TRUMP IS IN THE HOUSE: The NATO summit in London has not yet formally begun, and President Trump has already put his stamp on the leader’s meeting, turning what was billed as “short statements,” by the U.S. president and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg into a freewheeling 52 minute news conference in which he took questions on dozens of topics. Where to begin?
‘NATO HAS NOT TREATED US FAIRLY’ As expected, Trump arrived in London repeating his standard talking point that NATO countries aren’t paying enough while the U.S. is paying too much to support the alliance.
Trump continues to treat the money that NATO members spend on their own defense as dues that are owed to the alliance, and falsely implies that that causes the U.S to spend more than its fair share. The U.S. $730 billion defense budget, which is greater than all the other NATO nations combined, is not affected by the amount other countries spend.
SINGLES OUT GERMANY: Trump continues to nurse a particular grievance against Germany, one of NATO’s wealthier members which, with a defense budget of $54 billion, is the third biggest spender behind the U.S. and the U.K. ($60 billion).
“So we’re paying 4 to 4.3% when Germany’s paying 1 to 1.2% at max 1.2% of a much smaller GDP. That’s not fair.” Trump said, overstating the U.S. percentage, while understating Germany’s. According to NATO figures, the U.S. spends 3.42% of GDP on defense, while Germany now spends 1.38%, an 11% increase over last year.
Germany is only one of 21 NATO members that has not met the 2% of GDP sending goal set in 2014. It is ahead of 11 other countries, but continues to be the one country Trump likes to pick on.
‘VERY NASTY STATEMENT’ Asked about French President Emmanual Macron’s statement in an interview last month in which he said NATO was experiencing “brain death” because of “the instability of our American partner,” Trump lashed back.
“That is a very, very, very nasty statement to essentially 28 countries,” Trump said, before launching into an attack on France’s economy and political situation. “You know, you have a very high unemployment rate in France. France is not doing well economically at all,” he said. “They’ve had a very rough year and you just can’t go around making statements like that about NATO. It’s very disrespectful.”
Asked later about the health of the 70-year-old alliance Trump suggested France might be a candidate to leave. “I would say that nobody needs NATO more than France,” Trump said. “And frankly, uh, the one that benefits really the least is the United States. We benefit the least. We’re helping Europe.”
IN DEFENSE OF BOEING: Trump is scheduled to meet with Macron later today, and said he will tell the French president that only America should tax U.S. companies, and he threatened to retaliate for French tariffs with levies on imports or everything from wine to commercial airliners.
“I’m not going to let people take advantage of American companies because if anyone’s going to take advantage of the American companies, it’s going to be us. It’s not going to be France,” he said. “So we were taxing their wines and everything else … Plus we have a tax going on on Airbus, and that’ll be a good thing for Boeing.”
Good Tuesday 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: All the military service secretaries and chiefs will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the GAO’s latest report on military housing conditions, with testimony by Elizabeth Field of the Government Accountability Office, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. 9 a.m. Live streamed at https://www.armed-services.senate.gov and https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live.
BIGGEST CONTRACT EVER: The Pentagon has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $22.2 billion fixed-price-incentive, multi-year modification to a previously-awarded contract for construction of nine Virginia-class submarines. It is the Pentagon’s largest ever shipbuilding award.
The contract modification includes an option for one additional submarine which could bring the total value of the contract award to $24 billion, for both GDEB and its major subcontractor, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division.
So far, 18 Virginia-class submarines have been delivered to the Navy. The first ship of this batch of nine new subs is scheduled for delivery in 2024. Eventually the Navy plans to buy 40 Virginia-class submarines.
TURKEY ‘COULDN’T BE NICER’: At his marathon media availability in London, President Trump had nothing but praise for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and said he might be meeting with him during this week’s NATO summit.
Turkey, he said, is “a country that I happen to have a good relationship with. We did a deal that everybody was very critical of and now they’re saying it works.”
