The D Brief: Harris’ record; Netanyahu in DC; Missile-making bottleneck; Rheinmetall rakes it in; And a bit more.
Harris’ foreign-policy record under the microscope: On a day when Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up enough promised votes to secure the Democratic nomination to replace her boss, researcher Aaron Mannes published an overview at Foreign Policy featuring some of the tools and experience the California prosecutor-turned-U.S. senator-turned-Veep could bring to the Oval Office.
Immigration and the border: “The matter highlights her strengths and weaknesses. Biden assigned her to help mitigate illegal immigration after she offered suggestions for working with Central American countries to address the root causes of immigration. She had not sought the assignment, and when she received it, she tried to distance herself from the related issue of border security.” Over time, however, “she built relationships with players in Central America that paid dividends.” She led the public-private Partnership for Central America, which drew more than $5.2 billion in private sector commitments to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and “supported the administration’s successful effort to ensure a peaceful transition of power after a contested election in Guatemala.”
National Space Council: As its chair, “she has overseen the highly technical process of developing regulations for space commerce while doing yeoman’s work quintupling the signatories to the Artemis Accords, an agreement that encourages common standards of behavior in space.” And in 2022, “Harris made a bold diplomatic stroke by announcing a unilateral U.S. commitment to not carry out anti-satellite weapons tests” that “places China and Russia, which have not committed to a test ban, on the defensive.”
Mannes also takes note of Harris’ experienced staff, which includes a former NSC acting director who oversaw the development of the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy.
This foreign-policy review “does not indicate a grand strategy or worldview," he writes. "Instead, her work has been about developing a skill set of policymaking and implementation, as well as learning and using the tools available to her office." More, here.
A somewhat longer list of Harris’ foreign-policy activity is available in an endorsement letter released on Tuesday by some 350 Democratic foreign-policy “heavyweights,” as the Washington Post described them. “If elected President, she would enter that office with more significant national security experience than the four Presidents prior to President Biden,” says the letter, whose signatories include former national security advisers Susan Rice and Thomas E. Donilon; former secretaries of state John F. Kerry and Hillary Clinton; former secretaries of defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta; and former top intelligence officials Michael Hayden and James Clapper. Read that, here.
Welcome to this Wednesday edition of The D Brief, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your newsletter tips, reading recommendations, or feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1959, Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conducted their impromptu and now-famous “Kitchen Debate” at the American National Exhibition in Moscow.
Rheinmetall has officially begun developing its new ammunition factory inside Ukraine, the German arms maker announced this week. The total value for the deal is in the “low three-digit million euro range,” and is scheduled to be completed “within a few years,” according to Rheinmetall.
Forecast: “The intention is to start the ammunition production in the Ukraine within 24 months,” the German firm said Tuesday.
Reminder: Just last month, Rheinmetall opened a repair center for its Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles transferred to Kyiv’s military. Defense One’s Sam Skove elaborated on that development, here.
By the way: Rheinmetall “more than doubled operating profit in the second quarter” of 2024, Reuters reported Wednesday from Berlin. Much of that is “due to orders from the German army using funds from a 100-billion-euro special fund created after the invasion of Ukraine to bolster the country's armed forces,” Reuters writes.
The second quarter, in numbers: “Operating earnings in April-June rose 111% year-on-year to 271 million euros ($293 million) beating expectations for 226 million, while the operating profit margin rose to 12.1%, above the consensus for 11.0%, based on the preliminary numbers.” More here.
Signs of fatigue in Ukraine: The percentage of people willing to give up some invaded territory in order to stop the war with Russia is growing, from 10% last year to now around 32%, according to a survey conducted in May and published this week by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Worth noting: 55% of Ukrainians do not want to give Russia any territory in exchange for a quick end to the invasion. But that number was 84% at this point last year. Details, here.
Making it rain in Moscow: Residents of Russia’s capital city can now get a $22,000 signing bonus for joining the military, Latvia-based Meduza reported Tuesday. For the locals, that amounts to 1.9 million rubles, which comes to about $21,777. According to city officials, “The total amount of payments to a contract serviceman (taking into account monthly salary and Moscow and federal support measures) will exceed 5.2 million rubles ($59,599) for the first year of service.”
