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OPERATION HUMAN WALL: If President Trump can’t convince Congress to fund the southern border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for, he has an idea for an interim step: Send the National Guard to patrol the border. It’s clear he has the authority. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both dispatched troops to bolster border security in the past, but it’s less clear what exactly the military, which is barred by law from domestic law enforcement, will be doing this time. POROUS BORDER, WEAK LAWS: Trump’s rationale for military reinforcement of the Border Patrol is that the U.S. lacks the kind of “powerful laws” that neighbors Mexico and Canada have to control illegal immigration. “We don’t have laws. We have catch and release. You catch and then you immediately release, and people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back,” Trump said. “Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military. That’s a big step. We really haven’t done that before, or certainly not very much before. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU TELL THE PRESIDENT: The idea of using the military as a stopgap measure until Trump can find a way to fund his wall seemed to be a bolt out of the blue, but the White House confirmed last night that it grew out of a series of briefings on immigration. The president warmed to it immediately. “Last week, the President received a briefing from senior administration officials on the growing influx of illegal immigration, drugs and violent gang members from Central America, and directed a vigorous administrative strategy to confront this threat and protect America’s national security,” said a statement released by the White House last night. “Today, [Tuesday] he received a follow-up briefing to discuss his administration’s strategy, which includes the mobilization of the National Guard.” At yesterday’s meeting: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, chief of staff John Kelly, and other unnamed senior White House officials. WHAT WILL THE TROOPS BE DOING? Under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, U.S. troops are generally barred from domestic law enforcement, with some exceptions for the National Guard, especially when the Guard is activated by a state governor. In the past, Guard troops have been used in supporting roles providing logistics and intelligence, such as overhead surveillance of the border from unarmed drones. “There are a number of ways the Department of Defense is already supporting the DHS border security mission,” Pentagon chief spokesperson Dana White said in a statement last night. “We are still in consultation with the White House about ways we can expand that support.” The Pentagon will now have to draw up options, and if the response to the Trump military parade is a guide, Mattis will try to mitigate the stress on the already overstretched military by steering the president toward an option that has minimal impact on the force by combining the deployment with already planned training or exercises. SHADES OF OBAMA: During the campaign, candidate Trump was relentless in criticizing Obama for two aspects of his military strategy: pulling troops out of Iraq too soon and allowing the rise of the Islamic State; and telegraphing his military moves and his desire to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, allowing the enemy to just wait the U.S. out. Yesterday at his White House news conference with Baltic leaders, Trump sounded a lot like his war-weary predecessor. “So it’s time. It’s time. We were very successful against ISIS. We’ll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it’s time to come back home, and we’re thinking about that very seriously,” Trump said. Trump is clearly not on the same page as his military commanders. As Trump was declaring victory, “close to 100 percent,” in defeating ISIS, across town at the U.S. Institute of Peace, his top general running the ISIS campaign was warning the war is far from won. “A lot of very good military progress made over the last couple years,” said U.S. Central Commander Gen. Joseph Votel. “But again, the hard part I think is in front of us, and that is stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, addressing the long-term issues of reconstruction and other things that will have to be done.” Trump’s special envoy to the counter-ISIS coalition was also singing from a different hymnal. “In terms of our campaign in Syria, we are in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission, and the mission isn’t over, and we’re going to complete that mission,” said Brett McGurk. “We want to keep eyes on the prize — on ISIS, because ISIS is not finished.” SPIKING THE FOOTBALL TOO SOON: The former director of the CIA and NSA was among many critics who said Trump was following what Sen. Lindsey Graham has called “the Obama playbook.” Trump has lost patience with the stalled offensive and is making no secret that