NORTH KOREA STILL SIMMERING: The United States has been expecting North Korea to conduct its sixth nuclear test any day now, an act of defiance that could provoke a U.S. response. Instead, the North today put on a show of its long-range conventional artillery, which it has long held as a threat over Seoul, the South Korean capital, located just 30 miles south of the DMZ.
The massive live-fire exercise, near North Korea’s east coast, was conducted near the eastern coastal town of Wonsan and came as Pyongyang marked the 85th anniversary of the founding of its “People’s Army.” In many ways, it’s those old-fashioned big guns that pose the biggest threat to the South. “I think North Korea does not, at least not that I know of, have the capability to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier with a single strike,” Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger told CNN yesterday. “But they do have the capability to frankly unleash hell on South Korea. Their conventional artillery, more forward located, this stuff is actually built into mountains that can pop out and shoot and pop back.” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported the North Korean exercise involved 300 to 400 artillery pieces.
ONE POWERFUL SUB: The Navy says it’s a routine port call for the USS Michigan, which surfaced in the South Korean port city of Busan yesterday. The Ohio-class submarine is one of the ballistic missile subs that has been converted from a nuclear to a conventional weapons platform, capable of carrying more than 150 cruise missiles and launching special operations commandos from underwater. This may have been what President Trump was talking about when he said the U.S. has submarines even more powerful than an aircraft carrier. When the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, now in the Philippine Sea, arrives in the waters off the Korean coast this week, the U.S. will have hundreds of cruise missiles, along with enhanced ship-based missile defenses in the region.
CALLING ALL SENATORS: The entire U.S. Senate has been summoned to the White House tomorrow to get an in-depth briefing on North Korea’s unbridled nuclear ambitions, including what options might be under consideration by the Trump administration. The briefers will be Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, and DNI Dan Coats. “This is a Senate briefing convened by the majority leader, not a White House briefing,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer explained yesterday. “We are just serving as location.” A similar briefing is in the works for House lawmakers, although it’s not clear if the White House would be the venue.
TILLERSON RUNS THE SHOW: Tillerson will also chair a special United Nations Security Council meeting on the threat of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s regime, the State Department announced Monday, Joel Gehrke writes. “The meeting will give Security Council members an opportunity to discuss ways to maximize the impact of existing Security Council measures and show their resolve to respond to further provocations with appropriate new measures,” deputy spokesman Mark Toner said in a State Department bulletin.
Good Tuesday 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.
HAPPENING TODAY: Mattis returns to Washington this morning after wrapping up his latest overseas trip with a stop in Afghanistan to confer with U.S. commanders and Afghan leaders, who are reeling from the latest Taliban attacks. At a news conference in Kabul, Mattis stopped short of calling America’s longest war a “stalemate,” a characterization offered by U.S. Afghanistan commander Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson in testimony to Congress. “I’m not going to get into how you would characterize it in one word, but we are going to address that situation and move forward together against the terrorists. And that is exactly why we’re meeting now,” Mattis said with Nicholson at his side.
Both men danced around the recent reports that Russia has been directly arming the Taliban with guns and ammunition. “We’re going to have to confront Russia where what they’re doing is contrary to international law or denying the sovereignty of other countries,” Mattis said, without confirming the reports. “For example, any weapons being funneled here from a foreign country would be a violation of international law, unless they’re coming through the government of Afghanistan for the Afghan forces,” he said. Nicholson also declined to publicly accuse Moscow, but when pressed said he was “not refuting that.”
BORDER SECURITY, YES. WALL, NO: The prospects for a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded past this Friday increased dramatically last night when the president signaled that he would could live with increased funding now for border security, and would put off until later his request for funds specifically earmarked for a border wall. The concession was hailed by Democrats and some Republicans as well. “You had candidate Donald Trump beating his chest, saying he is going to require Mexico to pay for this and, of course, the Mexicans have told him to take a hike,” Maryland Democrat Rep. Chris Van Hollen said on CNN. “We’re not going to ask the American people to foot the bill for a wall that’s a waste of money. So border security is fine. Wasting taxpayer dollars on a wall — no,” he said.
“There will never be a 2,200-mile wall built, period,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told the the Washington Post. “I think it’s become symbolic of better border security. It’s a code word for better border security.”
TRUMP’S NAVY PRICE TAG: The Congressional Budget Office confirmed Monday what many had already expected: Trump’s campaign promise of a much larger Navy will not be cheap. Construction costs alone for a 355-ship fleet could ring in at more than $26 billion per year over 30 years, the CBO said. The office, which does nonpartisan research for lawmakers, looked at the Navy proposal from December, which tracks closely with Trump’s proposal to build to a 350-ship fleet. With operational costs included, the Navy would need a total of $102 billion per year through 2047, which is about 30 percent more than what it costs to keep its current 275 ships afloat. Fitting the ships with aircraft would cost billions more.
