EXTREMISTS? WHAT EXTREMISTS? The increasingly politicized debate over just how big a problem the U.S. military has with far-right extremists in its ranks has come down to this: One side argues that while white supremacists and other extremists comprise only a tiny fraction of service members, they nevertheless post a serious threat. While the other side argues the extremist threat is vastly overblown, and the “problem” doesn’t exist.
On Fox News yesterday, Kash Patel, who was installed as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller by President Donald Trump after he fired Mark Esper in the waning days of his presidency, argued the extremist problem was a myth.
“They have self-admitted that the problem doesn’t exist, to their knowledge, and that’s because it doesn’t,” Patel told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo. “White supremacy is not rampant throughout the Department of Defense. That is outrageous and offensive to our men and women in uniform.”
Patel says the Biden Pentagon is “trading in politics” instead of “logic and fact.”
“Their own spokesperson and their own secretary of defense, they have said they do not know the problem and whether it exists. They don’t have a name for it. They don’t have a solution for it. But they’re going to label it anyway,” Patel says. “That is a total Machiavellian approach.”
AUSTIN: ‘SMALL NUMBERS, OUTSIZED IMPACT’: In his first Pentagon news conference Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was careful to say that while the department does not yet have hard data on the number of extremists in the ranks, he suspects they make up a tiny fraction of the 1.3 million member active-duty force.
“I really and truly believe that 99.9% of our servicemen and women believe in [their] oath. They believe, embrace the values that we are focused on, and they’re doing the right things,” Austin said. “I expect for the numbers to be small, but quite frankly, they’ll probably be a little bit larger than most of us would guess … But I would just say that, you know, small numbers, in this case, can have an outsized impact.”
Austin continues to cite his experience as a young lieutenant colonel in the 82nd Airborne division in the 1990s when he had to deal with neo-Nazi skinheads among the soldiers he commanded. “We couldn’t tell that story of what we were doing and how great we were because nobody wanted to hear it, they wanted to hear about the skinheads,” Austin said. “And so that had an outsized impact on that organization.”
Austin also recounted his memory of then Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, now Joint Chiefs chairman, having to address the aftermath of a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2014, in which a soldier who had become radicalized killed three fellow soldiers who were preparing for deployment and wounded 16 others before taking his own life. “That nearly crippled the organization for a period of time. So, an incredible, an outsized impact on the organization.”
ONE-DAY, NOT 60-DAY STAND-DOWN: There seems to be some confusion about the stand-down ordered by Austin for leaders to talk to their troops about extremism and to educate themselves on signs to look for. The stand-down is often shorthanded as a “60-day stand-down,” as if the military was going to take a two-month break in defending the nation.
In fact, what Austin has ordered is a one-day stand-down to be scheduled sometime over a 60-day period that ends in early April. “I have encouraged them to have a dialogue with their troops about our values, about the oath that they took when they came into the service, and about who we are and what we’re about,” he said. “The American public should know and understand that we’re not afraid to take a look at ourselves, and we’re not afraid to address those issues.”
VIRAL VIDEO HAS MARINE CORPS ON DEFENSIVE: On Friday, Austin also pledged to look into a viral video, first posted on TikTok, in which a young female marine complains the military justice system failed her by giving a fellow marine who she says harassed her a pass.
In the emotional, profanity-laced video, the young woman tearfully says her treatment after reporting the incident is “exactly why f—ing females f—ing kill themselves. This is exactly why nobody f—ing takes us seriously.”
“This is what happens when you report your assault in the @USMC,” said Not In My Marine Corps, a group that advocates for victims of sexual harassment and assault, which posted the video Thursday. “He admits his guilt and then is retained by the Commanding General after everyone else recommended do not retain,” the group’s post said.
“I found the video deeply disturbing, and I’ve asked my staff for additional information,” said Austin. “We have been looking at this for a long time in earnest, but we haven’t gotten it right. And my commitment to my soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, and dependents is we’re going to do everything in our power to get it right.”
The nature of the alleged harassment and the commanding officer involved remains unclear. The Washington Post described the offense as “disseminating private imagery of her without her consent.”
“We are aware of the video of the Marine in distress,” the Marine Corps said in a tweet. “The Marine Corps takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. The Marine’s command [II Marine Expeditionary Force] has taken action to ensure the Marine is safe.”