he’s ready to pull the plug. “I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home. I want to start rebuilding our nation.” “It sounds familiar: al Qaeda is on the run and it’s time to do nation-building at home,” retired Gen. Michael Hayden said on CNN. “Barack Obama, right before ISIS comes onto the scene and roars through Iraq and Syria.” Hayden, now a CNN contributor, argued it’s a major mistake to declare victory at the end of major combat, and then pull up stakes and go home. It didn’t work in Iraq in 2011, or in Afghanistan in 2014. “What happens is that you don’t go to the stabilization phase, you don’t change the facts on the ground, you give control the events there to others and in this case, it’s the Russians, the Syrians and the Iranians. It almost guarantees that three, four, five years from now, we’re going to have to go back there and kill other people who are trying to do us harm.” CHARTING SYRIA’S FUTURE, WITHOUT US: As if to underscore the point, in the Turkish capital of Ankara today the major players in Syria are meeting without any representation by the U.S. to plan the way ahead for the war-torn country. Russian President Vladimir Putin is sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for the highest-level talks on Syria’s future in five months. A TRUTH SAID IN JEST? In what may have been a throwaway line, Trump said yesterday that he told Saudi Arabia if it’s so intent on the U.S. remaining in Syria, maybe the oil-rich nation could pony up to cover the costs. “Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision, and I said, ‘Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe you’re going to have to pay,’ ” Trump said. The White House confirmed that Trump spoke with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Monday. “On Syria, the President and the King discussed joint efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS and counter Iranian efforts to exploit the Syrian conflict to pursue its destabilizing regional ambitions.” Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. 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. |
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FOUR PRESUMED DEAD IN MARINE HELO CRASH: Overnight came word that a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing crashed in the vicinity of El Centro, California yesterday during a routine training mission. Four crew members were aboard the aircraft and all are presumed dead. PILOT CRASH IN DJIBOUTI: A Marine piloting an AV-8B Harrier jet was in stable condition after ejecting Tuesday during takeoff, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said. The pilot was taking off from Djibouti Ambouli International Airport when the Harrier crashed. The pilot was evacuated to a medical facility at Camp Lemonnier, the military’s main logistics hub in Africa. NOBODY’S TOUGHER ON RUSSIA: In a typical Trumpian superlative, the president declared yesterday, “Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have.” He then went on to say, “I think I could have a very good relationship with President Putin.” Trump recently congratulated the Russian president on his reelection in what Sen. John McCain and other Putin critics called a “sham election,” and Trump invited Putin to come to the White House sometime in the future. “Remember this: Getting along with Russia is a good thing. Getting along with China is a good thing. Getting along with other countries, including your three countries is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said in a news conference with the leaders of the three Baltic states. But he said the relationship could go south, “So I think I could have a very good relationship with Russia and with President Putin. And if I did, that would be a great thing. And there’s also a possibility that that won’t happen. Who knows?” OTHER CANDIDATES WHO MIGHT BE TOUGHER: McCain’s daughter yesterday disputed Trump’s claim that “There’s nobody been tougher on Russia.” Meghan McCain tweeted, “Except you know…my father.” McCain, who has called Putin a “thug” and “murderer,” never has a kind word for Putin. AND THEN THERE’S McMASTER: In what was billed as his last public engagement as the national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster had some stinging words for the failure of the U.S. to confront Russia. “Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability. … Tactics include infiltrating social media, spreading propaganda, weaponizing information, and using other forms of subversion and espionage,” McMaster said during remarks at the Atlantic Council last night. “So for too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs.” The Atlantic Council’s President and CEO Frederick Kempe said McMaster’s speech, “will go down in the Atlantic Council’s storied 60-year history as one of the great statements at one of the most crucial moments in our country’s decision-making process for the future.” You can read the full text at the Atlantic Council website. PUTIN CALLS FOR ‘THOROUGH’ NERVE AGENT PROBE: Putin is calling for a thorough investigation into last month’s nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent in Britain, the AP reported. During his visit to Ankara, Putin referenced remarks from the chief executive of Britain’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, who said the center hasn’t identified the “precise source” of the nerve agent, but did identify it as Novichok. Putin said that, due to the lack of information about where the nerve agent originated, “the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment.” PUTIN PRIORITIZES WEAPONS SALES TO TURKEY: And Putin says he regards weapons deals with Turkey, a key member of NATO, as “a priority task” for his government. “A priority task in the sphere of military technical cooperation is the implementation of the contract for supplies of S-400 Triumf missile systems to Turkey,” Putin told the Russia-Turkey Cooperation Council according to TASS, a state-run media outlet. That’s a reference to a pending deal for an anti-aircraft defense system that Turkey wants to buy, cementing the closer relationship that Erdogan and Putin have developed in recent years. The agreement raises the prospect of a NATO ally integrating its defenses with Russia at the expense of cooperation with other allies, as well as the potential for sanctions under U.S. law. COLONEL CLEARED OF SAME-SEX DISCRIMINATION: The Air Force has ruled that a colonel was exercising his religious beliefs when he refused to sign a certificate of appreciation for a retiring airman’s same-sex spouse. House lawmakers who protested the suspension last year of Col. Leland Bohannon for discrimination got the news Monday from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson that a service appeals board overturned the punishment. The board “concluded that Col. Bohannon had the right to exercise his sincerely held religious beliefs and did not unlawfully discriminate when he declined to sign the certificate of appreciation for the same-sex spouse of an airman in his command,” Wilson wrote to the lawmakers. “The Air Force has a duty to treat people fairly and without discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin or sexual orientation and met that duty by having a more senior officer sign the certificate.” Bohannon, who is a Christian, was asked last year to sign a variety of awards, gifts and honors for the airman’s retirement ceremony. “But when the Air Force presented a certificate of spouse appreciation — an optional, unofficial certificate, similar to a bouquet of flowers — to Col. Bohannon, his sincerely held religious beliefs prevented him from signing it because doing so would signify his personal endorsement of the same-sex marriage,” according to the First Liberty Institute, which has advocated on the colonel’s behalf. SPY DEVICES IN D.C.: The federal government is publicly acknowledging the existence of devices thought to be used by spies and criminals in the nation’s capital to track individuals’ cell phones and intercept calls and messages. The Department of Homeland Security, in a March 26 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden and obtained by the Washington Examiner said it identified unauthorized cell-site simulators in the metro area last year. “The Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate has observed anomalous activity in the National Capital Region that appears to be consistent with International Mobile Subscriber Identity catchers,” DHS said in its letter to Wyden. THE BIG LESSON LEARNED: In his appearance at the U.S. Institute of Peace yesterday, Votel said the big lesson of the fight against ISIS is that the so-called “by, with and through” strategy is the way to fight wars in the future. “This truly does represent a different approach to how we have waged war in Iraq and how we’ve done it across the region in the past,” Votel said. “What this does is it puts the onus on our partners on the ground to develop local solutions to largely local problems. And it puts the onus on them to own the results of this. And I think this for me, and for us in the military, I think is a key lesson learned. “We certainly are drawing on all of our great capabilities, our ability to bring superior air power into this, our linkage with development and diplomacy here is a key aspect of this, of course. But I think as I look across the region, I think this is kind of a way that we operate in the future.” THE RUNDOWN CNN: Mexico: We don’t welcome idea of military on border AFP: US-backed fighters on high alert in Syria’s Manbij New York Times: Afghan Leaders Admit Civilians Were Killed in Anti-Taliban Bombing Air Force Times: Air Force B-1B Lancers return to Al Udeid after 2-year absence Business Insider: Russia has already ordered 2 battalions of next-generation T-14 Armata tanks — here’s everything we know about the new platform USA Today: Kim Jong Un likes K-pop music, banned in North Korea. That could be a diplomatic breakthrough. Defense One: The Pentagon is Letting Hackers Loose on Its Travel Management System Task and Purpose: F-22s Can’t Talk To F-35s, Because Of Course They Can’t Army Times: 3-star: I Corps broadens focus past Pacific Breaking Defense: Aussie F-35A Drives Historic Shift To USAF Focus From USN Defense News: US Air Force to deploy CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft to Japan early Navy Times: Navy fighter squadron begins switch to the F-35 Foreign Policy: Pompeo Braces for Brutal Confirmation Fight The Hill: Clouds form over Iran deal as Trump deadline nears |
