DEAR SECRETARY ESPER: A group of 31 House Democrats have fired off a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper objecting to the Trump administration’s plans to once again use military construction and counter-drug money to fund border barriers, and demanding a detailed justification for each project.
“There is clearly no requirement for the use of military resources to construct a border wall,” the lawmakers write, noting that the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is down 30% so far this fiscal year. “The number of apprehensions over the last two years remains lower than any two years of the George W. Bush administration.”
SPEND THE MONEY YOU HAVE: The Democrats argue that almost $2 billion in Pentagon funds reprogramed for border wall construction last year remains unobligated. “Yet, it is being reported that the Department of Defense will be ordered to redirect an additional $7.2 billion towards construction of the wall.”
“This would bring the total amount of Department of Defense funding to a total of $13.3 billion in transfers – more than the full unit acquisition cost of a Ford-class aircraft carrier, the entire research and development cost for the Columbia class of submarines, or the $10.6 billion to purchase 98 F-35s in FY2020,” the lawmakers write.
THE SIGNERS: The letter is signed by Maryland Rep. Anthony Brown, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; California Rep. Gil Cisneros; Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar; New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill and 27 other Democrats.
Notably, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Washington State Democrat Rep. Adam Smith, did not sign the letter.
THE LATEST REQUEST: Last week the Pentagon confirmed it has received a formal request from the Department of Homeland Security for assistance in building fences, roads and lighting along the southwest border. “It has to be in drug smuggling corridors,” a senior Pentagon official briefed reporters. “DHS, as you know, has designated the southwest border a drug smuggling corridor.”
The Pentagon says it should take about two weeks to process the request which involves a legal review by the DoD general counsel, a feasibility assessment by the Army Corps of Engineers, a review of the effect on readiness by the joint staff, and finally identification of available funds by the Pentagon comptroller.
IT’S ALL LEGAL: Because the money comes from funds Congress designated for counter-narcotics operations, technically the initial request falls within the appropriated purpose. Plans to reprogram military construction funds fall under another law, section 2808 of the National Emergencies Act passed in 1977, which allows the diversion of funds, so long as the projects “are necessary to support such use of the armed forces” in an emergency.
In their letter, the Democrats are asking Esper for “a detailed explanation for how the proposed border wall project directly supports the use of U.S. armed forces operating at the site of proposed construction in accordance with section 2808,” and for a “full list of the installations which are delayed, modified, or cancelled due to the transfer of the funds.”
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 Susan Katz Keating (@SKatzKeating). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. 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.
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HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Mark Esper will be providing more details on the enhanced security measures and improved vetting of foreign military students when he visits Naval Air Station Pensacola, site of last month’s shooting in which three U.S. servicemembers were killed in what has been ruled an act of terrorism.
Tomorrow Esper visits the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, where he is scheduled to take part in a town hall meeting with several hundred troops, families, and civilians, before returning to Washington.
MORE US TROOPS WOUNDED: More U.S. troops have reported symptoms that indicate they may have suffered concussions in the Jan. 8 missile attack by Iran on the Al Asad Air base in northwestern Iraq.
Previously the Pentagon announced 11 U.S. troops were evacuated to medical facilities in Germany and Kuwait for MRI tests to determine if they had suffered brain injuries from concussions.
The exact number of additional U.S. forces who were flown out was not released, but Navy Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said that the move was made out of an “abundance of caution.”
“As medical treatment and evaluations in theater continue, additional service members have been identified as having potential injuries,” Urban said. “These service members, out of an abundance of caution, have been transported to Landstuhl, Germany, for further evaluations and necessary treatment on an outpatient basis.”
Last week the Pentagon said the injuries were not revealed in the hours after the strike because many of the troops did not report their symptoms until days later.
NORTH KOREA’S ‘NEW PATH’: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is ready to resume nuclear weapon and ballistic missile tests if the United States refuses to ease sanctions, an envoy announced amid a diplomatic shake-up in Pyongyang, reports the Washington Examiner’s Joel Gehrke.
