Despite partisan divide, Trump national security nominees cruising to Senate confirmation

A diehard defender of President Trump during the House impeachment hearings, Ratcliffe testified during his confirmation hearing earlier this month that politics would not color intelligence under his watch.

“If confirmed as DNI, you have my commitment to deliver timely, accurate, and objective intelligence and to speak truth to power, be that with Congress or within the administration. Let me be very clear,” he said. “Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide, if confirmed, will not be impacted or altered as a result of outside influence. Above all, my fidelity and loyalty will always be with the Constitution and the rule of law, and my actions at DNI will reflect that commitment.”

Among the votes for Ratcliffe was North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, who stepped aside as chairman while the FBI investigates allegations that he improperly benefited from inside information when he sold $1.7 million in stocks in February, just before the markets crashed because of the worsening pandemic.

FAREWELL GRENELL: At his cabinet meeting, Trump congratulated Richard Grenell for what he called “a fantastic job” as acting DNI while also serving as U.S. ambassador to Germany. “I think you’re very happy to be acting, but what a job,” Trump said. “I think you’ll go down as the all-time great acting ever at any position.”

Grenell won plaudits from Republicans for declassifying documents related to Russian election interference, including transcripts of witness interviews from the House Intelligence Committee’s inquiry, in which Obama administration officials said they had not seen direct evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

“He declassified a list of Obama administration officials who received information in response to ‘unmasking’ requests that revealed former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn’s identity in surveillance intercepts, writes Spencer Neale in the Washington Examiner. “He also declassified the full email Obama national security adviser Susan Rice sent herself about an Oval Office discussion on the FBI’s investigation into Flynn.”

FLYNN’S END-RUN APPEAL: Meanwhile, lawyers for Flynn are asking a higher court to assign his case to a different federal judge after Emmet Sullivan last week refused to grant the Justice Department’s request to drop all charges against Flynn and instead ordered hearings on the request.

In a 44-page filing, Flynn’s attorneys accuse Sullivan of bias and ask the appeals court to dismiss Flynn’s conviction outright and take further disposition of the case out of Sullivan’s hands.

“A district court cannot deny the Government’s motion to dismiss because the judge has ‘a disagreement with the prosecution’s exercise of charging authority,’” the lawyers argued. “Nor should a court second-guess the Government’s ‘conclusion that additional prosecution or punishment would not serve the public interest.’”

SMOOTH SAILING: The Senate Armed Services Committee approved by voice vote 2,647 pending military nominations in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, as well as senior civilian posts, including Kenneth Braithwaite to be secretary of the navy and Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown to be Air Force chief of staff. Also sent to the Senate floor for a final vote were the nominations of James Anderson to be deputy undersecretary of defense for policy and Victor Mercado to be assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and capabilities.

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 David Sivak and Tyler Van Dyke. 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.

Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!

NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will not be published Monday, May 25, in observance of Memorial Day.

BACK OFF: The U.S. Navy has followed up on Trump’s warning to Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf that they risk being “shot down and destroyed” if they harass U.S. warships in international waters, according to Reuters.

“U.S. officials tell Reuters that a new Notice to Mariners has been issued that “advises all vessels to maintain a safe distance of at least 100 meters from U.S. naval vessels in international waters/straits,” tweeted Reuters Pentagon correspondent Idrees Ali. “Armed vessels approaching within 100 meters of a U.S. naval vessel may be interpreted as a threat and subject to lawful defensive measures,” a U.S. military statement says.

After Iranian gunboats menacingly circled U.S. ships in the Gulf last month, Trump tweeted, “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”

At the time, the Pentagon said Trump’s threat did not constitute a change in the rules of engagement, under which U.S. ships are authorized to use lethal force to protect themselves.

‘THE DEFINITION OF HEARTLESS’: A report by Politico suggesting some 40,000 National Guard members will see their coronavirus deployments end on June 24, one day shy of eligibility for key federal benefits, is being met with outrage on Capitol Hill.

“Intentionally ending orders one day short of a deadline for National Guard soldiers to receive benefits for their heroic sacrifices is the definition of heartless,” said New York Rep. Max Rose, a Democrat, in a statement.

