U.S.-RUSSIA RELATIONS ON A SKID: With the official end of consultation with Russia over Syria, relations between Washington and Moscow are sinking, and prospects for ending the fighting in Syria and bringing relief to long-suffering civilians are as dim as ever. Secretary of State John Kerry has been forced to admit the total failure of his effort to broker a cease-fire deal with Russia, announcing an end to bilateral cooperation with Russia. “This is not a decision that was taken lightly,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday, while White House spokesman Josh Earnest was left to express exasperation. “I think everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,” Earnest said about Kerry’s decision, which came just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will no longer honor its agreement with the United States to destroy 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium. Nicole Duran has the rest of the story here.
Meanwhile the bombing of rebel-held areas of Aleppo continues, and Russia has reportedly sent an advanced anti-missile system to Syria, another sign that Russia is still ramping up its military support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, though it’s not clear how the SA-23 Gladiator system would be employed. Fox News speculates it could shoot down U.S. cruise missiles, even though so far the U.S. isn’t using cruise missiles.
And in case relations weren’t bad enough, the State Department is complaining that Russian harassment of American diplomats in Moscow has “increased significantly” over the past two years. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters,”We have raised our concerns at the highest levels. In particular, the harassment and surveillance of our diplomatic personnel in Moscow by security personnel and traffic police has increased significantly. As we said before, we find this unacceptable.”
TALIBAN IN KUNDUZ: One year after it captured and briefly held the strategic northern Afghan city of Kunduz, the Taliban has slipped back in and raised a flag in the city’s center square. As of this morning, reports indicate the Afghan security forces are largely back in control, but that there are pockets of Taliban fighters still in the city. U.S. special operations forces advised on the counterattack, and airstrikes were conducted, not by the U.S., but by Afghanistan’s fledgling air force.
Back in Washington, former U.S. Afghanistan commander retired Gen. David Petraeus was lending his gravitas to a Brookings Institution white paper, arguing that the U.S. needs to stop fixating on finding a way to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, and instead start making plans to stay. “We should not have to go through the annual reviews to see where you are and where you are going to draw down,” Petraeus said, arguing the next president needs to make an “enduring commitment” to keep U.S. forces there to help the Afghan military battle the Taliban and other extremist groups.
FIRST DO NO HARM: The aspiring veeps take the stage tonight in the first and only vice presidential debate, at Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine have the mission of at the very least making no glaring mistakes. The format is similar to the first presidential debate, with the moderator, CBS anchor Elaine Quijano, asking an opening question and each candidate getting two minutes to respond. Watch to see if Pence plays his usual role of softening and explaining Donald Trump’s rhetoric, or if he goes on the attack. Here’s a guide for what to look for.
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UNCONFIRMED KILL: As of this morning, the Pentagon is still assessing whether it killed its intended target in Syria yesterday. A U.S. drone strike Monday near Idlib targeted Egyptian national Abu al-Farai al-Masri, aka Ahmad Salamah Mabruk. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook called al-Masri “one of al-Qaida in Syria’s most senior leaders and a legacy al-Qaida terrorist who previously had ties to Osama bin Laden.” Stay tuned for an update.
EVEN OBAMA FELT QUEASY ABOUT DRONE STRIKES: President Obama defended his policy of dramatically increasing drone strikes against suspected terrorists during his tenure even though he said his growing reliance on them ‘”troubled him,” and said he considered taking bin Laden out with a missile but decided against it, Susan Crabtree writes.
Obama, in a wide-ranging interview with New York Magazine released Monday morning, said the U.S. had the “less risky option” of taking out bin Laden by “just firing a missile into that compound.” But after further thought, Obama decided that it was “important” that U.S. authorities would be able to both identify bin Laden and protect several “innocent lives,” such as his wives and others who lived there, “depending on how you define innocents.”
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: As lawmakers try to cut bureaucracy in the Pentagon, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said that the continuing resolution is actually doubling his contract workload in some cases because some contracts for facilities maintenance must be awarded twice: once for the period of the CR, and once for the rest of the fiscal year. “As we are all committed to reducing headquarters numbers and overhead, if you will, everybody is in on that. But these sorts of things, they make it hard. I’m writing two contracts in many instances where one should have done,” he said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday.
PENTAGON BROKE THE LAW? The Obama administration quietly spent more than $25,000 to survey potential relocation sites on American soil for terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, an action that Kansas Republicans say is illegal, Rudy Takala writes. The Pentagon revealed the information in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general, according to a letter sent to Defense Secretary Ash Carter by Reps. Mike Pompeo, Lynn Jenkins and Kevin Yoder.
AUSA DAY 2: Tuesday is the second day of the Association of the U.S. Army annual convention at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and includes remarks by Army Secretary Eric Fanning at an invitation-only breakfast for congressional staff and a speech by Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work. See the full schedule here.
Day 1 of the conference saw Fanning talk about the $7 billion in maintenance that the Army has deferred to fund current operations. “Across our force, we have soldiers and civilians living and working in 52,000 buildings that are in poor or failing conditions because of the $7 billion in deferred maintenance,” Fanning said at a press conference.
