AUSTIN ASSUMES POWERS: It was a working weekend for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was confirmed by the Senate Friday morning on a vote of 93-2 and immediately reported for work at the Pentagon at 12 noon sharp.
“Good to see you guys. And thanks for being here. I look forward to working with you,” Austin said to a small group of reporters who greeted him on the River Entrance steps. “See you around campus.”
His first call was from his boss, President Biden, who congratulated Austin on his swift confirmation. His first act was to send a message to the force, in which he described his job as making “you more effective at doing yours.”
“That means ensuring you have the tools, technology, weapons, and training to deter and defeat our enemies. It means establishing sound policy and strategy and assigning you clear missions. It means putting a premium on cooperation with our allies and partners. And it means living up to our core values, the same ones our fellow citizens expect of us,” he wrote.
A schedule of his first day released by the Pentagon showed Austin chairing a meeting on COVID-19, getting briefed on China and the Middle East, and calling key allies, including NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and his counterparts in Korea, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
TRANSGENDER BAN TO END: As Biden promised during the campaign, the Pentagon will be revoking regulations that limit how transgender troops can serve in the military, with the order from Biden expected this week, perhaps as soon as today.
Currently, transgender troops can serve openly only if they were covered by the 2016 policy implemented by Obama Defense Secretary Ash Carter. After President Donald Trump tweeted in July 2017 his intention to no longer allow “transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” then Defense Secretary Jim Mattis fashioned a compromise that grandfathered in some troops but required new recruits to serve in their birth gender. The policy has been caught up in court fights since.
“I support the president’s plan or plan to overturn the ban,” Austin said at his Jan.19 Senate confirmation hearing. “I truly believe … that if you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve, and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve. And you can expect that I will support that throughout.”
TRANS-FRIENDLY: On his first day in office, Biden issued an executive order preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, but to apply it to the military requires an additional action.
“Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes,” the order stated.
In addition, Biden has nominated Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. If approved, Levine would be the first-ever Senate-confirmed transgender official in U.S. history.
THE PROBLEM THAT WON’T GO AWAY: On Saturday, Austin announced a comprehensive review of the sexual harassment prevention efforts within the U.S. military.
“President Biden has ordered a 90-day commission to pursue solutions to sexual assault in the military. We will aggressively support that effort. But I do not want to wait 90 days to take action,” Austin said in a memo to leaders and military commanders.
“I know this has been a focus for you and for the department’s leadership. I know you have worked on this problem for many years. I tried to tackle it myself when I, too, commanded. We simply must admit the hard truth: We must do more. All of us,” he said. “We must not be afraid to get creative,” he added.
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HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Austin, along with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, will make the short trip across the Potomac to meet with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at 11:30 a.m.
At 12:30 p.m., the vice president will conduct a ceremonial swearing-in of Austin in the Roosevelt Room. Austin was already sworn in Friday at the Pentagon.
ALSO TODAY: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be sending a single article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate today, which will technically trigger the beginning of his Senate trial.
House Democrats will walk the charge of “incitement of insurrection” over to the Senate this evening, but under an agreement between Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the trial will not start until the week of Feb. 8 in order to allow Trump’s legal team to prepare a defense and for the Senate to confirm more of Biden’s Cabinet nominees.
McKENZIE, AWAITING NEW ORDERS: U.S. Central Commander Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie says his signaling to Iran not to take any provocative actions during the transition of American presidents appears to have worked.
Speaking to reporters traveling with him to the region Sunday, McKenzie said Iran also appeared to rein in its proxy forces in Iraq. “Largely, they have been able to tell them this is not the time to provoke a war,” he said, according to Defense One’s Katie Bo Williams, who is among the traveling press. “Not all of that is probably the result of the military component. I’m sure there’s a political calculation in Iran to get to a new administration and see if things change.”
“Our goal was to deter a war,” McKenzie told the reporters, now he said, “You have a new administration that’s going to revisit U.S. policy.”
McKenzie said that he has “not yet” received any new orders regarding Afghanistan. “I think you would expect the new team to come in and do their due diligence,” McKenzie said. “I had an opportunity to talk to the transition team before the inauguration. They had a lot of very good questions, a lot of requests for information.”