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HAPPENING TODAY: At 9:30 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Merrick Garland to be attorney general of the United States. This afternoon, the full Senate will consider the nomination of Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be the U.S. representative to the United Nations, with a cloture vote set for At 5:30 p.m.
DOD IG TO INVESTIGATE SPACECOM MOVE: On Friday, the Pentagon’s inspector general announced it would review the last-minute surprise decision to award the future headquarters of the U.S. Space Command to Alabama instead of keeping it at its current temporary location in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Colorado officials had been privately assured they had the inside track on keeping the headquarters, only to be blindsided by an Air Force announcement just seven days before President Donald Trump left office that Huntsville, Alabama, had won the competition based on several factors, including community support, quality schools, and overall cost.
Colorado’s governor and congressional delegation immediately suspected politics was at play, given that the state’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner lost his reelection bid, and Colorado went for Biden, while Alabama went for Trump, and prominent elected officials in Alabama endorsed Trump’s contention that the election was stolen from him.
“Specifically, we will evaluate the extent to which the Department of the Air Force complied with DOD and Air Force policies during the location selection process, used objective and relevant scoring factors to rank the six candidate locations, and, calculated the cost and other scoring factors accurately and consistently among the six candidate locations,” the DOD IG said in a memorandum to the secretary of the Air Force.
“I welcome the investigation by the DOD OIG, and look forward to this review,” Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, whose district includes Space Command, said in a statement. “It is imperative that we thoroughly review what I believe will prove to be a fundamentally flawed process that focused on bean-counting rather than American space dominance.”
NO ‘HASTY OR DISORDERLY WITHDRAWAL’ FROM AFGHANISTAN: There are growing hints that the Biden administration will not be ready to leave Afghanistan by the end of April, as specified under an agreement negotiated with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, a year ago.
After meeting virtually with his NATO counterparts last week, Secretary Austin said he would not “preview the advice that I plan to give to the president,” and he insisted that “no decisions about our future force posture have been made.”
But then he went on to set out conditions that would likely preclude the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops, which would also trigger the departure of some 5,000 NATO and partner forces. “Clearly, the violence is too high right now,” he said, “and more progress needs to be made in the Afghan-led negotiations.”
With just 67 days left before the May 1 deadline, and no decision expected until next month at the earliest, the logistics alone would seem to preclude a full U.S. and NATO withdrawal.
“We are mindful of the looming deadlines. But we want to do this methodically and deliberately,” Austin said. “The United States will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan that puts their forces or the alliance’s reputation at risk.”
Another sign came at a Friday session of the Munich Security Conference, in which German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated that Germany is willing to keep its troops in Afghanistan past May.
“Germany is prepared to stay longer if it is in the interest of the success of the mission and if the result is a mission that helps the peaceful and democratic forces in Afghanistan,” Merkel said. “Withdrawal must not mean that the wrong forces will get the upper hand once again.”
US MAY NEED MORE TROOPS: The U.S. hasn’t suffered a combat casualty in Afghanistan for over a year, but that could change if its troops don’t leave. The Taliban has vowed to resume attacks on U.S. and coalition forces if they stay beyond the May 1 withdrawal deadline.
In testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee Friday, members of the Afghanistan Study Group warned that the current number of U.S. troops in the country is insufficient to protect themselves.
“What we were told by commanders on the ground in the Department of Defense was that 4,500 U.S. forces, in addition to the NATO forces that are there, was the minimum level to address both the mission as well as protection of our forces,” said former Joint Chiefs Chairman retired Gen. Joseph Dunford. “In our judgment, 2,500 would not be adequate should the Taliban reinitiate attacks against the United States, and we’ve recommended that the administration engage with the leadership to make sure President Biden has that information as he makes his decision.”
CIVIL WAR MAY BE INEVITABLE: The bipartisan study group, which was chartered by Congress, repeated its warning that pulling out now would lead to disaster for Afghanistan. “We believe a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. and international troops in May would be catastrophic for Afghanistan leading to civil war and allow the reconstitution of terror groups, which threatened the United States within an 18-to-36-month period,” said former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, one of the co-chairs.
