Presented by Northrop Grumman
With Jacqueline Feldscher and Connor O’Brien
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Quick Fix
— The Space Force’s No. 2 officer tests positive for Covid as the virus again affects the top rungs of the Pentagon.
— A top State Department official warns of the “very real” risk of sanctions against Turkey if it puts a Russian anti-missile system into operation.
— The president is once again under fire for using the military to help bolster his reelection prospects.
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On the Hill
SMITH TALKS DEFENSE BUDGET: Rep. Adam Smith, chair of the Armed Services Committee, participates in a fireside chat hosted by the Center for a New American Security today at 11 a.m.
The Washington state Democrat is expected to provide an update on negotiations between the House and Senate on a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act and is likely to handicap what’s in store for the defense budget if Democrats sweep next Tuesday's elections.
Space
COVID SIDELINES SPACE FORCE’S NO. 2: The Space Force's No. 2 officer has tested positive for the coronavirus, the service announced Wednesday night, after a close family member also tested positive, our colleague Jacqueline Feldscher reports.
Gen. David Thompson, the vice chief of space operations, is self-quarantining and working from home, the Air Force said. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown all tested negative within 24 hours of the news breaking.
The Space Force “remains operationally ready to answer the nation’s call,” the announcement said.
The news comes three weeks after the Coast Guard’s second in command, Adm. Charles Ray, tested positive, forcing members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other high-ranking military officials who had been in contact with him to self-quarantine.
Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Gary Thomas tested positive two days later on Oct. 7. No other members of the Joint Chiefs got sick and all were cleared to return to work after a two-week quarantine.
‘BETTING FOR THEM’: Joe Biden is expected to maintain support for the Space Force if he wins next week, Felsdcher also reports, along with a series of other major goals set in motion in recent years for military and civil space programs.
The idea for the new branch, which was a top priority for President Donald Trump, originated on Capitol Hill, and the new military branch enjoys bipartisan support.
But NASA should expect some new missions in line with Biden’s focus on climate change.
“Biden’s pledge to rededicate the U.S. to combating climate change would mean a greater role for NASA’s Earth science research, an area that has been squeezed by Trump, according to space leaders who are advising or supporting Biden’s campaign, and outside analysts.”
So can the Space Force truly leverage new technologies at a faster pace than its more established siblings? Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Republican who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said he is bullish.
The service has “consciously imitated” the Pentagon’s National Reconnaissance Office in setting up a leaner bureaucracy and cutting the number of people who must sign off on acquisition decisions, he told us Wednesday during a POLITICO Live event.
Part of the reason is that space technologies are getting easier to harness. “I’ve seen evidence of things like the proliferation of small [satellites],” said Lamborn, who co-chairs the House Space Force Caucus. “That’s something that was discussed a few years ago, but now there’s active steps being taken to harness the potential, the resiliency, the rapid replacement capable through small sats and through constellations.
“I think the way the Space Force is structured and really is dedicated, I think it’s sincere in making progress to make things happen faster,” he added. “I would be betting for them, not against them.”
Related: Air Force Secretary Barrett: Space Force proving naysayers wrong, via Space News.
Iran
NEW ACTIVITY AT NATANZ: “Iran has begun construction at its Natanz nuclear facility, satellite images released Wednesday show, just as the U.N. nuclear agency acknowledged Tehran is building an underground advanced centrifuge assembly plant after its last one exploded in a reported sabotage attack last summer,” The Associated Press reports.
“The construction comes as the U.S. nears Election Day in a campaign pitting President Donald Trump, whose maximum pressure campaign against Iran has led Tehran to abandon all limits on its atomic program, and Joe Biden, who has expressed a willingness to return to the accord. The outcome of the vote likely will decide which approach America takes. Heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. nearly ignited a war at the start of the year.”
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, separately told the AP in an interview that the construction of the new facility has “started, but it’s not completed. It’s a long process.”
State Department
'VERY REAL' RISK OF SANCTIONS: Sanctions against Turkey are still "very much on the table" as the NATO ally presses forward with fielding the Russian-made S-400 anti-missile system, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper said Wednesday.
"That risk is very real because they continue to pursue the S-400 and of course with the testing of it," Cooper told reporters.
The U.S. removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program over the purchase, but lawmakers have criticized the State Department for not using sanctions against Ankara under a law aimed at deterring countries from buying Russian hardware.
