Trump lays out his national security agenda

The speech, which the president read from a teleprompter with few of his trademark off-the-cuff interjections, was widely seen as moderate and compassionate in tone. He provided no new details on his policy priorities, but here’s a quick review of national security:

Terrorism: “We are also taking strong measures to protect our nation from radical Islamic terrorism. According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country. … It is not compassionate, but reckless to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur.”

The ISIS plan: “As promised, I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS, a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women and children of all faiths and all beliefs. We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet.”

The Pentagon budget: “I am sending Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.”

The F-35: “We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic, and it is a fantastic, new F-35 jet fighter, and we’ll be saving billions more on contracts all across our government.” (We have fact-checked this claim several times. The cost reductions for the F-35 were in the pipeline well before Trump took office, and there’s little evidence his actions resulted in significant additional savings.)

The Yemen raid: “We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens, the widow of U.S. Navy special operator Senior Chief William ‘Ryan’ Owens. Ryan died as he lived, a warrior and a hero, battling against terrorism and securing our nation. I just spoke to our great General Mattis just now who reconfirmed that, and I quote, ‘Ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemy.’ Ryan’s legacy is etched into eternity.” (The mention drew sustained applause, while the cameras focused on Mrs. Owens. You can watch the highly-emotional moment here.)

NATO: “We strongly support NATO, an alliance forged through the bonds of two world wars, that dethroned fascism and a Cold War and defeated communism. But our partners must meet their financial obligations. And now, based on our very strong and frank discussions, they are beginning to do just that. In fact, I can tell you the money is pouring in. Very nice.”

America First: “America respects the right of all nations to chart their own path. My job is not to represent the world. My job is to represent the United States of America.”

WHAT WASN’T MENTIONED: Trump avoided mentioning Russia during his speech, allowing him to sidestep further controversy on an issue that has plagued his nascent administration. Also not mentioned were Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. The three foreign countries he did mention: Israel, Iran and Canada.

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Jacqueline Klimas (@jacqklimas) 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 be sure to add you to our list.

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HAPPENING TONIGHT: Two longtime Senate allies, who are also two of Trump’s sharpest Republican critics, get an hour of airtime on CNN at 9 p.m., in what is billed as a live “town hall” event. Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain and his close friend Sen. Lindsey Graham will share the stage at The George Washington University. You can expect the pair to challenge Trump’s policies on Russia, immigration and military spending. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash is moderator.

Graham is already on record saying Trump’s plan to add $54 billion to the Pentagon’s budget while slashing funding for the State Department by as much as 30 percent is a non-starter. In remarks to MSNBC yesterday, Graham said, “It’s dead on arrival. It’s not going to happen. It would be a disaster. If you take soft power off the table then you are never going to win the war. What’s most disturbing about the cut in the State Department’s budget, it shows a lack of understanding of what it takes to win the war.”

HAPPENING TOMORROW: Trump heads to Newport News, Va., to deliver remarks aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford. Much of Trump’s speech will focus on his proposed budget, which is set to boost defense spending by $54 billion and could be a down payment on Trump’s calls for a 350-ship fleet.

AWAITING THE NEW BAN: The president is expected to issue a new revised plan to restrict entry by foreign nationals to the United States from countries where terrorism is prevalent. The new version is expected in the coming days, and has been crafted by White House lawyers to withstand the kind of legal challenge that has derailed Trump’s first attempt in the courts. The Associated Press reports that a draft of the order suggests it will target people from six of the original seven majority Muslim countries, dropping Iraq off the list. Iraqis were furious that they were targeted even as they took heavy casualties fighting ISIS in Mosul. The plan is also expected to exempt travelers who have green cards or previously approved visas to come to the U.S.

ISIS DEFEAT 6 MONTHS AWAY? In the battle for Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and the Islamic State’s last real stronghold in Iraq, reports this morning say the Iraqi army has taken control of the last major road out of the city, essentially trapping the remaining ISIS fighters in what is shaping up to be a fight to the death. It could take six more months to clear both Islamic State capitals: Mosul in Iraq, and Raqqa in Syria, according to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. We’ll hear firsthand from Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend when he briefs Pentagon reporters live from Baghdad at 11 a.m. Live streamed at defense.gov

OPEN FOR BUSINESS: During the campaign, Trump promised to load up the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, with “bad dudes.” At his confirmation hearing to be director of national intelligence Dan Coats said he’s ready to ramp up operations at the detention center President Obama tried to close. The former Indiana senator said he remains highly skeptical about releasing enemy combatants, with little assurance they won’t pose a future threat. “Are they running a Starbucks in Yemen? Or have they rejoined the fight? And a significant percentage of those have rejoined the fight,” Coats said. “The last thing we want to do is tell the American people that we’re sending somebody back in to become once again our adversary. So I’ve been supportive of that detention, which I think is done in a lawful way, done in a humane way. But simply sending everyone back home I don’t think is the solution to the problem.”

