CIA drone mission in Africa expands under Trump Presented by Northrop Grumman

With Eleanor Mueller

TOP NEWS: The CIA’s drone mission in Africa is expanded under Trump — The Pentagon preps military options to respond to a potential chemical attack in Syria


ON POLITICO: Congress aims to avert a shutdown with a spending deal

TOP TALKER — CIA DRONE MISSION IN AFRICA EXPANDS UNDER TRUMP: "The CIA is poised to conduct secret drone strikes against Qaeda and Islamic State insurgents from a newly expanded air base deep in the Sahara, making aggressive use of powers that were scaled back during the Obama administration and restored by President Trump," The New York Times reports from Niger.

"Late in his presidency, Barack Obama sought to put the military in charge of drone attacks after a backlash arose over a series of highly visible strikes, some of which killed civilians. The move was intended, in part, to bring greater transparency to attacks that the United States often refused to acknowledge its role in.

"But now the C.I.A. is broadening its drone operations, moving aircraft to northeastern Niger to hunt Islamist militants in southern Libya. The expansion adds to the agency’s limited covert missions in eastern Afghanistan for strikes in Pakistan, and in southern Saudi Arabia for attacks in Yemen."

NORTH KOREA STAGES MILITARY PARADE — WITHOUT ICBMS: "Columns of goose-stepping soldiers and artillery vehicles rolled through a main plaza in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on Sunday, as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding with a large military parade notable for one conspicuous absence: its long-range ballistic missiles," writes the NYT.

"The North’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, including its Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15, have been a main feature of its recent military parades, including one in February, and they have provoked President Trump to the extent that he has threatened military action. Their absence in Sunday’s parade is an encouraging signal for Washington, which has been urging the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to ease tensions and focus on diplomacy aimed at ending his country’s nuclear weapons program.

Meanwhile, U.S intelligence shows North Korea has escalated efforts to conceal its nuclear activity and assesses it could produce five to eight new nuclear weapons this year, reports NBC News.

— U.S. AND NORTH KOREA RESUME TALKS ON RECOVERY OF WAR REMAINS, reports Stars and Stripes: "While the United States and North Korea struggle to get nuclear talks back on track, negotiators moved forward with efforts to bring home the remains of more American troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.

"U.S. and North Korean generals met Friday in the truce village of Panmunjom to discuss the next steps, a spokesman said, more than a month after 55 cases said to contain the remains of U.S. service members were repatriated."

IT’S MONDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where your Morning D correspondent is tapping back in after some R&R, cheesehead in tow. How about that Aaron Rodgers?

We’re always on the lookout for your tips, questions and comments. Get in touch with us at [email protected] and [email protected] and follow us on Twitter @connorobrienNH, @Greg_Hellman and @morningdefense.

HAPPENING TODAY — A FIRST FOR BOLTON: National security adviser John Bolton gives his first public address since joining the Trump White House in April, at noon at the conservative Federalist Society on "Protecting American Constitutionalism and Sovereignty from International Threats."

— FORMER DEFENSE OFFICIALS TALK SPACE FORCE: The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a panel discussion this morning on the Trump administration's push to create a new Space Force, what it means for the Pentagon and the future of national security space.

Panelists include former Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work and retired Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, a former commander of the U.S. Strategic Command.

LATER THIS WEEK — ENERGY SECRETARY TO CONFER WITH SAUDI AND RUSSIAN CONTERPARTS: “U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will meet his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Russia starting on Monday, sources familiar with the matter said, as the Trump administration encourages oil-producing countries to keep output up two months before it is due to renew sanctions on Iran’s crude exports,” reports Reuters.

— HASC EYES ARMY FUTURES COMMAND, SYRIA STRATEGY: The House Armed Services Committee holds a pair of subcommittee hearings this week, its first public meetings after its long summer recess.

The Readiness Subcommittee convenes a hearing Thursday on the new Army Futures Command with Army Undersecretary Ryan McCarthy and Gen. John Murray, the inaugural Futures Command chief. And on Friday, the HASC Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hears from defense officials on U.S. strategy in Syria.

WAR REPORT — U.S. SAYS SYRIA PLANS GAS ATTACK AGAINST REBELS: “President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has approved the use of chlorine gas in an offensive against the country’s last major rebel stronghold, U.S. officials said, raising the prospects for another retaliatory U.S. military strike as thousands try to escape what could be a decisive battle in the seven-year-old war,” via The Wall Street Journal.

“In a recent discussion about Syria, people familiar with the exchange said, President Trump threatened to conduct a massive attack against Mr. Assad if he carries out a massacre in Idlib, the northwestern province that has become the last refuge for more than three million people and as many as 70,000 opposition fighters that the regime considers to be terrorists.”

— U.S. HAS LITTLE LEVERAGE IN IDLIB ASSAULT, writes The Associated Press: "Despite dire U.S. warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster, the Trump administration has little leverage to stop Russia, Iran and Syria pressing ahead with a massive military assault against Syria’s northwest Idlib province.

"Washington has threatened military action in case of a chemical weapons attack but its mixed messaging on retaining a U.S. presence in Syria and a cut in aid has diminished its already limited influence over the seven-year conflict.”

— PENTAGON PREPS MILITARY OPTIONS: "The Pentagon is preparing military options for President Donald Trump to respond if the Syrian government carries through with its threat to use chemical weapons against Idlib, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford said Saturday," the Military Times reported from New Delhi.

