PENTAGON ON DEFENSIVE OVER ANEMIC BUDGET: To almost no one’s surprise, when the Pentagon unveiled the Biden administration budget request for the fiscal year beginning next October, in was an anemic 0.9% increase over this year’s budget request, which has yet to be approved by Congress.
Pentagon officials admit the $849.8 billion top line is not adequate to fund the national security strategy and blame both the budget caps in the debt ceiling deal negotiated last year by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden and the inability of Congress to pass a budget on time.
“Congress’s inability to pass the FY24 budget, holding back much-needed funding, hinders our ability to execute that strategy. The department has no way around that reality. Instead, we have been strapped with a series of continuing resolutions,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said at the first of six budget briefings yesterday.
“The Fiscal Responsibility Act top line is, as you know, about a 1% increase over last year’s level, which is less than the rate of inflation, as everybody, I’m assured, knew at the time when they set the top line,” Pentagon Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord said a follow-up briefing. “So we do not have positive real growth in this budget, but again, that was as intended by our elected officials who agreed on the top line last year.”
“Our military readiness depends on our ability to pass timely appropriations, FY24, FY25, and every year thereafter,” Hicks pleaded. “We need predictable, adequate, sustained, and timely funding, full stop. We cannot afford any more lost time, time that we cannot buy back. So we urge Congress to work together to pass this budget request and last year’s, and the national security supplemental, too, with the requisite urgency that our nation’s defense demands.
GOP ON BLAST MODE: The excuses didn’t sit well with Republican leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees, who under the straitjacket of the Fiscal Responsibility Act have little wiggle room and can only boost the military spending by cutting domestic programs or finding a way around the caps.
“The President’s budget request complies with the mandated numbers of the FRA. Unfortunately, this defense topline number fails to keep pace with inflation and our adversaries,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said in a statement. “Our defense budget should be built with the goal of deterring the threats facing our nation. Instead, we are forced to build a budget to meet an arbitrary number. I worry about the long-term impact this budget process will have on our national defense.”
“This budget projects weakness to every corner of the globe,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “For the fourth year in a row, President Biden has asked Congress to cut defense spending. Meanwhile, our adversaries are exploiting this moment. Last week, the Chinese Communist Party announced another 7.2% increase in their defense budget, even as their economy falters.”
“President Biden’s defense budget request is devoid of reality,” Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in his statement.
“The president is once again proposing to shrink the Navy by reducing the Navy force structure from 296 ships in FY24 to just 287 in FY25. By only building six ships, President Biden is also threatening to devastate our naval fleet and the Hampton Roads industrial base by slowing aircraft carrier construction and failing to meet the two Virginia-class submarines per year cadence required to support the AUKUS security pact,” Wittman said. “The president continues to decimate Air Force combat power by reducing the service’s total aircraft inventory by almost 130 airframes. Additionally, the president continues to gut an already deficient fighter capacity by terminating F-15EX production and underfunding F-35 modernization efforts — to include test capabilities — that will exacerbate the number of aircraft unfit for delivery. I’m also concerned that less than half of the Army’s modernization agenda is fully funded.”
BY THE NUMBERS: While Congress appears on track to pass this year’s $842 billion defense budget before the March 22 deadline, the fate of the supplemental request remains uncertain. Here are the numbers:
- Fiscal 2023 actual appropriation: $851.7 billion
- Fiscal 2024 request: $900.3 billion (including $58.3 billion supplemental)
- Fiscal 2024 actual appropriation: $817.3 billion (so far, under continuing resolutions)
- Fiscal 2025 request: $849.8 billion
Both Republican and Democratic leaders of the Armed Services committees pledged to work to improve the 2025 defense budget through the annual National Defense Authorization Act.
“The job of Congress is to determine the right balance of resources to meet requirements. In that sense, the president’s defense budget request is an outline and a starting point,” said Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I look forward to reviewing the president’s detailed budget request so the Armed Services Committee can begin its work of crafting an NDAA that meets America’s needs now and in the future.”
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS NEARLY $850 BILLION FUNDING REQUEST FOR PENTAGON
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HAPPENING TODAY: The nation’s top intelligence and law enforcement officials are back to testify on Capitol Hill about the “increasingly fragile global order” described in the latest Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, released yesterday.
Today it’s the House Intelligence Committee’s turn to hear the dire warnings from Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Brett Holmgren, National Security Agency Director Gen. Timothy Haugh, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse.
