THE MAN WHO CAN STOP TORTURE: Defense Secretary James Mattis, who will meet with President Trump tomorrow at his ceremonial swearing-in at the Pentagon, has emerged with an outsized role in the decision about whether the new president will try to revive “enhanced interrogation” techniques. That includes waterboarding, which has been outlawed by Congress. Mattis, who famously impressed Trump with his argument that he could get more out of a prisoner with cigarettes and beer, appears to have been given veto power over the idea.
In an interview aired last night on ABC, Trump said he’ll listen to his top advisers, including Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. “I’m going with General Mattis. I’m going with my secretary, because I think Pompeo is going to be phenomenal. I’m going to go with what they say.” But in the next breath the president insisted that, contrary to what many intelligence professionals say, torture can be effective in eliciting critical information. “I have spoken, as recently as 24 hours ago, with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question. Does it work? Does torture work? And the answer was: ‘Yes, absolutely.’ ”
And the president also says he has no moral reservation against torture when dealing with an enemy as barbaric as the Islamic State. “When they’re shooting, when they’re chopping off the heads of our people and other people, when they are chopping off the heads of people because they happen to be a Christian in the Middle East, when ISIS is doing things that nobody has ever heard of since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding? As far as I’m concerned, we have to fight fire with fire.”
On Capitol Hill, Sen. John McCain said that “the president can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America.” McCain is one of many in the president’s own party to disavow torture, including Sen. John Thune, who is chairing the GOP annual retreat in Philadelphia today. “Those issues are settled law. Congress has spoken,” Thune said when asked about the issue in advance of the gathering. “With respect to torture, that’s banned. The Army Field Manual makes that very clear and the law now is tied to the Army Field Manual. We view that to be a matter of settled law.”
VoteVets, a group that works to elect Democratic vets to Congress, called for Mattis to consider stepping down if he’s not able to convince Trump not to torture people.
Meanwhile, the White House denied reports that Trump was looking into bringing back enhanced interrogation and CIA “black sites” and said the document cited by many publications is not legitimate, Gabby Morrongiello writes. “It is not a White House document,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters. “I’m not sure where it came from or where it originated, but it is not a White House document.”
NORTH KOREA CONCERNS: Actions speak louder that words, and by his actions Mattis is signaling what he sees as his top priorities. First was reassuring NATO allies of America’s commitment to the alliance, and next is countering the threat from North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs. The Pentagon has announced that Mattis leaves next Wednesday for South Korea and Japan for face-to-face talks with his counterparts. The U.S. is bound by treaty to defend the South from any attack from the North, and has nearly 30,000 troops in the South.
NO NEW ORDERS: One thing the new defense secretary has not done yet is make any changes to the counter-ISIS strategy in Iraq or Syria. The U.S. ground commander in Iraq told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday that there have been no new directives from Mattis to ramp up the pace of airstrikes. “Our mission has not changed and we’re operating under the exact same set of authorities,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin. “Our orders here have not changed since the 20th of January.” Martin said more airstrikes have been carried out around Mosul, but that was because pressure from Iraqi forces on the ground was producing more targets of opportunity.
Mattis may share some of this thinking on that score when he meets with Trump tomorrow, along with the Joint Chiefs in the secure Pentagon briefing room known as “The Tank.”
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BOEING’S BANNER YEAR: The world’s biggest plane-maker is flying high after reporting strong earnings in the fourth quarter and is on track to generate a record $10.75 billion in operating cash in 2017. All that talk about the high price tag for the new Air Force One seems to have had no lasting impact on Boeing’s fortunes. Boeing reported revenue of $94.6 billion reflecting 926 commercial and defense aircraft deliveries and services growth, and record operating cash flow of $10.5 billion. “With solid fourth quarter operating performance and a sharp strategic focus, we extended our aerospace market leadership in our centennial year and positioned Boeing for continued growth and success in our second century,” boasted Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing president and CEO. Boeing stock jumped 4.2 percent on the news.
But the news wasn’t all rosy. As Defense News reported, cost overruns for the new KC-46 tanker program have hit $2 billion, following a $201 million charge due to changes that had to be made to its early production aircraft.
AND BILDEN MAKES THREE: Trump named private equity firm chief Philip Bilden as his nominee for Navy secretary yesterday, rounding out the big three service secretaries. He’d already named former New Mexico Rep. Heather Wilson for Air Force this week, and earlier named Vincent Viola for Army. Bilden came out of nowhere and his choice was an upset pick, since everyone’s money was on former Rep. Randy Forbes, a tireless shipbuilding advocate. Veteran journalist and longtime China watcher Bill Gertz writes the selection of Bilden followed a pitched battle inside the Trump administration over whether the president should pick a former Hong Kong-based financier with extensive business ties in China, over Forbes who headed the seapower subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and specialized in naval policy and procurement. “Bilden’s selection would be a setback for China hands in government and the private sector who are urging the new administration to reverse course from the Obama administration’s conciliatory policies toward China,” Gertz wrote.
GABBARD ADMITS ASSAD MEETING: After staying mum for several days as to whether it was true, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard acknowledged during a CNN interview that she met with Syrian President Bashar Assad during her recent secret trip to that country, Al Weaver writes. Gabbard explained that she did not intend to meet with the Syrian dictator, who has been denounced as a criminal for killing hundreds of thousands of Syrians under his rule. Gabbard argued the U.S. should be ready and willing to “meet with anyone” in order to achieve peace.
“I did,” Gabbard said when asked by host Jake Tapper if she met with Assad. “My reason for going to visit Syria was really because of the suffering of the Syrian people that has been weighing heavily on my heart. I wanted to see if there was, in some small way, a way that I could express my love and the aloha and the care that the American people have for the people of Syria and to see first hand what is happening there, to see the situation there.
