North Korea delays firing missile toward Guam Presented by Northrop Grumman

With Eli Okun and Connor O’Brien

NORTH KOREA DELAYS GUAM MISSILE FIRING, Reuters reports : “ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delayed a decision on firing missiles toward Guam while he waits to see what the United States does, the North's state media reported on Tuesday as the United States said any dialogue was up to Kim.


“The United States and South Korea have prepared for more joint military drills, which has infuriated the North, and experts warned Pyongyang could still go ahead with a provocative plan.

“In his first public appearance in about two weeks, Kim inspected the command of the North's army on Monday, examining a plan to fire four missiles aimed at landing near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, the official KCNA news agency reported.

“‘He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK, the latter will make an important decision as it already declared,’ KCNA said.”

Trump praises North Korea for backing down and making “a very wise and well reasoned decision,” he wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning, via our colleague Rebecca Morin.

North Korea follows a familiar playbook as it backs off its threat against Guam, writes The Wall Street Journal.

And here’s some of North Korea’s greatest hits of bombastic rhetoric directed against the United States, via POLITICO’s Negassi Tesfamichael.

— GUAM RESIDENTS SUFFER FALSE ALARM, reports POLITICO’s Diamond Naga Siu: “Guam residents were mistakenly issued a ‘civil danger warning’ around midnight amid fears of an attack by North Korea, a false alarm local authorities blamed on human error and said would not happen again.

“‘The unauthorized test was NOT connected to any emergency, threat or warning,’ Guam Homeland Security said Tuesday in a statement titled ‘No Change in Threat Level.’ ‘There is no scheduled test of the EAS [Emergency Alert Broadcast System] or All Hazards Alert Warning System sirens today.’

“North Korea released photos on Monday showing its leader Kim Jong Un examining what appeared to be plans to launch missiles into Guam’s vicinity, but the country announced Tuesday it would wait ‘a little more’ before pursuing an attack on the island, which is a U.S. territory.”

The island is home to the largest American munitions depot in the world, supplying bombs and missiles to U.S. forces everywhere from Korea to Afghanistan, making it an attractive target for Kim, POLITICO Magazine’s Richard Parker adds .

— CHINA AND U.S. SET UP MILITARY HOTLINE, reports The Wall Street Journal: “The Pentagon’s top military officer will make a rare visit on Wednesday to the Chinese armed-forces command that oversees the territory bordering North Korea, a move experts say suggests Beijing’s displeasure with Pyongyang.

“Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, the officer, also signed a deal with his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday to formalize and increase operational communication between the U.S. and Chinese militaries, officials from both sides said.

“Gen. Dunford’s visit was planned well before North Korea threatened to attack Guam, but the two developments reflect mounting concern on both sides that the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs could lead to military miscalculations between the U.S. and China, analysts said.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. military prepares for a major military exercise with South Korea and faces a dangerous balancing act: reassuring allies without provoking a war, writes The Washington Post.

The looming war games might be used as a bargaining chip to persuade North Korea to freeze its nuclear program, adds The New York Times.

And a conservative South Korean political party calls for the U.S. to bring tactical nuclear weapons back to the Korean Peninsula, via The Associated Press.

IT’S WEDNESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at [email protected] , and follow on Twitter @greg_hellman , @morningdefense and @politicopro .

BREAKING NOW — ARMY HELICOPTER CRASHES OFF HAWAII, reports Reuters: “Emergency personnel on Wednesday were responding to reports of a downed Army Black Hawk helicopter with five crew aboard off the west coast of Hawaii, according to the United States Coast Guard.

“Debris was spotted near Kaena Point, Oahu by the Coast Guard Hercules and Army Black Hawk aircrews at 11:28 pm (5:28 am EDT). Responders were searching for five missing aircrew members.”

IRAN NUKE DEAL CAN’T BE ‘TOO BIG TO FAIL,’ the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says, writes Reuters: “U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the new U.S. sanctions were unrelated to the Iran nuclear deal and that Iran must be held responsible for ‘its missile launches, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights, and violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.’

“‘Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage ... The nuclear deal must not become 'too big to fail',’ Haley said in a statement on Tuesday...

