The D Brief: WH mulls Greenland options; China’s invasion barges; New OPSEC failure; 4th missing soldier found; And a bit more…
White House mulls Greenland takeover options, the Washington Post reports. One option: offer Greenlanders more than the $600 million annual subsidy provided by NATO ally Denmark. “This is a lot higher than that,” said one official familiar with the plans, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that remain in the works. “The point is, ‘We’ll pay you more than Denmark does.’”
President Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. will “get” the island. “100 percent,” he told NBC News, adding that there is a “good possibility that we could do it without military force” but that “I don’t take anything off the table.”
“Trump’s demands [have] elicited international outrage and a rebuke from Denmark,” writes the Post, here.
EU officials are having biweekly meetings about ways to replace U.S. weapons, “but those increasingly intense discussions have highlighted that it wouldn’t be easy, fast, or cheap,” reports Defense One’s Patrick Tucker, citing talks with a European diplomat.
Still, that kind of talk has drawn warnings from U.S. officials. Reuters: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. officials have insisted that U.S. arms-makers must not be excluded as the European Commission debates mid-March proposals to boost military spending and increase joint defense projects in ways that “could mean a smaller role for non-EU companies, including those based in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, experts say.”
WH aims to reduce oversight of weapons exports, Reuters reports, with a forthcoming executive order that resembles an unsuccessful bill from last year. That bill—which was backed by then-Rep. Waltz, R-Fla.— “would have amended the U.S. Arms Export Control Act to increase the minimum dollar amounts that trigger a congressional review of arms exports to other countries. They would increase to $23 million from $14 million for arms transfers, and rise to $83 million from $50 million for the sale of military equipment, upgrades, training and other services.” White House aides did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
That, plus background on Trump’s earlier clashes with Congress over export rules, here.
Trendspotting: “Trump uses power against foes unlike any other modern US president,” Reuters reported Tuesday.
Related reading:
Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Bradley Peniston, Ben Watson, and Audrey Decker. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1951, Navy F9F Panthers made the first combat bombing runs by jet aircraft. They were largely flown by former members of the Blue Angels demonstration team, which had been disbanded for the Korean War.
China
New barges could make invading Taiwan easier, the New York Times reports. “The barges, which link up to form a bridge, could give China a way to land large numbers of vehicles and troops on Taiwan, solving a major logistical problem.” See photos of the barges in operation, here.
A visit to Huawei campus in Shanghai offers a lens on various U.S. policies, from national security, to education, to tariffs, writes NYT columnist Thomas Friedman. “I’d never seen anything like this Huawei campus. Built in just over three years, it consists of 104 individually designed buildings, with manicured lawns, connected by a Disney-like monorail, housing labs for up to 35,000 scientists, engineers and other workers, offering 100 cafes, plus fitness centers and other perks designed to attract the best Chinese and foreign technologists. The Lianqiu Lake R. & D. campus is basically Huawei’s response to the U.S. attempt to choke it to death beginning in 2019 by restricting the export of U.S. technology, including semiconductors, to Huawei amid national security concerns.” More, here.
New WH OPSEC problem
Waltz and staff used Gmail for government communications. “Members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts,” reports the Washington Post, citing documents they reviewed and interviews with three U.S. officials. “The use of Gmail, a far less secure method of communication than the encrypted messaging app Signal, is the latest example of questionable data security practices by top national security officials already under fire for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen.” Read on, here.
“I greatly look forward to my Republican colleagues joining me in calls for an investigation with the same urgency…and intensity…As they did over ‘her emails,’” said Army veteran and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, writing Tuesday on social media.
Commentary: “I flew combat missions against Houthi rebels. [The] Damage from Gmail, Signal scandals is incalculable,” argued 10-year Navy pilot Erin Edwards, writing Tuesday in the San Francisco Chronicle.
By the way: The “US says it killed top Houthi missile expert, but questions linger,” Reuters reported Monday as the Pentagon “has so far declined to confirm the death, and the identity of the Houthi commander in question.”
Around the Defense Department
Five takeaways from the Joint Chiefs chairman-nominee’s hearing. Dan Caine, the retired Air National Guard three-star who is Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. military, “appears to have enough support to be approved by the Armed Services Committee and confirmed by the Senate, the New York Times reported after his hearing yesterday, presenting a list of five takeaways, here.
The Army is making some mandatory training optional. Task & Purpose: “The Army is cutting hours worth of training that were previously mandatory for soldiers, including the basics of combat medicine and a primer on the laws of war” under a new approach that allows commanders to “choose which training their troops are likely to need.” Read on, here.
Commentary: Add special operators to the Joint Simulation Environment. Navy and Air Force officials are already talking about expanding their new flight simulator—so good it gives fighter-jet aviators “a true sense of fear”—to other platforms. Lt. Col. Justin Bañez says they should also invite the ground troops of Air Force Special Warfare to play—and they can do that without building a single new sim or writing a line of code. Read that, here.
Banned-book purge: “Naval Academy removes nearly 400 books from library in new DEI purge ordered by Hegseth’s office,” AP’s Lita Baldor reported Tuesday.
Update: Body of fourth missing U.S. soldier found in Lithuania. That soldier and three others from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division went missing on March 25 during an exercise near Pabradė. “The first three Soldiers and their M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicle were recovered from a peat bog in the early morning of March 31,” said an US Army Europe press release released on Tuesday. Officials said the fourth was found “after a search by hundreds of rescue workers from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Lithuanian Armed Forces, Polish Armed Forces, Estonian Armed Forces, and many other elements of the Lithuanian government and civilian agencies.” The soldiers’ identities are being withheld pending confirmation of notification of next of kin.
This afternoon on Capitol Hill, military officials are set to discuss small drones and counter-drone technology in a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing featuring:
- Marine Lt. Gen. Eric Austin, Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Capabilities Development and Integration and Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command;
- Army Lt. Gen. Robert Collins, Principal Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) and Director of the Army’s Acquisition Corps;
- Army Maj. Gen. David Stewart, Director Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office;
- and Army Col. Guy Yelverton, Deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management and Program Executive Office Missiles & Space.
This Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee hearing begins at 2 p.m. Livestream here.
Etc.
RIP, Iceman. Val Kilmer, who played the rival-turned-friend to Tom Cruise’s Maverick in the Top Gun movies, has died at 65, AP reports. “Ultimately, Iceman is the most heroic character in Top Gun, and other characters become more heroic by being more like him,” Collider wrote in a 2022 appreciation. “Maybe being an instructor at TOPGUN will keep Maverick from being a menace in the skies. But bottom line: Iceman deserved better.”
Jesus Christ is King