“I want to get our soldiers out of there. I don’t want to be policing a border that’s been fought over for 2,000 years. I want to get them out, but I wanted to keep the oil and now they’re saying that was a great deal that Trump made,” Trump said defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Northern Syria.
And Trump praised Turkey for its cooperation in the U.S. commando raid to get ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “We flew over areas that were totally controlled by Turkey and the Turkish military. We said we’re coming. We didn’t tell them what we were doing and where we were going. Turkey could not have been nicer.” he said.
IT’S OBAMA FAULT: Pressed about Turkey’s instance on buying and activating Russian S-400 air defenses, as he has in the past blamed President Barack Obama.
“The Obama administration said you can’t have the Patriots. You can’t, we’re not going to sell them to you. And they said that a number of times and then Turkey went out and bought the Russian missiles,” Trump said. “So we’ll see what happens. We’re still talking about it.”
SEN. POMPEO? President Trump said he’d be willing to give up Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if it meant holding on to a Senate seat in Pompeo’s home state of Kansas.
“Mike would walk away with that seat if I thought there was a risk to losing that seat, I would say that I would sit down very seriously and talk to Mike and find out how he feels about it.” Trump told reporters in London.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: For ‘the voters at home’: Trump to unveil NATO spending cut in London
Reuters: U.S. Defense Chief Calls On Turkey To Stop Holding Up NATO Readiness Plan
Reuters: U.S. Senators Want Turkey Sanctioned Over Russia Missile System
Defense News: NATO Secretary General: Alliance’s 70th A Time For Celebration, But Not For Complacency
Reuters: North Korea Says Up To U.S. To Decide What ‘Christmas Gift’ It Will Get: KCNA
Yonhap News Agency: Top U.S. Diplomat Cites Allies’ Growing Capabilities Amid Defense Cost-Sharing Talks With South Korea
Washington Examiner: China’s shuttering of Hong Kong ports is merely symbolic, official says
New York Times: U.S. Stance on Hong Kong Draws Soft China Reaction
CNBC: China Has Become Too Big To Break The Rules, America’s NATO Ambassador Says
Reuters: Senior Chinese Diplomat Set For First Visit To South Korea In Five Years Amid Missile Defence Row
Breaking Defense: Killing Cruise Missiles: Pentagon To Test Rival Lasers
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Lifts Hold on Military Aid to Lebanon
Washington Post: Siberian Pipeline Binds Russia And China As Gas Flows For The First Time
Calendar
TUESDAY | DECEMBER 3
Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire, London — The United Kingdom host NATO heads of state and government at its “Leaders Meeting,” chaired by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The event begins with an evening event at Buckingham Palace and continues Wednesday, Dec. 4. https://www.nato.int
8:30 a.m. 615 H St. N.W. — U.S. Chamber of Commerce Space Summit with, Defense Undersecretary for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin; FCC Chairman Ajit Pai; FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson; NASA Deputy Administrator James Morhard; Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett; Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Air Force Space Command; and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. https://www.uschamber.com/event/launch-the-space-economy
9:30 a.m. G50 Dirksen. — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on military housing conditions, with testimony by Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Hwy. Arl. — Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies discussion on “Moving Toward the Air Force We Need? Assessing Air Force Budget Trends,” with retired Air Force Col. Carl Rehberg, nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments; and retired Air Force Col. Mark Gunzinger, director of future aerospace concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute. http://events.r20.constantcontact.com
12 p.m. 1150 22nd St. N.W. — Women’s Foreign Policy Group “Celebrating Women Leaders Luncheon,” with former national security adviser Susan Rice; former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Susan Gordon; former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Andrea Thompson; Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today; and Elisabeth Bumiller, Washington bureau chief for the New York Times. https://www.wfpg.org/sponsor
4 p.m. 1957 E St. N.W. — George Washington University discussion on “Conflict, Survival and the Ethics of Violence: Personal Narratives of the Wars in Syria and Afghanistan,” with Noah Tucker, research associate in the GWU Central Asia Program http://elliott.gwu.edu
WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 4
8 a.m. 2201 G St. N.W. — Defense Writers Group breakfast with John Rood, the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/
