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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Matt Berg, Alexander Ward and Lawrence Ukenye | |  Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's stance on meeting Ukraine’s military needs runs against the suggestions from numerous prominent conservatives to reconsider the amount of help the United States sends. | Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo | With help from Daniel Lippman Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Matt While he hasn’t officially announced a presidential run, former Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO made his position on Ukraine aid crystal clear: Give Kyiv what it needs to win, or it’ll cost the United States more in the long run. "The least costly way to move forward is to provide the Ukrainians with what they need now, provide them with the tools and resources that they need today," Pompeo told Fox News on Tuesday. A prolonged conflict, he added, “will be far more costly … than providing them these weapons quickly, effectively training them and ending this." His remarks followed a trip to Kyiv on Tuesday. There, he led a delegation of politicians and businesspeople as they met with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, who emphasized the importance of keeping American businesses invested in Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion. “We are glad that the United States is standing by our side and fighting with us for common goals,” Zelenskyy said, according to a readout from his office. “We feel both bipartisan support and support from the White House.” There were no comments from Pompeo in the readout, though other topics discussed included Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and continuing sanctions on Russia. His stance on meeting Ukraine’s military needs runs against the suggestions from numerous prominent conservatives to reconsider the amount of help the United States sends. Among the 2024 GOP contenders, former President DONALD TRUMP believes Russia will “ultimately” take over all of Ukraine, and Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS (who has yet to announce his candidacy) called the war a “territorial dispute” before later calling VLADIMIR PUTIN a “war criminal.” Pompeo’s visit underscores the ideological fight on Ukraine support not only among some Republicans and Democrats on Ukraine, but also within the GOP. “There are those on the left and on the right who question continued support or the amount of support. That will certainly be part of the debate,” Rep. MICHAEL TURNER (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Committee on Intelligence, said during a visit to Ukraine this week alongside other Republicans. “But overwhelmingly, there is support for continuing aid to Ukraine, so that they can continue to fight against this aggression of Russia.” If that’s true — that Americans “overwhelmingly” support such costly aid to Ukraine — then Pompeo, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. NIKKI HALEY and several others likely presidential contenders are in good shape. But in the GOP, it doesn’t seem to be right now: In March, an Axios/Ipsos Two Americas Index poll found that only 42 percent of Republicans support providing weapons and financial support to Ukraine.
| | | | 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 | | | | | | | | NO. 31: Finland officially became the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday, our own LILI BAYER reports. The famously neutral country, which shares an 832-mile border with Russia, applied to the alliance in May after its neighbor invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Speaking alongside Finnish Foreign Minister PEKKA HAAVISTO and NATO Secretary General JENS STOLTENBERG, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN announced the newest member’s acceptance at a press conference in Brussels. “Finland is stronger and safer within the alliance, and the alliance is stronger and safer with Finland as its ally,” Blinken said in a statement. Finland and Sweden initially planned to join the alliance together, but Turkey and Hungary dragged out the ratification process for the two countries, signing off on Finland’s bid last week and leaving Sweden out of the deal. Russia’s officials didn’t take it well, as Finland’s accession to NATO “forces us to take countermeasures to ensure our security,” Kremlin spokesperson DMITRY PESKOV told reporters, per The Washington Post. Watch: Finland’s flag raising at NATO HQ. MORE UKRAINE AID: The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more than $2.6 billion in military aid to prepare for its anticipated spring offensive, the Associated Press’ LOLITA BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE report. More than $2 billion will be earmarked for purchasing radar, an array of munitions such as missiles for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, and other weapons in the future, U.S. officials told the AP. Some $500 million will go toward sending ammunition and equipment, which will be taken from military stockpiles. ISLAMIC STATE LEADER KILLED: A senior Islamic State leader was killed in a drone strike conducted by an American-led coalition in northwestern Syria on Monday. The death of the leader, identified as KHALID AYDD AHMAD AL-JABOURI, will “temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. He was responsible for terrorist attacks in Europe and developed the group’s leadership structure. 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, @Lawrence_Ukenye and @reporterjoe.
| | 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. | | | | | YOUNGKIN TO ASIA: Virginia Gov. GLENN YOUNGKIN is traveling to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea for his first trade mission. He will meet with Taiwanese President TSAI ING-WEN while in Taipei. The visit, from April 24-29, could be a high-profile venture for the potential 2024 presidential candidate. It’s Youngkin’s first trip to Asia as governor. While he hasn’t entered the growing GOP field, some view him as a potential candidate for both winning a purple state and avoiding attempts from Democrats to tie him closely with the former president, like they have with DeSantis. Read: Our own JOHN HARRIS on why Youngkin “would be crazy not to run for president.”
