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SAVING THE SUMMIT: President Trump may have technically canceled the June 12 summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, but a flurry of diplomatic activity is underway based on the idea it could still take place two weeks from now in Singapore. South Korean media is reporting it could even turn into a three-way summit, with South Korea President Moon Jae-in joining the talks. This morning, Trump tweeted that North Korea’s senior negotiator Kim Yong Chol is heading to New York. “We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea,” he wrote. “Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol [sic], the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you! On Friday Trump tweeted, “We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit, which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.” While Trump is leaving the door open, resurrecting a meeting between the two leaders will take a major show of good faith by the Kim regime, according to White House officials and people close to the administration, who worry that North Korea’s provocations are being ignored amid the excessive focus on whether a summit will occur. KIM AND MOON MEET: Meanwhile on Saturday, Moon and Kim met for the second time in a month to discuss carrying out the peace commitments they reached in their first summit as well as Kim’s potential meeting with Trump, Moon’s office said. COUNT RUBIO AMONG THE SKEPTICS: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he believes Kim is simply putting on a “show” for the world in talks with the U.S., China and South Korea, but will “never” denuclearize. “I remain convinced that he does not want to denuclearize, in fact, he will not denuclearize. But he wants to give off this perception that he is this open leader, he is peaceful, he is reasonable, and that’s why you see they basically stopped talking to us for two weeks,” Rubio told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Rubio argues Kim has an “emotional and a personal, psychological attachment” to his nuclear weapons because they make him feel “prestigious.” YOU BE THE JUDGE: On Saturday, Trump lashed out on Twitter, objecting to a New York Times report claiming Trump was at odds with own aides about whether it was too late to save the summit’s original June 12 date. “The Failing @nytimes quotes ‘a senior White House official,’ who doesn’t exist, as saying “even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed.’ WRONG AGAIN! Use real people, not phony sources,” Trump tweeted. The Times counterattacked with a story claiming the president falsely accused it of making up a source, noting the information came from “a senior White House official speaking to a large group of reporters in the White House briefing room.” For the record, here’s the sentence the president objected to in the New York Times story: “On Thursday, for example, a senior White House official told reporters that even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed.” Here’s what the senior official actually said, according to an independent transcript of the background briefing: “The ball is in North Korea’s court right now, and there — there’s really not a lot of time. We’ve lost quite a bit of time that we would need in order to — I mean there’s been an enormous amount of preparation that’s gone on over the past few months at the White House, at State and with other agencies and so forth. But there’s a certain amount of actual dialogue that needs to take place at the working level with your counterparts to ensure that the agenda is clear in the minds of those two leaders when they sit down to actually — and talk, and — and negotiate, and — and hopefully, make a deal. And June 12th is in — in 10 minutes, and it’s going to be, you know…” The briefer doesn’t finish the thought, and the word “impossible” doesn’t appear in the transcript. Good Tuesday 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 TODAY — WILSON AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL: This afternoon at 3 Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson will be talking about strengthening U.S. alliances at the Atlantic Council. EXPERIMENT, NOT COMPETITION: Don’t call it a competition, yet. That comes when the Air Force puts out a request for proposals for its Light Attack Aircraft. For now, it’s just an experiment going on in the skies over Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., where pilots are showing what a new generation of lower-tech aviation technology can do. Two turboprop planes are vying to fill the need for a cheaper, more versatile aircraft to perform routine missions in a permissive air environment. There’s the A-29 Super Tucano, which is being used in combat by the fledgling Afghanistan Air Force and is built in Jacksonville, Fla., by a joint venture between Sierra Nevada Corporation and Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. And there’s the Beechcraft AT-6B Wolverine, a modified trainer built by Textron Aviation. Part of the impetus for the smaller, cheaper plane was a case of embarrassing overkill in November when a $140 million F-22 flew more than 1,000 miles to drop a small 250-pound bomb on a Taliban drug lab in Afghanistan because there was no closer, cheaper alternative. TRUMP MESSAGE TO THE MIDS: On Friday, Trump celebrated the graduation of more than 1,000 midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy, promising them his administration will continue to build up the military and ensure America is “respected again” across the globe. “In case you haven’t noticed, we have become a lot stronger lately,” he said to applause. “We are not going to apologize for America, we are going to stand up for America. No more apologies. We are going to stand up for our citizens, we are going to stand up for our values and we are going to stand up for our men and women in uniform.” Trump spent much of his commencement address lauding the “great rebuilding of the United States military” that has taken place during his administration, noting the increased defense funding he secured this year and the new aircraft carriers and submarines that are being built. TAKING ISSUE: One of the top experts we often rely on to make sense of defense is Todd Harrison over at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was particularly rankled by a series of misstatements and overstatements in the president’s Annapolis address, and tweet-stormed six factual errors made by Trump in the span of just over two minutes He suggested people watch a clip of the president’s remarks, and then offered the following corrections:
