SitRep: U.S. Special Ops Expanding; McCain Drops $602B “Reform” Defense Bill

Drip by drip. We’re learning more about some of the places President Barack Obama has sent U.S. special operations forces to quietly wage war. Here’s the latest:

Somalia. A team of U.S. special operations forces patrolling with Ugandan peacekeepers outside of the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Thursday called in an airstrike on an al-Shabab position when they came under fire. It’s not the first time American troops have been in a fight this year in Somalia. In March, commandos, acting with Somali forces, killed up to 15 Islamists in a raid that came just days after a U.S. airstrike wiped out about 150 al-Shabab militants at a training base in the north of the country.

Libya. We learned Thursday that about 50 American special operations forces have been in the country since last fall, where they’ve been searching for reliable partners to take the fight to the Islamic State, which has set down roots there. The U.S. has launched several airstrikes in Libya since late last year, but has been holding off on deeper engagement until a government is fully in place, U.S. officials have said.

Yemen. Defense officials recently admitted they sent a team of about a dozen operators to help local forces track down al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — known as AQAP — near the port city of Mulkala. Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said the deployment, which happened in April, provides “airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, advice and assistance with operational planning, maritime interdiction and security operations, medical support and aerial refueling.” The USS Boxer, a Navy amphibious assault ship with about 1,200 sailors and Marines aboard, has been positioned nearby in the Gulf of Aden to provide support, if necessary.

New China report. The Pentagon is set to release its latest annual report to Congress on the state of China’s military today. The report promises to be stacked with new details about Beijing’s rapidly modernizing air, sea, and missile capabilities, particularly when it comes to the South China Sea. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark is set to brief the report at the Pentagon at 2:30 p.m. Livestream here.

Sacked. The U.S. Navy said Thursday that an officer overseeing two boats that mistakenly veered into Iranian waters in January has been relieved of command following an investigation in the incident, which nearly triggered a dangerous confrontation between Washington and Tehran. FP’s Dan De Luce writes that Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer for Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, which included the boats that sailed into Iran’s territorial waters on Jan. 12, will be reassigned to another post. De Luce has been out in front of the story since the beginning, and previously laid down the best tick-tock of what happened that day in the Persian Gulf.

Budget lines. If Republican Sen. John McCain and his Senate Armed Services Committee get their way, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, will be out of a job. Kendall’s hugely influential gig as the Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, would be split in two, an Under Secretary for Management and and an Under Secretary for Research and Engineering who would push high-tech innovation initiatives.

The committee also calls for the White House’s National Security Council staff to be capped at 150 (it’s grown to about 400 in recent years). McCain labeled the $602 billion document “a reform bill,” and it also outlines plans to expand the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon’s global combatant commanders to take more of a role in planning and carrying out plans for war.

More fun in the Baltics. The U.K. scrambled Typhoon fighter jets Thursday to intercept three Russian military transport aircraft that were approaching the Baltic states and were not transmitting an identification code and refused to answer attempts to radio them, the British defense ministry said. “We were able to instantly respond to this act of Russian aggression – demonstration of our commitment to NATO’s collective defense,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement.

Milestone. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford are in Colorado Springs, Co. Friday for a handover ceremony at the U.S. Northern Command, where Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson takes over from Adm. Bill Gortney. Robinson is the first woman to run a combatant command. There’ll be a press briefing 2:00 p.m., livestreamed here.

Thanks for clicking on through as we wrap up another week of SitRep. As always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national  security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley

China

A Chinese official appeared to offer an olive branch to the U.S. on Friday over the repeated disputes in the South China Sea. Reuters reports that Chinese Central Military Commission member Fang Fenghui told U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford that the two sides should “manage their differences in a constructive way.” Dunford offered that the rivals should create “an effective mechanism on risk control” in order to avoid confrontations. The U.S. is increasingly worried over China’s assertion of vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. China is annoyed at the Pentagon’s increasingly close military relationships with China’s neighbors and continued freedom of navigation operations through territories over which it claims sovereignty.

Russia

Russia’s embassy in the U.K. tweeted on Thursday that “extremists near Aleppo received several truckloads of chemical ammo.” One small problem: they used a screenshot from an old-school video game, Command and Conquer: Generals, in order to illustrate that claim. In fairness, the image was labeled with “image used for illustration purposes only.” Nonetheless, the bizarre contrast between serious, bold claims about chemical weapons in a conflict and cartoonish choice of illustration left many scratching their heads about Russian diplomats’ use of social media.

We had some more fun at Moscow’s expense Thursday after a video emerged of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was attending a photo op highlighting a new Russian military  truck, and was somewhat surprised when the handle breaks off the passenger-side door.

European Union

A new report by the U.K.’s House of Lords blasts the European Union’s (EU) Operation Sophia, aimed at tackling human smuggling in the Mediterranean, for being an “impossible challenge,” the Daily Telegraph reports. The authors write that Sophia “does not, and we argue, cannot, deliver its mandate” of stopping the tidal wave of human smuggling that has sprung up in the Mediterranean because it doesn’t address root causes. Thousands of migrants have sought the services of people smugglers in the Med as they flee conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. The report did, however, commend the EU for its search and rescue operations aimed at saving migrants, describing them as “vital.”

Syria

Syrian officials have blocked an international aid convoy from reaching the besieged city of Darya. The Assad regime had agreed to let the aid convoy, organized by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to travel to Darya but officials refused to allow the convoy in on arrival. Aid officials say the Assad regime objected to the presence of food and medicine on board the convoy and asked aid workers to remove the items.

Hezbollah

Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hezbollah’s top commander for the war in Syria, was killed in a blast near Damascus airport on Thursday, reportedly at the hands of an Israeli airstrike. U.S. sanctions against Badreddine listed him as in charge of Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria since 2011. Prior to that, he was reportedly involved in a string of terrorist attacks, with indictments in Kuwait and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for a string of bombings and the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik al-Hariri, respectively. If reports about Israel’s responsibility for Badreddine’s killing are true, he would be one of a number of senior Hezbollah officials reportedly killed by Israeli forces since the war in Syria began, including Imad and Jihad Mughniyeh and Samir Qantar.

Drive-by truckers

In the mid-2000s, the U.S. government spent about $50 billion to quickly buy thousands of hulking MRAP armored vehicles to shield troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from roadside bombs. But the Army and Marine Corps don’t need all of those trucks anymore, and have taken to giving them away to willing allies. And that brings us to the 762 MRAPs that Washington has started shipping to Egypt, free of charge. The half-million dollar vehicles “will be used to combat terrorism and promote stability in the region,” the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said in a statement Thursday.

The Islamic State

Buzzfeed takes a deep look at how the Islamic State has navigated information security issues on the web. The jihadist group has quietly been learning to conduct spear-phishing attacks in which they send targeted, forged emails to opponents and journalists laced with malware, tricking them into clicking on links or attachments bearing malware. On the defensive side, the group has developed an affinity for an encrypted social media messaging app which critics say isn’t as secure as its marketing would have users believe. The group has also tried to help its online army of fanboys stay secure with a handful of cybersecurity guides, offering homespun — and fairly dubious — advice on which apps and software to use in order to encrypt data and remain anonymous from the world’s intelligence services.