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Presented by Lockheed Martin: From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | | |  | | By Lara Seligman, Andrew Desiderio and Quint Forgey | Presented by Lockheed Martin | With help from Olivia Beavers, Nahal Toosi, Alex Ward and Daniel Lippman Welcome to National Security Daily, your guide to the global events roiling Washington and keeping the administration up at night. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Quint Over a six-week period last spring, then-President DONALD TRUMP abruptly ousted four federal inspectors general investigating wrongdoing by his administration, including three charged with oversight of key national security agencies. While President JOE BIDEN has made progress in filling some of the empty watchdog positions — installing new permanent Senate-confirmed inspectors general for the intelligence community and the CIA — there are still 12 remaining IG vacancies nine months into his administration. The White House has not even announced nominees for four of these positions, most significantly watchdogs for the Pentagon and the State Department. The problem predates both Biden and Trump, to some extent. The massive Pentagon job, for example, has been vacant or filled by an acting official for a shocking total of almost six years. Trump in April 2020 demoted Glenn Fine, the longtime acting DOD IG with a reputation for independence and aggression, preventing him from serving as the head of a committee of IGs created to look into the administration’s pandemic-related spending. While Biden is ahead of his predecessors in filling IG vacancies overall, the president’s slowness in announcing nominees for the two major national security jobs is a missed opportunity to draw a contrast with the previous administration on the issue of government corruption, according to Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight. Trump’s firing campaign was broadly seen not just as retaliation for IGs investigating inappropriate behavior by the administration — including the whistleblower complaint into the president’s attempts to pressure Ukraine’s leader — but also as an effort to intimidate the historically apolitical watchdog community into silence. “Because things got so bad in the Trump administration, it would seem to me that the Biden administration would want to plant a flag and say, ‘We’re different … Our administration is not going to try to silence the watchdogs,’” Brian told NatSec Daily. A White House spokesperson said the Biden administration has nominated people for eight watchdog positions awaiting Senate confirmation and is in the process of selecting nominees for the remaining four vacancies. But privately, even some Democratic lawmakers are frustrated with the White House over the slow pace of IG nominations. This is a particular source of frustration in the context of the various investigations into the withdrawal from Afghanistan, said one senior Democratic aide. Having Senate-confirmed inspectors general in place at the Pentagon and State Department would take some of the pressure off the congressional committees spearheading those reviews, the aide suggested. Another senior Democratic aide pushed back on that characterization, saying the State Department’s acting IG, Diana Shaw, is “incredibly competent” and the IG’s office has been able to “effectively carry out its work, compared to other IG offices that were decimated during the previous administration.” There’s also a general feeling within the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that other nominations should be prioritized, especially given the months-long campaign by Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) to slow-walk even the most non-controversial State Department picks over his objections to Biden’s Nord Stream 2 policy. Many of those nominees are set to clear their first hurdle next week and advance to the Senate floor for consideration, where Cruz is expected to demand votes on each one — a process that eats up valuable hours on the floor as Democrats look to carve out time for Biden’s domestic agenda. The IG nominees probably won’t escape this fate, as Cruz is likely to hold up NICOLE ANGARELLA — Biden’s nominee to be inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development — when she is discharged from the Foreign Relations Committee. The Texas senator is also likely to block Biden’s yet-to-be-named State Department IG nominee, whenever he or she eventually clears that key hurdle. | | A message from Lockheed Martin: Only the “K” can: The CH-53K is the U.S. Marines’ most powerful helicopter.
