BY JAMIE MCINTYRE

NDAA DONE DEAL: A carefully crafted compromise version of the $778 billion 2022 National Defense Authorization Act — the law that sets policy for the Pentagon — passed the House last night and is headed to the Senate stripped of some of its most contentious provisions advocated by progressive Democrats.

The bill, which passed the Democratic-controlled House by a wide bipartisan margin, 363-70, was the result of days of closed-door dealing in which leaders of the House and Senate hammered out agreement on controversial amendments that had prevented the measure from coming to a vote.

Before the vote, Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, warned that any attempt to further amend the bill would kill it. “I can attest that the bill before you today represents a strong bipartisan, bicameral agreement,” he told fellow lawmakers. “Any changes or additions to the text will likely cause the bill to fail in the House or Senate.”

The measure now goes to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised a straight up or down vote. “It's our view that we will pass that bill as the House sends it because it's been negotiated.”

SENATE AGREES TO FINAL DEFENSE BILL THAT OUTSPENDS BIDEN'S BUDGET REQUEST

CONSERVATIVES CROW: The final version of the bill, announced yesterday by the two Armed Services committees, contains almost everything Republicans wanted and nothing they didn’t. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma released a statement touting his wins for “conservative values.”

“There is much in this bill for conservatives,” Inhofe said, claiming credit for stripping the measure of a provision that would have required women of draft age to register with the Selective Service.

“All along, I’ve fought to keep the ‘women in the draft’ provision out of the bill — ensuring that it was not included in the original draft of the bill and demanding a roll-call vote on it when it was offered as an amendment in markup,” Inhofe said. “I’m proud to have successfully removed this provision from the final agreement, because plain and simple, we shouldn’t be forcing our daughters and granddaughters to register for the Selective Service.”

“The agreement rejects progressives’ attempts to paint service members as extremists, to use the NDAA to further their efforts for DC statehood, and to advance progressives’ social agenda,” according to Inhofe. And it “prohibits service members from being dishonorably discharged for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.”

AMENDMENT TO INCLUDE WOMEN IN MILITARY DRAFT TAKEN OUT OF MAJOR DEFENSE BILL

AFGHANISTAN REVIEW MANDATED: Republicans also pushed for the provision that establishes a commission to study U.S. involvement in Afghanistan from 2001-2021 and requires recommendations and lessons learned.

“After Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is absolutely essential that we have an objective and thorough examination of America’s longest war to ensure the United States never again makes the same mistakes that were made in Afghanistan,” said New York Rep. Elise Stefanik.

The bill also specifically prohibits any transfer of Pentagon funds or resources to the Taliban.

OTHER KEY PROVISIONS: 

• Funds a 2.7% pay raise for both the military and the DOD civilian workforce.
• Increases parental leave to 12 weeks for all service members for the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
• Adds nearly $500 million for unfunded requirements identified by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander. 
• States the policy of the United States to maintain the ability to resist a “fait accompli” against Taiwan.
• Bans the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. and the use of DOD funds to house detainees in the U.S. 
• Establishes special trial counsel with exclusive authority to refer certain offenses to trial by court-martial. 
• Defines sexual harassment as a standalone offense and requires independent investigations of sexual harassment complaints.
• Prohibits reductions in B-1 bomber squadron combat capability until such time as the B21 aircraft begins fielding, and prohibits the reduction of A-10 aircraft for another year.
• Requires older C-130s to be retired to reduce the fleet to 279 aircraft.
• Authorizes $1 billion for 12 F/A-18E/F aircraft. 
• Includes a $4.7 billion increase for shipbuilding, including five additional battle force ships: two destroyers, two expeditionary fast transports, and one fleet oiler.
• Authorizes $3.1 billion for the Columbia-class submarine program, an increase of $130 million.

DEFENSE BILL BARS PRIVATE FUNDING OF NATIONAL GUARD WITH EMERGENCY EXCEPTION

BY THE NUMBERS: FY22 Defense Funding Levels

• Department of Defense: $740.3 billion
• Department of Energy: $27.8 billion
• NDAA topline: $768.2 billion
• Defense-related activities outside NDAA jurisdiction:  $9.9 billion
• Total national defense topline: $777.7

Military Services End Strength

• Army — 485,000
• Navy — 346,920
• Marine Corps — 178,500
• Air Force — 329,220
• Space Force — 8,400

Read the full text of the FY 2022 NDAA here. And a summary here.

Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Victor I. Nava. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

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HAPPENING TODAY: After having his confirmation hearing postponed while senators wrangled over the final NDAA provisions, Navy Adm. Christopher Grady will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 10 a.m. Grady was nominated by the president to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a post that has been vacant since Air Force Gen. John Hyten retired last month.

ALSO TODAY: At 2:30 p.m., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear testimony from Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, on the future of U.S. policy on Taiwan.

IT AIN’T QUITE OVER YET: To say Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is steamed that her hard-fought battle to reform the military justice system was watered down in conference committee would be to risk serious understatement.

“House and Senate Armed Services leadership have gutted our bipartisan military justice reforms behind closed doors, doing a disservice to our service members and our democracy,” the New York Democrat railed in a statement. “Committee leadership has ignored the will of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a majority of the House in order to do the bidding of the Pentagon.”

“Despite claims otherwise, the NDAA does not remove the convening authority from military commanders,” said Gillibrand, who has been championing the reform for six years and finally won bipartisan support this year. “Worse yet, DOD successfully undercut Defense Secretary [Lloyd] Austin’s proclaimed commitment to removing sex crimes from the chain of command and ignored President Biden’s public support for removing felonies from the chain of command.”

This morning, Gillibrand and fellow Democrat Richard Blumenthal, along with Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, will call for an up or down floor vote on their original bill, the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act, which was co-sponsored by 66 senators and 220 House members.

CLOSING GITMO: This year’s NDAA extends the restrictions that made it so hard for President Barack Obama to close the U.S. terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prohibiting the transfer of any prisoners to the U.S.

President Biden has also pledged to close the prison camp, but so far, he has been able to transfer only one detainee to a third country. After almost 20 years, 39 prisoners remain, of which 13 have been cleared for transfer but have nowhere to go and 27 who have never been charged with a crime.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican sparred over the Biden plan to close the facility.

“No one is here from the intelligence community, which has assessed that nearly 32% of the Guantanamo detainees are believed to have rejoined their war on the United States,” said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. “The intelligence community isn't here to say that the top-tier leaders still at Guantanamo are safe for release. No one from the administration has come to defend the President's plan to close Guantanamo. And I'm not sure that there is a plan.”

“Over the summer, we watched no plan approach unfold in Afghanistan,” said Grassley. “To meet a deadline by the end of August, President Biden ordered an American withdrawal over warnings from his own senior advisers. I fear that his plan to withdraw from Guantanamo detention facility might be no different.”

“The story of Guantanamo is a story of a nation that lost its way,” said Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. “It is a story of unspeakable abuse and indefinite detention without charge or trial. Elements that are just counterintuitive when you consider our constitutional values. And it's a story of justice delayed and denied again and again and again, not only for detainees but also for the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones.”

BIDEN WARNS PUTIN: We got to see the very beginning of the video showdown between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanks to Russian television, in which the two smiling leaders exchanged pleasantries before things reportedly got a little tense at some point during the two-hour tête-à-tête.

A readout from the White House after the call said Biden made clear that the U.S. and its allies “would respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation” against neighboring Ukraine.

“The call covered a range of issues, but the main topic was Ukraine. President Biden was direct and straightforward with President Putin,” said national security adviser Jake Sullivan at a White House briefing afterward. “He told President Putin directly that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures. We would provide additional defensive material to the Ukrainians above and beyond that, which we are already providing. And we would fortify our NATO allies on the eastern flank with additional capabilities in response to such an escalation.”

Sullivan said the president’s pitch to Putin was that diplomacy could address Russia’s security concerns without the need for military forces. “There's another option, de-escalation and diplomacy.”

“President Biden looked President Putin in the eye and told him today that things we did not do in 2014, we are prepared to do now,” Sullivan said, giving no specifics. “We would prefer to communicate that directly to the Russians to not negotiate in public to not telegraph our punches.”

“The two presidents tasked their teams to follow up, and the U.S. will do so in close coordination with allies and partners,” the White House readout said.

