Defense & National Security — Biden faces limits at home as he starts foreign trip

As President Biden kicks off his trip to the Middle East, progressives are looking to constrain his administration’s ability to send weapons and enter security agreements with Saudi Arabia. 

We’ll detail what exactly they’re doing in the House and how this may impact the administration, plus the latest tit-for-tat between the United States and China in the South China Sea. 

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

House to vote on constraining arms sales to Saudis

Progressives are looking to constrain the Biden administration’s ability to send weapons and enter security agreements with Saudi Arabia as President Biden gears up for a controversial visit to strengthen ties with the country. 

The Democratic lawmakers have introduced a number of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) aiming to limit military support to the oil-rich monarchy, which is among the largest U.S. customers for foreign weapons sales. 

The reasoning: The lawmakers proposing the measures say they are necessary to establish boundaries given Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Yemen’s civil war and broader human rights concerns. 

They also point out the 2018 killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post . 

• “An American resident, a columnist for The Washington Post, and my constituent was — at the direction of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia — brutally murdered and dismembered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, a little over three years ago,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) told The Hill. 
  
• “Justice is still waiting. And to me, that means you suspend normal relations with a country whose leader did that. And so I think we need some legislative guidance and direction circumscribing that relationship.”  
  
• Two to be debated: Democrats filed a handful of amendments to the NDAA in the House Rules Committee for eventual floor consideration, though only two were allowed to be debated on the floor. 

One amendment, sponsored by Reps. Connolly, Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), would impose temporary limits on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and require reports and actions related to Khashoggi’s death. 

The other amendment, led by Malinowski, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and five other Democrats, would require the secretary of State to develop guidance for investigating indications that U.S.-origin defense articles have been used in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition in “substantial violation of relevant agreements with countries participating in the coalition.” 

Upcoming: The House is set to begin consideration of amendments to the defense bill on Wednesday, with votes expected later this week. 

The U.S. has more than $126 billion in active foreign military sales with Saudi Arabia, according to the State Department. 

Read more here 

Also from The Hill: 

• Biden to continue two-state discussion in Middle East, says it’s ‘not in the near term’ 
• Five things to watch as Biden heads to the Middle East 
• Biden dismisses Democrats critical of Israel, saying they’re ‘wrong’ 

US draws China’s ire in South China Sea

In a written statement Wednesday, China said its military had “driven away” a
U.S. destroyer that sailed illegally into territorial waters near the Paracel Islands in
the South China Sea the previous day, an accusation Washington swiftly pushed back on.  

• The U.S. Navy said the destroyer “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.”
  
• The U.S. military frequently conducts such “Freedom of Navigation” operations as part of a program China does not recognize, which allows U.S. military vessels to travel international waters. 

The claim: The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command accused Washington of purposely stoking tensions by illegally entering its waters. The move “seriously violated China’s sovereignty” and undermined regional peace and stability, according to a Southern Theater Command spokesperson, Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli. 

The Southern Theater Command “organized sea and air forces to follow, monitor, warn and drive away” the U.S. vessel. 

The Pentagon’s response: Later on Wednesday, the Navy released a statement calling China’s claim’s “false,” and the “latest in a long string of PRC actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims at the expense of its Southeastern Asian neighbors in the South China Sea.”  

“The United States is defending every nation’s right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did here. Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us,” according to the statement.   

Timing: The tit-for-tat comes as tensions between the U.S. and Chinese governments continue to simmer over Beijing’s increasing pressure campaign and threats against the independent Taiwan, which it sees as its own territory. 

China also is constantly involved in territorial disputes over the South China Sea, waters that carry roughly $3 trillion worth of vessel-moved trade cargo annually. 

Read the full story here 

ON TAP

• The National Desert Storm Memorial Association will live stream the ceremony to break ground on the future National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial, with Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S. Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), and others at 9 a.m.  
• The Center for Strategic and International Studies will hold a conference on “Homeland Cruise Missile Defense,” at 10 a.m.  
• The Arab Center will host a virtual discussion on “Biden’s Trip to the Middle East: Objectives and Potential Outcomes,” at 10 a.m.  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register 
• The Center for Strategic and International Studies will also hold a virtual discussion on “Xi’s New Global Security Initiative,” at 10 a.m.  
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will welcome Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini to the Pentagon at 10:30 a.m.  
• Hudson Institute will host a virtual event on “Regaining the High Ground against China,” at 12 p.m.  
• Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper will speak at Brookings Institution on “The National Defense Strategy and great power competition,” at 2 p.m.  
• Richard Marles, deputy prime minister and defense minister of Australia, will speak to media as part of George Washington University’s Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group at 2:30 p.m. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Commerce, Defense secretaries warn of consequences without action on semiconductor bill 
• More than 40 countries support Ukraine’s efforts to hold Russia accountable for violating international law 
• Experts say US must not let EU lead on cybersecurity 
• The Hill: Opinion: WMD in Ukraine: a planetary near-death experience 
• The Hill: Opinion: Increase support for Ukraine, or NATO may have to fight 

That’s it for today! Check out The Hill’s Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. See you tomorrow!

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