HYTEN WINS COMMITTEE APPROVAL: One day after hearing his public testimony denying he sexually assaulted one of his staffers multiple times, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 20-7 to advance the nomination of Gen. John Hyten to serve as the vice chairman of the joint chiefs. The nomination now goes to the full Senate, which could vote this week before the scheduled August recess. Otherwise a final vote would have to wait until September.
All the Republicans on the committee, except for Joni Ernst of Iowa, voted in favor of Hyten, but so did many Democrats, including ranking member Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen, Tim Kaine, Martin Heinrich, Joe Manchin, and Doug Jones. He also won the vote of independent Angus King.
IN HER OWN WORDS: Hyten’s accuser, Col. Kathryn Spletstoser, his former commander’s action group director, told her story behind closed doors to the committee but was denied the opportunity to testify publicly. Last night, in a 13-minute interview on PBS NewsHour, she detailed a series of encounters in which she said Hyten tried to persuade her to have sex with him.
Here’s one account, which she said happened during a summer trip to Washington, D.C., in her own words:
And I pushed him off. I said: “This is not going to happen. Like, what are you doing?” And he said: “I just wanted to see how that felt. I thought you would like it.” And I’m like: “I didn’t like it. Why would you think that?” And he’s like: “Well, I thought you liked me.” And I was like: “Sir, I do like you, but not like that.” And he is like: “Well, why not?” I’m like: “You’re married, you’re my boss, and you’re not my type.”
And so he asked, like, what my type was. And I said: “Someone not married, someone not my boss, and I prefer men of color.” And he made a snarky remark about that’s why myself and his former aide got along so well, because he was an African-American guy.
We proceeded to have a conversation that was very argumentative. He got upset. He actually sat down on the couch and actually started crying. And I was very confused and shocked at that. He’s a very emotional guy. But now I’m sort of in a position where he did something incredibly wrong to me, and I don’t really know what to do. But I got really upset and really angry and mad.
WHAT SWAYED KEY VOTES: While taken alone, Spletstoser’s personal account is convincing and compelling, senators say the Air Force investigation not only failed to corroborate her version of events but also disproved some of her allegations.
“If at the end of this process there had still been ambiguity over whether General Hyten may have committed the heinous crimes described in the allegations, I would have voted against advancing his nomination,” said Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine in a statement. “But the investigations conducted both by the military and the Committee produced evidence that General Hyten did not sexually assault Colonel Spletstoser or engage in an unprofessional relationship with her.”
“I did not reach this conclusion lightly, but I believe we owe it to the women and men of the military and this nation to follow the facts wherever they lead,” he said.
‘WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SEXUAL ASSAULT’: Spletstoser’s backers and advocates for sexual assult victims were outraged by her treatment by the Air Force and the Senate committee.
“Sen. [Martha] McSally, and former Air Force Sec. [Heather] Wilson, and others defending Hyten engaged in a smear campaign against Col. Spletstoser. They used her long-standing career serving our country as the basis to question her version of events based on zero factual evidence,” said retired Col. Don Christensen, former chief prosecutor of the Air Force and president of the advocacy group Protect Our Defenders.
“Most importantly, there is no legal requirement for corroboration to prosecute or convict someone. A person can be convicted by the testimony of a single witness. In fact, in many of the cases that move forward, there is no corroboration in the way that Gen. Hyten’s defenders are falsely claiming is somehow necessary,” Christensen said in a statement.
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HAPPENING TODAY: The Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, is out with its latest quarterly report to Congress, which showed Taliban and other “enemy-initiated attacks” have increased in both number and effectiveness compared with the previous quarter but are below levels for the same period last year.
And for the fourth reporting period in a row, the number of Afghan security forces has decreased and is now at the lowest level since the NATO-led Resolute Support mission began in January 2015. The decline of more than 40,000 troops was said to be due in part to a more accurate method of counting the forces.
The Afghan forces are 79,535 personnel, or 77.4% short of its authorized strength, a nearly 10 percentage-point decline from last quarter.
PENTAGON LEADERSHIP GELLING: With the Senate approving by unanimous voice the nomination of David Norquist to be deputy defense secretary, the Pentagon is returning to having confirmed personnel in the top leadership jobs.
Mark Esper is the confirmed defense secretary. Gen. Mark Milley has been confirmed to take over from Gen. Joseph Dunford next month as joint chiefs chairman. And Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, who had his confirmation hearing yesterday, appeared headed for a quick confirmation vote this week.
