BREAKING: A series of explosions rocked Brussels this morning, hitting an airport and a metro station near the European Union killed several and injured many others. Our story here.
The attacks are likely in response to last week’s arrest of Salah Abdeslam, who was involved in the Paris attacks just four months ago.
Officials raised the terror alert across Brussels in response to the attacks. The bombings also prompted stepped up presence on the DC. Metro. The New York Police Department also increased its presence at the airport and on public transit throughout the city.
Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Daily on Defense, compiled by Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and Jacqueline Klimas (@jacqklimas). Send tips, suggestions and anything else defense@washingtonexaminer.com
SO WHICH IS IT? Depending on who is testifying, the fiscal 2017 budget is either a challenge that can be dealt with or an all-out disaster. This morning, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford will appear before the House Armed Services Committee, same panel that heard “bleak and disturbing statements” about the military’s readiness from service leaders last week.
Carter and Dunford, however, painted a much “rosier” picture of the state of the military at the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
Analysts said they’ll be watching for lawmakers to push back against Carter and Dunford’s sunny evaluation and ask them to answer for concerns raised by service leaders at the previous hearing.
“It will be interesting to see if HASC members bring up some of the bleak or disturbing statements from the chiefs from last week with the SecDef,” Justin Johnson, a defense analyst with the Heritage Foundation, said via email.
ICY RELATIONSHIP: The U.S. is losing its dominance in the Arctic and some senators are starting to notice.
“If you look at what the Russians are doing in the Arctic and you look at what the Chinese are doing in the South China Seas, we have reason to believe that commercial shipping could be interrupted in a major way within the next decade,” Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters on Monday. Joel Gehrke has the story here.
Murphy made the comments after touring the Arctic over the weekend and spending the night aboard the attack submarine Hartford.
Everyone agrees that the country would be more secure with more subs, but they’re expensive. Murphy made the case that it’s an important investment to make, even under tight budgets.
He also said Russian boomers are coming dangerously close to the U.S., and it’s time to spend big money on the U.S. Navy’s replacement for its Ohio-class ballistic missile boats.
HI THERE: The Navy posted video of the Hartford punching through the ice in the Arctic. Watch it here.
SPEAKING OF TENSE RELATIONSHIPS, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference was held yesterday. It featured four out of the five presidential candidates, and a pledge by House Speaker Paul Ryan to block any congressional bill that does not unite the two countries. Full coverage here.
AAAAND SOME MORE TENSION: President Obama said Monday during his trip to Cuba that he won’t give the government a list of political prisoners to release after President Raul Castro demanded such a list during a joint press conference. Full coverage of the visit here.
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DO WE STILL NEED THAT WALL? The House passed a bill to secure the border in a near unanimous vote Monday night.
The Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act would prevent Syrian refugees from coming to the U.S. until the administration could guarantee those entering the country had no ties to Syria by developing screening standards.
HACKERS TO THE RESCUE: The Justice Department delayed a hearing planned for Tuesday after saying hackers may have discovered a way to break into the San Bernardino shooting suspects’ phones without Apple’s help.
Expect an update on if the government is able to unlock the iPhone without damaging its data with the hackers’ method by April 5.
Encryption is also getting its own Gang of Eight. The bipartisan group of eight lawmakers formed by the House is preparing a bill on how encryption affects law enforcement investigations.
HOW MANY BOOTS ARE ON THE GROUND IN IRAQ? The Pentagon isn’t saying. Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the anti-ISIS campaign, said the U.S. military has ordered him not to reveal the real number of U.S. troops in Iraq, instead saying only that the country is below the 3,870 force cap.
Asked why, Warren said “I don’t have a reason for not releasing this number other than it’s the orders that I’m under.”
The Washington Post, however, reported that there are actually around 5,000 U.S. personnel on the ground.
Fewer than 200 Marines are at Firebase Bell in northern Iraq, the American outpost where a Marine was killed by an Islamic State rocket over the weekend and where troops came under fire again on Monday.
Also, don’t call it combat. Warren acknowledged that war is dangerous, but stressed that these Marines are behind the forward line of troops.
Firebase Bell is the first independent U.S. base in Iraq since all troops withdrew at the end of the Iraq War. Warren said its creation is an acceleration, not an escalation, of American involvement in the war on ISIS. The presence at the firebase was supposed to be a covert affair, but as the Daily Beast reports, ISIS knew just where to hit those Marines.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Warren said the U.S. is reviewing allegations of civilian casualties during a strike on a weapons factory on Saturday.
