THE PRESIDENT IN PARIS: President Trump arrived in Paris early this morning, and is set to spend the day with French President Emmanuel Macron, who invited his U.S. counterpart to celebrate Bastille Day in the city of lights. Trump is scheduled to take part in a joint news conference with Macron after the two meet later today. Macron is pulling out all the stops to show the American president France’s military and culinary might. The highlights include a massive military parade down the Champs de Elysee, and a gourmet dinner atop the Eiffel Tower.
In two separate interviews president gave before departing Washington, Trump insisted the White House was not in turmoil over the revelations that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., met with a Russian lawyer last summer. “The mood in the White House is fantastic,” Trump told Reuters. “The White House is functioning beautifully. The stock market has hit a new high. Job numbers are the best they’ve been in 16 years. We have a Supreme Court judge already confirmed. Energy is doing levels that we’ve never done before.”
The president tweeted as much earlier in the day, “The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things,” he said, adding “I have very little time for watching T.V.” On CNN yesterday, Sebastian Gorka, the sharp-tongued deputy assistant to the president, dismissed reporting of a White House “in crisis,” with a “bunker mentality” as a joke. “It’s laughable,” Gorka told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, in what can only be described as a highly contentious interview. “I actually work in the West Wing. I work in the White House. It is absolutely nothing of the kind. We are pushing the ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda. The president is a steam locomotive that will not be stopped. It’s just fake news,” Gorka said.
McCAIN’S PLEA: It may be business as usual at the White House, but the Russia controversy is overshadowing everything else in Capitol Hill, Sen. John McCain said. “It is sucking the oxygen out of the room. Everybody knows that,” McCain told CNN in a hallway interview yesterday.
Later on the Senate floor, McCain appealed to his colleagues to get something done during the extended August session. “If we’re going to stay here to work, then let’s get some work done. Let’s come in early and stay late,” McCain implored. “Let’s debate, amend, and pass the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. And, perhaps most importantly, let’s get to work on the budget so that we can begin moving individual appropriations bills to fund the government – and not have to resort to a continuing resolution.”
SYRIA, IRAQ: In France, Trump is expected to focus on the issues of Syria and climate change, and in the Reuters interview he touted progress in the battle against the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria. “We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS, which Obama wasn’t,” Trump said, indicating the campaign to defeat ISIS is the endgame. “If you look at Iraq and if you look at Syria and you see the progress we’ve made with ISIS, it’s been almost complete.”
Trump also pointed to the cease-fire for parts of Syria that he signed onto in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin two weeks ago at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. “What happened is we sat down and we worked out a cease-fire, which is by the way, as of 20 minutes ago, totally holding, and that’s four days,” Trump told Reuters. “Four days doesn’t sound like a lot, but they’ve never had a cease-fire that lasted at all. That’s because Putin told them, as opposed to somebody that nobody ever heard of.”
Trump said many lives have already been saved, and that the cease-fire is “going to go on for a while, and things are going to go better.” Trump argued that was a tangible result of his personal rapport with the Russian leader. “I was very tough with President Putin. We have a very important relationship, “It’s going to be a relationship where lots of lives could be saved, like as an example with the cease-fire, which nobody else could have gotten but me.”
ABOUT THAT CEASE-FIRE: The cease-fire agreed to by the U.S. and Jordan is limited to the southwestern part of Syria, and essentially means the U.S. will respect a “de-escalation zone” declared and enforced by Russia. It’s one of four such zones Russia announced after peace talks in Kazakhstan in May. The top U.S. general overseeing the U.S.-led counter ISIS campaign said thankfully U.S. troops have nothing the do with it. “That’s not our charter. And I appreciate the fact that my leaders in Tampa and in Washington have kept that off our plate,’ Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told reporters at the Pentagon this week. “I don’t know any more about it than probably you all do, getting the reports that you’re getting back there, and reading the press,” Townsend said. “That’s how I would get information about the cease-fire holding or not holding.”
We’ll get another update on both the mop-up operations in Mosul, and progress against ISIS in Iraq, when the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, Army Col. Ryan Dillon briefs Pentagon reporters live from Baghdad at 1:30 p.m.
NO SPACE CADETS, THANK YOU: The House’s increasingly controversial proposal to create a new Space Corps military service has hit its biggest obstacle yet: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The secretary took the unusual step of weighing in on the House debate, urging lawmakers to scrub the idea.
