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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward, Meredith Lee and Quint Forgey | | 
TROSTYANETS, UKRAINE - MARCH 29: Residents line up to collect food aid at a humanitarian aid station on March 29, 2022 in Trostyanets, Ukraine. Ukrainian forces announced this week that they had retaken Trostyanets, a northeastern town that has seen fierce fighting and was occupied by Russians for weeks, from Russian control. Last week, after its advances have stalled on several fronts, Russia appeared to revise its military goals in Ukraine, claiming that it would focus its efforts on the battle in the eastern Donbas region. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) | Chris McGrath/Getty Images | With help from Lee Hudson, Nahal Toosi and Daniel Lippman Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Quint FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — A bipartisan measure will be introduced in the Senate Monday to temporarily end restrictions on how the United States delivers food aid related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, aiming to alleviate the danger of rising global hunger and cost to the American taxpayer. U.S. law requires that at least half of the vessels carrying government-authorized food aid are American-owned. However, in the case of an emergency, the president, the secretary of Defense or Congress may waive this regulation. The war’s impact on food availability is a crisis for Sens. JONI ERNST (R-Iowa) and CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), so they’re introducing a concurrent resolution — which doesn’t require President JOE BIDEN’s signature — to lift the waiver until Feb. 1, 2025. (It’s unclear why the White House or Pentagon didn’t waive the regulation, though we asked them about it and didn’t hear back.) “We need to take immediate action to expedite delivery of food aid to our friends and partners around the world and this temporary, narrowly-crafted measure will allow the United States to flow aid faster, and save taxpayer dollars and countless lives around the world,” Ernst told NatSec Daily. World food prices hit an all-time high — including a 17 percent rise in the price of grains — immediately following the invasion due to the slowdown in Ukrainian agricultural productivity and exports. Other countries are trying to make up the difference, but fears of a global hunger crisis remain, with millions of people in the Middle East and Africa especially vulnerable. Just last week, the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it cost $388 million to send $282 million in food aid to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen. “When tens of millions of lives depend right now on the swift, effective delivery of American food aid, we can’t allow our emergency response to be held up by red tape that forces us to spend more money on shipping our food aid than on the food itself,” Coons, a close Biden ally, added. Past administrations and various bipartisan groups of lawmakers for years have tried to reform the process. Ernst, Coons and others say the current requirements are onerous and waste taxpayer money. The Government Accountability Office found in 2015 that cargo-preference rules for foreign aid increased the overall cost of delivery by an average of 23 percent, or $107 million. That number is likely even higher now due to global supply chain constraints. Amid stiff opposition from the U.S. shipping industry, lawmakers have been able to lessen some of the restrictions over the years but have failed to end the requirements altogether. In 2012, Congress lowered cargo-preference rates from 75 to 50 percent. But some lawmakers are now concerned about the optics of appearing to harm U.S. shipping companies while rewarding foreign competitors, some of which have declined to ship U.S. agricultural and other exports abroad amid heavy port congestion in recent months. A congressional source also told NatSec Daily that USAID hasn’t yet spent any of the $100 million earmarked for the “Food for Peace” program in thefirst Ukraine supplemental authorized in March. Spokespeople for the agency didn’t get back to us before publication time. Leading aid groups want Congress to ramp up funding for food and other global humanitarian needs exacerbated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying not enough of Biden’s massive new request is devoted to such concerns. The aid groups are drafting a letter laying out their worries to senior U.S. lawmakers who oversee appropriations. They calculate that less than six percent of Biden’s latest funding request is directly aimed at relieving an immediate humanitarian crisis that has rippled well past Ukraine’s borders. At least $5 billion is urgently needed for food and nutrition assistance, some say. “The world is facing a hunger catastrophe on an unprecedented scale, with the crisis in Ukraine serving as a ‘hunger multiplier’ for emergencies around the world,” states a drafted excerpt from the letter, which is expected to be sent later this week.
| | | | INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | U.S. EMBASSY IN KYIV TO RETURN SOON: Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine KRISTINA KVIEN told reporters today that U.S. diplomats hope to return the U.S. embassy to Kyiv by the end of the month, per Reuters . “We listen to the security professionals, and when they tell us we can go back, we will go back,” she said at a news briefing. In mid-February, ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. temporarily relocated the embassy’s operations from the capital to the western city of Lviv and later to Poland. But with the withdrawal of Russian troops from around Kyiv in recent weeks, more than a dozen European countries, as well as the European Union, have reopened their missions in the capital or intend to do so soon. Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN and Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN, during their meeting in Kyiv last week with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, announced that U.S. diplomats would be returning to Ukraine in the coming days — first arriving back in Lviv before beginning the process of reopening the Kyiv mission. RUSSIA PLANS A NEW ‘REPUBLIC’: MICHAEL CARPENTER, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, told reporters at the State Department Monday that Russia aims to establish the so-called “Kherson’s People’s Republic” — indicating Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s aims aren’t just to overthrow the government, but to capture the country by force. Carpenter added that Russia’s plans in Ukraine’s southeast include abductions of local officials, disappearances, forcing local populations to use Russian currency and orchestrating a rigged referendum. "We believe that Russia will try to annex the Donetsk People’s Republic," he said, per the WSJ’s VIVIAN SALAMA. This is yet another sign of the U.S. having strong intelligence of Russia’s goals — which despite a focus of war efforts in the Donbas look consistently maximalist. MARIUPOL PLANT HOLDOUTS EVACUATED: Civilians holed up in a steel plant in Mariupol are starting to evacuate and make their way to safety, The Associated Press’ CARA ANNA and INNA VARENYTSIA reported. “More than 100 civilians — including elderly women and mothers with small children — left the sprawling Azovstal steel mill on Sunday and set out in buses and ambulances for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles (230 kilometers) to the northwest, according to authorities and video released by the two sides,” they wrote. “The steel-plant evacuation, if successful, would represent rare progress in easing the human cost of the almost 10-week war, which has caused particular suffering in Mariupol. Previous attempts to open safe corridors out of the southern port city and other places have broken down, with Ukrainian officials repeatedly accusing Russian forces of shooting and shelling along agreed-on evacuation routes.” UKRAINE CLAIMS IT SANK 2 RUSSIAN SHIPS: It appears Ukraine continues to have remarkable success against the Russian Navy. “Ukraine on Monday said it sank two Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea with drone strikes,” The Wall Street Journal’s YAROSLAV TROFIMOV, LAURENCE NORMAN and MATTHEW LUXMOORE reported . “Ukraine released video footage of what it said were Bayraktar TB-2 armed drones hitting the two Raptor-class patrol boats at 4:51 a.m. local time Monday near Snake Island, a Ukrainian island that Russian forces captured on the first day of the war on Feb. 24. Both boats appeared to be hit, but it wasn’t clear whether they sank. Russia didn’t comment on the Ukrainian claim.” If proven true, it’ll be another dramatic maneuver by Ukraine against Russian naval forces, following the dramatic sinking of the “Moskva” warship. Meanwhile, per WSJ: “Russia on Monday fired cruise missiles at a strategic bridge near Odessa, the third such strike on the facility in recent days. The bridge provides the only internal connection to the western part of the Odessa region that faces Snake Island. The area is also reachable over land via Moldova.”
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: For over 40 years, America’s Soldiers have trusted the proven aircraft technologies of the team behind DEFIANT X®
Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing are the U.S. Army Aviation’s trusted industrial base. Together, they are Team DEFIANT and they will deliver DEFIANT X®, a transformational, high-speed, highly maneuverable helicopter, bringing future capabilities to Army Aviation. Learn more. | | | IT’S MONDAY: 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, @ChristopherJM, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @JGedeon1.
