The Insider

President Obama met today in the Oval Office with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to smooth relations following Sunday's testy encounter in the South China Sea between the U.S. Navy's surveillance ship Impeccable and Chinese naval forces.

Chinese sailors reportedly sought to prevent the U.S. vessel from looking for Chinese submarines by maneuvering their ships in the way, dropping objects in the water, trying to snag a sonar device and sailing within 25 feet of the American vessel while -- for reasons that are unclear -- stripping down to their underwear.

Obama and Yang "discussed the overall state of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, emphasizing the desire of both sides to strengthen cooperation and build a positive and constructive U.S.-China relationship," the White House said in a statement.

Obama "stressed the importance of raising the level and frequency of the U.S.-China military-to-military dialogue in order to avoid future incidents," the White House said. Before the Oval Office meeting, Yang met with National Security Adviser retired Gen. James Jones, who also brought up the naval incident. Yang also met yesterday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In addition, the White House said Obama and Yang discussed the international financial crisis, North Korea, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Sudan and the president's interest in seeing progress in talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representatives.

On North Korea, Obama "expressed appreciation" for the key role China has played as the chair of the Six-Party Talks, noting America will continue to work with China and other partners in the Six-Party process to verifiably eliminate North Korea’s nuclear program, according to the White House. Obama also "highlighted the risks posed by North Korea’s missile program," the White House said.

Michèle Flournoy is scheduled to make her first public appearance as the under secretary of defense for policy at a March 27 event at the Brookings Institution in Washington, we're told. As envisioned, she will be part of a panel discussion that includes Brookings vice president and foreign policy program director Carlos Pascual.

Sources said Flournoy's speech is sure to yield a glimpse of what the Quadrennial Defense Review has in store, particularly in the field of stability operations and related mission areas.

Flournoy recently wrote a new foreword for the Army's Stability Operations Field Manual, along with confidants Shawn Brimley and Janine Davidson. The manual has been re-released by University of Michigan Press.

A Brookings spokeswoman said the event is not yet listed on the organization's Web site because the logistics, like the sending out of invitations, are still being coordinated.

David Ahern, the director for portfolio systems in the Pentagon's acquisition office, was asked today how the new acquisition-reform bill introduced last month by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-VA) would affect the Defense Department's most recent changes to DOD procurement processes.

"We're going to work on it," he told InsideDefense.com after delivering a speech at an Aviation Week-sponsored conference in Washington. "Some of that has already been incorporated ((in recent DOD acquisition memoranda)) when I look at it, some of it is additional ideas."

In December, the Pentagon released a policy instruction that updated the "operation of the defense acquisition system," as the document is called. Among other things, the Dec. 8, 2008, instruction:

Establishes a simplified and flexible management framework for translating capability needs and technology opportunities, based on approved capability needs, into stable, affordable, and well-managed acquisition programs that include weapon systems, services, and automated information systems (AISs).

Last month, Levin and McCain introduced legislation designed to address "major flaws" in the Pentagon's weapon system acquisition process, including provisions that would strengthen enforcement of existing laws that require termination of programs with runaway costs.

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The fourth annual Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense (JIAMD) Summit is scheduled to be held next month in Huntsville, AL.

The Pentagon's acquisition office, the Joint Staff's force protection office, U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, U.S. Northern Command, the Joint Functional Component Commander for Integrated Missile Defense (JFCC-IMD) and the Missile Defense Agency are supporting the April 6-9 confab, according to the conference Web site.

The annual JIAMD Summits provide a forum to aid in achieving improved Government and industry communication by obtaining innovative industrial inputs necessary to attain a more joint and integrated Air and Missile Defense Family of Systems (FoS). At each of the Summits, experts from Government, industry, military, and academia will work together to resolve key issues and improve overall participation in the present and proposed JIAMD architecture and FoS implementation plan. In reflection of this spirit of cooperation, the motto of the Annual JIAMD Summits is "One System …One Team …One Fight …One Future."

The subject matter to be discussed during JIAMD Summit 2009 will include issues relating to gaps in our present JIAMD system capabilities that threaten the security of our Homeland and our deployed forces overseas.

Feel like attending? That might be a problem unless you have an invitation. Not to mention the fact that it's classified as "Secret." But hey, the keynote dinner on April 8 will be open to the public, according to the Web site announcement.

