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WHY THE NASTY RHETORIC? When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Pyongyang Saturday after negotiations with Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency declared “all issues arising in sincerely implementing the joint statement” adopted by President Trump and Kim Jong Un were “profoundly discussed.” Asked by reporters traveling with him how the denuclearization talks were going, Pompeo said that after “many hours of productive conversations,” progress was made “on almost all of the central issues,” adding “some places a great deal of progress, other places there’s still more work to be done.” Then came an inflammatory statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry accusing the U.S. of making unilateral and “gangster-like” demands. “It seems that the U.S. misunderstood our goodwill and patience,” said the statement posted on the Foreign Ministry website. “The U.S. is fatally mistaken if it went to the extent of regarding that the DPRK would be compelled to accept, out of its patience, the demands reflecting its gangster-like mindset.” “If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster, because there was a unanimous decision at the UN Security Council about what needs to be achieved,” Pompeo pushed back at a news conference in Tokyo. “I was there for the event. I know actually what precisely took place. When we spoke to them about the scope of denuclearization, they did not push back. It wasn’t my language; it was the language of Chairman Kim. He committed to complete denuclearization.” SO WHAT’S THE DEAL? Sen. Lindsey Graham is blaming Beijing. “I see China’s hands all over this. We are in a fight with China. We buy $500 billion worth of goods from the Chinese. They buy $100 billion from us. They cheat and President Trump wants to change the economic relationship with China,” Graham said on Fox News Sunday. “There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the Chinese pulling the North Koreans back. So, if I were President Trump, I would not let China use North Korea to back me off of the trade dispute. We’ve got more bullets than they do when it comes to trade.” “Well, my guess is that Mike Pompeo is demanding what he should demand,” said Republican Sen. Jeff Flake on CNN. “If North Korea has said that they would denuclearize, that’s what we should demand. Now, many of us have been skeptical all along that North Korea will follow through. But this seems to be par for the course in terms of North Korea’s position.” NO MEETING, NO ROCKET MAN CD: While many observers thought it was likely Pompeo would meet directly with Kim Jong Un, as he did the last two times he went to Pyongyang, there was no meeting. And according to State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, no CD of the Elton John song “Rocket Man” left behind for Kim. “It was never anticipated that I would meet with him,” Pompeo said in Tokyo. “We went there to work with Kim Yong Chol and our two teams to work together over the course of two days. We did just that.” As for the CD, Pompeo never responded directly to questions about whether he was carrying a CD signed by Trump, which left open the possibility he just decided not to leave it for Kim. TIME TO START EXERCISING AGAIN? Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa says if negotiations fail to show any real results soon, the U.S should resume the joint military exercises with South Korea that Trump suspended after declaring the “war games” too expensive and provocative. “I think we should continue with military exercises,” Ernst said yesterday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Obviously I believe that they have a purpose in keeping the peninsula safe and making sure that should anything ever happen, we’re well-rehearsed with our allies to engage. So I would say soon, if we don’t see those talks continue.” Good Monday 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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HAPPENING THIS WEEK: Nervous NATO allies await the arrival of Trump at this week’s summit in Brussels, anticipating another confrontational encounter with NATO’s largest and most important member over burden sharing. Trump is scheduled to arrive in Belgium tomorrow for the two-day summit Wednesday and Thursday. Then it’s on to London for meetings with Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II. On Sunday night, Trump arrives in Helsinki to prepare for his one-on-one meeting Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. RETHINKING SANCTIONS: Trump and U.S. lawmakers should consider revising sanctions targeting Russia so they focus more on Russian oligarchs, Sen. Ron Johnson tells the Washington Examiner. Johnson was part of a congressional delegation that recently visited Moscow. “You do something and nobody ever sits back and analyzes, ‘Well, is it working?’ ” Johnson said. “And I think you’d be hard-pressed to say that sanctions against Russia are really working all that well.” Johnson said targeting Putin’s inner circle would not only be more effective, but it would allow the U.S. to avoid alienating the Russian people. “My sense is that the targeted sanctions to the oligarchs, to the members of government, are the ones that really sting and probably [offer] the best chance of affecting their behavior,” he said. “The Russian people, they don’t care if an oligarch can’t buy a $10 million mansion in London.” MATTIS ON THE MOVE: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will also be at the summit, but he’ll largely remain in the background. He then plans to visit Croatia and Norway later in the week. In Zagreb, he will meet with defense ministers of the U.S.-Adriatic Charter to reinforce U.S. support to southeast Europe. And then he’ll stop in Oslo for meetings with Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen and Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide. SENATE SET TO MOVE ON DEFENSE BILLS: Time is running short for Rep. Mac Thornberry and Sen. Jim Inhofe to make good on their hopes of finishing up the National Defense Authorization Act by the end of the month. With the August recess looming, eyes are now on the Senate to send conferees to the negotiating table to work out a final $716 billion NDAA bill with the House. The House voted to proceed to the conference and named conferees from the Armed Services Committee and other committees before the July 4 break. Now, it is up to the Senate to make its move. Meanwhile, the Senate is also set to vote on its $675 billion annual Pentagon funding bill. The legislation was marked up by the Senate Appropriations Committee before the holiday break and now must pass a floor vote. Like the House’s version, the Senate appropriations bill proposes a big increase in F-35 joint strike fighters for 2019. The committee added $1.2 billion to pay for 12 more F-35s than the 77 requested by the Pentagon. The House passed its appropriations bill on June 28 and it calls for 93 of the aircraft. INSIDER ATTACK: The American soldier killed Saturday in an apparent insider attack in Afghanistan was