Overnight Defense: Pompeo brings hawkish Iran stance to State | Air Force ducks on ‘space force’ | Senate eyes vote on US role in Yemen war | Perry doesn’t want to be VA chief

THE TOPLINE: President Trump’s shuffle at the State Department will make hawkish Mike Pompeo the top diplomat at a critical time for the Iran nuclear deal and negotiations with North Korea.

The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant took a look at what Pompeo will mean for those issues:

President Trump’s decision to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of State with CIA Director Mike Pompeo puts a hawkish critic of the Iran nuclear deal on tap to be the top diplomat for the United States.

It also puts a former Republican lawmaker with deep ties on Capitol Hill, and one who has developed an increasingly close relationship with the president, in charge of the State Department, which could shift policy to the right while also giving Foggy Bottom more influence in the administration.

{mosads}

The former congressman carved out a reputation as a fierce critic of the Iran nuclear deal, which he said he looked forward to rolling back following Trump’s election. Pompeo declared in a 2016 op-ed that the deal “virtually guaranteed that Iran will have the freedom to build an arsenal of nuclear weapons.”

That would put Pompeo at odds with Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who reportedly pressed Trump to keep the deal in place.

But it would align Pompeo with Trump, who sees the deal as deeply flawed.

Read more here.

 

Iran, unsurprisingly isn’t thrilled at the move, saying Wednesday that the ouster of Rex Tillerson shows Trump is “determined to leave the nuclear deal.” Read more on that here.

 

AIR FORCE TREADS CAREFULLY ON TRUMP’S SPACE FORCE: The leaders of the Air Force on Wednesday neither contradicted nor voiced support for President Trump’s comments from the day before calling for a military branch dedicated to space.

At a Wednesday budget hearing, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chairwoman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, asked Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein how they interpreted Trump’s remarks and to restate their opposition to a separate military branch for space.

Wilson responded by talking about the importance of space to national security and what the fiscal 2019 budget proposal does to bolster space efforts — but did not directly address the idea of a new branch of the military dedicated to space.

Goldfein, meanwhile, said he is “excited about the dialogue” and recalled his work on space issues when he was the air component commander in Central Command.

Read more about the issue here.

 

PERRY SAYS HE DOESN’T WANT VA JOB: Energy Secretary Rick Perry says he’s not interested in becoming the next secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Speaking with reporters after a Wednesday congressional hearing, Perry called the idea that he would move to the VA “fake news” and said he is staying at the Energy Department “until the foreseeable future — happily,” The Associated Press reported.

Multiple news outlets, led by The New York Times, reported Tuesday that President Trump was considering firing VA Secretary David Shulkin and moving Perry into the job.

The Hill’s Tim Cama has more here.

 

SENATORS EYE YEMEN VOTE NEXT WEEK: The Senate is gearing up for a vote next week on whether or not to end U.S. military involvement in Yemen.

Coming out of a closed-door briefing early Wednesday evening, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said his resolution with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will be brought up before Congress leaves for a two-week recess.

“I think what our job now in Congress is to … accept responsibility for issues of war,” he said. “I hope Congress and the Senate next week votes to get the United States out of aiding Saudi Arabia in this very terrible war.”

Murphy separately told reporters that he believes the resolution will likely be brought up for a vote next week.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it wasn’t scheduled yet but could come up. The Senate also wants to tackle a bill to combat online sex trafficking and a mammoth government funding bill.

Murphy, Sanders and Lee introduced their resolution late last month, arguing the U.S. military’s involvement is unconstitutional because Congress has not had a say in entering the conflict.

The Hill’s Jordain Carney has more here.

 

SANDERS PUSHES PENTAGON ON ‘EXCESSIVE’ DEFENSE CONTRACTOR PAY: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, on Wednesday demanded that the Pentagon rein in “excessive compensation” for the CEOs of defense contractors.

“What kind of message does it send when a defense contractor is paid 100 times more than the secretary of defense?” Sanders wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Sanders pointed to compensation for the CEOs of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, which amounted to roughly $20 million each. Taxpayer money, he said, accounted for more than 90 percent of those companies’ revenues.

A Pentagon spokesman said the Defense Department has already begun some reforms, such as reorganizing the former Office of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

The Hill’s Niv Ellis and Ellen Mitchell have more here.

 

SEC CHARGES THERANOS CEO WITH ‘MASSIVE FRAUD’: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Wednesday against the founder and CEO of the embattled blood testing startup company Theranos — and there’s a Pentagon connection.

The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel reports:

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of the embattled blood testing startup company Theranos, has been charged with “massive fraud,” the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday.

According to the SEC, Theranos, Holmes and the company’s former president, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, claimed that the company’s products were deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense on the battlefield in Afghanistan and on medevac helicopters, and that the company would generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2014.

In truth, the SEC said Theranos’s technology was never deployed by the Defense Department and generated a little more than $100,000 in revenue from operations in 2014. According to a Washington Post investigation, then-Gen. James Mattis personally pushed for its use in the field while he was in charge of U.S. Central Command.

After he retired from the military, Mattis joined the company’s board. He resigned when President Trump nominated him for secretary of Defense.

Read more here.

 

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 9:30 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room G-50. http://bit.ly/2FK9qfW

Army Secretary Mark Esper and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley will appear before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee to discuss the fiscal 2019 Army budget request at 10 a.m. in the House side of the Capitol, room 140. http://bit.ly/2IeKtrx

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin will testify before the House Appropriations military construction and veterans affairs subcommittee at 10 a.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2362-A. http://bit.ly/2G5wQu0

The House Armed Services Committee has three hearings scheduled:

— A full committee hearing with head of U.S. European Command, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, at 10 a.m. at Rayburn 2118. http://bit.ly/2oUoHBq

— A subcommittee hearing with Lt. Gen. Jerry Harris, Air Force deputy chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff force structure, resources and assessments, at 2 p.m. in Rayburn 2212. http://bit.ly/2IdE5AG

— Another subcommittee hearing with Assistant Secretary of Defense Kenneth Rapuano and head of Air Force Space Command Gen. John Raymond at 3:30 p.m. in Rayburn 2118. http://bit.ly/2FmbPhD

 

ICYMI:

— The Hill: Navy F-18 jet crashes in Key West

— The Hill: Opinion: State Department pick Pompeo will clear the air in Foggy Bottom

— The Hill: Opinion: Michael Hayden: America needs Gina Haspel to lead the CIA

— The Hill: Opinion: From Iran to North Korea, opportunities await Trump’s new secretary of State

— The Washington Post: ‘The Taliban is in the city’: Secretive raids with U.S. forces launched to stop Kabul attacks