THE TOPLINE: The Air Force failed to enter the Texas church shooter’s domestic violence conviction into a federal database used for background checks on gun sales — a move that could have prevented him from purchasing a rifle used in Sunday’s shooting.
The Air Force said in a statement provided to The New York Times that it hadn’t put Devin Kelley’s court-martial for domestic assault into the database used to run background checks for firearm sales.
Kelley had been court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his wife and stepson, including cracking the infant’s skull.
The conviction likely would have prevented Kelley from buying the military-style rifle that he used in the shooting, as well as three other guns he had purchased over the past four years, the Times reported.
“The Air Force has launched a review of how the service handled the criminal records of former Airman Devin P. Kelley following his 2012 domestic violence conviction,” the Air Force said in a statement provided to the Times. “Federal law prohibited him from buying or possessing firearms after this conviction.”
Kelley opened fire in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, killing 26 people in the state’s deadliest mass shooting.
VA SECRETARY DOESN’T CONSIDER TEXAS SHOOTER A VETERAN: The news that the suspected shooter in the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church massacre that killed 26 people received a “bad conduct” discharge from the Air Force prompted questions about whether he was legally able to purchase a gun and whether he should have had access to mental health care at Veterans Affairs.
On Monday, VA Secretary David Shulkin addressed the latter question.
The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports:
Shulkin on Monday said he does not consider the former Air Force service member identified as the gunman in a Texas mass shooting as a veteran, and that he would not have had access to mental health help from the department.
“I do not consider him a veteran. That would give him much more respect than he deserves,” Shulkin said of Devin Kelley, who law enforcement identified as the gunman in a church shooting Sunday in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Kelley had served in the Air Force in Logistics Readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico beginning in 2010, but was court-martialed in 2012 for an assault on his then-wife and child. He was sentenced to 12 months confinement, received a reduction in rank and was discharged in 2014 for “bad conduct,” according to the Air Force.
“He is a criminal and I think that he was convicted and with a dishonorable discharge does not deserve to have the same title as the men and women who have served this country and have honorably been discharged,” Shulkin said during remarks at the National Press Club in Washington.
TRUMP IN ASIA: President Trump’s first visit to Asia kicked off over the weekend with a stop in Japan.
Speaking in Tokyo alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump declared on Monday that the United States and its Asian allies “will not stand” for North Korea’s nuclear aggression.
The Hill’s Jordan Fabian reports:
Trump denounced Pyongyang as a “threat to the civilized world” and demanded that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un halt development of nuclear weapons and missile tests, some of which have been fired over Japanese airspace.
“The era of strategic patience is over,” Trump said, standing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “Some people say my rhetoric is very strong, but look what has happened with very weak rhetoric over the past 25 years.”
Trump also said Japan will buy U.S. missile defense equipment so that it can “shoot them out of the sky” if North Korea conducts another missile test that flies over Japan.
The Hill’s Mallory Shelbourne has more on those remarks here.
WHITE HOUSE REQUESTS $4B FOR MISSILE DEFENSE: While Trump was in Asia, the White House sent Congress its long anticipate request for more missile defense funding in the face of North Korean threats.
The request asks for $4 billion for more interceptors, another Ground-Based Interceptor field at Fort Greely, Alaska, and other missile defense capabilities.
The supplemental budget request sent to Congress Monday also asks for $1.2 billion more for the administration’s new Afghanistan strategy and almost $700 million to repair two Navy ships badly damaged in fatal collisions this summer.
PENTAGON SAYS RIDDING NORTH KOREA OF NUKES REQUIRES GROUND INVASION: The only way to locate and destroy all aspects of North Korea’s nuclear program would be a ground invasion, according to a letter from the Joint Staff released by lawmakers over the weekend.
“The only way to ‘locate and destroy – with complete certainty – all components of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs’ is through a ground invasion,” Rear Adm. Michael Dumont wrote to lawmakers.
“A classified briefing is the best venue for a detailed discussion of our capabilities to counter North Korea’s ability to respond with a nuclear weapon and to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons located in deeply buried, underground facilities.”
The Hill’s Max Greenwood has more on the letter here.
Sixteen military veteran lawmakers responded to the letter by urging President Trump to tone down his rhetoric.
“The president needs to stop making provocative statements that hinder diplomatic options and put American troops further at risk,” 16 House and Senate lawmakers wrote in a joint statement.
The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell has more on their statement here.
ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Robert Behler to be director of operational test and evaluation; Dean Winslow to be assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs; Thomas Modly to be under secretary of the Navy; and James Geurts to be assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition at 9:30 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room G-50. http://bit.ly/2xUNIi5
The Senate Banking Committee will mark up North Korea sanctions legislation at 10 a.m. at Dirksen 538. http://bit.ly/2h16GwY
A House Foreign Affairs Committee subpanel will hold a hearing on democracy and governance in the Middle East and North Africa with outside experts at 10 a.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2172. http://bit.ly/2zhL0Xp
Two House Foreign Affairs subpanels will host a joint hearing on Russia and counterterrorism with testimony from outside experts at 2 p.m. at Rayburn 2172. http://bit.ly/2lLiwQX
ICYMI:
— The Hill: Defense bill could give Pentagon power to authorize medical devices, drugs over FDA: report
— The Hill: ‘Fat Leonard’ corruption probe expands to 60 admirals: report
— The Hill: Pentagon IDs Army Green Beret killed in Afghanistan
— The Hill: Opinion: Trump administration has a dangerous argument for unlimited war
— The Hill: Opinion: Trump must sell America as key leader in Asia as he visits region
— The Hill: Opinion: US Treasury takes on terrorism: Non-kinetic warfare that works
— Associated Press: Mattis faces questions from allies on Islamic State strategy
— The Washington Post: In Finland, Mattis backs creation of a hybrid warfare center focused on Russia
— The New York Times: Saudi Arabia charges Iran with ‘act of war,’ raising threat of military clash
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