NATO NO SHOW: The U.S. won’t be sending its top diplomat to the annual NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels next month, the State Department has confirmed. Instead, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to stay home to attend President Trump’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, expected to take place April 6-7. Tillerson will miss what would have been his first meeting of the 28 NATO allies in Brussels, but he will have a chance to meet with many of his fellow foreign ministers at the counter ISIS summit being held at the State Department tomorrow. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will also be attending the summit, which involves representatives from more than 60 nations. Mattis will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Pentagon this morning.
The decision to skip the NATO meeting reflects how seriously the Trump administration takes the problem of North Korea, which just tested a new rocket engine that in theory could power an intercontinental ballistic missile that could threaten the U.S. with a nuclear warhead. In a campaign-style rally last night in Louisville, Kentucky, Trump again accused North Korea of behaving badly. “North Korea, I’ll tell you what. What’s happening there is disgraceful and not smart, not smart at all.”
MATTIS AND DUNFORD TO THE HILL: It will be Mattis’ first testimony on Capitol Hill since his confirmation when he appears tomorrow to discuss the Pentagon’s $30 billion fiscal 2017 supplemental budget request. Details on that supplemental can be found here. Mattis will be joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford as the pair appear before Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. While the hearing is ostensibly to review “the budget and readiness of the Department of Defense,” don’t be surprised if some of the discussion involves the Trump plan to slash State Department funding by 28 percent next year.
At a hearing this month, Sen. Jack Reed recalled Mattis’ past pronouncements on the subject of “soft power.” “As then-General and now Secretary of Defense Mattis warned this committee, ‘if you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition.’ We just can’t keep buying bullets as the Trump administration is proposing,” Reed said.
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HAPPENING TODAY: A panel of witnesses representing each of the services will testify this afternoon before the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee on social media policies of the military services, the latest action on Capitol Hill in the wake of the Marines United scandal that saw Marines posting nude photos of female Marines on Facebook without their knowledge. The House Armed Services Committee Democrats have requested a full committee hearing on the issue, but have only been granted the hearing in the personnel subcommittee so far. You can watch live here at 3:30 p.m. You can expect much of the same bipartisan anger that was on display at the Senate Armed Services Committee open hearing on the issue last week where Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller testified.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HOUSE INTEL HEARING: The FBI director didn’t say much about the ongoing investigation of Russian attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, but he confirmed that the agency has been conducting an open-ended counterspy investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow since last July. Here’s James Comey’s carefully crafted statement: “I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts. As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed.” Comey would not say what evidence has been gathered, and could not say when the investigation would wrap up.
RUSSIA’S MOTIVE — HURT CLINTON, HELP TRUMP: “The assessment of the intelligence community was that early on, [the Russians] thought [Trump] might have a shot. And so they wanted to mess with our election, hurt our country in general, that’s always the baseline,” Comey said. “They hated her, Secretary [Hillary] Clinton, wanted to harm her and thought they might have a chance to help Mr. Trump. And then later, concluded that Mr. Trump was hopeless and they would focus then on just trying to undermine Secretary Clinton, especially with the European allies.”
NO EVIDENCE OF WIRETAPPING: Comey also respectfully disagreed with Trump’s allegations that President Obama ordered the wiretap of Trump Tower. “With respect to the president’s tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the FBI,” Comey testified. “The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the Department of Justice and all its components. The department has no information that supports those tweets.”
‘UNMASKING’ ENTERS THE DEBATE: Republicans spent much of their time in the marathon hearing questioning Comey and NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers about the leak that led to the firing of national security adviser Mike Flynn. The “unmasking” of Flynn was a theme picked up by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, even as the hearing was still going on yesterday afternoon. “How does somebody’s name, that’s protected by law from being disclosed, get put out in public? Why was it put out in the public? Because the people in the intelligence community would have had access to that information. They could’ve found out who it was,” Spicer said. “What were the motives behind that? What else do we need to know? Who was behind that kind of unmasking?” Comey, who consistently avoided revealing any specifics, would not say if the source of the leak is part the investigation. “I hope people watching know how seriously we take leaks of classified information,” he said. “But I don’t want to confirm it by saying that we’re investigating it.”
THE MOSQUE DEBATE: People on the ground on Syria continue to accuse the United States of killing dozens of innocent civilians in last Thursday’s strike in Syria. The target was a building next door to a mosque. Some Syrians insist the building that was hit was being used for prayers, but the Pentagon, which says the building was “intensely surveilled,” insists it was a meeting site for al Qaeda terrorists. “We don’t target mosques,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said yesterday. “This building, whatever it was, was being used to host a meeting of senior al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda a group that killed thousands of citizens on our soil.”
DEFENDING TILLERSON: The State Department on Monday defended Tillerson’s remarks in China that some said were a rhetorical concession to Chinese leaders, saying Tillerson only meant to signal the desire for a cooperative relationship, Joel Gehrke writes. “I think the message he is sending or he tried to send in his visit to Beijing, writ large, was that we want a cooperative, productive, forward-looking relationship with China,” acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
Tillerson communicated that idea by endorsing “an understanding of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation” — language favored by Chinese leaders in part to signify American deference to China’s status as a rising power. It was a more conciliatory message than U.S. leaders, such as Ambassador Nikki Haley, had signaled Tillerson would take to China.
