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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward, Matt Berg and Lawrence Ukenye | | 
“We could be in a contest on any one given day,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “Not approving the recommendations for promotions actually creates a ripple effect through the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo | With help from Kierra Frazier Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Matt Your friendly neighborhood NatSec Daily team and co. tracked multiple congressional hearings so you didn’t have to. Here are our main three takeaways from a busy day on the Hill. ‘We should’ve notified you earlier’: Just yesterday we reported that Republicans questioned why it took the administration about 13 hours to notify lawmakers Thursday after a deadly attack on Americans in Syria. They speculated it partly had to do with keeping the repeals of two authorizations for the use of military force on track for passage as senators debated amendments, including some related to Iranian aggression against American troops. Under questioning from Sen. ROGER WICKER (R-Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN said there shouldn’t have been such a lag: “We should’ve notified you earlier.” Asked Tuesday if the White House agreed with the secretary's assessment, NSC spokesperson JOHN KIRBY said the administration takes seriously the obligation to inform lawmakers, but “time was pretty compressed” last week “on a very busy and stressful day.” Later in the hearing, Austin told Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) that there was no connection between the notifications and the war powers vote. Cotton responded: “Secretary Austin, I don’t believe you” and noted that an amendment by Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) “directly touched” on the Syria strike scenario. “That’s my belief, nothing you can say is going to change my belief on that.” In defense, Austin replied, “senator, that is absolutely not true.” U.S. ends New START notifications: Earlier this month, NatSec Daily reported that t he U.S. was still sending New START-mandated notifications to Russia, even though VLADIMIR PUTIN withdrew Moscow from the nuclear-arms agreement. Well, that’s over now. The decision was conveyed to Russia on Monday by the Pentagon’s Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy JOHN PLUMB. “Russia responded that they will not be providing that information,” he told the House Armed Services’ Strategic Forces subcommittee. “And so as a diplomatic countermeasure, the United States will not be providing that information back.” The Pentagon will also look into other possible countermeasures, he added, “and what we’re trying to do is balance both responding to Russia’s irresponsible behavior but continuing to demonstrate what we believe [what] a responsible nuclear power’s action should be.” ‘Far less ready than we need to be’: Without naming names, Austin took aim at Sen. TOMMY TUBERVILLE’s (R-Ala.) blockade of more than 160 senior military promotions to counter the DoD’s new abortion policy, saying the hold harms the military’s readiness to face global threats from China, Russia and Iran. “We could be in a contest on any one given day,” Austin said. “Not approving the recommendations for promotions actually creates a ripple effect through the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be.” Republican senators have decisively objected to the new policy, which covers expenses and grants leave for troops who have to travel to obtain abortions. At the hearing, Tuberville criticized Democrats for believing “this abortion issue is good for a campaign, and that’s what this shouldn’t be about. I’m not going to let our military be politicized.” Austin found an ally in Senate Armed Services Chair JACK REED (D-R.I.), who initially raised the issue and urged his colleagues to allow the nominations to go through. “If we cannot resolve the situation, we will be, in many respects, leaderless at a time of great conflict,” Reed warned.
| | | | NEW PRODUCT UPDATE - POLITICO's China Watcher now hits inboxes twice weekly (Tuesday & Thursday). POLITICO's EU-China Correspondent Stuart Lau will be writing this expanded newsletter together with our colleague Phelim Kine from across the Atlantic in Washington. We’re living in a world where geopolitics are shaped and reshaped in Brussels, Washington, and Beijing — China Watcher will attempt to decode these global relationships to give our readers a full picture of the world’s diplomatic relations with China. Sign up to China Watcher | | | | | | | | CHINA’S BATTLEFIELD LINKS: Chinese parts are being imported by a Russian body armor manufacturer for its vests, some of which are used by soldiers fighting in Ukraine, our own ERIN BANCO and STEVEN OVERLY report. Last year, multiple Chinese companies — including one linked to the government — sent parts for body armor manufacturing to Russian company Klass, according to customs and trade data. Photos and videos posted online show that armored vests produced by the company are being used by Russian troops on the battlefield. It’s still unclear if Moscow’s use of the Klass vests is widespread. Still, it’s the first confirmation that Chinese-made protective equipment is being used by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, highlighting how Russia continues to rely on China for help propping up its war effort despite Western pressure on Beijing to back down. Read: Ukraine is changing the math for countries caught between the U.S. and China by PHELIM KINE and STUART LAU KIM’S NEW NUKES: North Korean leader KIM JONG UN on Tuesday said he plans on expanding his regime’s nuclear arsenal exponentially to defend the country, The Wall Street Journal’s DASL YOON reports. Kim inspected about 10 new tactical nuclear warheads, called “Hwasan-31,” displayed near short-range ballistic missiles and long-range cruise missiles, according to photos released by North Korean state media. He was also briefed on a nuclear weapons management system and reviewed a nuclear counterattack plan, an action the country said it had simulated earlier this month. “Only when we perfectly prepare the ability to use nuclear weapons at any time and from any place will we ensure that we will forever not have to use nuclear weapons,” Kim said while viewing the warheads, which experts believe could be mockups of weapons the regime plans to build. BALLOON BLAME GAME: Republican senators are latching onto a disagreement between top military officials about the Chinese spy balloon incident, using it to fault the administration for what they say was a bungled response, our own LARA SELIGMAN and LEE HUDSON reported Monday night. The debate hinges on when Austin sought U.S. Northern Command head Gen. GLEN VANHERCK’s military advice on the best way to handle the balloon. VanHerck told lawmakers he didn’t speak with Austin for several days after the intelligence was brought to officials’ attention, while Austin’s spokesperson said the general was in “frequent communication.” Republicans have already blasted the administration for not sharing enough intel on the balloon, and the disagreement has only added to that. Wicker slammed “inconsistencies” between the two top officials: “If the United States is going to learn from this national security event, then we have to have clear answers from the Biden administration,” he told Lara and Lee. BIBI TO WASHINGTON?: The White House said Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU does not have any plans to visit Washington despite reports that he would soon, our own KIERRA FRAZIER reports. Speaking on Israel’s Army Radio, U.S. ambassador to Israel TOM NIDES said Netanyahu could “be coming relatively soon. I assume after Passover,” which ends April 13, but “obviously no date has been set yet.” The White House wants to see Israelis and Palestinians peacefully make it through the holidays before the meeting, a U.S. official told The Times of Israel’s MICHAEL BACHNER and JACOB MAGID. The White House pressed the brakes on the idea, but said it could happen in the future: Netanyahu “will likely take a visit at some point but there's nothing currently planned,” Principal Deputy Press Secretary OLIVIA DALTON told reporters. The news of the potential visit came less than a day after the prime minister, who is scheduled to speak at the virtual Summit for Democracy conference this week, delayed the government’s plan to overhaul its judiciary, leading to nationwide protests and strikes. HUNGARY, FINLAND, NATO: The Hungarian parliament ratified Finland’s NATO membership on Monday, putting Helsinki one step closer to joining the alliance but leaving Sweden waiting in the wings, our own LILI BAYER reports. Finland only needs Turkey’s parliament to welcome it into the alliance, while Sweden needs both Budapest and Ankara to give the green light. IT’S TUESDAY: 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, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco and @Lawrence_Ukenye.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Our mission is to prepare you for the future by engineering advanced capabilities today.
