IG PROBES DANA WHITE: One of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ top advisers just became the latest Trump appointee ensnared by allegations of misusing their authority. Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White has been under investigation by the Pentagon inspector general for weeks over claims she mistreated staff by making them conduct personal errands and business, CNN reported. The IG is looking into allegations that White improperly asked staff members to get her snacks and pantyhose from the Pentagon CVS store, pick up her lunch, drive her to work, and do her mortgage paperwork. Two staffers who reported the abuses claim White retaliated by transferring them, according to the CNN report.

“If they’re true, they’re not insignificant allegations. Particularly troubled by retaliation. That’s the worst of it. But even just the personal errands and the picking her up and that kind of — that’s just absolutely completely forbidden. You can’t do that as a senior official in the Pentagon,” John Kirby, a retired rear admiral and former Pentagon spokesman, told CNN. For now, the investigation is ongoing and none of the allegations has been substantiated. “This is an ongoing review about which we cannot comment,” Charles Summers, principal deputy assistant to the defense secretary for public affairs, said in response to media queries. White could face administrative punishment, depending on what the IG determines and any decision by Mattis.

White is not commenting on the investigation out of “respect for the process,” said one official. The IG investigation began in May, which coincidentally is when White stopped conducting what had been billed at her regular Thursday noon briefings.

AFGHANISTAN SIT-REP: “Quiet,” Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, the chief spokesman for U.S. Forces Afghanistan and Operation Resolute Support, wrote in an email this morning. “As clearing operations continue, we have seen a dramatic decrease in Taliban activity, with nothing of significance to report militarily.”

The Taliban mounted a major assault Friday on Ghazni, a provincial capital 75 miles southeast of Kabul, resulting in more than 100 deaths on each side. “The Taliban, who falsely and repeatedly claim that they do not target civilians, have left in their wake dead civilians, destroyed homes, a burnt market and the conditions for a potential humanitarian crisis, which fortunately is being mitigated with government and international aid,” O’Donnell told me, insisting the Taliban failed to achieve any of its objectives.

“One of the Taliban’s first targets was a radio tower, which blocked outgoing communication and allowed the Taliban to falsely claim ‘successes’ that we have since disproven,” he said. “The city prison was not attacked and its prisoners were not freed, Highway 1 was not blocked and the city center and government buildings never fell into their hands.

“Everything we saw in Ghazni is commensurate with the Taliban’s modus operandi: they attack for the purposes of gaining attention and recognition as being stronger than they are at the expense of the Afghan people. However, they retreat once directly and decisively engaged by Afghan National Defense and Security Forces as they are unable to seize terrain and unable to match us [Afghan, NATO and U.S. forces] militarily.”

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.

HAPPENING TODAY: Mattis is in Argentina today, the midway point on his South American trip. Yesterday he spoke to students at Brazil’s war college, the Escola Superior de Guerra, urging them to be vigilant in defending the people’s “right to democracy,” and “to keep faith as you deal with human contradictions and natural polarities that exist everywhere in the world” by “imposing reason over impulse in extremely hard circumstances.”

Mattis also made a sales pitch for U.S. defense contractors. “The U.S. foreign military sales program is second to none and we have the best combat-tested equipment in the world,” Mattis said, echoing one of President Trump’s favorite themes. “America is not looking to make quick cash; we are looking to earn and keep friends, sharing our most combat-proven technology while drawing on your areas of expertise.”

But unlike Trump, Mattis also indicated the U.S. is interested in buying as well. “We see the future in two-way military sales,” he said. “We believe it is in America’s best interests that your industrial base be internationally competitive.” Speaking to reporters en route to Brazil Sunday, Mattis pointed out that one of the planes competing to be the Air Force’s light attack aircraft is the A-29 Super Tucano built in a partnership between Sierra Nevada and Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft maker.

When Trump signed the $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act Monday he also said that the money would be for the “finest planes, and ships, and tanks, and missiles anywhere on Earth.” He bragged, “All of this equipment is made right here in the USA, and it’s the best equipment on Earth. Nobody makes it like we do.”

SATELLITE CONTRACT: Lockheed Martin Space Systems has won a $2.9 billion contract to build missile warning satellites for the Air Force, the service announced on Tuesday. “As we develop these new systems, speed matters. We are focused on providing a missile warning capability survivable in a contested environment by the mid-2020s,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement. The three satellites, called next-generation overhead persistent infrared satellites, are being developed under new technology prototyping authorities granted by Congress, the service said. “The Next-Generation OPIR will succeed the current Space Based Infrared System by providing improved missile warning capabilities that are more survivable against emerging threats,” it said.

