Partisan divide marks defense budget battle in House Armed Services Committee

At yesterday’s subcommittee markup, chairman Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., downplayed the differences, insisting 95% of the subcommittee’s mark “represents continuity with the policies” of the subcommittee “and every presidential administration of both parties going back many decades.”

POINTS OF DEPARTURE: One of the issues that continues to divide the committee along partisan lines is the attempt by Democrats to block the Pentagon’s plans to convert some submarine-launched ICBMs into low-yield nuclear weapons by modifying existing warheads.

The move would put the U.S. at a “significant disadvantage with regard to Russia,” complained Turner. “Taken in its totality this mark makes us less safe. It makes the Department of Defense less able to credibly deter our adversaries,” he said.

Cooper argued that defunding the low-yield warhead continued a 60-year policy that the U.S. submarines never be used as a tactical nuclear platform. “Adding a small number low-yield weapons to our submarines will actually decrease, not increase, our strategic power by subtracting priceless missile tubes and by risking exposure of our submarines to attack,” Cooper said. “We already have a large number of low-yield nuclear weapons available and hundreds deployed, but for our air assets, not our submarines.”

SPACE FORCE: Another major split is over the need to create a separate service to focus on space, as President Trump wants, or whether the recently reconstituted U.S. Space Command is sufficient to coordinate the effort to protect U.S. satellites, and if necessary wage war in space. That question will be taken up by the full House committee next week.

Trump’s nominee to head the Space Command, which could become the Space Force, is Air Force Gen. John Raymond, who warned Congress yesterday the U.S. advantage in space technology is rapidly eroding.

“We no longer have the luxury of operating in a peaceful, benign domain, and we no longer have the luxury of treating space superiority as a given. Although space as a warfighting domain, our goal is actually to deter a conflict from extending into space,” Raymond testified at his Senate confirmation hearing. “The best way I know how to deter that is to be prepared to fight and win if deterrence were to fail.”

“It’s no longer good enough just to launch a satellite, get it on orbit,” he said. “You have to be able to protect and defend it, and you have to be able to fight.”

LIFT THE CAPS: The Pentagon’s hope for stable, predictable budgets for the next two years rests largely on the promise that Republicans and Democrats will agree to lift the spending caps mandated under the Budget Control Act of 2011, which still has two years to go.

Last week, Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was predicting a deal was imminent, but it never materialized. Yesterday, he said remains optimistic.

“I still believe that a spending caps deal is to everybody’s advantage. Everybody. The president, the Senate, the House, both parties,” McConnell told reporters. “We expect those talks to resume, and we’re hopeful we’ll be able to reach an agreement so we can have some kind of ordinary process to fund the government of the United States.”

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HAPPENING TODAY: President Trump joins Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Theresa May at Portsmouth Naval Base in England to honor American service members and allies who liberated Europe from Nazi Germany. It’s the first of two events commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day that Trump is attending this week.

“We remember the heroes who laid down their lives to rescue civilization itself on June 6th, 1944 — tens of thousands of young warriors left these shores by the sea and air to begin the invasion of Normandy and the liberation of Europe and the brutal Nazi occupation,” said Trump yesterday at a news conference with May. “It was a liberation like few people have seen before.”

Tomorrow Trump participates in a commemoration of the anniversary at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

‘ALWAYS A CHANCE’: In his talks with May, the American president and the outgoing British prime minister agreed once again to disagree on Iran.

“We’ve discussed again the importance of our two nations working together to address Iran’s destabilizing activity in the region and to ensure Iran cannot acquire a nuclear weapon,” said May standing next to Trump. “Although we differ on the means of achieving that — as I’ve said before, the U.K. continues to stand by the nuclear deal — it is clear that we both want to reach the same goal. It is important that Iran meets its obligations and we do everything to avoid escalation, which is in no one’s interest.”

In an interview with Piers Morgan on the British television station ITV, Trump was asked whether he thought the U.S. would need to take military action against Iran. “There is always a chance. Do I want to? No, I’d rather not. But there’s always a chance.”

But later in the interview, he said he would prefer to negotiate with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. “Yeah, of course. I would much rather talk.”

