HEY, THEY’RE JUST SHORT-RANGE MISSILES: As President Trump works to get the derailed nuclear talks with North Korea back on track, he continues to downplay the threat from missile tests and side with Kim Jong Un on joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

In his latest letter to Trump, Kim complained about the military drills — which North Korea claims are a rehearsal for an invasion — and suggested the recent flurry of missile tests would stop once the “war games” with the South are over. But when the annual exercises ended last week, North Korea again tested what it calls it a new, “super-large” multiple rocket launch system.

On Friday and again at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Trump insisted the short-range tests were okay with him and that the joint U.S.-Republic of Korea military exercises were “a total waste of money.”

“I’m not happy about it. But again, he’s not in violation of an agreement,” Trump said. “We speak. I received a very nice letter from him last week. We speak. He was upset that South Korea was doing the ‘war games,’ as you call them. I don’t think they were necessary either, if you want to know the truth.”

Trump brushed off the North Korean provocations while sitting next to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had a distinctly different take on the testing of missiles that could reach his country.

“So our position is very clear: that the launch of short-range ballistic missiles by North Korea clearly violates the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Abe said, according to a White House transcript . “So in that sense, it was extremely regrettable for us to experience another round of the launch of the short-range ballistic missiles by North Korea in recent days.”

THIS IS NOT OKAY: “I think President Trump is in complete denial that these missiles mean nothing. They mean a lot,” said Joseph Yun, the former U.S. special representative for North Korean policy.

“You heard President Trump saying, you know, he's gotten love letters. This is all OK. But it is not OK. He's threatening to neighbors and our allies like South Korea and Japan,” said Yun, who is now an analyst for CNN.

“I think it speaks volumes about the fact that three meetings between President Trump and Kim Jong Un has led to nothing substantive so far. So I'm quite concerned. What these three meetings have done is rather they have empowered Kim Jong Un. He's more confident,” Yun said Saturday. “Somehow to imagine for President Trump that he can resolve this issue by himself with Kim Jong Un is completely playing into hands of Kim Jong Un, and we've got to be worried about that.”

NOT HAPPY ABOUT THE ‘WAR GAMES’ EITHER: In France, Trump said he’s allowed a “modified version” of the annual exercises to go forward because U.S. commanders insist the training is vital to maintain the readiness of U.S. and South Korean forces to defend the South from the North.

“I said to my people, ‘You can have them or not. I would recommend against them, but I’m going to let you do exactly what you want to do.’ I said that to all of my people. I said, ‘I don’t want to interfere because I think if you want to do them, you can do them, if you think it’s necessary. But I think it’s a total waste of money.’”

Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre ( @jamiejmcintyre ) and edited by Kelly Jane Torrance ( @kjtorrance ). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here . If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense .

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HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord will brief reporters at 12:15 p.m. on “acquisition reform and innovation” in the newly renovated Pentagon Briefing Room. The on-the-record event should be streamed live at www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events/ .

ALSO TODAY: The White House says French President Emmanuel Macron will join President Trump at today’s press conference marking the end of the annual Group of Seven summit.

G7 NOT BECOMING G8 ANY TIME SOON: Trump’s suggestion that maybe it’s time to allow Russia back into the Group of Seven major world economies failed to get traction among the other members of the club at this weekend’s meeting.

On CNN Sunday, former Pennsylvania Republican senator Rick Santorum called Trump’s advocating on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin “a bad policy call” on the president's part.

“I like a lot of things this president is doing. I don't like the way he deals with some of these dictators like — whether it's North Korea or Russia,” said Santorum, who is now a CNN contributor. “And I'm disappointed he's making the call. And I hope that it's resisted and he's [Putin] not included.”

PUTIN ORDERS TIT FOR TAT: Meanwhile, Putin has ordered his military to come up with a response to the Pentagon’s test of a ground-launched cruise missile that is no longer banned since the demise of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

“I instruct the ministries and relevant departments to analyze the level of threat posed by the actions of the United States to our country and take comprehensive measures to prepare a symmetrical response,” Putin said in remarks to a meeting of his security council, as seen on Russian TV. “We were simply forced and were obliged, of course, to ensure the security of our people and our country. We are doing this now and will certainly do in the future.”