'STRONG ECONOMIC AND OTHER MEASURES': BIDEN WARNS PUTIN ON UKRAINE

DON’T DO IT: The White House went on record yesterday opposing a bill sponsored by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul that would prohibit the sale of 280 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles to replenish Saudi Arabia’s existing inventory.

“These missiles are not used to engage ground targets; Saudi Arabia uses these munitions to defend against aerial cross-border attacks, such as Houthi explosive-laden drones,” the White House said in a statement.

“The passage of S.J.Res. 31 would undermine the President’s commitment to aid in our partner’s defenses at a time of increased missile and drone attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Rundown

Washington Examiner: House passes $768 billion defense bill

Washington Examiner: Senate agrees to final defense bill that outspends Biden's budget request

Washington Examiner: Defense bill bars private funding of National Guard with emergency exception

Washington Examiner: Amendment to include women in military draft taken out of major defense bill

Washington Examiner: House passes measure clearing way for Democrats to raise debt limit

Washington Examiner: 'Strong economic and other measures': Biden warns Putin on Ukraine

Washington Examiner: Lloyd Austin disavows ‘red lines’ in potential Ukraine and Taiwan conflicts

Washington Examiner: White House: Ukraine 'is not a comparable situation' to Afghanistan

Washington Examiner: Senate confirms Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus to run Customs and Border Protection

Washington Examiner: Roughly 34,000 Afghans still living on US military bases

AP: Afghans wait and worry at US bases after frantic evacuation

AP: Scholz succeeds Merkel as German chancellor, opening new era

Reuters: Ukraine Shows Off U.S. Military Hardware, Vows To Fight Off Russia

Washington Post: In militants’ hands, drones emerge as a deadly new wild card in the Middle East

Washington Post: Water Contamination At Pearl Harbor In Hawaii Forces Over 1,000 Military Families From Their Homes

Today.com: Watch Hawaii Military Mom's Heartbreaking Plea For Answers Over Toxic Water

NBC News: Thousands Of Service Members Miss Covid Vaccination Deadlines

Military.com: Troops Booted For Refusing Vaccine Guaranteed At Least A General Discharge Under Defense Bill

Washington Post: The unclaimed soldier: A final salute for the growing number of veterans who have no one to bury them

Military.com: New Air Force Rules Allow Hands in Pockets, Slew of Uniform and Appearance Changes

Military.com: Pentagon UFO Rapid Response Teams Ordered Up By Congress

USNI News: New Fleet Forces Commander Caudle Says Navy ‘Will Own the Atlantic’

Air Force Magazine: Nearly 70 Percent of Receivers Now Cleared to Get Fuel From KC-46

19fortyfive.com: The Future of Russia's Hypersonic Weapons Program

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Why Nord Stream 2 is not 'leverage' for the West

19fortyfive.com: Opinion: Congress’ Spending Freeze Puts a Deep Chill On US Military Modernization

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 8 

9:45 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies Project on Nuclear Issues Winter Conference with panels discussion on “The Past, Present, and Future of Arms Control, and “Evolving Global Threats” https://www.csis.org/events/poni-2021-hybrid-winter-conference

10 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of Adm. Christopher W. Grady to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Rescheduled from Dec. 2) https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/nomination

10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration virtual conference, “U.S.-Korea Defense Cooperation in the Biden Administration,” with Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, military deputy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; and Seo Hyeong Jin, vice minister at the Republic of Korea Defense Acquisition Program Administration https://www.csis.org/events/csis-dapa-conference

10 a.m. — Defense One virtual Outlook 2022 summit, with Jake Sullivan, assistant to the president for national security affairs; Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy; and White House Space Force Brig. Gen. John Olson, mobilization assistant to the Chief of Space Operations https://events.defenseone.com/outlook-2022/

1:15 p.m. — Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung panel discussion: “Peace policy in our time,” with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; Helga Schmid, secretary general of the OSCE, Ursula Schröder, director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, and Martin Schulz, president of the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung. https://www.fes.de/en/shaping-a-just-world/peace-and-security