“We found no reason to be unilaterally bound any longer by the commitment that the other party fails to honor,” Ju Yong Chol, an official at North Korea’s mission to the United Nations, said yesterday in Geneva.
“If the United States tries to enforce unilateral demands and persists in imposing sanctions, North Korea may be compelled to seek a new path,” Ju said at the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament.
HERITAGE ANALYST — NO RUSH TO EXIT OPEN SKIES: While the United States is well within its right to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty due to Russian violations, there are also reasons for staying within the treaty, argues senior research fellow Peter Brookes a new paper for the Heritage Foundation.
“Press reports indicate that the Administration is actively considering leaving the OST. Despite this, the treaty has supporters who value the agreement for providing openness and cooperative interaction with Russia in a period of heightened tensions with Moscow,” Brookes writes. “As such, before a final decision is made on continued participation in the OST, the U.S. government should conduct a thorough review of American involvement in the treaty, including its costs, risks, benefits, and possible new means to optimize U.S., allied, and partner participation.”
INDUSTRY WATCH:
— ALIS DOESN’T WORK HERE ANYMORE: The F-35 Joint Program Office has announced it’s saying goodbye to the problem-plagued Autonomic Logistics Information Systems known as ALIS developed by Lockheed Martin, and hello to ODIN, short for Operational Data Integrated Network, that will serve as the brains of the high-tech jet.
“Different from ALIS, ODIN is an F-35 Joint Program Office-led effort leveraging government and industry partners such as Kessel Run, the 309th Software Engineering Group, Naval Information Warfare Center, Lockheed Martin, and Pratt and Whitney,” said Lt Gen Eric Fick, F-35 Program Executive Officer, in a statement “ODIN will leverage the agile software development and delivery practices piloted by Kessel Run and investments by Lockheed Martin to better posture our F-35 fleet to increase and maintain a high readiness rate in order to meet its operational requirements.”
— ARMY COMMITTED TO BRADLEY REPLACEMENT: Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville says its decision to cancel the bid solicitation for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle does not mean it’s giving up on getting a modern replacement for the 1980s vintage M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
“We are fully committed to replacing the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the future, McConville told an Association of the US Army breakfast yesterday, reports Breaking Defense. “However, like the Future Vertical [Lift] aircraft, we want to drive these before we buy them.”
The Army decided to go back to the drawing board after it received only one prototype, from General Dynamic Land Systems, which didn’t make for much of a competition.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: ‘I’d get up today and do it again’: CIA interrogator defends waterboarding in 9/11 trial hearing
Washington Examiner: ‘Win the next fight’: Army chief uses old telephone to show need for change
Washington Examiner: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is stretched too thin for multiple missions, new report says
Washington Times: Standoff: U.S. Troops Block Russian Forces From Capturing Syrian Oil Field
AP: Iran acknowledges Russian-made missiles targeted Ukraine jet
Washington Post: Trove of declassified documents shows challenges U.S. faced in hacking ISIS
Wall Street Journal: How a Military Cyber Operation to Disrupt Islamic State Spurred a Debate
Reuters: U.S. Urges China To Join Nuclear Arms Talks With Russia
New York Times: Putin’s Plans Keep the Kremlin Watchers Guessing
Washington Post: North Korea pick of ex-soldier for new top diplomat could bode ill for diplomacy
AP: NATO Chief Seeks Beefed-Up Training Role In Iraq
Defense One: Pentagon Wants to Build One Satellite Per Week
War on the Rocks: The Drone Beats of War: the U.S. Vulnerability to Targeted Killings
Defense News: DARPA’s Latest Mad Science Experiment: A Ship Designed To Operate Completely Without Humans
Forbes: How The U.S. Navy’s Aging Sealift Fleet Could Lose America’s Next War In Eurasia
The Hill: Trump’s 355-Ship Pledge Complicates The Navy’s Budget Dilemma
Bloomberg: Pentagon Racks Up $35 Trillion in Accounting Changes in One Year
Bloomberg: Air Force Warns Boeing’s New CEO That It’s Not Happy Either
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 22
Defense Secretary Mark Esper departs for two-day trip to Naval Air Station Pensacola and the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, Fla.
