Subject: POLITICO's Morning Defense: U.S. service member killed in Iraq — Carter, Thornberry clash on defense budget — Carter, Dunford at U.S. European change of command
From: Morning Defense <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2016 06:32:45 -0600

By Jeremy Herb | 05/03/2016 08:30 AM EDT

With Louis Nelson, Connor O'Brien and Ellen Mitchell

BREAKING THIS MORNING - U.S. SERVICE MEMBER KILLED IN IRAQ, via POLITICO's Connor O'Brien and Austin Wright: STUTTGART, Germany - A U.S. service member has been killed in Northern Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday. In a statement, the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said the death was the "result of enemy fire."

Carter made the announcement at the outset of a press conference here with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford and newly installed European Command Chief Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti.

CARTER, THORNBERRY CLASH ON DEFENSE SPENDING: The defense secretary is continuing his criticism of the Republican plan to boost defense spending by short-changing the last five months of the war budget - escalating his fight with House Armed Services Republicans who put the plan in motion. Our colleague Connor, who is traveling with the defense secretary, has more from Stuttgart: "'The proposal is to take money out of the wartime funding account in wartime,' Carter told reporters Monday. 'That's objectionable on the face of it.'

"The defense secretary was responding to a question on his reaction to comments last week from Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who charged Carter had 'lost total credibility' by submitting a budget that did not include more war funds to fill an anticipated shortfall in the Pentagon's base budget. The House National Defense Authorization Act for the new 2017 fiscal year, approved last week by the House Armed Services Committee, allocates $23.1 billion in war-related Overseas Contingency Operations funds to support the Pentagon's base budget. 

"But Carter knocks the bill for authorizing 'things that are not our highest priorities and that we didn't ask for.' Republicans are the ones going back on the pact, he countered, by pushing for a higher levels than agreed to. 'One of the reasons I object to what's going on...is that it undermines precisely that bipartisan stability,' Carter said." The defense secretary declined to say, however, whether he'd recommend the president veto the NDAA over the war funding issue.

- THORNBERRY RESPONDS: 'GUTTING READINESS IS WHAT'S OBJECTIONABLE': Carter's comments Monday sparked a response from House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), who said he was "determined to turn our readiness crisis around, even if I have to do it over the secretary's objections."

"What's objectionable is deploying troops who aren't fully trained, whose equipment is worn out, and who didn't get the resources they needed back home to be ready to face our enemies overseas," Thornberry said in a statement responding to Carter. "What's objectionable is cutting the military well below levels anyone thinks is wise, denying our troops their pay raise for three years in a row, forcing them to live in crumbling barracks o newsr work in hangars that have literally been condemned." 

HAPPENING TODAY - CARTER ATTENDS U.S. EUROPEAN CHANGE OF COMMAND: Carter attended the change of command for the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart. The changeover from Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove to Scaparrotti was followed by a joint news conference with Carter, Scaparrotti and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford.

On the plane en route to Germany, Carter praised both Breedlove and Scaparrotti, whom he called innovators. Carter called the retiring Breedlove the "spearhead" on many key NATO issues and said he "helped lead the way" on the international response to Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea. Carter also said promoting Scaparrotti, who most recently commanded U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula, to NATO Supreme Allied Commander was "an easy recommendation" for him to make.

- EXPECT TALK ON EUROPE'S CHALLENGES: "This will be more than just a change of command ceremony address," one senior defense official said in advance of Carter's visit. Pentagon officials have noted threats to Europe, including renewed Russian aggression and the Islamic State, have changed the command's responsibilities significantly. Carter is also expected to tout recent military investments in the region, particulary the proposed quadrupling of the European Reassurance Initiative to $3.4 billion in the fiscal 2017 defense budget.

HAPPY TUESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're happy to be back in the Morning D saddle, giving you all the defense news you need bright and early. Also this story about three newly discovered Earth-like planets. Keep the tips, pitches and feedback coming at [email-masked], and follow on Twitter @jeremyherb, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

ALSO TODAY - SERVICE CHIEFS AT CFR: The five service chiefs - Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft - speak at a panel discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on military strategy and leadership. And in Washington, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts the sixth annual JoongAng Ilbo-CSIS Forum to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and the U.S.-South Korean alliance.

THE IRAQ FALLOUT - BAGHDAD REJECTS THE BIDEN TREATMENT, our colleague Nahal Toosi writes: "Vice President Joe Biden landed in Baghdad last week with his aides optimistically declaring that Iraq's political tumult had 'trended in a more stabilizing direction.' But the vice president's plane had barely left Iraqi airspace when the country's political divisions exploded, with hundreds of protesters storming into Baghdad's Green Zone, occupying the fortified area for much of the weekend to demand an end to government corruption.

"The developments threaten to distract from the fight against the Islamic State, which has grabbed vast swaths of Iraqi territory. At the same time, the situation underscores the limited influence U.S. officials - even one as deeply versed in Iraq as Biden - have over the politics of the country America invaded 13 years ago. Obama administration officials on Monday defended the optimistic overtures from Biden and his aides. They say the onus for resolving the political standoff between Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his opponents should rest on the shoulders of Iraqis because any overt U.S. role could lead to a backlash."

