Situation Report: State and Afghan watchdog clash; first step for NDAA; more cash for French fight in Africa; and more to come.


Lost in translation. There’s a real fight brewing between the State Department and the outspoken Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko over the watchdog’s staffing levels at its office in Kabul. And the two sides have very different versions of a recent meeting, the Situation Report has learned.

During testimony Wednesday before a House of Representatives oversight committee, Sopko -- according to his prepared remarks first reported here -- complained that “within the past week,” he was told by State officials that he must reduce his Kabul staff from 42 to 25 positions by summer 2016. SIGAR was told that the cut “is non-negotiable,” Sopko said. “This arbitrary number was developed without SIGAR’s input, and embassy officials did not provide any explanation for how they determined these cuts.”


This didn’t go over well at the State Department. When asked about Sopko’s comments, an official there told the Situation Report that “any assertion that the Embassy Kabul unilaterally ordered SIGAR to make staffing cuts in 2016 is false. In preparation for a congressionally mandated rightsizing exercise, an embassy official in Kabul discussed staffing size with SIGAR, but underscored that the exercise was the beginning of a dialogue on what functions and positions must be kept, not a decision to cut.”

Obviously, there’s a difference of opinion here. “We are happy that State is now willing to discuss SIGAR's staffing numbers,” Alex Bronstein-Moffly, SIGAR’s spokesman said late Wednesday night. “However, on Monday SIGAR was informed by senior US Embassy leadership not to bother challenging the staffing cuts.”

Those are two very different versions of the same meeting. SIGAR has clashed with State, USAID, and the Defense Department repeatedly over the last few years, as Sopko’s investigations have ramped up. Most recently, SIGAR got into it with Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, for classifying information about Afghan troop numbers that had your years been made public.

Happy, together. It’s pretty unusual when a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff goes out and lobbies Congress for a major change in policy contained in a budget already submitted by the President of the United States, and by extension, the Defense Department. But that’s exactly what National Guard Bureau director Gen. Frank Grass did Wednesday morning.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, Grass urged senators to undo Big Army’s plans to snatch 36 Apache helicopters from Guard units and give them to regular active duty squadrons. He also spoke against  the 8,200-soldier reduction in the Army National Guard’s end strength, pleading for Congress to wait for the Commission on the Future of the Army to finish its work in in February 2016 -- the same time as the fiscal year 2017 budget is due to drop -- to make decisions about the Guard’s future.

We’re almost there! The week grinds on and we’re still SitRepping. Let us know what’s new, what’s going to be new, and what may or may not be on the record. Try paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary.

Quotable

“China should understand that the strengthening of the Japan / U.S. relationship will be in the interest of China because the more stable security environment will benefit the Chinese economy…so I’d like to ask the Chinese side not to misinterpret” the newly released defense guidelines between Japan and the U.S.”

-- Hideshi Tokuchi, Director-General, Defense Policy Bureau, Japanese Ministry of Defense

Defense Budget

It’s going to be a while before we sort out exactly what went down overnight during the House Armed Services marathon “markup” of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

But we do know that we received our last email from the committee staff at 4:47 a.m. Thursday, letting us know that the committee passed the NDAA by a vote of 60-2. This is only the beginning of a long road for the defense budget however, as it’ll now spend months running the gauntlet through the rest of the House and Senate.

If House Committee gets its way, “a slew of amendments it approved Wednesday will keep Pentagon and service officials plenty busy next year,” writes John T. Bennett in Defense News, including “a bloc of amendments that would require 13 briefings, reports or "assessments" from the department or General Accountability Office (GAO).”

And Kristina Wong of The Hill tells us that the venerable A-10 will live to fly another year, at least in this version of the bill, sending a pretty serious rebuke to the U.S. Air Force, which desperately wants to retire the bird and shift the money and maintenance staffs to the coming F-35 megaprogram. Hope this A-10 talk isn’t considered “treasonous.”

