|
STAR-STUDDED EVENING: There were more stars on the shoulders of last night’s guests at the White House than you can see at the average Hollywood premiere. President Trump hosted his top four-star generals and admirals including all the Joint Chiefs and all the combatant commanders from around the globe. The nearly two dozen guests included civilian leaders Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his deputy Patrick Shanahan, but everyone else was in dress uniform. DEFENDING THE BORDER: Flanked by Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, Trump held court for about 14 minutes in the Cabinet room before a private meeting and dinner. Just before dismissing the press, the president reiterated he’s still considering dispatching the active-duty military to the southern border in response to a caravan of asylum-seeking immigrants marching north through Mexico. “The military, not just the National Guard, the military is what I’m thinking about,” Trump said. “We can’t have people coming into our country illegally.” The U.S. already has 2,100 Guard troops assisting the border patrol, but not performing law enforcement tasks. Asked specifically what more active-duty troops might do, Trump replied, “They can do a lot. They’re the military. Right fellows?” gesturing to officers around the table. Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, “The U.S. has a message for those in the caravan — you will not be successful getting into the United States. If you seek to come here as a refugee — go through the normal refugee process. You will not be granted entry into the U.S. through the illegal means of this caravan.” SPACE FORCE IS ‘WHERE IT’S AT’: Trump said he was also getting an update on his plans to establish a sixth branch of the armed services to be called the Space Force, which he said would be a legacy for everyone around the table. “I think I can say that everybody in this room feels strongly about Space Force. Everything’s necessary but that’s going to be a very important part. It seems to be where it’s at and where it’s going,” Trump said. “And I’m not just talking about sending rockets to the moon, or rockets to Mars, I’m talking about defense and offense.” When Trump called on Mattis to chime in, the defense secretary, who initially opposed a separate service, was circumspect in his brief comment, careful to say he was dutifully carrying out his marching orders. “Right now what we are going to do is set up a combatant command, that’s our initial goal. We are working with Congress for the legislation that we’ll need to open the door to further organization, but we are not letting any moss grow,” Mattis said. “We’re organizing now for combat, and [getting] that combatant command underway.” Trump said he thinks there’s a “good chance next year of officially doing out Space Force.” WEAPONS IN SPACE? In the past, Mattis has been careful to say the U.S. does not want to militarize space, but rather sees DoD’s primary mission as protecting and defending the vital constellation of satellites that provide communication and GPS signals for the military and civilian sectors. Trump did not explain what offensive capability he meant when he said the Space Force was an important part of our military both offense and defense. Vice President Mike Pence had already muddied the waters earlier in the day during a talk at the Washington Post, part of an all-day discussion of space issues. Asked point blank by reporter Robert Costa, “Do you think that nuclear weapons should be banned from space?” Pence replied. “Well, they are now.” “Should they always be?” Costa followed up. “I think that what we need to do is make sure that we provide for the common defense of the people of the United States of America, and that’s the president’s determination here,” Pence said. “I think it’s in the interest of every nation to continue to ban the use of nuclear weapons in space, but what we want to do is continue to advance the principle that peace comes through strength.” Pence also said he sees no need for now to amend the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which bans nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction from being deployed in the Earth’s orbit. “That treaty … does ban weapons of mass destruction in outer space but it doesn’t ban military activity,” Pence said. “It actually gives nations a fair amount of flexibility in operating for their security interests in outer space. “But, you know, as time goes forward, the hope that we could continue to see outer space as a domain where peace will reign, it will require military presence. But we’ll continue to aspire to President Kennedy’s vision of a ‘sea of peace’ as opposed to a terrifying domain of war,” Pence said. AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY: “We discuss it all the time,” Trump said when asked if the strategy was working, considering the recent attack in Kandahar that wounded a one-star American general and missed the top U.S. commander. “We feel very badly about that, it’s war. It’s a tough business.” Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. 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. |
|
HAPPENING TODAY: This afternoon, Trump will gather all his advisers for a meeting on how to respond to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “We have people right now in Saudi Arabia, who are literally right now getting on planes, coming back. We have people, very talented people in Turkey, dealing with the top people in Turkey and we’re all meeting [today],” Trump said. “Everybody is going to have a lot of information. We’ve gained a lot of information. And we’ll know pretty much everything we need to know, I think. “I spoke with the king. I spokes with the crown prince,” Trump said, “and he strongly said he had nothing to do with it. This was at a lower level.” VISAS REVOKED: Pompeo said the U.S would start revoking visas and considering other steps against the Saudi Arabian officials who it believes played a role in the murder of Khashoggi. “We have identified at least some of the individuals responsible, including those in the intelligence services, the royal court, the foreign ministry, and other Saudi ministries who we suspect to have been involved in Mr. Khashoggi’s death,” Pompeo said yesterday. “These penalties will not be the last word on this matter from the United States. We will continue to explore additional measures to hold those responsible accountable.” ABOUT THE ‘WORST COVER-UP EVER’: No, Trump said last night he was not saying the Saudis should have done a better job of covering up the murder of Khashoggi when he said the Saudi had the “worst cover-up ever,” in a session with reporters in the Oval Office yesterday. “I’m saying they never should have thought about it. Once they thought about it, everything else went wrong also. Very simple. They should have never thought about it. It should never have been done. But once they thought about it everything else they did was bad, too. The cover-up was horrible, the execution was horrible, but they should have never been at an execution or cover-up, cause it should