Subject: POLITICO's Morning Defense: U.S., Russia seek Aleppo cease-fire — Carter says more ISIL commitments coming — SEAL killed in Iraq in a ‘quick reaction force’
From: Morning Defense <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 06:32:53 -0600

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

With Louis Nelson, Connor O'Brien, Austin Wright and Ellen Mitchell

STOPPING THE VIOLENCE IN SYRIA - U.S., RUSSIA TRY TO FIX SYRIAN CEASE-FIRE, our colleague Nahal Toosi writes on the latest agreement between Washington and Moscow in Syria: "The United States and Russia have agreed that the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which has seen severe bloodshed in recent weeks, will be included in a renewed cease-fire agreement, the State Department said Wednesday. The department, however, also urged Russia to pressure the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad to abide by the truce.

"Washington and Moscow reached the agreement on Aleppo and surrounding areas late Tuesday. The arrangement comes two months after a nationwide cease-fire took effect in Syria after intense negotiations by the world powers. Over the past three weeks, however, that broad cease-fire has been on the brink of complete collapse, particularly in Aleppo. An airstrike on a hospital blamed on the Assad regime left dozens dead. In recent days, the U.S. has pushed Moscow to reaffirm what it refers to as a "cessation of hostilities" and to make clear that such an agreement includes Aleppo.

- SYRIA SAYS THE TRUCE WILL LAST 48 HOURS, via The Associated Press: "Sporadic violence persisted in Aleppo on Wednesday as U.S. officials announced an agreement had been reached with Russia to extend Syria's fragile cease-fire to the deeply contested northern city. The Syrian military said the truce would last only 48 hours. Restoration of a partial truce would bring relief to residents on both sides of Syria's largest city after two weeks of relentless violence that has killed nearly 300 people, destroyed hospitals and brought it to the brink of humanitarian disaster."

- RELATIVE CALM IN ALEPPO THIS MORNING, reports Reuters: "Relative calm prevailed on Thursday in the Syrian city of Aleppo following a U.S.-Russian agreement to extend a cessation of hostilities that had crumbled after nearly two weeks of violence between rebels and government forces that killed dozens. Syrian state media said the army would abide by a 'regime of calm' in the city that came into effect at 1 a.m. for 48 hours. But the army again blamed Islamist insurgents for violating the agreement overnight by what it called indiscriminate shelling of some government-held residential areas of the divided city."

CARTER'S EUROPEAN TRIP - DEFENSE SECRETARY 'CONFIDENT' OF MORE MILITARY COMMITMENTS, reports our colleague Connor O'Brien on the secretary's last day in Germany: "Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the conference here Wednesday of the largest contributors to the campaign against the Islamic State will likely yield additional military support. 'I'm confident that today's meeting will accordingly produce additional military commitments,' Carter said during a press conference afterward."

HAPPY THURSDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we wish everyone who's celebrating a happy Cinco de Mayo. Keep the tips, pitches and feedback coming at [email-masked], and follow on Twitter @jeremyherb, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

HAPPENING TODAY - OBAMA'S NUCLEAR POLICY: The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a daylong conference on the future of the U.S. nuclear enterprise, including President Barack Obama's legacy, the next nuclear posture review, U.S. nuclear modernization and nuclear deterrence.

ALSO TODAY: Former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control, speak at an event on U.S. perspectives toward Chinese nuclear thinking hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And the Brookings Institution holds a panel discussion this afternoon on America's role in the world.

WAR REPORT - THE SEAL KILLED IN IRAQ WAS WITH A 'QUICK REACTION FORCE': The Navy SEAL killed in Northern Iraq was part of a "quick reaction force" sent to protect U.S. military advisers in a firefight with Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Earlier, the defense secretary had said the SEAL - identified as Navy Petty Officer First Class Charles Keating - was advising Kurdish Peshmerga forces north of the ISIL stronghold of Mosul. But a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad clarified that Keating was part of a force called in by the U.S. advisers after ISIL mounted a surprise attack on a town where they were meeting with Kurdish leaders. 

"He was struck by direct fire, and although he was medevac-ed within the all-important Golden Hour, his wound was not survivable," Col. Steve Warren told reporters. U.S. and coalition aircraft provided support to Kurdish fighters on the ground, with 11 manned aircraft and two drones carrying out 31 strikes, Warren said.

