| INTELLIGENCE, NOT IMPEACHMENT: As Republicans prepare to take control of the House of Representatives in 36 days, the new leaders of the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees are promising to focus on national security priorities, including aid to Ukraine, while increasing accountability for the spending of billions of taxpayer dollars. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), who is in line to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), who will lead the House Intelligence Committee, described their priorities Sunday in an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC's This Week. "We're going to take the intelligence committee from what was an impeachment committee, a partisan committee, back to national security," said Turner, who argued that under Democrats, the committee was "taken off the rails" by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who was fixated on going after former President Donald Trump. "Our committee is going to focus on national security and our adversaries," Turner said. "We're going to get back to the committees working again … focusing on their areas of jurisdiction." As for calls by House speaker hopeful Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas either to resign or face impeachment, McCaul said Mayorkas has been "derelict in his responsibilities," but he stopped short of committing to any impeachment effort. "I have a wide-open border in my home state," he said. "We have all these people coming in. We don't know who they are. Terrorist watch list. Fentanyl is coming in, killing more young people than ever before. … So I think they are complicit with the biggest human trafficking event of our lifetime." But he added, "I was a federal prosecutor, right? You've got to build a case. You need the facts, evidence before you indict." AID TO UKRAINE: Both McCaul and Turner insisted that under Republican leadership, Ukraine will continue to get what it needs to fight Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion forces while paring back bloated funding measures passed by Democrats. "We don't need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills … to send $8 billion to Ukraine," said Turner. "It's been very frustrating, obviously, even to the Ukrainians, where they hear these large numbers in the United States as a result of the, you know, burgeoned Democrat bills and the little amount of aid that they receive." The two leaders rejected the call from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) who earlier this month vowed that "under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine." "I think, you know, everybody has a voice in Congress," said McCaul, who noted that "majorities on both sides of the aisle support this effort." "We have a voice now, and we're going to do this in an accountable way, with transparency to the American people. These are American taxpayer dollars going in," he said. "We're not going to write a blank check." ARMY AWARDS LOCKHEED MARTIN $14 MILLION CONTRACT TO REPLENISH US HIMARS SUPPLY LONGER-RANGE WEAPONS, MORE AIR DEFENSE: "My criticism of this administration was before the invasion, we wouldn't put weapons in, and since the invasion, we've slow-walked this process," said McCaul, who called for longer-range precision munitions to target the Iranian-made drones that Russia is launching from occupied Crimea. "The Ukrainians can't hit those Iranian drones unless they have the longer-range artillery called the ATACMS," he said. "For some reason, they will not put those weapons into Ukraine. … When we give them what they need, they win. If we don't, it's going to be a long and protracted war." "The other thing they'd need is air defense, and that actually is a vulnerability on our part," said Turner. "Our air defense systems are so complex. We need to make certain that we work with partners and pull together an air defense system that they put together to defend Kyiv, to defend their infrastructure." IRAN TO HELP RUSSIA BUILD UNMANNED WEAPONIZED AIRCRAFT FOR WAR: REPORT ANSWERS ON AFGHANISTAN: Republicans also plan hearings on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last year. "The way it was done was such a disaster and such a disgrace to our veterans [who] served in Afghanistan. They deserve answers to the many questions we have. Why wasn't there a plan to evacuate? How did it go so wrong?" said McCaul, who called the decision by President Joe Biden to end U.S. involvement in Afghanistan a "turning point." "When Afghanistan fell, Putin looked at Ukraine. And we saw the Russian Federation troop buildup around Ukraine right at the same time around August," McCaul said. "I think it's very important that the American people understand what's at stake here. If we lose in Ukraine, Chairman Xi's going to look at Taiwan. And the ayatollah is already all-in with Russia and China in this fight. And Kim Jong Un now is providing artillery shells to Russia to fight the Ukrainians." TALIBAN GRABBED UP TO $57 MILLION IN US FUNDS FOR TOPPLED AFGHAN GOVERNMENT Good Monday 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 Stacey Dec. 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. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will be taking a two-week end-of-the-year holiday hiatus from Dec. 19 through Jan. 2, 2023. We'll be back in your inbox and online at DailyonDefense.com, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! HAPPENING TODAY: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is en route to Bucharest, Romania, for tomorrow's meeting of NATO foreign ministers, which, in addition to the war in Ukraine, will focus on challenges posed by China and the implementation of NATO's new Strategic Concept. Blinken will have separate meetings with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and will attend a working dinner with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Stoltenberg is scheduled to hold a joint press conference with Iohannis, followed by short remarks with Aurescu at 10 a.m. Eastern time. UKRAINE WAR HEADED INTO GRIM PHASE: As winter sets in, the battle lines in Ukraine are beginning to become fixed, with the Ukrainian offensive in the south slowing and the ceaseless Russian bombardment of energy and water infrastructure leaving millions of Ukrainian civilians suffering without heat or electricity. While Ukrainian forces forced the retreat of Russian troops from the west side of the Dnieper River earlier this month, Russia has dug in on the east side of the river, "setting conditions for a protracted defense," though far enough to the east that Ukraine may be able to cross the river in the coming days or weeks once the muddy ground freezes, according to the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War. "Satellite imagery shows that Russian forces have prioritized digging trenches and erecting dragon's teeth anti-tank defenses along [critical ground lines of communications] that connect Russian forces on the eastern (left) bank of the Dnipro River with southeastern rear areas in Kherson Oblast and Crimea. "Despite its liberation by Ukrainian forces on 11 November 2022, Kherson city in southern Ukraine continues to suffer daily bombardment by Russian artillery. On 24 November 2022 alone, 10 people were killed," noted the British Defense Ministry in its latest assessment. "The city is vulnerable because it remains in range of most of Russia's artillery systems, now firing from the east bank of the Dnipro River, from the rear of newly consolidated defensive lines," the assessment said. "Much of the damage is likely being inflicted in Kherson by Russia's use of multiple rocket launchers, principally BM-21 Grad systems." "The overall pace of operations along the frontline has slowed in recent days due to deteriorating weather conditions but is likely to increase starting in the next few weeks as temperatures drop and the ground freezes throughout the theater," noted the ISW. "It will likely take the ground some days of consistent freezing temperatures to solidify, which means that ground conditions are likely to be set to allow the pace of operations to increase throughout Ukraine over the course of the weekend of December 3-4 and into the following week." RUSSIA TURNING 'WINTER INTO A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION,' ZELENSKY SAYS RUSSIA'S MISSILE GAP: Despite running low on precision missiles, Russia has still been able to degrade Ukraine's critical infrastructure, creating a growing humanitarian crisis around the country and in the capital of Kyiv. "Right now, before the winter, the people, Putin and Russians, want to let us be without electricity, without heating, without water. It's genocide. It's actually terrorism," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told CBS News. "The main goal of Russians [is] to bring depression of society. I talk to the people, no negotiations with Russians. We, people is angry." A sign of Russia's dwindling supply of cruise missiles is the report from British intelligence that Russia is dipping into its stock of aging nuclear-armed cruise missiles, removing the warhead, and firing the inert Kh-55 missiles at targets without any explosive warhead. "Although such an inert system will still produce some damage through the missile's kinetic energy and any unspent fuel, it is unlikely to achieve reliable effects against intended targets," tweeted the British Defense Ministry, which speculated the nonexplosive missiles might also serve as decoys to draw fire from Ukrainian defenses. "Whatever Russia's intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia's stock of long-range missiles." WORLD LEADERS CONNECT STALIN'S CRIMES TO UKRAINE'S CURRENT PLIGHT THE COMING INVESTIGATIONS: Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who is expected to be the next chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told NBC's Meet the Press that his committee will be investigating "between 40 and 50 different things." "We have the capacity. We'll have 25 members on the committee. And we're going to have a staff close to 70. So we have the ability to investigate a lot of things," Comer told host Chuck Todd, saying his focus would be on "waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement." But in a series of post-election news conferences, Comer has alleged evidence from whistleblowers and the laptop of the president's son Hunter Biden raise what he called "troubling questions about whether President Biden is a national security risk and about whether he is compromised by foreign governments." "Committee Republicans have uncovered evidence of federal crimes committed by, and