ARMING UKRAINE: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is back in Washington after a week-long trip that began in Jordan, included stops in Iraq and Turkey, and wrapped up in Ukraine. There, Mattis issued a sharp rebuke of Russia, and hinted more defensive firepower could soon be provided to the Ukrainian military by the U.S. “We support you in the face of threats to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mattis said at a news conference in Kiev. “Despite Russia’s denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of Europe.”
Standing next to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Mattis said the two discussed improving Ukraine’s defensive capabilities in the face of aggression by Russian separatists in the east, and dismissed the idea that sending arms to Ukraine might increase tensions. “Defensive weapons are not provocative unless you’re an aggressor, and clearly, Ukraine is not an aggressor, since it’s their own territory where the fighting is happening.”
As for whether President Trump will approve lethal aid, “We are actively reviewing it,” Mattis said. “I will go back, now, having seen the current situation, and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead.” Doing so could be yet another source of tension between Washington and Moscow, as Russia makes threats of retaliation over sanctions and expels U.S. diplomatic staff.
TRANSGENDER ‘PURGE’: Advocates for transgender rights are labeling the reported plan by the White House to bar recruiting, cut some medical benefits, and then weed out currently serving troops based of their deployability, a “purge.” The draft guidance, reported by the Wall Street Journal, would give Mattis six months to implement the changes. “Regardless of the timeline, it is a purge,” said Sue Fulton, a board member of Sparta, a group that represents transgender troops. “I think the reason they are coming up with this deployability red herring is they recognize there is no good rationale to purge transgender troops who are currently serving, without issue I might add, so they are trying to create one.”
Despite guidance that would appear to give some leeway to the Pentagon in deciding which current troops may stay, Jennifer Levi, a lead attorney for five transgender troops suing Trump and Mattis, said the new rules would essentially impose the ban announced by the president via Twitter in July. “It’s just the effort to basically purge the military of transgender people, which is what the tweet reflected that Trump’s goal is,” said Levi, who is transgender rights project director with GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders. Levi’s group filed suit Aug. 9 for the five transgender troops and plans to soon file a motion in D.C. district court for a preliminary injunction that could block any implementation by the Pentagon as the case is heard. “The current reports don’t change our approach of the lawsuit in any way,” Levi said.
GILLIBRAND VOWS TO FIGHT BACK: Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, one of Trump’s top Democratic foils in the Senate, said she will “fight back” against new transgender guidance reportedly being considered by the White House. “To all trans men and women serving bravely in the military: I plan to introduce legislation to fight back. We’ll keep raising our voices,” Gillibrand tweeted. She was still working to write and hash out the details of the new transgender bill on Thursday. In July, she partnered with Sen. Susan Collins on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would bar the Pentagon from changing personnel policy before completing a six-month review of transgender recruiting.
THERE’S ALWAYS MTV: MTV has invited active-duty transgender troops to attend its 2017 Video Music Awards show in Inglewood, Calif., Sunday as a show of support for the service members who were allowed to serve openly under President Barack Obama. “MTV has invited transgender members of the U.S. armed forces to the 2017 Video Music Awards and we would be honored if they could attend,” MTV president Christopher McCarthy said in a statement. “Any patriot who is putting their own life at risk to fight for our freedom and stands for equality is a hero at MTV, and to young people everywhere.”
The television network’s request must first be approved by the Pentagon, which gets final say on whether active-duty members can participate in national public events. “At this time the Department of Defense is reviewing the parameters of the request,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Haverstick told CNN.
Good Friday 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.
STILL NO BUDGET: House Speaker Paul Ryan reminds us that as the end of the fiscal year approaches, Congress has still not passed a budget for the Pentagon. Speaking to Boeing workers in Everett, Wash., Ryan said the long-term plan for the military “to rebuild their stockpiles, to rebuild their readiness,” which the House approved this summer, is not yet law. “That long-term vision for the military is out of the House. It’s out of the Senate. Now we’re working harmonize that piece of legislation,” Ryan said.
