THE SOMALIA MISSION: The United States has about 500 troops on the ground in Somalia, whose mission is to help the fledgling government of Somalia by enhancing security “to allow time and space for governance and economic development to occur.”

Most of the U.S. strikes are aimed at al Shabab. There is little coverage of the conflict because U.S. troops mostly stay back from the front-line fighting, and most of what we know comes from anodyne releases from U.S. Africa Command.

A Washington Examiner tabulation of releases for 2019 shows that so far this year, 200 suspected terrorists have been killed in 27 separate strikes. The United States continues to say that in 2019 it assesses that “no civilians were injured or killed” in U.S. airstrikes, but after a review showed two civilians had been killed in a strike a year ago, AFRICOM added a caveat to its standard disclaimer: “Our process and procedures allow for additional information to inform post-strike analysis.”

The Pentagon only yesterday emailed a release dated April 11 that revealed Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre visited the Pentagon last week and met with David Norquist, who is serving as deputy defense secretary.

STILL ‘CRAZY WHACK-JOBS’ OUT THERE: President Trump has calibrated his public statements about ISIS so that he’s more careful not to claim total victory over the terrorist group, even as he takes credit for retaking “100 percent of the caliphate.”

In his remarks yesterday in Burnsville, Minn., Trump was more cautious than he has been following the liberation of the last bit of territory from ISIS’s brutal rule. “You never say you won, because you have a couple of whack-jobs who go blow up a store and people get killed,” Trump said. “They blow up something else, people get killed. They’re crazy. They’re wacky. They’re bad people. And we’re going to make sure it happens as little as possible.”

Trump’s comments indicate that he has heard the criticism that he has been overstating the ISIS defeat, especially as U.S. commanders warn that ISIS remnants remain “unrepentant, unbroken” as the group goes underground.

“You can never claim victory because you always have a nut-job someplace that’s going to do something, okay?” Trump said. “We do 100 percent of the land, of the area. A hundred percent. We took it over very quickly. Very quickly. But you always have somebody out there, so we don’t want to be put in a position where we say ‘100 percent’ and then somebody gets killed by some mad maniac.”

SHADES OF RUMMY: People with long memories might recall that in 2003, just three months after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began, then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared premature victory, dismissing what would become a long-running insurgency as “pockets of dead-enders.”

Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Kelly Jane Torrance (@kjtorrance). 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.

POMPEO’S RESPONSE TO KIM: Responding to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s demand that the United States drop its “unilateral terms” and “approach us with a new way of calculation,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he’s not at all discouraged.

In his speech Saturday to the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang, Kim said he was “neither pleased nor willing to see summit talks like the Hanoi summit talks re-enacted,” but if the United States had the “proper attitude,” he would be “willing to try one more time.”

“I saw his statement. I appreciate that. There are lots of conversations taking place,” said Pompeo, speaking to reporters in Dallas, Texas, yesterday. “President Trump is determined to move forward diplomatically.”

Kim said he would give the United States until the end of the year to come up with a new “methodology” for denuclearization, but Pompeo said he would love to do it sooner.

“Chairman Kim made a promise in June of last year in Singapore. He made a commitment to denuclearize. He’s made that same commitment to me now a handful of times in person. We collectively need to see that outcome move forward. And we’re working — our teams are working with the North Koreans to chart a path forward so that we can get there.”

READ THE ASSANGE AFFIDAVIT: To avoid a First Amendment issue, prosecutors seeking the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange allege that he conspired with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to attempt to hack into a Pentagon computer system, specifically by trying to help Manning crack a password to gain access to a classified military network.

Yesterday an affidavit detailing the allegations was unsealed, revealing more about what investigators know of Assange’s communications with Manning.

FBI special agent Megan Brown wrote in the 26-page affidavit filed in December 2017 that Assange and Manning allegedly tried to gain access to the Pentagon network, but “it remains unknown whether Manning and Assange were successful in cracking the password.”

Investigators said they were able to uncover the alleged crime by obtaining hundreds of chats from March 2010 between Assange and Manning on Jabber, an instant messaging platform. You can read the full affidavit at our website.

DEFENSE SPENDING: The Center for Strategic and International Studies has a new report out on defense acquisition trends, which concludes defense contract spending is only slowly recovering after years of mandated budget caps.

“There is little to no evidence of recovery from the significant decline in defense contracting participation that occurred as a result of sequestration, and the rate of new entrants into the defense industry remains at extremely low levels,” the report says.

“Some companies have focused on DoD’s call for technological innovation, others have focused on capturing increased revenues from existing product lines by expanding into services, while still others have sought to shift out of what they perceive to be low-margin services in order to focus on integration and high-margin subsystems. But changes within the defense industry have not, as of yet, been matched by changes in what companies are joining the defense industry.”

DEPORTED SPOUSE BACK IN AMERICA: In a case that sparked instant outrage, the spouse of an American soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 has been readmitted into the United States after Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him last week.

Jose Gonzalez Carranza arrived in America illegally in 2004 from Mexico and married in 2007 Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, who was killed at the age of 22 in Afghanistan when her unit was attacked by insurgents. Gonzalez was arrested last Monday and deported Wednesday, his attorney Ezequiel Hernandez told the Arizona Republic.

His departure forced the couple’s 12-year-old daughter Evelyn Gonzalez Vieyra to live in Phoenix, Ariz., without any parents. Instead, she lived with grandparents.

