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THE IRAN TEST: President Trump and Emmanuel Macron are scheduled to hold a joint news conference today, and no doubt reporters will want to know if the French president has had any success getting Trump to stick with the Iran nuclear deal. Despite some deep policy differences, the two presidents seem to have a warm bond, but the Iran question is putting Macron’s reputation as the “Trump whisperer” to the test. The Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, was signed in 2015 — not just between Iran and the U.S. — but by five other world powers. Those signatories: Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China, want to keep the agreement intact, while Trump has set a May 12 deadline to improve the deal, or the U.S. will reinstate sanctions. In his interview on Fox News Sunday, Macron laid out his case for keeping the current deal and negotiating separate agreements on the issues that concern Trump. “Let’s preserve a framework because it’s better than the North Korean type of situation,” he said. “My point is to say, don’t leave … JCPOA as long as you don’t have a better option for nuclear and let’s complete it with ballistic missile and a regional containment.” BUT FIRST A LITTLE POMP: The official military arrival ceremony is set for 9 a.m. with 500 U.S. troops from ceremonial units from all the services on the South Lawn, followed by White House meetings, and then the news conference at 11:45 a.m. ROUHANI RAILS: In a fiery speech that was carried live on state television today, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned of “severe consequences” if Trump abrogates the nuclear deal. “I am telling those in the White House that if they do not live up to their commitments, the Iranian government will firmly react. If anyone betrays the deal, they should know that they would face severe consequences,” he told a cheering crowd of thousands gathered in the city of Tabriz, according to Reuters. “Iran is prepared for all possible situations.” THE U.S. CONCERNS: At the G-7 meeting in Canada yesterday, acting Secretary of State John Sullivan, whose uncle was the last U.S. ambassador to Iran, said Trump is legitimately concerned about Iran’s “malign behavior” in Syria and Yemen, its ballistic missile program and the sunset clauses in the nuclear deal itself. “No one wants to see a nuclear-armed Iran,” he said. “President Trump’s goal in this entire process is to strengthen the JCPOA, if it can be strengthened, and to protect America and American interests which have been threatened for over 40 years by the regime in Tehran.” ON SYRIA: Sullivan also said in yesterday’s news conference in Toronto that Trump “will not leave a vacuum” in Syria, and will work to make sure the Kurds and other groups that have fought the Islamic State on behalf of the United States will not be abandoned. “The United States is committed to ensuring that all Syrians, including the Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Turkmen, and other minorities in northeast Syria, have a full seat at the table and an appropriate say in their future,” Sullivan said, stressing that the U.S. will remain committed in Syria until ISIS is defeated and its self-declared caliphate is completely eliminated. “We will not leave a vacuum that can be exploited by the Assad regime and its supporters, Sullivan said. “We will work to ensure local forces enabled by our regional partners and allies will consolidate these gains, stabilize liberated territories, and prevent the return of ISIS. We will not leave a vacuum that can be exploited by the Assad regime and its supporters.” RUSSIA’S TAKE: Russia’s top diplomat says that in pressing the U.S. to stay in Syria for the long haul, Macron is just trying to sell Trump on reviving western “colonialism” in Syria. “I heard that President of France Emmanuel Macron has recently called on the U.S. not to withdraw its troops from Syria even after the last terrorist is destroyed or forced to leave the country,” said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “The French leader went so far as to suggest a permanent deployment in order to build a new Syria. This is reminiscent of colonialism.” Good Tuesday 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. |
