BASTILLE DAY TERROR: France has declared three days of national mourning beginning tomorrow in the wake of a truck attack on crowds gathered to celebrate Bastille Day in Nice, France. A large tractor-trailer barreled through the crowd gathered to watch fireworks for more than a mile mowing down victims, including many children. The death toll this morning is 84 dead, 50 injured, with 18 hospitalized in critical condition. Two Americans are reported among the dead. Reuters reports the driver was a 31-year-old Tunisian-born Frenchman, who opened fire before police shot him dead. The attack came just hours after President François Hollande has announced France’s state of emergency would end July 26. It will now be extended three more months.
A “TERRORIST DIASPORA” While we await more details on the attacker and his motives, FBI Director James Comey warned Congress yesterday that the Islamic State’s shrinking caliphate and sinking fortunes are pushing terrorists to flee Iraq and Syria, and look for ways to move their attacks to Western targets. “We all know, there will be a terrorist diaspora out of the caliphate as military force crushes the caliphate,” Comey testified. “Those thousands of fighters are going to go someplace. Our job is to spot them and stop them before they come to the United States to harm innocent people.”
DONALD TRUMP ON FOX: “We have to get awfully tough and we have to get very, very smart and vigilant. And if we don’t, we’re just not going to have a society. We’re not going to have a world anymore. This is crazy, what’s going on… I would be making it very, very hard for people to come into our country for one thing from terrorist areas. I would be so extreme in terms of documentation… I would not allow people to come in from terrorist nations. I would do extreme vetting. I would call it extreme vetting, too.”
HILLARY CLINTON ON CNN: “So, we’ve got to be smart about this, not get pushed or pulled into taking action that doesn’t have some positive effects it needs to have. So, I would be very focused on intelligence surge, I would be very focused on working with our partners and allies and intensify our efforts against the ideologues who peddle radical jihadism online… We should only let people into this country after we have thoroughly screened them, no matter how long that takes and no matter what the pressure might be to act more quickly. I would not short-circuit the vetting process.”
Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Jacqueline Klimas (@jacqklimas) 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 be sure to add you to our list.
Want to learn more about Daily on Defense? See our introductory video here.
VEEPPRENTICE DELAYED: In response to attack in the south of France, Trump postponed his announcement of a running mate, which was to be at 11 a.m. By all accounts his choice is Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, but until he makes the announcement, there’s always a chance Trump could change his mind. He says he hasn’t made a “final final” decision. Donald Trump Jr. says look for the big reveal to happen over the weekend.
JET FUMES: Congress high-tailed it out of D.C. on Thursday afternoon for a seven-week break back in their home districts. Before departing, the Senate dealt with some pending defense matters, like formally voting to go to conference with the House on the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. (For those keeping track: yes, negotiators did meet for the first time on Wednesday, before this vote, proving that some things are just for the sake of procedure). Senators also voted to instruct negotiators to boost the number of visas for Afghan interpreters and pay for recent troop increases overseas announced by the administration, but conferees aren’t bound by those instructions.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter wrote warning letters to the chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday outlining his objections to both versions of the NDAA that must be reconciled. The Pentagon’s biggest objection is to a House provision that would shift $18 billion from the wartime overseas contingency operations account to increase spending on manpower and equipment, but Carter has a long list of grievances, and he says unless the final version meets his vision, he will ask President Obama to veto it.
One thing still on the Senate’s to-do list for after break: starting debate on the fiscal 2017 defense spending bill. The approps bill failed to get cloture by a 55-42 vote for the second time in a week. “For pure partisan and political reasons, we will not be moving forward to consider a bill to train, equip the men and women who are in the military, to give them their pay and benefits and defend this nation,” Sen. John McCain said on the Senate floor. “I understand we’re in an election year, I understand all that, but how in the world do you refuse to take up legislation that is only purpose is to defend this nation, which is under assault?”
House Democrats also have something new to talk about in their home districts during the summer break: their new national security agenda, which includes gun reform language that would prohibit those on the no-fly list from buying firearms.
TOUGHER SANCTIONS FOR IRAN: “The House passed legislation Thursday designed to crack down on Iran’s support for terrorism and development of ballistic missiles, in the wake of GOP criticism that the Obama administration is refusing to sanction the country in order to preserve the Iran nuclear agreement,” Joel Gehrke reports.
Republicans passed the bill 246-179 in one of their final votes before summer recess, and over the objections of most Democrats. Only eight Democrats voted for it.
CNO TO BEIJING: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson is heading to China on Sunday for a three-day trip to meet for the first time with People’s Liberation Army (Navy) commander Adm. Wu Shengli. The two military leaders are expected to discuss the South China Sea, the Rim of the Pacific naval exercise, and the visit will also include a tour of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning.
STILL A DANGER: The State Department this week labeled Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov a “specially designated global terrorist” following reports that he helped orchestrate the bombings at a Turkish airport, David Wilkes reports. In 2004, then-President George W. Bush released him from Guantanamo Bay into Russian custody after the State Department determined he had no ties to al-Qaida and wasn’t a Taliban leader.
ARE THOSE 28 PAGES COMING OUT TODAY? The long-delayed release of 28 classified pages over alleged Saudi Arabian government ties to 9/11 could be delayed even more due to procedural steps, the White House said. Susan Crabtree reports that, following a CNN report that the documents could be released today, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said “I don’t have a specific date to confirm for you.”