“Today, the United States faces an increasingly complex and interconnected threat,” Haines said in her Senate testimony yesterday. “The first is an accelerating strategic competition with major authoritarian powers that are actively working to undermine the rules-based order. … The second category is a set of more intense and unpredictable transnational challenges such as climate change, corruption, narcotics trafficking, health security, terrorism, and cybercrime. … And the third category is regional and localized conflicts that have far-reaching and at times cascading implications not only for neighboring countries but also for the world.”
CHINA ASPIRES TO BE A WORLD POWER: Haines said the U.S. Intelligence Community assesses that China’s Xi Jinping will seek to maintain positive ties to the United States, even as he pursues his goal of “greater geopolitical power.”
“Given its ambitions, Beijing will continue to use its military forces to intimidate its neighbors and to shape the region’s actions in accordance with the PRC’s priorities. We expect the [People’s Liberation Army] will field more advanced platforms, deploy new technologies, and grow more competent in joint operations, with a particular focus on Taiwan and the western Pacific,” Haines testified.
“Chinese leadership is furthermore pursuing a strategy to boost China’s indigenous innovation and technological self-reliance, expand their efforts to acquire, steal, or compel the production of intellectual property and capabilities from others, including the United States, and continue to engage in coercive behavior to control critical global supply chains.”
RUSSIA: ‘PUTIN CONTINUES TO JUDGE THAT TIME IS ON HIS SIDE’: Haines confirmed what recent battlefield reports have suggested, that Ukraine is on the back foot and Russian President Vladimir Putin is emboldened by the weakening of U.S. support for the outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian defenders.
“It is hard to imagine how Ukraine will be able to maintain the extremely hard-fought advances it has made against the Russians, especially given the sustained surge in Russian ammunition production and purchases from North Korea and Iran,” Haines testified. “Further territorial losses in the past few weeks have exposed the erosion of Ukraine’s military capabilities with the declining availability of external military aid, the assistance that is contemplated in the supplemental is absolutely critical to Ukraine’s defense right now.”
“Meanwhile, President Putin is increasing defense spending in Russia, reversing his long-standing reluctance to devote a high percentage of GDP to the military as he looks to rebuild. … Putin continues to judge that time is on his side and almost certainly assumes that a larger, better-equipped military will also serve the purpose of driving that point home to Western audiences,” Haines said. “Such messaging is important because Putin’s strategic goals remain unchanged. He continues to see NATO enlargement and Western support to Ukraine as reinforcing his long-held belief that the United States and Europe seek to restrict Russian power and undermine him.”
HOUTHIS FOCUSED ON US, NOT ISRAEL: Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have used the Gaza conflict as a pretext to wage war against the United States and may be beyond the control of its Iranian benefactors, according to U.S. intelligence.
“We continue to assess that Hezbollah and Iran do not want to cause an escalation of the conflict that pulls us or them into a full-out war,” Haines said. Yet the Houthis entered the war and were willing to do so without Iran acting first, becoming one of the most aggressive actors in the conflict.
“The Iranian-aligned militia groups in Iraq and Syria that have been attacking our forces and have been more focused on the United States than Israel, using the conflict as an opportunity to pursue their own agenda,” she noted.
A PLEA FOR 702: Haines concluded her opening statement with a plea that Congress resolve its concerns over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. to spy on foreign nationals outside the U.S. The authority is set to expire on April 19 and is caught up in a debate over whether the government has misused the authority in the past to target Americans.
“The intelligence gathered pursuant to Section 702 was essential in preparing this annual threat assessment and is absolutely fundamental to every aspect of our work,” Haines said. “702 provides unique insights into foreign intelligence targets, such as foreign adversaries, terrorist organizations, including Hamas, weapons proliferators, spies, malicious cyber actors, and fentanyl traffickers. And it does so at a speed and reliability that we simply cannot replace with any other authority.”
“As Congress pursues reauthorization, we understand there will be reforms, and we support those that bolster the compliance and oversight regimes in place while preserving the operational agility that is vital to keeping the nation safe,” she said.
FBI DIRECTOR WRAY WARNS OF ‘WIDE ARRAY’ OF DANGEROUS THREATS STEMMING FROM BORDER
HUR TESTIFIES ON BIDEN DOCUMENT CASE: The House Judiciary Committee will hear at 10 a.m. from special counsel Robert Hur, whose controversial report on President Joe Biden’s retention of classified notes and memos both cleared the president and raised questions about his memory and mental acuity.
