RETHINKING BRAC: Do you really need five garages if you have only four cars? The Pentagon estimates that about 20 percent of its infrastructure is no longer needed, and in a letter to leadership of House and Senate Armed Services committee this week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis once again pleaded for authority to close bases, or make other changes to help meet the Pentagon’s budget shortfall. “We have studied shortcomings of previous rounds and are confident the savings generated by a new BRAC in 2021 would save $2 billion or more annually,” Mattis argued, in what the Pentagon calls the annual “heartburn letter,” a memo to Congress outlining the issues in the National Defense Authorization Act that are causing “heartburn.”
BRAC, of course is the “Base Realignment and Closure” process, a plan cooked up decades ago to take the politics out of downsizing military infrastructure. As it became clear that no member of Congress would vote to close a base in his or her district, the idea was to outsource the process to an independent commission. That group would consider each base and facility on its merits, produce a list of recommend closures, which then Congress would have to approve or disapprove as a package, but could not change.
The process did allow several rounds of base closings, but now Congress has two major reservations about the process. One is that it takes so long and has no flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. For example, the decision to close Walter Reed medical facility, at the same time the U.S. was getting a surge of wounded troops from the war in Iraq. The other problem is that while the closings save money, billions as Mattis has noted, upfront costs push those savings into the later years. So initially, closing bases costs money.
EXCLUSIVE: HERITAGE HAS A BETTER IDEA: A new Heritage Foundation report calls on Congress to give the Defense Department more authority to close excess facilities as a way to break a years-long impasse over BRAC. The proposal, an early copy of which was provided to the Washington Examiner, would allow the department to shutter bases with up to 500 civilian personnel without first notifying Capitol Hill and would also shorten the congressional notification period from 60 to 30 days when the DoD moves to close larger facilities. “You would be able to adjust your real estate levels as you go,” said Frederico Bartels, a Heritage defense budget analyst and author of the report. “You wouldn’t need to collect all those minor [real estate] actions and wait for a BRAC round that might come 10 or 15 years down the line.”
It was part of a package of reforms proposed by Bartels that aims to jumpstart a new BRAC round despite years of stonewalling by skeptical lawmakers and comes on the heels of that letter to Congress by Mattis, which estimated 19 percent of the Defense Department’s 438,000 worldwide properties could be excess. Bartels also recommends BRAC reforms, including assessments of DoD properties every other year to build up a database of reliable information that can be used to weigh closures, and the creation of a small permanent staff of public employees who specifically handle the closure and realignment process.
His report comes as the House and Senate are hammering out their annual defense policy bill. It appeared unlikely lawmakers would move toward a BRAC round despite Mattis’ urging and claims of savings. Sens. John McCain and Jack Reed, who are leading the bill negotiations for the Senate, backed a limited closure and realignment effort early on, but their proposal never made it into legislation. However, Bartels said he believes the high-level effort by Mattis could pay off. “Honestly, I think that that [Mattis letter] could make a difference and maybe make the conference see that a new BRAC round would be really important for the nation and for our armed forces,” he said.
NOTE: It’s worth watching what Heritage has to say. The think tank’s influence with the Trump White House has grown, evidenced by the president’s speech before the group this week, and the fact that Trump borrowed heavily from Heritage’s defense plans when he sketched out his military buildup on the campaign trail.
OTHER HEARTBURN ISSUES: The heartburn letter also lists other Pentagon concerns as NDAA conference negotiations get underway. In particular, Mattis singled out a provision of the Senate version of the bill that he said would hamstring the U.S. in taking decisive action against cyber threats by requiring the U.S. to give prior notification to foreign governments before acting, which he called “a conventional approach applied to an unconventional problem.”
And Mattis asked Congress to dump the idea of creating a new Space Corps. “I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting functions,” Mattis wrote.
And his biggest concern? No surprise here. The spending caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act, which Mattis continues to argue has done more to harm the warfighting readiness of the U.S. military than any enemy in the field.
Good Thursday 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 welcomes his Israeli counterpart to the Pentagon this afternoon. The visit by Avigdor Lieberman, minister of defense of Israel, comes a day after Mattis conferred by phone with Egypt’s Defense Minister Gen. Sedki Sobhy. According to a Pentagon readout, Mattis expressed condolences for the Egyptian soldiers who lost their lives in recent militant attacks in North Sinai and expressed his deep commitment to advancing the U.S.-Egyptian defense partnership, particularly in the shared fight against terrorism.