“I do not routinely comment on potential floor amendments of pending legislation. However, this particular issue warrants a response,” Mattis wrote in a letter to Rep. Mike Turner. Mattis argued that a separate Space Corps would create a “narrower and even parochial approach” to space operations. The letter gave heavyweight support to a proposed amendment by Turner, a Republican Armed Services subcommittee chairman, to strip the new service from the National Defense Authorization Act when it goes to the House floor, and replace it with the requirement for a report on whether there is a strategic need to establish a Space Corps.
The Space Corps proposal, spearheading by Turner’s fellow Armed Services subcommittee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, now faces formidable opposition. The White House called it “premature” in an assessment of the NDAA sent to the House this week. The Air Force secretary and chief of staff came out swiftly and strongly against the proposal last month, saying it would create more unneeded military bureaucracy and hobble ongoing efforts to modernize space operations.
Good Thursday 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: The 2nd annual Defense One Tech Summit goes on all day at the Newseum, featuring an array of speakers from government, academia, Silicon Valley, and beyond. Among the speakers is Army Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander, U.S. Army Cyber Command, whose luncheon remarks are scheduled for 12:25 p.m. The theme of the day-long event is “how the game-changing tech of today will become the game-winning resources of tomorrow,” according to the event’s agenda, which can be found here.
$33 BILLION IN MISSED SAVINGS: In what the Pentagon’s inspector general says is an unprecedented report, the DoD’s watchdog is releasing a 450-page redacted report that identifies 58 open recommendations would bring $33.6 billion in savings if fully implemented. The “Compendium of Open Office of Inspector General Recommendations to the Department of Defense” lists 1,298 open recommendations made to the Department in DoD OIG audits and evaluations issued since April 2006, and spotlights 30 open recommendations that would provide the greatest cost savings to the DoD. The Office of the Inspector General said the Pentagon has agreed to take “corrective actions” on 1,251 of the 1,298 open recommendations.
TILLERSON’S SHUTTLE STOP: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson travels back to Qatar today for more talks aimed at ending a dispute between the key Mideast ally, and four other key Mideast allies. So far there are no signs of a breakthrough. Tillerson meets with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a day after discussions with the King Salman of Saudi Arabia and other officials from Arab countries lined up against Qatar.
Meanwhile at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meets with Rashid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa, minister of interior of Bahrain, one of the four countries that imposed an economic blockade against Qatar over a month ago, after accusing Doha of supporting extremist groups.
MCCAIN’S AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY: Last month, Sen. John McCain warned Mattis that if he didn’t not produce a new Afghanistan strategy soon, the Senate would give him one. Mattis promised a plan by mid-July. Here it is mid-July, and with no Afghanistan strategy in sight, McCain on Wednesday escalated the threat, saying he’s now working with his Armed Services Committee on an amendment that would insert a strategy into the Senate’s annual NDAA defense policy bill. The massive bill may head to the floor before lawmakers break for summer recess in August. When asked on Tuesday if his new strategy would rely more on contractors, Mattis said, “I’m still putting together my ideas on that.”
FAST-TRACKING TRUMP NOMINEES: McCain said Wednesday he plans to rush an Armed Services vote on President Trump’s pick for Navy secretary, Richard V. Spencer, and four other Pentagon nominees. The committee was angling for a vote today that would pass them to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote. “Look, I’m not happy with some of the things that you are associated with and some of your statements but I also think that overall you need to get to work,” McCain told nominees David Trachtenberg for principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, Ryan McCarthy for Army undersecretary, Charles “Cully” Stimson for general counsel of the Navy, and Owen West for assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.
STIMSON’S BONEHEAD MISTAKE: Stimson’s last stint at the Pentagon did not turn out so well — he resigned over an inflammatory comment about Guantanamo Bay detainees — but it did not scuttle his chances Wednesday to return to the building as the Navy’s top lawyer. “I think that you’ve paid a price … I also think we need to have you move on,” McCain said. In January 2007, Stimson, who was then the Pentagon official in charge of military detainees, said he was dismayed top U.S. law firms were representing Guantanamo prisoners and urged corporate clients to cut ties. After a published apology in the Washington Post, he resigned a month later. “I made a boneheaded statement. Quite frankly, it was an emotional response generated by my loss of my 295 colleagues who … were killed on 9/11 at the World Trade Center,” Stimson said, referring to a firm in the toppled building.
