When allies fight: Kurdish-Iraqi clashes put US troops in a tough spot

But this morning the AP quotes a Kurdish commander as saying Iraqi government troops have seized an oil and gas company and other industrial areas south of Kirkuk and the Kurdistan Region Security Council issued a statement claiming to have destroyed at least five U.S.-supplied Humvees following what it called the “unprovoked attack” south of the city. Mattis blamed the tension in part on last month’s referendum in which 93 percent of Kurdish voters expressed a desire for independence from Iraq. “We thought the referendum was an ill-timed political event, and that it could distract from the combined effort against ISIS,” Mattis told reporters traveling with him Friday. “We’re trying to tone everything down. Let’s figure out how we go forward without losing our sight on the enemy, at the same time recognizing that we’ve got to find a way to move forward.”

FINAL PUSH IN RAQQA: American-backed forces began a final assault against the Islamic State in Syria’s Raqqa on Sunday, as the terrorist group continues to lose its grip on its self-declared capital city. The Syrian Democratic Forces, an American-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, allowed a convoy of ISIS fighters to surrender and leave the city, leaving around 100 militants left inside a small part of Raqqa. “The battle will continue until the whole city is clean,” the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement.

U.S. WELCOME TO ISIS SURRENDER: Despite the stated goal of the anti-ISIS strategy to “annihilate” the enemy, Mattis says now they know they’re lost, they still have the option to give up and live. “If they surrender, we of course accept their surrender. They’re the ones who murder people. We’re the good guys, Mattis said. It’s not the U.S. that’s foreclosing that option. “Some are trying to surrender, and some amongst them — more fanatical ones aren’t allowing them to.”

‘VERY NEAR THE GOAL LINE’: Our magazine features an interview with Air Force Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, the deputy commanding general of the Air, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command for Operation Inherent Resolve in Baghdad. From his vantage point, he argues the fatal blow was dealt to ISIS in the months-long Mosul campaign, and the outcome has been a foregone conclusion since then. “It’s one step closer to the defeat of ISIS. It’s taken us very near the goal line,” Croft said. “The defeat of ISIS in Hawija was accomplished more quickly than we had anticipated, which I think tells you that the capability and capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces continues to increase, as does their momentum and confidence in the fight against ISIS.”

MOGADISHU’s DEADLY REMINDER: This morning’s reports of out Somalia are another grim reminder that even as terrorists are crushed in one part of the world, they strike in others. The back-to-back truck bombings on a crowded street in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Saturday has reportedly killed more than 300 people, the deadliest attack since the the height of the war in the early 1990s. There’s been no claim of responsibility but Mogadishu is a favorite target of the al-Shabab extremist group.

Somalia, like Niger, is another area where the U.S. has been quietly aiding local forces in fighting extremists, often linked to al Qaeda or ISIS. Talking to reporters at the Pentagon late Friday, Mattis said as terrorists are defeated in Iraq and Syria, they move to other places. “If you’ve ever taken a snowball and shattered it in your fingers and you watch the snow spread out, I would liken it to something like that,” Mattis said. “You can compact them and compact them, and eventually it shatters.” Mattis was talking specifically about Niger, where U.S. troops were ambushed by fighters believed to be affiliated with ISIS.

THE DEAL WITH THE DEAL: Both Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted that President Trump’s Friday announcement was not tantamount to killing the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. “I am directing my administration to work closely with Congress and our allies to address the deal’s many serious flaws,” Trump said, citing sunset clauses and “insufficient enforcement.” Trump has charged Congress with fixing the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which is separate from the agreement, and requires the president to recertify the deal every 90 days. “In the event we are not able to reach a solution, working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated. It is under continuous review, and our participation can be canceled by me, as president, at any time.”

In speaking with reporters, Mattis brushed aside Iranian protests that the U.S. was reneging on an international agreement. “We didn’t walk away from the JCPOA. We are working on a U.S. law that’s an internal sovereign issue,” Mattis said. “I think they would come out against us if we breath today.” Asked about his previous statements that Iran was in compliance and that the president should consider sticking with the deal, Mattis said he gives his advice in private to Trump, and that he stands by the Iran strategy as announced by the president Friday.

