| 'ONE OF THE GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS STORIES OF OUR TIME': In a news conference in Ramstein, Germany, that amounted to a swan song after his four years as defense secretary, retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin issued a clarion call for the world not to give up on Ukraine just when Russia seems to be weakening. "We must not stop now … Every autocrat on Earth is watching to see whether Putin gets away with it. And so, this coalition must continue to stand four-square with Ukraine," he said after his final appearance leading the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of 50 "countries of conscience" that Austin formed nearly three years ago to coordinate military aid to Ukraine. "Contact Group members have committed more than $126 billion in security assistance to Ukraine," which he said "helped Ukraine turn Ukraine's struggle into one of the great military success stories of our time." "This coalition has become the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy," Austin argued. "So, I'm leaving this Contact Group, not with a farewell but with a challenge. The coalition to support Ukraine must not flinch. It must not falter and it must not fail. Ukraine's survival is on the line. But so is all of our security." 'RUSSIA HAS PAID AN APPALLING PRICE': Austin argued that despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to convince the world and his citizens he's winning in Ukraine, the war has been a disaster for Russia. His only chance of pulling victory from the jaws of defeat is for the U.S. and the rest of Ukraine's allies to give up. "Russia has paid an appalling price for this indefensible war. Yet, Putin has not achieved a single one of his strategic objectives. Not one," Austin said. "In fact, Putin was so bogged down in Ukraine that when the vicious Assad dictatorship in Syria collapsed after more than 50 years, all he could do was watch." Then he ticked off a series of indicators suggesting that Putin's effort is unsustainable: - Russia has suffered more than 700,000 casualties in Ukraine. That’s more than Moscow has endured in all conflicts since World War II combined.
- Russian casualties in Ukraine now surpass two-thirds of the total strength of the Russian military at the start of Putin’s war of choice. In November 2024 alone, Russia lost nearly 1,500 troops a day.
- Moscow has even rushed troops from North Korea into a war that they don’t belong in. That’s another clear sign of Putin’s desperation. North Korean forces have suffered more than a thousand casualties.
- The Kremlin plans to spend about 40% of Russia’s 2025 budget to keep up with the contract group’s support to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Russian ruble has continued to plummet.
UKRAINE'S MILITARY 'HAS SHOWN BREATHTAKING COURAGE': "In the desperate days of February 2022, Ukrainian citizens were making Molotov cocktails to defend their homes. But today, with the help of this Contact Group, Ukraine has a battle-tested military and a booming defense industrial base," Austin said. "Ukraine has started to fly fourth-generation fighter jets. It now fields advanced Western air defense capabilities, and it produces and operates state-of-the-art unmanned systems. All of this positions Ukraine to defeat Russian aggression today and to deter Russian aggression tomorrow," he said. "And so our work has changed the course of history." Austin said Putin is on a mission of conquest. "Putin wants to avenge a fallen empire and to rebuild it. The Kremlin's assault starts with Ukraine, but it will not end there and the dangers are global. Putin wants a world where empire tramples sovereignty, a world where conquest trumps human rights. A world where tyranny bulldozes democracy." "Let me again urge countries of conscience from around the world to help Ukraine succeed and to ensure that Putin does not prevail. And to my brave Ukrainian teammates, and to my friends who have already given and sacrificed far too much, let me urge you to stay in the fight." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Good Friday 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 Christopher Tremoglie (@chriswtremo). 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 me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE HAPPENING TODAY: TIKTOK'S CASE BEFORE SCOTUS: The Supreme Court has scheduled two hours of oral arguments on the case of TikTok, Inc. v. Attorney General Garland beginning at 10 a.m. The arguments are over what is considered a landmark case that could test the limits of the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and pitted the Biden administration and members of Congress (who have labeled the popular social media platform TikTok a tool of the Chinese government) against incoming President Donald Trump, who is asking the high court to pause a ban that would go into effect Jan. 19, the day before he takes office, so that he can broker a political solution. "President Trump also has a unique interest in the First Amendment issues raised in this case," lawyers argued in a brief filed ahead of the arguments. "Through his historic victory on November 5, 2024, President Trump received a powerful electoral mandate from American voters to protect the free-speech rights of all Americans — including the 170 million Americans who use TikTok." In his brief, Attorney General Merrick Garland argued that Congress rightly identified TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance, as a threat to national security. "TikTok collects vast swaths of data about tens of millions of Americans, which the PRC could use for espionage or blackmail. And the PRC could covertly manipulate the platform to advance its geopolitical interests and harm the United States — by, for example, sowing discord and disinformation during a crisis," Garland argues. "Congress did not impose any restriction on speech, much less one based on viewpoint or content. Instead, Congress restricted only foreign adversary control: TikTok may continue operating in the United States and presenting the same content from the same users in the same manner if its current owner executes a divestiture that frees the platform from the PRC's control." TIKTOK AT SUPREME COURT: WHAT TO KNOW AS DIVEST-OR-BAN DEADLINE LOOMS