BUDGET CRUNCH, ‘HARD CHOICES’: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, says he and the committee’s top Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, are hoping to finish work on the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act before the next fiscal year starts, despite a late start forced by the late budget submission by the White House.
“Both Sen. Inhofe and I are determined to get our bill to the floor and then get the conference done and get a bill to the president’s desk,” Reed said yesterday at an event sponsored by the Reagan Institute. “It’s going to be difficult. We’re going to have to make some hard choices, but our intention is to get the bill done. And to do so in a way that enhances our security.”
Both the House and Senate Armed Services committees are usually hard at work by this point dealing with the hundreds of provision of the annual authorization bill, but work has been stalled by the failure of the White House to provide Congress with anything but a bare-bones outline of what it plans to propose, other than a top line of $715 billion, which Reed says is essentially the same funding defense got this year.
“Some of my colleagues will argue that the $715 billion top line is too low, while others will argue for more significant reductions. We will have to see the details of the budget before we begin to understand our path forward,” Reed said. “Now, belt-tightening in any department is always a challenge, but also provides an opportunity to evaluate what is necessary.
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE: Reed, like his counterpart, Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is navigating the tension between committee members who are advocating for an increase in defense spending of at least 3%, and some Democrats who are seeking deeper cuts in the budget.
And Reed, like Smith, is trying to focus the debate not on how much money the Pentagon is spending, but rather what it is spending it on. “This budget will present an opportunity to focus on the critical technologies we need to modernize our forces and maintain our competitive advantage, like AI, quantum computing, and hypersonics.”
Asked about the Navy’s ambitious plans to build a fleet of 355 manned ships and even more robot ships and underwater drones, Reed said the number was arbitrary. “We have to move more to autonomous vehicles and particularly surface vehicles and subsurface vehicles.”
“David Petraeus used to say, ‘Don’t send a soldier where you can send a bullet.’ Well, don’t send a manned vessel where you can send an autonomous vehicle,” Reed said. “I think that would actually be able to be cheaper in many respects, and also be more destabilizing to our opponents, who would now see not just X vessels but 10X.”
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HAPPENING TODAY: Congress will finally get a chance to hear former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller’s side of the story when the House Oversight and Reform Committee continues its investigation into the events of Jan. 6 at 10 a.m.
Miller will testify for the first time since he told Vanity Fair back in January that the criticism that the Pentagon dragged its feet in approving National Guard reinforcements in response to the assault on the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters was “complete horses—.”
“I gotta tell you, I cannot wait to go to the Hill and have those conversations with senators and representatives,” Miller told reporter Adam Ciralsky. “I know for an absolute fact that historians are going to look … at the actions that we did on that day and go, ‘Those people had their game together.’”
MILLER FEARED APPEARANCE OF COUP: According to written testimony submitted in advance to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Miller was worried that sending troops to the Capitol could contribute to the perception of a “military coup” under President Donald Trump, according to the New York Times.
The New York Times says Miller will blame Trump for fomenting the insurrection. “I personally believe his comments encouraged the protesters that day,” Miller says in his prepared testimony.
ALSO TODAY, CHENEY FACES OUSTER: House Republicans are scheduled to vote by secret ballot at 9 a.m. about whether to relieve Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as the House Republican conference chairwoman.
A defiant Cheney took to the floor to deliver a fiery defense of her condemnation of former President Donald Trump’s insistence that he lost a rigged election, and she warned his rhetoric could prompt a repeat of the Jan. 6 assault on democracy.
“Today, we face a threat America has never seen before,” Cheney said. “A former president, who provoked a violent attack on this Capitol in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him. He risks inciting further violence.”
“I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law,” she said. “The election is over. That is the rule of law. That is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution.”
AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: In its weekly progress report on how the U.S. withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan is going, U.S. Central Command said it estimates it has completed between 6%-12% of what it calls “the retrograde process.”
“The U.S. has retrograded the equivalent of approximately 104 C-17 loads of material out of Afghanistan and have turned over more than 1,800 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction,” the statement said. “Also, the U.S. has officially handed over one facility to the Afghan National Army.”
At the Pentagon, spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. military would be releasing an “aggregate percentage” of the progress toward full withdrawal but would not be giving specific troop numbers as the force is drawn down.
“Central Command has expressed a concern about the release of personnel figures specifically, given that we have to assume, and we are still assuming, that this drawdown could be opposed by the Taliban,” Kirby said. “There is a concern by CENTCOM that in revealing the numbers of people coming out, or for that matter, as you know, there’s been a temporary addition of some assets for force protection purposes, that provides a level of situational awareness for the Taliban that they’re not comfortable with, so we’re respecting that thought process.”
