Subject: POLITICO's Morning Defense, presented by BAE Systems: SASC heads to the NDAA finish line — House NDAA amendments pile up — Carter reboots Silicon Valley outpost
From: Morning Defense <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 06:32:08 -0600

By Jeremy Herb | 05/12/2016 08:30 AM EDT

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

TODAY SHOULD BE THE DAY - SASC CHAIRMAN EXPECTS TO FINISH NDAA MARKUP BY 'EARLY AFTERNOON': Things appear to be moving swiftly in the Senate Armed Services Committee's closed markup of the National Defense Authorization Act, with work expected to wrap up by "early afternoon," Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) told Morning D Wednesday evening. "Everything is fine so far."

Other senators on the panel also said they were confident the markup would wrap today (The committee has blocked time through Friday.), which would coincide with the end of the week's floor votes. If that schedule holds, the committee would release a detailed summary of the bill today as well, according to a committee aide. The full bill and committee report wouldn't come until next week.

HE'S BACK - CRUZ JOINS THE NDAA MARKUP: Sen. Ted Cruz has gone from the presidential campaign trail to the crowded Russell Senate Office Building room where the Armed Services panel is marking up the NDAA. And McCain says the Texas Republican has offered several amendments. "He's back in the game," said McCain, who went through the same re-adjustment after his unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2008. "He has to do what everybody has to do when they lose - get back in and get to work. And that's what he's doing."

DEFENSE BILL NO. 2 - HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS PANEL APPROVES THE DEFENSE SPENDING MEASURE: The House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee swiftly cleared the defense spending bill Wednesday evening, setting the stage for full committee markup expected next week. The bill is likely to face Democratic opposition over moving $16 billion from the special Overseas Contingency Operations war budget to fund base Pentagon operations, which Democrats have slammed as a gimmick. But both Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) and Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) defend the move.

"We need increased defense spending, and we certainly need investments in more readiness and modernization of equipment," Frelinghuysen told Morning D after Wednesday's markup. "I think most Republicans and Democrats feel that way." And Rogers told Morning D the bill "handles OCO as good as we can at the moment." Asked about a supplemental spending bill next year, he said: "If necessary. That will be in the wings if we see the need."

AND DEFENSE BILL NO. 3 - FLOOR AMENDMENTS PILE UP FOR THE HOUSE NDAA: The defense authorization bill has 359 amendments filed in the House, as of Wednesday evening, a number likely to grow before the full House takes it up next week. Not all of them will make it to the floor, of course - the House Rules Committee will have a say in that. The list of amendments includes a proposal from House Armed Services Chairman Thornberry to try to slash the size of the National Security Council to 100, down from an estimated 400. The Texas Republican has also offered an amendment to remove a provision requiring women to register for the draft and study the issue instead.

A proposal from Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) would cut the number of Littoral Combat Ships from three to two. And House Armed Services ranking Democrat Adam Smith and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) have an amendment pushing for tougher language that would bar the military from supporting academic institutions that fly the Confederate flag. The amendment is aimed at the Citadel, a military college in South Carolina that still flies the Confederate flag.

- LAWMAKERS OF BOTH PARTIES TAKE AIM AT LGBT PROVISION: A bipartisan bloc of House lawmakers is gearing up to take on a provision added during committee markup from Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) that critics say would strip away LGBT protections for government contractors provided by President Barack Obama's Executive Order. The amendment is sponsored by four Republicans and four Democrats, led by Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). Russell argues that opponents are misunderstanding his proposal, which he says clarifies ambiguous language on religious freedom.

Smith, one of the co-sponsors of Dent's amendment, has said he's on the fence over supporting the NDAA because of the funding shift from OCO to the base. But he also said Wednesday the fate of Russell's proposal will play a role in his ultimate vote. "I'm still very worried about the money, and also worried about the Russell amendment," he told Morning D. "If the Russell amendment is not turned around, that would be a factor as well."

- CBO REPORT: The Congressional Budget Office has released its detailed cost estimate and analysis of the House NDAA, available here.

HAPPY THURSDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're doing our best to help you keep authorization and appropriations straight this week. Keep the tips, pitches and funding tables coming at [email-masked], and follow on Twitter @jeremyherb, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

HAPPENING TODAY - BAKER TESTIFIES ON 'AMERICA'S ROLE IN THE WORLD,' our colleague Nahal Toosi has a preview here: "Not long ago, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, declared with satisfaction that Donald Trump appeared to be 'embracing more of a James Baker view of the world.' This week, Baker has the perfect stage to weigh in on that assessment. The former secretary of state and longtime ally of the Bush family will testify before Corker's committee in a hearing Thursday titled 'Examining America's Role in the World.'"

ALSO TODAY: House Democrats and Republicans critical of the expanding U.S. military role in Iraq and Syria will hold a press conference, urging Congress to debate the war and vote on a war authorization for the campaign against the Islamic state. Led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), the lawmakers have proposed ISIL-related amendments to the NDAA, too.

