Stevenson’s army, August 23
– AP notes eagerness to recruit veterans to run for Congress in both parties.
– Breaking Defense says DOD wants to declassify new space weapon.
– NYT reports divisions in Congressional Black Caucus.
– Brookings’ Dan Byman sees counter-terrorism lessons from failed Reconstruction.
And on Afghanistan: NYT revisits US opposition in 2001 to including Taliban in Bonn Conference and new government.
– US sees ISIS threat to evacuations.
– Dan Drezner says Biden’s advisors also made big mistakes.
And Punchbowl says GOP is looking for ways to exploit Afghan developments:
The House Republican leadership is privately mulling over strategies to force floor votes on the situation in Afghanistan, as the U.S. evacuation of tens of thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies from the Kabul airport continues.
The House GOP is in the minority, so their options are limited. But they’re considering several procedural tactics, including motions to recommit and a vote on the previous question, as a way to force votes. These motions call for imposing stricter reporting requirements on the number of Afghan refugees, the status of tens of billions of dollars in U.S. military hardware left in-country and what exactly is President Joe Biden’s plan to get all American citizens and equipment out of the Taliban-controlled nation.
The Republican’s longer term strategy is to try to use the National Defense Authorization Act — the annual military policy bill — to force the Biden administration into an after-action report on what went wrong in Afghanistan. GOP leaders want the Pentagon, State Department and the White House to cough up documents detailing the run up to the disastrous U.S. withdrawal, as well as the administration’s plans for dealing with any future threats from the troubled Southwest Asian country. And an even longer-term view: If the GOP takes back the majority in 2022, we anticipate that this will be something they will focus on.
So far, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and top House Republicans have largely ignored calls from their fringe elements — and former President Donald Trump — demanding Biden’s resignation or impeachment hearings, although they have questioned his fitness for office. McCarthy has complained to us and other media outlets about the lack of information Congress has received on the crisis.
To counter the GOP criticism, and to provide answers to similar questions from her own rank-and-file, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pushed for both classified and unclassified briefings by senior administration officials. On Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m., Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines will hold a classified briefing for all House members. Pelosi has also asked for a “Gang of 8” briefing, which is the four elected party leaders from each chamber and the chair and ranking member of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.
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