Norquist was sworn in after the Tuesday vote, and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, who was filling in, is now serving solely as the secretary of the Navy, according to a Pentagon statement.
FOR WANT OF A LIFT, A SHIP IS LOST: At Gilday’s mostly convivial confirmation hearing yesterday, chairman Jim Inhofe seemed to be channeling his inner John McCain as he grilled the likely future chief of naval operations about what is turning out to be a $13 billion lemon — the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which can’t deploy because the elevators that are supposed to bring weapons to the flight deck don’t work, among other problems.
“You know, this ought to be criminal,” Inhofe said. “[T]he Ford was supposed to pull out from its maintenance period this month. The departure has been delayed until October.”
Pressed by Sen. Tim Kaine about who was to blame for failing to “shore test” the advanced magnet-powered elevators before the ship put to sea for shakedown, Gilday sheepishly admitted, “Ultimately I would consider that a failure of the Navy.”
Gilday said the elevators, while a new design, are based on existing technology, so no one thought they would be a problem. Read more at the Washington Examiner.
ARE CARRIERS OBSOLETE ANYWAY?: Independent senator Angus King posed a hypothetical scenario to Gilday about the threat that hypersonic missiles pose to aircraft carriers now and in the future, and Gilday did not have a satisfying answer, writes Russ Read in the Washington Examiner.
“It’s early in the morning, and you learn that a hypersonic missile has just been launched from Murmansk. You have 13 to 15 minutes to react,” King said. “The missile is traveling at 6,000 miles an hour. It creates a plasma shield so that radar is useless. The only sensor is infrared, and we have inadequate infrared overhead architecture. What do you do?”
“Defend myself as best I can, sir,” Gilday replied.
King said hypersonic missiles, which can travel six times the speed of sound and are maneuverable so don’t follow a predictable path, are a game changer akin to the introduction of the longbow during medieval times.
“Admiral, I would suggest that this is a disruptive change in the history of warfare,” King said. “At the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, there were four times as many French as there were English. The English deployed for one of the first times the longbow. It changed the course of European history. This is a similar change, I view.”
“Unless we can solve this problem it renders aircraft carriers obsolete. Every aircraft carrier that we own can disappear in a coordinated attack,” he said.
US WANTS ALLIES TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING IN GULF: The U.S. Navy’s protection mission in the Strait of Hormuz will apply strictly to American shipping while regional partners will shoulder most of the responsibilities in the region, Gildey told the committee.
The mission, known as Operation Sentinel, is going to be “80 or 90% coalition effort and a much smaller U.S. effort that is primarily focused on providing intelligence support … to the rest of the coalition,” Gilday said.
“There aren’t that many [U.S. ships] that make that transit,” he said. “So we will escort our ships as they come along, but we won’t be there in great numbers.”
ZARIF SANCTIONED: The White House announced yesterday that President Trump is imposing sanctions on Iran’s foreign minister amid deepening tensions with Tehran over the 2015 nuclear deal and Iranian attacks on international shipping in the Persian Gulf.
“Javad Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran’s Supreme Leader, and is the regime’s primary spokesperson around the world,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“For far too long, he has been indulged as the reasonable and credible official representative of Iran, and today, President Trump decided enough is enough,” said a senior administration official in a background call for reporters.
Trump’s decision freezes any U.S. assets owned by Zarif, who was educated in the United States, and prohibits U.S. persons and businesses from dealing with him. It also impedes Zarif’s international travel, although the administration intends to fulfill the obligation to permit official travel to the United Nations in New York.
ZARIF SCOFFS: “The US’ reason for designating me is that I am Iran’s ‘primary spokesperson around the world,’” tweeted Zarif in response. “Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran.”
“Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda,” he added.
NOT SO FAST: President Trump has ordered Navy officials to rescind medals given to Navy prosecutors who failed to secure a conviction against Special Warfare Chief Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was charged with war crimes.
“The prosecutors who lost the case against SEAL Eddie Gallagher (who I released from solitary confinement so he could fight his case properly), were ridiculously given a Navy Achievement Medal,” Trump tweeted.
“Not only did they lose the case, they had difficulty with respect to information that may have been obtained from opposing lawyers and for giving immunity in a totally incompetent fashion. I have directed the Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer & Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson to immediately withdraw and rescind the awards. I am very happy for Eddie Gallagher and his family!”
Last night a Navy official told me that Secretary Spencer has the authority to “pull back” the awards, and that’s what he intends to do.
