Pentagon put in bind after Trump-Putin summit

Source: The Hill | July 21, 2018 | Ellen Mitchell and Rebecca Kheel

The Pentagon has been caught flat-footed after President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, with defense officials struggling to explain statements coming out of Moscow that the two leaders reached agreements involving military issues.

Adding to the angst, Defense Secretary James Mattis has kept a low profile amid backlash to Trump’s comments in Europe. While he met with his counterparts there, Mattis remained offstage for the president’s trip and was not in attendance at this week’s Cabinet meeting.

Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general and former NATO commander, has made no secret of his opinion of Russia, telling reporters traveling with him last week that Moscow has chosen to “undermine the fabric of nations that are young in their democratic processes … whether through false news reporting, economic strictures and interventions.”

“They are not seen as helpful, would be probably the most polite way to describe it,” he said.

U.S. law also prohibits military-to-military cooperation between the United States and Russia. Congress passed the measure in the wake of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and it has been renewed every year since. 

But Mattis’s response to various declarations by Trump in Europe – including over defense spending and potential areas of cooperation with Russia – has put a spotlight on issues where the Defense chief’s positions may contrast the prevailing views in the administration.

“The Pentagon now is left holding the bag on how they fulfill the either promises or vague responses on [military-to-military] cooperation, and whether those issues are in the national security interest of the United States,” said Mark Simakovsky, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

“I do think on Russia and on NATO, Secretary Mattis has a different view than the president and I think [it] highlights a great source of potential tension as the president will want his Cabinet secretaries to support normalizing relations with Russia.”

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