If you’re planning to walk the exhibit floor today, we have the intel on the best swag. In addition to the typical bags, pens and sunglasses being given out by most exhibitors, the Northrop Grumman booth is giving away stuffed dogs if you’re looking for a souvenir for the kids and Boeing has a green screen where you can take a picture of yourself next to a flying Chinook. While most booths have the typical bowl of candy, Alfresco in the upstairs exhibit halls has a make-your-own candy bar. And be sure to try your hand at the virtual firing range at the VirTra Systems booth where you can do target practice with rifles and pistols.
FOR YOUR ISIS ONLY: Trump defended his tight-lipped anti-terror strategy on Monday, claiming the American public, along with enemies of the U.S., do not need to know the details of his planned military campaign against the Islamic State, Gabby Morrongiello writes. “I just want to say that we are going to hit ISIS, but I want to say this: the American public doesn’t need to know the date, time [and] second that we’re going to attack, that we’re going to attack from the eastern quadrant,” Trump told a group of veterans at a town hall in Herndon, Virginia, hosted by the Retired American Warriors PAC.
BUT WHAT REALLY STIRRED PEOPLE UP: During the same event, Trump lit the veterans world ablaze when answering a question about the importance of providing adequate mental health care for vets. His response: “Look, we need that so badly. And when you talk about the mental health problems when people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it.”
The anger among veterans and Trump critics was instant, with many surmising that he considered anyone who needed help weak. But others, upon reading the full context, decided the outrage wasn’t necessarily warranted.
Later in the day, the Marine veteran who asked the question blasted the critics and said he thought Trump’s response was “thoughtful.” “I think it’s sickening that anyone would twist Mr. Trump’s comments to me in order to pursue a political agenda,” former Staff Sgt. Chad Robichaux, the founder of a faith-based counseling program for veterans in California, said in a statement. “I took his comments to be thoughtful and understanding of the struggles many veterans have, and I believe he is committed to helping them.”
CYBER OFFENSE: Back in the policy world, Trump on Monday called for the government to develop “offensive technologies” in the arena of cybersecurity, telling a veterans’ group that cyber would be an “immediate and top priority” in his administration, Rudy Takala writes. “As a deterrent against attacks on our critical resources, the United States must possess the unquestioned capacity to launch crippling cyber counterattacks,” Trump told the audience in Herndon. “This is the warfare of the future, [and] America’s dominance in this arena must be unquestioned.”
CHERTOFF ENDORSES CLINTON: Michael Chertoff, who was homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush and has been a frequent Trump critic this year, endorsed Hillary Clinton yesterday, Al Weaver writes. He has a long history with Clinton, dating back to the 1990s when he served as the lead Republican counsel on the Senate Whitewater Committee, which investigated real estate investments by the then-first lady and her husband. She was also the lone senator to oppose him on two votes, including his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the third circuit in 2003. However, the tension between the two has eased. Last month, Chertoff met with Clinton as part of a bipartisan group of foreign policy minds.
ONE LAST TIME? About 1,100 U.S. and 400 Filipino military personnel are beginning joint military exercises today under the shadow of strained relations between Washington and Manila. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said last week that the exercises would be the last as long as he’s in office. Duterte is unhappy about U.S. questioning whether his anti-drug campaign is tantamount to extrajudicial executions. Later, the county’s foreign secretary indicated the decision to suspend future cooperation is not final.
FUN RIDE: An old friend, Rick Whittle, who literally wrote the book on the V-22 Osprey, took a ride in the technology demonstrator for the latest tiltrotor aircraft the V-280 Valor at AUSA yesterday. Check out his video here. The V-280 is being built in a 50-50 partnership between Bell Helicopter and Boeing Co.
THE RUNDOWN
New York Post: How the nuke deal is funding Iran’s darkest forces
Defense News: GM Lifts Veil on New Hydrogen-Powered Truck for US Army
Breaking Defense: Oshkosh Shows Off Big Gun JLTV: 30mm Cannon
Defense One: Where Are All the Startups?
Defense News: FORSCOM Commander: ‘We Are Not In An Inter-War Period’
USNI News: Interview: Rear Adm. Mike Manazir on Weaving the Navy’s New Kill Webs
Navy Times: White House petition to restore Navy job titles near halfway mark
Military.com: Army Wants Soldiers Trained to Fight Through Cyberattack
Military.com: General Identifies Heavy Brigade Slated to Deploy to Europe
War on the Rocks: The political battles in Baghdad after the battle for Mosul
Military Times: Selling Purple Hearts would be illegal if this bill becomes law
Calendar
TUESDAY | OCTOBER 4
7:30 a.m. Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The Association of the U.S. Army’s annual convention continues on its second day. ausameetings.org
2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Think tank experts talk about arms control and the U.S. relationship with Russia. brookings.edu
WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 5
8:15 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Brookings Institution experts will record a podcast live on what the next president has to do to achieve success in the Middle East. brookings.edu
THURSDAY | OCTOBER 6
8:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. European officials and think tank experts talk about alliances in Europe post-Brexit. atlanticcouncil.org
12 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon discuss his new book The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East. wilsoncenter.org
5:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. A panel of national security reporters discusses the relationship between the U.S. and Iran. csis.org
