CRISIS OVER THE BORDER: President Trump is mounting a full-scale public relations battle to convince the American people a bigger, better, border barrier is fundamental to the country’s national security. He argues further Democrats stubbornly refusing to fund a vital project are responsible for the partial government shutdown, now in its third week.

HAPPENING TODAY, POMPEO IN JORDAN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is on the first leg of a week-long, eight-nation swing through the Middle East. In remarks to reporters, Pompeo insisted there is no daylight between the President Trump’s order to withdraw troops, and National Security Adviser John Bolton’s insistence that the withdrawal will happen only after ISIS is fully defeated and the security of the Kurds is guaranteed.

“I think they’ve both said the same thing, They’ve both said we’re going to get out,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him. “The President said we’re going to do it in an orderly fashion that achieves our objective, and that our mission set in the region remains unchanged. Those seem pretty – it seemed pretty consistent to me.”

Pompeo said he was “confident we will continue to ensure that the kind of rise ISIS had under the Obama administration doesn’t occur again,” noting ISIS is on the ropes. “We’ve taken down 99 percent of the caliphate, 99 percent of the caliphate. That should be the first sentence in every story, right?”

“The threat from radical Islamic terrorism is going to be with us for a while, and we’re determined to stay at it and continue to make sure that the resurgence of large land-based caliphates like ISIS don’t happen on our watch.”

Pompeo will have stops in Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, before returning to the U.S. a week from today. Turkey, notably, is not on the itinerary.

DoD ALIGNS ITS MESSAGE: The Pentagon said yesterday the U.S. will continue both “to fight to achieve an enduring defeat of ISIS” and to support the Counter ISIS Coalition in Syria — while at the same time “withdrawing troops in a strong, deliberate and coordinated” manner.

“OIR [Operation Inherent Resolve] has an approved framework for the withdrawal of forces from Syria, and is now engaged in executing that withdrawal. That framework is conditions-based and will not subject troop withdrawal to an arbitrary timeline,” said Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman in an emailed statement. “The framework will be influenced by a number of factors, including weather.”

TRUMP WIELDS ‘FAKE NEWS’ CHARGE AGAIN: On Twitter yesterday, the president again accused the news media of making things up. “The Failing New York Times has knowingly written a very inaccurate story on my intentions on Syria,” he tweeted. “No different from my original statements, we will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!…..”

While it’s unclear which New York Times story Trump is objecting to, the problem is there were no “original statements.” On Dec 19 we awoke to leaked reported that Trump was ordering a rapid withdrawal within 30 days, and this single sentence cryptic tweet, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

There was no announcement. No address to the nation. No informing of consultation with Congress. No order to the Pentagon. No mention of “a proper pace,” only a short twitter video posted later in which Trump said the U.S. had beaten ISIS badly, and “Our boys, our young women, our men, they’re all coming back and they’re coming back now. We won.”

IT’S GETTING PERSONAL: Trump again called the “Fake News Media” the “Enemy of the People!” in a series of tweets. “The Fake News will knowingly lie and demean in order make the tremendous success of the Trump Administration, and me, look as bad as possible. They use non-existent sources & write stories that are total fiction.”

On a personal I would like to state that neither I, nor any of my colleagues at the Washington Examiner, nor any of the reporters I know personally who cover national defense, including those at The New York Times, “use non-existent sources” or “write stories that are total fiction.”

As journalists, as human beings, we make mistakes, we sometimes get things wrong or miss the point, but we don’t make things up out of whole cloth. Mistakes, when discovered, are corrected. Any journalist who found to have fabricated reporting faces career-ending sanctions.

ERDOGAN — TRUMP IS RIGHT: In an op-ed published in The New York Times Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who urged Trump last month to get out of Syria, writes that Trump “made the right call” in following his advice in relying on Turkey to finish off ISIS.

“Turkey, which has NATO’s second largest standing army, is the only country with the power and commitment to perform that task,” Erdogan writes. But he cautions, “The United States withdrawal, however, must be planned carefully and performed in cooperation with the right partners to protect the interests of the United States, the international community and the Syrian people.”

Erdogan also sought to reassure the U.S. it would not “slaughter the Kurds,” as some in the Congress fear. “I would like to point out that we have no argument with the Syrian Kurds. Under wartime conditions, many young Syrians had no choice but to join the P.Y.D./Y.P.G., the Syrian branch of the P.K.K., that Turkey and the United States consider a terrorist organization.”

“Following the United States withdrawal from Syria, we will complete an intensive vetting process to reunite child soldiers with their families and include all fighters with no links to terrorist organizations in the new stabilization force,” Erdogan wrote.

BOLTON SNUBBED: John Bolton is set to depart Turkey without meeting with President Erdogan, in an apparent snub over disagreements about Kurdish fighters in Syria, the AP reports this morning.

