As tensions escalate with Iran, Pompeo briefs Iraq on the threat to US forces

Pompeo said he briefed Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and President Barham Salih on details of the “credible threat” from Iran that U.S. officials refuse to disclose publicly. “We wanted to let them know about the increased threat stream that we had seen and give them a little bit more background on that so they could ensure that they were doing all they could to provide protection for our team,” Pompeo said.

America has about 5,000 troops in Iraq, where the fight against what Pompeo called pockets of ISIS fighters continues. Pompeo noted that there are still militia groups controlled by Iran operating in Iraq. “We have urged the Iraqi government, for its own security, to get all of those forces under Iraq central control,” Pompeo said, adding that as long as militias have weapons that are not under government control, not just American interests but Iraqi sovereignty is at risk.

THE THREAT: CNN quotes “several U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation” saying that the United States has intelligence indicating “Iran is likely moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf.”

The Washington Post quoted defense officials saying the intelligence included imagery of containers on the deck of at least one dhow, a sailing vessel, believed to contain fully assembled ballistic missiles from Iran.

“A number of factors define credibility but they are all related to the sources and methods through which information is obtained, which is not something we are going to be able to talk about,” said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., who said the request for additional naval and air forces was the result of “recent and clear indications that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were making preparations to possibly attack U.S. forces in the region.”

“This includes threats on land and in the maritime,” Urban said.

THE RESPONSE: The Pentagon pushed back against the idea that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was already on its way to the Persian Gulf and so its movement wasn’t really a sign of increased urgency. Officials said that while it’s true that the Lincoln’s deployment plan included a stop to spend significant time in the Gulf, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan ordered the “expedited transit” of the carrier and its support ships to the region, canceling a planned port call in Split, Croatia.

The Pentagon also confirmed that the “bomber task force” announced by national security adviser John Bolton Sunday night consists of four B-52 long-range heavy bombers deployed to an undisclosed base in the region.

The ships in the Lincoln strike group:
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)

Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser:
USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55)

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers:
USS Bainbridge (DDG 96)
USS Gonzalez (DDG 66)
USS Mason (DDG 87)
USS Nitze (DDG 94)

IRAN GIVES 2-MONTH NOTICE: In a televised address today, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened to end the country’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by six world powers unless Iran gets new terms now that the United States has withdrawn from the agreement.

Essentially, Rouhani told America’s European allies who still support the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, that they will have to choose sides. Otherwise, he said, Iran will hold on to excess uranium and heavy water from its nuclear program, which under the deal it is required to export out of the country.

That would provide Iran with more material that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

POMPEO IN LONDON: The Iran situation will be at the top of the agenda today when Secretary of State Pompeo meets with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London. U.S. allies Britain, Germany, France, and the European Union remain committed to the nuclear deal, as do China and Russia.

Responding to the idea that Iran may be complying with the JCPOA, “just a little bit less,” Pompeo told reporters, “Hey, this is binary. You’re either in compliance or you’re not. And so we’ll obviously have to wait and see what they choose to do,” adding “I think everyone will look at the Iranians’ decision and have to make their own assessment of how much increased risk there is.”

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Kelly Jane Torrance (@kjtorrance). 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: Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford will make the case for the president’s $750 billion defense budget when the two appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee at 10 a.m.

Shanahan will urge the passage of disaster relief so that repairs can begin on the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, ravaged by Hurricane Florence in September, and Tyndall Air Force Base, devastated when Hurricane Michael hit Florida in October.

“I’ll be up on the Hill because we need to get our hurricane supplemental through,” Shanahan said yesterday. “And then it’s budget season, so we’ll be talking about the importance of the budget and the implementation of a National Defense Strategy.”

President Trump will get a briefing on the damage at Tyndall when he tours the base this afternoon.

‘IT’S A FULL TABLE’: Shananhan met with Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez to discuss the crisis in Venezuela, and Shanahan said the United States “will continue to keep all options on the table to ensure regional security.”

“We are very well coordinated and disciplined and have a broad setup of contingency plans. Very hard to predict the future, right? And so for every single option you want to have a plan,” he said. “I would maybe just kind of add that there are a lot of plates we’re spinning right now in the department. I think the events over the weekend with North Korea, it demonstrates that the world is a very dynamic place.”

Asked if there were more options on the table for Venezuela, Shanahan replied, “Well, it’s a full table.”

USNS COMFORT TO THE REGION: Shanahan did announce that hospital ship USNS Comfort is returning to Latin America next month to provide humanitarian medical support to countries hosting Venezuelans who have fled their homes.

The Comfort will engage in a five-month humanitarian mission in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, but it has yet to be determined which countries will host the ship during the mission.

ISIS IN IRAQ: The latest strike release from the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve shows that ISIS has pretty much departed Syria but continues to try to regroup in Iraq. The summary of airstrikes, which used to be released daily, is now reported on a biweekly basis, and for the second reporting period a row there were no strikes in Syria and dozens in Iraq.

While he was in Iraq yesterday, Secretary of State Pompeo stressed to Iraqi leaders the need for U.S. troops to continue to help eradicate ISIS. “We’re going to continue to support the Iraqi Security Forces, the ISF – train them, professionalize them – so that the new leadership there in Iraq can have security control inside of their own country.”

