TURKEY DIVES DEEPER INTO SYRIA: Turkey is on the move again this morning, sending its forces deeper into northern Syria. U.S. A-10s, part of the counter-Islamic State coalition, were backing the Turkish effort because it is focused on the Islamic State, not the Syrian Kurds
Defense Secretary Ash Carter tried to sort out the confusion at the Pentagon yesterday. Here’s the short version: The U.S. supports Turkey as long as it fights ISIS, stays in the northern border region and doesn’t bomb the Kurdish YPG factions of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
The Syrian Democratic Forces is a label given to a loose coalition of Syrian rebels and opposition forces that the U.S. is using as proxies to fight ISIS in lieu of American “boots on the ground.” It includes Arabs, Turkmen, and Kurdish fighters, including elements of the YPG.
Turkey considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy since the 1980s, which Turkey considers terrorists.
Recognizing Turkey and the YPG are enemies, but needing both to fight ISIS, the U.S. has told the YPG elements within the SDF to withdraw from the recently-liberated northern Syrian city of Manbij, and stay east of a natural border the Euphrates River, to avoid coming into contact with Turkish forces. Got It?
President Obama will take up the issue personally with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in China next week. The question is how Ankara will reaction to instructions from Washington telling it where it can fight, and who it can attack. Carter meets face-to-face with the Turkish MoD in Europe next week.
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THE COMMANDER’S VIEW: The general in charge of the region that includes Iraq and Syria, U.S. Central Command chief Army Gen. Joseph Votel, is back from travel in the region. He’ll address the problem of keeping our allies from shooting at each other, and other issues in the war against the Islamic State at Pentagon briefing at 11 a.m. Live-streamed at defense.gov.
CJCS ADDRESSES LEGION: Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford is scheduled to address the annual Convention of the American Legion this morning in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dunford spent part of his weekend consulting with his Turkish counterpart by phone to urge Turkey to stop attacking U.S.-backed Kurds. Dunford speaks at 9:45 a.m.
CAPS — BUT NOT THESE CAPS: Michael O’Hanlon, an analyst with the Brookings Institution, asked a panel of defense and budget experts if they’d like to see sequestration hit the road. Instead of the resounding yes many expect, the experts actually argued that budget caps are necessary to promote fiscal discipline, but that the cap levels need to be higher than those set by the Budget Control Act.
THERE HAS TO BE “A BETTER WAY”: Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is out with an op-ed in the Washington Examiner arguing the administration’s anti-terrorism strategy isn’t working. “The White House continues to play global ‘whack-a-mole’ with jihadists instead of fighting this struggle like a war. Indeed, time and again they have let power vacuums emerge — from Syria and Iraq to Libya and Afghanistan — causing terrorist safe havens to spread like wildfire.”
MASS GRAVES IN IRAQ, SYRIA: The Associated Press reports it has documented and mapped 72 mass graves, which it says is just “a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria.” The AP report cites “exclusive interviews, photos and research” in documenting the ISIS atrocities, including one mass burial site in Syria that contains “the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region.”
YEMEN WATCH: House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith says he’s worried the U.S. is taking its eye off the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen, and he’s pointing at Saudi Arabia as the cause for what he calls “calamitous conditions.” That includes mass civilian casualties and widespread human deprivation. “We need to work with Saudi Arabia to ensure that Yemen does not become an established haven for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Islamic State, or any other terrorist organization; nor become a proxy for malign Iranian activities,” Smith said in a statement.
HAPPENING TODAY: Funding levels for the Defense Department is one of the top issues lawmakers will need to reconcile in their negotiations of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. The Heritage Foundation is holding an event this morning on other items on Congress’ to-do list ahead of its return to Washington next week, which you can also watch via livestream at 11.
RECESS CODELS WRAP UP: Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn just returned from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan where he met with military leaders as well as troops from Texas. During the trip, he got briefings from two senior military officials who recently started their tours in theater: Gen. John Nicholson in Afghanistan and Gen. Stephen Townsend in Iraq.