UCI VIOLATION?: Trump’s personal interest in the case has roiled many in the military community, especially his floating of a possible presidential pardon had Gallagher been convicted. Military law strictly prohibits commanders — and Trump is the commander in chief — from saying or doing anything that affects the outcome of a court martial or disparaging the outcome of a trial.
The principle, known as Unlawful Command Influence or UCI, is spelled out in Title 10 U.S. Code § 837. Art. 37.
“No authority convening a general, special, or summary court-martial, nor any other commanding officer, may censure, reprimand, or admonish the court or any member, military judge, or counsel thereof, with respect to the findings or sentence adjudged by the court, or with respect to any other exercise of its or his functions in the conduct of the proceeding.”
BIN LADEN SON DEAD: The 30-year-old son of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is reportedly dead, according to NBC News.
The network cited three U.S. officials, who didn’t say how or where he died or if the U.S. government played any role in his death. The State Department was offering to pay up to $1 million for information leading to his whereabouts.
Hamza bin Laden appeared to be an heir to the elder bin Laden’s operations, with the State Department describing him as “an emerging al Qaeda leader” who “has threatened attacks against the United States and allies.” His last known public statement was released by the terror group in 2018, threatening Saudi Arabia and calling for the people of the Arabian Peninsula to revolt.
“It’s unlikely Hamza bin Laden was the next in line to lead al Qaeda. But he clearly was groomed for a leadership position,” said Tom Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has written numerous articles about the bin Laden son.
REPORT ON AI: The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence has submitted its initial report to Congress.
“This report is a summary of the Commission’s activities to date and a plan for the next phases of the Commission’s work,” said a statement from the newly formed commission, which is charged with considering “the methods and means necessary to advance the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associated technologies to comprehensively address the national security and defense needs of the United States.”
The Rundown
Air Force Magazine: US Space Command Set to Launch Within Weeks
The Hill: Landmark U.S.-Russia Arms Control Treaty Poised For Final Blow
Military Times: Democratic debate offers first look at candidates’ Afghanistan, national security plans
Defense News: Germany Punts On Hormuz Strait Mission With U.S. Involvement
New York Times: Kim Calls New Rocket ‘Inescapable’ To Enemies
Washington Examiner: ISIS urges followers to carry out attacks in major Western cities
Wall Street Journal: Pentagon Outlines Funds Targeted for Wall, says military benefits, U.S. readiness will not be affected
Breaking Defense: Competition (With China) IS The New Deterrence, US Military Leaders Say
Military Times: Insomnia In The Military Is Up 650 Percent Since 2003 — Here’s How DoD Is Hoping To Curb That Trend
Navy Times: CNO Nominee Vows Probe Into Navy SEAL Scandals
Marine Times: Marines reprimand 1-star alleged to have bullied subordinates and ‘devalued women
Washington Examiner: US Navy fighter jet crashes in California
Calendar
THURSDAY | AUGUST 1
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on challenges in making generational changes in military systems, with Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell, and Andrew Philip Hunter, director of the CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group. www.csis.org/events
3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Japan’s Security Challenges and the Japan-U.S. Alliance,” with Gen. Koji Yamazaki, chief of staff of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff, and Michael Green, Japan chair at CSIS. www.csis.org/events
6:30 p.m. 1325 G Street N.W. Military Reporters and Editors (MRE) Workshop: Investigative Reporting on the Military, with John Donnelly, senior defense writer, CQ/Roll Call, MRE president; Lara Seligman, Pentagon correspondent, Foreign Policy; Sam LaGrone, Naval reporter and editor, USNI News. Live streamed at www.facebook.com. www.eventbrite.com/e/mre-workshop
FRIDAY | AUGUST 2
6:15 a.m. EDT / 12:15 p.m. CET. NATO headquarters, Brussels. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a “press point” on the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Streamed live on the NATO website. www.nato.int
2:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies “Japan-U.S. Military Statesmen Forum 2019,” with retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Michael Mullen; retired U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Vincent Brooks; retired Japanese chief of staff Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki; retired Japanese chief of staff Gen. Ryoichi Oriki; retired Japanese chief of staff Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano; former director of national intelligence Adm. Dennis Blair; and Yoichi Funabashi, chairman of the Asia Pacific Initiative. www.csis.org/events
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Unless we can solve this problem, it renders aircraft carriers obsolete. Every aircraft carrier that we own can disappear in a coordinated attack.”
Independent senator Angus King outlining a nightmare scenario in which Russian hypersonic missiles target vulnerable U.S. aircraft carriers in some future war.
