THE LATEST BOMBSHELL: The White House went into full crisis mode just after 5 p.m. yesterday, after the Washington Post, quoting anonymous sources, reported that President Trump shared highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in the Oval Office last week. Soon the New York Times, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and CNN all reported they had confirmed the key aspects of the Post report.
“The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government,” the Post reported. “This is code-word information,” said one of the anonymous officials quoted by the Post, who said Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”
In separate interviews on television, the two veteran Post reporters who wrote the story revealed a little more than what appeared in the paper. “The president was sharing information with them with regard to the laptop threat … the threat posed by aviation to laptops,” said reporter Greg Jaffe. “He was describing the nature of that threat, was boasting about the great intel he had and, in doing so, may have overstepped the bounds,” Jaffe told PBS. On CNN, Greg Miller said one of the sources withheld details so as not to compound the problem, indicating indirectly the sources were American officials. Jaffe also indicated that there may well be a recording of the Oval Office conversation with the Russians, noting sources told the Post transcripts of the conversations were scrubbed. “They struck the references to a sort of memo summary that went out in the White House describing the meeting to ensure that the information didn’t get out any further than it already had.”
THE CLASSIC NON-DENIAL-DENIAL: The report was disputed by the White House, who sent national security adviser H.R. McMaster, wearing a civilian suit, to stand before a bank of microphones on the West Wing driveway to read a brief prepared statement labeling the story, “as reported,” false. McMaster took no questions, but insisted, “I was in the room. It didn’t happen.”
But McMaster’s carefully worded statement denied allegations that were not in the Post report, while confirming that the threat to aviation was discussed. “The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation,” McMaster said. “At no time, at no time, were intelligence sources or methods discussed. And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.”
But the Post report did not say the president directly mentioned sources and methods, only that in bragging about the great intel he was getting about an ISIS plot, Trump gave the Russians enough classified information for them to figure out where a foreign spy might be. “This was information that was shared that the Russians weren’t aware of,” Jaffe told PBS. “They didn’t know how we had access to it, so I think the worry is that you — that their ability is to reverse- engineer, to sort of figure out where this information was coming from.”
McMaster said two other senior officials, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser for strategy, remember the meeting the same way he does, and both issued statements with identical language to McMaster’s. “Their on-the-record accounts should outweigh those of anonymous sources,” McMaster said.
Legal experts seemed to agree last night that the president has the authority to declassify national security secrets, so even if he did overshare, Trump would not be in legal jeopardy. But regardless of the accuracy of the news reports, if ISIS believes them, and goes on a mole hunt, the source and perhaps others could be killed as a result. You can expect the Trump administration to argue that once again, the leak of a private conversation in the White House, as opposed to the conversation itself, has damaged national security and possibly jeopardized a valuable stream of intelligence from a foreign ally.
REACTION WAS SWIFT: The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and multiple Senate Democrats aired concerns Monday night over the reports. “I want to know more about it,” said Sen. Bob Corker. “But obviously the allegations are true, that would be very, very troubling. … To compromise a source is something that you just don’t do,” Corker said. “That’s why we keep the information that we get from intelligence sources so close is to prevent that from happening.” A tweet from a Bloomberg reporter quoted Corker as saying, “Obviously they’re in a downward spiral right now and they’ve got to figure out a way to come to grips w all that’s happening.”
NORTH KOREA MISSILE UPDATE: Experts and analysts have been poring over the available information about the weekend test of North Korea’s new medium range missile that was fired nearly straight up into space and down again, presumably to test its reentry vehicle designed to carry a nuclear warhead. If the missile has been fired on a traditional trajectory it could have traveled 3,000 miles, far enough to hit U.S. bases in Guam. Here are some facts assembled by the independent Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance:
“The Hwasong-12 is a liquid-fueled single-stage missile with a liquid divert and altitude capability for accuracy of targeting on its bus capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It was launched from a transportable erected launcher (TEL) of which it was disengaged from the mobile platform before it was launched. The Hwasong-12 was one of four new missiles displayed in that April 15th parade that had not seen testing; two of the four were new ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and the third, a new maneuverable SCUD short-range ballistic missile.”
South Korea announced yesterday that its newly-elected President Moon Jae-in will visit the White House late next month for a summit with Trump. Moon, a liberal who took office last week, favors engagement with North Korea, and like Trump has offered to meet with the North’s Kim Jong Un “if the circumstances are right,” and is said to be open to reconsidering the deployment of THAAD, an advanced U.S. missile defense system, which has angered China.
IS NORTH KOREA BEHIND WANNACRY? The latest suspect in the massive ransomware attack that hit more than 200,000 Windows computers in 150 countries is none other than North Korea. Cybersecurity researchers with Symantec and Kaspersky Lab were among intelligence officials and private security experts who say technical evidence indicates North Korea may have been involved in last weekend’s eruption of the WannaCry malware assault. The software used in the attack was found in programs used by the Lazarus Group, which the researchers said is a North Korean-operated hacking entity. “This is the best clue we have seen to date as to the origins of WannaCry,” Kaspersky Lab researcher Kurt Baumgartner told Reuters.
