FROM THE SEA: North Korea has fired a ballistic missile from what is believed to be an underwater platform off its east coast as it continues to develop the capability of launching nuclear weapons from a submarine.
South Korea’s military says the missile appears to be a Pukguksong submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) of the same kind tested in by North Korea in 2016, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
North Korea claims to have built a new submarine at its naval base in Sinpo on its east coast, and official state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the sub in July. According to South Korea, the submarine is ready to be deployed “soon” and seems to be capable of carrying three SLBMs.
JAPAN PROTESTS: Japanese President Shinzo Abe condemned the test as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and Japan lodged an immediate protest saying the missile landed inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
If confirmed, it would be the first North Korean missile that has landed that close to Japan since November 2017, according to The Associated Press.
TALKS SET: The latest missile firing came one day after North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui issued a statement saying the North is ready to resume working-level talks with the U.S. on denuclearization on Oct. 5.
“It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-U.S. relations,” Choe said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The nuclear talks have been stalled since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un in February.
MILLEY MEETS: Meanwhile, at the Pentagon yesterday, the new Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley met with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea.
As is standard, Milley told Gen. Koji Yamazaki of Japan, and Gen. Hanki Park of South Korea that America’s commitment to defend both countries is “ ironclad.”
“The meeting focused on multilateral cooperation that ensures readiness to respond to any regional contingency and promotes long-term peace and stability in northeast Asia,” according to a readout provided by Milley’s office. “The senior military leaders agreed to address mutual security concerns and utilize multilateral cooperation to enhance regional peace and stability.”
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HAPPENING TODAY: President Trump meets with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto followed by a joint news conference at 2 p.m.
“While not a member of NATO, Finland is one of our and NATO’s strongest security partners, investing in and developing the needed defense capabilities and maintaining a strong military to address today’s security challenges,” a senior administration official said yesterday.
Among the issues on the agenda are Russia’s large military buildup in the Arctic and China’s growing ambition and presence there.
In a speech in May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed China’s claim to be a “near-Arctic state” to be laughable. “The shortest distance between China and the Arctic is 900 miles,” Pompeo said. “There are only Arctic states and non-Arctic states. No third category exists, and claiming otherwise entitles China to exactly nothing.”
“The president firmly believes that Arctic governance should be reserved for Arctic nations, particularly through the Arctic Council,” said the administration official in a conference call for reporters.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Pompeo is on another overseas trip, even as he’s battling with congressional Democrats over their demands for depositions in the Ukraine investigation.
Pompeo’s schedule has him visiting Italy, the Holy See, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Greece before returning the Washington Sunday.
ALSO TODAY: The National Press Club holds a moment of silence at 10 a.m. in observance of the first anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a former Saudi journalist and global opinions contributing columnist for the Washington Post, who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
This afternoon supporters of Khashoggi will gather outside the Saudi Embassy on New Hampshire Ave. to demand justice for those involved in his killing.
PENTAGON TAKES OVER BACKGROUND CHECKS: The Pentagon announced yesterday that the transfer of the National Background Investigations Bureau from the Office of Personnel Management has been completed.
The background investigations for federal employees and contractors will now all be conducted by the Pentagon’s Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, a change intended to provide an economy of scale.
”Merging the components into one organization will allow us to execute our two core missions: personnel vetting and critical technology protection, underpinned by counterintelligence and training,” said Charles Phalen, DCSA’s acting director.
SCAM ARTISTS: Five veterans have been indicted by the Justice Department for participating in one of the largest scams to target the military’s Tricare health system, writes Russ Read in the Washington Examiner.
The veterans, along with dozens of co-conspirators across the nation, raked in hundreds of millions of dollars by selling treatments to patients enrolled in the Tricare system, prosecutors have charged.
The treatments were billed to Tricare, creating profits that lined the pockets of doctors, pharmacists, salesmen, and military members who acted as marketers.
A GRAVE CONCERN: A new GAO report concludes the National Cemetery Administration is years behind schedule in its plan to open new cemeteries to increase burial options for military veterans.