BIDEN: 'SURGING ALL FEDERAL RESOURCES POSSIBLE TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA': With unprecedented wildfires destroying Los Angeles neighborhoods, burning more than 10,000 houses and other buildings to the ground and forcing the evacuation of more than 200,000 people, President Joe Biden says he is marshaling the power of the U.S. military to assist overwhelmed California firefighters. "I'm also surging all federal resources possible to southern California, including 400 additional federal firefighters, over 30 firefighting helicopters and planes — federally-supplied firefighting planes and helicopters, and eight Department of Defense C-130s that are equipped to suppress wildfires," Biden said during remarks yesterday at Santa Monica Fire Station No. 5. "The Secretary of Defense also authorized 500 wildfire ground-clearing personnel from the Defense Department … and we've secured additional firefighters and firefighting aircraft from our ally in Canada as well." "I also want everyone in Southern California to know we're going to keep at it. We're sticking with this. We expect there may be a temporary break in the winds, but in some areas, the winds are likely to continue well into next week," Biden said. "And so we're going to continue sending everything — literally every resource we can find that's appropriate to help the governor and the first responders." Biden also weighed in on the controversy surrounding the lack of water pressure at some fire hydrants that hampered the firefighters' ability in the critical early stages of the fires. "The fact is the utilities, understandably, shut off power because they were worried the lines that carry the energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires," Biden said after discussing the issue with Gov. Gavin Newsom. "But the Cal Fire, when it did that, it cut off the ability to generate pumping the water. That's what caused the lack of water in these hydrants. And so Cal Fire is bringing in generators to get these pumps up and working again so that there's no longer a shortage of water coming out of these hydrants." TRUMP VS. NEWSOM: WHY THE PRESIDENT-ELECT IS BLAMING WILDFIRES ON 3-INCH ENDANGERED FISH TRUMP: PUTIN 'WANTS TO MEET … WE’RE SETTING IT UP': In a media appearance yesterday President-elect Donald Trump said he remains committed to ending the war in Ukraine, but no longer boasts he can do it 24 hours. "And it's a war that I'm going to try really to stop as quickly as I can," Trump said. "The number of people dying on a daily basis, and I get the reports every single day. And largely soldiers at this point. But the number of people, both Russia and Ukraine, it's staggering." Trump says he has not yet talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but expects to arrange a meeting with him shortly after taking office on Jan. 20. "President Putin wants to meet. He's said that even publicly. And we have to get that war over with," Trump said. "He wants to meet, and we're going — we're setting it up." In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump's choice for special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, suggested 100 days might be a reasonable timeline to arrange a peace agreement. "People need to understand he's not trying to give something to Putin or the Russians," Kellogg told Fox. "He's actually trying to save Ukraine and save their sovereignty… He's going to make sure it's equitable and it's fair and he's said that repeatedly." PENTAGON ANNOUNCES $500 MILLION AID PACKAGE TO UKRAINE AHEAD OF TRUMP TRANSITION TRUDEAU: 'NOT GOING TO HAPPEN': Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in Washington for President Jimmy Carter's funeral yesterday, insisted Donald Trump's vision of Canada as America's 51st state is a pipe dream. "That's not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we're not American. There is such a depth of pride that that's not actually an issue," Trudeau said on CNN. "What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who's a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that conversation to take away from the conversation around 25% tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs," Trudeau said. "We don't have tariffs on them yet, but that will happen," Trump doubled down yesterday. "But they've taken about 20% of our car business … We don't need Canada for lumber because we have big forests that we have not utilized. In some cases, they are protected, which I can take that protection off. And you take down a tree, and you grow a better tree. That's pretty common. But we don't need anything. We don't need their fuel. We don't need their energy. We don't need their oil and gas. We don't need anything that they have." "Yes, the American president has a capacity to hurt the Canadian economy. There's no question about that," Trudeau agreed. "But anything an American president does to hurt the Canadian economy will also hurt American consumers and American workers and American growth.” "We do better when we work together to take on the world, whether it's China or Russia or anywhere else. When we work together, we can't be stopped. And that's the focus that we need to have," Trudeau said on CNN. "I called him 'Governor Trudeau' because they should be the 51st state, really. It would make a great state. The people of Canada like it. They pay lower taxes. They have virtually no military," Trump said. "They pay less than 1%. They're about the lowest payer in NATO. They are supposed to pay much more. They haven't been paying." THE RUNDOWN: Washington Examiner: Pentagon announces $500 million aid package to Ukraine ahead of Trump transition Washington Examiner: Iranian general admits they were 'defeated very badly' in Syria Washington Examiner: Polish president demands guarantee Netanyahu won't be arrested at Auschwitz event Washington Examiner: Musk says 'only AfD can save Germany' in talk with German populist leader Washington Examiner: Tom Homan denies ICE will 'raid' job sites of illegal immigrants in DC on first days Washington Examiner: Fetterman to become first Democratic senator to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago: 'It's reasonable' Washington Examiner: Trump suggests he and Obama 'like' each other, says Putin meeting in the works