Cyber

A report out of Arlington, Va.-based cyber security firm Lookingglas, finds that Russian-based hackers have waged a sustained campaign against Ukrainian government, military, and law enforcement targets. “The researchers dubbed the campaign ‘Operation Armageddon’ after the nom de guerre of an author (according to file metadata) of the Microsoft Word documents used in the attacks” Fortune reports.

The Business of Defense

Defense bigwigs Harris Corp. and Thales have “won” a potential $3.8 billion, 5-year contract to make 150,000 radios for the U.S. Army. The only hitch is that they’ll have to keep competing against each other throughout those five years, and the requirements will keep changing. Yay?

U.S. weapons maker General Dynamics Corp. -- which actually pulled out of the above-mentioned Army radio competition -- on Wednesday reported higher-than-expected earnings and revenues for the first quarter, saying that net earnings rose 20 percent to $716 million. Revenues also rose to $7.78 billion from $7.26 billion.

Counterterrrorism

“U.S. allies in the Middle East have ramped up their support for rebels fighting against Syrian forces in recent months, potentially widening a gulf over strategy between the Obama administration and its regional partners” report the Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung and Liz Sly.

President Obama has increased the amount the Defense Department is spending to help France fight terrorists in northwest Africa. Obama on Wednesday ordered the release of up to $35 million in cash to battle extremists in Mali, Niger, and Chad, following up on the $10 million allocated to helping France in its effort in August. France has about 3,000 troops deployed to fight Islamic groups in Africa's Sahel region.

Canada’s Special Forces have made quite the impression on Kurdish forces in Iraq. More -- though not much -- from Matthew Fisher for the National Post here. (Apparently the Commandos don’t like to talk to the media.)

Russia

Our worst fear is realized: Russian things are falling from the sky! Ian Sample and Shaun Walker, reporting for The Guardian, note that “a Russian spacecraft that is tumbling around the Earth after it malfunctioned en route to the International Space Station (ISS) could remain in orbit for more than a week before crashing down to Earth.”

Iran

The U.S. has asked Iran for assistance bringing warring parties in Yemen to the table, Reuters reports. “Asked whether U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in talks in New York on Monday to use its influence to get all sides into talks, a U.S. State Department official told reporters, ‘Yes.’”

North Korea

According to satellite images from the last four months, a “North Korean nuclear reactor that can yield material for atomic bombs may be operating again at low power or intermittently, U.S. experts said,”  David Brunnstrom reports for Reuters.

Egypt

“A court in Egypt has sentenced 69 Islamists to life in prison for setting fire to a church in a town near Cairo,” reports the BBC.

Not helping

The day after Iranian warships fired upon, and then snatched, a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship out of the Strait of Hormuz, Secretary of State John Kerry offered his “warmest congratulations to the citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands on the 36th anniversary of your nation’s independence this May 1,” according to a statement released Wednesday. We’re sure the early salutations don’t have anything to do with the unpleasantness in the Gulf.

Comings and Goings

The Defense Department has announced a new chair of the Defense Business Board (DBB), appointing Michael Bayer, president and CEO of Washington strategic advisory firm Dumbarton Strategies to the post, replacing Bobby Stein.

"We need Michael's energy and expertise to bring the very best private sector ideas and actionable solutions to the department,” said Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in a statement. The DBB will convene again in July. The board was established in 2002 to provide the department with an independent voice on its business operations.

