‘THIS IS COMING TO A HEAD’: The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is steaming toward the Middle East, ostensibly to augment and then relieve the USS Harry S. Truman, which is in an ongoing shooting war with Iranian-back Houthi forces in Yemen. But the naval buildup in the Gulf regions comes as President Donald Trump has said he holds Iran responsible for the Houthi attacks on international shipping. He has put Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on notice that he faces military action if Tehran doesn’t give up its nuclear program.
“This is coming to a head. All options are on the table,” White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday, adding Trump will settle for nothing less than “full dismantlement.”
“Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see,” Waltz said. “It is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon. They will not, and cannot, be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program.”
“This is the full program. Give it up, or there will be consequences,” he said.
THE LETTER: Just over two weeks ago, Trump sent a letter to Khamenei in which he suggested that despite his military threats, a new Iran nuclear deal could be reached. “I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,” Trump said in an interview on Fox Business News on March 5.
“The president made a very, very big move in my view,” Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said on Fox News Sunday. “There are many out there who would have thought that Iran, in their position, would have reached out to us. It’s not to say that if gosh — if God forbid, we’re pushed to that point, that we’re not going to use military action. We would, under certain circumstances.”
“Our signal to Iran is, let’s sit down and see if we can, through dialogue, through diplomacy, get to the right place,” Witkoff said. “If we can, we’re prepared to do that. And if we can’t, the alternative is not a great alternative.”
POUNDING THE HOUTHIS: Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command is posting daily videos on its X account with the hashtag “#HouthisAreTerrorists” showing carrier-based F-18s taking off on bombing runs and cruise missiles fired from U.S. warships as the effort to bomb the Houthis into submission continues in the Red Sea. The military is providing few details on how the operation is going, but Waltz said the U.S. is “hitting them hard.”
“We have taken out key Houthi leadership, including their head missileer. We have hit their headquarters. We have hit communications nodes, weapons factories, and even some of their over-the-water drone production facilities just in the last couple of days,” Waltz said on CBS.
“This isn’t some kind of tit for tat that we had under the Obama administration or Biden,” he said. “President Trump has decided to hit the Houthis and hit them hard, as opposed to, in the last administration, where literally weeks or months would go by with these kind of one-off pinprick attacks.”
“I mean, these guys are like al Qaeda or ISIS with advanced cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and some of the most sophisticated air defenses, all provided by Iran,” he told CBS’s Margaret Brennan. “Just so everybody understands the impact here.”
The USS Carl Vinson is expected to arrive in the region in about two weeks.
US AIRSTRIKES TARGETING YEMEN’S HOUTHI REBELS KILL AT LEAST 1 PERSON, WOUNDS OTHERS, GROUP SAYS
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 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.
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HAPPENING TODAY: PEACE TALKS: Russia continues large-scale drone and missile attacks across Ukraine as negotiations are underway in Saudi Arabia between Ukraine and Russia through indirect mediators.
“Every night now brings massive Russian drone attacks — nearly a hundred Shaheds each time. Many are being shot down. As of this morning alone, 97 drones were shot down overnight,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “Every night, every single day, it carries out the most cynical strikes … There must be more pressure on Russia to stop this terror.”
“It has become absolutely clear to the entire world: Russia is the only one dragging this war out,” Zelensky said “Since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table — and these attacks could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all this.”
On CBS, Mike Waltz, one of the lead negotiators with Russia, suggested that one concession the U.S. is pressing for is release and repatriation of the thousands of Ukrainian children who have been separated from their families and moved to Russia. “I can say that President Trump has spoken to both leaders about prisoner exchanges,” Waltz said. “And he’s also talked about the future of these children. So that’s certainly first and foremost a kind of confidence-building measures.”
A RUSSIAN DRONE ATTACK KILLS 7 IN UKRAINE AHEAD OF CEASEFIRE TALKS
WITKOFF: ‘YOU’RE GOING TO SEE REAL PROGRESS’: Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who had two hourslong face-to-face meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, says he believes he is sincere in his desire for peace and is not a threat to NATO nations.
