Subject: POLITICO's Morning Defense, presented by BAE Systems: Is terrorism behind the EgyptAir crash? — McCain details plans to boost defense spending — More U.S. forces could be headed to Libya soon
From: Morning Defense <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 May 2016 06:32:53 -0600

By Jeremy Herb | 05/20/2016 08:30 AM EDT

With Louis Nelson, Connor O'Brien and Ellen Mitchell

THE EGYPTAIR CRASH - IS IT TERRORISM? The search continues for wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 804 this morning, with many questions, including whether terrorism is involved, left unanswered. Reuters has the latest here: "The Egyptian military found the personal belongings of passengers and other debris from an EgyptAir jet floating in the Mediterranean, Cairo said on Friday, confirming that the plane had plunged into the sea with 66 people on board ... President Adbel Fattah al-Sisi offered condolences for those on board, amounting to Cairo's official confirmation of their deaths."

"While there was no official explanation of the cause of the crash, suspicion immediately fell on Islamist militants who have been fighting against Egypt's government since Sisi toppled an elected Islamist leader in 2013. In October, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for blowing up a Russian jetliner that exploded after taking off from an Egyptian tourist resort. Russian investigators blamed a bomb smuggled on board."

- TRUMP QUICKLY DEEMS THE CRASH A 'TERRORIST ATTACK,' our colleague Nick Gass writes on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's quick declaration: "Hours after EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo, officials chose their words carefully, saying they were ruling nothing out in the investigation. But not Donald Trump, who tweeted Thursday morning that it '[l]ooks like yet another terrorist attack' remarking upon the flight departing from Paris. 'When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness,' Trump tweeted."

HAPPY FRIDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're ready to catch our breath - and do it all again next week. Keep the tips, pitches and NDAA feedback coming at [email-masked], and follow on Twitter @jeremyherb, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

MORNING D TRIVIA: This week's question has an NDAA theme and comes from our colleague Connor O'Brien: When was the last time the National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law before the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year? The first person to email Morning D ([email-masked]) with the correct answer, or the closest to it, gets a mention in Monday's edition.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Senate plans to take up its defense policy bill next week, keeping the steady stream of defense legislation moving on Capitol Hill. And if that wasn't enough, the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee also expects to mark up its defense spending bill. Thankfully, it appears as though the House plans to take up the Energy and Water appropriations bill on the floor next week - rather than the Defense appropriations measure.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, told Morning D Thursday he was happy the Senate's defense spending bill would keep to the funding levels in last year's budget agreement, unlike the House's bill, which moves an additional $16 billion from the Overseas Contingency Operations war account to fund base programs. Asked how the two will be reconciled, Durbin predicted: "Painfully. Eventually."

- McCAIN DETAILS HIS PLAN TO BOOST DEFENSE SPENDING: Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain said Thursday evening he'll likely push for at least $17 billion in additional defense funding when the annual defense policy bill hits the Senate floor next week. McCain told a forum at the Brookings Institution he'll offer an amendment to "increase defense spending above the current spending caps" as well as reverse cuts in modernization and readiness. "I would say that we need at least the $17 billion additional dollars ... to keep us at the level of last year," the Arizona Republican said, noting the difference between the Pentagon's budget request and its projection from last year.

- WEEKEND READING: The Senate NDAA bill text was released Thursday, and is here. It's 1,666 pages. 

CHAOS IN THE HOUSE - PROVISION IN NDAA SPARKS MAJOR FEUD OVER LGBT AMENDMENT, our colleagues Rachael Bade, Ben Weyl and John Bresnahan report on the raucous fight during the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill debate: "The House erupted in chaos Thursday morning with Democrats crying foul after Republicans hastily convinced a few of their own to switch their votes and narrowly block an amendment intended to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from discrimination. It was an unruly scene on the floor, with Democrats chanting 'shame!' after GOP leaders just barely muscled up the votes to reject, 212-213, an amendment by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney
 (D-N.Y.) that would have effectively barred federal contractors from getting government work if they discriminate against the LGBT community."

The amendment was seeking to blunt a provision that Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) added to the House NDAA during committee markup. Democrats and a group of Republicans sought to remove it on the floor this week, but their effort was blocked by the House Rules Committee. Russell kept a low profile during Thursday's floor fight. "I'm not the one that has made this the circus," he said after the vote. "This is about protecting our chaplains, our religious service providers, our defense contractors. They've tried to make it into something else."

- HOUSE ALSO BARS CONFEDERATE FLAG FROM VA CEMETERIES, via Bade and Weyl: "The GOP-led House on Thursday morning voted to bar the Confederate battle flag from flying over some federal graveyards, with Speaker Paul Ryan and his top lieutenants joining Democrats to approve the measure despite most Republicans voting against it. Lawmakers voted 265-159 on a Democratic amendment offered by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) that would bar the Civil War symbol from being flown at cemeteries run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was the first time the House has cast a ballot on the divisive issue."

The Milcon/VA bill ultimately passed the House, 295-129. And the Senate easily passed its own package of bills Thursday, 89-8, including the chamber's Milcon/VA spending bill.