| | ISRAELI CYBERSECURITY SITE CYBERATTACKED: A website for major Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point was briefly taken down by a hacker group calling itself “Anonymous Sudan,” the Jerusalem Post reports. The sites of top Israeli universities were also attacked by the group. The hackers say this wasn’t the main attack — the big one, they claim, will come on April 7. The hackers said they are targeting these firms and institutions because “of what they did in Palestine,” without providing any specific infractions.
| | | AMPHIB CHANGES: The Navy’s sole amphibious shipbuilder is considering changes to its line of ships as the Pentagon calls for potential alterations to its San Antonio-class, Defense News’ MEGAN ECKSTEIN reports. Last year, the Navy announced it would buy one more San Antonio amphib before taking a “strategic pause” as it studies the needs and capabilities of the ships. Ingalls Shipbuilding, the company that makes them, has been working with the Navy to determine what the next amphibious transport dock could look like. “We’ve done some trade studies. We’re trying to understand requirements to the best we can right now knowing that those could change,” KARI WILKINSON, the company’s president, told reporters on the sidelines of the Sea-Air-Space exposition on Monday.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | ISRAEL BOUND: House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY and Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES will make a trip to Israel later this month, Jewish Insider’s MARC ROD reports. Jeffries will be in the country from April 22-24, and McCarthy will follow suit shortly after, arriving on April 30 and leaving on May 2. The visit, which appears to be both lawmakers’ first foreign travels since taking office earlier this year, comes amid ongoing protests across Israel as its far-right leaders consider overhauling the nation’s judiciary. Despite coming under fire for the move, Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU recently received praise from McCarthy, who called him “an Israeli patriot, statesman, and most importantly, a great friend of the USA.”
| | ‘NEEDS TO INCLUDE PAUL’: PAUL WHELAN’s sister wants to make sure her brother isn’t forgotten as the media’s attention turns to Wall Street Journal reporter EVAN GERSHKOVICH. ELIZABETH WHELAN stresses that she is heartbroken for Gershkovich, his family and his friends and colleagues at the newspaper, but says Paul’s case is just as dire. “This latest arrest will not make anyone's life easier re: getting Paul home, and we don't have a media empire lobbying for Paul the way Evan does, or a sports empire such as BG [BRITTNEY GRINER] had,” she told NatSec Daily. “We are feeling pretty raw that another AmCit has been taken hostage and Paul is still not home.” Shortly after news of Gershkovich’s detention on the dubious charge of espionage, Elizabeth called contacts in the National Security Council and State Department working on Paul’s case. She told us she was reassured that the same time and attention will be given to bringing Paul home, too, which Biden administration spokespeople from JOHN KIRBY to VEDANT PATEL reiterated in recent days. Still, she’s adamant that any diplomatic deal to get Gershkovich out of Lefortovo prison — when Whelan is wrongfully detained — “needs to include Paul.”
| | | |   | | | | | — STEVE BIEGUN will be senior vice president of global public policy at Boeing. He most recently was an adviser at Macro Advisory Partners and served as deputy secretary of State in the Trump administration. — ROBERT GANIM started at Starburst Aerospace as director of government affairs and business development. Ganim who previously worked at the Pentagon and for former Sen. MARK KIRK (R-Ill.).
| | — PETER ELTSOV, POLITICO: The Russians Are Coming. There Could Be Downsides. — The Editors, National Review: Biden Owes America Answers on the Chinese Spy Balloon — HAPPYMON JACOB, Foreign Policy: Why India Downplays China’s Border Threat
| | — The Navy League, 7 a.m.: Sea-Air-Space Exposition — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 9 a.m.: Global Security Forum 2023: Transatlantic Defense — The Mitchell Institute, 9:05 a.m.: Annual Spacepower Security Forum — The Hudson Institute, 10 a.m.: Managing China-Related Proliferation Challenges — The American Enterprise Institute, 10:30 a.m.: A National Strategy for Countering North Korea — The National Defense Industrial Association, 11 a.m.: Building the SpaceVerse, a Grounded Approach to Reaching for the Stars Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who never provides us with the tools and resources we need. We also thank our producer, Jeffrey Horst, who makes this alliance “stronger and safer.”
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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 | | | | |  |
