IT’S UNDER REVIEW: Whether it’s the Pentagon looking at whether it should stick to the Trump administration timeline for pulling all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, or the State Department examining arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, all of former President Donald Trump’s foreign policy moves, including some he considered his greatest achievements, are getting a scrubbing in the opening days of the Biden administration.
“Across the board, as the president has said, we’re reviewing all of these actions that are of deep concern to us,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at his first State Department briefing. “Whether it is the treatment of [Russian opposition leader Alexei] Navalny and particularly the apparent use of a chemical weapon in an attempt to assassinate him. We’re looking very urgently as well at Solar Winds and its various implications. We’re looking at the reports of bounties placed by Russia on American forces in Afghanistan. And, of course, we’re looking at these questions of election interference.”
Several allies and supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been detained in Moscow.
AFGHANISTAN: Blinken confirmed again that the outgoing Trump administration failed to brief him fully on the details of the secret annexes to the U.S.-Taliban agreement that set the terms for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops by May. “We need to understand exactly what is in the agreements that were reached between the United States and the Taliban to make sure that we fully understand the commitments that the Taliban has made as well as any commitments that we’ve made,” Blinken said.
The agreement, which remains classified, included assurance that the Taliban would reduce the level of violence in Afghanistan, but it stopped short of imposing a ceasefire.
One aspect of the Trump plan to get the Taliban and the Afghan government to force a power-sharing peace agreement is to retain Zalmay Khalilzad as U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation. “We have asked him to continue the vital work that he’s performed,” Blinken said.
GERMANY: Another Trump move that the Pentagon is considering modifying is the former president’s decision to order the withdrawal of 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany and the relocation of the headquarters of the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command out of Stuttgart, Germany.
While the former, and eventually fired, Defense Secretary Mark Esper portrayed the move as a strategic repositioning of forces to better counter Russia, Trump made it clear he wanted to punish Germany in an ongoing dispute over the NATO ally’s failure to meet a 2% of GDP spending goal.
There was a hint of the reconsideration in what is usually an anodyne readout of a phone call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his German counterpart Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. “Secretary Austin expressed his gratitude to Germany for continuing to serve as a great host for U.S. forces and expressed his desire for a continued dialogue on U.S. force posture in Germany,” said spokesman John Kirby, in the statement that called Germany “one of our closest NATO allies.”
ABRAHAM ACCORDS: Over at the State Department, Blinken praised the Abraham Accords, brokered by Trump, that normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, but questioned what the U.S. promised in return for the agreement, including the sale of America’s premier fighter jet, the F-35, to the UAE and acquiescence to Morocco’s longtime claim to sovereignty over the Western Sahara desert.
“We think that Israel normalizing relations with its neighbors and the other countries in the region is a very positive development, and so we applauded them,” Blinken said of the accords. “We’re also trying to make sure that we have a full understanding of any commitments that may have been made in securing those agreements. And that’s something we’re looking at right now.”
FREEZE ON F-35 SALE: The Trump administration rushed to finalize the arms sales to the UAE before President Biden took office. The $23 billion package includes $10 billion for up to 50 F-35A joint strike fighters, $3 billion for 18 MQ-9B drones, and another $10 billion for munitions.
Blinken described the pause in the sale as routine. “Generally speaking, when it comes to arms sales, it is typical at the start of an administration to review any sales to make sure that what is being considered is something that advances our strategic objectives and advances our foreign policy,” Blinken said. “So that’s what we’re doing at this moment.”
A LONG WAY TO GO ON IRAN: “President Biden has been very clear in saying that if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the [Iran nuclear deal], the United States would do the same thing, and then we would use that as a platform to build, with our allies and partners, what we called a ‘longer and stronger agreement,’ and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with Iran,” Blinken said, but he was quick to add, “We are a long ways from that point.”
“Iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts, and it would take some time should it make a decision to do so for it to come back into compliance and time for us to then assess whether it was meeting its obligations,” he said. “So, we’re not there yet, to say the least.”
Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Victor I. Nava. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. 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.
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HAPPENING TODAY: The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and has a vote set for 1:45 p.m. on a motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to be homeland security secretary.
HAPPENING NEXT WEEK: The Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for Kathleen Hicks to be deputy defense secretary for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2.