But Dunford testified that even if the U.S. stays longer, civil war may be unavoidable. “Is it possible that civil war will result regardless? I’d have to say in candor, yes, it is possible,” Dunford said under questioning from North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx.
But he added, “We have an opportunity in a short period of time to determine whether or not [the Taliban] are sincere in wanting peace, and we have an opportunity in a short period of time to see if there’s a framework within which the compromise is necessary for reduction in violence and a future government can be determined.”
NEW AIR FORCE ‘DISPARITY REVIEW’: The Air Force inspector general will be conducting an additional independent review of racial, gender, and ethnic disparity in the service, the Air Force announced Friday.
The additional review comes after a 150-page December report that found widespread complaints, including some black airmen citing what they felt were justice inequalities, along with distrust of their chain of command.
“We learned a lot from the Department of the Air Force’s initial disparity review, and we know we’ll learn much more from this second review as well,” said acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth, who ordered the review along with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond.
ANOTHER ROCKET ATTACK IN IRAQ: The Iraqi military reports that at least four rockets struck an Iraqi air base Saturday night, according to the Associated Press.
The Balad air base has personnel there from the American defense company Sallyport that services Iraq’s F-16 combat aircraft. One person was wounded in the attack, said to be a South African national who worked for the U.S. contractor.
The attack comes days after a rocket attack killed a coalition contractor and wounded nine others at the international airport in Erbil, in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.
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The Rundown
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Washington Examiner: Circumstantial evidence of human error “far outweighs” natural outbreak of COVID-19, Matt Pottinger says
Washington Examiner: Austin gives clue to Afghanistan position as withdrawal deadline approaches
Washington Examiner: Biden urges allies to join ‘stiff’ competition with China in first address to world leaders
Washington Examiner: Psaki suggests Biden will not push for Russian invite to G-7
Washington Examiner: Defense Secretary Austin calls for review of viral sexual harassment video
Washington Examiner: ‘Apprentice’ Kamala Harris carves out growing diplomatic role under Biden
Washington Examiner: Six more tied to Oath Keepers charged with conspiracy in Capitol siege
Washington Examiner: USAF Instructor, Japanese Student Pilot Killed in T-38 Crash
Reuters: China Calls For Reset In Sino-U.S. Relations
AP: China Urges U.S. To Lift Trade Restrictions, Stop Interference
Defense News: Pentagon Deputy Hicks Should Say ‘Yes’ To Nuclear Modernization, ‘No’ To A ‘No First Use’ Policy
Breaking Defense: DoD Budget ‘Bloodletting’ Inches Closer To Reality
New York Times: A Small Group of Militants’ Outsize Role in the Capitol Attack
Washington Post: Blueprint for a raid: Documents shed light on plan to buy U.S. helicopter gunships for assault on Tripoli
Defense One: Troops Describe Night of Fire From Shadowy Iraqi Militants
Marine Corps Times: Don’t Feed The Trolls: Why The Marine Corps Says It Disabled Twitter Comments On A Post About Women At San Diego
Washington Post: U.S. deports former Nazi guard whose wartime role was noted on card found amid sunken ship
Washington Post: Book excerpt: Working for Syria’s chemical weapons program and spilling its secrets to the CIA — until he was betrayed
AP: Turkey’s President Wishes To Improve Testy Relations With U.S.
USNI News: Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Begins Second Deployment in a Year
USNI News: No Additional COVID Cases On USS Theodore Roosevelt After 3 Sailors Tested Positive
Forbes: Opinion: China Sanctions Could Complicate Re-engining Of B-52 Bomber
Washington Examiner: Opinion: What were the Capitol rioters thinking?