"'The president expects us to have military options in the event that chemical weapons are used,' Dunford told reporters traveling with him. 'We have provided updates to him on the development of those military options.'"

"U.S. planning for a counterstrike is one of several areas of friction that have escalated in recent days between U.S. interests and Iranian or Russian-backed interests in the war-torn country."

Meanwhile, Russia says the U.S. dropped phosphorus bombs over Syria, which the Pentagon denies, via Reuters.

Syrian rescuers say government bombing in villages in Idlib and Hama-provinces kill an infant girl, reports the AP.

And a look behind the latest U.S. policy zag in Syria, via the WSJ.

ALSO THIS WEEK — SHUTDOWN CLOCK KEEPS TICKING: Government funding runs out in 20 days, and the House and Senate are only in session together for seven of those days. Still, House and Senate appropriators continue to race against the clock to secure full-year funding for at least the Pentagon and a handful of other federal agencies before the Oct. 1 start of the 2019 fiscal year.

The House and Senate just last week named their negotiators for a massive $857 billion minibus that combines the Defense and Labor-HHS-Education funding bills. House Defense Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas) cited solid progress last week, and her panel was slated to report any remaining issues to the full Appropriations Committee on Friday.

Morning D is keeping tabs on the process to see if appropriators can strike a final deal on the sprawling bill, which would ensure the Pentagon doesn't begin the year with a continuing spending resolution for the first time in over a decade.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DISCUSSED COUP WITH VENEZUELAN OFFICERS: "The Trump administration held secret meetings with rebellious military officers from Venezuela over the last year to discuss their plans to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro, according to American officials and a former Venezuelan military commander who participated in the talks,” reports the NYT.

"Establishing a clandestine channel with coup plotters in Venezuela was a big gamble for Washington, given its long history of covert intervention across Latin America. Many in the region still deeply resent the United States for backing previous rebellions, coups and plots in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil and Chile, and for turning a blind eye to the abuses military regimes committed during the Cold War."

— VENEZUELA DENOUNCES 'SUPPORT FOR MILITARY CONSPIRATORS': "Venezuela’s foreign minister accused the United States of seeking an intervention and supporting military conspiracies, following a report U.S. officials had met with Venezuelan military officers to discuss a coup plot," reports Reuters.

"The Trump administration held secret meetings with rebellious military officers over the last year to discuss their plans to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro, The New York Times reported on Saturday.”

CHAOS GRIPS KABUL AS GUNMEN TAKE TO THE STREETS: “Ordinary life came to a standstill in the Afghan capital on Sunday, with businesses largely shut and many people forced to stay indoors as thousands of young men brandishing knives and assault rifles took to the streets and fired indiscriminately, mostly into the air,” writes The Washington Post.

“The chaos, which lasted for more than eight hours, further underscored the weakness of U.S.-backed President Ashraf Ghani’s government, which is locked in deep internal discord and facing rising militancy.”

The Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for an attack in Kabul, via Reuters.

— OVERNIGHT — MORE TALIBAN ATTACKS ON AFGHAN FORCES: “An Afghan official says that the Taliban has attacked police forces and a pro-government militia in the country’s north, killing 14 of the troops, bringing the death toll from overnight fighting into Monday to 35,” reports the AP.

And here’s how the U.S. government misleads on Afghanistan, writes the NYT

NAVY SHIPS ON NOTICE TO LEAVE NORFOLK AS HURRICANE FLORENCE STRENGTHENS, via Navy Times: "As Florence returned to hurricane status in the Atlantic, the Navy’s U.S. Fleet Forces Command ordered all ships in the Hampton Roads area to set Sortie Condition Bravo ahead of the storm.

"Condition Bravo is a “warning order” set when onset of destructive weather conditions to the port are within approximately 48 hours. Navy officials set that condition Saturday, before tropical storm Florence strengthened to hurricane status on Sunday morning. The weather in the Hampton Roads area is expected to worsen as the week progresses."

SPEED READ

— The Mattis-Trump relationship is put to the test by Woodward’s book: The Hill

— A Central American security conference is scrapped amid U.S. tensions with Guatemala and El Salvador: The Washington Post

— How a potential Chinese-built airport in Greenland could be risky for a vital U.S. Air Force base: Defense News

— Americans return to Guadalcanal, this time to face Beijing: WSJ

— In the Iraqi city of Basra, a week of deadly turmoil: NYT

— Rising violence in Basra highlights the U.S.-Iran fight for influence in Iraq: WSJ

— France and Britain strengthen military relations, but future fighter jet cooperation is “not yet there”: Defense News

— France accuses Russia of trying to spy on satellite data: The Guardian

— A Spy Story: Sergei Skripal was a little fish. He had a big enemy: NYT

— Iran has completed a facility to build advanced centrifuges, the country's nuclear chief says: Reuters

— Iran develops a $5 billion weapon to fight sanctions: WSJ

— The VA secretary vows the VA will be more ‘welcoming’ to women veterans: Military Times

— Former Secretary of State John Kerry calls Trump's Iran policies "dangerous and ill-advised": POLITICO

— Despite demonstrations, Russian elections promise no drama, by design: WSJ

— The U.S. Army is close to greenlighting more lethal Stinger missiles: Defense News

— A long-running sewage spill is discovered at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state: AP

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