THE THREAT FROM WITHIN: The Department of Homeland Security has issued a national terrorism bulletin which warns of a continuing threat from what it called DVEs, Domestic Violent Extremists, who it says includes Americans “motivated by a range of issues, including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force.”
“Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence,” the bulletin says. “DHS is concerned these same drivers to violence will remain through early 2021 and some DVEs may be emboldened by the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to target elected officials and government facilities.”
The bulletin expires April 30, so it covers the key date of March 4, the country’s original inauguration date, and a day that some QAnon conspiracy theorists believe former President Donald Trump will come back and take control of the government.
NEW FACES ON HASC: Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, has released a list of the new Republicans who will be joining the committee for the 117th Congress.
The new GOP members are:
- Mike Johnson, Louisiana
- Mark Green, Tennessee
- Stephanie Bice, Oklahoma
- Scott Franklin, Florida
- Lisa McClain, Michigan
- Ronny Jackson, Texas
- Jerry Carl, Alabama
- Blake Moore, Utah
- Pat Fallon, Texas
New Democrats on the HASC include:
- Marilyn Strickland, Washington
- Stephanie Murphy, Florida
- Jimmy Panetta, California
- Sara Jacobs, California
- Kai Kahele, Hawaii
- Joseph Morelle, New York
- Marc Veasey, Texas
INDUSTRY WATCH, A NEW TOP DOG: Boeing reported a record annual loss of $11.9 billion for 2020, with revenues down 24% from $76.5 billion in 2019 to $58 billion in 2020.
“The deep impacts of COVID-19 on commercial air travel, as well as the 737 MAX grounding, are reflected in our performance,” said Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun in a message to employees. “2020 was a year of profound societal and global disruption, which significantly impacted our industry.”
The loss knocked Boeing off its lofty perch as America’s largest aerospace and defense firm, replaced, at least for now, by Lockheed Martin, which posted a $6.9 billion profit for the year and bested Boeing in sales by $7 billion.
As Marcus Weisgerber of Defense One explained it: “While Lockheed — which on Tuesday reported $65.4 billion in 2020 sales — has long been the world’s largest defense contractor, revenue from Boeing’s commercial airplane business has combined with its military work to keep it atop the defense-and-aerospace category for decades.”
KC-46 TANKER OVERRUNS: Boeing also reported another $275 million charge to its KC-46 program, according to Air Force Magazine, which says Boeing is now on the hook for $5 billion in cost overruns — more than the initial $4.9 billion contract award.
“The fourth quarter total means 2020 saw more than $1.3 billion in overruns for the program, a cost the company said in its earnings report was ‘primarily due to production inefficiencies, including impacts of COVID-19 disruption,’” the report said. “The 2020 total is more than any previous year, according to a review of the company’s prior year earnings reports. Because of the nature of the contract, the company is responsible for all costs above the $4.9 billion award.”
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: ‘Informed consent’: Blinken vows to avoid repeating one of Obama’s Iran deal mistakes
Washington Examiner: Biden team ‘reviewing’ Pompeo’s Uighur genocide designation for procedural flaws
Washington Examiner: Biden nominee for UN ambassador calls speech at Confucius Institute a ‘huge mistake’
Washington Examiner: Veterans groups split on McDonough as senators give him kid-glove treatment
Washington Examiner: Second DC police officer dies by suicide after responding to Capitol riot
AP: Russian Parliament OKs New START Nuclear Treaty Extension With U.S.