Still, the $26 billion per year construction cost is only about $5 billion more that the Navy’s previous plan for 308 ships, which would cost more than $21 billion per year over the same time period. After the CBO release, Rep. Rob Wittman, who chairs the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower, said it showed a Navy buildup is “both necessary and achievable with the proper amount of congressional support.” Achievable perhaps, but no doubt a difficult feat in Congress, where lawmakers are still struggling to overcome federal spending caps that have held down defense spending in recent years. Trump’s detailed 2018 budget is expected in May and debate is likely to play out on Capitol Hill in the coming months.
RUSSIA MILITARY SPENDING: The U.S. remained the world’s top spender on defense last year with a $611 billion budget, but Russia edged further up the list, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Russia was the world’s third highest military spender with a 5.9 percent increase in its defense budget, bringing it up to $69.2 billion. It outpaced the world’s old No. 3, Saudi Arabia, after the kingdom dramatically decreased its budget.
Russia also drove higher defense spending in Western Europe in 2016, SIPRI reported. With concerns over its aggression growing, all but three countries there boosted defense spending, with NATO member Italy far out in front with an 11 percent increase. Just last week at the White House, Trump pressed Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on NATO members’ pledge to spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Gentiloni said Italy was on track to meet the requirement.
LOCKHEED EARNINGS: CEO Marillyn Hewson and other board members will host a live webcast at 11 a.m. to discuss and answer questions about defense giant Lockheed Martin’s first quarter earnings. The actual earning results will be released this morning when the market opens. The webcast and earnings charts can be viewed here. If you miss the live broadcast, not to worry, it will be available on the site through May 9. Lockheed’s financial release comes a day before General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon plan to unveil their earnings.
FLY BEFORE YOU BUY: Lockheed’s earnings report comes a day after the GAO recommended a pause in investment in future capabilities for its pricey F-35 fighter plane. Noting that the Pentagon continues to struggle to keep the development costs for the baseline aircraft in check, the report concludes it may be time to pause and let the testing catch up. “The department continues to struggle to keep the development costs for the baseline aircraft in check,” the report concludes. In response, the general overseeing the F-35 program issued a statement. “The bottom line up front is the F-35 program is a much different and improved program than it was 5 years ago,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan. “Program costs are well understood, stable and with respect to production and operating costs, they are decreasing, making the F-35 more affordable every day.”
WHEN YOU’VE LOST CAITLYN: Republican voter Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender U.S. Olympian, is unhappy with Trump’s nomination for Army secretary because the Tennessee lawmaker does not support progressive reforms for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. “I’m really concerned with, kind of the next move for the Trump administration, is Mark Green, who’s a Republican from Tennessee, uh – senator and he’s up for secretary of the Army. He’s made some of the most anti-LGBT statements ever – calling me, a trans person, as a disease. I have to tell Mark Green, I don’t have a disease, OK?” Jenner told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday evening. “[Green] called about fighting the bathroom issue as, you know, the Bible tells me I have to go after evil,’ you know. I’m not an evil person,” Jenner added.
HOT AND COLD ON U.N.: Trump yesterday alternately praised and criticized the United Nations as he hosted ambassadors from countries on the U.N. Security Council. As he has with NATO, he scolded the member nations for not paying their fair share. “The United States, just one of 193 countries in the U.N., pays for 22 percent of the budget and almost 30 percent of the United Nations peacekeeping, which is unfair,” Trump said. “We need the member states to come together to eliminate inefficiency and bloat.”
But just after labeling the U.N. an “underperformer,” he then lauded its “tremendous potential” and indicated if the international body gets its act together, all will be forgiven. “I must say, I’m a budget person,” Trump said. “If you do a great job at the United Nations, I feel much differently about it because we’re talking pennies compared to the kind of lives and money that you’ll be saving.”
SYRIA SANCTIONS: The United States is sanctioning 271 Syrians connected to the chemical weapons attack ordered by Syrian President Bashar Assad on his own people this month. During Monday’s White House press briefing, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the doubling of the amount of Syrians sanctioned by the United States. Mnuchin said in a statement the sanctions target employees of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center.
“These sweeping sanctions target the scientific support center for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s horrific chemical weapons attack on innocent civilian men, women, and children,” Mnuchin said. “The United States is sending a strong message with this action that we will hold the entire Assad regime accountable for these blatant human rights violations in order to deter the spread of these types of barbaric chemical weapons.”
PENCE LEADS TRUMP’S ASIA PIVOT: Amid uncertainty about how Trump will handle rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Vice President Mike Pence has spent the past week calming nerves and outlining the administration’s policies during a low-profile tour of the region that ultimately shed light on how the president plans to engage with the Asia-Pacific, Sarah Westwood writes. In Seoul, Tokyo, Jakarta and Sydney, Pence has quietly assured allies of the Trump administration’s commitment to security in the face of threats from an aggressive North Korea while touting U.S. economic relationships in the Asia-Pacific.