8:45 a.m. 701 North Fairfax St., Alexandria — Defense Strategies Institute Space Resiliency Summit,” with John Hill, principal director for space policy in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Air Force Space Command; Maj. Gen. Clinton Crosier, director of the Air Force Space Force Planning Task Force; 701 North Fairfax Street, Alexandria, Va. http://space.dsigroup.org
10:30 a.m. 1025 Connecticut Ave. N.W. — SETA Foundation discussion on “What’s Happening in Iran?: Popular Protests and the U.S. Policy,” with Barbara Slavin, director of the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative; Alex Vatanka, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute; Sina Toossi, senior research analyst at the National Iranian American Council; and Kadir Ustun, executive director of SETA. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/whats-happening-in-iran
11:30 a.m. CVC-268, U.S. Capitol — Atlantic Council discussion on “U.S. Strategic Interests in Ukraine,” with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/us-strategic-interests-in-ukraine/
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 5
8:30 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research discussion on “Restoring Civil-Military Relations,” with House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.; and Mackenzie Eaglen, resident fellow at AEI. Livestream at http://www.american.com/watch/aei-livestream
8:45 a.m. 701 N Fairfax St., Alexandria -— Defense Strategies Institute holds its 2019 Space Resiliency Summit,” with Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency; and Air Force Col. Eric Felt, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate. http://space.dsigroup.org
9:30 a.m. 779 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discussion on “NATO, Transatlantic Security, and the Future of Arms Control,” with former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller; and former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, president of CEIP http://carnegieendowment.org/
12 p.m. 1800 K St., N.W. — Korea Economic Institute of America discussion on “Shifting the Burden: The U.S.-Korea Alliance Amid Washington’s New Approach to Military Cost-Sharing,” with former South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Song Min-soon; former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens, president and CEO of KEI; retired Army Gen. Walter “Skip” Sharp, former commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea; James Kim, senior research fellow in the Asan Institute for Policy Studies’ Center for Public Opinion Research; and Kyle Ferrier, fellow and academic affairs director at KEI. http://www.keia.org/event/shifting-burden
FRIDAY | DECEMBER 6
8:30 a.m. 1624 Crescent Pl. N.W. — Meridian International Center, the University of Michigan’s Weiser Diplomacy Center and the National Security Policy Center forum on defense and diplomacy in Afghanistan, with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas; Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council; Afghan Ambassador to the United States Roya Rahmani; former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Anne Patterson; retired Army Gen. John Nicholson, former commander of the Resolute Support Mission; Javid Ali, policymaker in residence at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; Laurel Miller, director of the Crisis Group’s Asia Program and former acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the State Department; Peter Bergen, national security analyst at CNN; Melanne Verveer, executive director of the Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace and Security; and Stuart Holliday, president and CEO of the Meridian International Center
12 p.m. 1957 E St. N.W. — George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies forum on “The Crisis that Has Defied Five Presidents: Covering the North Korean Nuclear Program for Three Decades,” with David Sanger, national security correspondent for the New York Times; and Yonho Kim, associate director of the GWU Institute for Korean Studies http://elliott.gwu.edu
12:15 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. — The American Security Project discussion on “A New American Message: A Discussion on U.S. Rhetoric,” with former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel; Mohamed Younis, editor-in-chief of Gallup News; Dokhi Fassihian, executive director of Reporters Without Borders; and Matthew Wallin, director of research on public diplomacy and strategic communications at ASP. https://www.americansecurityproject.org/event
FRIDAY | DECEMBER 13
9 a.m. 1301 K St. N.W. — Washington Post Live conversation with former Defense Secretary retired Gen. Jim Mattis with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He definitely likes sending rockets up, doesn’t he? That’s why I called him ‘rocket man.’ But we have a very good relationship and we’ll see what happens. It may work out, it may not.”
President Trump in London, commenting on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s continued testing of a new multiple launch rocket system as denuclearization talks remain stalled.
