FULL HONORS, PRESIDENTIAL WELCOME: Ceremonial units drilled on the Pentagon’s parade field yesterday, cables were laid across the River Entrance parking lot, a stage erected, and portable toilets trucked in — all for today’s full honors arrival ceremony to mark the beginning of Mark Esper’s tenure as President Trump’s second defense secretary.
Trump, Esper, and Vice President Mike Pence are all scheduled to make remarks at the ceremony, the first time all the ceremonial stops have been pulled out for a new defense secretary in recent memory. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford will not be in attendance because he is traveling. The Pentagon will stream the festivities live at www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events.
ESPER MAKES A MARK: Esper hit the ground running on his first full day following his Senate confirmation Tuesday afternoon. Just three hours into the day, he made a point of meeting with the Pentagon press corps in its warren of cubicles on the 2nd floor C ring, just a short walk from his 3rd floor E ring office.
Esper said one of the first things he did was order “updated guidance” to leaders in the field to encourage their engagement and underscore what he called “the very important role of the media, the press in our society, and in terms of communicating what we are doing and then answering your questions.”
ARMY SAYS GOODBYE: On his Twitter feed, Esper noted he “Started the day talking to media, closed it talking to Congress,” and he posted photos from his farewell ceremony in the Pentagon’s subterranean auditorium, where he marked the end of his service as Army secretary. In the pictures, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who’s in line to be the next joint chiefs chairman, can be seen sporting the Army’s new retro-inspired “pinks and greens” uniform. The World War II-style brown jacket is worn over lighter pinkish brown pants.
Milley is expected to get a vote on the floor of the Senate today to confirm his nomination to replace current chairman Dunford at the end of September.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TROOPS: Esper said his top priority is the welfare of the men and women in the military and the Department of Defense, and to underscore that, his first action memo directs the Pentagon to establish a task force on PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals used for decades in products such as firefighting foam, nonstick cookware, and fast-food wrappers.
The link between exposure to PFAS and various health issues including liver problems, low birth weights, and testicular and kidney cancer is still being established, but use of the chemicals is being phased out. Military installations that use PFAS-laden firefighting foam and businesses that work with PFAS are two big sources of water contamination.
“The Department is committed to taking a strong and proactive stance to address the effects arising out of any releases of these substances from all defense activities including the National Guard and Reserves,” Esper wrote his memo.
Asked about the thousands of people who believe their cancers are a result of PFAS exposure, Esper said, “We just need to understand the problem and make sure we have our hands fully around it, follow the science, and then obviously if there’s a relationship, we need to do our due diligence.”
ENOUGH WITH THE ACTING ALREADY: Esper also repeated what he told Congress during his confirmation hearing: that he plans to act quickly to fill all the vacancies in senior positions currently filled by acting secretaries or deputies.
Esper said of the 59 jobs that require Senate confirmation, 15 are filled by “actings,” including 4 of the top 6, now that he’s been confirmed.
“My key is to get those positions filled as quickly as possible, keep pushing folks through this system,” Esper said, noting he’s discussed the problem with Jim Inhofe and Jack Reed on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “So we’ve got to get stable leadership in to make sure that you have that civilian control of the military, the right people in place leading this organization.”
NORQUIST NEXT: After yesterday’s cordial confirmation hearing, Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer David Norquist seems also headed for quick approval from the Senate.
One indication was the comments Chairman Inhofe made at the outset of the session. “I’m probably the wrong one to be chairing this hearing, because I’ve already decided and I have strong feelings about you,” Inhofe said in his opening remarks. “In fact, I remember telling the president a long time ago, it doesn’t matter who ends up being secretary of defense, as long as you have Norquist.”
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HAPPENING TODAY: The House is set to vote today on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, followed by the Senate next week. The two-year spending deal, hammered out by the White House and Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, busts spending caps by $320 billion over the next two fiscal years and allows the Treasury to borrow money without limits until July 31, 2021.
The nearly $1.4 trillion package, which includes $738 billion for the Pentagon, has sparked sharp rebuke from fiscal conservatives and is likely to be rejected by many Republicans.
But enough GOP lawmakers, including House Republican leadership, will side with most House Democrats to pass the measure, writes Susan Ferrechio in the Washington Examiner, in part because they want to avoid another politically disastrous government shutdown and because the proposal has the backing of President Trump.
“I think we will have the votes,” Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said yesterday.