CHRIS MILLER UNFILTERED: I’m not sure whose idea it was to give veteran reporter, TV producer, and former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky unfettered on-the-record access to Chris Miller in his final seven days as acting defense secretary, but if the thought was to burnish Miller’s image — well, as they say at the Pentagon, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
And in the manner of a dutiful wife telling her spouse his comb-over isn’t working, it fell to his wife to inform Miller bluntly near the end that the whole exercise wasn’t going well.
“Forgive me for speaking frankly, but this is very upsetting for me,” Kate Miller interrupted her husband during his last interview with Ciralsky conducted in what was described as their “well-appointed Virginia home.” To Ciralsky, she said, “I am very concerned that he’s being exploited right now. He’s done his job. He’s done a very good job. Nobody gives a shit.”
Then she turned to Miller and said, “I think we need to just put a line under it and say, ‘We’re done.’”
A LOT OF SIZZLE, AND SOME STEAK, TOO: Ciralsky’s Vanity Fair article, which ran over the weekend under the headline “’The president threw us under the bus’: Embedding with Pentagon leadership in Trump’s chaotic last week,” was a fly-on-the-wall account of what Miller and his two White House assigned top aides, Kash Patel and Ezra Cohen, were doing and thinking in the tumultuous final week of Trump’s presidency and the events surrounding the storming of the Capitol which left four rioters and a Capitol Hill police officer dead.
The headline came from a quote from Cohen, who was harshly critical of Trump’s role in the Capitol siege. “The president threw us under the bus. And when I say ‘us,’ I don’t mean only us political appointees or only us Republicans. He threw America under the bus. He caused a lot of damage to the fabric of this country,” Cohen told Ciralsky. “Did he go and storm the Capitol himself? No. But he, I believe, had an opportunity to tamp things down and he chose not to. And that’s really the fatal flaw. I mean, he’s in charge. And when you’re in charge, you’re responsible for what goes wrong.”
Here are a few factoids we gleaned from the behind-the-scenes account:
- Trump was anticipating as many as one million of his supporters to show up Jan. 6. (A permit was granted for up to 30,000. Most estimates put the crowd size somewhere above 10,000.)
- Trump warned the Pentagon they would need 10,000 troops to control the crowd, which Miller dismissed as “hyperbolic.”
- Miller told Trump he could dispatch the National Guard only if there was a specific request for them.
- On the day of the siege, there was no contact between the Pentagon and the president. “They tried to call him,” a senior defense official was quoted as saying. “They couldn’t get through.”
THE QUOTABLE MILLER: The article is overflowing with Miller quotes that Ciralsky says are all verbatim from audio recordings. Here are the top 10:
- On Trump’s pre-rally crowd estimate: “The president’s sometimes hyperbolic, as you’ve noticed. There were gonna be a million people in the street, I think was his expectation.”
- On Trump’s pre-rally troop estimate: “‘You’re going to need 10,000 people.’ No, I’m not talking bullshit. He said that … ‘You’re going to need 10,000.’ That’s what he said. Swear to God.”
- On the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol: “I refuse to take the bait and get panicky … I’m not going to go out and make some statement … Right now the country just needs to take a quaalude.”
- On the charge the Pentagon was slow to respond: “Oh, that is complete horseshit. I gotta tell you, I cannot wait to go to the Hill and have those conversations with senators and representatives.”
- On the charge the Pentagon was shifting blame: “I know when something doesn’t smell right, and I know when we’re covering our asses. Been there. I know for an absolute fact that historians are going to look … at the actions that we did on that day and go, ‘Those people had their game together.’”
- Miller’s three goals when he took the job: “No military coup, no major war, and no troops in the street … The ‘no troops in the street’ thing changed dramatically … So that one’s off.”
- On the ‘paranoia’ of the previous Pentagon leadership: “There was this thought that, like, Oh, my God, if we present options, the batshit-crazy president’s going to go Dr. Strangelove on us, and we’re going to end up in a major war. We’d be like, ‘A, B, C, D, E, F — we can go from everything from thermonuclear war to absolutely doing information operations. What are you thinking?’”
- On the state of civilian control at the Pentagon: “This f—ing place is rotten. It’s rotten … When the system is weighted towards the Joint Staff and the geographic combatant commanders against civilian control, you know, we’ve got to rethink this.”
- On his family’s reaction to his appointment: “I’ll just be straight up. My family’s not huge fans of the Trump administration. It’s really bothered my daughters and my wife. My son, he’ll be like, ‘Holy cow, they called you a stuffed-shirt moron today.’”
- On criticism of his fitness from retired military officers: “You f—ing assholes. If I fail, you failed.”