19fortyfive.com: Opinion: Focus U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers On China, Not Persian Gulf
Washington Post: Opinion: Here’s Biden’s least bad option in Afghanistan
Calendar
MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22
9 a.m. — Brookings Institution Center for Middle East Policy virtual conference: “The Middle East and the New Administration,” with former Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas; and Yair Lapid, opposition leader in the Israeli Knesset. https://www.brookings.edu/events
11 a.m. — Council on Foreign Relations Virtual Event: U.S.-Russia Relations, with Fiona Hill, senior fellow, Brookings Institution; Stephen Sestanovich, senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies, Council on Foreign Relations; Alexander Vershbow, distinguished fellow, Atlantic Council; and Susan Glasser, staff writer, New Yorker. https://www.cfr.org/event
11 a.m. — Middle East Policy Council and the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce virtual “Ambassadors Forum,” with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Matthew Tuller; former U.S. Ambassador to Oman Richard Schmierer, president of MEPC; and Bassima Alghussein, executive director of MEPC. http://www.nusacc.org/uploads
2:15 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar: “Lessons Learned from a Cyberattack: A Conversation with SolarWinds (Part I),” with SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna; and Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser in the CSIS Homeland Security, International Security Program. https://www.csis.org/events/lessons-learned-cyberattack
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23
TBA — President Biden participates in his first bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In this virtual event, the President will highlight the strong and deep partnership between the United States and Canada as neighbors, friends and NATO allies. The meeting will be an opportunity for the two leaders to review joint efforts in areas of mutual interest such as the COVID-19 response, climate change, and the economic ties that bind our countries, as well as the deep people-to-people bonds we share
9:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on National Security,” with Eric Schmidt, co-founder, Schmidt Futures; Brad Smith, president, Microsoft Corporation; and retired Air Force Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, president and CEO, National Defense Industrial Association. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing: “Examining the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol,” with Robert Contee, acting chief of police, Metropolitan Police Department; Steven Sund, former chief, U.S. Capitol Police; Michael Stenger, former sergeant at arms and doorkeeper, U.S. Senate; and Paul Irving, former sergeant at arms, U.S. House of Representatives. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov
10 a.m. — Nuclear Threat Initiative webinar: “Nuclear in the New Decade,” with International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Mariano Grossi. https://zoom.us/webinar/register
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems hearing: “Innovation Opportunities and Vision for the Science and Technology Enterprise,” with Christine Fox, former acting deputy secretary of defense, assistant director for policy and analysis, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; Victoria Coleman, former DARPA director, senior adviser to the director, CITRIS, UC Berkeley; and Klon Kitchen, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
1 p.m. — Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute virtual event: “Building a 21st-Century Foreign Policy,” with Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., chair of House Republican Conference; and Roger Zakheim, director, Reagan Institute. https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs
3 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing: “Near-Peer Advancements in Space and Nuclear Weapons,” with retired Gen. Robert Kehler, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University; Madelyn Creedon, nonresident fellow, The Brookings Institute; Todd Harrison, director, Aerospace Security Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Tim Morrison, senior fellow, The Hudson Institute. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
3:30 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webcast “Missile Defense and Defeat: A Conversation with the Vice Chairman,” with Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Tom Karako, senior fellow, International Security Program and Director, Missile Defense Project, CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/missile-defense
7 p.m. — Stimson Center and Sejong Institute Zoom webinar: “US and ROK Approaches to North Korea: Challenges and Opportunities,” with Jungsup Kim, senior research fellow, Sejong Institute; Jihwan Hwang, professor, University of Seoul; Suzanne DiMaggio, senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Jenny Town, fellow, Stimson Center and deputy director, 38 North; and moderated by Joel S. Wit, senior fellow, Stimson Center and Director, 38 North.https://www.stimson.org/event
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 24
9 a.m. — German Marshall Fund of the United States webinar on a new report, “Debating U.S.-Turkey Security Cooperation in Times of Global and Regional Shifts,” with Saban Kardas, associate professor at TOBB Economics and Technology University; and Ceylan Canbilek, senior program officer at GMFUS https://www.gmfus.org/events
10 a.m. 301 Russell — Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on the nomination of William Burns to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/
10 a.m. — Air Force Association 2021 Virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown. https://www.afa.org/events/calendar
10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar “Is ‘Freeze for Freeze’ A Viable Pathway to Re-engage with Iran?” with Henry Rome, senior analyst at the Eurasia Group; Hannah Kaviani, journalist at Radio Farda; Eric Brewer, deputy director of the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues; and Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program. https://www.csis.org/events/freeze-freeze
