MATTIS PUSHES BACK: As if Defense Secretary Jim Mattis didn’t have enough fires to fight after his first week on the job, he’s now trying to manage a quickly deteriorating relationship with Iraq, which is enraged about having its citizens treated as terrorists when they are fighting and dying on the front lines carrying out the U.S. strategy to defeat ISIS. Iraq is sacrificing the “blood of its sons,” is how Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari put it. Mattis moved quickly to try to blunt the impact of President Trump’s travel ban, which lumped ally Iraq with America’s adversaries, such as Iran, in a group of seven majority Muslim countries accused of harboring terrorists.
Mattis has ordered a list of “good Iraqis” drawn up and sent to the White House with the idea it would be used to allow entry to Iraqis who have demonstrated their loyalty to America and its values. “There are a number of people in Iraq who have worked for us in a partnership role. They are fighting alongside us or working as translators, often doing so at great peril to themselves, and we are ensuring those who have demonstrated their commitment tangibly to fight alongside us and support us,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis. The list could be a long one and is still being compiled, Davis said.
The move to put Iraqi translators on the nice list drew bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. A group of lawmakers sent a letter to Trump yesterday asking him to heed Mattis’ advice. Many who signed onto the letter yesterday are veterans themselves, including Reps. Duncan Hunter, Adam Kinzinger and Seth Moulton.
YOU’RE FIRED! It wasn’t quite a repeat of the infamous 1973 “Saturday Night Massacre” by President Nixon during Watergate, but it had a lot of the same drama. Trump faced off with a rebellious Obama administration appointee refusing to defend his controversial travel ban, and fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates just hours after she told staff not to defend the ban in court. The White House accused Yates of “betrayal” after she said she was not convinced Trump’s executive order was lawful. Another acting AG has been appointed while Trump’s pick to head Justice Sen. Jeff Sessions awaits Senate confirmation, which could come this week. This morning Trump tweeted “When will the Democrats give us our Attorney General and rest of Cabinet! They should be ashamed of themselves! No wonder D.C. doesn’t work!”
SEAL’S SACRIFICE: The advantage of using a drone to target terrorists in remote regions of far off lands is that it doesn’t risk American lives. But one criticism of the strategy is that is does yield the intelligence that boots on the ground can produce. Over the weekend, Trump pulled the trigger on a long-planned commando raid on an Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula compound in Yemen, which killed 14 AQAP members, and produced a trove of valuable intelligence. But it came at price. The Pentagon has identified the Navy SEAL killed in a fierce fight as 36-year-old Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, who died of his wounds. “Ryan gave his full measure for our nation, and in performing his duty, he upheld the noblest standard of military service,” said Mattis in statement. “The United States would not long exist were it not for the selfless commitment of such warriors.” The Pentagon is investigating claims of civilian casualties in the raid, but a Pentagon official tells us that it appears only combatants were killed, including a number of women, who took up armed positions and fired on the SEALS during the assault.
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TRUMP THE MAGIC WEAPONS FIXER: Remember how the F-35 was a deeply trouble program, with costs ballooning out of control? No more. Problem solved. Thanks to the hands-on intervention from Trump, which he says began before he took office, the F-35 has been straightened out and is in the glide path to success.
Yesterday, Trump told reporters that he single-handedly managed to squeeze $600 million in savings in the contract for the 10th lot of 90 planes. “They were having a lot of difficulty. There was no movement and I was able to get $600 million approximately off those planes. …There were great delays, about seven years of delays, tremendous cost overruns. We’ve ended all of that and we’ve got that program really, really now in good shape, so I’m very proud of that,” said Trump who is now one the plane’s biggest fans. “The F-35 fighter jet — a great plane by the way,” he added.
Apparently it had nothing to do with the work of the F-35 Joint Program Office, which under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdon has worked tirelessly after a 2010 restructuring to steadily reduce the cost of each successive lot of planes, with a goal of bringing the final MSRP to about $85 million a copy.
As one expert noted, the shrinking price tag for the F-35 was announced by the Pentagon, long before Trump took office. “His primary audience here is for people who don’t have access to the Internet, a group of folks who are willing to take his claims at face value, no matter how patently ridiculous. For quite some time now, we’ve had budget numbers for the future and they show a cost reduction curve, just like any defense program,” Richard Aboulafia, the vice president of analysis at the Teal Group, told us.