Meanwhile, the 22-year-old British computer whiz credited with cracking and singlehandedly limiting the damage from the WannaCry cyberattack by finding and activating a ”kill switch,” told The Associated Press he doesn’t consider himself a hero. Marcus Hutchins told the AP that he fights malware because “it’s the right thing to do.”
At the White House yesterday, Thomas Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, said the attack seems to be abating. “Overall, the U.S. infection rate has been lower than many parts of the world, but we may still see significant impacts in additional networks as these malware attacks morph and change,” Bossert said. “Despite appearing to be criminal activity intended to raise money, it appears that less than $70,000 has been paid in ransoms and we are not aware of payments that have led to any data recovery,” he said.
Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) 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 add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.
HAPPENING TODAY: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is at the White House today for meetings with Trump and key members of national security team, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Mattis meets later at the Pentagon with his Turkish counterpart Defense Minister Fikri Işık. Tensions are high between the two NATO allies, most recently over Trump’s decision to directly arm Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, a group Turkey considers part and parcel of the PKK terrorist group, which Erdogan sees an an existential threat to Turkey.
Discussions are expected to center on U.S. efforts to assure the Turkish president that his borders are safe, and that as a valued NATO ally, the U.S. will ensure the Syrian Kurds pose no threat to his government. But the Kurdish question is not the only burr under Erdogan’s saddle. He’s also still upset that the U.S. refuses to extradite Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric who he blames for fomenting the failed military coup, and who lives in Pennsylvania.
GULEN’S OP ED: Gulen weighs in this morning in an op-ed in the Washington Post, in which he denies having anything to do the coup, and accuses Erdogan of taking his country down a path to authoritarianism. “As the coup attempt unfolded, I fiercely denounced it and denied any involvement,” Gulen wrote. “Nevertheless, and without evidence, Erdogan immediately accused me of orchestrating it from 5,000 miles away.”
In his essay datelined Saylorsburg, Pa., Gulen accuses Erdogan of running roughshod over civil rights. “Erdogan has systematically persecuted innocent people — arresting, detaining, firing and otherwise ruining the lives of more than 300,000 Turkish citizens.” he wrote. “The Turkey that I once knew as a hope-inspiring country on its way to consolidating its democracy and a moderate form of secularism has become the dominion of a president who is doing everything he can to amass power and subjugate dissent.” Gulen calls on NATO to demand Turkey honor its commitment to the alliance’s democratic norms.
SYRIA’S CREMATORIUMS: Syrian President Bashar Assad has installed a crematorium in his most infamous prison complex in order to hide evidence of mass murder, and is executing as many as 50 people per day, according to newly-declassified U.S. intelligence. “We now believe that the Syrian regime has installed a crematorium in the Saydnaya Prison Complex which could dispose of detainees remains with little evidence,” Stuart Jones, the acting assistant secretary of near eastern affairs, told reporters Monday at the State Department.
“Although the regimes’ many atrocities are well-documented, we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison.” Saydnaya Prison was branded a “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International, which estimates that as many as 13,000 people “were extrajudicially executed” between 2011 and 2015.
ROSENSTEIN TO BRIEF: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will brief the Senate on Thursday about the decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, according to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has accepted the Majority Leader’s invitation to lead an all-senators briefing regarding the removal of former FBI Director James Comey,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “The briefing will take place on Thursday, May 18th at 2:30 P.M.”
Rosenstein was invited by McConnell after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked McConnell to arrange for the briefing. Schumer wants McConnell to invite Attorney General Jeff Sessions to brief senators separately about the Comey firing.
NEW POLL: More Americans want an independent commission to investigate any collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign team, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday evening. The May 10-14 poll concluded that nearly three-in-five adults believe “Congress should launch an independent investigation into communications between the Russian government and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.” The percentage, 59 percent, is up from 54 percent in February, which could indicate Trump’s abrupt firing of Comey caused some to worry about the continuation of the agency’s probe.
The poll showed that 41 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of Democrats want a separate commission to investigate Trump and Russia. The share of Republicans shot up 11 points since February, while Democrats dropped 2 points.
LESSON IN OPSEC: Washington Post reporter Rachel Manteuffel got a funny call last Friday. A sharp-eyed reader thought he saw Mattis’ private phone number on a yellow sticky note that appeared in a published photograph of Trump’s personal bodyguard Keith Schiller. In the photograph, Schiller and Trump are walking on White House grounds, and Schiller is holding a stack of papers with the sticky note that said “Jim, Mad Dog, Mattis” and had a phone number. So Manteuffel called it and sure enough got Mattis’ voicemail.
“Yes, of course, the president’s bodyguard — the guy famous for punching someone outside of Trump Tower, the guy who according to the story has the president’s complete trust — is employing the yellow sticky note system of information security,” Manteuffel writes. “We should feel lucky Paul Redmond of Orange County, Calif., saw it before the Russians. As far as we know.” The Post has since replaced the picture in that article.