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Sandhurst's sheikhs: Why do so many Gulf royals receive military training in the UK? A parade outside the building at Sandhurst Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The death list that names 5,000 victims Is this woman an apostate? Voices from a WW1 prison camp The Swiss selfie scandal Generations of foreign royals - particularly from the Middle East - have learned to be military leaders at the UK's Sandhurst officer training academy. But is that still a good idea, asks Matthew Teller. Since 1812, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on the Surrey/Berkshire border, has been where the British Army trains its officers. It has a gruelling 44-week course testing the physical and intellectual skills of officer cadets and imbuing them with the values of the British Army. Alongside would-be British officers, Sandhurst has a tradition of drawing cadets from overseas. Many of the elite families of the Middle East have sent their sons and daughters. Perhaps the most notable was King Hussein of Jordan. Continue reading the main story Find out more Matthew Teller presents Sandhurst and the Sheikhs, a Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4, on Wednesday 27 August 2014 at 11:00 BST It will be available on iPlayer shortly after broadcast Four reigning Arab monarchs are graduates of Sandhurst and its affiliated colleges - King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Tamim, Emir of Qatar, and Sultan Qaboos of Oman. Past monarchs include Sheikh Saad, Emir of Kuwait, and Sheikh Hamad, Emir of Qatar. Sandhurst's links have continued from the time when Britain was the major colonial power in the Gulf. "One thing the British were excellent at was consolidating their rule through spectacle," says Habiba Hamid, former foreign policy strategist to the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "Pomp, ceremony, displays of military might, shock and awe - they all originate from the British military relationship." Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, King Abdullah, Sultan Qaboos Sandhurst alumni: King Hamad of Bahrain, King Abdullah of Jordan and Sultan Qaboos of Oman It's a place where future leaders get to know each other, says Michael Stephens, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute, Qatar. And Sandhurst gives the UK influence in the Gulf. "The [UK] gets the kind of attention from Gulf policy elites that countries of our size, like France and others, don't get. It gives us the ability to punch above our weight. "You have people who've spent time in Britain, they have… connections to their mates, their teachers. Familiarity in politics is very beneficial in the Gulf context." "For British people who are drifting around the world, as I did as a soldier," says Brigadier Peter Sincock, former defence attache to Saudi Arabia, "you find people who were at Sandhurst and you have an immediate rapport. I think that's very helpful, for example, in the field of military sales." The Emir of Dubai Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum with his son after his Passing Out Parade at Sandhurst in 2006 Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai, with his son in uniform at Sandhurst in 2006 Her Majesty The Queen's Representative His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, The Emir of Qatar inspects soldiers during the 144th Sovereign's Parade held at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on April 8, 2004 in Camberley, England. Some 470 Officer cadets took part of which 219 were commissioned into the British Army Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar until 2013, inspects soldiers at Sandhurst in 2004 Emotion doesn't always deliver. In 2013, despite the personal intervention of David Cameron, the UAE decided against buying the UK's Typhoon fighter jets. But elsewhere fellow feeling is paying dividends. "The Gulf monarchies have become important sources of capital," says Jane Kinninmont, deputy head of the Middle East/North Africa programme at the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House. "So you see the tallest building in London being financed by the Qataris, you see UK infrastructure and oilfield development being financed by the UAE. There's a desire - it can even seem like a desperation - to keep them onside for trade reasons." British policy in the Gulf is primarily "mercantile", says Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, of the Baker Institute in Houston, Texas. Concerns over human rights and reform are secondary. The Shard at dusk The Shard was funded by Qatari investors In 2012 Sandhurst accepted a £15m donation from the UAE for a new accommodation block, named the Zayed Building after that country's founding ruler. In March 2013, Sandhurst's Mons Hall - a sports centre - was reopened as the King Hamad Hall, following a £3m donation from the monarch of Bahrain, who was educated at one of Sandhurst's affiliated colleges. The renaming proved controversial, partly because of the perceived slight towards the 1,600 British casualties at the Battle of Mons in August 1914 - and partly because of how Hamad and his government have dealt with political protest in Bahrain over the last three years. A