The report finds that of 13 planned urban and rural national cemeteries, only two have been opened while the other 11 are languishing, mostly because of the challenges in acquiring suitable land that provides “reasonable access” for veterans’s burials. NCA defines “reasonable access” as a national or state veterans’ cemetery being located within 75 miles of veterans’ homes.
The report also concludes the NCA need better system for estimating the cost of building cemeteries noting that it consistently underestimates the cost of construction. What the agency projected to cost $7 million has ballooned to to $24 million, an increase of more than 200%.
The Rundown
Bloomberg: State Department Backs $39 Million ‘Javelin’ Package For Ukraine
AP: Hong Kong police slammed as ‘trigger-happy’ after teen shot
Defense News: China Unveils Drones, Missiles And Hypersonic Glide Vehicle At Military Parade
Stars and Stripes: USS Gabrielle Giffords Fires ‘Sea-Skimming’ Naval Strike Missile In Indo-Pacific For First Time
Defense News: The Pentagon Has Created A New Office Solely Focused On China. Is That A Good Idea?
AP: India’s moves in Kashmir raise tension in part next to China
Washington Post: Iran sentences man to death on charges of spying for CIA
Reuters: Russia’s Putin, Iran’s Rouhani To Discuss Nuclear Deal
New York Times: Shoot Them in the Legs, Trump Suggested: Inside His Border War
AP: Taliban send high-level delegation to Islamabad
Military Times: Afghan Forces Still At The Mercy Of US Air Support Despite Huge Investment Into Afghan Air Force
USNI News: Admiral: U.S. Needs More Ships in Europe to Counter Growing Russian Threats
Business Insider: There’s A New Round Of Tensions Between The US, NATO, And Russia, And That Means There’s A New Battle Brewing In The Atlantic
Washington Examiner: ‘Didn’t feel like a real soldier’: Troops bid farewell to Army’s despised digital camouflage
Reuters: Syria ‘Safe Zone’ Deadline Expires With Turkish Threat Looming
AP: Duterte Flies To Russia For 2nd Time To Meet ‘Idol’ Putin
AP: Soto lifts Nats to 4-3 comeback wild-card win over Brewers
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 2
8 a.m. 2401 M Street N.W. — Defense Writers Group breakfast conversation with Army Gen. Steve Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu
9 a.m. 1301 K Street N.W. — Washington Post Live Cybersecurity Summit, with Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; Anne Neuberger, director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency; Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center; and Associate Deputy Attorney General Sujit Raman. https://www.washingtonpost.com/post-live
12:30 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. N.W. — Stimson Center discussion on “Between Two Giants: The Korean Dilemma within U.S.-China Competition,” with Byung Kwang Park, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy; and Zheng Jiyong, director of the Fudan University Center for Korean Studies.
12:45 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. — Hudson Institute discussion on “Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific,” with Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Robert Soofer; Rear Adm. Steve Koehler, director of operations at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; and Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at Hudson. https://www.hudson.org/events
2 p.m. — Government Executive Media Group web event “Powering the Next Generation of Military Dominance with Artificial Intelligence,” with Chris Sexsmith, artificial intelligence/machine learning field strategy lead at Red Hat. https://www.govexec.com/feature
THURSDAY | OCTOBER 3
9 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. N.E. — Heritage Foundation and Marine Corps University Foundation sponsor “A Conversation with the Commandant: Designing a Force for Future War,” with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger; and Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at Heritage. https://www.heritage.org/defense/event
12 p.m. Van Munching Hall, College Park, Md. — University of Maryland Center for International and Security Studies forum on “Deciphering Intentions: China’s South China Sea Strategy and Implications for Great Power Competition,” with Oriana Mastro, assistant security studies professor at the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service https://cissm.umd.edu/events/cissm-global-forum
12 p.m. 1100 New York Avenue N.W. — American Security Project discussion on “Climate and Security in Southeast Asia,” with retired Navy Inspector General Vice Adm. Lee Gunn; and Ashley Westerman, journalist at National Public Radio https://www.americansecurityproject.org/event
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 4
8 a.m. 2401 M Street N.W. — Defense Writers Group breakfast conversation with Adm. Craig Faller, commander U.S. Southern Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-U.S. relations.”
North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, announcing North Korea is ready to resume denuclearization talks, one day before firing an undersea ballistic missile toward Japan.
