Overnight Defense & National Security — Defense gets OK to help civilians evacuate

by Ellen Mitchell - 02/09/22 8:09 PM ET

It’s Wednesday, welcome to Overnight Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. Subscribe here: digital-staging.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

The Biden administration has given the Pentagon approval to help evacuate any Americans that want to leave Ukraine, but maintained specific instruction for forces not to enter the former Soviet country.

We’ll have more details on that effort plus a sobering assessment of Iran’s nuclear capability and a new nomination for the the Defense Innovation Board after last year’s controversy.

For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. Write me with tips at emitchell@digital-staging.thehill.com

Let’s get to it.

US forces helping evacuate American citizens

The White House says it is not planning for a mass evacuation of American citizens in Ukraine if Russia were to invade the country, though it has given approval for U.S. troops in Poland to potentially help with any individuals who wish to leave, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.

“These are multi-mission forces, trained and equipped for a variety of missions to deter aggression and to provide reassurance to NATO Allies,” a White House official said when asked about a report that evacuations were being planned.

“We are constantly evaluating the evolving security situation and planning for a range of contingencies as we always do, but to be clear we are not planning for a mass evacuation of American citizens from Ukraine,” the official added. “President Biden has been clear that we believe Americans in Ukraine would be wise to leave Ukraine.”

Breaking news: The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, on Wednesday reported that the White House had approved a plan for troops in Poland to help with an evacuation.

According to the newspaper, some of the troops being deployed from the 82nd Airborne Corps will begin setting up checkpoints and other facilities inside of Poland’s border with Ukraine to begin preparing to serve Americans. The troops would provide logistical support to help coordinate an evacuation, rather than flying aircraft directly into Ukraine to get American citizens out.

Please leave: The Biden administration has repeatedly encouraged American citizens in Ukraine to utilize commercial flights to leave as the threat of a Russian military incursion rises.

The State Department currently advises American citizens not to travel to Ukraine due to Russian military activity and the high level of COVID-19 cases. Late last month, it ordered families of U.S. Embassy personnel in Kyiv to leave the country.

What the Pentagon said: Press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday that while “there are no active efforts in play to militarily evacuate American citizens from Ukraine,” the 82nd Airborne are “ready to do a number of contingencies including . . . evacuation.”

“I can’t rule out the fact that these soldiers could be used in some degree with evacuation assistance on the other side of that border. And certainly, they’re going to be prepared to do that,” Kirby added.

Read the full story here.

Russian commander in Belarus for war games

Russia’s most senior uniformed military officer arrived in Belarus on Wednesday for a large-scale war game with its neighbor amid fears the Kremlin will use the military exercise as cover for an invasion into Ukraine.

Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov arrived in the former Soviet nation ahead of a 10-day drill known as Allied Resolve 2022, the largest joint war game ever held between the two, which is set to start Thursday.

Growing forces, growing concerns: The exercise comes as Moscow has continued to place troops along its border with Ukraine, with “indications that additional battalion tactical groups are on their way,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters later on Wednesday.

U.S. officials for weeks have said more than 100,000 Russian troops are along the Ukraine-Russia border, in addition to roughly 30,000 near the Ukraine-Belarus border, spurning Western concerns there will be a two-pronged attack from Moscow. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, meanwhile, said Russia has placed 140,000 of its troops in the region.

The Pentagon’s two cents: Asked about Gerasimov’s arrival in Belarus, Kirby said his presence was not unusual given the impending exercise, but that it should be viewed “in the context of what’s going on.”

“We’re not looking at this exercise in a vacuum, and we understand that senior military leaders are very much involved in facilitating this buildup, a buildup which we believe is destabilizing and unnecessary,” Kirby said. “We obviously are viewing this, certainly, in light of what’s going on but his presence alone at this exercise is not setting off alarm bells here at the Pentagon.”

Read the full story here.

Read more of today’s coverage on the situation:

Biden talks with Macron about French meeting with Putin and Zelensky
Lithuanian president to ask for permanent US troop presence
Russia diplomat: Military supplies to Ukraine amount to ‘blackmail and pressure’
UK envoy arrives in Moscow in bid to ease tensions

Sens: Iran briefing ‘sobering and shocking’

Senators raised red flags about Tehran’s nuclear program and the shrinking amount of time it would take to attain a nuclear weapon as they emerged from a closed-door briefing on Wednesday.

“That was a sobering and shocking briefing about where we are right now,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “The information we got on breakout time is something we all have to really think about.”

