” reports the Washington Post. Officials asked journalists traveling with him to refrain from publicizing news of three out of four stops until the Pentagon chief had moved on to the next destination, an unusual step when a defense secretary is not traveling to a war zone.

A CAUTIONARY TALE: Longtime Pentagon watchers will remember Robert Hastings, who served as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs during the George W. Bush administration. The former Army officer has posted his personal COVID-19 recovery story on his Facebook page, in which he relates that despite repeated negative tests, it turned out he had the virus.

“My earliest symptoms started more than three weeks ago and like many were hard to ID from seasonal allergies. I had my first chills on 9/20. I received my first negative covid test on 9/22. Then my second negative test on 9/25, but a diligent ER team ordered a chest X-ray and diagnosed pneumonia in both lungs,” he writes. “I went back to the ER again on 9/30 after [fainting] at home with BP lower than 70. Third negative covid test but I was admitted. Finally a positive covid test on Oct 1.”

Hasting’s experience underscores how the virus can affect different people in vastly different ways. “I do not nor at any time have I had a fever. I never had a sore throat. I have full smell and taste,” he said. “I feel confident in my recovery. I am learning something new — patience.”

He offers these lessons from his experience: “Covid is real, stay disciplined. Wear that mask. When you feel ill, isolate. Even the most respected covid test is not 100% failsafe. Don’t get your negative results and dash back into life.”

INDUSTRY WATCH: On Friday, Northrop Grumman successfully launched the company’s Cygnus cargo resupply spacecraft, the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, to the International Space Station.

“After the nine minute ascent, the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, named for the first woman of Indian descent to fly in space, was deployed into orbit,” the company said in a news release. “Approximately two and a half hours later, the vehicle’s Ultra-flex solar arrays successfully deployed, and the spacecraft is currently operating nominally.”

Cygnus was scheduled to be grappled by the crew on the International Space Station at 5:20 a.m. this morning.

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Trump posts video update on coronavirus condition, says he’s feeling ‘much better now’

Washington Examiner: Military ‘basically unaffected’ and adversaries reluctant, following Trump COVID-19 news, say experts

Washington Examiner: Pentagon says ‘no change to DoD alert levels’ after Trump coronavirus-positive test

Washington Examiner: ‘Trust, but verify’: Robert O’Brien says Russia promised not to mess with 2020 vote tallies

McClatchy: Air Force One, Marine One Crews Who Flew Trump Get COVID Tests, Sanitize Aircraft

Stars and Stripes: South Korea Reports Fifth Day Of Double-Digit Coronavirus Figures; Three More Americans Test Positive

New York Times: As India And China Feud, U.S. Sees An Opportunity To Build An Alliance

AP: Esper Signs 10-Year U.S. Military Cooperation Deal With Morocco

Reuters: Kuwait’s New Emir Meets Senior U.S. And Iranian Officials

Military.com: Army Says $8.5 Million Purchase of Austin Real Estate for Top Leaders’ Housing Was ‘Right Decision’

Navy Times: A Carrier-Based Super Hornet Recently Struck IS Targets For The First Time In More Than Two Years

Just the News: Whistleblower virologist’s mother reportedly arrested by Chinese government

Bloomberg: New U.S. ICBMs Could Cost Up To $264 Billion Over Decades

Stars and Stripes: Marine General Under Investigation For Allegations He Used A Racial Slur, Corps Confirms

Defense.info: The Fight Against China’s Theft of Space Technology

Forbes: Raytheon Defines First Principles For Building A Space Sensor Layer

Calendar

MONDAY | OCTOBER 5

9 a.m. — NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the future of work, with retired Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, the first director of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, among others. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/gtc

9 a.m. — Brookings Institution webinar: “Foreign Policy and the 2020 Election: Implications for Europe, with Fiona Hill, senior fellow in the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe, and former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council; Celia Belin, visiting fellow in the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe; William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings; Thomas Wright, director of the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe; and Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of foreign policy at Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/events

11 a.m. — Heritage Foundation webinar: “With Friends Like These: The Criticality of Allies Who Care in Great Power Competition,” Andrew Michta, dean of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies’ College of International and Security Studies; and Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at Heritage. https://www.heritage.org/defense/event

12 p.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Polar Institute webinar: “United States Air Force Arctic Strategy: Perspectives and Insights,” with former Supreme Allied Commander retired Gen. Joseph Ralston; Lt. Gen. David Krumm, commander, Alaskan Command, U.S. Northern Command; former Supreme Allied Commander retired Gen. Philip Breedlove; former U.S. Southern Commander retired Gen. Douglas Fraser; former Air Force Vice Chief of Staff retired Gen. Carrol Chandler; and former Pacific Air Forces Commander retired Gen. Patrick Gamble. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

