Subject: POLITICO's Morning Defense: Taliban could see succession struggle — No big Vietnam arms deals on the horizon — Senate tackles defense bills
From: Morning Defense <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 06:33:06 -0600

By Jeremy Herb | 05/24/2016 08:30 AM EDT

With Louis Nelson, Connor O'Brien and Austin Wright

NOW, THE AFTERMATH - TALIBAN COULD SEE SUCCESSION STRUGGLE AFTER LEADER'S DEATH, The Wall Street Journal reports on the fallout from the killing of the Taliban leader: "The death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour could accelerate the breakup of a movement that ruled Afghanistan and gave sanctuary to al Qaeda before a U.S.-led invasion drove it from power in 2001. Mullah Mansour, about 48, was killed in a U.S. drone strike over the weekend in southwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, President Barack Obama confirmed Monday. But in a reflection of its disarray, the Taliban still wasn't corroborating their leader's death.

"A breakaway faction, however, quickly declared the deceased Mullah Mansour a 'puppet' and vowed to fight whoever succeeded him. In his announcement Monday, ... Those seen as the most likely to now take over the Taliban are considered even less inclined than Mullah Mansour to reconcile with a U.S.-backed government they have fought for years. Some observers fear the further splintering of the group could fuel further violence as Taliban factions fight to assert control over some regions of the country."

- TALIBAN MEET TO TALK SUCCESSOR, DETERMINE HOW MANSOUR WAS TARGETED BY DRONE, writes Reuters: "While the Taliban have yet to confirm the death of their leader Saturday in a remote area in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, senior members of the insurgency's leadership council met to begin choosing Mansour's successor. ... The Taliban have set up a 10-member commission to try to establish how Mansour was targeted by the U.S. drones, sources within the group said."

- AFTER MANSOUR STRIKE, MILITARY WANTS MORE LEEWAY IN TALIBAN FIGHT, via the WSJ: "The death of the Taliban's leader in a U.S. drone strike has scrambled discussions between the U.S. military and the White House over whether to let U.S. forces once again conduct offensive operations against the insurgent group in Afghanistan. The American military wants presidential permission to use airpower to blunt the group's threatened advances this summer, according to several U.S. officials. The White House first wants to see what effect the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Pakistan over the weekend will have on the Taliban, senior administration officials said."

OBAMA IN VIETNAM - ARMS BAN IS LIFTED, BUT BIG-TICKET ITEMS AREN'T ON THE HORIZON, reports our colleague Austin Wright: "The Vietnamese air force won't be flying the most advanced U.S. fighter jets anytime soon. President Barack Obama's just-announced decision to fully lift the decades-old ban on lethal arms sales to Vietnam is a symbolically important step that analysts say could lead to more sales of maritime-security equipment to the country, which has tangled with China over claims to islands in the South China Sea.

"But there are several factors that will likely prevent Vietnam from buying more advanced offensive military equipment in the near future, analysts say. The first is the fact that some members of Congress continue to have concerns about the country's human rights record, and Congress has a lot of say over foreign arms deals. ... The second obstacle is that Vietnam's military has a limited defense budget - and likely can't afford the most advanced U.S. military equipment."

- OBAMA CALLS FOR 'PEACEFUL RESOLUTION' IN SOUTH CHINA SEA, via CNN: "President Barack Obama called for the 'peaceful resolution' of disputes in the South China Sea in a speech in Hanoi. 'In the South China Sea, the U.S. is not a claimant in current disputes, but we will stand with our partners in upholding key principles like freedom of navigation,' Obama said Tuesday."

HAPPY TUESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at [email-masked], and follow on Twitter @jeremyherb, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

HAPPENING TODAY - SENATE INCHES FORWARD ON NDAA: The Senate started its, shall we say, methodical work on the National Defense Authorization Act on Monday, as Democrats blocked an attempt to quickly bring bill to the floor. Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain made a motion to immediately take up the bill, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid objected, blocking it from moving forward. Instead, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion to formally begin debate, which likely won't come up for a vote until Wednesday.

The procedural dust-up means that - barring an agreement among Republicans and Democrats on timing and amendments - the Senate is unlikely finish the bill bye weeklong Memorial Day recess, the goal of some Republican leaders. On the Senate floor, McCain argued growing world threats require lawmakers to act as quickly as possible to enact the must-pass measure. But Reid countered that bills like the NDAA "take a long time" and expressed concern that McCain planned to offer an amendment to increase defense funding without addressing limits on domestic spending.