“This decision must be reversed not only because it is deeply unpatriotic but also economically unsound and puts our gains against COVID-19 at risk for some short-term, foolish budgetary gimmick,” said Rose, who is a captain in the National Guard.

Politico said it obtained an audio recording of a May 12 interagency call in which a senior FEMA official outlined the plan and acknowledged the June 24 cutoff will mean thousands of Guard members will find themselves one day short of the 90-day requirement for early retirement and education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

INDUSTRY WATCH: Lockheed Martin says it’s having to slow down production of its premier F-35 fighter jet at its Texas facility because of a shortage of parts in the supply chain and announced a new agreement with its union workers to take one week off every three weeks to accommodate the slowdown.

“We’re going to slow the production rate down for about two to three months,” said Greg Ulmer, who runs Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program in an interview with Reuters.

The move could delay delivery of between 18 and 24 jets, said Reuters, because companies that make aircraft parts are having to slow production due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The alternate schedule allows Lockheed Martin to staff the production line to meet a slower workflow resulting from supplier delays,” the company said of its new arrangement with union workers. “In addition, it provides a work rhythm that retains the expertise of the talented workforce and provides opportunities to adjust work to better support production.”

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: ‘We lost lives’: New congressman and Navy veteran eager to rebuild military superiority

Washington Examiner: US and allies mull alliance to move business from China to nations with shared values

Washington Examiner: Prosecutors to retry ex-CIA employee on espionage charges in WikiLeaks case

Washington Examiner: Trump calls Richard Grenell an ‘all-time great’ for his performance as acting spy chief

Washington Examiner: US has flown back 87,770 Americans stranded abroad amid pandemic

Washington Examiner: Fully declassified Susan Rice email reveals reluctance to share ‘sensitive’ Russia information with Michael Flynn

Task & Purpose: Leaked Pentagon Memo Warns Of ‘Real Possibility’ Of COVID-19 Resurgence, Vaccine Not Coming Until Summer 2021

San Diego Union-Tribune: USS Kidd Sailors Begin Return To COVID-19 Stricken Warship While Carrier Roosevelt Prepares To Return To Sea

Bloomberg: COVID Patients Testing Positive After Recovery Aren’t Infectious, South Korean Study Shows

USNI News: Small Crews, Technical Complexity Makes Operating Modern Warships in Pandemic Tough

Washington Post: Ukrainian lawmaker releases leaked phone calls of Biden and Poroshenko

AP: Quest for `super-duper missile’ pits US against key rivals

Reuters: Taiwan President Rejects Chinese Rule, Calls For Talks To Coexist

AP: UN official warns of escalating Libyan war citing foreigners

Just the News: ‘Disgusting’: Navy admits food served to quarantined sailors was subpar, acts to fix menu

New York Times: The Military’s Travel Ban Leaves Some Families in a Financial Crunch

Washington Post: Trump’s preferred construction firm lands $1.3 billion border wall contract, the biggest so far

Politico: NASA’s human spaceflight chief ousted just before big launch

Defense Daily: Marine Corps To Use Army’s Next-Generation Squad Weapon Program To Replace Its M27 Rifles

Fox News: Marine Dog Achieves Legendary Status In US Special Operations Community

Calendar

9:30 a.m. — Brookings Institution webinar: “Tunnels, Missiles, Reactors — Understanding North Korea’s Role in the Middle East,” with Amos Yadlin, executive director of the Institute for National Security Studies and former head of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate; Sima Shine, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies; Shira Efron, visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies; Robert Einhorn, senior fellow at Brookings; and Jung Pak, senior fellow at Brookings https://www.brookings.edu/events

9:30 a.m. — Washington Space Business Roundtable webcast with Defense Undersecretary for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin https://www.wsbr.org/events/breakfast-with-mike-griffin/

10 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and George Mason University Critical Issues in C4I symposium, with Army Maj. Nathaniel Bastian, chief artificial intelligence solution architect and acting chief of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center’s Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Engineering Division; and Chris McGuire, director for research and analysis at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence https://www.afcea.org/event/GMU-Home

10 a.m. — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies “Aerospace Nation” webcast with Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson, and retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula. After the event, the recording will be posted on the Mitchell Institute’s website: https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/aerospace-nation