ARE GoT DRAGONS NUKES?: As Game of Thrones begins its final season on HBO, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is reviving the debate about whether Daenerys Stormborn’s dragons are a metaphor for nuclear weapons, a question the arms control group first raised in 2014. The group quotes the author of the book series A Song of Fire and Ice, on which the series is based, on whether the show can help explain international relations in the real world.

“Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only [Daenerys] has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world,” George R.R. Martin said in 2011. “But is that sufficient? These are the kind of issues I’m trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn’t mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals. Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.”

Discuss.

The Rundown

Wall Street Journal: Moon Chases Inter-Korean Summit to Save Trump-Kim Nuclear Talks

AP: New Zealand, Red Cross at odds over naming captive nurse

Bloomberg: The U.S. Is Losing a Major Front to China in the New Cold War

CNN: Pentagon developing military options to deter Russian, Chinese influence in Venezuela

South China Morning Post: Japan Scrambles Fighter Jets 999 Times As Chinese Sorties Increase

USNI News: Destroyer USS Ross Enters Black Sea, Fourth U.S. Warship Since 2019

AFP: Japan, U.S. Struggle To Find Crashed Jet And Its ‘Secrets’

Air Force Magazine: USAF F-35s Deploy to the Middle East for the First Time

The Diplomat: India Test Fires Nuclear-Capable Nirbhay Cruise Missile

New Yorker: Guantanamo’s Darkest Secret

Washington Post: Okinawa has been eager to expel U.S. troops. A murder-suicide is pouring fuel on those flames.

Reuters: Qatar calls for arms embargo against Libya’s Haftar

Real Clear Defense: Overdue Overhaul: Security Clearance Reform in a Decade of Leakers, Spies and Insider Threats

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Erdogan’s dilemma: Will he accept his party’s election losses?

AP: AP journalists win Pulitzer for coverage of Yemen civil war

Calendar

TUESDAY | APRIL 16

8 a.m. 6575 Jayhawk Road, Aberdeen. The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) holds its two-day 2019 Human Systems Conference, with the theme “Leading Human Systems Innovation: Partnering to maximize warfighter effectiveness.” Speakers include Army Brig. Gen. James Gallivan, chief of staff of the Army Futures Command, and Kevin Geiss, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Airman Systems Directorate. www.ndia.org

8:45 a.m. 4301 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) holds its 2019 Spring Symposium with the theme “Managing the Evolving Cyber Landscape.” Speakers include Grant Schneider, federal chief information security officer and senior cybersecurity director of the National Security Council; Stacey Dixon, director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity; Amy Hess, executive assistant FBI director for criminal, cyber, response and services operations; and Tonya Ugoretz, deputy assistant FBI director for the Cyber Division.

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a Maritime Security Dialogue with Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran; retired Vice Adm. Peter Daly, CEO of the U.S. Naval Institute; and Kathleen Hicks, director of the CSIS International Security Program. www.csis.org

7 p.m. 14th and F Streets N.W. The George Mason University School of Policy and Government and the Michael V. Hayden Center hold a discussion on “U.S. Intelligence and the Press,” at the National Press Club. Speakers include: Peter Finn, national security editor at the Washington Post; David Ignatius, national security and intelligence columnist at the Washington Post; Suzanne Kelly, CEO and publisher of the Cipher Brief; MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell; and Michael Morrell, senior fellow at the Hayden Center. www.press.org

WEDNESDAY | APRIL 17

8 a.m. 2201 G St N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Gen. Timothy Ray, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command and Air Forces Strategic – Air, U.S. Strategic Command. Crain Center Duques Hall, The George Washington School of Business. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

8 a.m. 6575 Jayhawk Road, Aberdeen. Day two of the National Defense Industrial Association 2019 Human Systems Conference, with the theme “Leading Human Systems Innovation: Partnering to maximize warfighter effectiveness.” Keynote speaker: Nancy Cooke, human systems engineering professor at Arizona State University. www.ndia.org/events

8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. The National Defense Industrial Association, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Air Force Association, and the Reserve Officers Association hold a forum on “Russian Nuclear Threats and Strategic Objectives” at the Capitol Hill Club. Speakers include: Stephen Blank, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council; and Mark Schneider, senior analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy. www.afa.org

8:45 a.m. 701 North Fairfax St., Alexandria. The Defense Strategies Institute holds a DoD Hypersonic Capabilities Symposium. Speakers include: Jeffrey Stanley, deputy assistant Air Force secretary for science, technology and engineering; Air Force Gen. Timothy Ray, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command; and Chuck Leonard, project manager of the NASA Hypersonic Technology Project.

THURSDAY | APRIL 18

8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. National Defense Industrial Association, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Air Force Association, and the Reserve Officers Association forum on “U.S. Power as a Non-Proliferation Tool,” featuring assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation Christopher Ford. www.afa.org

11:45 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Hudson Institute event, “Crisis in Yemen: A Strategic Threat to U.S. Interests and Allies?” with Fatima Abo Alasrar, senior analyst at the Arabia Foundation; Bernard Haykel, professor and Near Eastern studies director at the Princeton University Institute for Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia; Lee Smith, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute; and Michael Doran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. www.hudson.org/events

FRIDAY | APRIL 19

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a discussion on “Is U.S.-North Korean Normalization Possible? A Russian Perspective.” Speakers: Anastasia Barannikova, visiting fellow in the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program; and Jeffrey Mankoff, deputy director of the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program. www.csis.org