“Haley will travel to Vienna next week to discuss Iran's nuclear activities with U.N. atomic watchdog officials as part of Washington's review of Tehran's compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.”

But the National Iranian American Council calls upon the Trump administration to stop destabilizing the nuclear accord.

“This is precisely the response that hardliners in the U.S. hoped to receive from Iran in reaction to these recent provocations,” Trita Parsi, president of the council, said in a written statement. “Now the White House, hawkish lawmakers, and neoconservative ‘regime-change’ groups will seek to exploit this self-made crisis to push for retaliatory actions to unravel the accord and put the U.S. and Iran back on the path to war.”

And Moscow also hopes Iran won’t quit the nuclear deal and condemns new U.S. sanctions for undermining it, Reuters adds .

LOCKHEED’S LOBBYING REVERSAL, via our colleague Connor O’Brien: “In an about face, Lockheed Martin's top government affairs executive has registered as a lobbyist after he previously chose not to publicly disclose his efforts to influence the military budget like his predecessors and counterparts.

“The world's largest defense company says Robert Rangel, a former top aide to Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld who has been senior vice president for government affairs since early 2015, took the step in the second quarter of 2017 voluntarily and maintains he still is not required to do so due to the minimal amount of direct lobbying he does.

“But the move is nevertheless a reversal for Rangel, who had previously chosen not to register as a lobbyist like his two predecessors even though he oversees the defense giant's in-house team of registered lobbyists, as reported last year by POLITICO.”

MATTIS PRAISES SAILORS WHO GET OFF THE SIDELINES, via The Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with sailors serving on the submarine USS Kentucky last week in his home state of Washington, praising them for their sacrifices and expressing concern that he has ‘grown remote from those of you who matter.’ Then he noted the up-and-down nature of military life, told the sailors that they’ll miss being in the Navy after they leave — and issued an off-color compliment.

“‘You’ll miss it like the dickens, and you’ll be changed for the better for the rest of your life,’ said Mattis, who retired as a four-star Marine general in 2013. ‘So you’ll never regret, but you will have some of the best days of your life and some of the worst days of your life in the U.S. Navy, you know what I mean? That says — that means you’re living. That means you’re living.

“That means you’re not some p—- sitting on the sidelines, you know what I mean, kind of sitting there saying, ‘Well, I should have done something with my life.’”

MATTIS OPPOSES ‘UNWISE’ STOP-GAP BUDGETING, reports the Washington Examiner: “The Pentagon would be hamstrung in dealing with new advances in electronic, space and drone warfare if Congress passes another stop-gap budget measure this fall, according to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

“Lawmakers are heading into the fall with no clear path to passing proposed increases in defense spending, and analysts say it is likely they will pass a months-long continuing resolution at the end of September that would hold military spending to current levels.

“‘It just creates unpredictability. It makes us rigid. We cannot deal with new and revealing threats,’ Mattis told reporters on Monday. ‘We know our enemies are not standing still.’”

— TOP DOC — ARMY MOST SENSITIVE TO PERSONNEL COST CHANGES, writes the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments: The Army is the most sensitive to changes in the costs of military personnel because they account for more of its budget than other services, according to a new analysis from the think tank by Katherine Blakeley.

Those costs account for about 37 percent of the Army’s budget, though they have declined by nearly 15 percent since fiscal 2010, when they averaged $142,471 per service member, Blakeley reports.

For the Army, the Trump administration requested no additional active-duty troops in fiscal 2018 compared to the troop levels appropriated by Congress the previous fiscal year, Blakeley adds.

PENCE IS CONFIDENT OF ‘PEACEABLE’ SOLUTION IN VENEZUELA, via Reuters: “U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said in Buenos Aires on Tuesday he was confident about reaching a ‘peaceable’ solution for Venezuela through economic and diplomatic pressure on the country's president, Nicolas Maduro.

“Speaking at a joint news conference with Argentina's conservative President Mauricio Macri, Pence said they had agreed in closed-door talks on the need to keep up pressure on Maduro for elections and the release of political prisoners.

“As in Colombia, his first stopover on a Latin American tour, Pence's comments marked a stark contrast with U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of military intervention in Venezuela to resolve a growing political crisis in the OPEC member.”