NEXT SECDEF: In addition to moderating the budget panel, O’Hanlon gave his two cents about who could be the head of the Pentagon in the next administration. While he said he had no clue who Donald Trump would choose, he gave his full endorsement of Hillary Clinton picking Center for New American Security CEO Michele Flournoy, who many speculate would be the former secretary of state’s No. 1 choice. If Flournoy didn’t get the job, O’Hanlon said current secretary Carter is doing a good job and could stay on in a Clinton administration.
Peeking ahead at our calendar, Flournoy is talking on a panel next week about imposing sanctions under the next president.
COMING TO AMERICA: The Obama administration set a goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees, and as Susan Crabtree reports, they beat that goal with a month to spare. “The 10,000 refugees represents a six-fold increase in the number of Syrian refugees admitted from the prior year, the administration said in a statement issued Monday.
“President Obama has pressed ahead with the Syrian refugee goal in the face of widespread GOP complaints about the rising risks that Islamic State terrorist might be posing as refugees in order to enter the country. Donald Trump and others have demanded a halt on admitting all Syrian refugees, as well as all Muslims, into the country.”
And now that they hit the number, the State Department predicted the U.S. will actually bring in around 12,000 when the fiscal year is up, Joel Gehrke writes. “How many [more]? I couldn’t predict, but it would be roughly on the same pace that we have achieved over the course of the late spring and summer, which has been about 2,000 per month,” spokesman John Kirby said.
PRIMARY DAY PRIMER: Today is primary election day in Arizona and Florida, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who turned 80 yesterday, and Sen. Marco Rubio are the ones to watch. W. James Antle III has a rundown of the key races on the ballot today in both states.
ELECTION DAY HACK REPORT: Russian hackers are believed to be behind the leaking of voter records, including names, home addresses, driver’s license information and party affiliations. The FBI has reportedly detected breaches in Illinois and Arizona’s voter registration databases. In Illinois, approximately 200,000 Illinois residents’ records were stolen. The attack comes amid fears Russia may be attempting to manipulate the U.S. presidential election this November. The hack, though, was of databases containing records, not voting machines.
THE RUNDOWN
Bloomberg: Pentagon Weapons Buyer Orders Review of Troubled New Carrier
Defense News: Pentagon Looks to Adaptive EW Systems to Thwart Future Adversaries
Breaking Defense: EXCLUSIVE: Meet Bell’s V-247, Armed Tiltrotor Drone For Marines
UPI: Maiden flight for first Japanese F-35
USNI News: USS America Air Department Prepares For F-35B Testing This Fall
UPI: Lockheed Martin gets $147 million for U.S. Army trainer systems
Defense One: A Former General’s Case Against Trump
Washington Post: Why tracking military ballots can be complicated and confusing
Military Times: NATO: Russia increasingly staging snap military drills
Reuters: Exclusive: Six senators urge Obama to prioritise cyber at G20 in China
Defense News: Threat Response: Protecting the Eastern Flank
Marine Corps Times: U.S. Marines are training with Eastern European allies to stop a ground invasion
New York Times: Once a Qaeda Recruiter, Now a Voice Against Jihad
Military Times: On Syria, Democrats look to deflect the conversation
Daily Beast: Inside the Head of an ISIS True Believer
New York Times: Muslim Holy Day on Sept. 11? Coincidence Stirs Fears
Military Times: South Korea says no plans to introduce nuclear submarines
Fox News: Iran confrontations with US Navy double from last year, more frequent than thought
Daily Beast: FBI vs. State Department Over Hillary Clinton’s Secrets
USA Today: Swinging general slipped past security screeners
Military.com: WWII Dog Tags Found on Beach in ’66 Returned to Family
Calendar
TUESDAY | AUGUST 30
9:45 a.m. Cincinnati, Ohio. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford addresses the annual convention of the American Legion.
11 a.m. Pentagon. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander, U.S. Central Command, provides an update on CENTCOM operations. defense.gov
11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. A panel of experts discusses the defense items Congress must address in the remaining months of 2016. heritage.org
TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 6
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen gives an assessment of progress and challenges that remain in Afghanistan. brookings.edu
4 p.m. 1050 15th St. NW. The Atlantic Council hosts an event on the art of cyberwar. atlanticcouncil.org