JUDICIAL WATCH SEEKS DOD EMAILS ON TUCKER CARLSON: The conservative activist group Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Pentagon seeking emails between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top military officials regarding Fox News and its host Tucker Carlson, whose recent commentary on the U.S. military was attacked by top Pentagon officials.
Last month, on his nightly prime-time show, Carlson mocked accommodations made for women serving in the military, including “new hairstyles and maternity flight suits,” which drew a public rebuke from Pentagon spokesman John Kirby and protests from various uniformed leaders.
“So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the U.S. military. Well, China’s military becomes more masculine as it’s assembled the world’s largest navy,” Carlson said March 9. “It’s a mockery of the U.S. military.”
“Judicial Watch is disturbed about the Pentagon’s illicit secrecy about its coordinated attacks on the First Amendment-protected speech of Tucker Carlson,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The fact that we must take the Pentagon to federal court for these documents suggests the agency has something to hide.”
The group is seeking emails to determine whether any member of the military violated the 1939 Hatch Act, which prohibits active-duty military members from expressing personal opinions on behalf of, or as a representative of, the U.S. military.
On his March 11 show, Carlson accused the Pentagon of declaring “war on a domestic news operation.”
In its FOIA suit, Judicial Watch asks for all emails from Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten, between March 1 and March 16, containing the terms “Tucker Carlson” and/or “Fox News.”
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The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Trump’s Air Force secretary calls for warfighting focus to build Space Force budget
Washington Examiner: Military Afghanistan withdrawal at 12% of planned ‘retrograde,’ but pace might slow to protect allies
Washington Examiner: What is Iron Dome? Key Israeli missile defense system facing severe test
Washington Examiner: ‘A big test’: Iran and Turkey lurk behind Israel crisis as power players benefit
Washington Examiner: Fauci denies NIH supported gain-of-function research at Wuhan lab
Washington Examiner: Almost half of the Army’s female soldiers are still failing the new combat fitness test
Air Force Magazine: CMSAF: No More PT Delays
CNN: NATO Exercises Sweep Europe Amid Russian Escalation, Rising Tensions Between Moscow And U.S.
Reuters: Moscow Says Putin And Biden Should Talk Arms Control At Possible Summit
AP: Decision On Minuteman To Shape U.S. Nuclear Policy For Decades
AP: Kremlin-imposed cuts at US Embassy leave thousands adrift
USNI News: Panel Warns Of Economic And Military Impacts From Russia’s Plans For Arctic
Defense News: Reed prioritizing China deterrence fund, comms and unmanned ships
Foreign Policy: The United Kingdom Dispatches HMS Queen Elizabeth To Confront China
South China Morning Post: PLA Releases Videos Showing Marines In Island Landing Drills ‘Targeting Taiwan’
Defense One: When and Why China Might—or Might Not—Attack Taiwan
Wall Street Journal: As Ransomware Attacks Rise, Consequences Get More Severe
AP: Iran’s former firebrand president to run again for office
New York Times: A Black Colonel Takes Command Of A Key Marine Corps Brigade
Military.com: Marine Rifle Squads Will Test The Army’s New High-Powered Night Vision Goggle-Binoculars
Military Times: Some Military Bases Limiting Gas Purchases, Encouraging Telework In Wake Of Pipeline Shutdown
Military Times: Military Parents Would Get 12 Weeks Of Leave To Care For New Children Under Congressional Proposal
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | MAY 12
8 a.m. — McAleese “FY2022 Defense Programs” Virtual Conference, with Rep. Robert Wittman; Rep. Anthony Brown; Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations; Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director, Missile Defense Agency; Gen. “Mike” Murray, commanding general, Army Futures Command; James Geurts, acting undersecretary of the Navy, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., chief of staff of the Air Force; Vice Adm. William Galinis, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command; and others. Invitation only. Waitlist at https://mcaleese.com/
10 a.m. — House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on “The Capitol Insurrection: Unexplained Delays and Unanswered Questions,” with former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller; former acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen; and Robert Contee, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/watch
10 a.m. 216 Hart — Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on “Domestic Violent Extremism in America,” with Attorney General Merrick Garland; and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. http://appropriations.senate.gov
10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “Priorities and Challenges for the 2022 Defense Budget,” with Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md.; former Army Secretary Eric Fanning, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association; Mackenzie Eaglen, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/priorities
11 a.m. 608 Dirksen — Senate Budget Committee committee hearing on “Waste, Fraud, Cost Overruns, and Auditing at the Pentagon,” with Lawrence Korb, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; William Hartung, director the Center for International Oversight’s Arms and Security Program; Mandy Smithberger, director of the Project on Government Oversight’s Center for Defense Information; Roger Zackheim, director of the Ronald Reagan Institute; and retired Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense. http://budget.senate.gov
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “An Update on Afghanistan, with David Helvey, acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Affairs; and Brig. Gen. Matthew Trollinger, deputy director for politico-military affairs, Joint Staff, J-5. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
