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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward and Matt Berg | | 
Sen. Chris Murphy said the move is meant to entice a broader discussion about Washington-Riyadh ties following the kingdom’s October decision to cut oil production. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | With help from Daniel Lippman Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Matt A bipartisan Senate duo is looking to restart a debate about the U.S.-Saudi relationship –– and are employing a never-before-used section of a decades-old law to do it. Sens. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) and MIKE LEE (R-Utah) have invoked Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. If passed, it would force the administration to deliver a report on Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses and war on Yemen within 30 days. Should President JOE BIDEN’s team not do that, then “no security assistance shall be delivered to such country except as may thereafter be specifically authorized by law.” In other words, security assistance automatically stops. Speaking to reporters in his office Tuesday evening, Murphy said this move is meant to entice a broader discussion about Washington-Riyadh ties following the kingdom’s October decision to cut oil production, which raised prices as the U.S.-led West aimed to starve Russia of funds for its war on Ukraine. Saudi “effectively sided with Russia over the United States,” he claimed. In the wake of that decision, the Biden administration said it was “reviewing” its relationship with Saudi Arabia. But it’s been five months and no official has outlined what U.S.-Saudi ties should look like, and there currently are no plans to detail such a vision. The resolution is an effort to force the White House’s hand to explain its inaction. The privileged resolution was introduced Wednesday and referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Now the panel, led by Sen. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.), has 10 days to consider and vote on it. But if there’s no movement within that time period, then Murphy and Lee can force a floor vote to discharge the measure from the committee. If the SFRC does take it up, the bill could pass or get struck down in the voting process. It’s unclear what SFRC leadership plans to do. “We’re having conversations with the committee,” a Murphy aide told NatSec Daily. The aide was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive congressional deliberations. Menendez in October said the Saudi/OPEC+ decision meant the U.S. “must immediately freeze all aspects of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including any arms sales and security cooperation beyond what is absolutely necessary to defend U.S. personnel and interests.” Two weeks ago, Sen. JIM RISCH (R-Idaho), the top committee’s top Republican, met with Saudi Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN. Murphy is pushing forward. “I have been openly frustrated by the fact that the administration has promised to reset our relationship with Saudi Arabia and we have yet to see that reset,” Murphy told reporters. “The Saudis have not been shy about sticking a thumb in our eye over and over and over again, and yet the foundations of the relationship don’t change. It’s not a great look for the United States when a so-called ally treats you the way Saudi Arabia has treated us.” The National Security Council and Saudi embassy in D.C. didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Murphy-Lee play has full-throated supporters. “It’s great that they’re doing this, but sad that it’s necessary. We shouldn’t need these senators to act to get Biden to keep his promises, but here we are,” said MATT DUSS, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Opponents say it’s unnecessary. The State Department already issues human rights reports on Saudi Arabia, the “Leahy Law” is already on the books and there are ways for agencies to scuttle announced arms deals. Critics also insist it’s bad timing, particularly after Saudi Arabia struck a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran with China’s assistance and the White House praised Riyadh’s agreement to buy $37 billion in Boeing civilian aircraft. "If you wanted to prove Saudi concerns that America is an unreliable ally, this is a pretty good way to do it," said a Republican congressional aide who wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. But Murphy believes the U.S. needs to show it stands up for small-d democratic principles, even if that means resetting decades-long relations with a prominent partner. “When we cozy up to these brutal dictators,” the senator said, “it gravely harms our efforts to try to save global democracy.”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | DRONING ON: The United States will continue conducting surveillance flights worldwide after an American drone was hit by a Russian warplane and downed over the Black Sea, Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN said today. “Make no mistake, the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” Austin said at the start of a virtual meeting of nations supporting Ukraine against Russia. “It is incumbent upon Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner.” Austin singled out Moscow’s forces, calling the incident “a pattern of aggressive and risky, and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace.” The crash, the first direct collision between U.S. and Russian weapons since the war began, set off a diplomatic row on Tuesday as American officials scrambled to speak with their Russian counterparts. Kremlin spokesperson DMITRY PESKOV said U.S.