Presented by Northrop Grumman
With Jacqueline Feldscher, Connor O’Brien and Lara Seligman
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Quick Fix
— A three-star general is working remotely as the Pentagon and defense industry institute new measures to stay ahead of the coronavirus outbreak.
— The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is officially underway with plans to bring nearly 4,000 troops home by this summer.
— The military branches are still woefully unable to account for their spending, according to a new assessment of the Pentagon’s audit effort.
HAPPY TUESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at bbender@politico.com, and follow on Twitter @bryandbender, @morningdefense and @politicopro.
On the Hill
NORQUIST TESTIFIES: Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist testifies before the House Budget Committee at 10 a.m. to make the case for the administration's national security spending plan.
Other top Pentagon officials are on Capitol Hill today to talk U.S. military posture and the budget request:
— 9:30 a.m.: The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a confirmation hearing for three senior nominees, including Matt Donovan to be the Pentagon's personnel chief.
— 10 a.m.: Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger, U.S. Central Command head Gen. Frank McKenzie and Africa Command chief Gen. Stephen Townsend testify before the House Armed Services Committee.
— 1:30 p.m.: Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz testifies before the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
— 3 p.m.: Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testify on the service's budget before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
BORDER FIGHT HITS A WALL: Legislation to claw back the $3.8 billion siphoned from the military for President Donald Trump's border wall is up in the air after failing to garner wide bipartisan support, House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) says.
"We're stalled at the moment," Smith told POLITICO. He noted only ranking Armed Services Republican Mac Thornberry has signaled his support for overturning the border shift, which pilfered money for fighters, ships and equipment for the National Guard and Reserves.
Smith still plans to roll out the legislation soon. But without scores of Republicans willing to oppose Trump on the border wall, the measure can’t overcome Trump's veto even if it made it to his desk.
"The reason I was interested is because a couple of Republicans had expressed angst about this reprogramming," Smith said. "I now don't believe that we'll be able to get that veto-proof majority, so we have to decide whether or not it makes sense to proceed with something that we know ultimately won't change the policy."
Pentagon
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: The fiscal watchdog Truth in Accounting is out with its latest analysis of the Pentagon's second attempted audit, ranking 18 defense components on their performance in 2019 — or, more like it, lack thereof.
The cleanest: The report identifies the Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Program, the Military Retirement Fund and the Defense Health Agency's Contract Resource Management arm as performing the best in accounting for expenditures.
The messier: The individual military branches were ranked in the lower half of the list. “They are also among the largest entities, posing significant financial management challenges,” the assessment states. “But we believe good accounting systems are even more important for the large military branches, and we challenge them to improve and rise in the rankings.”
The messiest: Coming in last were the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Health Program. No big surprise there.
HAPPENING TODAY: Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett discusses space at a Mitchell Institute event at 8:30 a.m.
Coronavirus
GENERAL QUARTERS: The top U.S. Army commander in Europe and several staff members are working remotely after possibly being exposed to the coronavirus during the NATO Land Forces Commanders conference in Wiesbaden, Germany, on March 6, our colleague Lara Seligman reports, as the Pentagon and defense industry continued to step up their preparations to deal with the outbreak.
Lt. Gen. Christopher Cavoli and the others are “self-monitoring out of an abundance of caution and following recommended protocols,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in a statement.
The Pentagon on Monday also issued new guidance calling for “social distancing” to reduce the chances of spreading the virus if personnel may have been exposed, The Associated Press reports. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has also empowered local commanders to take action as they see fit, such as the Navy’s decision to suspend guest attendance at graduation ceremonies at the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.
Companies also take additional steps: Boeing is barring non-essential travel, holding virtual meetings, enabling more telecommuting and also “may revise our presence” at trade shows as more information is available, a spokesperson said. United Launch Alliance is also reducing corporate travel and establishing a team to monitor the outbreak, according to a spokesperson. CEO Tory Bruno is still scheduled to conduct a media roundtable today at the SATELLITE 2020 conference this week.
In other coronavirus news, passengers from a stricken cruise ship will be quarantined at U.S. military bases, Seligman reports, while four members of Congress who may have come in contact with Covid-19 are also in self-quarantine, via CNN.
Trade shows still a go — for now: But the Aerospace Industries Association is still planning to participate in major defense industry gatherings in the coming weeks and months, such as the Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K., the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference outside Washington, and the Space Symposium in Colorado, CEO Eric Fanning told reporters on Monday.
AIA is closely monitoring the implications of the Covid-19 virus on business travel, supply chains, and workforces and will be serving as a resource for its members. “What we can do and have done in the past is try to act as a clearinghouse … so that people have a sense of where the momentum might be, but also ideas or solutions that maybe they hadn’t thought about before,” Fanning said. “We also have real-time ongoing conversations with members about all these events.”
Plans could quickly change. For example, a spokesperson for the Space Foundation, which hosts the Colorado symposium, said “a very small handful of exhibitors” has already dropped out due to virus concerns.
Committee contingencies: The House Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, is weighing its options should work on the Hill be disrupted in the leadup to consideration of the annual National Defense Authorization Act in late April.
"Like many of our colleagues on the Hill, the HASC is closely monitoring the spread of the coronavirus both internationally and domestically," HASC Democratic spokesperson Monica Matoush said in a statement. "We are currently considering a number of options and contingency plans should the virus disrupt regular legislative business. However, no definitive decisions have been made to alter our schedule of public events or the FY21 NDAA schedule more broadly."
Related: Hill leaders struggle to protect the nation and themselves, via POLITICO’s Heather Caygle and Kyle Cheney.
Sign up for POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, your daily update on how the illness is affecting politics, markets, public health and more.
War Report
HEADING FOR THE EXITS: The withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is officially underway, the NATO headquarters in Afghanistan announced Monday, a major step in carrying out the recent agreement between the United States and the government of Afghanistan and the historic pact Washington reached with the Taliban.
The American military presence will come down to 8,600 troops from the current 12,000 “over 135 days,” Col. Sonny Leggett, a U.S. military spokesperson, said in a statement. He added that the remaining troops will be sufficient for mounting operations against remnants of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State and for “providing support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.”
The statement reiterated that the withdrawal is “conditions-based,” which for many skeptics means the chances of a full American withdrawal anytime soon are remote given the low confidence that the Taliban, which has stepped up attacks on Afghans in recent days, will cease undermining the ever-fragile Afghan government. “So thousands of US troops are leaving Afghanistan as part of a ‘deal,’” tweeted Seth Frantzman, executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis. “What is the Taliban doing as part of its end of the deal?”
Dueling presidents: For now, the biggest unknown may be the Afghan government itself, which held competing presidential inaugurations in Kabul on Monday amid a continuing election dispute, the Guardian reports.
Making Moves
Colleen Gaydos, who oversaw Air Force procurement and Army research and development accounts for the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has joined Sierra Nevada Corporation as senior director of legislative affairs.
Speed Read
— Two U.S. troops killed in Iraq in assault on ISIS stronghold: POLITICO Pro
— North Korea test included multiple rocket launchers: Reuters
— Listen: The death of a war correspondent: Foreign Policy
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