to the benefit of, members of the president's family," Comer said on Nov. 17. "National security interests require the committee conduct this investigation, and we will pursue all avenues — avenues that have long been ignored." GOP CLAIMS JOE BIDEN WAS INVOLVED WITH HUNTER BIDEN'S INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEALS SCHIFF RESPONDS TO MCCARTHY THREAT: If elected speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has threatened to boot three Democrats from their high-profile committee assignments, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) from the House Intelligence Committee. McCarthy has accused Schiff of dishonesty in his handling of the impeachment hearings for former President Donald Trump, who Schiff continues to argue was guilty of collusion with Russia during the 2016 election. "McCarthy apparently doesn't think it's collusion if your campaign manager is giving inside polling data and battle strategy in key states to an agent of Russian intelligence while the Russians are helping your campaign, but most Americans would call that collusion," Schiff said on CNN's State of the Union. "McCarthy's problem is not with what I have said about Russia. McCarthy's problem is he can't get to 218 [votes needed to be elected speaker] without Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz. And so he will do whatever they ask," Schiff told CNN's Dana Bash. "And right now, they're asking for me to be removed from our committees. And he's willing to do it. He's willing to do anything they ask." WHY ARE SCHIFF, SWALWELL, AND OMAR ON MCCARTHY'S HIT LIST TO LOSE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS? The RundownWashington Examiner: World leaders connect Stalin's crimes to Ukraine's current plight Washington Examiner: Outages in Ukrainian cities following fatal Russian strikes on power grid Washington Examiner: US sending additional $400 million in Ukraine military aid, Blinken announces Washington Examiner: Russia turning 'winter into a weapon of mass destruction,' Zelensky says Washington Examiner: Senators from both parties urge Biden to send armed drones to Ukraine Washington Examiner: Pentagon unveils 'zero trust' strategy to guide cybersecurity Washington Examiner: Here are the 42 Biden administration officials House Republicans have put on notice Washington Examiner: Adam Schiff: Jan. 6 committee will 'scrub' evidence before final report Washington Examiner: Former national security adviser brands Trump as 'old and tired' Washington Examiner: Opinion: Macron chooses China over the US, rebuking Biden's state visit honor Reuters: U.S. weighs sending 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine Reuters: Ukraine Warns Of More Russian Attacks As Fighting Rages In Donetsk Wall Street Journal: Most Power Is Restored in Kyiv as Russian Strikes Hit Southern Ukraine New York Times: Bakhmut Fight Saps Both Kyiv And Russians Daily Beast: Putin's Secret Recruits Allegedly Stranded, Starving and MIA Washington Post: Racing drone that can kill poses nightmare scenario, critics say Vanity Fair: The 'Feres' Doctrine: The Fight to End a Systemic Miscarriage of Military Justice CBS News: Taiwan president resigns as party leader after election loss Wall Street Journal: U.S. Effort To Arm Taiwan Hits Delays Kyodo News: China Boosting Capabilities For 'Gray Zone' Operations, Japan Defense Ministry Think Tank Says Military Times: 'Made in China' exclusion policy at exchanges would hurt families Washington Post: Chinese Protest Covid Policies Red Snow: Weapons Crunch Panic; Pentagon Peevish When Asked 19fortyfive.com: North Korea's New ICBM Is A Nuclear Game Changer Agence France Presse: Kim Vows North Korea To Have World's Most Powerful Nuclear Force 19fortyfive.com: Putin Is So Desperate He Is Firing 'Unarmed' Nuclear Missiles At Ukraine 19fortyfive.com: Bad News for Ukraine: Russia Is Training Troops In Belarus 19fortyfive.com: Brimstone 2 Missiles Are Headed to Ukraine to Battle Russia Air & Space Forces Magazine: Q&A: The New Chief of Space Operations on Empowering the Force Air & Space Forces Magazine: CNAS Report: Defense Budget Must Better Match Strategy, Increase Precision Munitions Purchases Air & Space Forces Magazine: Largest Distinguished Flying Cross Ceremony 'in Decades' Honors More Than 50 Airmen Marine Corps Times: Marine Corps partially relaxes its strict hair rules for women Military Times: US to send anti-drone machine guns, air defense ammunition to Ukraine 19fortyfive.com: The Ukrainian Military Has a Big Decision to Make 19fortyfive.com: Is the Ukraine War Turning Into World War I? CalendarMONDAY | NOVEMBER 28 10 a.m. Bucharest, Romania — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg joint press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, followed by short remarks with Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu https://www.nato.int 10:30 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: "How Can Ukraine Defeat Putin's Energy Blitz?" with Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo; Oksana Nechyporenko, director of the Ukraine Crisis Coordination Center; former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lana Zerkal; and Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event 11 a.