THE $715 BILLION TOP LINE: The White House Office of Management and Budget is releasing some bare-bones guidance today on what will be included in the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 spending request, and it pegs the Pentagon portion of the budget at $715 billion, according to reports in Bloomberg and Politico.
That compares to $704 billion for the current fiscal year, the last year of the Trump administration. The Trump Pentagon had been reportedly sketching out a $722 billion spending plan.
The $715 billion top line is either a slight increase or decrease depending on how an inflation adjustment is calculated, but for practical purposes, it’s the “flat” budget everyone was expecting.
If you have this year’s $740.5 billion figure stuck in your head, remember that includes $26.6 billion for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons management, plus another $8.9 billion in defense expenditures outside the Pentagon’s budget.
GOODBYE, OCO: Bloomberg, which was first with the $715 number last night, also reports that the budget gimmick known as OCO, a separate accounting for “overseas contingency operations” or money spent on ongoing wars, will now be eliminated.
During the decade when spending was constrained by the Budget Control Act of 2011, the OCO account was a convenient way for Congress to skirt the spending caps known as sequestration. Now that the congressionally imposed spending limits have expired, the money can be folded back into the base budget.
NOT NEARLY ENOUGH: Last month, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee wrote to President Joe Biden urging him to increase defense spending by the 3% to 5% consistently recommended by both civilian and military leaders at the Pentagon over the last several years.
Led by Ranking Member Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, all the top Republicans on all the Armed Services subcommittees argued the increase was needed to implement the National Defense Strategy crafted by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and effectively counter China.
“The Chinese Communist Party increased its defense spending by over 75 percent in the last decade. As a result, the Chinese military has gone from an obsolete force barely able to defend its borders to a modern fighting force capable of winning regional conflicts,” they wrote. “It is imperative that we improve force proficiency on new battlefields such as cyber; continue work at DoD and the National Nuclear Security Administration to modernize our nuclear triad; grow our naval and projection forces; and quickly incorporate the latest innovations and enhancements into warfighting capabilities.”
WAY TOO MUCH: “As a candidate President Biden affirmed that the country could be made safe at lower levels of spending, but his proposed top line for the Pentagon for Fiscal Year 2022 ignores that crucial insight,” writes William Hartung, director, Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy. “The Biden administration’s decision to submit a status quo Pentagon budget that keeps it at near-record levels is both misguided and disappointing.”
“At a time when over half a million Americans have died in a pandemic, climate change continues to have catastrophic impacts, and there is an urgent need to address racial and economic inequality, it is apparent that the greatest challenges to our lives and livelihoods are not military in nature,” Hartung argues.
NOT THE LAST WORD: As the saying goes in Washington, “The president proposes, the Congress disposes.” The Biden administration’s formal budget request is not expected for at least another month, and when it goes to Congress, it will represent little more than a wish list.
It will be the job of Congress, almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, to fashion the actual budget over the summer and into the fall. But with ballooning deficits due in part to massive spending on coronavirus relief, there will be little extra money to play with.
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HAPPENING TOMORROW: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin embarks on his second overseas trip, meeting with key allies as the looming withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan has NATO on edge and the U.S. effort to rejoin the nuclear agreement with Iran is a point of friction between the United States and Israel. Austin’s first stop will be Israel, where he’ll meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz.
From there, he’ll travel to Germany, where among the topics on the agenda will be “continued dialogue on U.S. force posture” in Germany, which is polite speak for the Biden administration’s plans to cancel the massive troop withdrawal and headquarters relocation ordered by his predecessor to punish Germany for inadequate defense spending. Austin will visit U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command headquarters, the two headquarters ordered out by President Donald Trump.
Then, it’s off to Brussels to consult with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg about Russia’s menacing troops deployment on the border with Ukraine, and perhaps inform him of U.S. thinking on the May 1 withdrawal deadline for U.S. and NATO partner troops from Afghanistan.