Tillerson, who admitted Friday the U.S. does “not dispute that they’re under technical compliance,” also argued the ultimate goal is to improve the deal, not get out of it. “The president has said, look, we’re going to decertify under the Iranian Review Act — this is a domestic law. It’s not a decertification under the nuclear agreement that involves the multilateral parties,” Tillerson said on CBS yesterday. “Everyone acknowledges there are serious flaws. And so he would like to get the Congress to give us their sense of this issue, so we have a strong voice, a strong, unified voice once and for all, representing the American position, which then allows us to engage with friends and allies and other signatories around, how do we address these gaps and these flaws in this nuclear agreement.”

Mattis said his next move is to talk to those allies about their perception of Iran’s misbehavior. “Just think of nuclear on one hand, and think of everything else on the other,” Mattis said. “I want to go talk about the everything else.” Meanwhile, the Pentagon put out statement Friday saying it is developing new ways to contain Iran and pressure it to stop supporting terrorism as part of the new Iran strategy. “We are identifying new areas where we will work with allies to put pressure on the Iranian regime, neutralize its destabilizing influences, and constrain its aggressive power projection, particularly its support for terrorist groups and militants,” Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway said in an email statement.

Good Monday 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.

READ MY LIPS: IT DIDN’T HAPPEN: Back at the Pentagon after a three-day trip to CENTCOM, SOCOM and SOUTHCOM, and admitting he was a little sleep-deprived, Mattis did another one of his impromptu drop-ins on the Pentagon press corps late Friday afternoon. With some freshly pressed dress shirts from the Pentagon dry cleaners slung over his shoulder, and carrying a bag of energy drinks, Mattis spent about 20 minutes chatting on the record, but off camera, with reporters.

He tried to say in every way he could that the NBC report he disputed in a statement last week, was dead wrong. And that when he first saw the report, which alleged Trump expressed a desire for a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during a Pentagon meeting in July, he thought his staff had slipped him a joke news item to inject a little “light-heartedness in a rather grim job.”

“There was no discussion with that tone or that content that I recall in the Pentagon or at any other time,” Mattis said. “I will even remove that I recall. I think I would recall a conversation about doubling or ten times the nukes, OK. I’ve never had that discussion.” When one reporter suggested he was not being “emphatic,” Mattis bristled. “Let me say it again. I have never had a discussion of that tone or content, with the president of the United States in the tank or anywhere else. Now how much more clear do I have to be?”

And as for the report that Tillerson called the president a “moron” after the meeting in the secure Pentagon briefing room known as the Tank, Mattis was equally as emphatic. “I was right there. And so anyone who said that he said, that he called someone a ‘moron,” I was there with him the whole way. So that never happened.”

On a lighter note, when CNN’s Barbara Starr politely suggested Mattis lighten his load by putting down his energy drinks, Mattis demurred. “This is not a problem. I can actually walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said. “I’m high quality.”

TRANSGENDER BILL FLOATED IN THE HOUSE: House lawmakers have followed an earlier move in the Senate and introduced a bipartisan bill that would block Trump from imposing a ban on service by transgender troops. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Speier, prohibits the Defense Department and Coast Guard from ruling out service based on gender identity. “Our military should be focused on recruiting and retaining the best troops, not on rejecting qualified service members on the basis of discrimination,” Speier said. The House bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, and fellow Democrats Susan Davis and Kyrsten Sinema. Republican Reps. Charlie Dent, a moderate, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who has a transgender son, also signed onto the legislation.

The bill mirrors Senate legislation spearheaded in September by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Susan Collins but also co-sponsored by John McCain. McCain agreed to back the legislation after Gillibrand and Collins unsuccessfully tried to add the legislation as an amendment to a must-pass annual defense policy bill. It remains unclear whether either the House or Senate bill can get any traction as the 2017 legislative calendar shrinks. Trump has ordered the military to halt plans to recruit transgender troops next year, stop providing coverage of gender transition surgeries by March and come up with a plan by February to deal with currently serving transgender troops, who could number in the hundreds or even thousands.

VACANT PENTAGON POSTS: The slow pace of confirming Trump administration nominees shows no signs of abating at the Pentagon as mid-October rolls around and 70 percent of its top posts remain unfilled. Just 17 of the 57 Pentagon positions that require Senate confirmation have been filled by Trump’s appointees. That figure has barely budged in two months, leaving the military without a spectrum of leaders who can put the administration’s stamp on policy.