10 a.m. — Association of Old Crows virtual discussion with Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare in the Office of the Director of Naval Intelligence. https://www.crows.org/genera
11 a.m. — Business Executives for National Security virtual forum; “Sharpening DOD’s Competitive Edge: Tail-to-Tooth At 20,” with former Defense Secretaries Ash Carter, Mark Esper, and Leon Panetta. https://www.bens.org/pages/events
1 p.m. — Institute for Corean-American Studies’ Liberty Foundation virtual symposium: “The Korean Peninsula Issues and U.S. National Security,” with Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/icas-spring-symposium
1 p.m. — Space Foundation “Space Symposium 365” virtual discussion: “The Navy’s Contribution to Space,” with Cmdr. Gregory Arnold, senior space adviser at the Navy’s Space Operations Pacific Fleet; Capt. Andy Berner, commanding officer of the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command’s Space Field Activity; Capt. Andrew Dittmer, Navy liaison to The Space Force’s Space Education and Training Center; Capt. Stephen Melvin, space cadre lead at the Navy Reserve; and retired Capt. Bradd Olsen, Navy liaison at the U.S. Space Command and director of the Satellite Communication Integrated Operations Division of the Combined Space Operations Center. https://spacesymposium365.org
2 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group webinar: “Modernizing the Air Force with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” with Col. Charles Destefani, Air Force Chief Data Office chief architect and Air Force Material Command liaison. https://www.govexec.com/feature
4 p.m. — Institute of World Politics webinar: “The Republic of Korea-U.S. Alliance and the Threat,” with retired Army Gen. John Tilelli, former commander of the United Nations Command, Republic of Korea/U.S. Combined Forces Command/U.S. Forces Korea. https://www.iwp.edu/events/webinar
6:30 p.m. — Sejong Society of Washington, D.C. virtual discussion: “Nuclear North Korea and The Biden Presidency,” with former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Robert Gallucci, professor at Georgetown University; Markus Garlauskus, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; and Andrew Injoo Park, president of the Sejong Society. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nuclear-north-korea
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 25
5 a.m. — International Institute for Strategic Studies virtual launch of “The Military Balance 2021,” with John Chipman, director general and chief executive of IISS. https://www.iiss.org/events/2021/02/the-military-balance-2021-launch
9:30 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “Department of Defense Support to the COVID-19 Response,” with Stacy Cummings, performing the duties of under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; Robert Salesses, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security; and Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer, Federal COVID-19 Response for Vaccine and Therapeutics. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. — Air Force Association 2021 Virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium with Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, U.S. Space Force. https://www.afa.org/events/calendar
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 26
9 a.m. — Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy virtual conference: “The Middle East and the New Administration,” with former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. https://www.brookings.edu/events
10 a.m. — Air Force Association 2021 Virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium with John Roth, acting Air Force secretary, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior leaders. https://www.afa.org/events/calendar
11 a.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Middle East Program virtual book discussion on The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World, with author Joby Warrick, national security correspondent for the Washington Post; former State Department Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS James Jeffrey, chair of the WWC Middle East Program; and Robert Litwak, director of international security studies at WWC. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/red-line-unraveling-syria
12 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar, “Lessons Learned from a Cyberattack: A Conversation with SolarWinds (Part II),” with former National Security Agency General Counsel Glenn Gerstell, senior adviser at CSIS; and Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser at the CSIS Homeland Security, International Security Program. https://www.csis.org/events/lessons-learned-cyberattack
1 p.m. — Atlantic Council webinar: “Women’s Gains in Afghanistan: Healthcare’s Essential Role in Stabilizing Afghanistan,” with Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, president of the U.S. Naval War College and former provincial reconstruction team commander; former Afghan Deputy Minister of Health for Policy and Planning Diwa Samad, special aide to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Mariam Bayat, director of the Bayat Foundation; and Susan Yoshihara, founder and president of the American Council on Women, Peace, and Security. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event
2 p.m. — Washington Post live discussion: “A Conversation with Robert M. Gates,” former defense secretary and CIA director, moderated by David Ignatius, Washington Post, columnist covering foreign affairs. https://robertgates.splashthat.com/
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Our troops would remain not to fight a forever war but to guarantee the conditions for a successful peace process and to protect our national security interests to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a haven again for terrorists who threaten the United States of America.”
Former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, co-chair of the Afghanistan Study Group, testifying before a House committee Friday on the case for keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan longer.