Austin wraps up the week with a final stop in the United Kingdom and a meeting with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PLANS SHOW OF FORCE IN BLACK SEA AMID RUSSIA BUILDUP
AFGHANISTAN COUNTDOWN, DAY 22: As of today, there are 22 days left before U.S. and international troops are scheduled to withdraw fully from Afghanistan under the Feb. 29, 2020, agreement negotiated with the Taliban by the Trump administration.
Yesterday, the State Department confirmed that planning is underway for a conference in Istanbul to accelerate the peace process, which could happen as soon as a week from today.
“This upcoming conference, it’s meant to help Afghan negotiators to make progress, to make progress in their negotiations, and will complement the peace talks that are currently ongoing in Doha,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. “We are working with our Turkish counterparts and the Afghan parties to prepare for constructive participation in this conference.”
Meanwhile, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, is in Doha, where he continues to engage with the parties in an attempt to reach a political settlement and comprehensive cease-fire.
A LOSE/LOSE SITUATION: “If President Biden wants to extend the May 1 deadline withdrawal, he is going to have to pay a hefty price to the Taliban one way or another,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, tells the Washington Examiner.
“If he seeks to negotiate an extension, the Taliban [will] demand the release of 7,000 prisoners held by the government as well as the removal of its leaders from the U.N. sanctions list. If he stays without an agreement, the Taliban has been explicit that it will resume attacks on U.S. forces.”
WEST POINT TOO WOKE? Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, a combat-decorated Green Beret, is demanding the Army turn over training materials used at a mandatory seminar on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” given to cadets at West Point.
In a letter to West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, Waltz says the seminars included presentations on critical race theory that included “inflammatory lessons” that are “detrimental to the mission and morale of the U.S. Army.”
“I was provided a presentation slide from one of the workshops with the title of ‘White Power at West Point’ and ‘Racist Dog Whistles at West Point.’ Additionally, another presentation slide shared with me depicted a lecture by Dr. Carol Anderson of Emory University with the title ‘Understanding Whiteness and White Rage,’” said Waltz, who said the information came from “unsettled soldiers, cadets, and families.”
Waltz questioned the value of an event at which the entire corps of cadets was required to attend last September, during which an active-duty female colonel described to the corps how she became “woke” to her white privilege and felt guilty for the advantages of her race.
“These critical race theory teachings take aim at those key pillars and pit cadets against one another through divisive indoctrination under the pressure of ‘wokeism,’” Waltz writes in his letter. “Unfortunately, these seminars imbue in our future military leaders that they should treat their fellow officers and soldiers differently based on race and on socio-economic background. In a combat environment, where every soldier must equally share the burden of danger, I cannot think of a notion more destructive to unit cohesion and morale.”
EDITORIAL: PENTAGON TRAINING PROMOTES LEFT-WING RACISM
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Spoiled Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines slow overseas military vaccinations
Washington Examiner: Biden administration plans show of force in Black Sea amid Russia buildup
Washington Examiner: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visits border as crossings hit 15-year high
Washington Examiner: HHS asks NASA employees to help unaccompanied migrant children
Washington Examiner: ‘Untapped weapon’: Philippine leaders warn China by touting defense treaty with US
U.S. News and World Report: The Extremism Question the Military Can’t Answer
AP: Iran, 5 powers take stock of drive to revive nuclear deal
Washington Post: Iran frees South Korean ship it seized in January as nuclear talks continue
The Dispatch: The Biden Administration Shouldn’t Make Any More Concessions to the Taliban
New York Times: Biden Backs Taiwan, but Some Call for a Clearer Warning to China
South China Morning Post: China’s First Domestically Built Aircraft Carrier Is Ready For A High-Seas Test, An Insider Says
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Blacklists Chinese Entities It Says Are Aiding Weapons Program
Military.com: Congress To Call Marine Commandant To Testify On Safety Lapses After Series Of Fatal Accidents
Air Force Magazine: USAF Unveils New Mission Statement
Air Force Magazine: USSF Unveils Space Systems Command’s Structure
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: The window for an Iran missile deal is already closing
19fortyfive.com: China’s New Stealth Destroyers Should Make the U.S. Navy Worry
19fortyfive.com: Russia’s Battlecruiser Could Be The World’s Most Dangerous Warship
AP: Navy Medic Who Shot 2 Sailors Was Assigned To Medical Research Center, Previously Served In Portsmouth
Washington Post: Police identify two they say were fatally shot by off-duty Pentagon police officer
19fortyfive.com: Why Is the U.S. Still in Iraq After 18 Years?