The all-new CH-53K King Stallion helicopter brings increased capability to succeed in the future, high-end, maritime fight. Learn More | | | | | | DESPERATE FOR HELP IN AFGHANISTAN: While a lot has been happening inside the Beltway, there’s still ongoing fallout over the Biden’s administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. A group of volunteer-run organizations now say they are at their wits’ end with the lack of communication, coordination and funding from the U.S. government — specifically faulting the State Department — as they seek to get Americans and U.S. allies out safely. Our own OLIVIA BEAVERS spoke to leaders of these organizations that have teamed up, including Task Force Argo’s ZACH NUNN, who serves in the Iowa State Senate; Liberty Operations Alliance’s TOMMY BREEDLOVE; and AFGfree’s Col. PERRY BLACKBURN. Here’s what they want you to know… Americans are still trying to get out: They say there are dozens of American citizens still trying to escape from Afghanistan. “One of the most recent press conferences by the State Department highlighted that there are maybe a couple dozen Americans left, and they don’t want to leave. And the irony is, I literally sent that morning a manifest to the State Department that showed that we had 30 Americans on our flights alone who were desperate to get out of the country with their family,” said Nunn. In some cases, they say an individual may choose to stay behind as their spouse waits to get their paperwork in order, but that doesn’t mean those Americans aren’t trying to leave. The situation is getting increasingly desperate. Through private funding, Americans as well as SIVs and LPRs (referring to the lawful permanent resident status granted to certain Afghan and Iraqi nationals) are being housed in safe houses. But since Breedlove says “it is down to the wire” with funding running out, these Americans and U.S. allies may soon be forced onto the streets with the Taliban. Between Liberty Operations Alliance and AFGfree, they say they have 60 American citizens (AMCITs), 140 Green Card Holders, two California student AMCITs, four approved and issued SIVs, and four SIVs with a case number. These numbers do not include their family members, however. Problems piling up: In addition to private funding drying up, they say they are in the dark about the government’s evacuation plan for individuals who didn’t make those last flights out. Flights have also been delayed and canceled. Another one is access to various Lily Pads in different countries. These organization leaders say they have repeatedly run into issues where a country is willing to allow them to bring evacuees over by plane — which they are paying for rather than the government — only for the U.S. government not to give them the green-light. They say that while the administration has allowed them to land in UAE and Doha, they haven’t allowed these groups to utilize lily pads in Kuwait or Jordan, despite having the infrastructure in place. They had some choice words for the State Department, in particular. From red tape, “that’s not my job” excuses, disorganization, and other examples of poor communication, these officials say State is botching the evacuations. “I respect the chain of command, but when it’s something as fundamental as, ‘How do we rescue an American citizen trapped in Mazar-i-Sharif — there is a Taliban militia who is circling the building that we have provided through private funders, and we have an aircraft that can get them out of country — can you tell me where I can land?’ And you don’t hear anything back, it baffles me,” Nunn added. A State Department spokesperson, when asked to respond to this criticism, provided a 12-bullet-point response, saying department officials are “working closely with allies and partners” to get people out safely. They declined to comment on the particulars of U.S. diplomatic engagements with other countries and their involvement with any specific groups at this time. But they did said they are continuing to work to “resolve any issues,” keep the Taliban at bay, and carry on with the “monumental task” of evacuations and relocation efforts — including the challenge of “verifying the facts on the ground” or dealing with manifest lists that prove to be wrong on privately chartered flights. INTEL OFFICIALS DOUBTFUL OF TAIWAN INVASION: As Congress ramps up pressure on the White House to answer China’s aggression toward Taiwan — with some lawmakers calling on Biden to abandon the longtime U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” — the State Department and intelligence community remain reluctant to countenance any potential American action that could unnecessarily escalate the situation, per CNN’s NATASHA BERTRAND and OREN LIEBERMANN. “Intelligence officials have not yet seen anything to suggest that China is readying a military offensive,” they report, and “[o]fficials in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs … are leery of taking a much more aggressive posture toward China over the Taiwan issue than the strategically ambiguous status quo.” Meanwhile, “defense officials said they see 2027 — the 100th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army and the final year of [Chinese President] XI JINPING's third presidential term — as a key year in which Beijing could try to take Taiwan by force if peaceful unification has not yet been achieved.” BORDERS BACK OPEN FOR THE VACCINATED: The United States is reopening its borders to the international community, with the White House announcing today that America will begin welcoming fully vaccinated foreign travelers on Nov. 8, per our own ANDY BLATCHFORD and ORIANA PAWLYK. The new travel policy “is guided by public health, stringent, and consistent,” according to the White House, and it applies “to both international air travel and land travel.” The U.S. border has been closed to discretionary travel since March 2020. But it still remains unclear — especially for Canadians — whether the United States will accept travelers who were given a mixed-dose regimen of two different Covid-19 shots. The United States will look to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the appropriate definition of “fully vaccinated,” a U.S. government official told Blatchford and Pawlyk. TEHRAN NOT READY FOR NUCLEAR TALKS WITH WASHINGTON: After meeting with a top European Union mediator yesterday in Tehran, Iranian officials still aren’t ready to return to formal talks with the United States and other world powers seeking a renegotiation of the 2015 nuclear deal, per Reuters’ JAN STRUPCZEWSKI and JOHN IRISH. Instead, EU envoy ENRIQUE MORA and the Iranian Foreign Ministry agreed Tehran’s negotiating team would continue its conversations with the international body in Brussels in the next few weeks. “They are not yet ready for engaging in Vienna,” a senior EU official told reporters, referring to the series of talks in the Austrian capital among the original parties of the nuclear agreement that have been stalled since June. Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN warned again this week that “time is running short” for Tehran to return to full compliance with the 2015 pact — officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — which Trump withdrew the United States from in 2018. | | | | THE MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE 2021 IS HERE: POLITICO is excited to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider” newsletter featuring exclusive coverage and insights from one of the largest and most influential gatherings of experts reinventing finance, health, technology, philanthropy, industry and media. Don’t miss a thing from the 24th annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, from Oct. 17 to 20. Can't make it? We've got you covered. Planning to attend? Enhance your #MIGlobal experience and subscribe today. | | | | | DRINKS WITH NATSEC DAILY: At the end of every long, hard week, we like to highlight how a prominent member of Washington’s national security scene prefers to unwind with a drink. Today, we’re featuring Sen. BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Per his staff, the freshman lawmaker takes a load off with “a nice Tennessee whiskey,” which makes sense for the Volunteer State senator. So where and when does he like to sip on that sweet nectar? “Fireside at his home in Nashville surrounded by family and friends,” we’re told. Cheers, senator! IT’S FRIDAY. WELCOME TO THE WEEKEND: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com and qforgey@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter at @alexbward and @QuintForgey. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmccleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @JonnyCustodio.