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HAPPENING TODAY: Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan speaks at 8 a.m. at the Defense Writers Group. BUDGET HEARINGS: Leaders of the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are in the Senate this morning for defense budget testimony. A Senate Armed Services Committee hearing 9:30 a.m. features Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, the chief of staff. At 10 a.m., the Senate Appropriations Committee hears testimony from Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, and Gen. Robert Neller, Marine Corps commandant. SMOOTH SAILING FOR POMPEO: Turns out Trump was right about Sen. Rand Paul. Last week Trump said Paul is “a very special guy” who “has never let me down.” And yesterday, just as Trump predicted, Paul fell in line, voting in committee for the confirmation of Mike Pompeo, who thus avoided the ignominious fate of being the only secretary of state nominee to fail to get approval from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Paul, who wanted Pompeo to admit Iraq was a mistake and that the U.S. should leave Afghanistan, explained his last-minute change of heart this way: “Having received assurances from President Trump and Director Pompeo that he agrees with the President on these important issues, I have decided to support his nomination to be our next Secretary of State.” With several Democrats announcing support, Pompeo’s confirmation this week now seems a sure thing. ROUGH SEAS FOR ADM. JACKSON: Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson’s confirmation hearing has been postponed due to concerns by Senate lawmakers that he doesn’t have the right management experience and is facing serious allegations in how he runs the White House medical office. The Washington Post first reported the hearing would be postponed. CBS News reported later Monday that Jackson is facing allegations of a hostile work environment and excessive drinking on the job. CBS also reported Jackson may have been improperly distributing medicine. Jackson was scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs tomorrow. Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the committee, requested the hearing be pushed back to investigate the allegations. HASPEL CONCERNS: More than 100 retired military officers sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee Monday saying they are “deeply concerned” by the nomination of Gina Haspel to lead the CIA. “We urge you to examine closely the full extent of Ms. Haspel’s involvement in the rendition, detention, and interrogation program and, should you find that she played any role in carrying out, supervising, or directing the torture or abuse of people in U.S. custody, or the destruction of evidence relating to these activities, we urge you to reject her nomination,” the 108 retired officers wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Politico. The committee has scheduled a May 9 hearing on the CIA nominee and the concern could mean more difficulty for the Trump administration in getting Haspel, 61, confirmed to replace Pompeo following questions over her time running a secret CIA prison in Thailand. “We are deeply troubled by the prospect of someone who appears to have been intimately involved in torture being elevated to one of the most important positions of leadership in the intelligence community,” according to the joint letter to the Senate committee. The former officers cited reports that Haspel ran the prison and may have overseen the CIA’s interrogation program, which was “rife with mismanagement and abuse.” CAREFULLY CHOREOGRAPHED SUMMIT: Preparations are underway for Friday’s face-to-face meeting in Panmunjom between South Korea’s Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. The South Korean Yonhap News Agency reports there have been meticulous rehearsals of every facet of the historic meeting to ensure nothing goes awry. Today’s rehearsal started lasted nearly two hours, involving Moon’s chief of staff and North Korea’s unification minister, according to officials from Seoul’s presidential office. “The two Koreas will hold a joint rehearsal on Wednesday, followed by a final rehearsal the following day that will include a complete trial run of all scheduled events, including a welcome dinner to be hosted by the South Korean president,” Yonhap reported. TRUMP’S EYES WIDE OPEN: The White House on Monday defended Trump against concerns that he is “naive” to believe North Korea will follow through on denuclearization. “We’ve seen some steps in the right direction, but we have a long way to go,” press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters. On Friday, North Korea announced it would suspend all nuclear and ballistic missile tests in advance of the summits, and at the Pentagon Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who has vowed not to talk publicly about the diplomatic efforts, nevertheless sounded upbeat about the prospects for progress. “Right now, I think there’s a lot of reasons for optimism, that the negotiations will be fruitful,” Mattis said, adding, “We’ll see.” THE NUNN-LUGAR QUESTION: While there is every reason to remain highly skeptical that North Korea will stick to any agreement it makes given its history of deceit, the two former senators whose names are on landmark nonproliferation legislation are looking at the other side of the coin. What if the diplomacy works? Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar have an op-ed in today’s Washington Post in which they argue if the broad framework of an agreement is reached between Trump and Kim, their namesake law, written in 1991, could be a useful model for how to proceed. “Just as we should prepare for the summit to go wrong, we should also prepare for it to ‘go right,’” they write. “Though there are significant differences between North Korea in 2018 and the former Soviet Union in 1991, the cooperative threat-reduction concept could be a powerful tool to support the verifiable reduction and elimination of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, its other weapons of mass destruction, and their delivery systems.” DEMS RECRUIT VETS: In their effort to retake the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, Democrats are taking a page of the Republican playbook and recruiting a new crop of military veterans to run for public office, writes Travis Tritten, in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine. “We’re glad that the Democrats are following our lead after many, many years of recruiting veterans to run for office,” said Jesse Hunt, the national press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “That’s something that has been part of the fabric of our party for some time now and as you can see there is a bevy of veterans serving on the Republican side in Congress.” You can read the profiles of some of the candidates here. NIGER PROBE OVER: The U.S. military’s investigation into last year’s ambush in Niger, in which four U.S. soldiers were killed, has been completed and the notification of families has begun, the Pentagon said yesterday. “We’re currently in the process of briefing the families of those fallen soldiers in order to provide them with the results of the investigation,” said Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman. Once the families have been informed, the Pentagon will brief Congress and then release the results of the investigation to the public in a Pentagon press conference that some officials indicated could come as soon as this week. But Manning would say only that the results will be released “in the coming weeks.” McCAIN IS BACK HOME: Sen. John McCain has returned home after undergoing surgery last week as he continues to fight an aggressive form of brain cancer, according to his wife. THE RUNDOWN AP: Pence to name Kellogg as national security adviser New York Times: An Unpredictable Trump and a Risk-Prone Kim Mean High Stakes and Mismatched Expectations Bloomberg: Pentagon says Cloud Winner Must Stay Ahead to Extend Contract Defense One: Defense Department is Pursuing Another Multibillion-Dollar Cloud Foreign Policy: Bolton’s Pick for Deputy Could Roil Pentagon Relations Air Force Times: Afghanistan veteran receives world’s first penis and scrotum transplant CNN: Russia urges Trump to honor Iran nuke deal Breaking Defense: War Cloud: JEDI To Deploy Backpack Servers To Front Line Task and Purpose: The ‘Most Powerful’ Helicopter Ever Fielded By The US Is Also The Most Expensive SpaceNews: Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson in conversation with SpaceNews Asia Times: China’s First Homemade Carrier Out For Maiden Sea Trial |
CalendarTUESDAY | APRIL 24 7 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. AUSA Hot Topic Series: Army Contracts with Bruce Jette, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. ausa.org 8 a.m. 2401 M St. NW. Defense Writers Group Breakfast with Deputy Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan. 8 a.m. 300 First St. SE. Strategic Deterrence Breakfast Series: The Nuclear and Missile Defense Dimension. mitchellaerospacepower.org 9 a.m. Cryptocurrencies and Sanctions Breakfast (invitation only). defenddemocracy.org 9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Hearing on the Posture of the Department of the Air Force with Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, Chief Of Staff. armed-services.senate.gov 10 a.m. Dirksen 192. Hearing to Review the FY2019 Budget Request for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps with Navy Secretary Richard Spencer; Adm. John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations; and Gen. Robert Neller, Marine Corps Commandant. appropriations.senate.gov 10 a.m. Dirksen 342. Hearing on Mitigating America’s Cybersecurity Risk. hsgac.senate.gov 10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Nominations Hearing with Adm. Harry Harris, to be the Ambassador to Australia. foreign.senate.gov 10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Putin’s New Strategic Systems: Plans, Realities, and Prospects. Csis.org 11 a.m. Pentagon Briefing Room. Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve briefs the media by video on operations in Iraq and Syria. Live streamed on www.defense.gov/live. 12 noon. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. NATO’s Cyber Defense Strategy Ahead of the 2018 Brussels Summit. hudson.org 12 noon. Hart 216. Responding to Russia. defensepriorities.org 3:30 p.m. 1030 15th Street NW. Developing a Strategy to Deter Russian Nuclear ‘De-escalation’ Strikes. atlanticcouncil.org 5:30 p.m. 1177 15th St. NW. Book Launch Event: “Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War” by Paul Scharre. cnas.org 5:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Schieffer Series: Iran, North Korea and Trade: Connecting the Dangerous, Long Distance Dots. csis.org 5:30 p.