$738 BILLION ‘A GOOD NUMBER’: The Trump administration’s request for $750 billion in defense spending for the next fiscal year fell victim to the negotiations to end mandatory spending caps and suspend the debt ceiling, but Esper said yesterday that it was worth it to get budget certainty.
“Seven thirty-eight’s a good number. We also have two years. We expect to see two years’ worth of numbers,” said Esper. “And I think to the degree we have predictability, to the degree that we can avoid CRs, those things allow us to plan and make more efficient use of our dollars. So I’m good with those dollars. No complaints.”
LOTS OF COMPLAINTS: Fiscal conservatives have been howling since the deal was announced earlier this week. “If enacted into law, this Mnuchin-Pelosi budget deal would be the most fiscally egregious deal in recent years and would create annual deficits on par with President Obama’s,” said Heritage Action, the lobby arm of the Heritage Foundation.
“In 2018, President Trump nearly vetoed a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, famously promising the American people that he ‘will never sign another bill like this again.’ The deal under consideration this week will increase the ten-year spending baseline by $1.7 trillion to $2 trillion, increase debt to 97 percent of GDP by 2029, and pave the way for another trillion dollar plus omnibus spending deal this fall.”
THE MISSILES ARE THE MESSAGE: North Korea fired two “projectiles” into the East Sea today, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The projectiles appear to be short-range ballistic missiles based on the fact they reached a height of 30 miles and one traveled about 270 miles the other 430 miles before landing harmlessly in the sea.
The launch — the first in more than two months — is seen as a sign of Kim Jong Un’s frustration with the lack of progress since President Trump made history last month by crossing the DMZ into North Korea and shaking hands with Kim.
The gesture was expected to reinvigorate stalled talks, but since then nothing has been put on the calendar.
NO SURPRISE: “We should not be shocked by this move and, in fact, we should have seen it coming,” said Harry Kazianis, a Korea expert at the Center for the National Interest.
“North Korea is clearly upset that the U.S. and South Korea are conducting joint military exercises. Because of this, Pyongyang has refused to set a date for working-level talks with Washington, won’t accept food aid from Seoul and is now once again testing weapons systems that will surely increase tensions,” he said.
“Now Trump is stuck in a dilemma of accepting the North Korean missile test, which will likely embolden future provocations, or reacting to it in a way that risks diplomacy collapsing altogether,” said Eric Gomez, an analyst at the Cato Institute.
“This missile test highlights the problem with Donald Trump’s style over substance diplomacy with North Korea,” he said. “Style does matter, but it can only take the United States so far. Without a more substantive agreement on confidence building measures, a formalization of Kim’s missile testing moratorium, or an agreed understanding on U.S.-South Korea military drills, it is difficult to lock in the potential benefits of the summits and more flashy aspects of U.S. engagement.”
DUNFORD CHECKS AFGHAN PROGRESS: The Afghan capital of Kabul was rocked by three back-to-back explosions that reportedly killed 12 people, just one day after Joint Chiefs Chairman Dunford was in the city consulting with Gen. Scott Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is also in Kabul, trying to broker inter-Afghan talks between the Taliban and the government.
Dunford told reporters traveling with him that he wanted to take the pulse of operations in the country in advance of the national elections in September, according to the Pentagon. “That is clearly a big priority for them, [and they are] making sure they have everything in place,” Dunford said.
THE TALIBAN’S INSULTED: The Taliban took strong exception to President Trump’s statement this week that he could win the war in Afghanistan in a week, 10 days tops, if he were willing to kill 10 million people, which he quickly added he was not.
“His claim that he can wipe out Afghanistan, kill 10 million Afghans, and win this war through such a method is irresponsible and we condemn it in the strongest terms,” said the Taliban in a statement reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a monitoring group.
“This dream was taken to the grave by Genghis, the British, and the former Soviet leaders. On the contrary, their Empires were wiped off the face of this earth, but the Afghan nation proudly endured and will continue to endure, live, and remain proud, Allah willing,” the statement said. “The 18 years of force proved that the policy of aggression and tyranny is fruitless and demonstrates ignorance regarding why Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires.”
TURKEY’S NEXT MOVE: “Turkey is once again issuing a credible threat of military intervention in Northern Syria to extract concessions from the U.S. and NATO,” writes Institute for the Study of War in its latest analysis of growing strain in the U.S.-Turkey relationship after Ankara’s air defense deal with Russia.
