Carrier confusion began with a botched press release

What the press release failed to mention, and the Pentagon failed to correct, was that, while a scheduled port visit to Perth, Australia was canceled, the Vinson still planned to first sail south to conduct long-planned joint exercises with the Australian Navy, before heading north. At last report, the carrier strike group was still in the Indian Ocean, almost 5,000 miles away from Korea, but finally headed in that direction.

Maybe we should have paid attention when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis downplayed the move a few days later. “There’s not a specific demand signal or specific reason why we’re sending her up there.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has a similar message in Moscow. “There is no particular objective in its current course,” Tillerson said at a news conference. “The Vinson sails up and down the Pacific routinely, and so I would not read anything into the Carl Vinson’s current locations.”

The Potemkin deployment sparked derision from some lawmakers and administration critics. “If the president can lose track of a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier, how well is he managing the rest of the U.S. government?” tweeted Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran. A Pentagon official acknowledged that the initial release from 3rd Fleet caused all the confusion. “The news release was misleading, but not intentionally so,” the official said, explaining that the office was also anxious to get the word out because the canceled port visit would affect friends and families of the crew who might have planned to meet the ship.

And late last night, the strike group’s commander announced that the group is extending its deployment another 30 days “to provide a persistent presence in the Waters off the Korean Peninsula,” Navy Times reported.

RECKLESS PROVOCATION: Mattis is on day two of his Mideast trip, which is taking him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Qatar and Djibouti. En route to his first stop in Riyadh, he told reporters traveling with him that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile.” Mattis confirmed the missile that fizzled was not an intercontinental ballistic missile.

ANOTHER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL ON THE PLANE: Reporters noted that Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser and an influential voice at the White House, was accompanying Mattis on his five-nation tour as he seeks to reaffirm key U.S. military alliances and engage with strategic partners in the Middle East and Africa. McMaster told the AP that he recruited Powell “because of her exceptional expertise and leadership skills, to lead an effort to restore the strategic focus of the National Security Council.” In the Bush administration, Powell worked for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

NOTICEABLY ABSENT: Not traveling on the trip is Dana White, the newly named Pentagon spokeswoman. We’re told that was largely because visas for the trip were secured before it was known she’d be coming on board. Instead her deputy, soon-to-be retired Army Col. Steve Warren is wrangling the traveling press and handling the media chores. We’re also told that Mattis believes the job of assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs should not be so secretary-centric, that is to say White should speak for the Defense Department, not just the secretary.

NO DIRECT TALKS: In an interview with CNN conducted on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, Vice President Mike Pence ruled out any direct talks with Pyongyang to resolve the crisis. “Not at this time,” Pence said. Pence would no comment either way about whether the U.S. sabotaged North Korea’s latest missile test with cyber warfare. The missile exploded on launch.

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 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.

ANOTHER CALL FOR AN AUMF: Virginia Republican Rep. Scott Taylor, a former Navy SEAL who served in the Iraq war, told CNN yesterday that while he understands Trump’s strategy of keeping his military options secret, he said the president “should be coming to Congress and speaking about Syria, speaking about the authorization of military force, speaking about North Korea.” Taylor said the fact that Trump’s is the third administration working off a 16-year-old authorization for the use of military force (AUMF), passed after the 9/11 attacks, is “unacceptable.”

“I’m not opposed to the president not telegraphing what we’re going to do. That being said, yes, there has to be a debate in Congress,” Taylor said. “The executive, of course, has to have some leeway to take actions if necessary if … there is a threat to our nation, to our people, to our allies. But at the same time, yes, it is Congress that authorizes that and it is time for us to have a debate.” Taylor is a cosponsor of a new AUMF.

WHERE SHOULD THE ARMY SPEND ITS MONEY? Defense analyst Mackenzie Eaglen, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has a piece out this morning arguing while the Army needs to spend its first new dollars to repair the foundation of the force, “backfilling deferred readiness needs,” it should also push for further expansion — perhaps 10,000 total force soldiers — in the fiscal 2017 supplemental or the 2018 budget. The service, she wrote, still faces “significant unit manning gaps.”

PUTTING IRAN ON NOTICE: In a required letter to Congress, Tillerson said while Iran is so far complying with the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and five other world powers, the U.S. is nevertheless evaluating whether to continue lifting sanctions against Tehran, because of Iran’s continued support of terrorism. The text of the letter was released last night.

“Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods. President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States,” Tillerson wrote

AUTHORITARIAN SPLIT: A top House Republican has condemned the “creeping authoritarianism” plaguing Turkey, in a pointed break with Trump’s reaction to the results of an election that expands the power of Turkey’s president. “Turkey’s creeping authoritarianism continues,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce said Tuesday. “All who value democracy, pluralism and Turkey’s key role in the region should be concerned about the elimination of important checks and balances in the Turkish system.”

That’s a sharp divergence from Trump, who congratulated Erdogan on his recent referendum victory after a constitutional referendum expanding his authority passed with just over 51 percent of the vote, even as opposition leaders alleged that he won due to fraud. “I am especially troubled by initial reports of irregularities and an ‘unlevel playing field’ from independent election observers, and I will review the full body of facts when they are released in the days ahead,” Royce said.

DHS CHIEF TO CONGRESS: ‘PUT UP OR SHUT UP!’ Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly ripped elected officials yesterday for treating the Transportation Security Agency, Customs and Border Patrol, and similar agencies as “political pawns” rather than essential national security personnel. Speaking at a forum at George Washington University, Kelly said Congress has the power to change their mission whenever they want. “If lawmakers do not like the laws that we enforce — that we are charged to enforce, that we are sworn to enforce — then they should have the courage and the skill to change those laws,” Kelly said.  “Otherwise, they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines.”

THE $70 BILLION WALL? Senate Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee have released a report that estimates it will cost $70 billion to build a concrete wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And they say that estimate doesn’t include other pricey items that would be necessary, such as land acquisition and handling numerous lawsuits that would be certain to crop up. They also claim the costs of creating the border wall are increasing every year.

But Kelly told the full committee this month that he “had a lot of elbow room” when it came to the types of barriers used in the makeup of the wall, which might also provide DHS with cost flexibility. Other than a pure physical border, Kelly also said other technologies such as drones could also be a part of the border-security program.

BLACK HAWK DEATH: Investigators arrived on the scene of the deadly Black Hawk training flight crash in Maryland on yesterday afternoon as the Army released the names of a crewmember killed and two others who were seriously injured. Spc. Jeremy Darrell Tomlin, 22, a UH-60 crew chief assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion and originally from Chapel Hill, N.C. was pronounced dead on the scene when the helicopter went down around 1:30 p.m. Monday on a golf course in Leonardtown. The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Nicholas, and Capt. Terikazu Onoda, commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion’s Charlie Company, were in critical condition late Tuesday at a shock trauma center in Baltimore. The Army said the cause of the crash was still unknown.

MAN OF FAITH: Trump’s first pick for Army secretary, Vincent Viola, dropped out when he couldn’t disentangle his finances. Now the president’s new choice, Tennessee state Sen. Mark Green, is having some early difficulty of his own. Videos of his speaking events posted online have caused outcry from liberal groups who say his conservative comments are Islamophobic, anti-gay and anti-transgender. But the videos, which go back years and document some of Green’s political career, also open a window to his deep faith, politics and military background, even as he has declined interviews. A consistent thread is his Christian faith. “I look at life sometimes as a believer in Christ, sometimes as a leader in a church but a believer of Christ, and sometimes as, I’m a CEO of healthcare company, so I put that hat on, but I’m still a believer in Christ, and then I’m a state senator,” Green told a church group in 2015. In the videos, he said his opposition to gay marriage is a 1st Amendment issue and that the Bible is clear that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

BEWARE THE BEAR: The Pentagon insisted yesterday that Monday’s intercept of two Russian nuclear-capable bombers off the coast of Alaska was routine and no big deal. A pair of U.S. F-22 Raptors scrambled to meet the two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers. The F-22s visually identified the plane and briefly flew alongside, before the Russian bombers changed course, and flew away from the U.S., a Pentagon official told the Washington Examiner. The interception was conducted in a “safe and professional” manner, the official said, and there was no violation of U.S. airspace.

FOIA THIS! You can’t file a freedom of information request for something you don’t know exists, and the National Security Archive, a transparency advocacy group, is complaining that a list of classified directives that used to be posted routinely on the DOD and JCS websites have suddenly disappeared. In what it calls a “transparently backslide,” the group says the Pentagon’s “what’s new” listing on its Issuances Website has no notices of classified directives from this year and is missing instructions from January 2017, even though the site was last updated in April. Journalists and researchers use the site to file FOIA requests for historically significant documents.