The United States argues the Cold War-era treaty had outlived its usefulness since Russia had been violating it for years and it doesn't apply to China, which has used the treaty restrictions to take over as the world’s leading producer of intermediate-range ballistic and cruise missiles.

REJOINING THE G7 IN 9 EASY STEPS: The Heritage Foundation says if Russia wants to rejoin the Group of Seven nations, all it needs to do is meet nine specific conditions that demonstrate its willingness to act peacefully and responsibly. To wit:



Fully restore Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory. Pay full compensation and economic reparations to Ukraine for its actions since 2014. Release all Ukrainian political prisoners who have been held in custody since 2014. Release the 24 Ukrainian sailors who have been held in custody since 2018. Formally apologize to the Crimean Tatars for their treatment during Russia’s occupation of Crimea. Acknowledge responsibility for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014 and suitably compensate the families of those killed in the incident. Comply fully with the 2008 six-point cease-fire agreement with Georgia. End its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and demonstrate a genuine willingness to work with the international community to bring a political end to the Syrian civil war. Cease all meddling in the domestic elections of the United States and its allies.

The latest analysis from Luke Coffey and Alexis Mrachek concludes Putin is not to be trusted. “Since 1999, Putin has done nothing to indicate that he would be a trustworthy partner to America,” they write. “At almost every opportunity, he has pursued policies that undermine U.S. national interests and the interests of America’s closest partners.”

GRAHAM BEATS DRUM ON AFGHAN TROOP DRAWDOWN: You know that Sen. Lindsey Graham is worried that President Trump is going to pull the plug on the U.S. mission in Afghanistan the way he keeps perseverating on the subject.

“Mr. President, lowering the cost of this war is a noble endeavor. We've lost 14 soldiers this year. God bless them all, but they're an insurance policy against another 9/11. They act as a virtual wall against ISIS and al Qaeda,” Graham said on the CBS Sunday program Face the Nation.

Graham says the pending deal with the Taliban will likely cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by about 5,000. “The number is going to be around 8,600. To go below that, I think, would be really risky,” Graham said. “So I'm going to introduce legislation requiring the secretary of defense and the secretary of state to certify to the Congress that to go below 8,600 does not create an additional national security risk with the homeland.”

But he’s clearly worried Trump wants to bring all the troops home. “I am concerned that the president, in his desire to get out, is going to make the same mistake that President Obama did in Iraq,” Graham told CBS’s Margaret Brennan.

“I think in one day we lost 3,000 Americans because we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan. Almost 3,000 Americans died because we ignored Afghanistan,” he said.

INVOKING THE GHOST OF JOHN McCAIN: Asked about Cindy McCain’s campaign to bring civility back to politics to honor her husband on the first anniversary of his death, Graham invoked the memory of his close friend in his warning about Afghanistan

“What do I miss most about John McCain? That steady understanding of the world,” Graham said. “If he were alive today, he would be saying exactly what I'm saying about Afghanistan. I know we're all tired of being over there. I know it's been costly in blood and treasure, but there is no way to leave Afghanistan, in my view, honorably and safely without having a counterterrorism force with intel capability to protect the American homeland.”

ON BLOOD AND TREASURE: Last week, the Pentagon announced the names of the two Green Beret soldiers who were killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan, the 13th and 14th deaths of 2019.

Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe wrote about one of the fallen soldiers, Master Sgt. Luis DeLeon-Figueroa, on his Facebook page , noting that he and DeLeon-Figueroa share the same hometown of of Chicopee, Mass.

Lamothe didn’t know the soldier despite their connection, even though as a reporter Lamothe figures he spent probably six months over the last decade in Afghanistan. “That is part of the job for someone like Deleon-Figueroa, a silent professional in the U.S. military: Your good work often stays in the shadows unless something bad happens,” he wrote.

“It's a weird feeling writing about the U.S. military in Afghanistan after so many years at war there. One of the most common questions I get when I mention a trip I'm making is, ‘We're still there?’ Yes, we are. Some 13,000 to 14,000 U.S. troops are there, plus thousands more contractors, many of whom also are veterans. Add on top of that aid workers, diplomats and assorted others, and you start to get the picture,” Lamothe wrote.