WHO WERE THE NAYS? Austin’s confirmation vote in the Senate Friday morning was an overwhelming 93-2. So who were the two naysayers? Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Mike Lee of Utah.
THE COLOR OF AIR FORCE ONE: President Donald Trump famously was unimpressed with the iconic robin’s egg blue color scheme of Air Force One, saying in 2018 that he wanted to do away with “Jackie Kennedy blue” and have Air Force One painted in bolder colors, much like his private campaign plane. Mrs. Kennedy had a role in the color scheme and interior design of the Boeing C-137 Stratoliner ordered by the Air Force for presidential use in 1962.
Boeing came up with some proposed designs in response to Trump’s request, but nothing was finalized, and last Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the color of his plane is the last thing on Biden’s mind.
“No one is going to submit a decision memo to him on that particular topic, but certainly we’re aware of the proposal,” Psaki told reporters. “I can confirm for you here the president has not spent a moment thinking about the color scheme of Air Force One.”
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Defense Chief Lloyd Austin’s first directive orders review of military sexual assault program
Washington Examiner: First black defense secretary takes helm at the Pentagon
Washington Examiner: Biden rebuffs China’s military threats with pledge to keep ‘deepening’ Taiwan ties
Washington Examiner: Pentagon spy agency buys US smartphone data without warrant, memo says
Washington Examiner: State Department to review Trump administration’s designation of Houthis as terrorist group
Washington Examiner: Russia welcomes proposed US extension of nuclear pact, but says it will ‘depend on the details’
Washington Post: Numerous Capitol Police officers who responded to riot test positive for coronavirus
Wall Street Journal: Military, Police Probe Members Charged in Riot
Reuters: U.S. Carrier Group Enters South China Sea Amid Taiwan Tensions
USNI News: Chinese Navy Faces Overseas Basing Weakness, Report Says
New York Times: U.S. Counters Space Threat From China
Defense One: War Avoided, Biden Transition Brings ‘Opportunity’ for New Iran Relations, Top General Says
Military Times: The Border Emergency Is Canceled, But Thousands Of Troops There Aren’t Scheduled To Go Home
AP: For First Black Pentagon Chief, Racism Challenge Is Personal
Breaking Defense: Austin Signals Shift Back To Focus On Space Resilience
Vanity Fair: ‘The President Threw Us Under The Bus’: Embedding With Pentagon Leadership In Trump’s Chaotic Last Week
USNI News: Third Sailor Dies From COVID-19 Complications
AP: Israel opens embassy in UAE, expanding new relations
AP: Kremlin: US comments on protests support law-breaking
AP: Ex-CIA engineer tells judge he’s incarcerated like an animal
Air Force Magazine: Next F-35 Contracts Under Negotiation, Deal Expected by Late September
19fortyfive.com: Russia: Our Su-57 Stealth Fighter Can Beat The F-35
19fortyfive.com: Why Does The F-35A Stealth Fighter Need A Gun?
Washington Post: Opinion: John Bolton: Trump didn’t think, or act, strategically about China. Biden needs to do both.
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Biden’s return to the Paris accord is a gift to China
Calendar
MONDAY | JANUARY 25
9 a.m. — German Marshall Fund of the United States virtual Leaders’ Roundtable: “The Future of Transatlantic Security,” with former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel; former national security adviser H.R. McMaster; former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton; Estonian Ambassador-at-Large for Cyber Diplomacy Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar; Karen Donfried, president of GMFUS; and Alexander Vershbow, visiting fellow at Perry World House. https://www.gmfus.org/events/future-transatlantic-security-leaders-roundtable
9:30 a.m. — Washington Post Live virtual discussion with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown on “what it means to be the first Black chief of a U.S. military service, how artificial intelligence (AI) will reshape air combat, and countering the China threat.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live
11 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webcast: “Project Convergence and Army Modernization,” with Gen. John Murray, commanding general of Army Futures Command; and Mark Cancian, senior adviser in the CSIS International Security Program. https://www.csis.org/events/online-event
2:30 p.m. — Atlantic Council webinar: “What Comes After an Insurrection: The Future of the Domestic Terrorism Threat,” with former Secret Service Supervisory Special Agent Charles Marino, CEO of Sentinel Security Solutions; former Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary McCord, legal director of the Georgetown Law School’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection; former Assistant FBI Director for Counterterrorism Michael McGarrity, vice president of global risk services at Global Guardian; former Homeland Security Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis Francis Taylor, executive fellow in the University of Notre Dame’s Global Policy Initiative; Graham Brookie, director and managing editor of the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab; and William Wechsler, director of the Atlantic Council’s Center for the Middle East. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/what-comes-after
7 p.m. — National Iranian American Council virtual discussion on “the Iran deal and opportunities to return to diplomacy moving forward,” with Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association; Ali Vaez, Iran Project director and senior adviser to the president at International Crisis Group; and Assal Rad, senior research fellow at NIAC. https://zoom.us/webinar/register
TUESDAY | JANUARY 26
9:30 a.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webinar: “Engaging China on Nuclear Arms Control,” Nobumasa Akiyama, professor at Hitotsubashi University; Nicola Leveringhaus, assistant professor in war studies at King’s College London; Tong Zhao, senior fellow in the CEIP Nuclear Policy Program; Fiona Cunningham, fellow in the CEIP Nuclear Policy Program; and James Acton, co-director of the CEIP Nuclear Policy Program. https://carnegieendowment.org
10 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Aerospace Nation event with Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command; and retired Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, Dean of the Mitchell Institute. Invitation only, but video posted afterward at https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org.