-Russia relations were in dire straits, with the collision the latest manifestation of loosening ties. Russian Security Council Secretary NIKOLAI PATRUSHEV said Russia will try to recover the wreckage of the American MQ-9 in the Black Sea to study it. CHINA-RUSSIA-IRAN DRILLS: China, Russia and Iran launched joint military exercises in the Gulf of Oman Wednesday, another sign of a solidifying partnership between American adversaries and Beijing’s growing influence in the Middle East. “This week’s joint exercise is the third of its kind, following similar drills involving the Chinese, Iranian and Russian navies in 2019 and 2022, the Chinese Defense Ministry said. This year, the Chinese navy sent a guided-missile destroyer, the Nanning, to participate,” the Wall Street Journal’s DION NISSENBAUM and CHUN HAN WONG report. But no one parties like the United States, which is holding a far-larger, 18-day exercise alongside 42 other countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. EU AMMO TO KYIV: The EU is finalizing a roughly $2 billion deal to jointly restock Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition supplies while refilling countries’ stocks, our own JACOPO BARIGAZZI reports. Split into two parts, the bloc will spend $1 billion to reimburse countries that can immediately donate ammo from their own stockpiles. Then, allies will work together to jointly purchase $1 billion in new ammunition, with hopes that they can negotiate bigger contracts at a lower price-per-shell together. FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY: WICKER CALLS FOR TAIWAN SUPPORT: The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee will call for Biden to send more weapons to Taiwan during a signature speech about his priorities for the panel this year. “We should pressure the Biden administration to exercise the $1 billion of drawdown authority we provided them in the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act last year,” Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.) will say in a Wednesday evening floor speech, per excerpts shared with NatSec Daily. “We should match Taipei’s growing investment in critical capabilities.” “We should fix the Foreign Military Sales backlog and pursue real reforms to the process. Right now, it takes us too long to get crucial weapons to our allies. For example: Unless something changes, Taiwan will wait nearly a decade to get a recent order of Harpoons,” he’ll say. IT’S WEDNESDAY: 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 mberg@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter at @alexbward and @mattberg33. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco and @Lawrence_Ukenye.
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Lockheed Martin is innovating with urgency to solve today’s hypersonic strike and defense challenges. We’re investing in the American hypersonic workforce and supplier base, to ensure our customers stay ready for what’s ahead. Learn more. | | | | | | DESANTIS’ GOP DISAPPROVAL: Republican presidential contenders and potential candidates lashed out at Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS for his comments to Fox News on Ukraine, in which he called Russia’s invasion a “territorial dispute” and argued it wasn’t among “vital national interests” for the U.S. While in Congress, DeSantis was rather hawkish on Russia. Former President DONALD TRUMP noted that, calling the comments a “flip flop” designed to imitate his isolationist stance: “Whatever I want, he wants.” His rebuke comes as Trump’s team targets the Florida governor, preparing an expansive opposition research file on him, as our own MERIDITH McGRAW reports. In a statement, former U.S ambassador NIKKI HALEY agreed with Trump, saying that DeSantis is copying the former president “first in his style, then on entitlement reform, and now on Ukraine … Republicans deserve a choice, not an echo.” Former New Jersey Gov. CHRIS CHRISTIE told Axios that DeSantis "sounds like NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN talking about when Germany had designs on Czechoslovakia.” Read more responses to DeSantis’ stance from our friends over at Florida Playbook.
| | | BYE BYE BYTEDANCE?: TikTok’s leadership is considering splitting with ByteDance, its China-based parent company, if a proposal with the U.S. to ease national security concerns falls through. Parting ways with the parent company is a last resort, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s ALEX BARINKA and OLIVIA CARVILLE. It would only be considered if TikTok’s proposal with national security officials — which includes bringing in an American company to host U.S. user data and review software, as well as appoint a three-person government-approved oversight board — doesn’t get the green light. Even then, the divestiture would have to be approved by the Chinese government, the people said. Parts of the proposal are already underway, as TikTok increasingly lobbies Washington in an attempt to garner support amid widespread concerns about potential misuse by the social media platform. But a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which last year agreed to implement the changes, has stalled, causing TikTok’s leadership to worry that the proposal may not pan out.
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | | NEW OFFICE: Please welcome the newest Pentagon office, this one established to coordinate industrial production amid growing concerns over DoD’s ability to ramp up construction of bombs and munitions in the event of a war with China or Russia. In a March 10 memo obtained Wednesday by Alex and PAUL McLEARY (for Pros!), WILLIAM LaPLANTE, the Pentagon’s chief acquisition executive, established the Joint Production Accelerator Cell, saying it will look for “opportunities to optimize production capacity, resiliency and surge ability. Further, we propose expanding its scope beyond munitions to defense weapons systems and suppliers overall.” The new office is just getting off the ground, and will be helmed by ERIN SIMPSON, who has been working as the Pentagon’s senior adviser for industrial base policy.
