Missiles reported to strike Syrian base after chemical attack Presented by Northrop Grumman

With Eli Okun, Connor O’Brien, Jacqueline Klimas and Wesley Morgan

BREAKING OVERNIGHT — MISSILES REPORTED TO STRIKE SYRIAN AIR BASE, reports The Associated Press: “Missiles struck an air base in central Syria early on Monday, the country’s state-run news agency reported, killing at least 14 people, including Iranians, according to a war-monitoring group.


Although the SANA news agency said it was likely “an American aggression,” U.S. officials said the United States had not launched the strikes.

Israel has also struck inside Syria in recent years. The Israeli military had no immediate comment Monday on the reported missile strike.

Still, Russia is accusing Israel of launching the strike, the AP adds.

— TRUMP WARNS OF ‘BIG PRICE’ FOR BACKING ‘ANIMAL ASSAD,’ via The Wall Street Journal: “President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his two biggest allies could pay a ‘big price’ for a suspected chemical-weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians, raising the prospect that the U.S. could launch a punitive military strike against Mr. Assad.

“In a series of tweets, Mr. Trump called Mr. Assad an ‘animal,’ criticized Iran for backing the Syrian leader, and took a rare personal shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is vying with the U.S., for power and influence in the Middle East.

“‘Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria,’ Mr. Trump tweeted. ‘President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price…to pay.’”

How Russia clandestinely supports Assad’s regime, Reuters writes.

All options are on the table, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert says via POLITICO’s Eli Okun.

And Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted the president in a statement Sunday, saying the Assad regime was "emboldened" after Trump suggested that it was time to reduce U.S. involvement in the country, via POLITICO’s Brent D. Griffiths.

— ASSAD GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF CHEMICAL ATTACK, reports The New York Times: “Dozens of Syrians choked to death after a suspected chemical attack struck the rebel-held suburb of Douma, east of Damascus, with aid groups on Sunday blaming President Bashar al-Assad’s government for the assault and Western governments expressing outrage.

“Rescue workers in Syria reported finding at least 42 people dead in their homes from apparent suffocation, and antigovernment activists circulated videos of lifeless men, women and children sprawled out on floors and in stairwells, many with white foam coming from their mouths and nostrils.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump agree on the need to establish responsibility for the chemical weapons use and to coordinate their efforts at the U.N. Security Council, Reuters reports.

And last week Trump vowed U.S. troops would leave Syria “very soon.” But the latest chemical attack pulls him back in, the NYT writes

IT’S MONDAY 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.

MD TRIVIA: Harris Walker was the first to correctly identify Col. James Burton as the advocate for realistic operational testing, famous for his work exposing flaws with the early design of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. He was also a member of the very first graduating class from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Check back Friday for this week’s question.

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HAPPENING TODAY — TRUMP DINES WITH SENIOR MILITARY LEADERS: The president is scheduled to have dinner tonight with senior military leaders after receiving a briefing from them at the White House.

COMING THIS WEEK — COAST GUARD COMMANDANT SPEAKS AT NAVY LEAGUE EXPOSITION: The Navy League holds its “Sea Air Space" global maritime exposition, Monday through Wednesday, including a luncheon speech Tuesday from Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zunkunft, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.

The full three-day schedule of sessions and events is here.

— NATIONAL GUARD SET TO DEPLOY TO THE U.S.- MEXICO BORDER, reports POLITICO’s Cristiano Lima: “One hundred and fifty National Guard members will be dispatched to the U.S.-Mexico border next week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said on Friday, the first troop deployment announced as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to curb illegal immigration into the U.S...

“Later Friday night, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Secretary of Defense James Mattis confirmed that National Guard troops had begun to deploy to the southwest border.”

The Pentagon's “action memo” for the deployment is here.

White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert defends the move, saying illegal immigration is “a problem of a proportion at this point that can’t go unaddressed,” via Eli.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says the deployment is not enough to secure the border and that the root causes of illegal immigration need to be addressed, via the Washington Examiner.

What happened when Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush sent troops to the border, writes the AP.

And, on Thursday, National Guard Bureau chief Gen. Joseph Lengyel appears before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the Guard and Reserve’s fiscal 2019 budget request.

ALSO ON CAPITOL HILL THURSDAY — MATTIS AND DUNFORD AT HASC: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford testify Thursday at the House Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2019 defense budget, as the committee prepares to mark up the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

— ESPER AND MILLEY AT SASC: Army Secretary Mark Esper and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss their service’s fiscal 2019 budget request.

Although Esper is scheduled to testify before SASC Thursday, HASC won’t hear publicly from the service chiefs on defense posture, our colleague Connor O’Brien reports.

— HASC PANEL EYES COMBAT AVIATION AMID RECENT ACCIDENTS: HASC’s Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee hears from Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps leaders on the fiscal 2019 combat aviation budget request amid a recent spate of military aviation accidents.