BALLOONING WEAPONS COSTS: In an effort to speed up the acquisition of new weapons, the Pentagon has transferred oversight responsibilities for many programs to the military services that manage them. But a new Government Accountability Office report has found that the Defense Department’s 2018 portfolio of major weapons programs has grown in cost by $8 billion, despite containing four fewer systems than last year.

“We found that costs continue to increase for many of these programs — even those that started after major acquisition reforms were adopted in 2010. This is troubling because these reforms were supposed to limit cost growth.”

SOLDIER DEATH: The Pentagon announced the death of a 22-year-old soldier in Afghanistan this week from what it described as “wounds sustained from a non-combat incident.”

Spc. Miguel L. Holmes died May 6, 2019, in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. Holmes was assigned to 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Savannah, Ga.

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: Maduro providing a ‘safe haven’ for Iranian terrorists in the West, Pence says

New York Times: America Set to Partner With Allies to Counter Russian Interference

The Diplomat: Pentagon: Air-Launched Ballistic Missile Will Realize China’s Nuclear Triad

Defense One: Price Drop: Lockheed Pitches $80M F-35A to Pentagon

Bloomberg: Navy Plans To Surge Submarine Spending To $5 Billion By 2024

Defense News: With The Navy’s Submarine Maintenance Woes, There May Yet Be Hope

Air Force Magazine: DOD IG: US, Coalition Aircraft Facing Interference, Limited ISR Capability in ISIS Fight

Washington Post: The U.S. has slashed its refugee intake. Syrians fleeing war are most affected.

Washington Examiner: Army secretary knows the future is coming

Daily Beast: Trump Admin Inflated Iran Intel, U.S. Officials Say

USNI News: Boeing to Retrofit Existing EA-18G Growler Fleet

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | MAY 8

6:45 a.m. 201 Waterfront St. National Harbor. Day three of the Navy League’s 54th annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition, with the theme “Sustainability, Agility, Superiority.” Navy Secretary Richard Spencer delivers the luncheon keynote address at 12:15 p.m. www.seaairspace.org

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 “Missile Defense and Nuclear Deterrence and Alliance Relations.” Speakers: Tom Karako, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Frank Rose, senior fellow for security and strategy at the Brookings Institution. www.afa.org/hbs

9 a.m. 801 Wharf St. S.W. Foundation for Defense of Democracies event: “Rising to the Threat: Revitalizing America’s Military and Political Power.” Speakers include retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser; Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, U.S. Central Command head; Rep. Mac Thornberry, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee; and retired Lt. Gen. Ed Cardon, former U.S. Army Cyber Command head. Invitation only.

10 a.m. S-128, U.S. Capitol. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford testify at a Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee hearing on the proposed budget estimates and justification for FY2020 for the Defense Department. www.appropriations.senate.gov

10 a.m. 310 Cannon. House Homeland Security Committee hearing on “Confronting the Rise of Domestic Terrorism in the Homeland.” Witnesses: Assistant FBI Director for Counterterrorism Michael McGarrity; Principal Deputy Homeland Security Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis Brian Murphy; and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security Brad Wiegmann. homeland.house.gov

11 a.m. Foyer, Rayburn. National Defense Industrial Association 2019 Missile Defense Day on the Hill to discuss the latest advances in missile technology. www.ndia.org

12 p.m. 1800 M Street N.W. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Brookings Institution sponsor an invitation-only discussion on Operation Tidal Wave II and its role in the destruction of the Islamic State’s finances. Speakers: Retired Gen. John Allen, president of the Brookings Institution; David Asher, former State Department official and FDD senior fellow; and retired Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, former commander of the coalition against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Moderated by Nancy Youssef, national security correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.

2 p.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on “FY2020 Priorities for Missile Defense and Missile Defeat Programs.” Witnesses: Robert Behler, operational test and evaluation director in the office of the defense secretary; James Anderson, assistant defense secretary for strategy, plans and capabilities; Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of U.S. Northern Command; Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the Missile Defense Agency; and Navy Vice Adm. David Kriete, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command. www.armedservices.house.gov

2 p.m. 2154 Rayburn. House Oversight and Reform National Security Subcommittee hearing on “Veteran and Active-Duty Military Suicides.” oversight.house.gov

THURSDAY | MAY 9

9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a discussion on the consequences of cutting U.S. aid to the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Speakers: Leah Campos, former senior staff for the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman; Dan Fisk, COO of the International Republican Institute and former senior director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council; former U.S. ambassador to Guatemala Stephen McFarland; Katie Taylor, executive director of the Pan American Development Foundation; Rebecca Chavez, nonresident senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue and former deputy assistant defense secretary for the Western Hemisphere; Mark Schneider, nonresident senior adviser at the CSIS Americas Program and Human Rights Initiative; Michael Matera, director and senior fellow at the CSIS Americas Program; Daniel Runde, senior vice president and global analysis chair at CSIS and director of the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development; and Erol Yayboke, deputy director and senior fellow at the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development and the Project on U.S. Leadership in Development. www.csis.org

FRIDAY | MAY 10

10:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Rules in War – A Thing of the Past?” Speakers: Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Susan Glasser, staff writer at the New Yorker; Charles Stimson, manager of the Heritage Foundation’s National Security Law Program; J. Stephen Morrison, director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center; and Kimberly Flowers, director of the CSIS Global Food Security Project. www.csis.org