| | | JET SET: A bipartisan group of senators wants the Pentagon to answer one question: What will it take for the U.S. to send F-16s to Ukraine? In a letter to SecDef Austin organized by Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.), eight senators revamped the push to fulfill Kyiv’s request for jets, arguing F-16 fighters could give the country an edge as Moscow's invasion enters a second year, our own CONNOR O’BRIEN reported Tuesday evening. "This would be a significant capability that could prove to be a game changer on the battlefield," the senators wrote. NOT AUMF’D: Senate Democrats are confident they will pass an important measure to repeal two war authorizations Thursday — even if lawmaker absences complicate the picture a little bit. Tomorrow’s vote is simply to advance the measure that would end the 1991 and 2002 Iraq War-era authorizations. It has to clear a filibuster in order to pass, a threshold that appeared simple enough before Sens. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.), DIANNE FEINSTEIN (Calif.) and Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL were hospitalized recently with health concerns. “We feel like we’re gonna have well north of 60 votes,” Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.), who introduced the bill with Sen. TODD YOUNG (R-Ind.), told our own DANIELLA DIAZ and ANTHONY ADRAGNA. If all Democrats hang together, the 12 Republicans who’ve said they support advancing the legislation will be enough to get it through. HE MADE IT: ERIC GARCETTI has been confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to India — two years into the administration — in a 52 to 42 vote. His nomination was clouded by scandal, as our own MARIANNE LEVINE reports. There were allegations that he was aware of — and did not act on — sexual assault and harassment accusations against his former top aide, RICK JACOBS. Garcetti has denied that he knew of the accusations against Jacobs before they became public.
| | | ‘WORST DEAL IN HISTORY’: Former Australian Prime Minister PAUL KEATING sharply criticized the country’s deal with the U.S. and U.K. to procure nuclear-powered submarines, saying China wouldn’t be able to mount a large enough offensive to threaten Australia. “It must be the worst deal in all history,” Keating said at a National Press Club event on Wednesday. “The only way the Chinese could threaten Australia or attack it is on land. That is, they bring an armada of troop ships with a massive army to occupy us. This is not possible for the Chinese to do.” The former PM went one step further, claiming Australia would destroy any such Chinese invasion efforts with planes and missiles. He scoffed at the idea of Australia needing American subs for protection: “Really? I mean, the rubbish of it. The rubbish.” HONDURAS WANTS TIES TO CHINA: Honduras will seek diplomatic relations with China, winnowing the number of nations that recognize Taiwan as a country. Honduran President XIOMARA CASTRO asked her foreign minister, EDUARDO REINA, to start negotiations with China over the diplomatic realignment. Reina said “the government weighed up the benefits that Honduras had received from a good relationship with Taiwan and decided that there was no reason to change at that moment,” per the AP. If Honduras goes through with the change, Taiwan would only be recognized by 13 countries.
| | | |   | | | | | | — JAKE LEFFEW has left Schmidt Futures where he was an associate and program lead for the International Strategy Forum. He now works as a freelance speechwriter and ghostwriter.
| | | — MARK HANNAH, POLITICO: Biden Should Listen to Zelenskyy on China — LEONID BERSHIDSKY, Bloomberg: Nord Stream Sabotage Mystery Leaves All Infrastructure More Vulnerable — PETER FEAVER, CHRISTOPHER GELPI and JASON REIFLER, Foreign Affairs: The Strange Case of Iraq Syndrome
| | | — The Henry L. Stimson Center, 9 a.m.: The Northeast Asia Security Environment: Japan and It's Neighbors — The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, 9:30 a.m.: 2023 Republic of Korea-U.S. Defense Industrial Cooperation for a Resilient Global Supply Chain Conference — The Brookings Institution, 9:30 a.m.: Middle Eastern Maze: Israel, the Arabs, and the Region, 1948-2022 — The Senate Armed Services Committee, 9:30 a.m.: Posture of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command in Review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2024 and the Future Years Defense Program — The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, 10 a.m.: In Need of a Checkup: Examining the Cybersecurity Risks to the Healthcare Sector — The Atlantic Council, 11 a.m.: The future of NATO C4ISR — The Government Executive Media Group's Defense One, 11 a.m.: The State of the Marines — The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 12 p.m.: Making AUKUS Work for the U.S.-Australia Alliance — The Cato Institute, 1 p.m.: The Iraq War at 20 Years — The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 7 p.m.: Breaking Through the Fog of War: The Challenges and Responsibilities of Reporting Under Fire in 2023 Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who would like the Heidi-NatSec Daily relationship “reviewed.” We also thank our producer, Jeffrey Horst, within whom everyone wants to have a professional relationship.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Innovating at hypersonic speed.
Lockheed Martin is innovating with urgency to solve today’s hypersonic strike and defense challenges. We’re investing in the American hypersonic workforce and supplier base, to ensure our customers stay ready for what’s ahead. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