critic might note that the third term of Sandhurst's Officer Commissioning Course covers counter-insurgency techniques and ways to manage public disorder. Since tension between Bahrain's majority Shia population and minority Sunni ruling elite boiled over in 2011, more than 80 civilians have died at the hands of the security forces, according to opposition estimates, though the government disputes the figures. Thirteen police officers have also lost their lives in the clashes. "The king has always felt that Sandhurst was a great place," says Sincock, chairman of the Bahrain Society, which promotes friendship between the UK and Bahrain. "Something like 20 of his immediate family have been there as cadets. He didn't really understand why there was such an outcry." David Cameron and King Hamad David Cameron meeting King Hamad in 2012... A protester is held back by police ... while protesters nearby opposed the Bahrain ruler's human rights record Crispin Black, a Sandhurst graduate and former instructor, says the academy should not have taken the money. "Everywhere you look there's a memorial to something, a building or a plaque that serves as a touchstone that takes you right to the heart of British military history. Calling this hall 'King Hamad Hall' ain't gonna do that." Sandhurst gave a written response to the criticism. "All donations to Sandhurst are in compliance with the UK's domestic and international legal obligations and our values as a nation. Over the years donations like this have saved the UK taxpayer a considerable amount of money." But what happens when Sandhurst's friends become enemies? In 2001, then-prime minister Tony Blair visited Damascus, marking a warming of relations between the UK and Syria. Shortly after, in 2003, Sandhurst was training officers from the Syrian armed forces. Now, of course, Syria is an international pariah. Journalist Michael Cockerell has written about Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi's time at the Army School of Education in Beaconsfield in 1966: "Three years [later], Gaddafi followed a tradition of foreign officers trained by the British Army. He made use of his newfound knowledge to seize political power in his own country." Ahmed Ali Sandhurst-trained Ahmed Ali was a key player in the Egyptian military's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi That tradition persists. In the 1990s Egyptian colonel Ahmed Ali attended Sandhurst. In 2013 he was one of the key figures in the Egyptian military's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, now rewarded by a post in President Sisi's inner circle of advisers. In the late 1990s there were moves by the British government under Tony Blair to end Sandhurst's training of overseas cadets. Major-General Arthur Denaro, Middle East adviser to the defence secretary and commandant at Sandhurst in the late 1990s, describes the idea as part of the "ethical foreign policy" advocated by the late Robin Cook, then-foreign secretary. Tony Blair and Robin Cook Tony Blair and Robin Cook at one point planned to end Sandhurst's training of overseas cadets The funeral of King Hussein in 1999 appears to have scuppered the plan. "Coming to that funeral were the heads of state of almost every country in the world - and our prime minister was there, Tony Blair," says Major-General Denaro. "He happened to see me talking to heads of state - the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman, the Bahrainis, the Saudis - and he said 'How do you know all these guys?' The answer was because they went to Sandhurst." Today, Sandhurst has reportedly trained more officer cadets from the UAE than from any other country bar the UK. The May 2014 intake included 72 overseas cadets, around 40% of whom were from the Middle East. "In the future," says Maryam al-Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, "people will look back at how much Britain messed up in the [Middle East] because they wanted to sell more Typhoon jets to Bahrain, rather than stand behind the values of human rights and democracy." "It's one thing saying we're inculcating benign values, but that's not happening," says Habiba Hamid. Sandhurst is "a relic of the colonial past. They're not [teaching] the civic values we ought to find in democratically elected leaders." line Who else went to Sandhurst? Princes William and Harry, Winston Churchill, Ian Fleming, Katie Hopkins, Antony Beevor, James Blunt, Josh Lewsey, Devon Harris (From left to right) Princes William and Harry Sir Winston Churchill Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond (but did not complete training) Katie Hopkins, reality TV star Antony Beevor, historian James Blunt, singer-songwriter Josh Lewsey, World Cup-winning England rugby player Devon Harris, member of Jamaica's first bobsleigh team line Sandhurst says that "building international relations through military exchanges and education is a key pillar of the UK's international engagement strategy". Sandhurst may be marvellous for the UK, a country where the army is subservient to government, but it is also delivering militarily-trained officers to Middle Eastern monarchies where, often, armies seem to exist to defend not the nation but the ruling family.

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