FAQs on the coming COVID-19 vaccine military mandate

The memo was short on details, as Austin has left it up to the individual military services to draw up implementation plans. “I have every confidence that service leadership and your commanders will implement this new vaccination program with professionalism, skill, and compassion,” he said.

Here’s what we know about the new policy:

WHO WILL HAVE TO GET THE VACCINE? The COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the 17 required vaccines already mandated for troops. That means all service members will have to get the shots or face discipline.

“I think members of the military understand when you sign up for the military that there are requirements laid upon you, and some of those requirements include being healthy and fit and ready to serve,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

The mandate will not apply to civilian employees or federal contractors who work for the Defense Department.

WHAT IF THE FDA ACTS BEFORE SEPT. 15? Mid-September is the deadline to have the new regulations in place, but once the FDA approves a vaccine, Austin has the authority to mandate vaccinations immediately. And approval could come by the end of the month.

But that does not mean everyone in the military has to be vaccinated immediately. Military personnel will have some period of time to get their shots.

But with the mandate coming, Austin is urging troops not to wait for the new rules. “I strongly encourage all DoD military and civilian personnel — as well as contractor personnel — to get vaccinated now,” he wrote in his memo. “Get the shot. Stay healthy. Stay ready,” Austin urged.

WHAT IF THE FDA DOESN’T ACT BEFORE SEPT. 15? If none of the current vaccines win full approval by the FDA, Austin will then seek a waiver from the White House, which President Joe Biden indicated in a statement he will be quick to approve.

“I strongly support Secretary Austin’s message to the Force,” Biden said, arguing the U.S. is “still on a wartime footing” against the virus. “Being vaccinated will enable our service members to stay healthy, to better protect their families, and to ensure that our force is ready to operate anywhere in the world.”

“We will also be keeping a close eye on infection rates, which are on the rise now due to the delta variant, and the impact these rates might have on our readiness,” Austin said. “I will not hesitate to act sooner or recommend a different course to the president if I feel the need to do so.”

WHAT HAPPENS TO TROOPS WHO REFUSE THE SHOTS? The Pentagon is not saying, and yesterday, Kirby expressed the hope that vaccine hesitancy won’t be a problem in the ranks. “The secretary believes that the men and women of the military, even the ones that have been hesitant, will comply,” he said, adding he would not speculate on what would happen if someone continues to refuse the vaccine.

“What [Austin’s] asking for in this message to the force today is don’t wait. They’re safe, they’re effective, they work, they make us a more ready force.”

Already some 70% of the active-duty force have voluntarily received at least one shot.

WHAT HAPPENS TO DOD CIVILIANS WHO REFUSE THE SHOTS? Civilians won’t face discipline, but daily life could get more difficult. Austin says there will be “additional restrictions and requirements” for unvaccinated federal workers.

“I don’t have the details for all of that today,” said Kirby. “ We’re working hard on what will be a policy directive to come in the coming days that will make it clear what those requirements and restrictions are and how they apply to everybody in the DOD workforce, including uniformed personnel.”

WHAT IS CONGRESS SAYING? While there is opposition to mandatory military vaccines among a small number of Republicans in Congress, there is wide bipartisan support for the move among leaders of the House Armed Services Committee.

“We must not allow COVID-19 to be a hindrance on our force,” said ranking Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, noting the 70% voluntary rate. “I hope that number reaches 100% quickly.”

“The science is clear: vaccination is the only way to beat this virus,” said Chairman Rep. Adam Smith. “As such, Secretary Austin’s decision to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for our entire force is going to save lives and safeguard our military readiness.”

PENTAGON MOVES TO REQUIRE MEMBERS OF US MILITARY TO BE VACCINATED

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ANOTHER NORTH KOREAN WARNING: As the United States and South Korea prepare to resume annual military exercises that were scaled back during the Trump administration, North Korea has renewed its annual criticism that the drills are a thinly disguised rehearsal for an invasion of the North.