ANOTHER DELAYED PROGRAM: A slight delay in a key milestone for the Air Force’s new T-X trainer will delay it from reaching full operational capability by almost two years, Defense News reported. The trainer, F-35 and B-21 bomber are the service’s three mega-programs, all worth billions.
The service is delaying the request for proposals until late December to make sure requirements are clearly defined.
While the initial operating capability is still slated for 2024, the trainer won’t reach full operational capability until 2034 now.
TRUMP’S BRAIN TRUST: Months after promising to reveal his foreign policy team, Donald Trump told the Washington Post on Monday some of the people advising him on issues of national security, prompting a big “huh?” from some experts.
The names are: Walid Phares, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Joe Schmitz and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg. Trump also promised to release more names in the coming days.
“Trump’s FP advisers are a combo of military contractors and a ‘who’s who of who is that?’ Few publications or demonstrable impact:” Micah Zenko, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted.
GOP strategists were confused by Trump’s picks too, Politico reported.
“I don’t know any of them,” Kori Schake, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a former official in the George W. Bush State Department, told Politico. “National security is hard to do well even with first rate people. It’s almost impossible to do well with third rate people.”
Papadopoulos, a 2009 graduate of DePaul University, lists Model United Nations as one of his awards and honors on his LinkedIn page, the Washington Post reported.
Without a doubt, The Donald’s foreign policy Trumpstakes have been one of the weirder parlor games in Beltway natsec circles. First he listed people he hadn’t been talking to, then he touted a list of obscure endorsers, and then Trump last week listed his brain as his adviser. Now that Trump has listed real people with their own bodies, wags will most likely pore through their statements to figure out which way they’ll point the billionaire, if he actually listens to them.
Speaking of Trump and the military, one of his supporters arrested over the weekend for violence at a rally in Tucson is a member of the Air Force, the second person affiliated with the military to incite violence at an event for the GOP frontrunner.
A public affairs official at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base said the service is working with local authorities and will take appropriate action.
The first member of the military to run into trouble had enlisted in the Marines in its Delayed Entry Program, but was kicked out after he was seen on video assaulting a young black girl at a Trump event this month.
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BITS OF TID: Happy Birthday to Rep. Pete Sessions, a member of caucuses focused on the National Guard and special operations communities.
THE RUNDOWN:
–Washington Post: The U.S. air war against ISIS enters new phase — but the fight for Mosul is coming
–U.S. News and World Report: Marine’s death reveals more Americans in Iraq than previously thought
–The Hill: Oversight chair threatens subpoena over defense chief’s emails
–MCCLATCHY: Probe launched into Pentagon handling of NSA whistleblower evidence
Calendar
WEEK AHEAD:
The Senate is already gone, but the House is racing to squeeze in some work on the fiscal 2017 defense budget before it leaves for spring break, so the week is front-loaded with a busy hearing day on Tuesday.
TUESDAY
9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, Va.
Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, the director of the air warfare office for the chief of naval operations, will speak about challenges facing naval warfighters in the 21st century. mitchellaerospacepower.org
**10 a.m. Rayburn 2118**
Carter and Dunford testify about the fiscal 2017 budget at a House Armed Services Committee hearings. The two military leaders appeared on the Senate side on Thursday, where senators criticized proposed cuts and Carter and Dunford politely reminded them that the cuts were made to comply with top line numbers agreed to by Congress armedservices.house.gov
10 a.m. Rayburn 2259
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee hosts a hearing on the budget for the defense health program. appropriations.house.gov
11:30 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Analysts will discuss the country’s missile defense on the anniversary of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative speech.
heritage.org
1:30 p.m. Capitol H-140
Officials from the National Guard and Reserve testify on the fiscal 2017 budget. appropriations.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2212
Military officials testify at a hearing on logistics and sealift force requirements. armedservices.house.gov
3:30 pm. Rayburn 2118
Terry Halvorsen, the Pentagon’s chief information officer, testifies about information security and cyber programs in fiscal 2017.
armedservices.house.gov
WEDNESDAY
**9:30 a.m. Rayburn 2172**
Defense and State Department officials testify about the administration’s plan to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. The plan President Obama sent to Congress this year seems to be a non-starter on both sides of the aisle. Expect lots of lawmakers saying they don’t want terrorists in their constituents’ backyards. foreignaffairs.house.gov
10:30 a.m. Rayburn 2118
Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan and other officials working on the F-35 acquisition program provide an update to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces. Last time Bogdan testified before Congress, lawmakers grilled him about how long it would take to fix problems that meant lighter pilots couldn’t fly the planes. armedservices.house.gov
FRIDAY
12 p.m. 1150 17th St. NW
Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA, will discuss his new book and the future of threats facing the country. aei.org