OMB PUSHES BACK ON BRAC: The White House has said it “strongly objects” to a House proposal that keeps the military from closing billions of dollars worth of unused facilities around the country in 2018. The pushback came from the Office of Management and Budget assessment on the House’s annual defense policy bill, which forbids any money to be spent on the Base Realignment and Closure process, or BRAC, in 2018. House lawmakers have become an immovable object in the way of the Pentagon’s efforts to shutter bases in recent years, a move the military says could save $2 billion annually. But the top Armed Services Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith, is a BRAC advocate and has proposed an amendment to the NDAA lifting the ban. Smith’s amendment could get a vote when the NDAA moves to the House floor in the coming days.
THE RUNDOWN
Washington Post: Multiple impact sites point to midair disaster in Marine Corps plane crash
Defense One: We need to focus on space; We don’t need a ‘Space Corps’
Reuters: U.S. Democrats in new bid to push Russia and Iran sanctions bill
USA Today: President Trump on Russia election meddling: Putin told me he didn’t do it
Foreign Policy: Before Trump meeting, Russia quietly gobbled up a tiny chunk of Georgia
New York Times: Video shows Mosul civilians trapped in a fight clearly not over
AP: Trump to commission carrier after criticizing new technology
Military Times: Bored this summer? Sen. John McCain has released a new reading list
UPI: BAE to provide ‘most advanced’ tech in U.S. Air Force planes
Wall Street Journal: Russian, NATO planes play risky game over Baltic Sea
AP: Missile Wars: Where North Korea stands after ICBM launch
Military.com: China opens first overseas military base — next door to U.S. camp
USNI News: Expeditionary sea base USNS Lewis B. Puller departs for maiden deployment
Calendar
WEEK AHEAD
THURSDAY | JULY 13
7 a.m. 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd. Integrated air and missile defense symposium. ndia.org
8 a.m. 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Annual technology summit with Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commanding general of U.S. Army Cyber Command. defenseone.com
8:45 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Cross-Strait relations re-examined: Toward a new normal? csis.org
9 a.m. 529 14th St. NW. The July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, one year on. press.org
9:30 a.m. Dirksen G-50. Attempted coup in Montenegro and malign Russian influence in Europe with Ambassador Nebojša Kaludjerovic. armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. House Visitor Center 210. The persistent threat: Al Qaeda’s evolution and resilience. homeland.house.gov
10:30 a.m. Dirksen 106. Full committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2018 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill. appropriations.senate.gov
12 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Regime change in Iran: From the 1953 coup to the Trump policy review. atlanticcouncil.org
1 p.m. Rayburn 2172. America’s interests in the Middle East and North Africa and the president’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget request with Stuart Jones, acting assistant secretary of state, and Maria Longi, acting assistant administrator with USAID. Foreignaffairs.house.gov
1:30 p.m. Pentagon Briefing Room. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve and Iraqi Security Forces spokesmen briefs reporters live from Baghdad. Livestreamed on www.defense.gov/live.
2 p.m. House Visitor Center 210. The terrorist diaspora after the fall of the ISIS caliphate. homeland.house.gov
FRIDAY | JULY 14
12 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Lost in translation? U.S. defense innovation and Northeast Asia. stimson.org
MONDAY | JULY 17
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Russia challenge in Europe with Sen. Tom Cotton. csis.org
3:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Cyber risk Monday: The darkening Web. atlanticcouncil.org
5 p.m. Dirksen 419. Review of the State Department reauthorization bill for 2018 and reorganization plans with Deputy Secretary John Sullivan. foreign.senate.gov
6 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. A conversation with Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. cfr.org
TUESDAY | JULY 18
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Seventh Annual CSIS South China Sea Conference: Renewing American leadership in the Asia-Pacific with Sen. Cory Gardner. csis.org
9:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. A discussion with Iraqi Speaker of Parliament H.E. Salim al-Jabouri. atlanticcouncil.org
10:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Central Asia and U.S. foreign policy at a great power crossroads. atlanticcouncil.org
2:30 p.m. Russell 222. Options and considerations for achieving a 355-ship Navy from former Reagan administration officials including John Lehman, Jr., former Navy secretary. armed-services.senate.gov
TUESDAY | JULY 19
1800 Jefferson Davis Hwy. Special topic breakfast series with Joel Szabat, executive director of the U.S. Maritime Administration.
12:15 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. South Asia’s evolving strategic doctrines. stimson.org