| | | ANOTHER MOSQUE ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN: The Taliban is reporting that at least 32 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack today at a Shiite mosque in southern Afhganistan’s Kandahar province, per The Associated Press’ SAMYA KULLAB and TAMEEM AKHGAR. “There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the carnage,” they wrote. But if “the attack was carried out by [the Islamic State], it would be the first major assault by the extremist group in southern Afghanistan since the U.S. departure enabled the Taliban to consolidate control of the country.” Today’s bloodshed in Kandahar comes just a week after an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a separate Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, killing at least 46 people. PUTIN SETS THE TABLE FOR TALIBAN SUMMIT: In more Islamic State news, Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN said today that the Kremlin’s intelligence indicated roughly 2,000 members of the militant group were massing in northern Afghanistan, per AFP. Those comments come ahead of a planned summit between Russia and the Taliban, set to take place in Moscow next week. ZAMIR KABULOV , Putin’s envoy to Afghanistan, said today that Russian officials “do not expect any breakthroughs” to occur during the talks, per Reuters. According to Russian news agencies, Kabulov also said that “officials from Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan would meet separately in Moscow on Tuesday to come up with a united position on the changing situation in Afghanistan.” Representatives from Washington, Moscow and Beijing previously convened earlier this week for a G20 meeting on Afghanistan and agreed they would not grant the Taliban formal government recognition. | | | |   | | | | | | EXPERTS WARN APPLE TECH COULD ENDANDER DEMOCRACY: More than a dozen of the world’s leading information security experts are arguing that a new technology proposed by Apple to root out images of child sexual abuse on iPhones might actually pose a threat to democracy, per Sky News’ ALEXANDER MARTIN. In a paper titled “Bugs in Our Pockets,” the 14 experts contend the technology — called client-side scanning — “would be an extremely dangerous societal experiment,” predicting “there would be enormous pressure to expand its scope” beyond the identification of child sexual abuse material. “The introduction of scanning on our personal devices — devices that keep information from to-do notes to texts and photos from loved ones — tears at the heart of privacy of individual citizens,” the experts write. “Such bulk surveillance can result in a significant chilling effect on freedom of speech and, indeed, on democracy itself.” After announcing the technology as part of its new slate of child protection features in August, Apple delayed its launch last month amid concerns about the breadth of its use.
| | | CENTCOM, AIR FORCE SPLIT ON ATTEMPTED KABUL HIJACKING: U.S. Central Command is contradicting a report by the Air Force earlier this week that five people sought to hijack a commercial flight at Kabul’s international airport amid the American evacuation from Afghanistan in August, per CNN’s Liebermann. According to an account published Tuesday on the Air Force’s website, Personnel Recovery Task Force troops were “tracking military and commercial flights into” the airport, and “[o]n one occasion after they received an intel tip, five people onboard one of the commercial flights intended to hijack the aircraft.” Lt. Col. BRIAN DESAUTELS, quoted in the Air Force account, said of the incident: “Our team worked to get them clear of the NATO ramp, relocated to the north side away from friendly forces, then ultimately onto the south side where the situation was handled.” But in a statement Thursday, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Lt. JOSIE LYNNE LENNY told CNN she was “unaware of any attempt to hijack a plane” at the airport. “During the Afghanistan evacuation mission, an intel tip indicated the possibility of a plot to highjack [sic] a particular flight that was preparing to depart the airfield,” Lenny said. “Ground traffic controllers diverted the plane to a safe location on the airfield where security forces boarded the plane and determined that there was no active attempt to hijack the aircraft.”
