House subcommittees power through defense authorization markups today

But the main event happens next week when Rep. Mac Thornberry releases his “chairman’s mark” of the NDAA, which will provide a fuller picture of House Armed Services’ defense plans, including topline funding figures and numbers of ships, aircraft and other weapons systems. The full committee holds its bill hearing on Wednesday. Expect a marathon amendment session that will begin in the morning and likely continue into the night.

NORTH KOREA: At a rally last night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, President Trump renewed his criticism of China for not doing enough to pressure North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. “We’ve had a very good relationship with China, in all fairness, and I do like President Xi,” Trump said. “I wish we would have a little more help with respect to North Korea from China. But that doesn’t seem to be working out. But I do like the president a lot.”

The president expressed a similar sentiment in a tweet two days ago, and when asked about it following high-level meetings with Chinese officials at the State Department, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters Trump was reflecting the view of the American people. “What you’re seeing I think is the American people’s frustration with a regime that provokes and provokes and provokes, and basically plays outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth.”

But Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted the U.S. and China are still on the same page, seeing North Korea as the “most acute threat in the region.” “We both call for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” Tillerson said. “And we call on the [the North] to halt its illegal nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile test as stipulated in the U.N. Security Council resolutions.” Mattis said China continues to work those issues. “I would point out to you that China’s end-state on the Korean peninsula in terms of nuclear weapons is the same as ours. And we continue to work towards that end-state,” Mattis said.

The talks at the State Department were the first session of what is intended to be a continuing dialogue between U.S. and Chinese officials that Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed to at the April Mar-a-Lago summit.

A SIXTH TEST? U.S. spy satellites have detected new activity around North Korea’s known nuclear test site, leading to speculation Pyongyang may be getting ready to conduct a sixth nuclear test. CNN reports the activity “appears to involve some modifications around one of the tunnel entrances to an underground test area.” The network also reported that the Pentagon has updated its possible military options for a response to any future test, and that those options will be presented to the president, citing “two senior U.S. officials with direct knowledge.” The officials said it is not yet clear if the activity indicates a sixth nuclear test is imminent.

MISSILE MISS: The latest test of U.S. ship-based missile defense failed last night, when the USS John Paul Jones fired a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) in an attempt to shoot down a target missile fired from Hawaii. The Aegis destroyer tracked the target, but the intercept was unsuccessful, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The last test, Feb 3, was a success, the first time an SM-3 shot down a ballistic missile target in a flight test.

“The SM-3 Block IIA is being developed cooperatively by the United States and Japan to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles,” MDA said in a release. “This is a new, developmental interceptor that is not yet fielded by either country.”

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.

BREAKING THIS MORNING: As many as 29 people have been killed in a suicide car bombing outside the Kabul Bank in Lashkar Gah, in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold. “This cowardly attack targeted innocent people as they lined up to get their salaries in preparation for the Eid al-Fitr celebrations,” said Brig. Gen. Roger Turner, Task Force Southwest commanding general, in a statement. “Once again, the enemy has shown complete disregard for innocent civilians with an indiscriminate attack, causing death and suffering.” By some estimates the Taliban control nearly 80 percent of Helmand’s countryside.

SPENCER POSTPONED: Trump’s nominee for Navy secretary was supposed to get his turn in front of Sen. John McCain and his Armed Services Committee this morning. But the hearing on Richard V. Spencer, a financier and former Marine aviator, was postponed. Navy secretary is a key position for Trump to fill, but there is no guarantee Spencer will have an easy hearing when he gets one. On Tuesday, McCain repeatedly tore into Pat Shanahan, the president’s pick for deputy defense secretary, and said he may hold up that nomination.

355-SHIP MANDATE: Two Republicans, two sides of Capitol Hill, one goal of a larger Navy fleet. Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker and Virginia Rep. Rob Wittman, both armed services seapower subcommittee chairmen, say they will unveil legislation today making it Navy policy to keep a 355-ship fleet, up from the current 276 ships. Both lawmakers are from shipbuilding states. The Trump defense budget proposal calls for eight new ships (nine assuming the Navy files a budget amendment for another littoral combat ship), but defense hawks want more, and faster. Wicker and Wittman are floating their bill just as both armed services committees build their annual defense policy bill.

SUMMER DEADLINE: House Republicans on Wednesday began weighing a plan to pass fiscal 2018 government funding, including an option of passing one large omnibus spending bill, before leaving for the August recess, Susan Ferrechio writes. “Do you do it in an omnibus or some variation of that, or individual bills,” said Rep. Mike Simpson, an appropriator, after leaving a GOP meeting.

No decisions were made, Simpson said. Republican lawmakers will meet again on Friday, when a decision could be made on a path forward, they said. “We are heads down, focused on getting this work done,” Rep. Bill Johnson said said after the meeting.