Trump’s suggestion of military action in Venezuela may have helped shore up its leader’s domestic support, buying the country valuable time to pay off its debt, Bloomberg adds .

Meanwhile, Venezuelan soldiers beg for food in Guyana, writes the Miami Herald.

WAR REPORT — COALITION STEPS UP AIRSTRIKES OUTSIDE MOSUL, reports the AP: “Thousands of Iraqis have fled an Islamic State-held town west of Mosul as Iraqi and coalition warplanes step up strikes ahead of a ground offensive to drive out the militants.

“Tal Afar and the surrounding area is one of the last pockets of IS-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in July in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city. The town, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Syrian border, sits along a major road that was once a key IS supply route.”

Meanwhile, ISIS poses one of the biggest threats to religious freedom in the world, according to an annual State Department report released Tuesday, writes our colleague Diamond.

And the Air Force upgrades its Middle East command center at Al Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar, adds Reuters.

INDUSTRY INTEL — BOEING STAYS ON TRUMP COUNCIL, reports the Washington Examiner: “Boeing said Tuesday its CEO Dennis Muilenburg will remain on President Trump's national manufacturing council while fellow defense giant Lockheed Martin remained mum after a series of defections by other corporate executives this week.

“Muilenburg still hopes to make progress on important manufacturing issues by working on the council, which was formed in January during the early days of the Trump presidency to tap top business leaders on ways to stimulate industry, Boeing spokesman John Dern said.”

— HUNTINGTON INGALLS SETTLES FALSE BILLING CHARGES, reports your Morning D correspondent: “Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls agreed to pay $9.2 million to settle charges that it overbilled for labor on Navy and Coast Guard ships, DOJ announced [Tuesday]. The settlement resolves allegations that the company mischarged on contracts in its Pascagoula, Mississippi shipyards dating back to 2003.”

The company said it has moved to strengthen its compliance with defense contracting rules, Greg adds .

MAKING MOVES — PETER BERGEN JOINING GLOBAL SOF FOUNDATION: Peter Bergen is joining the Global Special Operations Forces Foundation as the new chairman of its board. The Global SOF Foundation is three year-old non-profit organization and bills itself as the only professional association for international special operations forces.

SPEED READ

— Federal contractors begin planning for a possible federal government shutdown this fall: Government Executive

— The Islamic State stokes radicalization among Iranian minorities: Reuters

— An American pleads guilty to taking Islamic State funds for a terrorist attack: WSJ

— Indonesian police investigate an alleged terror plot by Islamic State supporters suspected of attempting to build chemical bombs for attacks at the presidential palace and other targets: WSJ

— U.S. Marines train Georgian troops readying to go to Afghanistan: Stars and Stripes

— Three Afghan aid workers employed by Catholic Relief Services are gunned down in central Afghanistan: Reuters

— Turkey warns about Iraqi Kurds’ independence referendum: Reuters

— The International Criminal Court accuses a Libyan army commander of war crimes: Reuters

— Saudi Arabia's missing princes: BBC

— A wounded Army helicopter pilot kept flying for five hours in support of a Delta Force ground raid into Syria in 2014, according newly released documents by the Pentagon: Business Insider

— An Air Force captain lands an A-10 with no canopy or gear after an equipment malfunction: Military Times

— The president risks a backfire over China and North Korea: WSJ

— China’s import ban will make it harder for North Korea to acquire resources to build up its military capacity: WSJ

— Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is Trump’s loyal sidekick in responding to North Korea: WSJ

— After a fatal accident, the USS Fitzgerald is coming back to the U.S. for repairs: Stars and Stripes

— The West worries about the true purpose of Russia’s military exercises: CNN

— New sanctions likely leave the U.S. and Russia at an impasse: The National Interest

— The Army modernizes its Patriot missile defense system: Task & Purpose

— Italy’s defense budget drops this year: Defense News

— A look at the Canadian contributions to North Atlantic collective defense: Breaking Defense

— An academic bootcamp helps veterans sail smoothly into college: CBS

— The Department of Defense Education Activity is rolling out new testing on college- and career-ready standards: Military Times

— U.N. observers finish removing the locked containers filled with rifles from Colombia’s largest rebel army: AP

— The Marine Corps wants 50,000 more M27 infantry automatic rifles to replace the M4: Military Times

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