Two soldiers were killed late Friday in an Apache helicopter crash at Fort Campbell, Ky., reports the Military Times, who the Army has subsequently identified, adds the Washington Examiner.

The Fort Campbell crash is one more adding to the death toll in a rising number of aviation accidents, which have caused the deaths of at least 133 service members from fiscal 2013 to 2017, the Military Times adds.

The Navy, flush with cash, is boring in on aviation readiness, writes Defense News.

Meanwhile, HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) warns military readiness is a “crisis point,” via CNN.

FOR YOUR RADAR — MISSILE DEFENSE REVIEW IS NOW EXPECTED IN MAY, Defense News reports: “The Trump administration’s review of America’s missile defense capabilities is now expected to be released in May.

“The Missile Defense Review, a strategy document designed to take a holistic view of America’s missile defense posture, was expected to be released in February. But finally, it appears the document is nearing completion.”

But first, on Wednesday, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee holds a closed hearing with U.S. Strategic Command chief Gen. John Hyten

And Missile Defense Agency chief Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves testifies before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on his agency’s fiscal 2019 budget request.

Greaves’ testimony comes as his agency successfully got the Army’s Patriot and THAAD missile defense systems to talk in a test, adds Defense News.

NORTH KOREA SAID TO OFFER DENUCLEARIZATION TALKS, reports the NYT: “North Korea has told the United States that its leader, Kim Jong-un, is willing to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, administration officials said on Sunday, the first direct confirmation that he intends to participate in an extraordinary meeting with President Trump about his nuclear program.

“The North delivered its message in secret talks between its representatives and American officials as they prepare for the summit meeting, which is expected to take place next month.”

Meanwhile, the Koreas discuss communication issues ahead of this month’s planned summit, the AP adds.

And here’s how South Korea’s Moon Jae-in brought Trump and Kim Jong-Un together, writes the NYT.

— CHINA APPLIES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ ON NORTH KOREA TOO, writes the AP: “As the U.S.-North Korea summit looms, President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy on North Korea may be working — thanks to China.

“Beijing appears to have gone well beyond U.N. sanctions on its unruly neighbor, reducing its total imports from North Korea in the first two months this year by 78.5 and 86.1 percent in value — a decline that began in late 2017, according to the latest trade data from China. Its exports to the North also dropped by 33 percent to 34 percent both months.”

China also widens its ban on exports of items potentially used in weapons to North Korea, adds the WSJ.

INDUSTRY INTEL — HOW STEALTHY IS BOEING’S SUPER HORNET? Asks Defense News: “The Block III Super Hornet is getting a marginal increase in stealth capability, but if you’re expecting the invisible aircraft of President Donald Trump’s dreams, think again.

“Building a ‘stealthy’ Super Hornet has been one of Trump’s talking points since he was elected to the presidency. During a March trip to Boeing’s plant in St. Louis, he claimed the U.S. military would buy Super Hornets with ‘the latest and the greatest stealth and a lot of things on that plane that people don’t even know about.’”

MAKING MOVES — NSC SPOKESMAN TO LEAVE WHITE HOUSE, reports POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson: “National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton said Sunday that he plans to leave the White House — a move that will leave President Donald Trump without one of the earliest and sharpest defenders of his ‘America First’ foreign policy...

“Anton said he plans join Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center, the conservative school’s Washington, D.C. outpost, as a writer and lecturer.”

SPEED READ

— VA secretary nominee Ronny Jackson gives his first interview: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

— The rear admiral may have to pass up a promotion, and $1 million, if confirmed: The Washington Post

— How a Koch-backed veterans group gained influence in Trump’s Washington: The Washington Post

— John Bolton’s White House arrival leaves the Defense secretary looking isolated: Financial Times

— How Chief of Staff John Kelly faded as a White House disciplinarian: The Washington Post

— Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster gets a warm send-off on his last day as White House national security adviser: POLITICO

— The Navy’s broken ships of 2017 are coming back to life: Defense News

— Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, head of the 7th Fleet, talks about righting the ship: Defense News

— Russia’s anxious northern neighbors toughen up: POLITICO

— The U.S. targets allies of Putin with the latest round of sanctions: WSJ

— The U.S. and Afghanistan expand airstrikes on Taliban drug labs: Reuters

— And an Afghan airstrike kills an Islamic State commander: Reuters

— Iran tells Trump he would regret dropping the nuclear deal: Reuters

— Inside the Army’s new basic training exercise: The Post and Courier

— The Air Force is preparing to reform its space mission, Secretary Heather Wilson says: POLITICO

— It’s an ‘unprecedented time’ says the government’s top space guru: POLITICO

— The Navy training overhaul passes its first milestone: Navy Times

— The Trump administration is reported to grant a license for a Taiwan submarine project: Reuters

— This Pentagon paper explains why the administration is reining in the tech trade with China: Defense One

— Japan activates its first marines since World War II to bolster defenses against China: Reuters

— How Singapore created one of the strongest militaries in Southeast Asia: Business Insider

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