Proceedings: Great Britain’s Latest Strategic Guidance Is Quite Good, But Implementation Will Be Key.
Washington Examiner: Opinion: China’s Rhineland test in the South China Sea
Calendar
FRIDAY | APRIL 9
9 a.m. — German Marshall Fund of the United States virtual briefing on “Russian Aggression in Ukraine’s East,” with Taras Kuzio, nonresident fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Foreign Policy Institute; Maria Zolkina, analyst at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation; Jonathan Katz, GMFUS senior fellow and democracy initiatives director; and Olena Prokopenko, GMFUS nonresident democracy initiatives fellow. https://www.gmfus.org/events
9 a.m. — Technology Training Corporation virtual Next Generation Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance symposium, with John Fiore, technical director of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. https://ttcus.com/nextgenisr
10 a.m. Pentagon briefing room — Press briefing with Lt. Gen. Michael Groen, director, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center; and Robert Work, commissioner, National Security Commission on AI. https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events
MONDAY | APRIL 12
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army Noon Report webinar with Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle, the Army surgeon general, and Command Sgt. Maj. Diamond Hough, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Army Medical Command. https://www.bigmarker.com/ausaorg/AUSA-Noon-Report
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 14
TBD — Joint news conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news
10 a.m. 216 Hart — Senate Select Committee on Intelligence annual hearing on worldwide threats, with Avril Haines, director of national intelligence; CIA Director William Burns; FBI Director Christopher Wray; NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone; and DIA Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/worldwide-threats
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activity in North and South America,” with Robert Salesses, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security; Adm. Craig Faller, commander, U.S. Southern Command; and Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
1 p.m. — National Security Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies present a prerecorded event: “Civics as a National Security Imperative,” a conversation with Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch; Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director, NSI, and Suzanne Spaulding, director of the Defending Democratic Institutions Project, CSIS. https://nationalsecurity.gmu.edu/civics-as-a-national-security-imperative
THURSDAY | APRIL 22
9:50 a.m. — U.S. Army Futures Command and the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare at West Point virtual seminar: “The Future Character of War and the Law of Armed Conflict.” https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-character-of-war
10 a.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research event “Priorities for the fiscal year 2022 defense budget,” with Rep. Adam Smith, chairman, House Armed Services Committee; and Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow, AEI. https://www.aei.org/events/a-conversation
11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activities in Europe, with Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
4 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “Department of Defense Inspector General and the Services Inspector Generals: Roles, Responsibilities and Opportunities for Improvement,” with Gordon Heddell, former inspector general of the Department of Defense; Mandy Smithberger, director of the Center for Defense Information Project on Government Oversight; Sean O’Donnell, acting/inspector general of the Department of Defense; Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, inspector general of the Army; Lt. Gen. Sami Said, inspector general of the Air Force; Vice Adm. Richard Snyder, inspector general of the Navy; and Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi, inspector general of the Marine Corps. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“These critical race theory teachings take aim at those key pillars and pit cadets against one another through divisive indoctrination under the pressure of ‘wokeism.’ … I cannot think of a notion more destructive to unit cohesion and morale.”
Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, a former Green Beret, requesting West Point turn over training materials used in mandatory seminars on “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