“The dangerous war exercises, pushed ahead by the U.S. and the South Korean side, disregardful of our repeated warnings, will surely make them face a more serious security threat,” said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in a statement from the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Kim accused the South of “perfidious behavior” and seemed to be warning that the North would be accelerating its conventional and nuclear weapons programs in response.

“The reality proves that only substantial deterrent, not words, can ensure the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and that it is a vital requirement for us to build up the force powerful enough to fully contain the external threats to us,” she said.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea did not answer daily phone calls from South Korea over a military hotline in an apparent reaction to the presumption of exercises.

US STRIKES TALIBAN ‘​​WHERE AND WHEN FEASIBLE’: Despite having what it calls “a pretty robust over-the-horizon capability,” the Pentagon admitted yesterday there’s little the U.S. can do to stop the rapid advance of the Taliban, which now control six provincial capitals in Afghanistan.

Asked point blank at yesterday’s briefing what the U.S. can do to help the Afghan government forces, who have in some cases lost their will to fight, Kirby had a surprisingly blunt answer, “not much.”

“We don’t have forces on the ground in partnership with them,” Kirby said. “We will certainly support from the air, where and when feasible, but that’s no substitute for leadership on the ground, it’s no substitute for political leadership in Kabul, it’s no substitute for using the capabilities and capacity that we know they have.”

Kirby said the U.S. has carried out recent airstrikes against the advancing Taliban forces, but he declined to provide any details, repeatedly describing the strikes as having been conducted “where and when feasible.”

GROWING US FRUSTRATION: While Kirby declined to criticize the Afghan government directly, the Pentagon is clearly frustrated that the 300,000-strong Afghan military, trained and equipped at a cost of billions of dollars, is turning out to be no match against determined Taliban fighters who can smell victory.

“The secretary shares the concern of the international community about the security situation in Afghanistan, which is clearly not going in the right direction,” said Kirby, who added that Austin continues to believe the Afghan forces have the capability and capacity to make a big difference on the battlefield.

“They have an Air Force, the Taliban doesn’t. They have modern weaponry and organizational skills, the Taliban doesn’t. They have superior numbers to the Taliban,” Kirby said. “They have the advantages, and it’s really now their time to use those advantages.”

MARKED MEN: The Middle East Media Research Institute, which tracks terrorist groups around the world, reports that ISIS claims to have assassinated an Afghan interpreter who worked for the U.S., while mocking the Taliban for claiming translators wouldn’t be harmed.

The account appears in an article in the Aug. 5 edition of the weekly ISIS publication al Naba, which focuses on the organization’s activities in Afghanistan.

The article claims that during the previous week, ISIS assassinated six “apostates,” among them a senior figure in Afghan intelligence and a translator named Imdad Hamdarad, who worked with U.S. forces in the country and was also a clerk in the Afghan government.

RETHINKING NUKES: House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith is on a lonely quest to try to convince the Biden administration to pare back America’s nuclear arsenal, arguing some new weapons and upgrades of old weapons amount to overkill.

In a letter to President Joe Biden, Smith writes, “I urge you to take a hard look at whether every ongoing and planned effort is necessary. This includes considering whether its requirement is being driven to dominate our adversaries, or if it is instead focused to provide a credible and reliable deterrent.”

The letter comes as the administration is in the middle of its Nuclear Posture Review, which will guide the administration’s decisions on how best to modernize America’s aging nuclear triad in the face of the ambitious nuclear programs of China and Russia.

“We are advancing not only an unprecedented number of new weapons under development, but also maintaining costly systems, such as the B-83 gravity bomb, that have questionable operational relevance in today’s environment,” writes Smith. “When asked about the requirements for all of these systems, the Department of Defense quickly points to Russian and Chinese investment in nuclear weapons, which I fear leads us down the path to a newly invigorated and very dangerous arms race.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Biden slaps sanctions on defiant Belarus dictator after meeting Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

Washington Examiner: Russian guards refuse to allow American Paul Whelan to shower for a month

Washington Examiner: Pentagon moves to require members of US military to be vaccinated

Washington Examiner: Russian guards refuse to allow American Paul Whelan to shower for a month