CalendarWEDNESDAY | APRIL 4 8 a.m. 2401 M St. NW. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. 8 a.m. 2101 Wilson Blvd. Health Affairs Breakfast featuring Kenneth Bertram, the Principal Assistant for Acquisition for the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. ndia.org 4:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Big Small Companies: How Size Matters in Defense Contracting. atlanticcouncil.org THURSDAY | APRIL 5 10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. A Conversation with the Army Secretary Mark Esper: Building a More Lethal Force in an Era of Renewed Great Power Competition. heritage.org 10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Autonomous weapons and international law with an introduction by Pauline Krikke, Mayor of the Hague. brookings.edu 12 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The Future of the JCPOA: Implications for the U.S., Its Allies, and Adversaries. hudson.org 2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen. csis.org 5 p.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. “Meddling—How to Win Friends and Influence People: Ivan Maisky, Soviet Ambassador in London, 1932-43,” a presentation by Gabriel Gorodetsky and a conversation with Strobe Talbott. carnegieendowment.org 6:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Foreign Affairs Issue Launch: Letting Go: Trump, America, and the World. cfr.org FRIDAY | APRIL 6 10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Book discussion of “The Kremlinologist: Llewellyn E. Thompson, America’s Man in Cold-War Moscow” with authors Jenny Thompson and Sherry Thompson. wilsoncenter.org 10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Seeking solutions for Somalia. brookings.edu 10:30 a.m. 1030 15th Street NW. Iran’s Sunnis Resist Extremism, But for How Long? atlanticcouncil.org MONDAY | APRIL 9 9 a.m. 201 Waterfront St. Opening day of Sea-Air-Space, the Navy League’s global maritime exposition. seaairspace.org 10:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Russian Way of Warfare. csis.org 12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. U.S.-North Korea Relations: Any Progress on Nonproliferation Efforts? A discussion with Victor Cha and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former Joint Chiefs chairman. cfr.org TUESDAY | APRIL 10 7 a.m. 6715 Commerce St. 2018 Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference and Exhibition. ndia.org 9 a.m. 201 Waterfront St. Sea-Air-Space, the Navy League’s global maritime exposition with Adm. Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the Coast Guard. seaairspace.org WEDNESDAY | APRIL 11 9 a.m. 201 Waterfront St. Sea-Air-Space, the Navy League’s global maritime exposition with Thomas Modley, Under Secretary of the Navy. seaairspace.org 9:30 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. The UN’s New “Sustaining Peace” Agenda. stimson.org 12 noon. Iran’s Ballistic Missiles: Capabilities, Intentions, and the Evolving Threat (invitation only event). defenddemocracy.org 1:30 p.m. Discussion on the Defense Department’s new Close Combat Lethality Task Force with Robert Wilkie, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. ausa.org 2:30 p.m. Russell 222. Subcommittee Hearing on U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy, Programs, and Strategy with Guy Roberts, Assistant Secretary Of Defense; Robert Soofer, Deputy Assistant Secretary Of Defense; Gen. Robin Rand, Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command; and Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, Director of Navy Strategic Systems Programs. armed-services.senate.gov 2:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. Subcommittee Hearing on the Health of the Department of Defense Industrial Base and its Role in Providing Readiness to the Warfighter with Lt. Gen. Edward Daly, Deputy Commanding General of Army Materiel Command; Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags, Commander of Naval Air Systems Command; Vice Adm. Thomas Moore, Commander of Naval Sea Systems Command; Lt. Gen. Lee Levy, Commander of the Sustainment Center at Air Force Materiel Command; and Maj. Gen. Craig Crenshaw, Commanding General of Marine Corps Logistics Command. armed-services.senate.gov 5:30 p.m. 1667 K St. NW. Sustaining the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent: The LRSO and GBSD. csbaonline.org |
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