“I simply have said that I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in World War II. In World War II, there was no NATO,” Wikoff said on Fox News Sunday. “I take him at his word in this sense, and I think the Europeans are beginning to come to that belief, too.”
Wikoff said he believes the central issue is five Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine that Putin believes should be part of Russia. “There’s a view within the country of Russia that these are Russian territories, that there are referendums within these territories that justify these actions,” Witkoff said. “So there are grievances on both sides, but our job — at the direction, again, I stress of the president — is to narrow the issues, bring the parties together, and stop the killing.”
“I think that you’re going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday, some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries,” Wikoff said. “And from that, you’ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.
US, UKRAINE HOLD ‘PRODUCTIVE AND FOCUSED’ MEETING IN SAUDI ARABIA, DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS
ISW: WITKOFF ‘AMPLIFYING’ PUTIN’S DEMANDS: The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War has accused Witkoff of naively and “uncritically” repeating Putin’s talking points by framing the dispute as a matter of “grievances on both sides.”
“Witkoff uncritically amplified a number of Russian demands, claims, and justifications regarding the war in Ukraine,” the ISW said over the weekend, referring specifically to an interview he did with Tucker Carlson Friday, in which he said Russia “100 percent” does not want to invade Europe and that Russia “does not need to absorb Ukraine.
“The Kremlin has repeatedly and falsely claimed that Crimea and four oblasts are Russian territory contrary to international law, and Witkoff’s statement about Russia ‘reclaiming’ these areas (which Russia has illegally occupied and annexed) amplifies the Kremlin’s justifications for its expansionist territorial demands and multiple invasions of Ukraine.”
“Witkoff uncritically amplified a number of Russian demands, claims, and justifications regarding the war in Ukraine,” the think tank said.
“This is not me taking sides. I’m just identifying what the issues are,” Witkoff said on Sunday. “In my 68 years on this Earth, I’ve never ever seen a situation where there isn’t two sides to a story. It’s just never as black and white as people want to portray.”
US RECEDES ON WAR CRIMES TRACKING IN UKRAINE TO END THE WAR
HEGSETH HEADS WEST: The Pentagon’s website simply says “the secretary is traveling” today, but it’s no secret that he’s embarked on his first trip to Asia this week. He’s scheduled to stop in Hawaii, headquarters of the Indo-Pacific Command, Guam, the Philippines, and Japan.
In his appearance on Fox yesterday, Hegseth said his message will be the same one Trump is sending to Europe. “We can’t be everywhere. We’re not trying to be everywhere. We’re not trying to nation build or intervene everywhere. We want strategic locations from which to project power and defend American interests and allies and then we’re asking our allies to step up.”
“In Europe, NATO allies need to step up. In the Pacific, our allies need to step up alongside us,” he said “That’s not a difficult ask. States like Israel already are stepping up. Allies and partners are key to amplification of American power, but we’re going to lead the way.”
TRUMP ANNOUNCES BOEING WINS SIXTH-GENERATION AIRCRAFT CONTRACT FOR F-47
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: US recedes on war crimes tracking in Ukraine to end the war
Washington Examiner: Trump announces Boeing wins sixth-generation aircraft contract for F-47
Washington Examiner: Mark Carney calls for snap elections in Canada, seeks mandate as Trudeau successor
Washington Examiner: Danish prime minister heeds JD Vance’s ‘mass migration’ warning to Europe
Washington Examiner: How Border Patrol’s mission is shifting in the Trump age: ‘There are consequences now’
Washington Examiner: Authorities arrest 15 Tren de Aragua and MS-13 suspects in DC immigration blitz
Washington Examiner: Noem to visit notorious El Salvador prison that took in hundreds of suspected gang members: Report
Washington Examiner: Tom Homan dismisses idea that illegal immigrants were wrongly classified and deported
Washington Examiner: Pam Bondi says DC judge is not entitled to ‘national security information’
Washington Examiner: Trump administration sends first deportation flight to Venezuela after Maduro lifted pause
Washington Examiner: US, Ukraine hold ‘productive and focused’ meeting in Saudi Arabia, defense minister says
Washington Examiner: Waltz says US will answer China threat with economic and military ‘lethality’
Washington Examiner: DOD sending another guided-missile destroyer to US-Mexico border