10 a.m. — Atlantic Council webinar “Will COVID-19 Exacerbate or Defuse Conflicts in the Middle East?” with U.N. Undersecretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo; Barbara Slavin, director of the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative; and Damon Wilson, executive vice president of the Atlantic Council https://atlanticcouncil.org/event

11 a.m. — Heritage Foundation webinar: “A Strategic Blueprint: U.S.-China Relations,” with Walter Lohman, director of the Heritage Asian Studies Center; Dean Cheng, senior research fellow in the Heritage Asian Studies Center; Riley Walters, senior policy analyst in economics at Heritage; James Jay Carafano, vice president of the Heritage Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute; and Cherise Trump, associate director of coalition relations at Heritage https://www.heritage.org/asia/event

12 p.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Polar Institute virtual conference: “COVID-19 Impacts in the Arctic,” with 1 p.m. session on “International Arctic Governance” https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

1:30 p.m. — Henry Stimson Center webinar: “U.S. Arms Sales in a Time of COVID-19,” with Brittany Benowitz, chief counsel in the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights; William Hartung, director of the Center for International Policy’s Arms and Security Program; Diana Ohlbaum, legislative director for foreign policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation; and Rachel Stohl, vice president of Stimson https://www.stimson.org/event/u-s-arms-sales

2 p.m. — SETA Foundation webinar: “U.S. Policy on Syria in the Age of Coronavirus,” with retired Army Col. Richard Outzen, member of the policy planning staff at the State Department; Jomana Qaddour, nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council; Will Toddman, associate fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Middle East Program; and Kadir Ustun, executive director of SETA https://setadc.org/the-us-policy-on-syria

5 p.m. — Commonwealth Club webinar: “Reducing Nuclear Weapons: Stopping the War that No One Wants,” with U.N. Undersecretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu; former Secretary of Defense William Perry; former Secretary of State George Shultz; former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller; former Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif.; and Gloria Duffy, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Club https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events

6 p.m. — Politics and Prose Bookstore book discussion webcast on Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, with author Barton Gellman https://www.politics-prose.com/event

6 p.m. — Institute of World Politics webinar: “Taiwan’s Cybersecurity Environment Versus China’s Cyber Strategy,” with Ji-Jen Hwang, research scholar at the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute for East Asian Studies https://www.iwp.edu/events

THURSDAY | MAY 21

12 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies “Korea Chair Capital Cable” webcast, on “breaking events on the Korean peninsula related to North Korea, South Korea’s COVID-19 response efforts, and issues related to U.S. alliances in East Asia,” with Victor Cha, senior adviser and Korea chair at CSIS; Mark Lippert, nonresident senior adviser and Korea chair at CSIS; and Sue Mi Terry, senior fellow and Korea chair at CSIS https://www.csis.org/events/online-event

1:30 p.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association webinar: “Artificial Intelligence+Machine Learning: The Virtual Experience,” with George Duchak, CIO of the Defense Logistics Agency; David Spirk, chief data officer of the U.S. Special Operations Command; and Air Force Lt. Gen. John “Jack” Shanahan, director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center https://dcevents.afceachapters.org/aiml20virtualexperience

2 p.m. — Defense One and the Intelligence National Security Alliance webcast: “The Human Machine Team: Narrowing the Skills Gap,” with Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Information and Data Nancy Morgan; Ari Chanen, vice president of artificial intelligence at Strategic Education Inc.; Tony Frazier, executive vice president of global field operations at Maxar Technologies; and Patrick Tucker, technology editor at Defense One https://www.defenseone.com/feature

3:30 p.m. — George Washington Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group conference call conversation with Chief of Space Operations Air Force Gen. John Raymond https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

FRIDAY | MAY 22

12 p.m. — Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies book discussion webinar on The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare, with author Christian Brose, former staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee https://sais.jhu.edu/campus-events

MONDAY | MAY 25 MEMORIAL DAY

Federal holiday

WEDNESDAY | MAY 27

5 p.m. — National Security Institute “NatSec Nightcap” conversation on the national security implications of pandemics, climate change, and the erosion of faith in public institutions, with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and NSI Founder and Executive Director Jamil Jaffer. Register: https://nationalsecurity.gmu.edu/natsec-nightcap-may-27-2020/