12 p.m. — Americas Society Council of the Americas roundtable conversation with U.S. Southern Commander Adm. Craig Faller and his political adviser, Amb. Jean Manes, civilian deputy commander. https://www.as-coa.org/events/conversation

TUESDAY | OCTOBER 6

8:30 a.m. — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs virtual conference: “U.S. Russia Relations in Light of the U.S. Elections,” with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Thomas Pickering. https://elliott.gwu.edu/event-calendar

9 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association virtual Wright Information Technology Summit, with Air Force Maj. Gen. William “Bill” Cooley, Air Force Materiel Command; Nathan Hartman, head of the Purdue University Department of Computer Graphics Technology; Air Force Chief Software Officer Nicolas Chaillan; and Air Force Chief Data Officer Col. Charles Destefani. https://daytonwrightafcea.wildapricot.org/event

10 a.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Asia Program webcast: “What Does the Taliban Want?” with Ibraheem Bahiss, independent analyst; Malalai Bashir, senior journalist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Afghan Service; Orzala Nemat, director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit; and Rahimullah Yusufzai, resident editor at the New International. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

10:30 p.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Science and Technology Innovation Program, the Aerospace Corporation, and NASA webcast: “Seeking Strategic Advantage: How Geopolitical Competition and Cooperation are Playing Out in Space,” with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

5 p.m. — Hudson Institute livestream: “Dialogues on American Foreign Policy and World Affairs: A Conversation with Sen. Tom Cotton,” with Walter Russell Mead, Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship. https://www.hudson.org/events

WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 7

9 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association virtual Wright Information Technology Summit, with Air Force Col. Scott McKeever, director of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s Strategic Studies Group. https://daytonwrightafcea.wildapricot.org/event

9 a.m. — Hudson Institute webinar: “The U.S. Army’s Project Convergence, the Army’s priorities for new weapons systems and readiness, and the implications of looming budget constraints,” with Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. https://www.hudson.org/events

10 a.m. — Heritage Foundation webinar: “The New Race for Space: Success and Challenges in the Final Frontier,” with Acting Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Space Policy Justin Johnson; Dean Cheng, senior research fellow in the Heritage Asian Studies Center; Acting NASA Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations Michael Gold; and Henry Hertzfeld, director of the George Washington University Space Policy Institute. https://www.heritage.org/space-policy/event

10 a.m. — United States Institute of Peace webinar: “Empowering Afghan Women and Protecting Their Rights,” with State Department Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Kelley Currie; Acting Afghanistan Minister of Women’s Affairs Hasina Safi; Deputy Afghanistan Minister of Interior Affairs Hosna Jalil; Habiba Sarabi, Afghan government negotiation team member; Palwasha Hassan, executive director of the Afghan Women’s Educational Center; Jenny McGee, associate administrator for relief, response and resilience at the U.S. Agency for International Development; Karen Freeman, deputy assistant administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan at USAID; Scott Worden, director of Afghanistan and Central Asia programs at USIP; and Belquis Ahmadi, senior program officer for Afghanistan at USIP. https://www.usip.org/index.php/events

2 p.m. — Arizona State University McCain Institute for International Leadership book discussion on Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World, with author retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and former national security adviser; and Michael Crow, ASU president. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/authors-insights

3 p.m. — Center for Security Policy webinar: “Building the U.S. Strategic Relationship with African Nations.” with House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.; retired Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, former commander of U.S. Africa Command; former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson; Lauren Ploch Blanchard, specialist in African affairs at the Congressional Research Service; and Matthew Bergman, founder of the Masai Children’s Initiative. https://www.americansecurityproject.org/event

9 p.m. Salt Lake City, Utah — The University of Utah hosts the 2020 vice presidential debate, with Vice President Mike Pence; and Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., in the university’s Kingsbury Hall, Peery Marriott Auditorium.

THURSDAY | OCTOBER 8

10 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Nuclear Deterrence Forum webcast, with David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security. Video posted afterwards at https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/aerospace-nation

FRIDAY | OCTOBER 9

2:30 p.m. — Center for the National Interest webinar: “Secrets and Lies: The Role of Truth in Great Power Information Warfare,” with Amb. Thomas Pickering, vice chairman, Hills and Company; John Mearsheimer, Professor, Political Science University of Chicago; Konstantin Remchukov, editor in chief, Nezavisimaya Gazeta in Moscow; Dimitri Simes, president and CEO, Center for the National Interest. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register

TUESDAY | OCTOBER 13

10 a.m. — Day One of “AUSA Now,” the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2020 virtual annual meeting, with Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and other Army leaders. McCarthy and McConville will hold a press conference in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room at 10:45 a.m. Register at https://meetings.ausa.org/annual/Attendee

TBA — Defense One webcast “State of the Navy,” with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday. https://www.defenseone.com/feature