‘I DIDN’T KNOW THAT’: In that ITV interview, Trump was also challenged by Morgan on his orders to bar service by transgender troops. “This week, you tweeted your support for the LGBT community. It does prompt the obvious question of why did you feel the need for banning transgender people from serving in the US military?” Morgan asked.

“Because they take massive amounts of drugs, in the US military you are not allowed to take any drugs,” Trump replied. “You would have to break rules and regulations in order to have that.”

“The US military spends a lot more money, for example, on giving Viagra to servicemen and women, well servicemen, than it does on medical bills for transgender people,” Morgan countered.

“I didn’t know they did that,” Trump admitted.

ISIS IN IRAQ: The latest strike report from the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS indicates the effort to eradicate the terrorist group remains concentrated in Iraq, with no airstrikes reported in Syria between May 5 and June 3.

During that time U.S. and coalition planes conducted 11 airstrike against 34 targets, including 16 ISIS tactical units, 21 caves, two vehicles, and one “bed-down location.”

ISIS IN MOZAMBIQUE: ISIS is claiming responsibility for an attack on Mozambican forces in a province in the north of the country, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a terrorist monitoring group.

“This is the first time that ISIS has officially claimed an attack in Mozambique,” says MEMRI. “Following its defeat in Syria, the group has been pushing to demonstrate its reach in African countries and regions, including the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as Nigeria and its neighboring countries.”

“Militant Islamists have been reportedly behind numerous attacks in the Cabo Delgado region since 2017,” the group said, citing various media reports.

NIGER PROBE ENDS: After ordering a review of the investigation of the deaths of four U.S. troops who were ambushed in Niger in 2017, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has decided to take no further action

“Following an extensive investigation into the attack, the Department of Defense identified numerous areas for improvement and lessons learned to help prevent this type of incident from occurring again in the future,” said Cmdr. Candice Tresch, a spokesperson at the Pentagon, according to CNN. “After a thorough review of those reports … Shanahan concurred with all of the findings, awards and accountability,” she said in a statement.

IRAN’S CHEMICAL WEAPONS: Lost in all the talk about Iran’s nuclear weapons program is the threat from its chemical weapons capability, argues Peter Brookes in a new report for the The Heritage Foundation.

Citing State Department reports that at least two Iranian-military-controlled facilities have researched chemical agents with incapacitating effects, Brookes warns Iran could try to compensate for its obsolete conventional forces with an asymmetric attack using pharmaceutical-based agents. “Among a number of other potential scenarios for its unconventional or conventional military use, these extremely potent pharmacological agents could also be furtively introduced into water, food, or agricultural systems, or could be aerosolized,” Brookes writes.

“Considering Tehran’s threats to international security, the United States must deter, dissuade, and prevent Iran and its proxies from developing and using chemical weapons against U.S. interests.”

THE UNION JACK IS BACK: One year after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. Navy began flying the “Don’t Tread on Me” rattlesnake jack on its ships to mark what was then called the GWOT, the Global War on Terror. But earlier this year Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, ordered a return to the traditional Union Jack in a fleet-wide message.

“The Union Jack is a flag consisting of 50 white stars, representing each of the 50 states, on a blue background. A version of this Jack first flew in 1777 and was updated as new States joined the Union. The Union Jack symbolizes the cumulative strength of our Nation and of our Navy, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” the message said.

Yesterday Richardson tweeted, “Team, today marks @USNavy’s return to flying the Union Jack aboard our vessels and I’m loving all the pictures you’re sending in from morning colors! Here’s a great one from the team aboard USS Germantown (LSD 42) stationed in Sasebo, Japan. Keep them coming!”

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Xi Jinping calls Vladimir Putin ‘best and bosom friend’

AFP: China Conducts First Sea-Based Space Rocket Launch

Reuters: Do you believe in UFOs? China hints at test of new missile

Defense One: North Korea’s Nuclear Bomb Is Much Bigger than Previously Thought

Washington Times: In A First, South Korean General To Head Joint U.S.-Korean Combat Command On Peninsula

AP: Saudi Arabia Flies Iranian To Hospital Off ‘Hostile’ Ship

Defense News: Here’s what the first few years of US Space Command might look like

The Diplomat: Japan Stops Search for Crashed F-35A Stealth Fighter Jet

Washington Examiner: Russian jet intercepts Navy plane 3 times over Mediterranean