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The Battle for the New Libya. carnegieendowment.org WEDNESDAY | APRIL 25 8 a.m. 300 First St. SE. Strategic Deterrence Breakfast Series on China: Emerging Peer Danger. mitchellaerospacepower.org 9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Global Fragmentation in Cyber Policy. csis.org 11:30 a.m. 1667 K St. NW. Human-Machine Teaming for Future Ground Forces. csbaonline.org 12 noon. 1030 15th St. NW. Iraq’s Upcoming Elections: Likely Outcomes and Impact on US-Iraqi Relations. atlanticcouncil.org 1 p.m. House 140. Closed Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2019 Department of Defense Posture and Budget with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis; Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and DOD Comptroller David Norquist. appropriations.house.gov 1:30 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. New Year, New Strategy: Shifting Policies on North Korea in 2018. wilsoncenter.org 2:30 p.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. NW. Afghanistan in 2020: Is Peace Possible? usip.org THURSDAY | APRIL 26 9 a.m. Rayburn 2212. House Armed Services Markup of H.R. 5515 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 – Subcommittee on Readiness. 9 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 21st Century Security Forum: The National Defense Strategy and its global impact with Gen. Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps. brookings.edu 9:30 a.m. Hart 216. Hearing on the Department of Defense Budget Posture with Secretary Jim Mattis; Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and DOD Comptroller David Norquist. armed-services.senate.gov 10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. House Armed Services Markup of H.R. 5515 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 – Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. 11 a.m. Rayburn 2212. House Armed Services Markup of H.R. 5515 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 – Subcommittee on Military Personnel. 12 noon. 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Risky Business: The Role of Arms Sales in U.S. Foreign Policy. cato.org 12 noon. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Iran’s Entrenched Footprint in Iraq and Syria. hudson.org 12:30 p.m. Rayburn 2118. House Armed Services Markup of H.R. 5515 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 – Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces. 1:30 p.m. Rayburn 2212. House Armed Services Markup of H.R. 5515 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 – Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. 3 p.m. Rayburn 2118. House Armed Services Markup of H.R. 5515 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 – Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. 3:30 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Iran: As Anti-Government Protests Continue, Can the U.S. Help Maintain Momentum? hudson.org 5 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Investing in Iraq: Reconstruction and the Role of the Energy Sector with Fareed Yasseen, Iraqi Ambassador to the United States. atlanticcouncil.org FRIDAY | APRIL 27 8 a.m. 300 First Street SE. The Nuclear Deterrent Breakfast Series: Connecting Arms Control to Strategic Deterrent Requirements. mitchellaerospacepower.org 9 a.m. 1030 15th Street NW. Private Sector Investments in Afghanistan. atlanticcouncil.org 10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Maritime Security in the Polar Regions: Legal Perspectives from the United States and China. wilsoncenter.org MONDAY | APRIL 30 11:30 a.m. 1667 K St. NW. Book Talk on “Silent Invasion” by Clive Hamilton. csbaonline.org 1 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Book Talk on “Losing Hearts and Minds: American-Iranian Relations and International Education during the Cold War” with author Matthew Shannon. csis.org 2 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. An Assessment of the Inter-Korea Summit: Views from South Korea, U.S. and China. stimson.org TUESDAY | MAY 1 8 a.m. 300 First Street SE. The Nuclear Deterrent Breakfast Series: The GBSD and B-21/LRSO: Nuclear Deterrent Futures Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, Deputy Chief of Staff. mitchellaerospacepower.org 9 a.m. 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Denuclearizing North Korea: Practicalities and Politics. carnegieendowment.org 10 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Army Vision and Modernization Priorities with Secretary Mark Esper. atlanticcouncil.org 12:15 p.m. 740 15th St. NW. Iraq After ISIS: What to Do Now. newamerica.org |
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