The 345-page report released last month concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Biden and noted there were “innocent explanations for the documents” that could not be refuted. And while suggesting Biden’s poor memory of certain events might make him a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man” in the eyes of a jury, the report also drew sharp distinctions between Biden’s case and the trial of former President Donald Trump for hiding boxes of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club.
“Several material distinctions between Mr. Trump’s case and Mr. Biden’s are clear,” Hur wrote. “Unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating facts. Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite.”
“Special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents made two things clear: There’s a double standard of justice in this country, and Joe Biden isn’t fit for office,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said recently.
Today’s hearing is expected to last hours as Republicans and Democrats jockey for political advantage.
ROBERT HUR TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS ON MARCH 12 OVER BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Biden administration unveils nearly $850 billion funding request for Pentagon
Washington Examiner: FBI Director Wray warns of ‘wide array’ of dangerous threats stemming from border
Washington Examiner: Biden asks Congress to fork over $4.7 billion to aid DHS in border crisis response
Washington Examiner: Biden and Trump expected to secure presidential nominations during March 12 primaries
Washington Examiner: March 12 primaries: What to watch as Biden and Trump seek to clinch party nominations
Washington Examiner: Viktor Orban: Trump said he would force Ukraine to stop fighting Russia
Washington Examiner: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban backs Trump over Biden: ‘Better for the world’
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Trump decides to put China first
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Here’s the most likely reason Trump flip-flopped on TikTok
Washington Examiner: Opinion: China rubber-stamps more of Xi’s economic delusions
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Is the US giving up on Afghan allies?
Bloomberg: Momentum Shifts Toward Russia in Ukraine War, US Spies Warn
Politico: Pentagon Needs Congress to Hand Over $10B to Replace Weapons Sent to Ukraine
Wall Street Journal: US Dominates Foreign Weapons Market as Russian Exports Plummet
AP: Ariel Henry bows to pressure, saying he’ll resign once a council is formed to lead crisis-hit Haiti
AP: US pledges an additional $100M for a multinational force awaiting deployment to violence-hit Haiti
AP: Aid ship sets sail to Gaza where hundreds of thousands face starvation 5 months into war
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force’s 2025 Budget Lags Inflation But Is ‘Acceptable’ Within New Constraints
Defense News: Pentagon Says $1 Billion Planned for First Two Years of Replicator
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Space Force Faces First Ever Budget Cut in 2025, Driven in Part by Fewer Launches
Breaking Defense: Missile Defense Agency Takes $500M Cut to $10.4B in FY25
DefenseScoop: Air Force Not Planning to Buy Any ARRW Hypersonic Missiles in Fiscal 2025
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Plans to Divest 250 Aircraft in 2025, Shrinking Fleet to New Low
Breaking Defense: Navy Delaying Next-Gen F/A-XX Fighter Spending for Near-Term Investments
Defense One: Pentagon Eyes Stockpile Replenishment, Funds to Spur Tech Industry in 2025 Budget
Defense News: Pentagon Seeks $14.5 Billion for Cyber Spending Including Zero Trust
SpaceNews: Buy Before Build: SSC’s Commercial Space Office Seeks to Disrupt Business as Usual
Air & Space Forces Magazine: After Recruiting Shortfall, USAF Cuts End Strength Goal, Boosts Bonus Funds in ’25
Military.com: Proposal for ‘GI Bill for Child Care’ Aims to Boost Unemployed Military Spouses
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Gets Bigger Slice of Budget than Army for First Time in Decades
Air Force Times: Air Force PT Uniform Delayed as Space Force Launches Own Workout Gear
The Cipher Brief: Former Secretary of State Pompeo: Ukraine Will Get U.S. Aid
Wall Street Journal: The Dangers of a Rearmed Europe
THE CALENDAR:
TUESDAY | MARCH 12
9:30 a.m. 216 Hart — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “Global Security Challenges and U.S. Strategy,” with testimony from Paul Scharre, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, and Hal Brands, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and professor of global affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
9:30 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: “Is Europe Capable of Defending Itself?” with Sophia Besch, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Europe Program; Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform; Leonard Schutte, senior researcher at the Munich Security Conference; Fiona Hill, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the U.S. and Europe; Charles Grant, director, Centre for European Reform; and Constanze Stelzenmuller, director, Brookings Institution’s Center on the U.S. and Europe, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the U.S. and Europe, and chairwoman on Germany and trans-Atlantic relations at the Brookings Institution https://www.brookings.edu/events/is-europe-capable-of-defending-itself/
10 a.m. 390 Cannon — House Intelligence Committee hearing: “2024 Annual Threat Assessment,” with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines; CIA Director William Burns; FBI Director Christopher Wray; Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Brett Holmgren; National Security Agency Director Gen. Timothy Haugh; and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse https://docs.house.gov/Committee