“Initially I hadn’t planned on meeting him,” she said. “When the opportunity arose to meet with him, I did so because I felt it’s important that if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we’ve got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there’s a possibility that we could achieve peace, and that’s exactly what we talked about.”
SYRIA RESTRICTIONS: Trump plans to halt the admittance of Syrian refugees into the U.S. and develop exhaustive new screening standards for immigrants, according to an eight-page executive order obtained by Washington Examiner.
Gabby Morrongiello writes that the order, which Trump is expected to sign this week, outlines a series of vetting procedures that people from Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Iran would undergo before being green-lighted for entry into the country. It also includes a 120-day suspension of refugee admissions while Homeland Security and State Department officials review existing screening measures.
AND A SAFE ZONE: The draft also includes language about the establishment of “safe zones to protect vulnerable Syrian populations.” It orders the secretary of state and secretary of defense to “produce a plan to provide safe areas in Syria and in the surrounding region in which Syrian nationals displaced from their homeland can await firm settlement, such as repatriation or potential third-country resettlement.”
In his ABC interview Trump said, “I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people. I think that Europe has made a tremendous mistake by allowing these millions of people to go into Germany and various other countries. And all you have to do is take a look. It’s — it’s a disaster what’s happening over there. I don’t want that to happen here.”
THE FIRST BRICK IN THE WALL: Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday calling for the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, the first step toward delivering on one of the most controversial and oft-stated promises of his campaign, Sarah Westwood writes. He also signed a related order calling on the Department of Homeland Security to enforce existing U.S. immigration laws. That’s a rebuke to President Obama, who directed a controversial shift in policy by calling on enforcement agencies to focus on the most dangerous immigrants.
Trump promised throughout his presidential campaign that he would enforce the laws, and at a meeting at DHS, he reiterated that pledge again, by saying he is asking DHS to “enforce the laws. “We’ve been talking about this right from the beginning,” Trump said as he signed the orders at the Department of Homeland Security headquarters. Trump was there to sign the orders and attend the swearing-in of John Kelly, his homeland security secretary. Read the order here.
THE BIG THREE: Contributor Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, offers his thoughts on the “The 3 most pressing foreign policy challenges that Trump faces.” He has some suggestion for countering threats from North Korea, Iran and Russia.
HISTORY BUFF: Mattis has a reputation as a scholar of military history, and he used the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday remembrance at the Pentagon yesterday to tell a story of inclusion from the nation’s early days. Recounting the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1805, Mattis said the young Army officers arrived at the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River in November of that year and “faced months of cold and deprivation before the snows would melt and they could return home to the east.”
“In this perilous situation, the unit was confronted with the choice of where to build their winter camp. And they had to look across the raging mouth of that river spilling into the ocean and they had to take the decision that could cost them their lives. Young Meriweather Lewis and William Clark put the matter of whether to cross the perilous mouth of the Columbia to all hands. The unit included a slave named York and a Native American woman named Sacagawea. For the first time in the history of our republic, among the members of this isolated patrol far from home, a black man, a Native American, white men and a woman, all voted as equals. They voted to cross that terrible water and the expedition survived the winter.”
AWKWARD TWEETS: Was it a coincidence that the official Department of Defense Twitter account posted a tweet of a Marine who was honored for rising from his refugee roots? You be the judge. And speaking of awkward tweets, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham proved he has a sense of humor, retweeting a Onion satirical story that featured a cowering Graham being pursued by hounds of the Trump administration.
THE RUNDOWN
Defense News: Raytheon, Leonardo End Partnership for T-X Trainer Program
Breaking Defense: Lawmakers Call For Halt To DARPA Program: Robots Repairing Satellites
Reuters: China May Be Developing New Long-Range Air-To-Air Missile
Military Times: Obama commissioned this naval officer. Here’s why he believes in President Trump.
Marine Corps Times: Meet ISIS’ worst nightmare: A Marine who grew up in Iraq
Wall Street Journal: Ban On U.S. Entry Met With Alarm In Mideast, Africa
UPI: Saudi Arabia commissions new batch of F-15s
Daily Beast: CIA Veterans to Trump: Don’t Bring Back ‘Black Sites’
Marine Corps Times: Male and female infantry Marines to share tents in the field
Military.com: General Warns of North Korean Missile Threat, Talks China Visit
USNI News: Panel: Administration’s South China Sea Comments Set to Cause Friction with Beijing
Foreign Policy: North Korean Defector Says Kim Jong-Un’s Control Is Crumbling
USNI News: Royal Navy Trident Missile ‘Malfunction’ Prompts Claims Of U.K. Government Cover-Up
Stars and Stripes: Germany Under The Gun As Trump Seeks Bigger NATO Contribution
Foreign Policy: Here’s What Russia’s Military Build-Up In The Arctic Looks Like
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: Navy To Give Final Farewell To Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise During Feb. 3 Decommissioning
Calendar
FRIDAY | JANUARY 27
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Jay Solomon, author of The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East, speaks at the Heritage Foundation. heritage.org
MONDAY | JANUARY 30
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies releases a new study on international joint acquisition projects. csis.org
12 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Sen. Chris Murphy delivers the keynote address at an event looking at what implications the Iran nuclear deal has for the U.S. interests in the Middle East. atlanticcouncil.org
5:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks about America’s place in the world. csis.org
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 1
11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Seth Jones discusses his new book, Waging Insurgent Warfare: Lessons from the Vietcong to the Islamic State. heritage.org
3:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Two panels discuss the future of nuclear deterrence and alliances. csis.org