PUT YOUR ENEMIES IN THEIR PLACE: No one hurls insults quite like the regime of Kim Jong Un. But thanks to the Washington Examiner’s North Korea Insult Generator, you can come close. Just type in your name here and let ‘er rip.
THE RUNDOWN
Washington Post: Marines are back in Afghanistan’s most violent province, and their mission could expand
Wall Street Journal: Kurds To Get U.S. Antitank Weapons
Defense Tech: F-35A ejection seat now works for lightweight pilots, officials say
Bloomberg: Air Force B-21 Bomber’s Secrecy to Be Reviewed by Inspector General
USA Today: Trump meets with crown prince of Abu Dhabi as he looks to Muslim world
AP: Turkey blocks German lawmaker visit to soldiers at air base
Defense One: A defense budget increase is no more needed in 2018 than it was last year
Daily Beast: Russia’s NATO neighbors: We’re OK with Trump, actually
New York Times: A mission to capture or kill Joseph Kony ends, without capturing or killing
War on the Rocks: Back to first principles: Four fundamental questions about Afghanistan
Foreign Policy: The United States should extradite Fetullah Gülen
Wall Street Journal: Army mutiny spreads across Ivory Coast
Calendar
TUESDAY | MAY 16
8 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. A discussion of nuclear deterrents and missile defense realities with Jim Miller, president of Adaptive Strategies. mitchellaerospacepower.org
10 a.m. 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Ambassador Wendy Sherman, a lead negotiator, discusses the Iran nuclear deal. cato.org
11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Kurdistan’s view of Iraq after ISIS is defeated in Mosul with Masrour Barzani, chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council. Heritage.org
4 p.m. Pentagon River Entrance. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis administers the oath of office for Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. Secretary Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein deliver remarks.
5 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. The European perspective and the case for U.S. engagement in the Balkans. atlanticcouncil.org
7 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. “Eyeless in Gaza” documentary film screening with Bassem Eid. press.org
WEDNESDAY | MAY 17
8 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. A discussion with Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, on nuclear deterrent modernization. mitchellaerospacepower.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Setting the path for streamlining and improving defense acquisition. armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. Dirksen 342. Business meeting. hsgac.senate.gov
10 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Is strategic competition in Southern Asia an arms race or modernization? stimson.org
10:30 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Drivers of insecurity and instability in the Middle East and South Asia. wilsoncenter.org
11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The rise of America’s special operations forces with scholar and author Mark Moyar. heritage.org
1 p.m. 1152 15th St. NW. How the Defense Department can evolve and adapt the force for an uncertain future. cnas.org
2 p.m. Russell 222. Military space organization, policy and programs with testimony from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff. armed-services.senate.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2247. Combating homegrown terrorism. oversight.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2200. Threats to peace and stability in the Balkans with Hoyt Brian Yee, deputy assistant secretary of state. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2 p.m. Dirksen 419. Nomination of Scott Brown to be ambassador to New Zealand. foreign.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Four service personnel chiefs testify on the military’s personnel posture for Fiscal Year 2018. armedservices.house.gov
3:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. Retired Lt. Gen. John Bednarek and retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales testify on military small arms requirements. armed-services.senate.gov
THURSDAY | MAY 18
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Marshall Plan at 70 with H.E. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s federal minister for foreign affairs. csis.org
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G50. Defense Department nominations for principal deputy under secretary for intelligence; assistant secretary for international security affairs; assistant secretary for homeland defense and global security; and Army general counsel. armed-services.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. Dirksen 419. Nomination of William Francis Hagerty IV to be ambassador to Japan. foreign.senate.gov
10:30 a.m. 1667 K St. NW. Katherine Blakeley previews the Trump administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget request. csbaonline.org
2 p.m. Rayburn 2212. Defense analyst Jesse Sloman on amphibious warfare in a contested environment. armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. House Capitol Visitors Center 210. Critical canine contributions to the Department of Homeland Security mission. homeland.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Dirksen 419. Strengthening democracy and countering malign foreign influence in the Balkans with Hoyt Brian Yee, deputy assistant secretary of state. foreign.senate.gov
6:30 p.m. 1250 South Hayes St. Rep. Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, receives the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award. ndia.org
FRIDAY | MAY 19
8 a.m. 300 1st St. SE. Maj. Gen. Michael Fortney, vice commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, discusses strategic deterrence. mitchellaerospacepower.org
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Defense innovation in a change-resistant ecosystem. csis.org
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Paul A. Rahe, an historian of political philosophy, examines how ancient Sparta stood firm against a great empire. heritage.org
1 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Why should the United States care about Ukraine? csis.org
MONDAY | MAY 22
11 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Rep. Mac Thornberry on military readiness, modernization, and innovation. brookings.edu
TUESDAY | MAY 23
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. A full day conference on civil-military relations in policy, politics and public with retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. csis.org
4:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Debate on the modernization of nuclear missiles with retired Gen. C. Robert Kehler, former head of U.S. Strategic Command. csis.
