$30 BILLION BUDGET BOOST: The U.S. military’s “Number 2s” are expected to cite sequestration as their Number 1 concern, when they testify before the House Armed Services Committee this morning. It’s the vice chiefs’ turn to lay out the state of America’s military, which President Trump has promised to rebuild, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is assembling an ambitious plan to pump billions more into defense spending. The Associated Press says it’s seen informal proposals circulating on Capitol Hill that call for more than $30 billion to acquire new jet fighters, armored vehicles, improved training and more as a supplemental to the fiscal 2017 budget.
Today’s witnesses are Army Gen. Daniel Allyn, Adm. William Moran, Marine Gen. Glenn Walters, and Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson. The vice chiefs are expected to presented a united front in calling for an end to the mandatory spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, known as sequestration, which have eroded military readiness. Among the items on the list: Lockheed Martin F-35s; Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets, CH-47F Chinooks and AH-64 Apache helicopters; General Atomics Gray Eagle drones; one Huntington Ingalls San Antonio-class amphibious ship; and Raytheon Sidewinder missiles.
Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry says at the very least Congress should restore the $18 billion in expenditures the House approved but was dropped in conference from the National Defense Authorization Act, Nicole Duran reports. That money was intended to pay for more troops, training, maintenance, facilities and new equipment, for example, he said.
Thornberry said the committee has “been in touch” with the Trump administration about the supplemental, which Trump said would be for “national security,” and may also include border security measures, such as funding for the wall. “The administration has been very clear and consistent that they will send up a supplemental request for [20]17 in the coming days,” Thornberry told reporters yesterday. “The sooner the better.” The deadline is March 1.
TRUMP’S PROMISE TO TROOPS: Trump pledged to provide new “tools, equipment and resources” to U.S. military personnel during his first visit to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Gabby Morrongiello writes. “We’re going to be loading it up with beautiful new planes and beautiful new equipment,” he said at MacDill Air Force Base, where he was joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford. Addressing about 300 U.S. troops, Trump said, “You’ve been lacking a little equipment, we’re going to load it up. You’re going to get a lot of equipment.”
“We will ensure that the men and women of our military have the tools, equipment, resources, training and supplies you need to get the job done,” Trump added later.
SECRET TARGET IN YEMEN: NBC News is reporting that the official story of the raid in Yemen is not quite true. U.S. officials have said the objective of the assault on an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula facility was “intelligence,” not any high value target. But citing military and intelligence officials, NBC says the real target was the terrorist group’s leader in Yemen, Qassim al-Rimi, the same person who taunted the U.S. in an audio recording released after the Jan 29 raid. It wouldn’t be the first time the Pentagon announced a different objective after an attack. Back in 1998, the U.S. launched a series of cruise missiles into Afghanistan that were aimed at killing Osama bin Laden in his mountain hideout. But when they missed bin Laden by a few hours, Pentagon officials insisted he wasn’t the target, and that the objective was to destroy “terrorist infrastructure,” and send a message to the Taliban. The U.S. later suspected bin Laden was tipped off by the Pakistanis.
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 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.
Want to learn more about Daily on Defense? See our introductory video here.
HAPPENING TODAY: Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly meets privately today with key lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss the president’s restrictions on foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries. That as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments tonight to lift the temporary stay that put Trump’s executive order on hold. The meeting with Kelly follows a Jan. 29 letter from some House Democrats requesting a meeting as soon as possible, and citing “widespread confusion and chaos” created by the President’s order.
Speaking of Kelly, a source close to DHS chief is denying another key anecdote in that sensational Washington Post report that had Kelly rebuking White House strategist Steve Bannon for overstepping his authority. The White House has already denied the purportedly contentious meeting between Bannon and Kelly every happened, but now we’re also getting a firm denial from Kelly’s side that the tense exchange ever took place, in person or otherwise.
The key quote from the Post story: “Respectfully but firmly, the retired general told Bannon that despite his high position in the White House and close relationship with President Trump, the former Breitbart chief was not in Kelly’s chain of command. If the president wanted Kelly to back off from issuing the waiver, Kelly would have to hear it from the president directly.” Our source insists Kelly never had that exchange with Bannon.
GOOD COP, BAD COP: While Trump has been busy putting both friends and foes alike on notice that the U.S. is not going to be pushed around anymore, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has made it his personal mission during his first weeks in office to reassure America’s allies. Yesterday, Mattis met with Canada Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. A readout of their late afternoon meeting provided by the Pentagon said Mattis and Sajjan reaffirmed the U.S.-Canada defense relationship, noting the “long relationship between the U.S. military and Canadian armed forces,” their “commitments to NORAD and continental defense,” and stressed the need for both countries “to continue to represent our shared values and advance security, prosperity, and freedom.” Mattis also offered to host the North American Defense Ministerial this spring in Washington.
POLITICIZING THE MILITARY? Trump is taking a lot of flak from his critics for allegedly “politicizing” the military in his brief remarks to troops at MacDill in Tampa yesterday afternoon. He opened his remarks by saying, “We had a wonderful election, didn’t we? And I saw those numbers, and you liked me, and I liked you. That’s the way it works.” The president drew the longest applause and loudest cheers when he referred to his travel ban. “We need strong programs so that people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in. Not people that want to destroy us and destroy our country.” The cheer and applause lasted 11 seconds.
“Once again, Donald Trump has made political comments in an address to a military audience that is duty-bound to be apolitical,” said Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. “The President’s efforts to politicize the military, starting with his remarks at the CIA memorial, are becoming a troubling rhetorical pattern.”