ANOTHER SHOW OF FORCE: Two U.S. Navy ships passed by South China Sea islands on Sunday as part of the standing policy of carrying out “freedom of navigation” operations in response to China’s attempts to limit international movement off the coast of the Paracel Islands, according to Reuters. The USS Higgins, a guided-missile destroyer, and USS Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, both sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands. MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE FALLS FLAT: Trump got a lot of bad reviews on Twitter yesterday by critics who accused him of focusing on himself and not others when he heralded the economy and unemployment figures, and for saying those who lost their lives defending the nation would be “very happy and proud.” “Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today,” Trump tweeted. “Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!” Among the people offended was former Joint Chiefs Chairman retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey. “This day, of all days of the year, should not be about any one of us. No matter how prestigious or powerful, no matter how successful we perceive ourselves to be. Rather, this day should be about those who gave their lives so that we could live ours in freedom. #MemorialDay,” he tweeted. Former CIA and NSA Director retired Gen. Michael Hayden retweeted Trump, with the comment, “OMG.” McCAIN FETED ON HBO: The new HBO documentary, “John McCain: For Whom The Bell Tolls” aired last night, and is available on demand. The profile featured laudatory comments from both close friends and former political rivals, including Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, and even his ex-wife Carol. Much of his life story is recounted by McCain himself speaking directly to the camera, and the documentary is full of archival newsreel and television footage as well as previously unseen home movies and photographs. According to his office, McCain agreed to participate in the project shortly after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, and provided the filmmakers with unprecedented access to his daily life in Washington, D.C., and Sedona, Ariz. TRAVIS’ CAMEO: You had to watch carefully, but yes, that is our own Travis Tritten about six minutes into the HBO documentary, doorstepping McCain as he returned to Washington last year. THE RUNDOWN Wall Street Journal: U.S. Puts New Korea Sanctions On Hold Politico: Poland offers U.S. up to $2 billion for permanent military base Reuters: Only Syrian army should be on country’s southern border: Russia Fox News: Maryland flash floods leave National Guard member missing, governor declares state of emergency Air Force Times: How aviation injuries led to 8,670 lost work days across the military New York Times: Trump and Abe to Meet Before North Korea Summit War on the Rocks: Just Put it On Our Tab: War Financing and the Decline of Democracy Breaking Defense: The Great Afghan Paradox AP: On ‘Sacred Soil,’ Trump Honors Fallen Soldiers Business Insider: China’s navy ‘warned off’ US warships that sailed through disputed South China Sea AFP: Kim Jong Un impersonator Howard X arrives in Singapore Daily Beast: The Last Battle of the Vietnam War: Agent Orange and Its ‘Presumed Diseases’ USNI News: Video: Navy Commissions Littoral Combat Ship USS Manchester |
CalendarTUESDAY | MAY 29 12:15 p.m. 740 15th St. NW. Counterterrorism Strikes Under Trump: What Has Changed? 2 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. Beyond the Trump-Kim Summit. stimson.org 3 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Strengthening US Alliances: A Conversation with Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. atlanticcouncil.org WEDNESDAY | MAY 30 12 noon. Rayburn 2044. Recapturing Congress’s War Powers: Repeal, Don’t Replace, the 2001 AUMF. cato.org 2 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Where Does the Transatlantic Relationship Go from Here? wilsoncenter.org 5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Schieffer Series: Previewing the Trump-Kim Summit. THURSDAY | MAY 31 6:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. Institute of Land Warfare Breakfast with Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams, Director of the Defense Logistics Agency. ausa.org 5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Book Discussion of “Our Year of War: Two Brothers, Vietnam, and a Nation Divided” with Chuck Hagel, Former Secretary of Defense. csis.org FRIDAY | JUNE 1 9 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Military challenges in the Asia Pacific: US responses to regional competition. aei.org MONDAY | JUNE 4 10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Maritime Security Dialogue: Innovation and the Marine Air-Ground Task Force with Lt. Gen. Brian Beaudreault, Deputy Commandant of Plans, Policies, and Operations; Lt. Gen. Robert Hedelund, Commanding General of II Marine Expeditionary Force; and Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, Commanding General of Marine Corps Combat Development Command. csis.org 11 a.m. 1152 15th St. NW. “Technology Roulette: Managing Loss of Control as Many Militaries Pursue Technological Superiority” Report Launch. cnas.org 12:15 p.m. 740 15th St. NW. From Revolution Muslim to Islamic State: The American Roots of ISIS’ Online Prowess. newamerica.org 12:15 p.m. North Korea’s Smile Diplomacy: Breakthrough or Déjà Vu? defenddemocracy.org TUESDAY | JUNE 5 8 a.m. 300 First St. SE. The Nuclear Deterrent Breakfast Series: NATO and Extended Deterrence and Missile Defense. mitchellaerospacepower.org 11:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. Institute of Land Warfare and the Israeli Institute of Advanced Military Thinking: Lessons from the Yom Kippur War. ausa.org 12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Northern Syria: The United States, Turkey, and the Kurds. cfr.org 1:15 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. A discussion on priorities for the U.S. Army with Secretary Mark Esper. brookings.edu 1:30 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. U.S.-North Korean Summit: Cancelled or Postponed? heritage.org
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