| | | CHINA CALLS FOR DE-ESCALATION ON KOREAN PENINSULA: LIU XIAOMING, special representative of the Chinese government on Korean peninsula affairs, expressed concern today about the tense situation between North and South Korea as he arrived in Seoul for talks, per Reuters’ JOSH SMITH. The “legitimate and reasonable concerns of all parties” need to be acknowledged for there to be a political settlement, Liu said. Summarizing his remarks on Twitter, he added: “We call on all parties to stay cool-headed and exercise restraint, and we disapprove [of] actions by any party that could escalate tension.” North Korea has already conducted numerous weapons tests this year, including hypersonic and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Now, officials in Seoul and Washington are warning that Pyongyang could soon undertake a new nuclear test.
| | | ‘IN THE FRONT LINES’: Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft has been “in the front lines” of the war, CEO SATYA NADELLA said Monday at the company’s National Security Symposium, per our own LEE HUDSON. “This is the first time I felt that our folks were really right there in coordination with” the U.S. government and Ukrainian government to help defend themselves against cyberattacks, Nadella said. Microsoft reports that it has seen more than 273 cyberattacks in Ukraine alone since the Russian invasion, on platforms like Office 365 and the company’s cloud. Microsoft is also “heavily involved” in moving the Ukrainian government’s data to the company’s cloud infrastructure across Europe, Nadella said.
| | | |   | | | CYBER ‘IRON DOME’: Israel is looking to set up a cyber equivalent of Iron Dome to curb a spike in cyberattacks, the country’s government suggested Monday. "We are trying to put the right standard on communications companies in order to protect Israel and create a kind of 'Iron Dome' from cyber security attacks. We are suffering from thousands of cyber attacks every year," Communications Minister YOAZ HENDEL said at a news conference, per Reuters’ STEVEN SCHEER. The government has issued new regulations to safeguard Israel’s communications networks. "Communications networks are an attractive target for cyber attacks by hostile elements," Hendel said. “According to cyber security firm Check Point, there was a 137% annual jump in average weekly attacks on Israeli companies, to nearly 1,500 per week, in the first three months of 2022,” Reuters reported.
| | | NEW HYPERSONIC EFFORT: Our friends at Morning Defense (for Pros!) reported the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is proposing four flight tests for a hypersonic cruise missile project called MoHAWC that goes beyond the current Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, according to budget documents. The agency is requesting $60 million in fiscal 2023 to demo technologies so that weapons such as the Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile and the Navy’s Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Weapon can be manufactured at scale. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies have each completed one successful flight test as part of HAWC.
| | | PELOSI’S SECRET KYIV SOJOURN: House Speaker NANCY PELOSI embarked on a covert visit to Ukraine’s capital over the weekend , becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country since the start of Russia’s invasion. Pelosi led an exclusively Democratic congressional delegation that included House Intelligence Chair ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) and House Foreign Affairs Chair GREGORY MEEKS (D-N.Y.). The group met with Zelenskyy and walked the streets of Kyiv. The lawmakers made the trip “to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine,” they said in a statement. “When we return to the United States, we will do so further informed, deeply inspired and ready to do what is needed to help the Ukrainian people as they defend democracy for their nation and for the world.” Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. OKSANA MARKAROVA said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the CODEL was “very symbolic,” calling it a sign of the “very, very strong support that Ukraine has.” BRINK’S HEARING: Biden’s pick as ambassador to Ukraine, BRIDGET BRINK , will face the Senate Foreign Relations on May 10 for her confirmation hearing. So far she has received staunch bipartisan support, and lawmakers have long called for the president to expedite the selection of America’s top representative to the country.
| | | ISRAEL REBUKES LAVROV’S NAZI REMARKS: Israeli Foreign Minister YAIR LAPID fiercely denounced his Russian counterpart SERGEY LAVROV today, arguing that the Russian foreign minister’s latest remarks about Jewish people and Nazism are “unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error,” per The Associated Press’ TIA GOLDENBERG. Lapid was responding to Lavrov’s statements in an interview with an Italian news channel, during which Lavrov defended lies about supposed Ukrainian Nazis that Russia has used to justify its invasion. “When they say, ‘How can Nazification exist if we’re Jewish?’ In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn’t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish,” Lavrov said. Lapid, criticizing Lavrov, countered: “The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism.” Israeli Prime Minister NAFTALI BENNETT also condemned Lavrov’s comments: “His words are untrue and their intentions are wrong. Using the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political tool must cease immediately.”
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing – the team behind DEFIANT X® – is the U.S. Army’s Industrial Base
As the Army modernizes its helicopter fleet to carry Soldiers into the future, they face a choice between sustaining good-paying American jobs with the military’s diverse, established industrial base … or starting from scratch. The future is at stake for our Soldiers and American workers. DEFIANT X® is the best choice for the Army’s mission and America’s future. Learn more. | | | | | | — ANDREW HALLMAN has been appointed vice president of national security strategy and integration at Peraton. He previously served as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s principal executive and the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation. — MATTHEW MILLER has resumed work as a partner at Vianovo. He took a leave of absence to serve as a special adviser for communications at the National Security Council. — HANNAH MORRIS has been named director of government affairs and DEBRA SHUSHAN has been named director of policy at J Street. Morris most recently was J Street’s assistant director of government affairs, and Shushan most recently was J Street’s director of government affairs. — SARAH ROSE has joined USAID as a senior adviser for localization in the Office of the Administrator. She previously was a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development.
| | | — SUI-LEE WEE, The New York Times: “‘We Want a Change’: In the Philippines, Young People Aim to Upend an Election” — LUKE MOGELSON, The New Yorker: “How Ukrainians Saved Their Capital” — SUSANNAH GEORGE and JOBY WARRICK, The Washington Post: “The Drug Trade Now Flourishing in Afghanistan: Meth ”
| | | — Biden travels to Alabama: He will visit a Lockheed Martin facility that “manufactures weapon systems such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, which the Biden-Harris Administration is providing Ukraine to effectively defend against the Russian invasion,” per the White House. — The Royal United Services Institute, 9 a.m.: “Advanced Technologies and Geostrategic Instability — with IAN LEVY and CONRAD PRINCE” — Senate Armed Services Committee, 9:30 a.m.: “Full Committee Hearing: The Posture of the Department of the Air Force in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2023 and the Future Years Defense Program — with CHARLES BROWN, FRANK KENDALL and JOHN RAYMOND” — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 10 a.m.: “The Spear and the Shield? Japan's Defense Strategy Trajectory — with MICHAEL J. GREEN, ITSUNORI ONODERA, MASAHISA SATO and SHEILA SMITH” — Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 10 a.m.: “Full Committee Hearing: State Department Authorization: Strengthening U.S. Diplomacy for the 21st Century — with BRIAN MCKEON” — The Arms Control Association, the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, and the Princeton University Program on Science and Global Security, 11 a.m.: “The Threat of Use of Nuclear Weapons and Russia’s War on Ukraine: Meeting the Legal and Political Challenge — with JOHN BURROUGHS, DARYL KIMBALL, ALEXANDER KMENTT, ZIA MIAN, ALICIA SANDERS-ZAKRE and ARIANA N. SMITH” — The Nuclear Threat Initiative, 2:30 p.m.: “Rewriting the Nuclear Story: U.S. Cultural Audit Research Findings — with RIKI CONREY and JOAN ROHLFING” — Senate Armed Services Committee, 2:30 p.m.: “ Subcommittee Hearing: Artificial Intelligence Applications to Operations in Cyberspace — with ERIC HORVITZ, ANDREW LOHN and ANDREW MOORE — Senate Intelligence Committee, 2:30 p.m.: “ Closed Briefing: Intelligence Matters” — Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, 3:30 p.m.: “Full Committee Hearing: The VA Workforce: Assessing Ways to Bolster Recruitment and Retention — with JESSICA BONJORNI, CAROLYN CLANCY, RALPH T. GIGLIOTTI and GINA GROSSO” — The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, 7 p.m.: “Russia, Ukraine and the New World Order — with MATT MURRAY and TONY RADAKIN ”
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