OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Bergdahl charged with desertion

by Martin Matishak and Kristina Wong - 03/25/15 7:42 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: The Army on Wednesday charged Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion, reigniting the debate over whether President Obama paid too high a price to secure his release from the Taliban.

Bergdahl, 28, who went missing from his base in 2009 while serving in Afghanistan, could face life imprisonment for the separate charge of misbehavior before the enemy. Some have suggested that other soldiers died while looking for Bergdahl.

Obama released five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba in exchange for Bergdahl, the last U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan. Republicans have argued that was far too high a price to pay for Bergdahl, whom fellow soldiers accused of walking off the job and endangering their lives.

{mosads}After the Army’s announcement, some lawmakers referenced reports that one of the five men released from Guantanamo had attempted to return to militant activity by contacting his former associates.

“I have no doubt that in the future the ‘Taliban 5’ will return to the fight against the United States,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday in response to the news about Bergdahl’s charges.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a statement said he believed the trade had made Americans less safe.

“Knowing that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists is one of our greatest protections, and now it is compromised,” he said. “Frankly, this is another example of President Obama ignoring our long-established foreign policy priorities, the bipartisan concerns of Congress, and the American people.”

The White House celebrated Bergdahl’s release with a Rose Garden ceremony attended by the soldier’s family, in which Obama said the prisoner held for five years by the Taliban wasn’t “forgotten by his country.”

Days later, National Security Adviser Susan Rice defended the trade, saying that Bergdahl had served with “honor and distinction.”

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday also defended the decision to release five prisoners for Bergdahl.

“Was it worth it? Absolutely,” she said in an interview for Fox News’ “The Kelly File.”

“We have a commitment to our men and women serving overseas, or in our military, defending our national security every day, that we will do everything we can to bring them home, and that’s what we did in this case,” she added.

Bergdahl now faces an Article 32 preliminary hearing, to determine whether there is enough evidence for a court-martial. The hearing will take place at Fort Sam Houston.

HOUSE BOOSTS DEFENSE SPENDING: The House approved a budget plan for 2016 budget in a 228-199 vote on Wednesday that represents a big win for defense hawks.

The 2016 budget would increase defense spending next year by boosting the Defense Department’s war fund to $96 billion, well above President Obama’s $58 billion request.

The provision won over dozens of defense hawks including members of the Armed Services Committee who called for more robust resources for the Pentagon

The Senate is expected to take up its own version of a budget proposal on Thursday, which similarly calls for $523 billion in base defense spending and more than $90 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding.

AFGHAN PRESIDENT THANKS US: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani heaped praise on America and its military for the sacrifices the U.S. had made supporting his country for over a decade.

“We owe a profound debt to the soldiers who have lost limbs to buried bombs, to the brave veterans, and to the families who tragically lost their loved ones to the enemy’s cowardly acts of terror,” Ghani said in a Wednesday address to a joint session of Congress.

“And we must acknowledge with appreciation that at the end of the day it is the ordinary Americans whose hard-earned taxes have over the years built the partnership that has led to our conversation today,” he added.

The hour-long address came the day after President Obama announced he would delay the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, leaving around 9,800 troops in the country through the end of 2015, not the 5,500 he originally planned.

Ghani’s far-reaching address appeared aimed at soothing the anxieties of an American public wary of such a commitment after nearly 14 years of conflict.

He touted the achievements his country has made in recent years and pledged that the nation would be self-reliant in the next decade.

Ghani also warned that his Afghanistan is at risk of being infiltrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“We are the front line, but the terrorists neither recognize boundaries nor require passports to spread their messages of hate and discord,” he said.

He drew his address to a close by emphasizing that his country will someday stand on its own.

“Never again will our country be a host to terrorists. Never again will we give extremists the sanctuary to plan their destructive plots,” he said.

“Together, our two countries will finish the job that began on that clear, terrible, September morning almost 14 years ago.”

ACQUISITION REVAMP ROLLS OUT: The leaders of the House Armed Services Committee unveiled their bill to overhaul the Defense Department’s acquisition system.

The measure, sponsored by panel Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.), will be fed into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after getting feedback from government and industry.

“We are releasing this bill one month ahead of NDAA consideration because we want to get people’s feedback. We listened to a lot of folks as we drafted this bill, and we want to hear from them again as we work to make it law,” Thornberry said in a statement.

The proposed measure, which is the first step in what committee aides predict will be a multiyear process, seeks to consolidate or eliminate the bureaucracy program managers have to deal with over an effort’s lifetime.

“I hope that by streamlining the process, improving accountability, and eliminating outdated regulations, we can start to get some of that edge back. While this bill won’t fix all that is broken, it is a start,” Thornberry said.

Smith said that improving DOD’s buying policies is “an important step towards ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and effectively. This bill is the product of healthy exchanges with the department and with industry, and it provides a solid foundation for continuing a productive dialogue.”

The House Armed Services Committee is expected to mark up its version of the NDAA on April 29. The full House is expected to take up the annual defense policy bill in early May.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

– McCain moves to preserve extra war money

– Republican senator wants to tie Iran to budget fight

– Yemen’s president flees home as rebels advance

– US reportedly mulling airstrikes in Tikrit

– White House: No plan B if NSA deadline passes

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@digital-staging.thehill.com.