The key takeaway: “The Turkish Armed Forces began deploying large numbers of troops and armored vehicles along the Syrian-Turkish Border on July 8. These deployments threaten the contested town of Manbij as well as two additional border towns that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to seize on July 14. Erdogan likely intends to compel the U.S. to grant him concessions in the ongoing negotiations over a possible ‘safe zone’ along the Syrian-Turkish Border but he may also attempt to use this threat to deter the Trump Administration from imposing sanctions on Turkey in response to its purchase of the S-400 Surface-to-Air Missile System from Russia.”
ACCESS TO INCIRLIK: Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, dropped a no-so-veiled hint this week that U.S. access to Turkish bases, in particular the strategically located Incirlik Air Base, could be cut off over the dispute. “If America has very negative steps toward us, if there are sanctions or further steps, we will have answers to America,” he said in an interview with a Turkish TV channel.
In his meeting with reporters yesterday, Secretary Esper said it was the first he’s heard of the threat. “I haven’t seen that report, so you’re providing me news,” he said in response to a question. “Turkey’s been a longstanding NATO ally. We want to preserve that relationship, that alliance. And Incirlik is important to us.”
REVIEW OF THE JEDI: Esper also said he’d be looking into the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud contract, which President Trump said last week was the subject of much industry complaint because it looks like Amazon has a lock on the deal.
“I’m getting tremendous complaints about the contract with the Pentagon and with Amazon,” Trump said last Thursday, referring to Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, the intended cloud computing infrastructure for the Pentagon and the military. “They’re saying it wasn’t competitively bid.”
“I’ve heard from everybody about the JEDI contract and that’s one of the things I want to take a hard look at,” Esper said.
SCHWARTZ FROM BENS TO IDA: Retired Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz will be the next president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Defense Analyses, succeeding David Chu as the company’s top executive, the group announced yesterday. He had been in the same roles at Business Executives for National Security since 2013.
Schwartz retired as Air Force Chief of Staff in 2012 and joined the board of IDA in 2013.
The Rundown
Navy Times: Internal report exposes cocaine abuse, lax testing, inside SEAL Team 10
CNN: U.S. Navy SEAL Team Ordered Home From ISIS Fight Due To Alleged Misbehavior
Washington Examiner: New Pentagon chief Mark Esper says US will protect American commercial ships in the Persian Gulf
Reuters: U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait, stirs tensions with China
Wall Street Journal: China Vows Closer Ties to Russia
The Diplomat: Russia Kicks Off Delivery Of China’s Second S-400 Air Defense Regiment
Stars and Stripes: USS Boxer Pulls Into Bahrain A Week After Iranian Drone Incident
New York Times: Suggesting A Tanker Swap, Iran Hints At A Compromise
Bloomberg: Navy Should Probe Sexual-Harassment Claims Against Auditor, Lawmaker Says
CNBC: New Defense Secretary: ‘We Need To Be Very Concerned About Chinese Technology Getting Into Our Systems’
Air Force Magazine: B-21 to Fly in December 2021; More B-52s to Come Out of Boneyard
USNI News: General Dynamics Confident Flat Federal Spending Won’t Slow Down Columbia Class
Washington Post: The United States won’t feed 30,000 starving Syrians living under its protection
Calendar
THURSDAY | JULY 25
8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies forum on “Nuclear and Missile Proliferation: Iran and North Korea,” with Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio. www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/events
FRIDAY | JULY 26
4 a.m EDT/10 a.m CET. Patch Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. U.S. Africa Command change of command ceremony where Army Gen. Stephen Townsend assumes command from retiring Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser. The defense secretary is scheduled to preside over the ceremony.
8:15 a.m. American Enterprise Institute discussion on “The value of our veterans” about reforming the Veterans Affairs Department. Speakers: Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif.; Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio; Leo Shane, Capitol Hill and White House bureau chief at Military Times; Cynthia Gilman, senior vice president for strategic initiatives at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine; Mike Hutchings, chief development officer at Combined Arms; Rory Riley-Topping, founder of Riley-Topping Consulting; and Rebecca Burgess, director of the AEI Program on American Citizenship. www.aei.org/events
8:30 a.m. 2101 Wilson Blvd. National Defense Industrial Association discussion on “DevOps in the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise,” with Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Contreras, program manager for defense intelligence information enterprise framework at the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic.
TUESDAY | JULY 30
9:30 a.m. SD-G50. Dirksen Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Vice Adm. Michael Gilday to be chief of naval operations. www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I never once got piss-tested on deployment or on the road, where I was using most often.”
An unnamed Navy SEAL, quoted by the Navy Times in its report about members of SEAL Team 10, who are accused in an internal investigation of snorting cocaine and dismissing military drug tests as “a joke.”