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. — Hudson Institute discussion: on "How to Overcome the Military Recruitment and Retention Crisis," with Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL); Thomas Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense; and Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Center for Defense Concepts and Technology https://www.hudson.org/events/how-overcome-military-recruitment 12 p.m. CVC, U.S. Capitol — Information Technology and Innovation Foundation discussion: on "How Updating a Century-Old Trade Law Could Limit China's Ability to Profit From Unfair Trade Practices," with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA); Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); Meredith Broadbent, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; former acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler, vice president and managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute; Gilbert Kaplan, partner at King & Spalding; and Robert Atkinson, president of ITIF https://itif.org/events/2022/11/28/how-updating-a-century-old-trade-law-could-limit-china TUESDAY | NOVEMBER 29 4 a.m. Bucharest, Romania — Speech by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the Aspen-GMF Bucharest Forum https://www.nato.int 6:15 a.m. Bucharest, Romania — Doorstep statement by Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the opening of the two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers https://www.nato.int 9 a.m. — Stimson Center forum: "Tensions on the Korean Peninsula: Is War Possible?" with Jong-kun Choi, former vice minister of foreign affairs, Republic of Korea; Jenny Town, senior fellow, Stimson Center, and director, 38 North; Robert Carlin, nonresident fellow, 38 North, and visiting fellow, Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation; and Joel Wit, distinguished fellow in Asian and security studies, Stimson Center https://www.stimson.org/event/tensions-on-the-korean-peninsula-is-war-possible 10 a.m. — Heritage Foundation discussion: on "Solving America's Military Recruiting Crisis," with Maj. Gen. Johnny Davis, commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command; and Beth Asch, senior economist at the Rand Corporation https://www.heritage.org/defense/event/solving-americas-military-recruiting-crisis 10:15 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual "Schriever Spacepower Forum," with Gen. James Dickinson, commander, U.S. Space Command https://go.afa.org 11 a.m. Bucharest, Romania — Press conference by Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the end of the first day of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers https://www.nato.int 3 p.m. Pentagon River Entrance — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomes Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez Gomez to the Pentagon 3 p.m. — Washington Post Live virtual discussion: "The Health of U.S. Military Veterans," with Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks; Rosie Torres, co-founder of Burn Pits 360; and Andrew Satin, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Medicine https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live 7:30 p.m. — Institute for Corean-American Studies virtual fall symposium: "Geopolitical Dynamics in Asia and U.S. National Security," with Matt Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, and chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies's China Program https://www.eventbrite.com/e/icas-fall-symposium-veritas-tickets WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 30 10 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion: "future digital environment as it relates to air and space power," with Air Force Chief Information Officer Lauren Knausenberger https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/aerospace-nation THURSDAY | DECEMBER 1 10 a.m. — Arab Center virtual discussion: "Iraq at a Crossroads: Challenges and Prospects Facing the New Government," with former Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Rend al Rahim, president and co-founder of the Iraq Foundation; Marsin Alshamary, nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy; Zeidon Alkinani, nonresident fellow at the Arab Center; and Imad Harb, director of research at the Arab Center https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register 11 a.m. — Stimson Center chairman's forum conversation with retired Chief of Space Operations Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, moderated by retired Air Force Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, chairman, Stimson Center Board of Directors https://www.stimson.org/event/the-chairmans-forum FRIDAY | DECEMBER 2 8 p.m. Simi Valley, California — Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute annual Reagan National Defense Forum, full agenda at: https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media SATURDAY | DECEMBER 3 10:15 a.m. Simi Valley, California — Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute annual Reagan National Defense Forum, full agenda at: https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media | | | | "We give them what they need, they win. If we don't, it's going to be a long, protracted war." | | Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in an interview of ABC's This Week |
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