“The military has been hollowed out. We have not enough brigades and as of last year, we only had like three combat-ready brigades, not to mention the fact that we’ve got a lot of needs to replace aging equipment,” Ryan said at the event moderated by Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. Ryan did note a $25 million supplemental appropriation passed by Congress in April, which he called a downpayment on rebuilding the military.
But last week in his informal press conference with reporters, Mattis called the prospect of another continuing resolution “about as unwise as can be.” “It just creates unpredictability. It makes us rigid. We cannot deal with new and revealing threats. We know our enemies are not standing still,” Mattis said Aug 14.
LIKE THE LANNISTERS, WE PAY OUR DEBTS: Oh, and all the talk in Washington about whether Congress will raise the debt ceiling? “We will pass legislation to make sure that we pay our debts, and we will not hit the debt ceiling,” Ryan said. “We pay our debts in this country. We will continue to do so. So I’m not worried that that’s not going to get done, because it’s going to get done.” Ryan said there are “many different options” on how to achieve that.
FROM SEARCH TO RECOVERY: The Navy has suspended its search for the remaining missing USS John S. McCain sailors, 80 hours after the guided-missile destroyer collided with an oil tanker east of Singapore on Monday. Ten sailors were initially missing after the collision, and five more were hurt. While ships from several nearby nations are no longer searching the waters east of Singapore where the collision occurred, divers are still searching sealed spaces inside the ship as it sits moored to the pier at Changi Naval Base in Singapore. The Navy also released the names of all 10 sailors who went missing. The remains of two of the 10 have been found.
SOLDIERS IN TROUBLE: U.S. soldiers who had been assigned to protect Vice President Mike Pence’s communications team during their trip to Panama last week have been reassigned after they brought women back to their hotel without registering the visitors. “We are aware of the incident, and it is currently under investigation,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Haverstick said in a statement. “We can confirm that the individuals in question have been reassigned back to the Army.” The story was first reported by NBC News.
Pence and his wife, Karen, took part in a six-day trip to Central and South America last week. Members of Pence’s staff discovered from security camera footage that the soldiers had brought women into a secure area. It’s not clear whether the Pences were in the hotel at the time or if the incident took place before or after their visit to Panama.
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE SPYMASTER: CIA Director Mike Pompeo is reportedly being watched carefully by members of his own agency. Current and former officials have told the Washington Post that while Pompeo, a former GOP congressman from Kansas, has taken direct command of the Counterintelligence Mission Center, the unit is also keeping close tabs on him. The department, which helped kick-start the federal investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, is particularly concerned about Pompeo’s willingness to downplay Russia’s role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election. “People have to watch him,” an anonymous official told the Post. “It’s almost as if he can’t resist the impulse to be political.”
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: “General John Kelly is doing a fantastic job as Chief of Staff. There is tremendous spirit and talent in the W.H. Don’t believe the Fake News,” Trump tweeted this morning. “Few, if any, Administrations have done more in just 7 months than the Trump A. Bills passed, regulations killed, border, military, ISIS, SC!”
TRUMP VS. CLAPPER: Trump continued his counter-attack on former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has questioned Trump’s fitness for office and shown concern over his access to the nuclear codes. “James Clapper, who famously got caught lying to Congress, is now an authority on Donald Trump. Will he show you his beautiful letter to me?” Trump tweeted. Clapper, who is now a CNN contributor, opined on the network Tuesday night it is “pretty damn scary” that if Trump wanted to launch a nuclear attack, there’s nothing to stop him.
As for the ‘beautiful letter,” Clapper told CNN yesterday that the night before the election he hand-wrote almost identical short notes to each of the two candidates to accompany their full intelligence brief, not knowing which candidate would win. Both notes promised the intelligence community (IC) stood ready to provide the best intelligence it could muster. “I went on to say that I hoped he would abide by the long-standing principle of the IC always telling truth to power,” Clapper told CNN. “Of course he shot the messengers on the 11th of January when he characterized us as Nazis for having delivered truth to power,” Clapper added.