SPACE, THE FINAL NAT SEC FRONTIER: House Armed Services lawmakers are unhappy with how the U.S. is handling national security in space, saying operations suffer from a “crippling organizational and management structure.” That’s a charge that falls largely with the Air Force, which handles most space operations. The committee is set to add a requirement for a U.S. Space Corps, a separate military service within the Air Force, as well as a unified space command under U.S. Strategic Command into its annual defense policy bill.

The Air Force is not on board, however. Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein both slammed the proposal as a bad idea Wednesday. “The Pentagon is complicated enough. We’re trying to simplify. This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart and cost more money,” Wilson said. “If I had more money, I would put it into lethality not bureaucracy.” Goldfein said the service is already moving toward a war footing in space and that the House proposal would “slow us down.”

F-35 ALTITUDE PROBLEM: Goldfein also said the service may be a bit closer to piecing together what caused a rash of oxygen deprivation incidents that temporarily grounded F-35s at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. “All five of the incidents that we had in the F-35 all occurred above 25,000 feet and so what we think is going on is that the metering system at a higher altitude may not be metering the oxygen at the level that is absolutely required,” he said. “That is what the engineers are looking at.”

$50 BILLION RAPTOR REALITY CHECK: The Air Force has turned over its classified report to the House on what it would take to produce more F-22 stealth fighters, but the new findings do not point toward a return of the Raptor, Wilson said. “The startup costs are significant and very expensive,” she told the Washington Examiner. The unclassified summary estimated another 194 of the Lockheed Martin F-22s would cost $50 billion, about $206 million to $216 million per aircraft. That total includes an estimated $9.9 billion for non-recurring start-up costs.

Past studies have also found bringing back the F-22 does not make military or financial sense, and Wilson said there are no plans to pursue it. “The chief has assigned a fighter roadmap. Our plan is to put any resources we have into that roadmap and not into restarting a line from an older aircraft.” The report was requested by the House Armed Services Committee. Thornberry said last year that lawmakers wanted to investigate the option.

ISIS DESTRUCTION: The Iraqi government announced the Islamic State destroyed the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in western Mosul, the site where the terrorist group three years ago declared its “caliphate.” The announcement came as Iraq’s forces encircled the jihadist group’s territory in the Old City, the last district under their control in Mosul.

Afterward, U.S. Central Command confirmed the Iraqi government report. “As our Iraqi Security Force partners closed in on the al-Nuri mosque, ISIS destroyed one of Mosul and Iraq’s great treasures,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, the American commander for the operation, said in the statement. “This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated,” Martin said. “The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS, and we continue to support our Iraqi partners as they bring these terrorists to justice. However, the battle for the liberation of Mosul is not yet complete, and we remain focused on supporting the ISF with that objective in mind.”

The Islamic State, through its news agency, denied responsibility and claimed the mosque had actually been taken down by an American airstrike, a charge the U.S. flatly and unequivocally refuted.

MOSCOW’S FAULT: The State Department is accusing Russia of “turn[ing] away from an opportunity” to repair relations with the United States, with its cancellation of an upcoming diplomatic summit, Joel Gehrke writes. “We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles that hinder U.S.-Russia relations,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement issued yesterday. “We remain open to future discussions.”

A top State Department official was scheduled to travel to St. Petersburg for a June 23 follow-up on Tillerson’s March meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The Russians canceled that meeting after the Treasury Department applied existing U.S. sanctions to 38 people and entities, including two Russian government officials, involved in the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine.

LIKE YOU BLEND: Whenever the Pentagon’s Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction starts poking into how the U.S. military spends money, it’s always a revelation. Suffice it to say, there are few examples of any ventures in Afghanistan were millions of dollars don’t slosh over the sides. The latest instance is the scathing SIGAR report on how the U.S. and Afghan government outfitted the Afghan National Army with a pricy camouflage pattern better suited to the forests of Europe despite the fact Afghanistan is only about 2 percent woodland. The bottom line is the U.S. overspent by almost $30 million, and ended with a cammo pattern that is more of a fashion statement than a concealment option. The extra cost went to buy a “proprietary” pattern, which in theory would make it harder for the Taliban and ISIS to get a hold of uniforms to use as disguise when trying trying to pass as friendly forces to carry out suicide attacks.

BERGDAHL’S DEFENSE: Attorneys for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl want to ask potential jurors in a court-martial for their views on Trump and whether they voted for him. At a pretrial hearing yesterday, Berdahl’s lawyers submitted the questions to the judge in the case, out of concern that jurors may be swayed by negative comments Trump made in the presidential campaign about the soldier. During the campaign, Trump called Bergdahl a “dirty, rotten traitor” and criticized President Obama’s decision to release five Guantanamo Bay detainees to secure Bergdahl’s release after five years of captivity at the hands of the Taliban.

