Updates | The Week of June 5, 2017
President Trump’s national security team was “blindsided” by his failure to reaffirm commitment to Article 5 collective self-defense at the NATO summit in May (Politico).
- In Australia, Secretary of State Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Mattis sought to downplay fears of U.S. isolationism (WaPo).
- In a speech, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster claimed President Trump’s first foreign trip was successful in efforts to stamp out terrorism in the Middle East (WaPo).
- The U.S. could unilaterally withdraw from NATO, argues Julian Ku at Opinio Juris.
At Take Care, Leah Litman and Helen Klein Murillo argue that President Trump’s statements on the London attacks providing disturbing insight into how he might react to similar events in the United States.
- President Trump continued to attack London’s mayor via Twitter (Politico, The Intercept).
The recent arrest of an intelligence contractor for leaking NSA documents isn’t the beginning of a “war on leaks”, argues Nicholas Weaver (Lawfare).
Leaked photos of the Manchester bombing scene published by U.S. news outlets jeopardize national security, explains Laura Mallonee (Wired).
An intelligence contractor has been charged in the first leak case under President Trump (NYT, WaPo, The Hill, Slate).
The Pentagon’s proposed measures to track weapons provided to Syrian rebels are insufficient for true accountability, according to arms-control experts (WaPo).
The Pentagon has confirmed an additional 100 civilian casualties in the U.S. air campaign against ISIS, bringing the acknowledged civilians death toll to 484 (WaPo).
- At Lawfare, Zach Abels argues that the Trump administration must learn the counterinsurgency lessons of the early 2000s in Iraq, including pairing military effort with diplomacy and a focus on civilians, in order to be successful in the fight against ISIS in Iraq.
Defense Secretary James Mattis sought to quell foreign allies’ concerns over the Trump administration agenda at an Asian defense summit over the weekend (WaPo).
Michael Flynn may have decided to delay a U.S. military action opposed by the Turkish government after his consulting firm received payment from the Turkish government, writes Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (The Hill).
President Trump’s announcement that his administration concluded a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia is fake news, writes Bruce Riedel at Lawfare.
U.S. officials believe that Russian hackers planted fake news stories which have contributed to rising tensions in the Gulf region (The Hill).