The Trump administration slammed Turkey last week after it tested the Russian system and Cooper warned that further "operationalizing" the S-400 "incurs the risk of sanctions." Other countries pondering whether to buy Russian hardware, he predicted, are "hedging to see what those [sanctions] would be."
'Not new': Cooper also brushed off an announcement from China that it will levy sanctions on U.S. companies, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon, over a proposed $1.8 billion weapons sale to Taiwan.
"It's not the first time the U.S. has threatened sanctions upon U.S. companies … that have contributed to defense materiel for Taiwan's self-defense," Cooper said. "It's not new. It is a threat that has been cast in the past."
Cooper called the proposed sale "well within the frame" of longstanding ties between the U.S. and Taiwan and instrumental to the island's self-defense rather than a provocation. "If anything, we're making sure that Taiwan is not bullied or overcome by Beijing," he said.
Industry Intel
MORE LAYOFFS AT BOEING: Boeing on Wednesday announced it is laying off 7,000 employees on top of the 19,000 it announced that it was letting go early this year as a result of the pandemic, Feldscher also reports. Those cuts, along with normal attrition, will reduce the workforce from 160,000 in January to about 130,000 by the end of 2021.
The company’s bottom line has also been hit hard by the collapse of the commercial airline sector. Boeing reported $14.1 billion in revenue during the third quarter, a 29 percent drop from the same time last year. The Defense, Space and Security business also reported a 2 percent revenue decline.
General Dynamics also reported a 3.4 percent dip in revenue, down to 9.4 billion, primarily driven by decreases in its commercial airplane business, Feldscher writes. Its Aerospace segment made $2 billion in revenue, a 21 percent drop from last year.
Top Doc
‘SIZING UP LITTLE SPARTA’: Ken Pollack at the American Enterprise Institute is out with a new assessment of the United Arab Emirates’ armed forces that paints a mixed picture of what is nevertheless the most effective Arab military and an increasingly close American ally that could be in line to purchase the F-35 fighter jet.
In sizing up what he calls “little Sparta,” the former CIA analyst and National Security Council staffer concludes that “over the past two decades, the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates have emerged as the most capable in the Arab world, considerably more effective than the norm for modern Arab militaries.”
“Although Emirati forces run a gamut in quality and capabilities,” he adds, “their best units are quite good, on par with many European militaries, and they possess a limited power projection capability that exceeds that of all but a few countries.”
But it remains spotty, he says, noting “there is considerable variance across the force, and only a small percentage falls into the highest-quality categories.”
“The bulk of the Emirati armed forces are less competent, and too many of their soldiers, officers, and units evince only modestly greater effectiveness than their Arab brethren do,” he concludes.
Related: “Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge and Possible U.S. Arms Sales to the United Arab Emirates,” via the Congressional Research Service.
2020 Watch
THE WHIR OF THE CAMPAIGN: Trump is under scrutiny again for using the military to further his reelection campaign, this time for allowing one of the presidential helicopters operated by the Marine Corps to hover over a large crowd of cheering supporters at a Florida campaign event.
“The video raises questions about the ethics of the Pentagon’s role in the event,” The Hill reported. “Department of Defense (DOD) policy prohibits military members from participating in campaign activities such as volunteering for a candidate, attending a rally or appearing in materials while in uniform, though they are allowed to do so off duty.”
The display came several weeks after the appearance of a Trump campaign ad depicting Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley’s office said his image was used without his knowledge. And some of the president’s opponents are pointing to the latest incident to once again accuse him of using the military as a political “prop.”
The military played a featured role in the nation’s political drama a few other ways Wednesday.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command on Wednesday scrambled an F-16 to ward off a private plane that entered the airspace over Trump’s rally in Bullhead City, Ariz. The violating aircraft was non-responsive to initial intercept procedures, but established radio communications after NORAD aircraft deployed signal flares,” NORAD reported. “The aircraft was escorted out of the restricted area by the NORAD aircraft without further incident.”
USS Swing State: Meanwhile, some observers suspected more than coincidence that Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite announced that the second submarine in the new Columbia class of ballistic missile submarines will be named the USS Wisconsin, one of several battleground states that could prove crucial to the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election.
Speed Read
— Pentagon’s extends use of remote work platform to June 2021: C4ISRNet
— Here’s how the National Guard is supporting the Nov. 3 election: Military Times
— WATCH: What role does the military have in a contested election? Responsible Statecraft
— Former DHS official Miles Taylor reveals himself as Anonymous, who wrote critically of Trump: POLITICO
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