U.S.-RUSSIA-SYRIA DEAL OR NO DEAL? Despite deep misgivings by some in the Pentagon, and his own skepticism about Russian motives in Syria, Carter supports a diplomatic initiative that would have the U.S. military share intelligence and coordinate airstrikes in Syria, his spokesman said yesterday. Both the Pentagon and the State Department have a similar response to critics of coordinating with Russia, “Hey, it’s not clear we’re going to get deal.”
The White House, meanwhile, dodged a direct question about whether the deal was happening, but appeared to confirm that discussions were ongoing just the same, Susan Crabtree reports. “It’s time for Russia to make some serious decisions about how they want to use their influence in Syria,” Earnest said. “They have to decide whether they use their military to prop up the Assad regime or they use their military to go after extremists — our position is they can’t do both.”
And over at the State Department, if such an agreement were to happen, a spokeswoman rejected the notion that this would mean a shift in U.S. strategy, Pete Kasperowicz writes. “I dispute the view that our position has moved,” Elizabeth Trudeau said. “Our position has been consistent, which is, Assad must go. That there must be space to have discussions to create that area for a political transition to move.”
If you ask Bashar Assad about Russia and U.S. operations in Syria, the president will tell you that Washington is breaking the law and Moscow isn’t. In an interview with NBC news, Assad said U.S. airstrikes in his country are illegal because he hasn’t invited the Americans. Oh, and Russia is effective and the U.S. isn’t. “[Washington is] not serious. So I cannot say I welcome the unseriousness and to be in Syria illegally.”
OMAR KILLED AGAIN: The Pentagon thinks this time it really did kill Omar al-Shishani, aka “Omar the Chechen,” the Islamic State’s putative “minister of war.” Omar was among 16 ISIS leaders gathered in Mosul as Iraqi Security Forces continue to isolate the city. An airstrike hit the gathering. Back in March, the U.S. thought it killed Omar in Syria. This time it thinks Omar is no more.
HOMEGROWN TERROR: Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the thing that keeps him up at night isn’t foreign threats, it’s homegrown terrorists, Nicole Duran reports. “We deal in this age not just with a terrorist direct attack but the terrorist-inspired attack, and now new a new category of terrorist-enabled attacks,” he said. “These are things that keep me up at night.”
CHINESE THEFT: Su Bin, a Chinese man who assisted two Chinese military officers to hack into the networks of two U.S. defense firms, was sentenced to 46 months in prison, Maria Biery reports. “Su assisted the Chinese military hackers in their efforts to illegally access and steal designs for cutting-edge military aircraft that are indispensable to our national defense,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said.
BLACK HAWKS TO THE RESCUE? Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Joni Ernst are urging the Defense Department to finally end reliance on Russian-made helicopters purchased for Afghanistan by buying U.S.-made Sikorsky Black Hawks instead, David Wilkes reports. “As utility helicopters remain in high demand for mobility and close air support of the [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces], and Russia’s aggression remains unabated, our nation must definitively and permanently end reliance on Russian-made defense articles like the Mi-17,” the senators wrote. Blumenthal is from Connecticut, where Sikorsky is based.
C’MON, NETFLIX: The commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has fired off a letter to the makers of the prison show “Orange is the New Black” over its depiction of veterans, Joshua Axelrod reports. “America has tens of thousands of troops currently deployed into harm’s way and millions of others who have successfully transitioned back into society,” said VFW Commander John Biedrzycki, “but the writers and producers chose instead to offend them all just to fit a storyline that needed new villains.”
COOK TIMER: The Pentagon’s 1:30 p.m. briefing by Press Secretary Peter Cook began at 1:40 p.m. ‘Nuff said.
THE RUNDOWN
Breaking Defense: Boeing Test Pilots Show Off P-8 Poseidon
Defense News: Defense Firm Banks on ‘Chemputer’ to Spit Out Aircraft Parts
UPI: Battelle to up-armor Special Forces trucks
Air Force Times: Air Force’s first female fighter pilot talks training, F-35, future wars
Defense News: Marine Corps Aviation Chief Ranks SDB II as F-35 Upgrade Priority
UPI: Thales launches Fulmar X drone
War on the Rocks: Choose your own adventure: The next president’s voyage in the South China Sea
Military Times: Pentagon plans for more troops in Europe
Daily Beast: Russia Is Building a Nuclear Space Bomber
Defense One: In Iraq, the ‘Real Mystery’ Is What Comes After ISIS
Military.com: ISIS Recruits in SE Asia a Rising Threat Despite Weak Attacks
USNI News: France Sending Carrier Charles de Gaulle Back to ISIS Fight Later This Year
Calendar
TUESDAY | JULY 19
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Brookings will host a discussion on President Obama’s role in African security and development. brookings.edu
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. CSIS hosts a panel of experts to discuss the risks and security of Afghanistan. csis.org
THURSDAY | JULY 21
9:30 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Wilson Center will host a panel discussion on post-ISIS politics, deal-making, and the struggle for Iraq’s future. wilsoncenter.org
FRIDAY | JULY 22
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. CSIS and the U.S. Naval Institute host Rear Adm. Mathias Winter, chief of naval research, to discuss naval innovation and capabilities. usni.org
TUESDAY | JULY 26
8:30 a.m. The Watergate Hotel. Defense One hosts a conversation with Air Force Secretary Deborah James on the readiness crisis. defenseone.com