Here's some more -- unclassified -- info on the conference:

The theme for the Fourth Annual JIAMD Summit is "Process to Product." This year's work will build on the progress that has been made during the previous three Summits. Resolutions for JIAMD issues that have been identified in previous Summits will be the focus of discussions that will lead to executable project plans that can obtain measurable results in a reasonable timeframe.

Officials in the Joint Staff's Military Education Coordination Council last month recommended three new focus areas where officials believe increased attention is needed in military schoolhouse curricula this year, we're told.

The new areas blessed by the panel are titled "space as a contested environment," "psychological health awareness" and "operational contract support education for non-acquisition DOD Personnel," according to a Joint Staff briefing from last month.

The list of "special areas of emphasis," as the Joint Staff calls them, also includes a handful of topics carried over from last year. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen has yet to approve the council's recommendations.

The recommendation to boost awareness of the relatively new field of operational contract support, or OCS, is rooted in the experiences with contracting and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In short, DOD officials were utterly unprepared for the vast number of contractors with whom military commanders ended up sharing the battlefields, as a recent briefing from a Pentagon logistician describes it in two photos.

"Current ((joint professional military education)) does not adequately prepare officers/enlisted to operate/interface effectively with OCS in the contingency environment," the briefing states.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair announced this afternoon that Amb. Charles Freeman asked that his selection to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council be withdrawn. Blair accepted Freeman's request. The choice of Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has sparked controversy because of his views on Israel and his connections with Saudi and Chinese interests.

Yesterday, all seven Republican members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence sent a letter to Blair expressing concerns over Freeman's qualifications for the position, as well as his objectivity.

The NIC is responsible for producing national intelligence estimates and other assessments on specific issues.

Earlier today, Blair defended Freeman during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) brought up Freeman's past business associations and his views on Israel.

Blair responded by stating, in part:

Those of us who know him find him to be a person of strong views, of an inventive mind -- on the analytical point of view -- I'm not talking about policy. And that when we go back and forth with him a better understanding comes out of those interactions, and that's primarily the value that I think he will bring.

Despite that view, Blair today accepted Freeman's request to have his name withdrawn.

Republican Rep. Eric Cantor (VA) and Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ) are warning against cutting missile defense funding in the face of what they see as escalating threats from North Korea and Iran.

In an op-ed piece published today in Politico, Cantor and Kyl write:

. . . ((U))nclassified reports have detailed North Korea's preparations for the launch, possibly within days, of a new, even longer-range Taepo Dong 2 missile. This kind of missile is a threat, not just to some of America's closest allies in the region (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) but to the U.S. itself.

Moreover, North Korea continues to be the world’s greatest proliferator of ballistic missile technology and nuclear weapons know-how. We should be very concerned about with whom North Korea does business.

And then there’s Iran.

On Feb. 2, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proudly announced that his country had successfully launched its first satellite. If it were any other country, such a launch would seem of little consequence. However, as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, recently noted, space launch technologies “are compatible with an intercontinental ballistic missile-type capability.”

Add to that the latest news that Iran has enriched one-third more uranium than was previously understood -- more than enough to build a nuclear bomb -- and the potential threat is clear.

These examples should underscore the necessity for an effective, operational missile defense system. Yet the Obama administration and congressional Democrats are now seeking ways to halt the progress that’s been made in defending against these threats.

Cantor and Kyl write of their concern about recent statements from other members of Congress and news reports of the Obama administration's alleged plans to "make significant cuts" to the fiscal year 2010 missile defense budget, including "funds that would be used to deploy our missile defense assets to Europe -- which NATO has twice stated is necessary to deal with the threat from Iran.

"That such a rollback of the system is being discussed is dangerous," they warn. "That it is being discussed at the same time North Korea and Iran are carrying out aggressive, threatening activities is irresponsible and unacceptable."

The two lawmakers continue: "When President Obama campaigned last year, he said that he supported missile defense systems that work. Our systems have shown through numerous tests that they work -- that is not in doubt."

The Pentagon's operational test and evaluation office might have something to say about that, however.

At a Feb. 25 House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee hearing, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) asked DOT&E Director Charles McQueary whether the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, just because it "receives a less-than-perfect test score, ((does)) this necessarily means it does not provide the warfighter with an operationally effective capability?"

McQueary responded that he couldn't say "with high confidence" that the GMD system is an operationally effective system. "Our job is testing and to deal with the facts at hand. And there's simply not been enough testing done in order to be able to state it."

To which Franks said:

. . . I don't know of any system that we have that is proven 100 percent effective. I'm not even sure we could say that about the baseball bat, but it's still pretty effective at close range.