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION: Coats also promised Senate Democrats he will fully cooperate with the panel’s investigation into Russian hacking of the presidential election. He listed Russia as one of the top threats facing the country today and one the U.S. must approach “with eyes open.”

In case you didn’t know it, Coats is a huge sports fan (especially the Chicago Cubs). His opening statement was heavy on the sports analogies. In addition to giving a nod to the Cubs’ World Series victory last year, the former senator used a prolonged football analogy to explain how he views the intelligence community. The DNI is the “head coach,” seamlessly pulling together the input of coaches for offense, defense, special teams and quarterbacks. “You can’t play a complete game with just a star quarterback and a wide receiver — well, maybe the New England Patriots can,” he said. “But even the Pats need a strong offensive line, a stout defense, agile special teams and a talented place kicker.” Lots of references to the Pats legendary coach Bill Belichick followed. “Achieving the level of Bill Belichick may be tough, but I haven’t seen any other NFL coaches achieve the level of Bill Belichick,” Coats.

The only criticism of Coats came in the form of some good-natured ribbing suggesting that maybe he was too “affable” for the tough job as the nation’s top spymaster.

NAVY SHORTLIST: A former GOP national security adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Scott Walker is being considered to serve as trump’s Navy secretary following the withdrawal of Philip Bilden. Robert C. O’Brien is a trial lawyer and former Army JAG.

BETTER, NOT MORE NUKES: U.S. Strategic Commander Gen. John Hyten has given an interview to the Omaha World-Herald, in which he suggests replacing and updating America’s nuclear weapons system is more important than expanding the size of the U.S. arsenal. “If you look at every element of the nuclear enterprise, it has to be modernized,” Hyten said. “All our stuff is old. It’s still ready, safe, secure, reliable. But it’s old.” Hyten, who is in charge of the nuclear arsenal, and is the commander who oversees nuclear war plans, said he believes the the current force is big enough to deter any potential adversaries. Last week, Trump told Reuters, “We’ve fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity,” adding that “a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack.”

U.S. REASSURES SOUTH KOREA: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made a phone call to his South Korean counterpart in the wake North Korea’s continued provocative acts, including firing ballistic missiles and the suspected murder of Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother with VX nerve agent. According to a readout provided by the Pentagon, Mattis told South Korean Defense Minister Han Min Koo that “the United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the defense of the ROK,” and that “any attack on the United States or its allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with a response that is effective and overwhelming.‎”  The call came as the U.S. and its South Korean allies kick off a massive joint military exercise called Foal Eagle, which always provokes a bellicose response from the North, usually with some reference to destroying the South’s capital of Seoul in a “sea of fire.”

SUPER CONDENSED HEARINGS: I’m trying something new this morning. Almost every day there is a hearing or two of interest to those of you who follow national security. Not every hearing makes headline news, in fact most don’t. But many feature smart people saying smart things that unless you are a C-SPAN junkie you never hear about. So today I’m offering the briefest of hearing highlights from yesterday. If something catches your interest, the videos of these are generally available online at the committee websites, or C-SPAN.org. So here goes.

HEARING: House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence

SUBJECT: The Future Of Counterterrorism

TESTIMONY: “Organized and lone-wolf attacks are not going away anytime soon. These individuals are nimble and frequently change their methods. Different methods, same goals. More than ever before, relationships between law enforcement partners, stakeholders and community members need to be in place to prevent attacks. … I can tell you that after 35 years of policing, criminals or bad actors are always a small percentage of the population they live within. It is impossible to work these cases without building strong cooperative and trusting relationships with the many good people within that same population and that’s true whether you are doing narcotics trafficking, human trafficking or terrorist investigations.” – Edward Davis, former Boston police commissioner.

“What they did in November 2015 in Paris, they would like to do elsewhere. But al Qaeda’s still very much in the game. … In December 2016, the U.S. military came out and said that they killed or captured 250 al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan throughout the calendar year 2016. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s actually two and half times the high-end estimate that the Obama administration had pushed since 2010.” – Thomas Joscelyn, The Foundation for the Defense Of Democracies.