Now if the president could just make the stock market go up. Oh wait, he’s done that, too. “The stock market has gone up massively since the election,” Trump said yesterday. “Everyone’s saying ‘Oh, the market will go down.’I said ‘The market’s not going down.’” Wall Street is showing some jitters this morning about Trump’s travel ban, but one day is not a trend.
OLD FRIENDS: One advantage of appointing a seasoned veteran like Mattis to head the Pentagon is that he has established relationships with many of America’s allies. When Mattis met with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the Pentagon yesterday, it was a comfortable reunion of old friends. The official readout of the meeting noted Mattis’ first bilateral or head-of-state meeting as secretary of defense was with someone with whom he has had “a close and continuing dialogue for many years.”
“Secretary Mattis reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Jordan strategic relationship and the United States’ commitment to security and stability in the region.”
THE FLAP OVER THE NSC: The Pentagon insisted yesterday the role of the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff had in no way been diminished by Trump’s changes to the Nation Security Council structure. In fact some people close to JCS Chief Joe Dunford says he’s relieved not to be required to attend meetings not in his bailiwick. Over at the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer produced copies of the previous presidential memos, noting the language Trump used to indicate when the chairman and the director of national intelligence would attend the Principals Committee was nearly identical the President Bush’s 2001 NSC memo (Obama’s 2009 directive made CJCS and DNI regular members; Trump’s just reverted to Bush’s wording). Spicer said adding Chief Strategist Steve Bannon to the NSC did not dilute the roles played by the chairman and the DNI, Sarah Westwood writes. “The idea … that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the DNI are being downgraded or removed is utter nonsense,” Spicer said. “They are at every NSC meeting and are welcome to attend the principals meeting as well.” Spicer said the changes were meant only to allow the chairman and DNI to skip meetings that fall “outside their scope,” such as a meeting about “pandemic flu.” “We recognize that certain homeland security issues may not be military issues, and it would not be in the best interest of the Joint Chiefs’ valuable time to be at these meetings,” Spicer said. “They’re not required, but certainly welcome, to be in attendance.”
TILLERSON INCHES FORWARD: Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson took another step toward confirmation when the Senate voted to end debate on his nomination Monday evening, Joel Gehrke writes. Tillerson cleared the procedural hurdle in a 56-43 vote. Democratic opposition to his confirmation was invigorated by anger over Trump’s executive order suspending most travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. But four members of the Senate Democratic caucus — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Mark Warner of Virginia, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and Maine’s Angus King (a registered independent) voted with Republicans. Heitkamp and Manchin are up for re-election in 2018, in states that Trump carried in 2016.
FOGGY BLOWBACK: State Department officials plan to lodge a formal dissent against Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries, and are calling the decision “a knee-jerk reaction” that will not prevent terrorist attacks, Joel Gehrke writes. “A policy which closes our doors to over 200 million legitimate travelers in the hopes of preventing a small number of travelers who intend to harm Americans from using the visa system will not achieve its aim of making our country safer,” the dissenters wrote in a draft memo obtained by Lawfareblog. Spicer’s response: “I think that they should either get with the program or they can go. This is about the safety of America and there’s a reason a majority of Americans agree with the president.”
THANKS FOR THE TANKS: U.S. tanks put on a show for American and Polish officials as part of a training exercise designed to deter any potential Russian aggression in the region, Joel Gehrke writes. “We believe an attack from the east is unlikely, but it’s having troops on the ground here that makes it even more unlikely,” U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told reporters, according to Stars and Stripes.
Hodges, the top Army general in Europe, has overseen the deployment of 3,500 U.S. troops to Poland in the lead up to the first joint exercises between NATO and the Polish military. The deployment angered the Russian government, which dubbed it “a threat” to Russian security. “We perceive it as a threat,” Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Jan. 12. “These actions threaten our interests, our security. Especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders. It’s [the U.S.], not even a European state.”
