Three Americans held in North Korea reported relocated ahead of summit Presented by Northrop Grumman

With Eli Okun and Jacqueline Klimas

TOP NEWS — THREE AMERICANS DETAINED IN NORTH KOREA REPORTEDLY RELOCATED AHEAD OF SUMMIT, reports the Yonhap News Agency: “North Korea has relocated three American detainees from a labor camp to a hotel on the outskirts of Pyongyang ahead of a planned summit between leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, a South Korean activist said Wednesday.


“The U.S. citizens — Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-chul — were moved in early April following instructions from superior authorities, said Choi Sung-yong, head of a group for families of South Koreans abducted by North Korea, citing a resident in Pyongyang.

“The detainees have been accused of espionage or ‘hostile acts.’”

The U.S. is checking on the reports, writes Reuters.

"Stay tuned," President Donald Trump tweets.

And, as the president visits the State Department, Secretary Mike Pompeo says North Korea must denuclearize, also via Reuters.

Trump gets dovish on North Korea, but surrounds himself with hawks, writes The Washington Post.

The inter-Korean summit focused on Trump and nukes, adds The Washington Post.

Still, the fate of U.S. troops in South Korea remains the elephant in the room, writes Stars and Stripes.

A focus on human rights fades as the U.S. and South Korea pursue a deal, writes Reuters.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un tells China he’s committed to denuclearization, reports Reuters.

And is Kim trustworthy? 78 percent of South Koreans think so, a new poll finds, reports The Washington Post.

IT’S THURSDAY 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.

FATAL GUARD TRANSPORT CRASH HIGHLIGHTS SPATE OF AVIATION INCIDENTS: “All nine people aboard an aging cargo plane making its final military flight Wednesday were killed when the aircraft nosedived into a Georgia highway,” reports CNN.

“The Puerto Rico Air National Guard WC-130 was carrying nine crew members when it crashed, the Guard said in a statement. It was flying from the coastal city of Savannah, Georgia to Tucson, Arizona, where it was to be decommissioned.

“The plane involved in Wednesday's crash was at least 50 years old, according to an official familiar with the aircraft.”

Additionally, an Air Force B-1B Lancer made an emergency landing in Texas Tuesday, reports the Military Times.

The Guard crash and emergency bomber landing are the latest in a string of recent military aviation incidents that have drawn scrutiny from both Congress and the military services.

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), commenting on aviation accidents, said last month military readiness is at “crisis point,” via your Morning D correspondent.

“Given the urgency and importance of this issue, there can be no higher priority for the Department of Defense than ensuring that our aircraft are safe and that pilots get the training they need,” he said then. “Nothing should divert us from that mission.”

But Navy Secretary Richard Spencer says there’s no data to support a correlation between aviation accidents in the Navy and Marine Corps and inadequate funding, adds our colleague Jacqueline Klimas: “There is not enough data right now to tell you that there's an exact correlation,” Richard Spencer told reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon.

“Yet Spencer added in a Pentagon press briefing that while additional funding for flight hours can help, training is already in line with the necessary requirements.

“Gen. Robert Neller, the commandant of the Marine Corps, also told reporters he’s ‘not sure funding would have changed the outcome’ in a KC-130 crash last July that killed 16 troops.”

EXCLUSIVES — PENTAGON FUNDING BOOSTS GO TO EQUIPMENT, NOT READINESS, according to a new report by the Center for International Policy: Defense Department funding increases in the fiscal 2018 omnibus went towards major weapons programs rather than military readiness, says the report, provided to Morning D ahead of its release.

Among the systems boosted the most by the measure include the M-1 Abrams tank, which received funding for 29 additional vehicles; the F-35, at 20 additional fighters; and the AH-64 Apache helicopter, at 17 additional aircraft, the report adds.

“Congressional generosity towards major weapons contractors appears to have more to do with pork barrel politics than a careful assessment of defense needs,” the report’s author, William Hartung, said in a statement. “These expenditures will do little to address items like training and maintenance that have been identified as urgent needs, but they will go far in padding the profits of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and other major defense contractors.”

— FORMER SERVICE SECRETARIES REBUT MATTIS ON TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBERS: Three military service secretaries, each of whom served under President Barack Obama, are rebutting statements by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that his service chiefs didn't know whether transgender service members compromise unit cohesion.

“We cannot report that a problem emanated from a transgender” person, Mattis said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month. “We cannot under the [former Defense Secretary Ash] Carter policy do that. So the question you’ve asked the service chiefs and the chairman are ones that, right now, the Carter policy prohibits that very information from coming up, because it’s private information. It’s impossible for them to respond to you.”

All four service chiefs have told Congress they are not aware of any harm transgender service members have caused to military units.

“As Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley testified, the situation has been ‘monitored very closely’ so that any problems could be nipped in the bud,” former military service secretaries Ray Mabus, Deborah Lee James and Eric Fanning said in a statement provided to Morning D by the Palm Center, adding that the Carter policy encourages reporting of any issues related to transgender personnel.