And in a speech to his parliament today Erdogan criticized the U.S. position that the Kurds must be protected. Erdogan reiterated his government’s position that they are a terrorist group. Speaking to members of his AK Party Erdogan said Bolton made “serious mistake” in calling for a new condition for the U.S. withdrawal from Syria.

“Although we made a clear agreement with U.S. President Trump, different voices are emerging from different parts of the administration,” Erdogan said according to Bloomberg. “Trump’s remarks continue to be the main point of reference for us.”

KIM IN CHINA: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un showed up in Beijing today, for a meeting at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, in what appears to a prelude to Kim’s second summit with President Trump, later this year.

“A special train carrying Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, arrived at a highly secure station in Beijing at around 10:55 a.m,” reported the South Korean news agency Yonhap. “Escorted by Chinese police, he and his entourage headed in prearranged limousines to Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.”

A video shown on North Korea’s state TV showed Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong among the people leaving for China. She was also with her brother last May, on his second trip to China.

“We should not be surprised Kim Jong Un has traveled to China to for a summit with Xi Jinping,” writes Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest.

“Kim is eager to remind the Trump Administration that he does have diplomatic and economic options besides what Washington and Seoul can offer,” Kazianis writes. “In fact, during his New Year’s Days speech, Kim’s ‘new way’ that he referred to may well have been a veiled threat to move closer to Beijing. That should make America quite concerned, as China could easily turn Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy into nothing more than a memory as almost all North Korea’s external trade flows through China in some capacity.”

AFGHANISTAN PLEA: “Now is not the time to abandon the Afghans and repeat the mistakes of the Obama Administration when it abruptly removed all trainers from Iraq in 2011, paving the way for the invasion by the Islamic State,” writes Luke Coffey a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation.

In the wake of reports that President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans to cut the size of U.S. troops presence in the NATO-led support mission roughly in half, by bringing home 7,000 troops, Coffey argues that would be a huge mistake

“A capable Afghanistan National Defense and Security Force (ANDSF) and a genuine political settlement with the Taliban, led by the Afghans, is the country’s best ticket to rise from poverty, and America’s best hope for regional stability and security. It is in America’s interest to continue the training, advising, and assisting mission for the ANDSF.”

AIRSTRIKES IN SOMALIA CONTINUE: As the U.S. continues to hammer al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, the Pentagon is reportedly pushing back on media reports suggesting the U.S. will reduce its presence in the area. U.S. Africa Command said yesterday that six militants connected to al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate, were killed in an airstrike near Dheerow Sanle in Somalia on Jan. 6.

The attack was intended to limit the extremist group’s “freedom of movement.” Last week, a similar strike was conducted and killed 10 al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, where approximately 500 U.S. troops have been working alongside local forces to counter al-Shabaab.

The strikes coincide with NBC’s report from Friday citing two senior U.S. officials, who asserted that the number of airstrikes in Somalia would be cut down. However, the Pentagon told Stars and Stripes that “no recent policy changes regarding U.S. operations in Somalia.”

AIRSTRIKES IN YEMEN DECLINE: The U.S. conducted 36 airstrikes targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Islamic State efforts in Yemen in 2018, U.S. Central Command reported yesterday — a dramatic drop from the 131 airstrikes carried out in 2017. The 2018 airstrikes were conducted from January to September. None were conducted from October to December.

WHO SAID WHAT? On Friday President Trump raised eyebrows when he said some of his predecessors regretted not building a wall along the southwest border. “This should’ve been done by all of the presidents that have preceded me, and they all know it,” Trump said. “Some of them have told me that we should have done it.”

That raised the obvious question: Which former presidents exactly? “I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump, and do not support him on the issue,” said former President  Jimmy Carter in a tweet from the Carter Center.

Both former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have issued statements saying they have not discussed the issue with Trump. And Barack Obama has yet to respond but opposes the wall.

THE RUNDOWN

NBC News: Only six immigrants in terrorism database stopped by CBP at southern border in first half of 2018

Wall Street Journal: As U.S. Footprint Shrinks, Others Happily Fill The Void

The Hill: U.S., North Korean Officials Have Discussed Location Of Next Trump-Kim Summit: Report

USNI News: USS Fort McHenry Visits Romania While Russian Frigate Watches

New York Times: Iran Has Held U.S. Navy Veteran Since July, Family Says

Task & Purpose: The Marines Threw This Major To The Wolves Over A Massacre That Didn’t Happen. Now His Record Is Clean

Breaking Defense: Pentagon Approves Two-Carrier Buy As Fixes Continue to Navy’s Priciest Ship

Washington Post: Could A Chinese-Made Metro Car Spy On Us? Many Say Yes

Breaking Defense: M2 Bradley Gets An Iron Fist: First Photo Of Israeli Anti-Missile Defense

New York Times: Opinion: No, Trump Cannot Declare an ‘Emergency’ to Build His Wall