Washington Examiner: Welcoming Europe’s defense industrial renaissance
Washington Examiner: Trump revokes security clearance of Harris, Clinton, Biden’s inner circle
Washington Examiner: Trump administration lays off employees from three DHS offices deemed ‘internal adversaries’
Washington Examiner: Trump extends State Department deadline for new travel bans
Washington Examiner: Putin prayed for Trump after assassination attempt, Witkoff reveals
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Abandoning America’s Afghan allies
The Hill: Pentagon Vows Investigation into Leaks, Including Polygraph Tests
New York Times: Israel Expands Gaza Offensive and Issues New Evacuation Orders
The New Yorker: Killing the Military’s Consumer Watchdog
AP: Ukrainian President Zelensky visits the frontline in Kharkiv
AP: A legal showdown looms in Israel as Netanyahu moves to oust top officials
AP: South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reinstated as acting president after impeachment overturned
AP: Second lady Usha Vance will visit Greenland as Trump talks up US takeover
AP: US senator and Trump supporter Daines meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Chief: How the New F-47 Will Improve on the F-22
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Space Force Will Add 100-Plus Satellites in 2025 to Boost Resilient Networks
Wall Street Journal: China’s Own Elon Musks Are Racing to Catch Up to SpaceX
Defense News: Launch Delays Hamper Near-Term Impact of GPS Experimentation Program
Breaking Defense: First Space Force Civil Reserve ‘Pilot’ Contracts Go to 4 Space Watch Firms
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Reserve Aims to Make It Easier for Active Pilots to Switch Over
DefenseScoop: Internal Email Highlights How CDAO Is Responding to DOGE-Inspired Workforce Reduction Campaign
Military Times: Child Care, Teaching Positions Safe from DOD Civilian Hiring Freeze
THE CALENDAR:
MONDAY | MARCH 24
9:30 a.m. 37th and O Sts. NW — Georgetown University discussion: “The Future of Global Diplomacy and the Indo-Pacific,” with Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Shigeo Yamada; former Deputy Secretary, State Kurt Campbell, chairman and co-founder, Asia group; and Evan Medeiros, director and chair of Asian studies at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and fellow in U.S.-China Studies at Georgetown University https://events.georgetown.edu/sfs/event/30159-3rd-annual-abe-memorial-lecture
2 p.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “How Beijing Lures Taiwan’s Diplomatic Partners into Switching Recognition,” with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL); Gervasio Hsu, director, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S.’ Political Division; Peter Mattis, president, Jamestown Foundation; and Margaret Myers, managing director, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies’ Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/how-beijing-lures-taiwans-diplomatic-partners
3 p.m. — Senate meets at 3 p.m. to resume consideration, nomination of John Phelan to be secretary, Navy, with a vote set for 5:30 p.m.
TUESDAY | MARCH 25
11 a.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual discussion: “Building America’s Missile Defense Shield,” with Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE); Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK); Robert Peters, senior research fellow for strategic deterrence at the Heritage Foundation; and Derrick Morgan executive vice president, Heritage Foundation https://www.heritage.org/missile-defense/event/
11 a.m. 1400 L St. NW — Atlantic Council book discussion: “Putin’s Revenge: Why Russia Invaded Ukraine,” with author Lucian Kim, senior analyst for Ukraine at the International Crisis Group https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/lucian-kim-on-putins-revenge-and-russias-war-on-ukraine/
2:30 p.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Committee Seapower Subcommittee hearing: “The State of Conventional Surface Shipbuilding,” with testimony from Brett Seidle, acting assistant secretary, Navy for research, development and acquisition; Vice Adm. James Downey, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command; and Shelby Oakley, director of contracting and national security acquisitions at the Government Accountability Office http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
3:30 p.m.2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Readiness and Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee combined hearing: “Posture and Readiness, Mobility Enterprise,” with testimony from Air Force Gen. Randall Reed, commander, U.S. Transportation Command https://armedservices.house.gov/calendar/
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 26
TBA — Vice President J.D. Vance delivers remarks following a tour of Marine Corps Base Quantico.