Bloomberg: Biden Team Slams China Claims In Swift Calls To Asia Allies
Agence France Presse: In Multiple Messages, Biden Warns Beijing Over Expansionism
Reuters: China Toughens Language, Warns Taiwan That Independence ‘Means War’
Stars and Stripes: Tokyo Rejects Beijing’s Claims To The South China Sea In Message To United Nations
Air Force Magazine: Brown: USAF Has Been ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ Too Long When It Comes to EMS
Defense News: Climate Change Is Now A National Security Priority For The Pentagon
Stars and Stripes: U.S., Australia Plan To Carry On With Massive Talisman Sabre Exercise Despite Pandemic
Military.com: Norway Cancels Big Military Exercise After 1,000 US Marines Arrive in Country
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Flies B-52 Over Gulf in Message to Iran
New York Times: Provocations By Iran As It Tries To Move Higher On Biden’s List Of Foreign Policy Priorities
Nikkei Asia: India And Russia Move Forward With Missile Deal In Blow To Biden
Military.com: DoD to Investigate Special Operations’ Compliance with War Crimes Laws
New York Times: President’s Team Ousts Holdovers From Trump Era
USNI News: General Dynamics CEO Says Electric Boat Ready To Meet ‘Increased Demand’ for Submarines
Marine Corps Times: This Is My Marine Corps Robot, There Are Many Like It But This One Is Mine
Military.com: The Marines Want a Next-Gen Combat Utility Uniform. Here’s What Could Change
USNI News: Report To Congress On U.S. Navy Ship Names
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Sen. Joni Ernst: Biden Must Heed The Threat Iran Poses
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Decoding Joe Biden’s call with NATO’s chief
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Biden’s order could let China control US electric grid
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Another day, another US bomber flight over the Persian Gulf
Calendar
THURSDAY | JANUARY 28
8 a.m. — Stimson Center webinar: “The South Asia Security Landscape,” with visiting fellows Asma Khalid, Chirayu Thakkar, Fizza Batool, and Saurav Sarkar who will present their research and policy recommendations on some of the subcontinent’s “most most pertinent strategic issues.” https://www.stimson.org/event/the-south-asian-security-landscape/
9 a.m. — Vanguard Canada Media virtual conference on “C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and Beyond,” with Canadian Army Lt. Gen. Michael Rouleau, vice chief of the defense staff at the Canadian Armed Forces; and Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commanding general of the U.S. Army Cyber Command. https://vanguardcanada.com/c4isr2021
10: 30 a.m. — U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing on “U.S.-China Relations at the Chinese Communist Party’s Centennial.” Full agenda and webcast at: https://www.uscc.gov/hearings/us-china-relations
12 p.m. — Space Force Association online interview with Maj. Gen. Chad Franks, commander, 15th Air Force, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. Register at https://ussfa.org/event
1:30 p.m. — Advanced Technology Academic Research Center webinar on “The Future of Data Sharing within the Department of Defense,” with Chief Information Security Officer Katie Arrington, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition. https://atarc.org/webinars/
FRIDAY | JANUARY 29
10 a.m. — Aspen Security Forum virtual event: “The View from Kabul: A Live Conversation with the President of Afghanistan,” with Ashraf Ghani; Carol Lee, NBC News correspondent; and Nicholas Burns, executive director, Aspen Strategy Group. https://aspeninst.zoom.us/webinar/register
11 a.m. — U.S. Institute of Peace virtual discussion “Passing the Baton: Securing America’s Future Together,” with current national security adviser Jake Sullivan; former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien; and former Secretary of State and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Condoleezza Rice, the 66th U.S. Secretary of State and former national security advisor to President George W. Bush, will moderate the conversation. https://www.usip.org/events/passing-baton
MONDAY | FEBRUARY 1
12 p.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group conference call conversation with Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, commander, Air Mobility Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/
TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 2
9:30 a.m. G50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for Kathleen Hicks to be deputy defense secretary. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
11:50 a.m. — National Defense Industrial Association Virtual Expeditionary Warfare Conference, with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger. Full agenda at: https://www.ndia.org/-/media/sites/ndia/meetings-and-events
WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 3
11 a.m. Rayburn 2118/WebEx — House Armed Services Committee meets to organize for the 117th Congress.
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army Commander “Noon Report” webinar, with Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command. Register at: https://info.ausa.org/e/784783/rg-AUSA-Noon-Report
TBA — The Navy releases nearly 60 recommendations from the final report of Task Force One Navy, which for six months has been examining systemic racism and the needs of underserved communities in the ranks, with an eye toward dismantling barriers and equalizing professional development opportunities.
MONDAY | FEBRUARY 8
9:15 a.m. — The Middle East Institute MEI-CENTCOM Annual Conference, with keynote remarks by Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, moderated by Amb. Gerald Feierstein, MEI senior vice president. https://www.mei.edu/events/keynote-address
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”
A National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, issued Wednesday by the acting secretary of homeland security.