OPERATION ROUNDUP TO BEGIN ‘VERY SOON’: Seems like every week we get a briefing at the Pentagon informing us the final phase of Operation Roundup will soon begin to liberate the last bit of territory still under Islamic State control in Syria. At yesterday’s briefing Col. Sean Ryan, the chief spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said U.S.-backed Syrian fighters are still shaping the battlefield for phase three, the final push to end ISIS control. “The Syrian Democratic Forces continue to prepare for the final assault on ISIS in the Hajin area, while securing liberated areas,” Ryan said. “In the Middle Euphrates Valley, the SDF is reinforcing checkpoints and refining blocking positions ahead of clearance operations in Hajin.”

Asked when the long-anticipated final assault might begin, British Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney, a deputy coalition commander laughed. “You wouldn’t expect me to give away operational details. What I can tell you is that the Syrian Democratic Forces and the coalition are preparing now, and the operation will begin very soon.”

30,000+ ISIS LEFT? Gedney did respond to reports that the number of ISIS fighters left in Iraq and Syria is far higher than the U.S.-led coalition has publicly acknowledged. The Pentagon has steadfastly refused to give an estimate of ISIS forces, but has generally suggested the number is between 1,000 and 3,000.

But a June report to Congress by the lead inspector general cited figures that were a few months old, but still dramatically higher. “The DoD estimated that 15,500 to 17,100 ISIS fighters remained in Iraq, although estimates of the numbers of ISIS fighters have varied sharply among sources and over time,” the report says. “Although there has been an overall decrease in violence, these fighters, organized in small cells, continued to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and to mount terrorist attacks.” In Syria, the report said as of the end of the quarter, “ISIS was estimated to still control about 5 percent of Syria and to have roughly 14,000 fighters in the country.”

A second UN report has similar numbers estimating the total number of ISIS fighting or hiding in Iraq and Syria as high as 30,000.  

“That number seems a little bit high, and I think we’d need to look at the methodology and the data on which that estimation is based,” Gedney told Pentagon reporters in his video briefing from Baghdad. “We know there are over a thousand, which is our initial problem, in the Middle Euphrates River Valley. We also know that there are some ISIS fighters, and the threat remains throughout Iraq and Syria. I’m not going to speculate on the numbers. We’ll find out when we get there and we will deal with them all.

“What I can tell you is, though, we do know that ISIS continues to be a threat post-liberation, which is why we need to maintain our focus on ensuring the security within Iraq and Syria.”

NO TURKEY F-35 TRANSFERS SCHEDULED: The temporary suspension of F-35 joint strike fighter transfers to Turkey is in full force after Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act on Monday at Fort Drum, N.Y. Congress’ restriction aimed at putting pressure on Ankara over its detention of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson likely sent a message, but it might not have much of a real-world effect over the next three months. No more F-35 transfers to Turkey are scheduled until next year, Joe DellaVedova, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office, told the Washington Examiner. The NATO ally accepted delivery of two aircraft in June and they will remain flying to train Turkish pilots at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona despite the NDAA passage, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said.

The suspension on any further transfers will remain in place for up to 90 days, which is the amount of time Congress gave Mattis to submit a report that could allow the F-35 program to resume. The NDAA directs the report to cover Turkey’s relationship with the U.S. and its weapons purchases, including the high-tech fifth-generation fighter and the Russia S-400 missile defense system, as well as other U.S. jets and helicopters.

YEMEN REFUELING DEADLINE: The annual defense policy bill could also end the U.S. military’s refueling of Saudi warplanes in the Yemen war within weeks unless the Pentagon acts to assure Congress. Mattis is required under the NDAA to certify to lawmakers within 30 days that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are taking steps to limit civilian casualties, end the conflict, and alleviate the crushing humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Otherwise, the NDAA cuts off funding for the military refueling operations, which have drawn fire from members of Congress. In March, the Senate narrowly defeated a resolution by Sens. Mike Lee, Bernie Sanders and Chris Murphy calling for U.S. support in the conflict to end.