“Web traffic statistics show that in many cases, Americans don't care about Afghanistan news anymore. It's still getting churned out, but they don't read it or engage with it. They leave it be for someone else. Just because the war is often drowned out on cable news by political food fights doesn't mean it isn't still ongoing. Chicopee, a city of about 55,000, has now lost at least five U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

NOT THE ONION: According to the news site Axios, President Trump has more than once suggested — in all seriousness — that the government try dropping a nuclear bomb into the eye of an approaching hurricane to prevent it from reaching the United States.

During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump reportedly said, "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them? … They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?" which Axios said was a paraphrase of the president's words, according to a source who was there.

The briefer was said to have been “knocked back on his heels.”

"You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting,” the source recounted. “People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, 'What the f---? What do we do with this?'"

The Rundown

AP: High-stakes gamble: Iranian envoy gets surprise G7 invite

Washington Examiner: Terror-sponsor Iran threatens Washington think tank with actions by 'security apparatuses'

Reuters: The last rebel stronghold: Syrians at the border await war's end

AP: Minister says Turkey, US have begun work on Syria safe zone

New York Times: Hezbollah Says Drones That Crashed in Beirut Suburbs Came from Israel

Washington Examiner: Three ship commanders fired in two days, raising questions about Navy's 'zero-error tolerance' culture

Military Times: Russian-Chinese air patrol was an attempt to divide allies, says top US Air Force official in Pacific

AP: Drone war takes flight, raising stakes in Iran, US tensions

Breaking Defense: Air Force Joins Army Parachuting Into InfoWar; Creates New Unified Subcommand

Washington Post: ‘Goodbye, Old Man’: How a McCain came home from war to mourn his famous father

NBC News: Only 2 Iraqi translators who worked with U.S. troops got U.S. visas last year

Real Clear Defense: Congress Will Get the Afghan Air Force It Asked For

Calendar

MONDAY | AUGUST 26

2 p.m. 5000 Seminary Road, Arlington. National Defense Industrial Association 2019 iFEST forum, with Charles "Fred" Drummond, deputy assistant defense secretary for force education and training; James Woolsey, president of the Defense Acquisition University; and John Schwartz, head of enterprise business development at edX. www.trainingsystems.org/events

TUESDAY | AUGUST 27

8 a.m. 2401 M Street N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Gen. Gustave Perna, commander of U.S. Army Materiel Command. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

10:30 a.m. 5000 Seminary Road, Arlington. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Rory Quinn, Marine representative in the Office of the Defense Secretary's Close Combat Lethality Task Force, delivers remarks on "Close Combat Training via Integrated Visual Augmentation System,” to the National Defense Industrial Association's 2019 iFEST forum. www.trainingsystems.org/events

12 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Woodrow Wilson Center discussion on "Chilling U.S.-China Economic Relations: Options for Taiwan,” with Chien-Huei Wu, scholar at the Taiwan Institute of European and American Studies. www.wilsoncenter.org/event

WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 28

10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on "The Importance of U.S.-Japan-Korea Trilateral Defense Cooperation,” with Assistant Defense Secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver and Victor Cha, Korea chair at CSIS. www.csis.org/events

12 pm. 1667 K Street N.W. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments discussion on a new report, "Did Dollars Follow Strategy: A Review of the 2020 Defense Budget,” with report author Travis Sharp, research fellow at CSBA. csbaonline.org/about/events

THURSDAY | AUGUST 29

6 p.m. 1750 Independence Ave., S.W. Friends of the National World War II Memorial 75th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany, with Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of former president Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. wwiimemorialfriends.networkforgood.com/events

7 p.m. 70 District Square S.W. Politics and Prose Bookstore book discussion on The Russia Trap: How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear with author George Beebe, director for intelligence and national security at the Center for the National Interest. www.politics-prose.com/events

WEDNESDAY | SEPT 4

7:30 a.m. 1250 S. Hayes St., Arlington. Third annual Defense News conference, featuring Matthew Donovan, acting Air Force Secretary; Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering; Ryan McCarthy acting Army secretary; Gen. James McConville, Army chief of staff; and many others. conference.defensenews.com/agenda