10:30 a.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research webcast: “Defending the Seas: Gray-Zone Threats in the Maritime Domain,” Vice. Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander of the U.S. Second Fleet; Ewa Skoog Haslum, chief of the Royal Swedish Navy; and Elisabeth Braw, resident fellow at AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/defending-the-seas
12:15 p.m. — New America webinar: “Defining Endless Wars: The First Step Towards Ending Them,” Jason Fritz, lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Center for Advanced Governmental Studies; David Sterman, senior policy analyst at New America; and Alexandra Stark, senior researcher in the New America Political Reform Program. https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/events
3 p.m. — Air Force Association “Air and Space Warfighters in Action” event, with Brig. Gen. Jeremy Sloane, commander of the 36th Wing, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 27
12 p.m. — Brookings Institution and George Washington’s Mount Vernon virtual conference: “Leadership for a More Perfect Union,” with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Md.; Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., director, president and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Center; David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group; Brad Smith, president of Microsoft; Douglas Bradburn, president and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon; and John Allen, president of Brookings. https://www.mountvernon.org
1 p.m. — Association of Old Crows EMSO (Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations) Leadership series virtual discussion with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown. https://www.crows.org/general
1 p.m. — Politico webinar: “Ready to Launch – Space Policy in the Biden Era,” with Jacqueline Feldscher, national security reporter at Politico; and Bryan Bender, senior national correspondent at Politico. https://readytolaunch.splashthat.com
2 p.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: “Challenges for the Biden Administration: Addressing the Evolving Air and Missile Threat,” with retired Rear Adm. Archer Macy, former director of the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization; Laura Grego, senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program; Tom Karako, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project; and Frank Rose, co-director of the Brookings Center for Security, Strategy and Technology. https://www.brookings.edu/events/challenges
4 p.m. — Institute of World Politics webinar: “Negotiating the North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Where Are We Headed?” with John Park, director of Harvard University Belfer Center’s Korea Project. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/negotiating-the-north-korean-nuclear-crisis
4:30 p.m. — Intelligence National Security Alliance “Wednesday Wisdom” series virtual discussion with Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare in the Office of the Director of Naval Intelligence, on “the Navy’s plans for strengthening its cybersecurity posture.” https://www.insaonline.org/event/wednesday-wisdom
THURSDAY | JANUARY 28
9 a.m. — Vanguard Canada Media virtual conference on “C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and Beyond,” with Canadian Army Lt. Gen. Michael Rouleau, vice chief of the defense staff at the Canadian Armed Forces; and Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commanding general of the U.S. Army Cyber Command. https://vanguardcanada.com/c4isr2021
FRIDAY | JANUARY 29
10 a.m. — Aspen Security Forum virtual event: “The View from Kabul: A Live Conversation with the President of Afghanistan,” with Ashraf Ghani; Carol Lee, NBC News correspondent; and Nicholas Burns, executive director, Aspen Strategy Group. https://aspeninst.zoom.us/webinar/register
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This f—ing place is rotten. It’s rotten … When the system is weighted towards the Joint Staff and the geographic combatant commanders against civilian control, you know, we’ve got to rethink this.”
Former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, on the state of civilian control at the Pentagon, as quoted in Vanity Fair.