“Our humanitarian principles and our national security interests require that the United States use its influence to end the civil war in Yemen and address the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” Sen. Todd Young, who sponsored the NDAA provision in the Senate, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. Trump signed the requirement into law just days after Mattis sent a three-star general to Riyadh to look into reports of a Saudi strike that hit a school bus and killed civilians in the northern part of Yemen. “The horrific school bus strike in Yemen that killed 40 innocent children underscores the need for our provision that was signed into law as part of the NDAA yesterday,” Young said.

TRUMP’S SIGNING STATEMENT: The clock is now ticking on Yemen. However, the president reserved the right to not complete the certification. In a lengthy NDAA signing statement, clearly drafted by the White House legal team, Trump asserted his executive power allows him to follow the requirement on Yemen and a host of other foreign policy directives from Congress only when it is “feasible” and does not conflict with his role as commander in chief. Such statements have become common in recent years and flesh out the administration’s legal thinking.

The statement released after Trump signed the NDAA into law at Fort Drum raises White House challenges to dozens of passages in the massive annual policy bill. Here are some that the president has said he may decide to assert his executive power on and defy the law:

• JSTARS: The NDAA prohibits the Air Force from retiring its fleet of E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft.
• Civilian casualties: Congress ordered the Pentagon to designate a senior official within 90 days to oversee civilians killed in war.
• Crimea: No funds authorized by the NDAA can be used to recognize Russia’s sovereignty claim over Crimea.
• Russian mil-to-mil: The NDAA extends a prohibition on any cooperation beyond deconfliction between the U.S. and Russian militaries.
• China at RIMPAC: Lawmakers barred Beijing from the Rim of the Pacific exercises until it stops reclaiming and arming islands in the South China Sea, and show a four-year track record of promoting stability in the region.
• Korea troops: The number of troops deployed to South Korea cannot be reduced below 22,000 unless Mattis certifies it will not hurt U.S. security and allies were consulted.

TENT CITIES ON ‘INDEFINITE HOLD’: Yesterday we told you no ground had been broken at either Goodfellow Air Force Base or Fort Bliss for the construction of migrant tent cities that had been urgently requested by the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services in June. Now we’re told the Trump administration is actively looking for other options.

The military base option is “on indefinite hold,” Mark Weber, an HHS spokesman, told me in an email. “There are other non-DoD properties and options being considered.”

HOORAY FOR SPACE FORCE! Jonathan Jensen, a musician at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, uploaded his offering for a possible Space Force anthem, and as of this morning it’s up to 748,000 views. Check it out here.

WHO WANTS TO BE A CHIEF? In remarks his before signing the NDAA Monday at Fort Drum, Trump asked for a show of hands from the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division to indicate who among them believed they might become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff someday. “Anybody in the audience going to be a member of that someday? I think so. Raise your hand. Do you think you’re going to make it? Raise your hand, go ahead,” he urged.

Then he seemed a bit disappointed by the timid response. “Oh come on, that’s all? Only a few? I don’t know,” Trump said. Trump clearly is impressed with the idea of being the among the highest-ranking U.S. military officers. “People I’ve heard about all my life, very prestigious title. I always loved the ring — the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Right? That’s got a good ring.”

Later Trump asked for a show of hands again to indicate support for the 2.6 percent pay raise for the troops, but asked the question as a negative, and then seem confused when no one responded. “Does anybody not want it? Please raise your hand. What’s going on here? Are these real patriots? I don’t know, General. I don’t know. It’s the biggest increase in a decade.”

THE RUNDOWN

Bloomberg: The U.S. Needs a Cyber Force More Than a Space Force

AP: Mattis: US Needs Space Force To Counter Russia, China

C4ISRNET: State Department Concerned Over Russian Satellite’s Behavior

Washington Post: Pentagon barred from funding Confucius Institutes on American campuses

Stars and Stripes: Remains From North Korea In Moderate To Poor Condition, Could Take Years To Identify

AFP: London attack: man arrested suspected of terror offences (police)

Military Times: Trump signals he may ignore Russia provisions in defense bill he just signed

AP: Raw: Afghan City in Ruins As Battles Continue

Breaking Defense: Lockheed ‘Seizes High Ground’ With Second Hypersonics Deal

Defense News: State Department concerned over Russian satellite’s behavior

Marine Corps Times: Marine Corps and Navy end search for 13th MEU Marine reported overboard

Reuters: Trump frustrated that Turkey has not released pastor: White House

Task and Purpose: The Pentagon Is Trying To Spin The Truth Of How A Marine Got Shot In Syria

USNI News: Shipbuilding Industry Pushing to Accelerate Amphibious Ship Construction

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