“[In the U.K.] too much trust was placed in certain groups claiming to be representative British Muslim opinion, yet organizationally and ideologically tied to Islamist groups in South Asia and North Africa. Such groups did not adhere to basic British values. Yet, they gained the ear of the government and worked to shut down conversation about any ideological and theological roots of terrorism and instead pushed an agenda that placed acts of terrorism solely at the door of U.S. and U.K. foreign policy. The legacy of this continues to hamper U.K. policy in this area today and I fear a similar thing could happen in the U.S.” – Robin Simcox, The Heritage Foundation.

“We should stay in Afghanistan. I think one of the more counterproductive things the Obama administration did was say, we’re constantly withdrawing. We’re not going to withdraw from Afghanistan, you know, in my lifetime I think and it’s right for the United States security, it’s right for security for other countries around the world and for Afghans, they want us to stay.” – Peter Bergen, Vice President, Director, New America.

HEARING: Senate Committee On Foreign Relations

SUBJECT: Iraq After Mosul

TESTIMONY: “We know in great detail what went wrong in Mosul, and how to rebuild Iraqi security forces and community relations to lessen the risk of ISIS’s resurgence. The trick is coaxing and supporting the Iraqi government to take these right steps under their difficult political circumstances right now in going into the 2018 elections. … The mission to destroy ISIS’s military and terrorist capabilities in Iraq must continue under a strong U.S. lead.” – Michael Knights, Washington Institute.

“For the me, the first urgent priority is the humanitarian situation. The number of those displaced by the Mosul operation stands roughly at 160,000, far less than many had feared. But over 700,000 civilians remain trapped in areas controlled by ISIS and the U.N. estimates that a quarter million could flee. The ISF needs to secure aid distribution and evacuation routes from western Mosul and donors will need to come up with more assistance. … Unfortunately, Iraqi leaders are already under pressure to reduce the U.S. presence. At the moment, we still retain a tremendous amount of leverage inside of Iraq because of our military contribution and we need to start talking to the Iraqis now about what comes next while we retain that leverage.” – Hardin Lang, Center for American Progress

CORRECTION: Yesterday I dropped a word in my description of Trump’s proposed $603 billion defense budget. I wrote the total budget was over $1 trillion. I meant to say that the discretionary portion of the federal budget was just over $1 trillion. The full federal budget, including things like Medicare, Social Security and interest on debt, comes to around $4 trillion.

THE RUNDOWN

Defense News: Durbin: Dems would back Trump defense hike with domestic match

Daily Beast: Can the Pentagon Get By on Just $603 Billion?

Military.com: McCain Wants to Scrap Navy’s Frigate Plan, Open Design Competition

Washington Post: With aging jets and a shortage of pilots, the Air Force weighs buying throwback ‘light-attack’ planes

Federal News Radio: The legacy of Better Buying Power: DoD’s gambit to reform acquisition ‘from within’

Military Times: Lawmakers invite Iraqi translators as protest to Trump address

Reuters: Women charged with North Korean’s murder leave court in bullet-proof vests

Defense One: Sell India F-16s — and Build Them Abroad

UPI: U.S. Air Force equips decoy flight vehicles with anti-jam capabilities

Military.com: Bergdahl Appeals Decision Not to Dismiss Case over Trump Comments

War on the Rocks: The promise and peril of cyber operations

Marine Corps Times: Marine Corps reveals new details about future force structure

Wall Street Journal: U.S. and Russia Clash at U.N. Over Syria Sanctions

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | MARCH 1

10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. A panel of think tank experts talks about the challenges, threats and opportunities of cyber warfare. armedservices.house.gov

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Pentagon officials talk about the future of vertical lift platforms. csis.org

10:15 a.m. Senate Visitor’s Center 217. The Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities holds a closed hearing on global counterterrorism. armed-services.senate.gov

11 a.m. Pentagon Briefing Room. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve briefs the media live from Baghdad on progress in the battle against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Live streamed at defense.gov

3:30 p.m. Rayburn 2212. The House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing focusing on ground force capability in Eastern Europe. Armedservices.house.gov

9 p.m. CNN hosts a Town Hall with Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham

THURSDAY | MARCH 2

9 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Rep. Joe Wilson talks about the military readiness crisis. aei.org

9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Experts testify on the Pentagon’s cyber strategy and policy. armed-services.senate.gov

10:30 a.m. Rayburn 2118. The civilian directors of the services’ military review boards testify before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel. armedservices.house.gov

2 p.m. Hart 219. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence holds a closed hearing. intelligence.senate.gov

FRIDAY | MARCH 3

12:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. A top adviser to Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani speaks about the relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan under the Trump administration. csis.org

WEDNESDAY | MARCH 8

2:30 p.m. Russell 222. Retired Gen. C. Robert Kehler, the former leader of U.S. Strategic Command, testifies about the global nuclear weapons environment. armed-services.senate.gov