TEHRAN TESTS TRUMP: Iran has reportedly violated a United Nations resolution with a ballistic missile test about 140 miles east of Tehran Sunday, the second such violation since July. Fox News reported the Islamic Republic launched a Khorramashahr missile about 600 miles before it exploded in a failed test of a re-entry vehicle. The test took place at a well-known test site outside Semnan.
Two days before the test, the destroyer USS Cole came to the aid of an Iranian dhow in the Gulf of Oman, Anna Giaritelli writes. The ship supplied diesel fuel to the stranded vessel. “We have an important role and responsibility to aid our fellow mariners in distress,” Cmdr. David Wroe, CO of the Cole, said in a statement. “It was a pleasure to use our training to support the sailors with something even as little as a few cans of fuel.”
SYRIA SAFE ZONES: It may not be easy to establish safe zones in Syria, but it’s a worthy effort writes Philippe Nassif, the executive director of In Defense of Christians in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner. “Syria is a perfect example of where U.S. humanitarian and national security interests meet,” writes Nassif. “It’s in U.S. interests that conflict in Syria concludes and that millions of Syrian refugees across Europe and the Middle East be allowed to return home and be protected from both the Islamic State and the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad.”
FORMER CNO ON SOUTH CHINA SEA: Recently retired Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert weighs in on how the U.S. should deal with China’s adventurism in the South China Sea in a commentary this morning in the Cipher Brief. It’s 9-point plan. In brief: “Draft and articulate a coherent, unambiguous, and cogent security and defense strategy; assure allies, friends, and potential partners; warn adversaries and potential adversaries; retain all options to act in the United States’ best interests,” writes the former top admiral.
ACCOUNT DELETED: Mike Flynn, the retired Army lieutenant general who is now Trump’s national security adviser, has deleted his Twitter account, Alex Pappas writes. Those who click on the link for his @genflynn account now get a “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!” message. Besides messages boosting the candidacy of Trump, Flynn used the account to plug his book and spread the occasional conspiracy theory, including a widely debunked article about a child sex ring involving the Clinton’s that eventually led to the #Pizzagate controversy.
THE RUNDOWN
IHS Janes: North Korea’s plutonium-producing reactor likely reactivated, says report
Washington Post: Trump’s travel ban threatens U.S. partnership with Iraq against Islamic State
Breaking Defense: Navy Commits To High-Tech Catapults, Arresting Gear For All 3 Ford Carriers
Reuters: China’s Second Aircraft Carrier ‘Takes Shape’: Media
Defense News: Former Staffers Alarmed by Trump’s National Security Council Shakeup
Defense One: Can Mike Flynn Regain Influence Inside the White House?
USNI News: Analysis: The Strategic Impact of Trump’s Executive Orders and Actions
CNN: Trump ban is boon for ISIS recruitment, former jihadists and experts say
AP: U.S. Military Botches Online Fight Against Islamic State
Vice: The US Military Is Developing a Drone That Can Fly For a Week Straight
UPI: Turkey, Britain to collaborate on 5th-generation fighter
USNI News: Former DoD Officials Laud International Development Programs, Question Their Future In Trump Admin
Military.com: Pearl Harbor Navy Salvage Diver Dies at 103
Calendar
TUESDAY | JANUARY 31
10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Think tank experts testify about policy options to confront threats from North Korea. Foreign.senate.gov
8 p.m. President Trump announces his nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 1
10:00 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Retired Gen. David Petraeus testifies before the House Armed Services Committee about national security threats and challenges. armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. Two subcommittees of the House Foreign Relations Committee hold a joint hearing on the impact of a free trade agreement between the U.S. and U.K. foreignaffairs.house.gov
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
6 p.m. Livestream. A panel of experts, including former Army Chief Gen. Raymond Odierno, talk about the state of Iraq 10 years after the surge. cfr.org
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 2
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. A panel of think tank experts testifies on challenges for the new administration with regard to Israel and Palestine. foreignaffairs.house.gov
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 3
2:30 p.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Retired Gen. David Petraeus talks about the unsung heroes of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. aei.org
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 7
9 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, Va. Lt. Gen. Scott Rice, the director of the Air National Guard, speaks at an event for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. mitchellaerospacepower.org