9 a.m. 900 South Orme St., Arlington, Virginia — Irregular Warfare Center annual IWC symposium, March 26-27, with Jonathan Schroden, research program director at CNA https://web.cvent.com/event/
9:30 a.m. 106 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing: “U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Space Command in review, Defense Authorization Request for FY2026 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with testimony from Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander, U.S. Strategic Command; and Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, U.S. Space Command http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama — Association of the U.S. Army Global Force Symposium, with Lt. Gen. Christopher Mohan, deputy commanding general and acting commanding general of Army Materiel Command https://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/35699
10 a.m. 1100 Longworth — House Intelligence Committee hearing: “The Annual Worldwide Threats Assessment,” with testimony from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; FBI Director Kash Patel; Gen. Timothy Haugh, director, National Security Agency; and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director, Defense Intelligence Agency http://intelligence.house.gov
10 a.m. — Wilson Center Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies virtual discussion: “Russia’s Indigenous Communities and the War in Ukraine,” with Alexandra Garmazhapova, president, Free Buryatia Foundation; and Pavel Sulyandziga, visiting scholar at Dartmouth College https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/russias-indigenous-communities-and-war-ukraine
11 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion: “The criticality of space superiority and review the progress the Space Force is making to ensure it has the capabilities and combat-ready guardians to achieve it,” with Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations; and Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/events/sss-saltzman-25/
12 p.m. 1957 E St. NW — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs book discussion: The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins, U.S. Autonomous Military Arsenal, with co-author Jacquelyn Schneider, Hoover Institution fellow; and co-author Julia Macdonald, assistant professor at the University of Denver https://calendar.gwu.edu/event/the-hand-behind-unmanned-origins
12 p.m. — Hudson Institute discussion: “Bending the Defense Cost Curve,” with David Chu, adjunct senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analysis; and Harold Furchtgott-Roth, director, Hudson Center for the Economics, Internet https://www.hudson.org/events/bending-defense-cost-curve-harold-furchtgott-roth
2:30 p.m. 222 Russell — Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing: “The Status, Military Service Academies,” with testimony from Army Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, superintendent, U.S. Military Academy; Vice Adm. l Yvette Davids, superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy; and Air Force Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, superintendent, U.S. Air Force Academy http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
3:30 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee hearing: “U.S. Special Operations Forces and Command — Challenges and Resource Priorities for Fiscal Year 2026,” with testimony from Colby Jenkins, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict; and Army Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander, U.S. Special Operations Command https://armedservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=5019
THURSDAY | MARCH 27
10 a.m. — Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation Subcommittee hearing: “NTSB Preliminary Report: DCA Midair Collision,” with testimony from NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy http://commerce.senate.gov
11 a.m. — Washington Institute for Near East Policy virtual forum: “Assessing the U.S. Military Campaign Against the Houthis,” with Michael Knights, WINEP senior fellow; Noam Raydan, WINEP senior fellow; and Elizabeth Dent, WINEP senior fellow https://washingtoninstitute-org.zoom.us/webinar/register
2 p.m. — Defense One virtual forum: “State of the Army,” part of its “State of Defense” series, with Gen. Randy George, chief of staff, U.S. Army, https://events.defenseone.com/state-of-defense-2025/
3:30 p.m. — Center for a New American Security virtual book discussion: The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins, U.S. Autonomous Military Arsenal,” with co-author Jacquelyn Schneider, fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution; and co-author Julia Macdonald, research professor at the University of Denver’s School of International Studies https://www.cnas.org/events/the-future-of-military-artificial-intelligence
FRIDAY | MARCH 28
10 a.m. — National Institute for Deterrence Studies virtual discussion: “Major Power Rivalry and Nuclear Stability,” with former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Brad Roberts, director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Global Security Research https://thinkdeterrence.com/events/major-power-rivalry-and-nuclear-stability/
THURSDAY | APRIL 3
9 a.m. Brussels, Belgium — Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, with press conferences scheduled by both Rubio and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte https://www.nato.int