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “U.S. Military Posture and National Security Challenges in North and South America,” with testimony from Rebecca Zimmerman, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs; Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command; and Gen. Laura Richardson, commander, U.S. Southern Command https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
10 a.m. 2128 Rayburn — House Financial Services Committee hearing: “Mission Critical: Restoring National Security as the Focus of Defense Production Act Reauthorization” https://financialservices.house.gov
10 a.m. — Air and Space Forces Association virtual discussion with Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Doug Raaberg, AFA executive vice president https://www.afa.org/events/air-space-warfighters-in-action-alex-wagner
10:15 a.m. 608 Dirksen — Senate Budget Committee hearing: “The President’s FY2025 Budget Proposal,” with testimony from Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young https://www.budget.senate.gov/hearings
12 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Hudson Institute discussion: “The Baltic View of European Security,” with Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds https://www.hudson.org/events/baltic-view-european-security
2 p.m. 2172 Rayburn — House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee hearing: “Going Nuclear on Rosatom: Ending Global Dependence on Putin’s Nuclear Energy Sector,” with testimony from David Albright, president, Institute for Science and International Security; Anthony Ruggiero, senior director and senior fellow in the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’s Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program; and Theresa Sabonis-Helf, concentration chairwoman for science, technology, and international affairs in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service http://foreignaffairs.house.gov
2 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group virtual discussion: “The State of the Space Force,” with Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman and Air Force Col. Michelle Idle, deputy commander of the Space Systems Command https://events.defenseone.com/state-of-defense
3 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing: “U.S. and Adversary Hypersonic Capabilities,” with testimony from James Weber, principal director for hypersonics, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies; Michael Horowitz, deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities; Army Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, director, Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology; Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director, Strategic Systems Programs; Air Force Lt. Gen. Dale White, military deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force; Jeffrey McCormick, senior intelligence analyst, National Air and Space Intelligence Center https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
3:30 p.m. 2212 Rayburn — House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee hearing: “Air Force Projection Forces Aviation Programs and Capabilities Related to the President’s 2025 Budget Request,” with testimony from Andrew Hunter, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, technology and logistic, and; Lt. Gen. Richard Moore, deputy Air Force chief of staff for plans and programs https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/spf-hearing-air-force
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 13
7:15 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia — Association, U.S. Army “Coffee Series,” with Gen. Charles Hamilton, commanding Gen. of U.S. Army Materiel Command https://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-serie/gen-hamilton
9 a.m. 2212 Rayburn — House Armed Services Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation Subcommittee hearing: “Too Critical to Fail: Getting Software Right in an Age of Rapid Innovation,” with testimony from Richard Murray, professor of control and dynamical systems and bioengineering, California Institute of Technology; Daniel Patt, senior fellow, Hudson Institute; Ellen Lord, former undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/citi-hearing
9 a.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace virtual discussion: “Can the U.S. and Europe Coordinate Counter-Coercion With Taiwan?” with Gudrun Wacker, nonresident senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs’s Asia Research Division; Enoch Wu, founder and executive director of Forward Alliance; Isaac Kardon, senior fellow for China studies at the CEIP Asia Program; and Evan Feigenbaum, CEIP vice president for studies https://carnegieendowment.org/2024/03/13/can-united-states-and-europe-coordinate
10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “The war in Ukraine and Ukraine’s membership to the EU,” with Jovita Neliupsiene, European Union ambassador to the U.S., and Kathleen McInnis, director, CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative https://www.csis.org/events/welcome-us-eu-ambassador-neliupsiene
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW — Brookings Institution discussion: “Delivering on nuclear deterrence,” with Frank Rose, principal deputy administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration https://www.brookings.edu/events/delivering-on-nuclear-deterrence
12 p.m. — New America virtual book discussion: The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq, with author Steve Coll, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/events/the-achilles-trap