“I think we should be very concerned and informal reports I get from the Pentagon suggest that this is a problem, that this is not just like business as usual over there,” said Thomas Spoehr, the director of the Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation. The White House, which had been slow to name nominees, rolled out three more names last week, including John Rood, a senior vice president at defense giant Lockheed Martin, for undersecretary of defense for policy. In all, 23 of Trump’s nominees are somewhere in the confirmation pipeline, either named or awaiting action by the Senate, but 17 Pentagon positions still do not even have candidates named by the president.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has become a major bottleneck. McCain, the committee chairman, is holding Army secretary nominee Mark Esper, a top lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon, and others because he wants the Trump administration to provide information on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of the 23 nominees in the confirmation process, 16 are parked at the committee. Spoehr said Armed Services could move Trump nominees quickly, vetting four or so per hearing. The appointees will be needed to implement the agendas of Trump and Mattis. “If you actually want to make changes, if you want to do things differently … you’ve got to have these political appointees and not just at the top but at all the various echelons,” Spoehr said.

MORE SCREENING FOR MAVNI TROOPS: Legal residents seeking a fast track to U.S. citizenship in exchange for military service now face more security screening after Mattis said the Pentagon uncovered a potential espionage risk. A Pentagon assessment of the the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, or MAVNI, launched over the summer “found problems with some of the people we’d recruited,” Mattis said during a visit with reporters on Friday. “We are taking the steps, obviously, to save the program, if it can be saved and I believe it can.”

About 1,800 foreign-born recruits signed up for the pilot program, which aimed to provide the expedited citizenship in exchange for language and other skills in high military demand. Lawful permanent residents who are part of the MAVNI program must now pass background security screening before beginning their military service, the Pentagon said. The recruits had been allowed to start service while the check was ongoing. They will also be required to complete 180 days of military service — instead of just one day — before being given a certificate for expedited citizenship. Certificates for expedited citizenship that had been granted to troops will be revoked until they complete the stepped-up screening requirements.

IN FAVOR OF STRIKING NORTH KOREA FIRST: Almost half of Republicans would support a preemptive military strike on North Korea. The Quinnipiac University Poll, released Thursday, showed 46 percent of Republicans favor striking North Korea before it strikes the U.S.

The feeling among nearly half of Republicans tracks with Trump’s aggressive rhetoric toward Pyongyang as it repeatedly conducts missile and nuclear tests.

MESSAGE TO NORTH KOREA: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the U.S. is going to stay in the Iran nuclear deal — and it’s mostly about sending a message to North Korea. Haley said on “Meet The Press” Iran is in compliance with the deal when it comes to the nuclear weapons development aspects. However, Iranians are not complying with the spirit of the deal because they’re still sponsoring terrorism around the world and threatening the United States and Israel.

“The whole reason we are looking at this Iran agreement is because of North Korea,” she said. “When you look at the fact of 25 years of botched agreements and negotiations and accountability not kept by North Korea, that’s the whole situation that got us to where we are having to watch day-by-day to see if they do an [intercontinental ballistic missile] test going forward.”

DIPLOMACY, THEN NOT: Tillerson said Sunday he will continue diplomatic efforts with North Korea “until the first bomb drops.”

“The president has made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically,” Tillerson told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “He’s not seeking to go to war. He has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts, which we are and we will. As I’ve told others, those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.”

AND BECAUSE IT’S 2017: Tillerson also denied he’s been “castrated” by Trump in diplomatic negotiations around the world, based on a comment made by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, who said Trump has gelded Tillerson in negotiations with other countries because of this tweets contradicting the State Department’s official line. Tillerson said that’s not the case. “I checked, I’m fully intact,” he said.

A SOLDIER’S STORY: When the Pentagon releases casualty announcements, they contain the barest of information: name, rank, age, unit, hometown. In the case of the Green Berets killed in Niger this month, very few details of their mission and the firefight that claimed the lives four U.S. soldiers have been revealed. Mattis called it a “hard fight.”

But in an obituary written by his family, and published in newspapers across the country, we learn a lot more about 35-year-old Staff Sgt. Bryan Black of Puyallup, Wash., a Green Beret medic, who died in the Niger ambush.

“Growing up, Bryan was very competitive and strong-willed. He became irritated in the 4th grade when his brother won a trophy at a chess tournament and he didn’t. He turned his frustration into action, spending an entire summer studying and learning chess. Bryan then dominated scholastic chess in Washington state, tied for 2nd in the nation in the 6th grade, and competed well at the adult level,” his family said.