IT’S THURSDAY, SO… The Pentagon has promised regular weekly all-topic briefings every Thursday by Dana White, chief spokesperson and Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie. The pair has briefed the last two weeks in the 3 p.m. hour, but the Pentagon has yet to add the briefings to its early morning schedule for today. Check here later today to see if today’s briefing is going to happen.
CNN DEBATE: During last night’s CNN debate on President Trump’s tax proposals, the back and forth briefly veered into the topic of which party more fully supports the U.S. military. “Democrats want to cut the military, Republicans want to defend our nation. That’s a real difference,” said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. “That’s an inaccurate statement,” responded Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, his debate opponent, citing the recent vote on the defense authorization, in which Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill overwhelmingly.
“Overwhelmingly, they voted the same way you did,” Sanders, an independent, said. “I voted no, because I think that at a time when we have people working two or three jobs trying to make ends meet where kids can’t afford to go to college and are leaving school deeply in debt, I happen not to think that spending $70 billion more on the military and giving a huge boondoggle to the military industrial complex that … Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about, I happen to think that was not a good idea.”
HALEY: IRAN ‘PLAYING’ THE UN: Major world powers at the United Nations Security Council have taken a “short-sighted” and “foolish” view of Iran’s aggression in the Middle East, according to Ambassador Nikki Haley. “The Security Council has repeatedly passed resolutions aimed at addressing Iranian support for terrorism and regional conflicts. But Iran has repeatedly thumbed its nose at those efforts,” Haley said. “Worse, the regime continues to play this Council. Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior. And we have allowed them to get away with it. This must stop.”
The meeting was supposed to be devoted to the revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but Haley used it as an early opportunity to advance Trump’s new strategy on Iran, which is aimed at curbing Iran’s malign activities that fall outside the purview of the nuclear accord, such as its missile program. “When a rogue regime starts down the path of ballistic missiles, it tells us that we will soon have another North Korea on our hands. If it is wrong for North Korea to do this, why doesn’t that same mentality apply to Iran?” she said.
U.S. AND INDIA’S ROLE: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is calling for a partnership with India to protect an “international order” threatened by the rise of China. “[T]he world — and the Indo-Pacific in particular — needs the United States and India to have a strong partnership,” Tillerson said yesterday during an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Tillerson touted the 70th anniversary of relations with India, but the speech was more than a commemorative event. He acknowledged the potential threat posed by China, which has emerged as an economic heavyweight and has asserted control over key shipping lanes in the region. Tillerson hopes to counteract these moves with a deliberate strengthening of ties with India, the world’s largest democracy. “It is indeed time to double down on a democratic partner that is still rising — and rising responsibly — for the next 100 years,” Tillerson said.
QUESTIONING THE NIGER AMBUSH: Democrats seem anxious to portray the deaths of four U.S. soldiers in Niger this month as policy failure, in which U.S. forces were secretly operating in a dangerous part of the world without adequate intelligence or back up. “This could turn out to be another Benghazi,” said Rep. Frederica Wilson, the Democratic congresswoman who was in the car when Trump called the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and who accused the president of making insensitive remarks. Wilson is questioning whether Johnson was left behind on the battlefield. His body was recovered two days later.
“I think it is appalling what the congresswoman has done, and the way she’s politicized this issue, and the way that she is trying to make this about something that it isn’t,” said spokeswoman Sarah Sanders at yesterday’s White House briefing. U.S. Africa Command is conducting an investigation of the mission, which relied on French forces for air support, and a private contractor to evacuate the U.S. troops after an ambush and fierce firefight with suspected ISIS-affiliated militants.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat on the Benghazi Committee who lost both her legs in combat, accused Trump of being evasive.”I want to know what happened. I want to know what those troops were doing there and were they given the adequate support that they needed in order to carry out their mission or did we leave them out there to dry, because that is not acceptable,” Duckworth told CNN.
MORE ON THE GOLD STAR CONTROVERSY: The Associated Press says it has reached out to the families of all 43 people who have died in military service since Trump became president. Not everyone wanted to address the question, AP reported, but of those who did, relatives of nine said they had heard from Trump either by phone or mail. Relatives of nine others said they had not.