JOINING HERITAGE: The Heritage Foundation has a new senior fellow. Thomas Callender, a retired Navy officer and expert on naval capabilities and policy issues, joins the conservative think tank as “Senior Research Fellow for Naval Forces in the Center for National Defense.” After a 20-year career as a submariner, Callender served in key positions in the Department of the Navy and the private sector addressing naval capabilities, policy and strategy issues, according to an announcement from Heritage.

THE RUNDOWN

Washington Post: White House defends Trump’s congratulatory call to Turkey’s Erdogan

BBC: Russia’s new Arctic Trefoil military base unveiled with virtual tour

UPI Security News: Russian tank becomes U.S. Army unmanned target vehicle

Fox News: FBI’s Awlaki surveillance footage revealed

New York Times: U.S. isn’t saying how much damage ‘mother of all bombs’ did in Afghanistan

Task and Purpose: North Korea reportedly forms special-operations forces ‘for the first time’ amid tensions with U.S.

Roll Call: BunnyPAC hopes to thump Duncan Hunter on Rabbitgate

Defense One: Here’s what 71 years of U.S. presidential ‘red lines’ have taught us

Daily Beast: Accused Fresno mass shooter railed against ‘white devils’

Marine Corps Times: Marines headed to southern Afghanistan, where Taliban are reversing previous victories

USA Today: This Iraqi sniper picks off ISIS fighters as they hide behind human shields

War on the Rocks: Mobilization: The Army’s Achilles’ heel

Reuters: Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush hospitalized in Houston

Wall Street Journal: Saudi-led antiterror coalition sharpens its focus

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | APRIL 19

9 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. The difficult road toward stabilizing Iraq and the Gulf region. stimson.org

11 a.m. Pentagon Briefing Room. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, commanding general, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command – Operation Inherent Resolve, briefs the media live from Baghdad.

5 p.m. 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW. How scholars can affect Trump’s foreign policy with Steven Weber, director of Bridging the Gap; Matt Kroenig, associate professor at Georgetown University; Ryan Evans, editor-in-chief of War on the Rocks; Mira Rapp Hooper, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security; and Sameer Lalwani, a senior associate at the Stimson Center. cato.org

THURSDAY | APRIL 20

9:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Italian Prime Minister H.E. Paolo Gentiloni discusses security in the Mediterranean as a cornerstone of global stability and the common engagement of Italy and the United States. csis.org

10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Are we heading for a blow-up on the Korean peninsula? wilsoncenter.org

10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Experts discuss next steps in dealing with the South China Sea, a regional flashpoint. heritage.org

1 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The implications of Iran aircraft sales and how they could complicate U.S. efforts to contain its expanding influence in the Middle East. heritage.org

3 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The provincialism and internationalism of an America First policy in U.S. foreign relations. wilsoncenter.org

FRIDAY | APRIL 21

2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The French and German elections and post-election America. brookings.edu

MONDAY | APRIL 24

9 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Reflecting on President Trump’s first 100 days. brookings.edu

10:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. China’s growing interests in the Middle East, and the United States’ enduring interests in the Middle East. csis.org

12:30 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The long war in Afghanistan and the Trump administration. brookings.edu

1 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Ending the war on civilians: A discussion with Syria’s White Helmets. atlanticcouncil.org

4 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Gen. George C. Marshall and the atomic bomb. wilsoncenter.org

TUESDAY | APRIL 25

9:30 a.m. Dirksen G50. Policy and strategy in the Asia-Pacific. armed-services.senate.gov

9:45 a.m. Dirksen 419. The next steps for the crisis in Libya and U.S. Policy options. foreign.senate.gov

12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. South Caucasus: The threats and challenges for the Trump administration. heritage.org

5 p.m. 12900 Federal Systems Park Dr. Evening reception to open the following two-day meeting of the Integrated Program Management Division. ndia.org

WEDNESDAY | APRIL 26

10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. 100 down, 265 days to go on President Trump’s first year. heritage.org

2:30 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Ready or not: A strategy for an effective U.S. military with Sen. John Cornyn. wilsoncenter.org

3 p.m. 1800 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Rebalance, reassurance, and resolve in the U.S.-China strategic relationship. brookings.edu