** A message from BAE Systems: At BAE Systems, our mission-focused experts leverage advanced cyber technologies and design the world's most secure IT infrastructures used by Intelligence and defense leaders to recognize, manage and defeat threats. When it comes to security, we're ready for any challenge. Learn more at www.baesystems.com/SecureIT. **

2016 WATCH - FORMER DIA DIRECTOR TRIES TO IMPROVE TRUMP'S FOREIGN POLICY TALK, via POLITICO's Nolan D. McCaskill: "Former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn says he's trying to get Donald Trump to be more precise in how he talks about foreign policy, but he defended some of his hardline proposals as simply opening offers in negotiations on world affairs. 'First of all, I don't agree with everything that he said. But he's an individual who's willing to take on a challenge,' the retired lieutenant general, a former President Barack Obama appointee who advises Trump on foreign policy, told Al Jazeera English's 'UpFront.'"

WAR REPORT - DUNFORD SEES AGREEMENT ON U.S. TROOPS IN LIBYA 'ANY DAY,' reports The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe: "The U.S. military's top general said Thursday that the Libyan government is in a 'period of intense dialogue' that could soon lead to an agreement in which U.S. military advisers will be deployed there to assist in the fight against the Islamic State. 'There's a lot of activity going on underneath the surface,' said Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 'We're just not ready to deploy capabilities yet because there hasn't been an agreement. And frankly, any day that could happen.'" 

FLAG! $723K PENALTY! - NFL RETURNING TAXPAYER FUNDS FOR MILITARY TRIBUTES, also via Gass: "The National Football League is returning more than $720,000 in taxpayer money that was used to pay teams for sponsored military tributes. In a letter from the league dated Wednesday and shared Thursday with POLITICO, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote to Arizona Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain that the league would repay $723,734 in funds that it said a Deloitte & Touche-conducted audit revealed went to military appreciation activities rather than recruitment efforts."

SPOTTED: Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. David Goldfein, nominated to be the next Air Force chief of staff, at the Capitol separately for meetings Thursday.

INDUSTRY INTEL - NORWAY'S DEFENSE CHIEF CALLS THE F-35 A MODEL PROGRAM: Norway's State Defense Secretary on Thursday defended the F-35 joint strike fighter as the country prepares to take delivery of the first aircraft next year. "This program has been far more successful than the press would lead you to believe," Norwegian Deputy Defense Minister Oystein Bo said at the Norwegian-American Defense Conference in Washington. Bo called the joint program a model for burden sharing in future large scale development projects, even though many have criticized the program for its cost overruns - the planes now cost $100 million each - and schedule delays.

MILITARY VS. THE NEIGHBORS - V-22s RATTLE ARLINGTON RESIDENTS, The Washington Post's Petula Dvorak details the local complaints here: "Presidential motorcades? Yawn. Inauguration shutdown? Been there, done that, dealt with. But this latest thing? A dark-of-the-night disrupter that looks like an alien warship and rattles windows at 10 p.m.? Not. Cool.

"The folks who live in and around the nation's capital are veterans of everything from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. But in the past few months, cupboards have been shaking and dishes have been rattling as what appear to be V-22 Ospreys - massive, tilt-rotor aircraft that don't look or sound like the zippy dragonfly helicopters we're all used to - hover over Northern Virginia neighborhoods."

MAKING MOVES - HOWARD TAPPED FOR EUROPE: The Pentagon officially announced Thursday that Adm. Michelle Howard, now vice chief of naval operations, has been nominated as commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Europe.

SPEED READ

- China denies its fighter jets conducted a dangerous close-range intercept of a U.S. spy plane: The Wall Street Journal

- Syrian government forces advance into Damascus' rebel-held suburbs: The Associated Press

- Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates rips the White House for its "semantic backflips" on combat: POLITICO 

- NATO formally invites Montenegro to become the 29th member of the transatlantic alliance: The New York Times

- NATO agrees to expand its operations in the Mediterranean Sea to counter human trafficking: Reuters

- The French parliament extends the nation's state of emergency into the summer, long enough to cover the Tour de France and the Euro 2016 soccer tournament: NYT

- Israel's defense minister announces his resignation: AP

- The Navy looks to hire people from outside the service into senior ranks like captain to fill cybersecurity roles: Defense News

- A U.S. soldier who went AWOL from his base near the border of North and South Korea is found on a crowded street in Seoul: Stars and Stripes

- An American civilian who works on a U.S. military base on Okinawa is arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 20-year-old Japanese woman: Stars and Stripes

- Fox's reboot of "24" will focus on an Army Ranger: Military Times

** A message from BAE Systems: At BAE Systems, we work relentlessly to stay ahead of any challenge our customers may face. Our passion and dedication shows in everything we do-from advanced electronic systems to cyber operations and intelligence analysis, from combat vehicles and naval weapons, and from ship maintenance and modernization to vehicle upgrades and services. Knowing that our work makes a difference inspires us to push ourselves and the technologies we create to new levels. That's BAE Systems. That's Inspired Work. Learn more about our technologies, systems and services at www.baesystems.com/US. **

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