Lawmakers blast Pentagon for Europe troop moves
With Connor O’Brien, Lara Seligman and Jacqueline Feldscher
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— Defense officials get an earful from Democrats and Republicans on Germany troop drawdown.
— Concerns grow that U.S. military forces might be drawn into election day disputes.
— The Pentagon has quietly filled a number of deputy-level policy posts.
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‘THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE?’ Members of the House Armed Services Committee grew unusually testy with Pentagon officials on Wednesday for declining to provide details on a surprise plan to relocate 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany, our colleagues Lara Seligman and Connor O’Brien report.
Panel member Rep. Bill Keating, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment, asked acting Pentagon policy chief James Anderson whether the Pentagon first drew up the plan and then presented it to Trump, or whether the president imposed the move on the department. When Anderson responded that he is not “privy” to those discussions, Keating said sharply: “Then why are you here?”
“This committee deserves answers, that’s critical to our decision-making,” Keating said.
The criticism didn’t just come from Democrats. “There needs to be an overall strategic plan that is coordinated with allies rather than have a bunch of rationalizations after the fact,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the panel’s top Republican.
The Pentagon has said the redeployment, which would bring 6,400 troops home and reposition nearly 5,600 to other countries in Europe, is part of the broader effort to redistribute U.S. forces across the world to better address threats posed by Russia and China.
But President Donald Trump repeatedly indicated the moves are punishment against Germany for being “delinquent” in spending money on defense.
Related: U.S. Africa Command headquarters could move to U.S. from Germany, via Military.com.
‘SIGNIFICANT REALIGNMENT’: “The U.S. intelligence community has failed to keep pace with the technological and political strides made by China over the last two decades, a lag that risks leaving policymakers permanently in the dark about a growing, strategic challenge to the country’s national security, according to a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee,” POLITICO’s Martin Matishak reports.
The committee, which approved the findings by voice vote during a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning, released a redacted executive summary.
“Absent a significant realignment of resources, the U.S. government and intelligence community will fail to achieve the outcomes required to enable continued U.S. competition with China on the global stage for decades to come, and to protect the U.S. health and security,” the summary warns.
SHUTDOWN AVERTED: Trump signed a short-term funding patch Wednesday evening, averting a government shutdown at midnight. The Senate passed the continuing resolution, which extends government funding until Dec. 11, in a bipartisan 84-10 vote on Wednesday, POLITICO’s Caitlin Emma reports.
Funding straitjacket: But the stopgap measure merely extends last year’s funding so the Pentagon can’t start new programs or ramp up funding for existing ones unless Congress carved out an exemption.
“Aerospace and defense companies of all sizes — especially small- and medium-sized ones — need stability,” Eric Fanning, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, said in a statement. “Congress must now turn its attention to additional relief measures and to full appropriations as key ingredients for protecting these American jobs and ensuring American economic and national security.”
Some good news for defense: The CR was short on exemptions for the Pentagon, but the bill does include provisions that allow the Navy to procure the first two Columbia-class ballistic missile subs simultaneously. It also extends through Dec. 11 a program that reimburses contractors for leave granted employees who can’t access federal facilities and can’t telework.
LESS VOTING, MORE TALKING: Finally, House Democrats have put off a vote on their $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package until today, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi looks to reach a deal with the White House, POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan report.
‘INSIDER’S GUIDE’: The Association of Defense Communities will host Smith and Jim Inhofe, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD), vice chair of the House panel, in “The Politics of Defense: An Insider’s Guide to Today’s Big Issues” starting at 3 p.m. The summit also features a panel including your Morning D correspondent so tune in.
Related: How to trim the defense budget without harming U.S. security, via Foreign Policy.
DOD STAFFS UP: The Pentagon in recent weeks filled several more deputy assistant secretaries of defense, even as the department prepares for a possible presidential transition after the November election:
— Matthew Flynn is overseeing counternarcotics and global threats in the Pentagon’s office of special operations and low intensity conflict office as of Monday. Flynn served as deputy assistant to the president and acting White House Cabinet secretary. His appointment continues a trend of moving officials deemed loyal to Trump to the Pentagon.
— Daniel Pick took over special operations policy and programs on Monday. Pick served for 30 years in the Army, including as special adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal and commander of the Defense Language Institute. He came to DoD from the City of Del Rey Oaks, Calif., where he served as the city manager. Flynn and Pick fill out the remaining vacancies in the special operations shop.
— Jennifer Walsh assumed the role as the No. 2 official at DoD’s homeland defense and global security office on Sept. 20. Walsh first came to DoD in 1996 and has served in numerous positions at the Pentagon’s policy office, including overseeing the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Russia and Ukraine, and Asia. Most recently, she served as the principal director for countering weapons of mass destruction.
AIR FORCE VICE CHIEF CONFIRMED: The Senate also confirmed several top military promotions Wednesday, including Lt. Gen. David Allvin to be Air Force vice chief of staff. Allvin, who’s currently the director for strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Staff, will succeed Gen. Stephen Wilson.
The Senate also approved the promotion of Lt. Gen. D.T. Thompson, the second in command of the Space Force, to four-star general.
PLAYING WITH FIRE: National security veterans on Wednesday expressed alarm about the potential for a social breakdown on election day after Trump urged his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully,” Seligman reports.
Among them was Michele Flournoy, a former top Pentagon official who is seen as a likely contender to be secretary of defense in a Biden administration. She called the president’s actions “very intimidating to voters” and urged Americans to protect the Democratic process and to uphold a peaceful transition of power.
“We need to hold each other accountable as Americans to back off of this fire that we are playing with,” she said during an event hosted by Defense News. “Our democracy is on the line here.”
In the event of any civil unrest following a disputed election, Flournoy also said local law enforcement, not the military, should handle the situation. If local authorities can’t tamp down demonstrations, then governors may be forced to ask for help from the National Guard. “Lord, I hope we don’t get there,” she said. “I think going right to the National Guard on voting day would be — I don’t think that’s a healthy thing for our democracy.”
Related: National Guard could be tasked to protect voting. So far, few governors have asked, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
And: A far-right militant group has recruited thousands of police, soldiers, and veterans, via The Atlantic.
NOT OUR PROBLEM: Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank pushing for an end to U.S. military interventions around the world, is out today with a new report arguing for withdrawing the tens of thousands of troops stationed at dozens of bases across the Middle East, “from Bahrain to Egypt to Iraq to Kuwait to Qatar to Syria to the United Arab Emirates.”
The paper by Justin Logan, director of programs and a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Statesmanship at Catholic University, explains why it’s time to pull up stakes. “The Middle East is a small, poor, weak region beset by an array of problems that mostly do not affect Americans — and that U.S. forces cannot fix. The best thing the United States can do is leave.”
The report argues the region is of little strategic importance to the United States, even with its supplies of energy, and that large numbers of ground troops are not required for an effective counterterrorism strategy.
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— European report finds waning democracy in Poland, Hungary: The Associated Press
— Japan’s military asks new government to continue strengthening of armed forces: Reuters
— Trump claims Biden policies killed over 308,000 veterans, but that’s not what investigators found: Military Times
