THE TOPLINE: The Pentagon on Tuesday said it hopes to “soon” transfer a Guantánamo Bay detainee to his home country of Saudi Arabia, in line with his plea agreement.
If the detainee, Ahmed al-Darbi, is transferred, he would be the first person to leave the facility since President Trump took office.
Al-Darbi in 2014 pleaded guilty before a military commission to charges related to helping plot a 2002 al Qaeda attack on a French oil tanker.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, he was to testify against two other Guantánamo detainees awaiting trials by the military tribunal. In exchange, he would be allowed to serve the remainder of his 13-year sentence in a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia.
His agreement stipulated he would be transferred four years after his guilty plea, a date that came Tuesday.
In a statement Tuesday, Pentagon spokeswoman Cmdr. Sarah Higgins said al-Darbi’s transfer “will not take place today” as the Pentagon waits for “assurances” from Saudi Arabia.
“We await assurances from the Saudi Arabian government to move forward on his departure,” she said. “Al-Darbi will remain at Guantánamo until all transfer details are concluded. Thus far, al-Darbi has complied with all terms of his plea agreement.”
The Pentagon “hopes the transfer will take place soon,” she said.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS TRUMP HAS CONFIDENCE IN VA CHIEF: About a week after a scathing inspector general report on Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s European travel and subsequent news reports about turmoil between Shulkin and White House officials, a spokeswoman indicated President Trump has confidence in the secretary.
At Tuesday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked whether Trump still has confidence in Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has also come under scrutiny for travel practices.
“I have no reason to believe otherwise,” Huckabee Sanders replied.
“As we have said many times before, if somebody doesn’t have the confidence of the president, you will know.”
The Hill’s Jordan Fabian has the story here.
RUSSIA SAYS ‘DOZENS’ INJURED IN CLASH WITH US FORCES: Russia conceded Tuesday that “dozens” of its citizens were injured and an unspecified number were killed in a U.S. strike in Syria earlier this month, though it insisted its military was not involved in the clash.
“In the course of the recent military clash, in which the servicemen of the Russian Federation did not participate in any way and the technical means were not used, there are dead citizens of Russia and the [Russian Commonwealth] countries, as already mentioned,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. “There are also several dozen wounded.”
Russia previously downplayed its citizens’ role in the incident, saying only that five may have died. But reports citing friends of the deceased and injured as well as unnamed officials have said “scores” of Russian mercenaries were killed or injured in the attack.
PENTAGON BUDGET EUPHORIA COULD BE SHORT-LIVED: The Pentagon is on cloud nine with a major cash infusion on the way, but that euphoria could be short-lived.
After years of fighting, the Pentagon emerged victorious with a budget deal last week that gives defense spending a $165 billion hike over budget caps for the next two years.
It’s a huge figure for a department that for years has argued it has been short-changed by the sequester — spending ceilings imposed by an Obama-era budget deal that curbed defense spending.
Instead, budget analysts and some lawmakers are questioning how long the money will last. The 2011 Budget Control Act, the law that created the sequester, actually continues to exist until 2021, meaning the budget ceilings hated by the Pentagon could still return.
“I’ve told our people, our military people that we’re in pretty good shape in terms of fiscal years ’18 and ’19, but then what after that,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “And the answer is, ‘I don’t have that answer.’ “
TOP MATTIS AIDE LEAVING: A top aide to Defense Secretary James Mattis is leaving the Pentagon to return to the private sector, Mattis announced Tuesday.
In a statement, Mattis said that senior adviser Sally Donnelly is leaving with his “thanks and confidence as she opens the next chapter of her professional career.” He “always knew she would return to the private sector,” he added.
“For over a decade, Sally Donnelly has been my trusted and valued adviser,” Mattis said in the rare public good-bye statement. “She has played a critical role in the Department of Defense throughout this important first year. She was particularly effective in shaping two of the department’s major lines of effort: building international partnerships and bringing essential business reform to the Pentagon.”
Donnelly has served as Mattis’s senior adviser since he was sworn in on Jan. 21, 2017, and immediately prior, guiding him through the confirmation process.
Before joining Mattis back at the Pentagon last year, she founded and managed SBD Advisors, a consulting firm.
ICYMI:
— The Hill: US, South Korea planning new joint military exercises
— The Hill: Opinion: The CIA may need to call White House to clarify Russia meddling
— The Hill: Opinion: Send ISIS prisoners back to their countries of origin
— The New York Times: ‘An Endless War’: Why 4 U.S. Soldiers Died in a Remote African Desert
— The Washington Post: Emails detail how senior U.S. military officers grappled with false Hawaii missile alert
— Military Times: Veterans groups rally around VA secretary amid rumors of looming dismissal