Washington Examiner: Democrats side with GOP in Senate vote to advance Laken Riley immigration bill Washington Examiner: Trump nominates former Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown to VA position Washington Examiner: Secret Service overrides FAA rules to allow surveillance drones Washington Examiner: Trump prepares 100 executive orders to enact once in office Washington Examiner: Mike Waltz suggests Greenland talks are about national security Washington Examiner: Houthis precipitated US friendly fire incident Washington Examiner: Sean Durns Opinion: Washington should unleash Israel on the Houthis Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan: 37 and 6: Why Denmark deserves better than Trump's Greenland silliness Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: Albeit hypocritical, Musk is underlining the First Amendment's immense value Washington Examiner: James Rogan Opinion: Saving the sinking submarine industrial base AP: South Korea's acting leader accepts resignation of presidential security chief AP: Gaza war deaths pass 46,000 and Lebanon ends presidential deadlock Defense News: Senate Hearing Could Decide Whether Hegseth Becomes Defense Secretary The Hill: Afghanistan faces a complex set of challenges in 2025 — here's what you need to know Defense News: The Pentagon Finessed Its Pivot to Asia. Can It Last During Trump? Air & Space Forces Magazine: Kendall: CCA Increment 2 Shouldn't Be 'Exquisite,' But Better than Increment 1 SpaceNews: US Military Satellites Achieve First Cross-Vendor Laser Communications Link Air & Space Forces Magazine: New F-15 Electronic Warfare System Starts Full Production AP: Lawsuit Alleges Racial and Gender Discrimination Led to an Air Force Contractor's Death DefenseScoop: What Deputy Defense Secretary Hicks Is Prioritizing During the Presidential Transition Politico: Turf War Breaks Out over DC Fighter Jet Squadron-RFK Stadium Deal Air & Space Forces Magazine: F-16 External Fuel Tank Falls into Florida Neighborhood, No Injuries Reported Defense One: The Henry Ford of Satellite Buses? THE CALENDAR: FRIDAY | JANUARY 10 8:30 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: “How will artificial intelligence impact security relations between the United States and China? U.S. and Chinese perspectives,” with Andrew Forrest, co-founder, Minderoo Foundation; Qian Xiao, deputy director, Tsinghua University Center for International Security and Strategy; Ting Dong, fellow at the Tsinghua University Center for International Security and Strategy; Chuanying Lu, nonresident fellow and professor at the Tsinghua University Center for International Security and Strategy and Tongji University; Jacquelyn Schneider, fellow and director, Hoover Institution’s Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation; Ryan Hass, director, Brookings China Center; Colin Kahl, foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; and Chris Meserole, former Brookings expert https://www.brookings.edu/events/how-will-artificial-intelligence-impact-security 10 a.m. — U.S. Naval War College virtual conference: “Critical Minerals and National Security," with Carla Zeppieri, deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base Resilience https://usnwc.edu/News-and-Events 10 a.m. — National Institute for Deterrence Studies virtual seminar: “The Case for Homeland Missile Defense," with Mark Massa, deputy director of the Atlantic Council Center for Strategy and Security; Robert Soofer, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Center for Strategy and Security; and Peter Huessy, NIDS senior fellow https://thinkdeterrence.com/events/the-case-for-homeland-missile-defense 11:30 a.m. 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks delivers remarks on “Outpacing the PRC (People’s Republic of China): Lessons Learned for Strategic Competition," at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center [email protected] 2 p.m. — Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies virtual discussion: “TikTok on the Clock: A Courthouse Steps Oral Argument on TikTok Inc. v. Garland," with Montana Solicitor General Christian Corrigan (R); Corbin Barthold, Internet policy counsel and director of appellate litigation at TechFreedom; and Casey Mattox, vice president for legal strategy at Stand Together https://fedsoc.org/events/tiktok-on-the-clock MONDAY | JANUARY 13 9:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual event: "A Conversation with Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall on The Department of the Air Force in 2050," with Kari Bingen, director, Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department, CSIS; and Seth Jones, president, Defense and Security Department; Harold Brown Chair, CSIS https://www.csis.org/events/conversation-secretary-air-force-frank-kendall WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 15 7 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. — Association of the U.S. Army day long Hot Topic discussion: "Connecting the Industrial Base to the Tactical Edge, with Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, acting commander, U.S. Army Materiel Command; Vic Ramdass, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy; Liz Miranda, executive deputy to the commanding general, U.S. Army Material Command; Maj. Gen. Michael Lalor, commander, U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command; Brig. Gen. Ronnie Anderson, commander, Joint Munitions Command; and Rich Martin, executive director of supply chain management at Army Materiel Command https://www.ausa.org/events/hot-topic/connecting-industrial-base-tactical-edge 9 a.m. 2401 M St. NW — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group coffee-conversation with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith RSVP: [email protected] | | | | "We must not stop now. So, I'm leaving this contact group, not with a farewell but with a challenge. The coalition to support Ukraine must not flinch. It must not falter and it must not fail. Ukraine's survival is on the line. But so is all of our security." | | Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, following his last appearance at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of 50 donor nations, in Germany Thursday |
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