“During his previous deployment to Niger he learned the local dialect Hausa because he wanted to be able to communicate directly with the people. He also spoke French and Arabic,” the obit said. “Upon graduation from college he went to Mammoth Lakes, CA where he taught skiing and worked in construction in the off-season. This is where he met the love of his life, Michelle Richmond Black. They married in 2005. Bryan joined the Army in 2009. The Army provided the challenges that Bryan craved throughout basic training, Ranger school, Special Forces, and related specialist courses, while excelling at medical studies during many late nights and weekends. Bryan acted as a natural leader, helping his fellow soldiers where they struggled and maximizing their talents. Bryan was dedicated to his wife and confidante Michelle, and a loved role model to sons Ezekiel and Isaac.”

These are the kind of soldiers American sends to defend its interests and help its friends abroad.

THE RUNDOWN

New York Times: The World Once Laughed at North Korean Cyberpower. No More.

Wall Street Journal: U.S. And South Korea Prepare Military Drill

AP: Amid crises, tensions between Trump, Tillerson persist

Reuters: Final assault starts on Syria’s Raqqa as some Islamic State fighters quit

Fox News: Gen. H.R. McMaster on President Trump’s new Iran strategy

Wall Street Journal: U.S. war games trigger North Korea missile jitters

BuzzFeed: Steve Bannon says Trump shouldn’t be mocked and ridiculed by critics during wartime

Military.com: Military injuries and deaths off the battlefield are increasing

USA Today: Army sacks general for sexy texts to wife of a sergeant

Daily Beast: The secret of Churchill’s darkest hour: An American general in London

UK Times: Russian Cash Goes Straight Into Hands Of Taliban Chiefs

Reuters: Afghan Taliban deny former hostage’s claims of murder, rape

Marine Corps Times: Family of Marine recruit who died at Parris Island sues government for $100 million

Calendar

MONDAY | OCT. 16

11 a.m. 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Terror, propaganda and the birth of the “new man”: Experiences from Cuba, North Korea and the Soviet Union. cato.org

4 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Authors Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez talk about their book “The Soviet-Israeli War, 1967-1973.” wilsoncenter.org

TUESDAY | OCT. 17

7:30 a.m. 300 First St. SE. Breakfast series with Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, military deputy at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. afa.org

11 a.m. Pentagon auditorium BH650. Dana White, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs and Michael Rhodes, director of administration and management, talk about the director’s cut of PBS’s “The Vietnam War” with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

11:15 a.m. 1700 Army Navy Dr. NDIA Washington, D.C. chapter defense leaders forum luncheon with Vice Adm. Robert Burke, deputy chief of naval operations for manpower, personnel, training and education. ndia.org

12:15 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. The diplomacy of decolonization and United Nations peacekeeping during the Congo Crisis of 1960-1964. stimson.org

2:30 p.m. Hart 216. Open hearing on the nomination of Christopher Sharpley to be the inspector general of the Central Intelligence Agency. intelligence.senate.gov

WEDNESDAY | OCT. 18

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. A book talk with Sir Lawrence Freedman about “The Future of War: A History.” csis.org

12 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Kevan Harris on Iran from below and findings from the Iran social survey. atlanticcouncil.org

3 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. The KRG independence referendum and regional realities with Arshad Al-Salihi, the Iraqi Turkmen Front leader and a member of the Iraq Parliament; James F. Jeffrey, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq; and Lukman Faily, former Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. press.org

7:15 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, speaks about the challenges and opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. press.org

THURSDAY | OCT. 19

8 a.m. 529 14th St. NW. Open Architecture Summit 2017 with a keynote speech by William Bray, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy. openarchitecturesummit.com

12:15 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. The fait accompli in the 21st century security landscape: From Crimea to Doklam to the Spratly Islands. stimson.org

3 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. A strategy for the trans-Pacific century: Final report of the Atlantic Council’s Asia-Pacific strategy task force. atlanticcouncil.org

3 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The North Korean nuclear challenge and international response. heritage.org

FRIDAY | OCT. 20

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. Global leaders forum with H.E. Florence Parly, France’s minister for the armed forces. csis.org

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. How Jihadism ends: Comparing state strategies toward violent extremism in Kenya and Uganda. csis.org

1:30 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. The way forward on Iran policy with a keynote speech by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. press.org

MONDAY | OCT. 23

12 p.m. 6715 Commerce St. 20th Annual Systems Engineering Conference with Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags, head of Naval Air Systems Command. ndia.org