Meanwhile, the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee takes up its defense spending bill ahead of Thursday's full committee markup. The committee is expected to release a summary of the bill today, and the full bill text and committee report will come later in the week. And the Senate's NDAA committee report, released Monday, is here.

- THE NDAA AMENDMENTS BEGIN: The Senate amendments on the NDAA are beginning to roll in, with 16 filed by Monday evening. Some highlights include Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) seeking to repeal the Selective Service and declassify the 28 pages of the 9/11 report, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) calling to increase Army and Marine Corps end strength and toughen the restrictions on transferring Guantanamo detainees and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) seeking to ensure B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers are modernized in the event the B-21 long-range strike bomber is canceled. 

- GILLIBRAND AGAIN PRESSES SEXUAL ASSAULT LEGISLATION: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) hold a joint press conference this morning on Gillibrand's legislation to take the decision to prosecute most criminal cases outside the military's chain of command. The New York Democrat is expected to offer her bill as an amendment to the defense policy bill, and she's citing recent reports that the military's arguments for commanders to prosecute cases were misleading. The Senate defeated her bill on procedural motions 55-45 in 2014 and 50-49 last year. In both cases, 60 votes were needed to proceed.

ALSO TODAY - STIMSON REPORT ON WAR FUNDING: The Stimson Center is out with a report today on the long-term effects of relying on Overseas Contingency Operations funds, warning the continued use of the emergency funding threatens national security. The report calls for a plan to "wind down OCO funding beginning with the expiration of the Bipartisan Budget Act in [fiscal] 2018." Stimson is holding a forum this afternoon on the report's release, with a panel discussion including former Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale and report author Laicie Heeley.

Heeley told Morning D that the latest "gambit" from House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and House appropriators to fund the Pentagon's war budget only partially through the year is a "particularly egregious example" of misusing OCO. "Thornberry and others have argued that the military faces a readiness crisis. If so, this is the last way we should be addressing it," she said.

Up in Connecticut, Defense Secretary Ash Carter visits the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in Groton and the Naval Submarine Base New London. 

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on next steps for U.S. cybersecurity. And Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) testifies on female veterans suicide prevention legislation in the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee

WAR REPORT - IRAQI LEADER CITES EARLY SUCCESSES IN FALLUJAH PUSH, via the AP: "Iraq's prime minister hailed 'big successes' Monday by government troops after launching an offensive to retake Fallujah from Islamic State militants, but the operation promises to be one of the toughest challenges yet for the country's struggling security forces. Troops recaptured some agricultural areas in Garma, a district along the northeastern edge of Fallujah, under intensified Iraqi airstrikes and heavy artillery, said Col. Mahmoud al-Mardhi, who leads Shiite militia forces in the operation."

BOMBINGS IN SYRIA - NEARLY 150 KILLED IN GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED TERRITORY, The New York Times has more on Monday's attacks here: "Two teams of suicide attackers waged coordinated assaults on Monday deep inside Syrian government territory, killing scores of people and piercing a sanctuary for supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. Merely pulling off the bombings was a logistical feat that calls into question the effectiveness of Syria's defenses. To reach the areas attacked, the jihadists would have had to move large quantities of explosives and a group of militants across more than 30 miles of government-controlled territory without being detected, suggesting a major security breach."

SPEED READ

- The U.S. decision to target the Taliban leader with a drone strike is seen as a message to Pakistan, which was not notified beforehand: NYT

- The Pakistani foreign office summons U.S. Ambassador David Hale to "express concern" over the drone strike that killed the Taliban leader: The Washington Post

- The Obama administration says Russia has a "special responsibility" to stop the bombings in Syria, but the Russians don't appear to be listening: POLITICO

- Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford rejects the notion the Pentagon is putting "Band-Aids" on the problems the Islamic State poses in Iraq: The Washington Post 

- The Iraqi army's campaign to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State isn't likely to include the help of ground-level U.S. military advisers: Military Times

- Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient Secretary of State John Kerry gets a warm welcome in Hanoi: The Washington Post

- The EU agrees to help rebuild the Libyan navy to combat human trafficking in the Mediterranean Sea: Reuters

- VA Secretary Robert McDonald is slammed by Republicans after he compares VA wait times to lines at Disneyland: Stars and Stripes

- Outgoing U.S. Africa Command chief Army Gen. David Rodriguez criticizes the outsize attention given to unilateral strikes carried out by his command: Stars and Stripes

- Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) declined an invitation to join Obama in Asia, but he found time to meet with Donald Trump, stoking VP speculation: POLITICO

- The Zumwalt-class destroyer is one of the Navy's most conspicuous ships and among its least understood: U.S. Naval Institute

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