Overnight Defense: DC National Guard activates 250 troops ahead of Chauvin verdict | Planning update on Afghanistan withdrawal

by Ellen Mitchell - 04/20/21 6:46 PM ET

Happy Tuesday and welcome to Overnight Defense. I’m Ellen Mitchell, and here’s your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. CLICK HERE to subscribe to the newsletter.

THE TOPLINE: National Guard troops were on hand Tuesday in cities throughout the country following the guilty verdict for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Chavin was found guilty on all charges in the murder trial of George Floyd, whose death led to months of demonstrations against police brutality last summer.

Details of the DC Guard: Ahead of the verdict, the D.C. National Guard approved a request from the Metropolitan Police Department to activate about 250 personnel.

The D.C. National Guard announced in a statement Monday that it would activate the personnel “to support local law enforcement in response to potential First Amendment demonstrations.”

The force is approved to support D.C. and law enforcement “as needed” until May 9.

The guardsmen were specifically requested to “assist police with street closures at multiple intersections in order to provide safety in and around pedestrian areas,” according to the statement.

Who made the request: In a letter sent to the D.C. National Guard on April 8, Christopher Rodriguez, the director of the D.C. government’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, requested that the Guard be activated to help the D.C. police manage crowds, block vehicles at traffic posts and provide a “quick response force.”

Elsewhere in the country: In downtown Minneapolis, a spokesperson for the Minneapolis National Guard confirmed to The Hill last week that 3,000 Guardsmen are being deployed.

The Minnesota National Guard was activated as part of Operation Safety Net, a joint undertaking by the Minneapolis Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the state of Minnesota and local jurisdictions to “protect people, freedom of speech and property during the Derek Chauvin trial as well as the aftermath of the police involved shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.”

Wright, a young Black man, was killed in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on Sunday, just miles away from where Floyd died.

Similar measures are underway in other cities, including in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta and New York, where police presence will be increased.

Read more on the Chauvin verdict here.

COUNTERTERRORISM STRIKES IN AFGHANISTAN AFTER WITHDRAWAL ‘HARDER’ BUT ‘NOT IMPOSSIBLE’

Striking terrorist targets in Afghanistan without a U.S. troop presence there will be “harder” but “not impossible,” the top U.S. general overseeing the region said Tuesday.

Speaking to the House Armed Services Committee, Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said he is in the midst of “detailed planning” for options for “over the horizon” forces, or forces positioned elsewhere in the region that could continue counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan. He plans to give Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin those options by the end of the month, he added.

“If you leave Afghanistan and you want to go back in to conduct these kinds of operations, there are three things you need to do: you need to find the target, you need to fix the target, and you need to be able to finish the target,” McKenzie said. “The first two require heavy intelligence support. If you’re out of the country, and you don’t have the ecosystem that we have there now, it will be harder to do that. It is not impossible to do that.”

Earlier: McKenzie was testifying about a week after President Biden announced he was ordering all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, bringing an end to U.S. military participation in America’s longest war.

Later Tuesday, Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are also scheduled to brief the full House and Senate behind closed doors on Biden’s plan for Afghanistan.

Biden’s decision came despite repeated statements from U.S. military officials that the Taliban was not yet upholding its end of a deal made during the Trump administration to reduce violence and break from al Qaeda, as well as warnings about the potential for chaos in Afghanistan that could allow an al Qaeda resurgence should U.S. troops withdraw.

Read the rest here.

RUSSIAN BUILDUP BIGGER THAN THOUGHT

Satellite photos show Russia has moved more warplanes, troops and equipment to near its border with Ukraine than previously revealed, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The military buildup, which has taken place in Crimea and at Moscow’s bases near Ukraine, has alarmed the United States and other NATO countries as it indicates an increased pressure for political coercion or likelihood of Russian military intervention into Ukraine.

What’s been added: One commercial satellite image from April 16 specifically shows Su-30 fighters on a runway at a Crimea air base which had not been there in late March, according to the Journal.

Russia apparently has also added military units to the area that include attack helicopters, motorized rifle and armored units, smoke generators, spy drones, jamming equipment and a military hospital, according to the photos taken between March 27 and April 16 by Maxar Technologies.

More Russian troops: The added forces and armaments come after the European Union’s (EU) top foreign policy minister Josep Borrell warned Monday that tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border were at an all-time high, adding that “a spark” could set off a war between the two countries.

Borrell said there are more than 100,000 Russian troops amassing at the borders and in Crimea – double the forces there about four weeks ago – with the risk of further escalation “evident” and “very concerning.”

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby also said Monday that the Russian military buildup is “certainly bigger” than the one witnessed in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Read more here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

The United States Institute of Peace will hold a webinar on “Afghanistan’s Next Chapter: What Happens as U.S. Troops Leave?” at 10 a.m.
House Foreign Affairs ranking member Michael McCaul (R-Texas) will speak at a Washington Post Live virtual discussion on topics that include “the timetable for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan, the relationship with China and the Biden administration,” at 11:30 a.m.
The Center for Security Policy will hold an online discussion on “Artificial Intelligence and the Wars of the Future,” with former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.); and Ken Rapuano, former assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security, at 1 p.m.
The Senate Armed Services will hear from defense officials during a subpanel hearing on the current and future cyber workforce of the Defense Department and the military services, at 2:30 p.m. in Russell Senate Office Building, room 232A.
Another Senate Armed Services subcommittee will hear from Air Force, Navy and Army officials on science and technology, technology maturation, and technology transition activities, at 2:30 p.m. in Russell, 222.
A House Armed Services subcommittee will hold a hearing on “FY22 Strategic Forces Posture,” at 4 p.m. in Rayburn House Office Building, room 2118.