** A message from BAE Systems: BAE Systems is delivering world-class, on-time repairs and modernization to a growing U.S. Navy surface fleet in the Pacific-and we are enhancing our fleet support by adding new dry dock capability in San Diego. Learn more at www.baesystems.com/SAS. **

SILICON VALLEY SHAKEUP - CARTER OVERHAULS TECH OUTPOST IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, our colleague Austin Wright has more here: "Defense Secretary Ash Carter rebooted his Pentagon outpost in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, detailing a new leadership team that will report directly to him. The outpost, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, is one of Carter's top priorities as Pentagon chief - an effort to get the Defense Department to rely a little less on its traditional contractors and a little more on emerging technologies being developed by leaner, commercial technology firms. In his fourth visit to California's Bay Area as defense secretary, Carter unveiled what he called DIUx 2.0,
 saying he was taking steps to address the outpost's 'shortcomings.'"

FOR YOUR RADAR - FORBES TO LEAD A HEARING ON AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER AT NORFOLK: Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) is leading a field hearing later this month that will be held on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower while pierside at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The May 23 Armed Services hearing is being held jointly by Forbes' Seapower Subcommittee and his fellow Virginian Rep. Rob Wittman's Readiness Subcommittee. The military will fly members to and from Washington for the hearing, according to an email sent to committee aides. U.S. Fleet Forces Command chief Adm. Phil Davidson is expected to testify, along with several Navy captains.

The hearing is taking place less than a month before Forbes' primary in a new congressional district, where he's made his record on military issues a key part of his campaign. But Forbes told Morning D the hearing had no connection to his reelection bid, saying it was intended to bolster the case that a 350-ship Navy is needed. "Anybody that makes that criticism is just silly," he said. "I don't get to control when the National Defense [Authorization] bill comes up, and I don't get to control the fact that that's the largest naval facility in the world."

FIRST LOOK - CHAMBER LETTER URGES THE NEXT PRESIDENT TO TACKLE ACQUISITION REFORM: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is releasing a letter today from former National Security Adviser retired Gen. James Jones, which urges the next president to overhaul the Pentagon's acquisition system. "We urge your incoming administration to avoid the temptation of short-term additive fixes and boldly reinvent DoD's acquisition system," Jones writes in the letter, part of the Chamber's "Dear 45" campaign targeted at the next administration.

WAR REPORT - U.S. GRAPPLES WITH SHOW OF FORCE FROM ISIL IN IRAQ, SYRIA, The Associated Press reports on the view from Washington after three suicide bombs across Baghdad killed at least 80 people on Wednesday: "The Obama administration grappled with a renewed show of force by Islamic State militants on Wednesday as they advanced again toward the ancient Syrian crossroads of Palmyra and exposed the Iraqi capital's frailty through a series of deadly car bomb attacks.

"American officials said the U.S. wasn't shifting its strategy for defeating the extremist group in either country. But the violence across the two central IS battlefields illustrated how the U.S.-led campaign remains dependent on weak allies and even sometimes local leaders and forces that Washington opposes."

2016 WATCH - ONE CANDIDATE'S RISKY BET: TALKING ABOUT HIS PTSD, POLITICO'S Wright dives into the campaign of a Marine veteran running for Congress: "Congressional candidate Sean Barney is doing something few politicians have dared: discussing his personal battle to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder from his tour in Iraq. As a Democrat running for Delaware's at-large House seat, the Marine Corps veteran on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of what he calls his 'alive day' - when he was shot through the neck and nearly died - by revealing publicly for the first time the invisible wounds he has struggled with far longer than the physical ones. 

"Barney will disclose his battle with PTSD at a campaign event to commemorate the day in 2006 when a sniper's bullet in Fallujah left him partially paralyzed. But he acknowledges it's a political risk that some of his consultants advised him against taking, noting the stigma still attached to PTSD and the long history of real or suspected mental illness damaging candidates' political prospects."

SPEED READ

- The Obama administration still doesn't have a plan for handling captured Islamic State detainees, and who would be responsible for imprisoning them: The New York Times 

- Chinese ballistic missiles, ominously nicknamed "Guam killers," pose an increasingly serious threat to U.S. military assets in the Pacific: The Washington Post

- The U.S. activates a missile defense site in Romania today, declaring the $800 million shield operational: Reuters 

- A U.S.-led military exercise begins in Georgia, prompting an angry response from Russia that it's "a provocative step": Reuters

- Defense industry groups tell a House panel that lengthy delays in the military's foreign military sales process force international customers to turn elsewhere: POLITICO Pro

- Vice President Joe Biden rebukes Donald Trump's foreign policy as dangerous: POLITICO

- The Iraqi military advances to its closest position to the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul since 2014: Stars and Stripes

- Islamic State militants advance toward the Syrian city of Palmyra, threatening the city after Syrian government forces recently recaptured it: AP

- The Senate passes legislation allowing female World War II pilots who flew with the Women's Airforce Service Pilots the right to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery: Stars and Stripes

- Vietnam says it would welcome the U.S. accelerating the lifting of a ban on selling lethal arms: Reuters

- The Air Forces tells Boeing to begin submitting design proposals for a new Air Force One: Defense News

** 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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