Many of today’s military systems and platforms were designed to operate independently. Through our 21st Century Security vision, Lockheed Martin is accelerating innovation, connecting defense and digital to enhance the performance of major platforms, to equip customers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more. | | | | | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– POMPEO TO UKRAINE: Former Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO will be in Ukraine on April 3, two people with knowledge of the trip told NatSec Daily (we granted them anonymity to discuss a sensitive visit). It’s an opportunity for Pompeo, a potential 2024 candidate, to show his support for Ukraine as it fights off Russia and differentiate himself from candidates like DONALD TRUMP and Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS, who have spoken more skeptically of Kyiv’s plight. Pompeo will have to navigate the security risks, as others who have gone before him have. It’s unclear if he will meet with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY or precisely what his itinerary is. DESANTIS TO ISRAEL: DeSantis will go to Israel to celebrate the country’s 75th Independence Day, per the Jerusalem Post. He’ll deliver a keynote address to about 400 people on April 27. In 2019, DeSantis promised to be “the most pro-Israel governor in America.” HALEY: CURB FENTANYL AT BORDER: “Securing the border is the first and most important step toward ending” the fentanyl crisis, NIKKI HALEY wrote in a National Review op-ed Tuesday. Her policy suggestions: Increasing the number of Border Patrol and ICE agents, restart Remain in Mexico and keep Title 42, end “catch and release” and institute an e-verify program.
| | | TELL ME MORE: U.S. spy agencies will need to give more info about how a powerful foreign surveillance program affects Americans if they want to win over skeptics in Congress, Rep. JIM HIMES (D-Conn.) told our friends at Morning Cybersecurity (for Pros!). Doing so could be the difference between reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before a year-end statutory sunset and allowing the crucial spy program to lapse, said Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. “We really do need to know or have estimates for how much incidental collection there is of U.S. persons data, and how often U.S. person data is queried and for what purpose,” Himes said. “We’re not going to succeed in this process without good data.”
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 4/5 FOR THE 2023 RECAST POWER LIST: America’s demographics and power dynamics are changing — and POLITICO is recasting how it covers the intersection of race, identity, politics and policy. Join us for a conversation on the themes of the 2023 Recast Power List that will examine America’s decision-making tables, who gets to sit at them, and the challenges that still need to be addressed. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | ARMY WISH LIST: The Army is requesting $1.9 billion for 28 projects, including $533 million to upgrade its Abrams tanks, our own LEE HUDSON reports (for Pros!). The Army is also requesting $121 million for the AH-64 Apache replacement and $62 million for the UH-60 Black Hawk replacement. The service wants $39 million to accelerate future drone development. Another modernization priority is funding for high-tech battlefield goggles based on Microsoft’s HoloLens. The Army is requesting $98 million for procurement and $22.4 million for Integrated Visual Augmentation System development.
| | | HFAC SUBPOENAS DISSENT CABLE: House Foreign Affairs Chair MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas) subpoenaed the State Department for a dissent cable sent before the Afghanistan withdrawal questioning the decision. “It's the people left behind that deserve answers. This administration is stonewalling and I will hold them accountable and I will not rest until we get that," the chair said on Fox News Tuesday morning, the same time the subpoena was delivered. VEDANT PATEL, a State spokesperson, said the subpoena is an unnecessary step. “The department followed up with the committee to reiterate its willingness to provide a briefing about the concerns raised and the challenges identified by Embassy Kabul, including in the dissent channel,” he said. The department will cooperate with the committee as it conducts oversight, and it has already provided thousands of pages of documents at the committee's request, Patel said. McCaul told NatSec Daily on March 10 that he would subpoena State for the documents if he didn’t get what he wanted. SOMALIA WPR: Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) has introduced a War Powers Resolution that, if passed through Congress and signed by President JOE BIDEN, would remove the roughly 500 U.S. troops from Somalia, Fox News’ HALEY CHI-SING and BRIANNA HERLIHY report. Military leaders “must explain how continuing the occupation of Somalia best serves the interests of the American people at home. If they cannot, it is incumbent upon the Congress to bring our troops home from Somalia," Gaetz said in a statement. Gaetz’s resolution follows past efforts to pass a WPR on the U.S. military role in Yemen and a current effort to repeal two authorizations for the use of military force. A Gaetz effort last week to take out the 900 U.S. service members in Syria failed in a 103-321 vote.