THE RUNDOWN

New York Times: U.S. Is Pressed To Pursue Deal To Freeze North Korea Tests

Washington Post: Debate Over Next Steps In ISIS Fight

Wall Street Journal: Saudi Shake-Up Aims To Launch Modern Era

USA Today: NATO jet buzzes Russian defense minister’s plane

Washington Post: Navy sailors made tough call to seal flooding ship compartments, unclear if survivors were inside

USNI News: Investigators Believe USS Fitzgerald Crew Fought Flooding For An Hour Before Distress Call Reached Help

Wall Street Journal: Islamic State-linked militants storm new village in Philippines

Defense One: Global demand for U.S. weapons ‘busier than ever’ in Trump era, so far

New York Times: White House tries to get G.O.P. to water down Russia sanctions bill

Daily Beast: Why was the Wall Street Journal’s Jay Solomon involved with an arms dealer?

DoD Buzz: Lockheed exec ‘confident’ Canada will pick F-35 as block buy eyed

USNI News: Timing of destroyer, attack submarine design upgrades creates congressional concern

Reuters: Trump’s son-in-law launches Middle East peace effort

Defense News: Japan looks to US to partner on used aircraft resale

The Cipher Brief: U.S. Downing of Syrian Warplane: A “Canary in the Coal Mine”

Calendar

THURSDAY | JUNE 22

8:30 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Day 2 of a forum on the United States and Russia in the Arctic. wilsoncenter.org

9 a.m. Rayburn 2212. Subcommittee on Readiness budget markup. armedservices.house.gov

9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway. State of electronic warfare in the DOD with William Conley, deputy director of electronic warfare, office of the under secretary of defense. mitchellaerospacepower.org

10:30 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Subcommittee on Strategic Forces budget markup. armedservices.house.gov

11:30 a.m. Rayburn 2212. Subcommittee on Military Personnel budget markup. armedservices.house.gov

12:30 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces budget markup. armedservices.house.gov

1 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. A conversation with Vice President Mike Pence. wilsoncenter.org

FRIDAY | JUNE 23

11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Opportunities and challenges of a nuclear posture review. heritage.org

1:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Poland’s new defense concept with State Undersecretary H.E. Tomasz Szatkowski, of Poland’s Ministry of National Defense. atlanticcouncil.org

MONDAY | JUNE 26

10:30 a.m. The western Balkans: A delicate balance. wilsoncenter.org

12:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Rising Chinese FDI in Latin America and the implications for the United States. atlanticcouncil.org

2 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The Korean War, the “forgotten war,” remembered. wilsoncenter.org

4 p.m. Russell 232-A. Closed hearing by Subcommittee on Airland to markup the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

5:30 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Foreign Service: Five decades on the frontlines of American diplomacy. brookings.edu

7 p.m. House 140. Closed subcommittee markup of 2018 defense appropriations. appropriations.house.gov

TUESDAY | JUNE 27

8 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Integrating Strike and Defense with Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, and former Rep. Randy Forbes. csis.org

8:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Big data and the Twenty-first Century arms race. atlanticcouncil.org

9:30 a.m. Russell 232-A. Closed hearing by Subcommittee on Readiness to markup the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

11 a.m. Russell 232-A. Closed hearing by Subcommittee on Cybersecurity to markup the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

12:30 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. Luncheon with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. press.org

1 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. The future of Mosul and Iraq after the ISIS flag falls with Rep. Adam Kinzinger. heritage.org

2 p.m. Dirksen G-50. Closed hearing and webcast of Subcommittee on Personnel markup of the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

2 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Allies under attack and the terrorist threat to Europe. foreignaffairs.house.gov

3:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. Closed hearing by Subcommittee on Seapower to markup the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

3:30 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Book launch for Water, Security and U.S. Foreign Policy. wilsoncenter.org

4:30 p.m. Dirksen G-50. Closed hearing and webcast of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats markup of the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

5:30 p.m. Russell 232-A. Closed hearing by Subcommittee on Strategic Forces to markup the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 28

8 a.m. 1201 M St. SE. Systems engineering division meeting. ndia.org

9:30 a.m. 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW. 2017 Annual Conference: Navigating the Divide. cnas.org

9:30 a.m. Russell 222. Full committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

10 a.m. Dirksen 342. Nominations of Claire M. Grady to be under secretary for management at the Department of Homeland Security and Henry Kerner to be special counsel in the Office of Special Counsel. hsgac.senate.gov

10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Closed full committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. armedservices.house.gov

10 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Strategic cyber deterrence: The active cyber defense option with author Scott Jasper. heritage.org

10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. Advancing U.S. interests at the United Nations with Ambassador Nikki Haley. foreignaffairs.house.gov

11:30 a.m. 1030 15th St. NW. Rebalancing U.S. force posture in Europe and beyond. atlanticcouncil.org

THURSDAY | JUNE 29

9 a.m. 1030 15th Street NW. Conference on the threat of Russian influence in Europe, the next frontier in digital disinformation, and how to strike back. atlanticcouncil.org

9:30 a.m. Russell 222. Closed full committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act. armed-services.senate.gov

10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. The power of the president to shape U.S. relations in the Middle East and North Africa. brookings.edu

10:30 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. India-Japan strategic cooperation and implications for Washington and Beijing. wilsoncenter.org