As the controversy over Trump’s handling of the Niger ambush and its aftermath spilled into a third day, here’s how it all played out yesterday, in headline form:
- Trump says he has proof Democrat ‘totally fabricated’ his call with widow of soldier
- Frederica Wilson fires back at Trump: ‘I have proof too. This man is a sick man’
- Soldier’s mother confirms Frederica Wilson’s story: Trump ‘did disrespect my son’ in phone call to his widow
- Trump: ‘I did not say what that congresswoman said’ in call with soldier’s widow
- Sarah Sanders: No recording of Trump’s call with soldier’s widow, but others were in the room
- White House: Trump has ‘made contact with all of the families’ of fallen soldiers
- Trump ignored draft condolences after deaths of US soldiers in Niger: Report
- Trump offered Gold Star father $25,000 during condolence call
- Trump never called after White House said he would, Gold Star wife says
- John Kelly didn’t expect Trump to reveal Obama didn’t call him after he lost his son: Report
- Lindsey Graham on Trump’s military family kerfuffle: ‘This is something we should just let go’
Not likely.
THE RUNDOWN
AP: More conflicts loom after Islamic State defeat in Raqqa
New York Times: News analysis: With loss of its caliphate, ISIS may return to guerrilla roots
Reuters: Taliban kill at least 43 Afghan troops as they storm base: officials
CNN: McCain: Administration not being upfront about Niger attack
Defense News: B-21 cost info to stay secret despite new Air Force leadership
Washington Post: ISIS fighters booby-trapped corpses, toys and a teddy bear in besieged Raqqa
Wall Street Journal: Inside Islamic State’s other grisly war, a world away from Syria
Reuters: U.S. carrier patrols off Korean peninsula in warning to Pyongyang
Wall Street Journal: Xi Takes The Long View Of China’s Future
Defense Tech: Congressman: Fix Navy’s Perry-Class frigates, give them to allies
India Times: US To Release EMALS Technology To India For Aircraft Carriers
War on the Rocks: America’s opportunity in Iraq is ready to be seized
Defense One: Let’s walk this through: If North Korea launches an ICBM, then…
Foreign Policy: No plans to withdraw U.S. troops even after ISIS defeat
The Cipher Brief: Iran Deal Still Works Despite Iran’s Aggression
Calendar
THURSDAY | OCT. 19
8 a.m. 529 14th St. NW. Open Architecture Summit 2017 with a keynote speech by William Bray, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy. openarchitecturesummit.com
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Roles and responsibilities for defending the nation from cyber attack with Kenneth Rapuano, assistant secretary of defense. armed-services.senate.gov
12:15 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. The fait accompli in the 21st century security landscape: From Crimea to Doklam to the Spratly Islands. stimson.org
3 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. A strategy for the trans-Pacific century: Final report of the Atlantic Council’s Asia-Pacific strategy task force. atlanticcouncil.org
3 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The North Korean nuclear challenge and international response. heritage.org
FRIDAY | OCT. 20
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. Global leaders forum with H.E. Florence Parly, France’s minister for the armed forces. csis.org
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. How Jihadism ends: Comparing state strategies toward violent extremism in Kenya and Uganda. csis.org
1:30 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. The way forward on Iran policy with a keynote speech by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. press.org
MONDAY | OCT. 23
12 p.m. 6715 Commerce St. 20th Annual Systems Engineering Conference with Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags, head of Naval Air Systems Command. ndia.org
TUESDAY | OCT. 24
7:45 a.m. 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Precision Strike Technology Symposium with Vice Adm. Mat Winter, F-35 program executive officer, and Gen. Stephen Wilson, vice chief of staff of the Air Force. ndia.org
8 a.m. 100 Westgate Circle. 22nd Annual Expeditionary Warfare Conference with Lt. Gen. Bob Hedelund, commanding general of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, and Vice Adm. Kevin Scott, director of Joint Staff force development. ndia.org
11 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Securing democracy: The history of foreign election interference. csis.org
WEDNESDAY | OCT. 25
8 a.m. 2401 M St. NW. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of the Nato Military Committee. centermediasecurity.org
10:30 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Book discussion of “Vets and Pets: Wounded Warriors and the Animals that Help Them Heal” with authors Kevin Ferris and Dava Guerin. heritage.org
5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Book launch of “Crashback, The Power Clash Between the U.S. and China in the Pacific” with author Michael Fabey. csis.org
THURSDAY | OCT. 26
8:15 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Documentary screening and discussion of “Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS.” cfr.org