Pence has conducted a series of traditional diplomatic engagements during his debut trip abroad, striking a contrast with a president whose foreign policy approach is shaping up to be anything but traditional. And in doing so, Pence has helped observers around the world gain insight into Trump’s thinking, given that Trump has wielded his unpredictability in North Korea and elsewhere as a strategic tool.
FROM FOX NEWS TO FOGGY BOTTOM: Fox News anchor and correspondent Heather Nauert has been named as the new State Department spokesperson. The official announcement notes Nauert was a regular on the president’s favorite morning news program. “On the top-rated morning cable news show, ‘Fox and Friends,’ she was responsible for reporting breaking news,” the statement said. The State Department cited Nauert’s more than 15 years of experience as an anchor and correspondent covering both foreign and domestic news and events. “Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the Administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world.”
GORKA WALKS OUT: A Trump adviser abruptly left an event at Georgetown University on Monday after he went on a tirade following students questioning his association to a Nazi-linked group. “Every single person holding a placard challenging my parents and myself, I challenge you to go away,” the aide, Sebastian Gorka, reportedly told students protesting his appearance at the event on cyber engagement. “Find one sentence I wrote that is anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.”
When a student asked Gorka if the Trump administration has “unmasked” Americans in intelligence reports, Gorka began yelling about whether Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn was exposed. “Was Gen. Flynn’s identity revealed to the media?” Gorka asked again. He then said he wouldn’t comment on intelligence activities, then left the event.
THE RUNDOWN
Politico: Obama’s hidden Iran deal giveaway
The Weekly Standard: A Military in Need
Reuters: Trump calls for new U.N. sanctions against North Korea
New York Times: Denmark says ‘key elements’ of Russian government hacked defense ministry
Defense News: In surprise, F-35s reportedly visiting Estonia
Stars and Stripes: Bird strikes might have led to B-52 aborted takeoff, fire in 2016 Guam incident
Washington Post: Senate staff perplexed by unusual White House private briefing on North Korea
Roll Call: Syria, Trump and Congress’ ever-eroding war powers
Associated Press: Pence thanks U.S. military members during stop in Hawaii
USA Today: North Korea could mark military birthday with nuke, missile test
CNN: State Department removes Mar-a-Lago blog post
Wall Street Journal: German arms makers go on the offensive aided by military spending boost
Calendar
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
2:15 p.m. Dirksen 124. Hearing to review United States assistance for Egypt. appropriations.senate.gov
2:15 p.m. Hart 219. Closed intelligence hearing. intelligence.senate.gov
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 Trump’s first year. heritage.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, gives his military assessment of the security challenges in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. Dirksen 106. Nomination of Courtney Simmons Elwood to be general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency. intelligence.senate.gov
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 192. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau; Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, chief of the Army Reserve; and Lt. Gen. Maryanne Miller, chief of the Air Force Reserve, testify on the readiness of their forces. appropriations.senate.gov
1:30 p.m. House 140. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, testifies in a closed session. appropriations.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Former defense officials testify on information technology management and acquisition in a rapidly changing landscape. armedservices.house.gov
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
THURSDAY | APRIL 27
8 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. A discussion with Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, on how to maintain a ready fleet. brookings.edu
9 a.m. Capitol Visitor Center 217. All-day conference on a fundamental change in nuclear weapons policy. sgi-usa-washingtondc.org
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G50. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, testifies on the Pacific region and U.S. Forces Korea. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Policy options in Syria after the missile strikes. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2154. Strengthening national security with a border wall. oversight.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Lawmakers speak on various defense issues for member day. armedservices.house.gov
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 124. Veterans Health Administration officials testify about preventing suicide. appropriations.senate.gov
12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. U.S. entry into World War I and the lessons 100 years later. cfr.org
2 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Defense health officials testify on post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury treatments. armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Afghanistan’s terrorist resurgence: Al-Qaeda, ISIS and beyond. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2 p.m. Hart 219. Closed intelligence hearing. intelligence.senate.gov
2 p.m. House Visitor Center 210. The Transportation Security Administration’s Innovation Task Force demonstrate new and innovative airport security technologies. homeland.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Russell 222. Experts discuss cyber-enabled information operations. armed-services.senate.gov
FRIDAY | APRIL 28
10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Key Congressional staff members examine the big questions in U.S.-Asia policy. heritage.org
MONDAY | MAY 1
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Three former Japan defense ministers discuss the country’s strategy toward the Trump administration. csis.org
12 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Trump’s first 100 days and what is next. atlanticcouncil.org
TUESDAY | MAY 2
11 a.m. Rayburn building foyer. Missile Defense Day exhibit. ndia.org
11 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The future of U.S. seapower with Rep. Rob Wittman and Rep. Joe Courtney. csis.org