Trump’s Jan. 11 tweet referred to the leak about unverifiable claims in a dossier about Trump’s alleged activities in Russia, which he had been briefed about by FBI chief James Comey. “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?” Trump tweeted at the time.
Trump’s mention of Clapper lying to Congress refers to a March 2013 remark in which Clapper denied mass collection of U.S. communications. Months later, Edward Snowden revealed the answer to be inaccurate and Clapper apologized. He said he gave the “least untruthful” answer possible.
ACOUSTIC ATTACK: Sixteen U.S. officials were harmed in Cuba in a mysterious incident targeting U.S. diplomats sent to Havana, the State Department said yesterday. “We can confirm that at least 16 U.S. government employees, members of our embassy community, have experienced some kind of symptoms,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters at a press briefing. “They have been provided medical treatment in the United States, as well as in Cuba.”
Nauert could not immediately say whether that figure included family members of the personnel. She said some of those harmed are still in Cuba, although some returned to the United States. The State Department has said the incident is still being investigated, but various reports have said U.S. officials may have been hurt by an “acoustic attack” that affected many people working at the embassy.
RUSSIA CUTS: Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s mandate that the State Department cut staff in the country hurts his own people, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s team emphasized Thursday. “We have many Russian citizens that work for the United States as locally employed staff,” Nauert said Thursday. “They will now be out of jobs.”
Putin ordered a reduction in American personnel in retaliation for U.S. sanctions imposed successively by Obama and then Congress in response to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Tillerson has a Sept. 1 deadline to determine the American response to the order, but the intervening weeks have featured a debate about how the Russian people should view the decision.
THE RUNDOWN
CNN: Many warnings of readiness ‘crisis’ before latest ship accidents
Navy Times: 7th Fleet’s sloppy seamanship manifested in Antietam’s January grounding
Defense & Aerospace Report: CSBA’s van Tol on USS John McCain Collision, Preventing US Navy Accidents
AP: In The Persian Gulf, Iran’s Drones Pose Rising Threat To U.S.
USA Today: North Korean spies caught trying to steal Ukraine missile plans
Bloomberg: Pentagon’s No. 2 Sets Up Alert System on His Ex-Employer Boeing
Military Times: Pentagon comptroller preparing for ‘short-term’ continuing resolution
Reuters: In Photos, North Korea Signals A More Powerful ICBM In The Works
Korea Times: Seoul Asked To Complete THAAD Deployment By Aug. 30
Washington Post: Thousands more troops are probably headed to Afghanistan. Here’s what they’ll do.
Washington Post: U.N. urges pause in Raqqa fighting as humanitarian crisis mounts
War on the Rocks: A business approach to America’s warfighting model
Defense One: How the U.S. can pressure Pakistan
Task and Purpose: The USS McCain tragedy has a dire impact on U.S. missile defenses
New York Times: U.S. troop increase in Afghanistan is underway, general says
Defense News: General Atomics sheds light on the future of unmanned tech
USNI News: VIDEO: Littoral combat ship USS Coronado uses UAV to target anti-ship missile in test off Guam
Fox News: Kim Jong Un killed uncle, half-brother over ‘China coup plot,’ report says
Calendar
FRIDAY | AUG. 25
10 a.m. Pentagon Auditorium. Deputy Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan hosts the 2017 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Awards ceremony. Streamed live on www.defense.gov.
WEDNESDAY | AUG. 30
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Iran’s nuclear, regional and proxy challenges. heritage.org
THURSDAY | AUG. 31
11 a.m. 46870 Tate Rd. C4ISR August luncheon with Capt. Jason Lopez, the program manager of the Naval Aviation Training Systems Program Office. ndia.org