2 p.m. — Protect Democracy virtual conversation: “National Security Risks of Election Disinformation and Subversion,” with Javed Ali, former senior director for counterterrorism, National Security Council; Matt Masterson, former senior cybersecurity adviser Department of Homeland Security, and former chair of the Election Assistance Commission; and Olivia Troye, former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Mike Pence. https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register

2:30 p.m. G-50 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: “The Future of U.S. Policy on Taiwan,” with testimony from Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs; and Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs. https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings

10 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: “Is the NATO-EU Divide an Obstacle to a European Foreign Policy?,” with Kristi Raik, director of the International Center for Defense and Security's Estonian Foreign Policy Institute; Benjamin Haddad, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Europe Center; Rachel Rizzo, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Europe Center; Giovanna De Maio, visiting fellow at George Washington University's Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies; and Thomas Wright, director of the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe https://www.brookings.edu/events/is-the-nato-eu-divide-an-obstacle

3:30 p.m. 2121 K St. N.W. — International Institute for Strategic Studies and American Institute for Contemporary German Studies discussion: “Germany's Defense and Security Priorities under a post-Merkel Government,” with Bastian Giegerich, director of defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies; Constanze Stelzenmuller, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center on the United States and Europe; and Jeff Rathke, president of AICGS https://www.iiss.org/events/2021/12/germanys-defense-and-security-priorities

4 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Nuclear Weapons: The Growing Risk,” with former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, co-chair and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI); and former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., founder and co-chair of NTI https://www.csis.org/events/nuclear-weapons-growing-risk

THURSDAY | DECEMBER 9

9:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion on the Korean Peninsula and Asia, with former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell; and Sue Mi Terry, director of the Wilson Center's Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy https://www.csis.org/events/capital-cable-38-michael-morell

9:45 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies 2021 Project on Nuclear Issues Winter Conference panel discussion on "Emerging Threats and Technologies in the Nuclear Sphere" https://www.csis.org/events/poni-2021-hybrid-winter-conference

10 a.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual discussion: “Lessons of the Syrian Conflict,” former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford; Nicholas Danforth, visiting scholar at George Washington University; Mona Yacoubian, senior vice president at the U.S. Institute of Peace; and Elisa Ewers, adjunct senior fellow at the CNAS Middle East Security Program https://www.cnas.org/events/virtual-event-lessons-of-the-syrian-conflict

2 p.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual discussion: “ The Next National Defense Strategy,” with Mara Karlin, performing the duties of deputy defense undersecretary for policy https://www.cnas.org/events/mission-brief-the-next-national-defense-strategy

2 p.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Is there a 'Plan B' for Iran?" with Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association; Mahsa Rouhi, research fellow at National Defense University; Sima Shine, head of the Institute for National Security Studies' Iran Program; Barbara Slavin, director of the Atlantic Council's Future of Iran Initiative; and Sina Azodi, nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/is-there-a-plan-b-for-iran/

2 p.m. — Association of the United States Army virtual book discussion on "Thought Leaders: Special Operations Forces,” with N.W. Collins, author of Grey Wars: A Contemporary History of U.S. Special Operations; Jessica Donati, author of Eagle Down: The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War; and Tony Brooks, author of Leave No Man Behind: The Untold Story of the Rangers' Unrelenting Search for Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL Lone Survivor in Afghanistan https://www.ausa.org/events/thought-leaders-special-operations-forces

FRIDAY | DECEMBER 10 

8:30 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual Spacepower Forum, with Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command; and retired Gen. Kevin Chilton, explorer chair for space warfighting studies at Mitchell Institute's Spacepower Advantage Research Center https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event

11 a.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual discussion: “The Crisis in Belarus,” with U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Julie Fisher https://www.heritage.org/europe/event

11 a.m. — Cato Institute virtual discussion: “The Meaning of European Defense,” with French Ambassador to the United States Philippe Etienne; Joshua Shifrinson, associate professor of international relations at Boston University; Rachel Rizzo, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; Justin Logan, senior fellow at Cato; and Peter Goettler, president and CEO of Cato https://www.cato.org/events/meaning-european-defense

12 p.m. — Woodrow Wilson Center Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies virtual book discussion on Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia, with author Timothy Frye, professor at Columbia University https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event

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