| | | DEMOCRACY’S SHORTFALLS: Ahead of Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ visit to his nation, Zambian President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA said that democracy alone may not be enough to rally and effectively govern their citizens. “You can’t eat democracy,” Hichilema wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed Tuesday. “Human rights may sustain the spirit, but not the body. Particularly in young democracies like mine, governments must deliver economically if they are to retain the people’s consent.” Zambia, one of the co-hosts of the Summit for Democracy, was chosen to co-host the event after receiving international praise for its election reforms and efforts to combat the country’s debt crisis. However, Zambia is also part of a growing chorus of African countries who have downplayed the importance of democracy and human rights criticisms in light of continued economic instability. The trend comes as China has continued to invest in the continent, while Washington and other Western have tied aid to government reforms. While the U.S. has historically provided humanitarian aid, like food and medicine, Beijing’s support has been more tangible and includes building bridges, ports and roads. “We are missing the moment,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ CAMERON HUDSON. “China is responding to that first priority in ways the U.S. isn’t.”
| | | |   | | | | | | — TOM MALINOWSKI has joined the McCain Institute at Arizona State University as a John S. McCain senior fellow. Malinowski was previously a Democratic congress member representing New Jersey and a senior State Department official in the Obama administration. — THERESA LOU is now senior policy adviser to the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. She previously was Democratic staff director for the House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific subcommittee.
| | | — MARGARITA KONAEV and OWEN DANIELS, Foreign Affairs: Agile Ukraine, Lumbering Russia — DAVID IGNATIUS, The Washington Post: Netanayhu’s unforced error could come with heavy costs — SHADI HAMID, Foreign Affairs: Don’t Bail Out Tunisia’s Would-Be Dictator
| | | — The Atlantic Council, 8 a.m.: How to keep Western tech out of Russian weapons — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 9:30 a.m.: Assessing the Economic and Financial Dynamics of a Cross-Strait Crisis — Senate Armed Services Committee, 9:30 a.m.: Enterprise Cybersecurity To Protect The Department Of Defense Information Networks — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 10 a.m.: Strategic Japan 2023: Japan's Realism Diplomacy — House Appropriations Committee, 10 a.m.: Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the Department of Homeland Security — House Appropriations Committee, 10 a.m.: Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the United States Navy and Marine Corps — The United States Institute of Peace, 10 a.m.: Assessing the State of European Security: A Presidential Perspective from the Balkans — House Foreign Affairs Committee, 10 a.m.: Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability of Ukraine Assistance — House Armed Services Committee, 10 a.m.: FY24 Defense Budget Request — The Government Executive Media Group, 11 a.m.: The State of the Space Force — The Center for a New American Security, 11 a.m.: Russia-China Relations One Year after the Invasion of Ukraine — Senate Appropriations Committee, 1:30 p.m.: A Review of the President’s FY 2024 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security — The Atlantic Council, 2:30 p.m.: How to beat Russia: Observations from Ukraine’s homeland defense — House Armed Services Committee, 3 p.m.: Personnel Posture — House Armed Services Committee, 3:30 p.m.: FY24 Budget Request Of The Department Of Defense For Fixed - Wing Tactical And Training Aircraft Programs — The Hudson Institute, 4 p.m.: More, Better, Faster: A Conversation with Senators Risch and Wicker on US Support for Ukraine's Defense Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who, despite what we tell her, replies “nothing you can say is going to change my belief.” We also thank our producer, Jeffrey Horst, who everyone believes is the best.
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Our mission is to prepare you for the future by engineering advanced capabilities today.
Many of today’s military systems and platforms were designed to operate independently. Through our 21st Century Security vision, Lockheed Martin is accelerating innovation, connecting defense and digital to enhance the performance of major platforms, to equip customers to stay ahead of emerging threats. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