Reuters: Kremlin Dismisses Trump Tweet On Alleged Venezuela Withdrawal

Washington Examiner: A dozen French ISIS members sentenced to death in Iraq

NPR: The Marines’ Top General Talks About A Changing Corps

Seapower Magazine: Queen Elizabeth Closer to Operations With Transatlantic Training

AP: Baghdad’s Green Zone reopens to the public after 16 years

Air Force Magazine: Offutt Welcomes Promise of $19.1 Billion Disaster-Aid Package

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5

9 a.m. 2212 Rayburn. House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee markup of H.R.2500, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020.” armedservices.house.gov/hearings

10 a.m. 901 17th Street N.W. Friends of the National World War II Memorial discussion with World War II veterans who took part in Operation Overlord (D-Day). Speaker: Alex Kershaw, author of “The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II” wwiimemorialfriends.networkforgood.com/events

10:15 a.m. 419 Dirksen. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Rule By Fear: 30 Years After Tiananmen Square.” Witnesses: Xiao Qiang, founder and editor-in-chief China Digital Times; Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch; Christopher Walker, vice president for studies and analysis, National Endowment for Democracy. www.foreign.senate.gov

11:35 a.m. 1101 6th St. S.W. Pentagon Chief Data Officer Michael Conlin participates in panel discussion at FedScoop’s DC CloudWeek event.

12 p.m. 1000 H Street, N.W. Mark Beall, chief, Strategic Engagement and Policy, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, provides the keynote address on emerging technologies in DOD at the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s 2019 Emerging Technology Forum.

4 p.m. 1750 Independence Ave. S.W. Friends of the National World War II Memorial remembrance ceremony and candlelight vigil to honor all those who died during Operation Overlord, including the reading of the names of those buried at Normandy American Cemetery. www.wwiimemorialfriends.org/volunteer

THURSDAY | JUNE 6

All day. The 75th anniversary of the day in 1944 when nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along a heavily fortified, 50-mile stretch of French coastline in the historic operation known as D-Day, and began the liberation of German-occupied France.

President Trump participates in a commemoration of the anniversary at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

9 a.m. 216 Hart. American Foreign Policy Council, the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs,and the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law conference on “Countering China’s Security State: A Bipartisan Approach.” Speakers include Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del. www.eventbrite.com/e/countering-chinas-security-state

9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arl. Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Power discussion on “Warfare in the Information Age.” Speaker: Air Force Lt. Gen. Brad Shwedo, director for command, control, communications and computers/cyber, and CIO to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. www.afa.org/events/calendar

10 a.m. 1750 Independence Ave. S.W. Friends of the World War II Memorial commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord (D-Day). wwiimemorialfriends.networkforgood.com

11 a.m. 1319 18th Street N.W. Middle East Institute discussion on “Iraq’s Crisis of Governance after the Basra Protests.” Speakers: Akeel Abbas, professor at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani; Basma Alloush, advocacy and communications officer at the Norwegian Refugee Council; Mac Skelton, director of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani’s Institute of Regional and International Studies; Bilal Wahab, fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Randa Slim, senior fellow and director of the MEI Program on Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues. www.mei.edu/events

7 p.m. 700 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. National Archives film screening and discussion of “The True Glory,” a record of the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy and the Allied landing in Europe. Speaker: former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. www.archives.gov

FRIDAY | JUNE 7

8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. National Defense Industrial Association, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Air Force Association and the Reserve Officers Association forum on “Escalation and Limited Wars with China or Russia?” Speakers: Elbridge Colby, director of defense programs at New America; and James Acton, co-director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nuclear Policy Program.

MONDAY | JUNE 10

9 a.m. 2201 G. St. N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who discusses Democratic priorities in Wednesday’s markup of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

TUESDAY | JUNE 11

8 a.m. 2201 G. St. N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Rep. Mac Thornberry, R, Texas, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, who discusses Republican priorities in Wednesday’s markup of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

8 a.m. 923 16th St. N.W. All day symposium on “Poland’s Security & Economic Partnership with the United States: An Enduring Alliance,” to coincide with the visit of Poland’s President Andrezj Duda to Washington. Speakers include: Poland’s Minister of Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, Polish Ambassador to the U.S. Piotr Wilczek, and U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher.

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 12

10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services full committee markup of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings