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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman and Lawrence Ukenye | | 
The U.S. still has roughly 900 troops in northeast Syria right now. | U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jensen Guillory | With help from Nicolle Liu Subscribe here | Email Alex PROGRAMMING NOTE: National Security Daily won’t publish from Monday, Aug. 29, to Friday, Sept. 2. We’ll be back on our normal schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 6, after the holiday. Don’t miss us too much. When President Biden ordered retaliatory strikes on Iran-backed forces in Syria this week, the response from many Americans was: Wait, we still have troops in Syria? Yes, in fact, the U.S. still has roughly 900 troops in northeast Syria right now. The official administration line is that these forces, primarily special operators, are there to help the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fight the remnants of the Islamic State terrorist group, which is still very much active despite the 2019 defeat of the so-called caliphate. "We want to be sure that ISIS cannot reconstitute itself in a manner that can threaten the United States, Europe, or partners in the region. We enable local forces to degrade and confront networks that seek to revitalize and the approach is successful. It was not long ago that Syria was used as territory to launch attacks throughout Europe and to inspire attacks around the world. We cannot return to those days," a senior administration official told NatSec Daily, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about internal thinking. "Of course, we also hope to see a political solution to the Syrian civil war, but that is not the basis for our military presence.” U.S. and coalition forces work together with the SDF in the area to maintain pressure on the group and ensure detained fighters are kept off the battlefield, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. ROB LODEWICK tells NatSec Daily. The SDF is busy conducting targeted raids against ISIS members, guarding over 10,000 fighters in detention, and providing security, Lodewick said. DOD provides air support, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as military advice — all of which are “essential” to the SDF’s counterterrorism operations, he said. “The SDF benefits from DoD funding and provision of counterterrorism training and equipment to carry out these vital operations, which serve as the most critical mechanism for sustaining the battlefield gains achieved in the Global Coalition’s fight against ISIS in Syria,” Lodewick said. Experts say the U.S. support is a bit more than just beneficial — the SDF would collapse without American troops. “They just can’t hold their own,” the Middle East Institute’s CHARLES LISTER said. The Kurdish-led force has “no hope in hell” of being able to defend themselves. Which brings us to the unofficial reason for why the U.S. is still in Syria: To stop other countries from filling the vacuum. "The situation is not one in which there is a force that would be ready to fill the vacuum were we to simply leave,” the senior administration official said. While there are concerns about Russia and Iranian-backed militias gaining a greater foothold in the country’s center and east, a major reason for the U.S. presence is deterring Turkey from launching an attack against the SDF — a group it considers terrorists. A U.S. military withdrawal, then, would leave American anti-ISIS partners targeted by a NATO ally, giving space for the once-prominent terrorist group to reconstitute itself. Such an event would destroy any chance of a long-needed political settlement to the war, even if one remains far off. That scenario would also likely lead the SDF to abandon the prisons holding tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners to deal with the Turkish threat —something that happened during Ankara’s invasion in 2019. “We are not going to stay in Syria forever, nobody thinks that. But if you come out… [Syrian President BASHAR AL] ASSAD has won this war. How much faith are you willing to break with your Kurdish partners? They are going to get rolled up and slaughtered,” said one former senior defense official. The way the experts and the administration see it, maintaining fewer than 1,000 troops in Syria is worth the occasional risk and minimal cost. “This is their most sustainable posture: A light footprint,” said ANDREW TABLER, a top Syria official in the Trump administration’s White House and State Department. That said, no one we spoke to could describe the conditions under which U.S. troops could leave Syria. It’s hard to predict when ISIS would be thoroughly unable to reconstitute its ranks or when the Iraqi government no longer needs cross-border help fending off Iranian militias, experts and officials said. The deployment isn’t a “forever war” — they will come home at some point — but providing a timetable wouldn’t be smart. As the former senior defense official put it: “The military situation in Syria has outrun the policy guidance for Syria.” “We need to look at what do we want in Syria, what our long-term objectives are,” the person said. So, for now, the counter-ISIS/deter Turkey/fill the vacuum/support Iraq mission with about 900 troops will continue.
| | | ABBEY GATE ATTACK REMEMBERED: Top administration officials released memorial statements for the 13 American service members — 11 Marines, a solider and a sailor — and 170 Afghan civilians killed in a terrorist attack outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate a year ago today. President JOE BIDEN : “Today, I am praying for the families of those 13 fallen warriors, who lost a piece of their soul one year ago. Our nation can never repay such incredible sacrifice—but we will never fail to honor our sacred obligation to the families and survivors they left behind.” Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN : “I know that today’s tragic milestone is agonizing for the families and loved ones of those we lost at Abbey Gate. I also know that this is an extremely difficult time for all of us who mourn the 2,461 U.S. military personnel who lost their lives in our nation’s longest war, and for all of us who served in Afghanistan and continue to bear the wounds of war.” Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN : “We will never cease the pursuit of justice for those who carried out this attack. We continue to work closely with our interagency partners to locate and arrest them. Our broader commitment to the Afghan people endures, and we will continue to pursue principled diplomacy and other measures to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a haven for international terrorists.” UKRAINE RECONNECTS NUCLEAR PLANT: Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) is back online, the country’s atomic energy agency said Friday, temporarily ending a crisis that led Kyiv to fear a nuclear meltdown was imminent. “Today, August 26, 2022, at 2:04 pm, one of the ZNPP power units that were shut down yesterday was connected to the power grid. Currently, capacity is being ramped up,” Energoatom said in a statement. “Zaporizhzhya NPP nuclear power professionals are real heroes!” Nearby fires caused the last electric power lines at the Russian-controlled plant, Europe’s largest, to disconnect twice on Thursday, troubling leaders in the U.S. and Ukraine. “[I]f the diesel generators hadn’t turned on, if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident. Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster,” Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY said in a Thursday night statement posted to Telegram. UKRAINIANS DESCRIBE TORTURE AS POWS: YURI MYKYTENKO , a police officer in the southeastern city of Berdyansk, was held captive by Russians during the war — one of the thousands Moscow’s forces have held since the invasion. He told the Washington Post’s SIOBHAN O’GRADY and KOSTIANTYN KHUDOV of his experiences. “First, he said, soldiers he believed to be Chechen based on their accents beat him on his ‘back, hands, legs, everything except my face.’ They then forced him and other prisoners to sing Russian hymns as an act of humiliation. There were no questions, he said, ‘just beating,’” per the Post. More: “After several days he was transferred to the southern city of Melitopol, where he said he was interrogated by agents of the FSB, the Russian security agency. He said agents showed him a photo of himself in his police uniform…. One carried out a mock execution of Mykytenko, pointing his AK-47 at his head and then shooting the wall next to him, he recalled." 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 follow me on Twitter at @alexbward. 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 — plus our summer interns, @Lawrence_Ukenye and @nicolle_liu.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Enabling a world of unlimited possibility and 21st century security.
Lockheed Martin employees and customers are bound by a common cause. Ennobled by our shared patriotism, we will do all that is necessary to protect American and allied interests. Together, we will strengthen deterrence and help ensure mission readiness today. Learn more. | | | | | | BLACKBURN CALLS TAIWAN A ‘COUNTRY’ DURING VISIT: Sen. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-Tenn.) described Taiwan as a "country" in passing during a visit to island, likely to anger China — which sees Taiwan as a part of its sovereign territory, The Washington Post’s EVA DOU and CHRISTIAN SHEPHERD reported. Blackburn met with Taiwanese President TSAI ING-WEN and reiterated U.S. support for Taiwan's democracy amid recent saber rattling from Beijing. “They are facing a very aggressive Chinese Communist Party at this point in time, and they need to know that they have an ally in the United States,” she said in an interview with our own NICOLLE LIU before boarding. “Taiwan needs to know that we will be here to help them,” she said. Following Speaker NANCY PELOSI's high-profile arrival to the self-governing island earlier this month, a spate of congressional visits from lawmakers have angered China, which has responded by holding military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. Dozens of military aircraft and several vessels from the People's Liberation Army conducted drills near Taiwan on Tuesday, according to the island's ministry of defense. Taipei has responded to the increased aggression by proposing a $13.7 billion increase in defense spending, amounting to a roughly 13 percent hike from the previous year, The Wall Street Journal's JOYU WANG reported.
| | | PENTAGON COMMITS TO CYBERSECURITY GOAL: The Department of Defense is committed to establishing a zero-trust cybersecurity, wherein all users must be authenticated, before the end of the current decade, Breaking Defense's JASPREET GILL reported. “What we’re aiming for is by 2027 to have zero trust deployed across a majority of our enterprise systems in the Department of Defense,” chief information officer JOHN SHERMAN said in a press conference. “That’s an ambitious goal … but the adversary capability we’re facing leaves us no choice but to move at that level of pace.” Sherman has prioritized improving the Pentagon's cybersecurity infrastructure to protect weapons systems and help safeguard against China and other adversaries looking to launch cyberattacks.