have never happened,” he said. NATO REPELS MOCK INVASION: The Marines have landed. Around 90 Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit have descended on Keflavík, Iceland, for the initial phase of NATO’s Exercise Trident Juncture, a massive military drill designed to test NATO’s ability to repel an invasion from the East. It’s NATO’s largest exercise in many years, bringing together around 50,000 personnel from all 29 allies, plus partners Finland and Sweden. More than 14,000 U.S. troops are taking part, along with 65 ships, 150 aircraft and 10,000 vehicles. EMERGENCY LANDING: A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber made an emergency landing at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., Tuesday morning due to an unspecified issue during the flight, a spokesman for the base confirmed to the Washington Examiner. PHALLUS IN THE SKY: It’s happened again. The Marine Corps has confirmed one of its T-34C trainer aircraft was responsible for flying in a penis-shaped pattern over California yesterday. But you had to look at a map showing the track of the flight after the fact to see the skyjinks. A graphic showing the looping phallic flight path of the plane between Naval Air Facility El Centro and Palms Springs was first posted to Twitter along with two laughing emojis by a flight tracking account. “Somebody needs to have a word with the crew of US Navy T-34C … out of MCAS Miramar,” Aircraft Spots tweeted. The T-34 Turbomentor belongs to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101, which is part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, said Maj. Josef Patterson, a spokesman for the wing. “We’ve launched an investigation,” he told the Washington Examiner. Twitter rejoiced, but it may be no laughing matter for whomever was flying the plane. Last year, the Navy apologized then grounded and disciplined an aircrew for making similar artwork with an EA-18G Growler’s jet exhaust over Washington state. YULETIDE FLASHBACK: The last sky penis incident came during the run up to the holidays, and in a sign of just how divergent the military and public views were, a website began selling a Christmas tree ornament to memorialize the lewd flight. It depicted the penis cloud and a circling Growler. PORTRAITS RECONSIDERED: Writing in The Atlantic, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal explains his decision, at age 63, to get rid of a portrait of Robert E. Lee, a “prized possession” that his wife gave him 40 years earlier. He writes that the painting “reflected my fascination with leadership, and it spoke of duty and selfless service. But as time passed, the myth was reexamined. The darker side of Lee’s legacy, and the picture in my office, now communicated ideas about race and equality with which I sought no association. Down it came.” The essay is adapted from McChrystal’s new book, Leaders. And in the Washington Post there’s the story of a senior official at the Department of Veterans Affairs who was apparently unaware Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was a slave trader who became the KKK’s first grand wizard. David J. Thomas Sr. removed a portrait of the general from his office after a reporter explained the history of the general. “It was just a beautiful print that I had purchased, and I thought it was very nice,” Thomas told the Post, explaining he knew of Forrest only “as a Southern general in the Civil War.” “I don’t know what to do with this thing,” Thomas told The Post, “except to destroy it.” THE RUNDOWN New York Times: Bolton Rejects Russian Entreaties to Stay in Nuclear Treaty Roll Call: Trump to Meet Putin Again Next Month After Another White House Reversal Bloomberg: Lockheed’s $15 Billion Saudi Deal at Risk After Khashoggi Death National Review: The Public Deserves an Afghanistan War Progress Report Defense One: Trump Is Right to Leave The INF Nuclear Treaty Washington Post: Tiny U.S. base assumes outsize role in Trump’s Syria strategy Military.com: No Move to Speed Up New Nuclear Cruise Missile Development Foreign Policy: Would INF Withdrawal Recreate a Nuclear Hair-Trigger World? Military Times: The military could see big changes if Democrats win control of Congress |
CalendarWEDNESDAY | OCT. 24 7 a.m. 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Precision Strike Technology Symposium with Steve Walker, Director of DARPA. ndia.org 8 a.m. 2401 M St NW. Defense Writers Group with Lt. Gen. Nadja West, Army surgeon general. 9 a.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Arab Horizons: Is A New Regional Order Possible? carnegieendowment.org 10 a.m. Phone Briefing on Jamal Khashoggi and the Future of U.S.-Saudi Relations. wilsoncenter.org 12:30 p.m. Defense Manufacturing as a Means of Localization in MENA with Tom Kelly is the Vice President of Foreign Policy and National Security Affairs at Raytheon. sais-jhu.edu 1 p.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. China’s Ballistic Missile Submarines and Strategic Stability. carnegieendowment.org THURSDAY | OCT. 25 7 a.m. 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Precision Strike Technology Symposium. ndia.org 7 a.m. 1700 Tysons Blvd. Morrison and Foerster’s 2019 Outlook on National Security and Government Contracting. mofo.com 11:30 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. U.S. policy and the war in Yemen. brookings.edu 3:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Security in Northern Europe: Deterrence, Defense and Dialogue. atlanticcouncil.org 4:30 p.m. 1740 Massachusetts Ave. NW. A Conversation with Shirin Tahir-Kheli on Her Memoir Before the Age of Prejudice: A Muslim Woman’s National Security Work with Three American Presidents. sais-jhu.edu FRIDAY | OCT. 26 8:30 a.m. 2300 Wilson Blvd. Military Reporters and Editors Conference with Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan; and Coast Guard Commandant Karl Schultz. militaryreporters.org Noon. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Next Steps for U.S. Strategy in Syria. hudson.org MONDAY | OCT. 29 10 am. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Thinking Strategically About Human Rights Challenges in Negotiations with North Korea. heritage.org 12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Foreign Policy and the 2018 Midterm Elections with James Carville, Mary Matalin and Amy Walter. cfr.org 2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Health Security and North Korea: Advance Film Screening and Discussion of The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea. csis.org TUESDAY | OCT. 30 4:30 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. Book Launch of Just Security in an Undergoverned World. stimson.org 3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Protection of Civilians in U.S. Partnered Operations with Mark Swayne, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs. csis.org 5:30 p.m. Webcast Conversation with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. usip.org WEDNESDAY | OCT. 31 12:30 p.m. 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW. Dilemmas of Stabilization: Syria and Beyond. carnegieendowment.org |
|