Washington Examiner: Biden slaps sanctions on defiant Belarus dictator after meeting Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

Washington Post: North Korea threatens to boost nuclear program as drills between U.S. and ‘perfidious’ South begin

AP: U.S. And China Clash At UN Over South China Sea Disputes

Navy Times: Navy, Marine Corps Aim To Refine, Test Modern Warfighting Concepts In Large Scale Exercise 2021

Defense News: After 2014 Decimation, Ukrainian Navy Rebuilds To Fend Off Russia

Washington Post: Pentagon chief under fire for withholding information about deadly Kenya attack

Air Force Magazine: Cyberattacks on Commercial Space Are Inevitable, Deputy SPACECOM Boss Warns

Defense One: If China and the US Claim the Same Moon-Base Site, Who Wins?

Air Force Magazine: Secretary Kendall’s Plan: Lessons From the Cold War, More Engineers

19fortyfive.com: Russia and China Keep Beating America in Mock Wars. Don’t Be Shocked.

19fortyfive.com: The F-35 Is Going To Be The Free World’s Fighter

19fortyfive.com: Russia’s Mobile ICBMs Are the U.S. Military’s Worst Nightmare

19fortyfive.com: Why Is the U.S. Navy Retiring a Littoral Combat Ship So Early?

Washington Post: Judge asks why Capitol rioters are paying just $1.5 million for attack, while U.S. taxpayers will pay more than $500 million

Washington Examiner: Opinion: China has used the 21st century’s three defining crises to steal a move on its rivals

Washington Examiner: Opinion: China’s stealth-saturation missile strategy

Calendar

TUESDAY | AUGUST 10

8 a.m. — Potomac Officers Club virtual 2021 Digital Transformation Forum, with Danielle Metz, deputy CIO for information enterprise in the Office of the Defense Department Chief Information Officer Register at https://potomacofficersclub.com/events

8 a.m. — International Institute for Strategic Studies virtual discussion: “What is Cyber Power, and Where is it Going?” with Marcus Willett, senior adviser for cyber at IISS; and James Crabtree, executive director of IISS-Asia https://www.iiss.org/events/2021/08/cyber-power

10 a.m. 419, Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism hearing: “U.S. security assistance in the Middle East,” with testimony from: Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul; and Mira Resnick, deputy assistant secretary of State for regional affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings

10 a.m. — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum, on the “need for U.S. nuclear modernization,” with Maj. Gen. Michael Lutton, the commander of the 20th Air Force, former Joint Staff deputy director for nuclear and homeland defense operations. Video posted afterward at https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/nuclear-deterrence

11 a.m. — Potomac Officers Club virtual Space Intelligence Forum with Brig. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, director of intelligence at U.S. Space Command. https://potomacofficersclub.com/events

11:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies “Smart Women, Smart Power” virtual discussion: “U.S. National Security Policy in the Indo-Pacific,” with Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. https://www.csis.org/events

WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 11

6 p.m. — Politics and Prose Bookstore virtual book discussion on Here, Right Matters: An American Story, with author and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, former National Security Council director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Russia; and Susan Glasser, staff writer at the New Yorker. https://www.politics-prose.com/event

THURSDAY | AUGUST 12

8 a.m. — Potomac Officers Club virtual Army Forum on “how the Army will drive future capabilities, with Christopher Lowman, senior official performing the duties of the Army undersecretary; and Gen. John Murray, commander of U.S. Army Futures Command. https://potomacofficersclub.com/events

10 a.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Asia Program virtual “Hindsight Up Front series” discussion on nearly 20 years of U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, with focus on the U.S. withdrawal and its implications, with former national security adviser retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution; and Mark Green, president, director and CEO of WWC https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/hindsight-front

FRIDAY | AUGUST 13

1 p.m. — Cato Institute virtual book discussion on Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump, with author Spencer Ackerman, contributing editor at the Daily Beast; Abigail Hall, associate professor in economics at Bellarmine University; and Erin Simpson, former co-host of the Bombshell podcast from War on the Rocks. https://www.cato.org/events/reign-terror