LETTING PUTIN OFF THE HOOK: In that interview with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, Trump said he wasn’t sure Russia was behind the latest fighting in eastern Ukraine. A clip of the interview aired before the Super Bowl, but the rest of the interview aired last night. “We don’t really know exactly what that is,” Trump told “The O’Reilly Factor.” “We don’t know, are they uncontrollable? Are they uncontrolled? That happens also,” Trump said, “We’re going to find out; I would be surprised, but we’ll see.”
Trump tweet this morning: “I don’t know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy – yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1in terror, no problem!”
Meanwhile, Thornberry is calling for Trump to authorize the Pentagon to send weapons to Ukraine in its battle with Russian separatists. The idea has bipartisan support, Thornberry told reporters Monday. “It was incredibly frustrating that the Obama administration wouldn’t do that,” Thornberry said about President Obama’s rebuffing lawmakers’ and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko‘s request for such weapons. “I hope that the new administration will do it,” he said.
NATO EXPANSION: National Security Adviser Mike Flynn “is expected” to endorse expanding the NATO alliance to include a small country that used to be part of the Soviet Union, a senior administration official tells Joel Gehrke. Montenegro’s accession to NATO has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, but it is certain to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin, who personally condemned the proposal last year. The endorsement could also reassure European allies and American foreign policy leaders of Trump’s willingness to oppose Putin, despite exchanging compliments with him during the 2016 election cycle.
“Basically every [interagency] level below Flynn, the recommendation is ‘let’s keep going forward,’ ” the senior administration said.
WHAT POTUS MEANT TO SAY: Vice President Mike Pence believes Trump is in the process of rebuilding the United States’ relationship with Russia, and didn’t mean to suggest the United States is morally equivalent with that country by saying the U.S. also has “a lot of killers” in it like Russia, Kyle Feldscher writes. “What President Trump is determined to do is reassert American leadership on the world stage and look for renewed relationships with countries around the world, including Russia,” Pence said on Fox News in an interview taped Sunday but that aired on Monday.
“The statements that he made were not in any way a moral equivalency between the high ideals and practices of the American people and the people of Russia, rather what the president is seeking to do is to begin anew our relationship with the people of Russia and their leadership, ways that we can begin to work together,” he said.
That’s not the way many people heard it, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen, who was on CNN last night. “I thought the statement was pretty appalling.” In the interview, Trump cited the Iraq war as an example of killing committed by the United States. That in particular irked Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who was on MSNBC. “To somehow compare those troops who served in Iraq or any of our military with some of the Putin thugs … is just all unbelievable,” Warner told host Chris Matthews. “The idea that he would somehow compare Putin, who let’s face it, not only takes out and kills political opponents, kills journalist, has one of the worst human rights records in the world to American leadership is frankly unconscionable.”
CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE: In yesterday’s newsletter, we credited Military Times with first reporting the news that Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, Vincent Viola, was taking himself out of the running. Bloomberg pointed out to us that they were the first to report. We checked the tape and they were the first to tweet the news out and had a story behind their pay wall.
THE RUNDOWN
Defense News: With Viola out, new service secretaries could take months
Washington Post: I Was on the National Security Council. Bannon Doesn’t Belong There.
Military.com: Lawmaker Petitions Mattis to Approve Medal of Honor for Fallen Marine
Stars and Stripes: Thornberry sees entitlement reforms as opportunity to boost military
USNI News: Cotton Calls for a $26B Uptick in Planned Defense Supplemental
Military.com: Prosecutors: Bergdahl to Get Fair Trial Despite Trump Jabs
Air Force Times: Target ISIS: Inside the Predator war against the world’s most ruthless terrorists
Politico: Ex-acting CIA chief suggests Trump has ‘some special bond’ with Putin
Navy Times: The Navy is patrolling Putin’s back yard as the U.S. weighs a new Russia strategy
UPI: New destroyer delivered to the U.S. Navy
Defense News: Grounded: Nearly two-thirds of US Navy’s strike fighters can’t fly
Calendar
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 7
8 a.m. 2168 Rayburn Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller provides remarks at the U.S. Navy Amphibious Warship Congressional Forum
9 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, Va. Lt. Gen. Scott Rice, the director of the Air National Guard, speaks at an event for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. mitchellaerospacepower.org
9:30 a.m. Senate Visitor’s Center 217. The Senate Armed Services Committee receives a closed briefing on cyber threats from Adm. Mike Rogers, the head of U.S. Cyber Command. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Dirksen 419. A panel of analysts testifies on the next steps in the fight against ISIS. foreign.senate.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Think tank experts testify about what next steps the U.S. should take to counter the threat from North Korea. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Each of the service’s vice chiefs testifies on the state of the military at the House Armed Services Committee. armedservices.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Hart 219. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence receives a closed briefing. intelligence.senate.gov
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 8
2 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. The Stimson Center hosts an event examining the risks and rewards of President Trump’s new strategy toward Asia. stimson.org
2:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. The service’s vice chiefs testify at the Senate Armed Services Committee about the military’s readiness. armed-services.senate.gov
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 9
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, provides the Senate Armed Services Committee an update on the fight there. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Experts from the Atlantic Council and the Center for New American Strategy testify on the challenges ahead in the relationship between Russia and the U.S. foreign.senate.gov
2 p.m. Hart 219. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence receives a closed briefing. intelligence.senate.gov