3 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW — Atlantic Council discussion: “Baltic Bulwark: Latvia’s Transatlantic Role,” with Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/baltic-bulwark-prime-minister-evika-silina
3:30 p.m. — McCain Institute discussion to mark the third anniversary of the Levinson Act on the national crisis of hostage-taking and the U.S. government’s response. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/keeping-faith-with-american-hostages
5 p.m. 1521 16th St. NW — Institute of World Politics discussion: “Finland and Northern European Security,” with Finnish Ambassador to the U.S. Mikko Hautala https://www.iwp.edu/finland-and-northern-european-security/
THURSDAY | MARCH 14
8 a.m. 2941 Fairview Park Dr., Falls Church, Virginia — Potomac Officers Club “Achieving Transformative Cooperation for National Defense Forum,” with Rhys Williams, executive director, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and Steven Morani, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for sustainment https://potomacofficersclub.com/events
9 a.m. 1744 R St. NW — German Marshall Fund of the U.S. discussion: “Latvian-U.S. security cooperation and 20 years of Latvian membership in the NATO alliance,” with Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds and Kristine Berzina, managing director of GMFUS North https://www.gmfus.org/event/conversation-latvian-defense-minister-andris-spruds
9:30 a.m 216 Hart — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “The posture of U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Southern Command,” with testimony from Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command; and Army Gen. Laura Richardson, commander, U.S. Southern Command https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
10 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW — Atlantic Council and NBC News discussion: “Reporters at Risk: On The Frontlines in Ukraine and Gaza,” with Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign affairs correspondent at the Wall Street Journal; Benjamin Hall, correspondent at Fox News; Erin McLaughlin, correspondent at NBC News; Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists; Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher at the Wall Street Journal; Adrienne Arsht, executive vice chairwoman, Atlantic Council, founder, Atlantic Council’s Latin America Center and the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Center; and Courtney Kube, national security and military correspondent at NBC News https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/reporters-at-risk
10 a.m. — Middle East Institute virtual discussion: “Iran’s Record-Low Election Turnout: Why Voters Stayed Away and What It Means for the Islamic Republic’s Future,” with Arash Ghafouri, CEO of Stasis Consulting; Leily Nikounazar, freelance journalist and researcher for the New York Times; Mehrzad Boroujerdi, vice provost and dean of the Missouri University of Science and Technology College of Arts, Sciences, and Education and professor of political science at the Missouri University of Science and Technology Department of History and Political Science; and Alex Vatanka, senior fellow and director, MEI Iran Program https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Perspective on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Autonomy at the DOD,” with Matt Turek, deputy director, DARPA Information Innovation Office https://www.csis.org/events/darpa-perspective-ai-and-autonomy-dod
10:30 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: “U.S. Strategy in the Pacific Island Region,” with testimony from Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs http://foreign.senate.gov
11 a.m. — Government Executive Media Group virtual discussion: “State of the Marines,” with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith https://events.defenseone.com/state-of-defense
12 p.m. 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW — Cato Institute forum: “Taiwan’s Urgent Need for Asymmetric Defense,” with Michael Hunzeker, associate professor at George Mason University; Alex Velez-Green, senior policy adviser at the Heritage Foundation; Eric Gomez, Cato senior fellow; and Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at Cato https://www.cato.org/events/taiwans-urgent-need-asymmetric-defense
3 p.m. 1200 South Hayes St., Arlington, Virginia — Rand Corporation discussion: “Climate Change and Conflict: Implications for U.S. Central Command,” with Chris Backemeyer, deputy assistant secretary of state for assistance coordination/regional and multilateral affairs; Greg Pollock, Pentagon principal director for arctic and global resilience; Jeffrey Martini, associate director, Rand Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program; Karen Sudkamp, associate director for infrastructure, immigration, and security operations at the Rand Homeland Security Research Division; and Vago Muradian, founder and editor, Defense and Aerospace Report https://www.rand.org/events/2024/03/climate-change-and-conflict.html
3 p.m. — Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft virtual book discussion: The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky, with author Simon Shuster, reporter for Russia and Ukraine at Time; Mark Episkopos, adjunct professor of history at Marymount University and research fellow at the Quincy Institute’s Eurasia Program; and Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, senior adviser at the Quincy Institute and editorial director, Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft magazine https://quincyinst.org/events/book-talk-the-showman-inside-the-invasion-that-shook-the-world