Cpl. Joseph Maciel of South Gate, Calif., the Pentagon said on Sunday. The attack in southern Uruzgan Province also wounded two other U.S. troops. A Taliban spokesman told media over the weekend that it was carried out by a member of the Afghan security force who acted alone but that the group “appreciated” his attack, the AP reported. “We have seen the Taliban’s statement praising the attacker, who they claim was an Afghan soldier. That has yet to be determined as the incident is under investigation” said Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a U.S. military spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Kabul in an email this morning. “However, the Taliban does seek to limit the success of the Afghan security forces, including the recent nationwide offensive targeting Taliban irreconcilables who refuse to listen to the Afghan peoples’ calls for them to take the courageous step towards peace and reconciliation,” he said. Maciel was part of an Army infantry task force out of Georgia that is supporting the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade. The SFAB is the first of the Army’s new brigades that focus solely on training and advising partner forces overseas, and it plays a key role in Trump’s stepped-up strategy in Afghanistan aimed at forcing the Taliban into peace talks. NO IMMIGRANT PURGE: The Pentagon Friday pushed back against an Associated Press story that it said “mischaracterized” what was going on with the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, known as MAVNI. A Pentagon spokesperson said there has been no recent change in policy regarding immigrants who apply to join the U.S. military under the special recruitment program that ended last year. The program was initiated in 2009 as a way to bring non-U.S. citizens with language, medical or cultural skills not found in sufficient numbers in the American citizenry into the military. The way the Pentagon tells it, when the MAVNI program ended last September, there were still more than 1,000 recruits in the pipeline granted delayed entry status while their suitability reviews and background checks were underway. Because the applicants were foreign nationals the process can be more complicated. The Pentagon says that as the program is winding down, the last applicants are getting the results of their suitability review, and some who don’t qualify are being discharged. The military says the suitability review is required of all recruits, not just those in the MAVNI program “Any recruit, to include those recruited through the MAVNI program, who receives an unfavorable security screening is deemed unsuitable for military service and is administratively discharged,” said Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Nina Hill. HORMUZ THREAT: Iran is determined to close a major shipping lane in response to Trump’s effort to kill the regime’s oil industry, an Iranian military commander said Friday. “[I]f Tehran were not able to export its crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, no other country would be able to do so,” Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, said. THE RUNDOWN Politico: As Trump pushes Space Force, support quietly builds for ‘Space Guard’ Defense One: This is How Russia Could Test NATO, Warns Former US Army Europe Commander Washington Post: As Erdogan prepares for new term, Turkey dismisses more than 18,000 civil servants Foreign Policy: How War Went Retro and the Pentagon Was Left Behind Defense News: Air Force quietly, and reluctantly, pushing JSTARS recap source selection ahead AFP: After IS violence in Iraq, orphan beggars flood Mosul streets BuzzFeed: A Woman Has Died Days After Being Exposed To The Novichok Nerve Agent Daily Beast: With Trump’s Help, North Korea’s Divide and Conquer Strategy is Working Navy Times: US Navy destroyers make a rare passage through the Taiwan Strait AP: China Paper Denounces U.S. Navy Ships’ Taiwan Strait Passage Washington Post: What was on a USB fan given at the Trump-Kim summit? Security experts say nothing — but don’t plug it in. |
CalendarTUESDAY | JULY 10 8 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. Nuclear Deterrent Breakfast Series Review of Middle East and East Asian Missile Threats: Iran and North Korea Connections. mitchellaerospacepower.org 8 a.m. 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Procurement Division Meeting. ndia.org 9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Mitchell Hour Panel on Manned-Unmanned Aircraft Teaming and Taking Combat Airpower to the Next Level with Maj. Gen. William Cooley, Commander of the Air Force Research Lab, and Tim Grayson, Director of the Strategic Technology Office at DARPA. mitchellaerospacepower.org 10 a.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Stabilizing Sino-Indian Security Relations: Managing Strategic Rivalry After Doklam. carnegieendowment.org 2:30 p.m. Dirksen 419. Hearing on S. Res. 557 expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the strategic importance of NATO. foreign.senate.gov WEDNESDAY | JULY 11 6:45 a.m. 1250 South Hayes St. Special Topic Breakfast with Rear Adm. William Galinis, Navy Program Executive Officer for Ships. navyleague.org 9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. What is the Future for America’s Alliances? Lessons From the G-7, North Korea and NATO summits. csis.org 10 a.m. Rayburn 2154. Subcommittee Hearing on the Muslim Brotherhood’s Global Threat. oversight.house.gov 10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Subcommittee Hearing on Department of Defense’s Role in Foreign Assistance with Mark Mitchell, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict. armedservices.house.gov THURSDAY | JULY 12 7 a.m. 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Ninth Annual Integrated Air and Missile Defense Symposium. ndia.org 9 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Transatlantic Crossroads: What to Expect from the NATO Summit. hudson.org 10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Hearing on Tariffs and Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy and the International Economy. foreign.senate.gov FRIDAY | JULY 13 9 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. Space Breakfast Series Presents on Commercial Launch and Ranges with Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, Commander of the 45th Space Wing. mitchellaerospacepower.org MONDAY | JULY 16 2 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Pulling at the Strings: Kremlin’s Interference in Elections with a Fireside Chat Between Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio. atlanticcouncil.org 3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. With Partners Like These: Strategies and Tools for Counterterrorism Cooperation. csis.org
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ADVERTISEMENT: NDIA invites you to attend the Army Science and Technology Symposium and Showcase August twenty first through twenty third at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC. Register today at http://www.ndia.org/ArmyScience |
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