| | | KERRY SAYS U.S. CAN CUT EMISSIONS WITHOUT BIDEN’S SPENDING PLAN: Special Presidential Envoy for Climate JOHN KERRY — who’s tasked with tackling what the White House views as an existential national security threat — weighed in on the fate of the president’s legislative agenda in a new interview with E&E News’ SARA SCHONHARDT and JEAN CHEMNICK. Even if congressional Democrats ultimately fail to pass Biden’s multitrillion-dollar social spending plan, which includes several provisions aimed at countering climate change, Kerry predicted the United States could still meet the administration’s stated goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030. “I just think people are miscalculating if they think that the whole thing depends on one piece of legislation,” Kerry said. “Is it important as legislation? Yes, unequivocally.” But Kerry went on to argue that the massive reconciliation bill “is not the key” to the upcoming climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, at the end of the month — where world leaders will work to develop a five-year plan for reducing global emissions. “It is not the sole determinant of what is going to unfold,” Kerry added of the bill. | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | COTTON TELLS BIDEN TO GET TOUGHER ON TAIWAN: Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) asserted today in a Fox News interview that China’s recent aggression toward Taiwan is merely an example of Beijing “exploiting weakness that Joe Biden has already demonstrated.” “We had the humiliating retreat from Afghanistan, and then President Biden went to the United Nations and wouldn’t even say China’s name. Literally wouldn’t say the word China,” the Senate Armed Services Committee member said, adding: “It would be a catastrophe of historic proportions to allow China to invade and annex Taiwan.” Cotton went on to outline “a few things” the United States can do to aid the contested island nation that “are very practical and immediate” measures: “We need to help Taiwan fortify its defenses, provide it more cybersecurity support, provide it more missiles, [and] provide it sea mines for the Taiwan Strait.” “More fundamentally,” he said, “we need to make it clear to Xi Jinping that we will support Taiwan, that we will come to its aid if China ever tries to invade. That is the best way to deter invasion in the first place.” No strategic ambiguity there.
| | | — LEE FOSTER, senior vice president at the Alethea Group, also will be an affiliate and adjunct professor at the new Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. — LYLE GOLDSTEIN will be director of Defense Priorities’ new Asia Engagement program. He was a research professor at the U.S. Naval War College for 20 years.
| | | — CHRIS LI and ERIC ROSENBACH, Foreign Affairs: “Can the U.S. and Chinese Militaries Get Back on Speaking Terms?” — COLUM LYNCH, Foreign Policy: “Sunset for U.N. Sanctions?” — MASIH ALINEJAD, The Washington Post: “Opinion: A 26-year-old woman is exposing abuse in Iranian prisons” | | A message from Lockheed Martin: Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant X™ delivers combat power for Army Future Long-Range Assault mission.
Success for the Army Future Long-Range Assault (FLRAA) mission means getting troops and material to the right place, at the right time: at the X. The DEFIANT X™ weapon system is right for this mission. Learn More | | | | | | — The Middle East Institute, 10 a.m.: “MEI Defense Leadership Series: NATO MENA Director GIOVANNI ROMANI — with BILAL Y. SAAB” — The Middle East Institute, 10 a.m.: “MEI-NAPI Youth Roundtable: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Women in Libya — with ANAS BUERA, HALA BUGAIGHIS, HALA SALEM ELMISRATI, INTISSAR FAKIR, ZORGH MADI and INTISSAR RAJABANY” — The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 10:30 a.m.: “The National Defense Strategy America Needs — with GORDON LUBOLD” — The Atlantic Council, 12 p.m.: “Iranian public opinion as Raisi takes the stage — with NANCY GALLAGHER, KEVAN HARRIS, BARBARA SLAVIN and AZADEH ZAMIRIRAD” — The Hudson Institute, 12 p.m.: “China’s War on Religion — with ROBERT A. DESTRO, XIAOXU SEAN LIN, NINA SHEA and NURY TURKEL” — Technology Training Corporation, 12 p.m.: “Military Hypersonic Weapon Systems Conference — with GILLIAN BUSSEY, WALTER CHAI, ROBERT TAYLOR, MICHAEL WHITE and LARRY WORTZEL” — The Atlantic Council, 2 p.m.: “Maximizing military power by minimizing bureaucratic barriers — with JAMES L. JONES, FREDERICK KEMPE, ARNOLD PUNARO and MISSY RYAN” — The Wilson Center, 2 p.m.: “Book Talk: Putin’s Labor Dilemma — with STEPHEN CROWLEY and WILLIAM E. POMERANZ” — The Atlantic Council, 3:30 p.m.: “Future Foreign Policy series featuring Rep. JOAQUIN CASTRO — with EMMA ASHFORD, AUDE DARNAL and JOHN HUDSON” Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? Shoot us an email at award@politico.com or qforgey@politico.com to be featured in the next edition of the newsletter. And thanks to our editor, Ben Pauker, who hasn’t let his lack of Senate confirmation stop him. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