| | | BLACK HAWKS TO AUSTRALIA? The State Department on Thursday announced the potential $2 billion sale of Black Hawk helicopters to Australia, our friends at Morning Defense (for Pros!) reported. The sale comes after Australia initially flew Black Hawks before opting to purchase European-made MRH-90 Taipans, which have proved unreliable and costly to maintain. The purchase will allow Australia to continue bolstering its Indo-Pacific presence to counter China, as relations between both countries have soured due to trade disagreements in the past year. ARMY SIGNS DEAL WITH HAWKEYE 360: U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Hawkeye 360 Inc. on Thursday entered a two-year deal to develop RF-sensing capabilities.
| | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT CAUCUS: Five House Democrats have launched a new caucus to oversee and introduce policies that minimize civilian harm in military operations, NatSec Daily has learned. The “Protection of Civilians in Conflict Caucus,” as it’s known, won’t stand by as some in the government say there’s an “acceptable” or “unavoidable” risk of civilians dying as the U.S. conducts counterterrorism strikes and assists others in their wars. “Civilian harm never has been and never will be an acceptable cost of war,” said Rep. SARA JACOBS (D-Calif.), one of the co-chairs of the new caucus. “Military operations that displace, kill, and otherwise harm civilians leave a moral stain on our conscience and give our adversaries a powerful recruiting tool.” The announcement comes one day after the Pentagon released its Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMRAP), coming after media-led pressure pushed the administration to change its practices. “I’m pleased that the Pentagon has released a new plan to seriously tackle this issue and look forward to engaging with the Department on implementation through our new caucus,” said Rep. TOM MALINOWSKI (D-N.J.), another co-chair. The other three: Reps. JASON CROW (D-Colo.), ANDY KIM (D-N.J.) and RO KHANNA (D-Calif.). All five served in the executive either as a civilian or service member before becoming lawmakers.
| | | MACRON FIRES BACK: French President EMMANUEL MACRON cast more doubt regarding the state of relations with the United Kingdom after LIZ TRUSS claimed "the jury is still out" on whether Macron is "friend or foe". “The United Kingdom is a friendly nation, regardless of its leaders, sometimes in spite of its leaders," Macron said to reporters in Algeria. Both countries have experienced more difficult relations since the U.K. opted to leave the European Union in 2016. Truss, who is the favorite to succeed outgoing Prime Minister BORIS JOHNSON , claimed she planned to judge Macron by "deeds not words" if she's tapped to lead the country. Macron admitted that the U.K. is a "strong ally" and that both sides would be better off resolving their disagreements. “If we aren’t able to tell between the French and British if we are friends or foes — the term is not neutral — then we are heading for serious problems,” Macron said. LORD OF CLAPBACKS: JONATHAN LORD had some wise words about our top item yesterday, saying we were “unfair” to the Defense Department as the agency works to implement the CHMRAP. “What the piece doesn't capture, is the CHMRAP is the roadmap to not only generate that policy, but to make sure it proliferates military doctrine and planning in perpetuity,” the Center for a New American Security senior fellow tweeted. “Imagine being bequeathed a diamond mine and complaining it wasn't the diamond ring you were hoping for.” He also made smart points about how some of the items will be implemented in a few months but admitted the plan will take years to fully bake in because of the need for congressional buy-in. Also, simply, change takes time. We’re not above criticism here at NatSec Daily, and we thank Lord for his thoughtful response.
| | | |   | | | | | | — The State Department unveiled its plans to create an ambassador-at-large for the Arctic Region after our NAHAL TOOSI reported the administration's plans to establish the position. A nominee has not been announced, but they must be confirmed by the Senate before beginning to fulfill their duties — SecDef Austin has appointed 14 members to DoD’s Defense Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct. They will be sworn into their roles on Aug. 22.
| | | — JULIA DAVIS, The Daily Beast: Kremlin TV Desperately Wants You to Move to Russia Right Now — HOPE HODGE SECK, The Marine Corps Times: How this Marine Corps clarinetist evacuated 2 US embassies in 1 year — Ministry of Defense of Japan: Defense of Japan 2022
| | | — The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 10 a.m.: "An (Air) Force to Be Reckoned With: Defense Strategy and Innovation." Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? Shoot me an email at award@politico.com to be featured in the next edition of the newsletter. And thanks to our editor, Ben Pauker, who is devastated he won’t be editing this newsletter next week.
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Lockheed Martin is helping you outpace evolving threats by accelerating our digital transformation. That means simulating wear-and-tear with digital twins so you can anticipate maintenance and reduce downtime. It means deep knowledge of your missions. It means industry-wide experience and next-gen technologies. We do it all to help you prevent and deter emerging threats sooner and faster than ever. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