NEW ARMY PA CHIEF: From yesterday’s general officer assignments: “Brig. Gen. Omar J. Jones IV, deputy commanding general (operations), 7th Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to chief of public affairs, Office of the Secretary of the Army, Washington, District of Columbia.” Here’s the reaction from one of my Facebook friends, a former Army public affairs officer: “I looked at his bio and he has good credentials: West Point grad, master’s from Harvard, graduate from National War College, a lot of operational experience, and previous experience on the Army Staff. While I’m not surprised, I can’t help but be disappointed that Army senior leaders have once again selected a non-public affairs officer to be the top PAO. They would never choose a non-engineer to be the Chief of the Corps of Engineers, or a non-intel officer to be the G2. Yet, here we go again. Good times!” The Army has a tradition of not picking its top public affairs general from the PAO community. The current top U.S. commander in Korea, Gen. Vincent Brooks once held the job.
ABADI BRINGS THE JOKES: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi joked to Trump during an Oval Office meeting on Monday afternoon that his country was not involved in the alleged wiretapping of the GOP candidate’s campaign last fall. A reporter asked Trump about “wiretaps” that the president has claimed his predecessor ordered. Trump did not respond to the question, but al-Abadi chimed in.
“We had nothing to do with the wiretap,” al-Abadi said, grabbing Trump’s arm as he made the joke.
Later, when asked if he would support the ethnic minorities who live in territory liberated from ISIS to form a “semi-autonomous” regional government, Abadi demurred — with a crack at Trump. “We should be inclusive,” he said while addressing the U.S. Institute of Peace. “But I don’t think you protect yourself by having a partition from your neighbors. I think this is a tough one, it has to be looked at thoroughly. We have to build bridges with others and to work with others to be more secure.”
“Otherwise, what do you do?” Abadi continued, with a chuckle. “You build walls? What do you do?”
THE RUNDOWN
Reuters: U.S. to ban some airline passengers from carrying larger electronics
UPI: U.K. sends 120 troops to Estonia for NATO mission
Defense One: Three Lingering Questions For Trump’s New Plan to Fight ISIS
Air Force Times: U.S. and coalition airstrikes against ISIS spike as Mosul, Raqqa offensives heat up
Military.com: The Fall of Raqqa and the Islamic State: What Comes Next?
New York Times: Paul Manafort, Former Trump Campaign Chief, Faces New Allegations in Ukraine
Military Times: The nation’s foremost military experts have 39 ideas for modernizing its personnel system
Wall Street Journal: North Korea Has Doubled Size of Uranium-Enrichment Facility, IAEA Chief Says
Breaking Defense: 1914 Redux? Growing Asia-Pacific Tensions Demand New US Strategy
Calendar
TUESDAY | MARCH 21
8:00 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The Army and Air Force chiefs speak at a day-long conference on the future of war. newamerica.org
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Retired Gen. Philip Breedlove testifies on a panel before the Senate about U.S. policy and strategy in Europe. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former national security adviser Stephen Hadley testify on America’s role in the world. Armedservices.house.gov
11:30 am. The Pentagon. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis welcomes NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the Pentagon.
12:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Afghanistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Salahuddin Rabbani talks about foreign policy priorities. atlanticcouncil.org
2 p.m. Rayburn 2172. The House Foreign Affairs Committee holds a hearing looking at options for handling threats from North Korea. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Hart 219. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence holds a closed briefing. Intelligence.senate.gov
3 p.m. The Pentagon. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis welcomes Jussi Niinistö, minister of defense of Finland to the Pentagon.
3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2118. The House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee holds a hearing on the social media policies of the military services. armedservices.house.gov
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 22
8:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a day-long conference on issues in space for the new administration. csis.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. The House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on the challenges of hybrid warfare. armedservices.house.gov
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 192. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford testify on Capitol Hill about the Pentagon’s budget. appropriations.senate.gov
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. A former CIA analyst discusses his new book, Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein. brookings.edu
11:30 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The lead negotiators of the Iran nuclear deal talk about opportunities in U.S.-Iran relations in the new administration. wilsoncenter.org
2 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Maj. Gen. Scott West, the director of current operations for the U.S. Air Force, testifies about the current state of the service. armedservices.house.gov
3:30 p.m. Russell 222. A panel of Army witnesses testifies about modernization. armed-services.senate.gov
THURSDAY | MARCH 23
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of U.S. European Command, testifies on U.S. strategy in Europe. armed-services.senate.gov
10:30 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Three acting government officials testify about the U.S. policy toward countering weapons of mass destruction in fiscal 2018. armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. Hart 219. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence holds a closed briefing. intelligence.senate.gov
2:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. Former defense officials testify about reforming civilian personnel. armed-services.senate.gov
TUESDAY | MARCH 28
9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, Va. William Roper, the director of the strategic capabilities office at the Pentagon, speaks at a Mitchell Institute event. mitchellaerospacepower.org