“It’s just extraordinary how Iran’s nuclear program has advanced since the disastrous decision to leave the JCPOA,” he added, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 international deal struck on Iran’s nuclear program that former President Trump withdrew from.

Timing: Biden administration officials briefed members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday as the U.S. is taking part in an eighth round of indirect talks with Iran to bring both parties back to the terms of the deal.

The deal put constraints on Iran’s nuclear activity and included an inspection regime. But opponents argue it did little to limit Iran’s other malign activities, something supporters of the agreement acknowledge it was not intended to do.

A hard sell: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) acknowledged that it could be hard for both Washington, D.C., and Tehran to re-enter the deal, and called the closed-door briefing “sobering.”

“it was very easy to predict when the U.S. walked out of the deal that Iran, which had been moved from a few months away from breakout … to a year away, when we walked out of the deal they would resume their activities and get closer again to a breakout moment. And that’s exactly what happened,” Kaine added.

Weeks away: Senators declined to say what they were told Iran’s current breakout time is, but noted that public reporting has put it at “weeks.” The JCPOA was tied to a one-year breakout time, or the amount of time it takes to produce a weapon’s worth of nuclear material.

“That’s a very sobering, challenging reality,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).

A blockage: The prospect of re-entering a deal with Iran has sparked GOP pushback and skepticism.

“I’ve never been optimistic. I fought the last one,” said Sen. James Risch (Idaho), the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee. “You’re just not dealing with people who want to be reasonable.”

Dozens of Republican senators are vowing to block President Biden’s attempts to return the U.S. to the 2015 nuclear deal, underscoring how partisan divisions threaten the deal’s viability.

Read more here.

Bloomberg to head Defense Innovation Board

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to serve as chair of the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Board.

Nominated: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin nominated Bloomberg to “leverage his experience and strategic insights on innovation, business and public service,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

Kirby added that Bloomberg will bring “a wealth of experience in technology innovation, business and government to the Defense Innovation Board.”

“His leadership will be critical to ensuring the department has access to the best and brightest minds in science, technology and innovation through the team of diverse experts that he will lead as chair of that board,” Kirby said.

About the board: The Defense Innovation Board is an advisory board that was established in 2016 to provide the department with recommendations on emerging technologies and innovative approaches to development.

Bloomberg, a three-term mayor of New York City and founder of the media company bearing his name, is estimated by Forbes to be worth $70 billion.

An earlier controversy: Austin in February 2021 suspended the key advisory panel as well as 41 other boards and committees to oust numerous loyalists to President Trump who had been installed in the final days of his presidency.

Austin has since restored nearly all the panels.

Read the full story here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Sung Kim will travel to Honolulu from Feb. 10 to 15 to host a trilateral meeting with the Japanese Director-General for Asian and Oceanian Affairs and the South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs.
Brussels —NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a joint news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels at 4:45 a.m.
The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Northern Virginia Chapter will hold its Space Force IT Day, with the theme “Advancing Space Force Priorities: Delivering New Capabilities and Accelerating Innovation,” with Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David Thompson and Defense CIO John Sherman, among others, at 8 a.m.
The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association will host an event on “Advancing Digital Evolution: Working Together to Fuel a New Era of Health IT for Veterans Services,” at 9 a.m.
The National Defense Industrial Association will hold its virtual Expeditionary Warfare Conference with the theme “Naval Expeditionary Operations in Joint All Domain Warfare,” with Office of Naval Research Chief Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, at 9:45 a.m.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration will host a discussion on “U.S.-Korea Defense Cooperation in the Biden Administration,” at 10 a.m.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville will be at The Heritage Foundation to discuss “Delivering U.S. Army Modernization,” at 11 a.m.:
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance will discuss “Challenges and Opportunities of Black Women Within the Intelligence Community,” with keynote speaker Debra Smith, former deputy assistant director for the FBI, at 11 a.m.
Former chairman of the National Intelligence Council Gregory Treverton will speak at The American Security Project on “Global Trends: Forces Shaping National Security in Coming Decades,” at 12 p.m.
The U.S. Institute of Peace will host a discussion on “Conflict and Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific,” at 12:30 p.m.
Defense One, Nextgov and Route Fifty will hold an event on “Cyber Defenders: Securing 2022,” at 1 p.m.
German Minister of State Tobias Lindner will speak at the Wilson Center on “Russia’s Aggression Toward Ukraine: The German View,” at 2 p.m.
The Hudson Institute will hold a virtual discussion on “Russian Aggression Against Ukraine: The View from Kyiv,” at 2 p.m.