- WHO WAS THE FALLEN SEAL? The Washington Post's Dan Lamothe talks to friends and family of Charles Keating IV: "When Charles H. Keating IV arrived on campus at Indiana University in 2004, he was a top runner from Arizona. But there was more to him than that. A charismatic student, he'd come from a wealthy family whose complicated legacy included collegiate athletic stars, Olympians and a financial scandal in the late 1980s that led to fraud convictions for his father and grandfather.

"Less than three years later, he announced that he would be leaving Indiana early to join the Navy SEALs. The decision didn't surprise most of his teammates, said John Jefferson, who ran with him at Indiana. 'You could write books about Charlie Keating's life and the Keating family,' said Jefferson. 'But we all felt that he was searching for something greater. He kind of did college, and he was a good athlete. He was learning how to get better and get faster. But I think there was always something bigger that he wanted to obtain.'"

IS OBAMA'S WAR AGAINST ISIL LEGAL? AN ARMY CAPTAIN MAY SOON FIND OUT, The New York Times' Charlie Savage reports on a lawsuit filed against the president over the war against the Islamic State: "A 28-year-old army officer on Wednesday sued President Obama over the legality of the war against the Islamic State, setting up a test of Mr. Obama's disputed claim that he needs no new legal authority from Congress to order the military to wage that deepening conflict.

"The plaintiff, Capt. Nathan Michael Smith, an intelligence officer stationed in Kuwait, voiced strong support for fighting the Islamic State but, citing his "conscience" and his vow to uphold the Constitution, he said he believed that the conflict lacked proper authorization from Congress. 'To honor my oath, I am asking the court to tell the president that he must get proper authority from Congress, under the War Powers Resolution, to wage the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,' he wrote."

TOP DOC - CBO RELEASES NDAA COST ESTIMATE: A report from the Congressional Budget projects the House version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act would have a small financial impact, reducing mandatory spending by $206 million over 10 years. The CBO also plans to release an estimate of the bill's discretionary pricetag.

LT. GEN. H.R. MCMASTER STRESSES ARMY MODERNIZATION: The director of the Army Capabilities and Integration Center said Wednesday the Army is "ruthlessly" prioritizing its modernization in the face of severe reductions of forces and funding and ever-growing foreign threats. As the Army shrinks, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said, "the percentage of reduction in Army modernization is greater than as any time after the Vietnam war."

THE VIEW FROM RUSSIA - OPPOSITION ACTIVIST SAYS TRUMP PUTIN'S 'BEST HOPE, via POLITICO's Bryan Bender: "One of Russia's leading opposition activists Wednesday decried the rise of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as the United States' own version of 'Putinism,' saying the New York real estate mogul's election would be the 'best hope' for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his dictatorial regime.

"Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and democratic political activist, said he's committed to 'preventing the rise of Putinism, whether it is in Russia or this country.' 'I wish it would be a joke,' he told the Aspen Institute during a Washington forum. 'It is not. What we are seeing in this election cycle is it's an attack on the American way of life and democracy.'"

- LAWMAKERS TO OBAMA - KEEP MANPADS OUT OF SYRIA: A group of more than two dozen liberal and conservative House members sent a letter to the president on Wednesday, urging him not to send shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles - MANPADS- into Syria. The letter sent was in response to reports the CIA was considering providing the weapons to Syrian rebels.

MAKING MOVES - SWAN HIRES COO: Kate Germano is joining the Service Women's Action Network as its first chief operating officer. Now a Marine lieutenant colonel, she'll officially retire from the military in July.

SPEED READ

- The city of Ramadi has been largely reduced to rubble after the Iraqi military retook it from the Islamic State earlier this year: AP

- Russia's airbase on Syria's coast is still humming, even after Putin declared a partial withdrawal in Syria, as a sign of Moscow's leverage in the conflict: The Washington Post

- Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain acknowledges Trump could damage his reelection prospects back home in Arizona: POLITICO

- The North Korean Workers' Party Congress, the nation's first in 36 years, is expected to solidify Kim Jong Un's status as supreme leader: NYT

- North Korea completes work on a shipyard capable of building a new class of ballistic missile-capable submarines: Defense News

- Russia says it's creating three new divisions to counter NATO's planned expansion along its eastern flank: The Wall Street Journal

- Despite more than $68 billion in U.S. funding for Afghan security forces over the past 14 years, they still can't even clothe themselves: The Washington Post

- The Pentagon is lowering its estimate of the number of people who have faced retaliation for reporting sexual assault in the military: AP

- U.S. service members in South Korea help rescue a woman and three of her children from a burning building: Stars and Stripes

- The 101st Airborne Division conducts the Army's first sealift exercise in 15 years: Military Times

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