9 a.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discussion “The Killing of Soleimani and the Future of the Middle East,” with Rasha Al Aqeedi, managing editor of Raise Your Voice; Dexter Filkins, journalist for the New Yorker; Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for Middle East security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies; and Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow in the CEIP Middle East Program http://carnegieendowment.org
9:30 a.m. 1401 Lee Hwy., Arl.— Air Force Association Mitchell Hour discussion with Air Force Maj. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, deputy commander, Combined Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, U.S. Central Command. http://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/mitchell-hour
12 p.m. 5500 Schulz Cir, Ft. Belvior — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association discussion with Army Col. Chad Harris, project manager for defensive cyber operations at the Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems. https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Asia Forecast 2020.” http://www.csis.org
3:30 p.m. 1301 Connecticut Ave. N.W. — Institute for Policy Studies discussion on “The Iran Crisis and the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy.” with Michael Klare, associate at IPS; Phyllis Bennis, director of the IPS New Internationalism Project; John Feffer, director of IPS’s Foreign Policy in Focus Project; and Negin Owliaei, research associate at IPS https://ips-dc.org/events/the-iran-crisis
THURSDAY | JANUARY 23
4 p.m. Bushnell, Florida — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks on U.S. foreign policy at the Sumter County Fairgrounds. https://www.state.gov
FRIDAY | JANUARY 24
8 a.m. 2101 Wilson Blvd., Arl. — National Defense Industrial Association discussion with Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly on priorities for the department. https://www.ndia.org/events
9:00 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Security Forum “Emerging Technologies Governance,” featuring a keynote address from Defense Secretary Mark Esper and discussion with Kathleen Hicks, CSIS senior vice president. Also with Samuel Brannen, CSIS; Gabrielle Burrell, minister counsellor defense policy, Embassy of Australia; Andrew Hunter, CSIS; Jason Matheny, former director, intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity; Suzanne Spaulding, CSIS; and Brig Gen. Benjamin Watson, vice chief of naval research and commander Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. Live streamed at https://www.csis.org/events/global-security-forum
9 a.m. 1301 K St. N.W. — Washington Post Live book discussion on “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America,” with co-authors Philip Rucker, Post White House bureau chief and Carol Leonnig, Post national investigative reporter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-live
12 p.m. 2300 N St. N.W. — Aspen Institute discussion on “The Struggle for Power: U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century.” with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Kathleen Hicks, senior vice president, chair and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ International Security Program; Anja Manuel, co-founder and principal at RiceHadleyGatesManuel LLC; Kurt Campbell, chairman and CEO of the Asia Group; and Mike Pillsbury, American director of the Hudson Institute’s Center on Chinese Strategy. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events
MONDAY | JANUARY 27
10:30 a.m. 1177 15th St. N.W. — Center for a New American Security “Fireside Chat” with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, moderated by Susanna Blume, senior fellow and director, CNAS Defense Program. https://www.eventbrite.com
TUESDAY | JANUARY 28
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118 — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “Security Update on the Korean Peninsula,” with John Rood, undersecretary of defense for policy and Lt. Gen. David Allvin, joint staff director for strategy, plans and policy. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
2 p.m. 529 14th St. N.W. — Arms Control Association event “The Case for Extending New START,” with retired Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, former Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration; Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb.; Madelyn Creedon, former principal deputy administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy; Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies, American Enterprise Institute; and Alexander Vershbow, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and NATO deputy secretary general. Register at https://docs.google.com/forms
WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 29
11:30 a.m. 1667 K St. N.W. — Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment discussion of new report, “Taking Back the Seas: Transforming the U.S. Surface Fleet for Decision-Centric Warfare,” with Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. https://files.constantcontact.com
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“In my mind, there was a genuine threat … and it would be a dereliction of my moral obligation to protect American lives if that was outweighed the temporary discomfort of terrorists who had taken up arms against us … I’d get up today and do it again.”
James Mitchell, a clinical psychologist for the Air Force who designed the harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA after 9/11, testifying in a U.S. military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