OBAMA REFLECTS ON TERRORISM FIGHT FIVE YEARS AFTER BIN LADEN RAID, the president spoke with CNN on the anniversary here: "On the fifth anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death President Barack Obama sharply defended his targeted approached to fighting terror -- and said the next president would most likely follow his lead rather than his predecessor's. 'The kinds of Special Forces and intelligence-gathering that we saw in the bin Laden raid is going to be, more often than not, the tool of choice for a president in dealing with that kind of threat,' he said.

"'The ideology has not been extinguished,' Obama acknowledged in an exclusive interview with CNN's Peter Bergen on Monday night. 'The world is still dangerous. In many ways, the Middle East is in a more chaotic situation.'" 

- NEWS YOU CAN USE ... WHEN IS A BOOT ON THE GROUND NOT A BOOT ON THE GROUND? The Associated Press' Lolita Baldor dives into the White House's combat rhetoric in an instructive Q & A: "No one disputes that U.S. military forces are fighting in combat in Iraq and Syria -- except maybe President Barack Obama and some members of his administration. The semantic arguments over whether there are American 'boots on the ground' muddy the view of a situation in which several thousand armed U.S. military personnel are in Iraq and Syria. ... So, when is a military boot on the ground?""

WAR REPORT - TURKEY AND U.S.-LED COALITION POUND ISIL IN SYRIA, also via the AP: "The Turkish military said Monday that artillery shelling and drone attacks by the U.S.-led coalition have struck Islamic State positions in Syria and killed a total of 63 militants. The state-owned Anadolu Agency said the strikes took out multiple rocket launchers and gun positions. Four drones deployed from the Incirlik air base, a launching point for U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Turkey, took part in the operation and killed 29 militants."

- KERRY SAYS TALKS WITH RUSSIA SEEK TO SEPARATE RIVAL FORCES, via The Washington Post: "The United States and Russia are studying possible ways to separate rival forces in Syria, delineating potential 'safe zones' for opposition fighters amid renewed violence that has threatened to fully collapse a two-month-old cease-fire attempt. Secretary of State John F. Kerry - in Geneva on Monday for emergency meetings on the crisis - said that the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial in determining whether the plan will work. 'I don't want to make any promises that can't be kept,' he said."

INDUSTRY INTEL I - U.S. TELLS PAKISTAN IT HAS TO FUND F-16S ITSELF, reports Reuters: "The United States has told Pakistan it will have to finance the purchase of U.S. F-16 fighter jets itself after members of the U.S. Congress objected to the use of government funds to pay for them. ... Republican Senator Bob Corker said he would use his power as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to bar the use of any U.S. funds for the deal to send a message to Pakistan that it needed to do more in the war against militants."

INDUSTRY INTEL II - PENTAGON ON TRACK FOR $43B IN FOREIGN MILITARY SALES IN FY16: Foreign military sales for this fiscal year are on track to reach or surpass last year's total of $43 billion, according to a new analysis by Guggenheim Partners. Through the end of April, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency has announced about $29 billion in FMS deals and "there are a number of pending U.S. fighter aircraft orders that could bump that number up significantly if they are approved by the White House," according to a report by the investment advisory group out Monday.

SPEED READ

- Wartime Damascus preserves tenuous air of normalcy amid Syria's ruin: The New York Times

- The Afghan military begins a push to reclaim a key highway held by the Taliban that runs through Uruzgan Province: NYT

- The U.S. and Senegal sign a defense cooperation agreement that will make for easier deployment of American troops there to deal with humanitarian crises, natural disasters and terrorist attacks: Reuters

- Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says U.S. legislation that could hold the Gulf kingdom partially responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks would erode investor confidence in the U.S.: Reuters

- Pakistan's interior minister criticizes Donald Trump for saying he'd force the Pakistani government to release the doctor believed to have helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden: Reuters

- The Army announces plans to fly its Victor-model UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for the first time in early 2017: Defense News

- The military begins testing on its 132-foot unmanned ship, designed to be able to cross oceans without a crew: AP

- Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) vows to "fight like a bulldog" to rename the Department of the Navy as the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps: Military Times

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6736411cfdb9dba5022b5de3db41113af8f1660dd9780ccc017381189682d756
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6736411cfdb9dba58134f5631c8db0b378f1d603744fdc4e465e00364efda31a or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=57cf03c73f21c5ef65b9c058ca0f6cfa66691761e73177ecc14d4d5a1953c3cfd48f901fc110137b0836da44a5200af9cdacbe52354df018This email was sent to [email-masked] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

To unsubscribe,http://www.politico.com/_unsubscribe?e=00000154-7698-d9b6-a35e-77bdc06d0000&u=0000014e-f112-dd93-ad7f-f917a8270002&s=51d6698a0a2cf0ddb0e9e44b405dc23f5a15c8c4d15113995fc6e038cbe5b378b363fc4f2ebab1e1589ac1f1e5ecb7dcec105a1fe5be0ca8ae1968a9edab06ec