11 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual Space Power Forum with Lt. Gen. J.T. Thompson, commander of the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center; and retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute. Video posted afterward at https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/
12 p.m. — House Administration Committee hearing on “Oversight of the January 6th Attack: Review of the Architect of the Capitol’s Emergency Preparedness,” with Architect of the Capitol Inspector General Christopher Failla. https://cha.house.gov/
1 p.m. — The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies’ Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs virtual Future Strategy Forum: “The Future of National Security and Technology,” https://www.csis.org/events/future-strategy-forum
2:30 p.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “Military and civilian personnel programs in the Department of Defense in review on the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2022 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with Patricia Mulcah, chief human capital officer for the U.S. Space Force; Lt. Gen. David Ottignon, deputy commandment for manpower and reserve affairs; Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services; Vice Adm. John Nowell, deputy chief of naval operations (N-1) and chief of naval personnel; Lt. Gen. Gary Brito, deputy chief of staff (G-1); Elizabeth Van Winkle, executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency; Terry Adirim, acting assistant Defense secretary for health affairs; and Lernes Herbert, performing the duties of assistant Defense secretary for manpower and reserve affairs. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
4:30 p.m. 232A Russell — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “Department of Defense budget posture for nuclear forces in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2022 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director, Navy Strategic Systems Programs; Gen. Timothy Ray, commander, Air Force Global Strike Command; Andrew Walter, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters; and Leonor Tomero, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
4:30 p.m. — Intelligence National Security Alliance virtual “Wednesday Wisdom” discussion, with former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart, on issues related to diversity and inclusion in both the military services and the intelligence community. https://www.insaonline.org/event/wednesday-wisdom
THURSDAY | MAY 13
9:15 a.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research web event “The Joint Expeditionary Force: A European asset,” with Elisabeth Braw, resident fellow, AEI; Nick Carter, chief of the defence staff, UK Ministry of Defence; James Heappey, minister for the armed forces, U.K. Ministry of Defence; Peter Hultqvist, Swedish Defense Minister; Artis Pabriks,, Latvian Defense Minister; and Rep. Mike Turner, ranking member, House Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. https://www.aei.org/events/the-joint-expeditionary-force
9:30 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Christine Wormuth to be Secretary of the Army. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/nomination
9:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “The Biden administration’s North Korea policy review,” with former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, professor at Columbia University; former Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs Robert Gallucci, professor at Georgetown University. https://www.csis.org/events
3 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence: America and the New Innovation Race,” with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, chair of NSCAI; Gilman Louie, NSCAI commissioner and co-founder of Alsop Louie Partners; Andrei Iancu, nonresident senior adviser at CSIS; and John Hamre, president and CEO of CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/national-security-commission
5 p.m. — Institute for Corean-American Studies Spring Symposium Special: “Humanity, Liberty, Peace and Security, The Korean Peninsula Issues and US National Security,” with Former undersecretary of defense for policy Michele Flournoy, co-founder and managing partner, WestExec Advisors. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/icas-spring-symposium
FRIDAY | MAY 14
9 a.m. — Atlantic Council webinar: “Transforming the British Army,” with Gen. Mark Carlton-Smith, chief of the general staff of the British army. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event
9 a.m. — Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies webinar: “The Future of Afghanistan After U.S. Withdrawal,” former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute, CEO of Cambridge Global Advisers. https://sais.jhu.edu/campus-events
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems hearing: “Operations in Cyberspace and building Cyber Capabilities Across the Department of Defense,” with Mieke Eoyang, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy; and Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander, U.S. Cyber Command, director, National Security Agency. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual event, “A Conversation with David Albright,” with Albright, one of the few nuclear experts granted access to the Iranian Atomic Archive captured by Israel in 2018, and Michael Doran senior fellow at Hudson. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-event
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Today, we face a threat America has never seen before. A former president, who provoked a violent attack on this Capitol in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him. He risks inciting further violence. Millions of Americans have been misled by the former President. They have heard only his words, but not the truth, as he continues to undermine our democratic process, sowing seeds of doubt about whether democracy really works at all.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, on the eve of a vote to remove her as House Republican Conference chairwoman.