U.S. TRANSFERS FIRST DETAINEE OUT OF GITMO UNDER TRUMP, reports the NYT: “The Pentagon has transferred a Guantánamo Bay prisoner to the custody of Saudi Arabia, a spokeswoman announced on Wednesday. The handoff is the first time a detainee has left the wartime prison under President Trump, who vowed to fill it back up but has now instead overseen a reduction in its population.

“The prisoner, Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi, is unlikely to be set free soon. American officials intend for him to serve the roughly nine years remaining in a 13-year sentence he received after pleading guilty before a military commission to terrorism-related offenses involving a 2002 Qaeda attack on a French-flagged oil tanker off Yemen’s coast...

“The Pentagon said on Wednesday that Mr. Mattis had provided updated policy guidance about when to propose transferring detainees to Guantánamo ‘should that person present a continuing, significant threat to the security of the United States.’”

IRAN NUKE DEAL WITHDRAWAL — NOT IF FOR TRUMP, BUT HOW? Reports Reuters: “U.S. President Donald Trump has all but decided to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord by May 12 but exactly how he will do so remains unclear, two White House officials and a source familiar with the administration’s internal debate said on Wednesday.

“There is a chance Trump might choose to keep the United States in the international pact under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, in part because of ‘alliance maintenance’ with France and to save face for French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trump last week and urged him to stay in, the source said.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns against scrapping the deal, also via Reuters.

UKRAINE, SEEKING JAVELINS, HALTED COOPERATION WITH THE MUELLER PROBE, reports The New York Times: “In Ukraine, where officials are wary of offending President Trump, four meandering cases that involve Mr. [Paul] Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, have been effectively frozen by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor.

“The cases are just too sensitive for a government deeply reliant on United States financial and military aid, and keenly aware of Mr. Trump’s distaste for the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.

“The decision to halt the investigations by an anticorruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles, called Javelins.”

And Ukraine decides to expand sanctions on Russian tycoons to mirror those imposed by the U.S., adds Reuters.

THE U.S. SHOULD CONSIDER A CYBERATTACK TO PUNISH PUTIN, MCCAIN WRITES IN HIS MEMOIR, via Defense News: “Sen. John McCain wrote in his new book that America should seriously consider a cyberattack to retaliate for Russia’s meddling in U.S. elections, to send a strong message to the superpower.

“‘I’m of the opinion that unless [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is made to regret his decision he will return to the scene of the crime again and again,’ wrote McCain, the well-known Arizona Republican who is battling brain cancer.”

CHINA TECH IN U.S. CROSSHAIRS: “The Pentagon is moving to halt the sale of phones made by Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. in retail outlets on U.S. military bases around the world, citing potential security threats they say the devices could pose,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

“The move intensifies a squeeze the Trump administration has put on the two Chinese makers of telecommunications gear and mobile devices. Washington officials have said Beijing could order Chinese manufacturers to hack into products they make to spy or disable communications. Huawei and ZTE have said that would never happen.”

Additionally, the U.S. is weighing more curbs on Chinese telecom firms over national-security concerns, adds the WSJ.

— CHINA INSTALLS CRUISE MISSILES ON ISLANDS, reports CNBC: “China has quietly installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three of its fortified outposts west of the Philippines in the South China Sea, a move that allows Beijing to further project its power in the hotly disputed waters, according to sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence reports.

“Intelligence assessments say the missile platforms were moved to the outposts in the Spratly Islands within the past 30 days, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity...

“By all accounts, the new coastal defense systems represent a significant addition to Beijing's military portfolio in one of the most contested regions in the world.”

Meanwhile, China is opening a factory to build engines for hypersonic missiles and spaceplanes, reports Popular Science.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants a strategic Paris-Delhi-Canberra axis amid Pacific tension, writes Reuters.

And the Pentagon warns airmen of laser attacks near China’s Djibouti base, via the South China Morning Post.

SPEED READ

— The U.S. remains the world’s top military spender, according to a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Defense News

— The Navy will stop naming commanders fired for misconduct: USA Today

— Does the Defense secretary want to change Navy deployments? Defense News

— Did Israel mimic U.S. planes to strike Iranian bases in Syria? Task & Purpose

— Syrian rebels prepare to quit south Damascus: Reuters

— Donors want Somalia to reform its army faster: Reuters

— Former Obama administration officials defend the Iran nuclear deal: Defense News

— The Pentagon thinks self-driving cars can save lives in war: The Washington Post

— The B-21 bomber is headed to three U.S. bases: AP

— A report warns of the Navy’s overreliance on technology: Business Insider

— What it means to be a female military aviator: NYT Magazine

— The Marine Corps plans to fly its MV-22 Osprey until 2060: Warrior Maven

— And it wants to expand rifle squads’ purview: Marine Corps Times

— The Army National Guard moves toward more training days and short-notice deployments: Military.com

— Army recruits will stay under drill sergeants longer: Stars and Stripes

— The Army will use locator beacons to help locate lost troops: Army Times

— The Army may dye gear to its new camouflage pattern: Army Times

— Experts work to develop guidelines for space war: Space.com

— New legislation would force the Pentagon to report opioid prescriptions: Military Times

— The man behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial returns to tend it: The Washington Post

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