For some perspective, one journalist who worked at the Moscow Times back in 2014 made $13,000 a year. “And that was a good salary for Moscow,” he said.
Ukraine’s top diplomat is in China for talks with officials, the state-run newspaper China People’s Daily reported Tuesday. With his visit to the southern city of Guangzhou, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kubeba is now the highest-ranking Ukrainian to visit China since Russia launched its full-scale invasion more than two years ago.
“I am convinced that a just peace in Ukraine is in China’s strategic interests, and China’s role as a global force for peace is important,” said Kuleba in his opening remarks. The Associated Press and Reuters have a bit more.
The Brits’ new Army chief says the country must be ready to fight a war within three years, the BBC reported Tuesday after Gen. Sir Roland Walker’s first public speech as Chief of the General Staff, a role he assumed in June.
Atop his list of concerns: Russia. “It doesn’t matter how [the Ukraine invasion] ends,” Walker said Tuesday at the Royal United Services Institute land warfare conference. “I think Russia will emerge from it probably weaker objectively – or absolutely – but still very, very dangerous and wanting some form of retribution for what we have done to help Ukraine,” he warned.
“He also warned that China was intent on retaking Taiwan, and Iran was likely to pursue nuclear weapons,” the BBC reports. More, here.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak before a joint session of Congress this afternoon. That high-profile appearance will come shortly after a visit with President Biden at the White House, where the two are expected to discuss the ongoing war in Gaza. Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to meet separately with Netanyahu sometime Thursday, and Bibi travels to Florida afterward for talks with former president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-lago resort on Friday.
This will be Netanyahu’s fourth time addressing Congress, which would put him ahead of Winston Churchill for the record, according to Reuters. “Though Netanyahu's visit was orchestrated by Congress' Republican leaders, it is likely to be less confrontational than in 2015, when Republicans sidestepped then-President Barack Obama and invited Netanyahu's to Congress to criticize the Democrat's Iran policy,” the wire service writes in a preview.
Related reading:
- “Israelis march to Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv calling for deal to secure release of Gaza hostages,” AP reports;
- And in the U.S.: “Cops Arrested Over 3,500 Pro-Gaza Campus Protesters, New Data Shows,” from researcher Stephen Semler, writing for the Forever Wars newsletter;
- Relatedly, see “Where Protesters on U.S. Campuses Have Been Arrested or Detained,” which is a multimedia presentation updated this week by the New York Times.
New: The Marine Corps plans to give every squad backpackable anti-drone gear. The Corps will vet potential equipment in a September competition, says Taylor Barefoot, the lead anti-drone guy at the Capabilities Development Directorate. The gear will supplement powerful anti-air vehicles, such as the Corps’ planned L-MADIS and MADIS systems, whose protective bubble only goes so far. (Also, Ukrainian troops have found that large, vehicle-based air-defense systems can draw enemy fire—and attract more drones than they have weapons to shoot down.)
Every squad needs a “rudimentary, essential, self-defense capability,” Barefoot told Defense One’s Sam Skove, who has more, here.
Also new: A naval aviator is the first U.S. woman with an air-to-air kill. The F-18 pilot shot down a Houthi drone over the Red Sea during the carrier Eisenhower’s recent record-breaking deployment there, the Navy said Tuesday, omitting her name, when it happened, and basically every other detail. (Task & Purpose, Military Times)
The U.S. doesn’t have enough rocker makers to keep up with the demand for new and replacement missiles, officials with RTX said at Farnborough. The maker of AMRAAM, Patriot, and other missiles is hunting for at least a third supplier, officials said at Farnborough. Defense One's Audrey Decker has more.
Boeing could put a drone operator in the F-15EX’s back seat, if desired by the Air Force or any of the international customers the company is chasing. Decker reports from the Farnborough air show.
- Related reading: “Lockheed Martin lifts 2024 sales target on fighter jet, missile demand,” from Reuters.
And lastly: The U.S. is on the verge of signing a $2.8 billion deal with the Saudis to help maintain multiple aircraft, including the KC-130J tanker, C-130 Hercules, E-3 AWACS Sentry, the rare RE-3A Tactical Airborne Surveillance System Aircraft, Beechcraft KA 350, as well as Bell’s 212 and 412 helicopters. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency has more details, here.