Happy Thursday and welcome to Overnight Defense. I’m Ellen Mitchell, and here’s your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. CLICK HERE to subscribe to the newsletter.
THE TOPLINE: A sailor from the USS Theodore Roosevelt who had tested positive for the coronavirus has been sent to an intensive care unit, officials said Thursday.
“Sadly this morning we had our first hospitalization of the one sailor,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a press briefing. “We’re hoping that that sailor recovers. We’re praying for him and his family and his shipmates.”
Hyten added that “deep down” he hoped no sailors from the Roosevelt would be hospitalized, but that’s “just not going to be the case with coronavirus … even in our demographic.”
About the sailor: The sailor had tested positive for the virus March 30 and was in a 14-day isolation period on Naval Base Guam before his hospitalization, the Navy said in a statement Thursday.
The sailor is now at the intensive care unit at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, the Navy said, adding that “more details will be released when they become available.”
A political firestorm: The coronavirus outbreak aboard the Roosevelt turned into a political firestorm after the ship’s former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, wrote a letter pleading for help that leaked in the media.
Crozier was subsequently fired by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. Modly himself resigned Tuesday after fanning the flames of the controversy by traveling to Guam, where the Roosevelt is docked, and berating Crozier as “naive” or “stupid” in a speech over the ship’s PA system.
The numbers now: As of Thursday, 416 sailors on the ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, Hyten said. Results from about 1,000 tests are pending, he added.
Teams of medics are checking twice a day on the 2,700 sailors who have now been taken off the ship, Hyten said.
And cases on another carrier: Asked about the situation aboard a different carrier, the USS Nimitz, Hyten said there has been “very small number of breakouts” there and that sailors on the ship have been physically separated. The Navy later clarified that one sailor who was on leave and never stepped onto the ship tested positive. Another sailor on the ship exhibited symptoms, but the test results were inconclusive, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Clay Doss said.
The Nimitz is docked in Washington state right now, but preparing to go out to sea later this month.
“There are no sailors on board who tested positive. Two sailors had coronavirus symptoms, were tested and quarantined immediately – both are recovering now,” Doss said in an email.
The show must go on: Hyten said the military must plan to continue operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s not a good idea to think that the Teddy Roosevelt is a one-of-a-kind issue,” he said. “We have too many ships at sea, we have too many deployed capabilities, there’s 5,000 sailors on a nuclear powered aircraft [carrier], to think that it will never happen again is not a good way to plan.”
In other coronavirus news…
Pentagon expects coronavirus to hit more Navy ships: The Pentagon is expecting the novel coronavirus to hit more Navy ships after the outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Hyten said Thursday.
Hyten said the Navy anticipates that coronavirus will strike more ships like the Roosevelt, where 416 crew members became infected and 1,164 tests are pending.
Adm. Mike Gilday, the Navy’s top officer, said the branch is struggling to test enough people quickly, including sailors on the USS Nimitz — the next aircraft carrier scheduled to depart the U.S., The Associated Press reported.
Senate Armed Services shelves ‘paper hearing’ plans: The Senate Armed Services Committee has put its plan to hold “paper hearings” during the coronavirus crisis on ice after one hearing.
“When the committee first laid out the concept of ‘paper hearings,’ we understood that, being in uncharted territory, we would remain flexible and re-assess the process as conditions changed,” panel spokeswoman Marta Hernandez said in a statement Thursday
“Recognizing the additional burden on the Department of Defense at this critical time, Chairman [James] Inhofe and Ranking Member [Jack] Reed have agreed to postpone future paper hearings until the committee has more clarity on the COVID-19 situation,” she added.
The issue: Hernandez also alluded to the difficulty of holding confirmation hearings, something that has taken on new prominence after this week’s resignation of Thomas Modly as acting Navy secretary.
“As you would expect, the timing or format for upcoming nomination hearings are being discussed in the context of guidance from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], Office of the Attending Physician, the Majority Leader and local government,” she said.
A shaky first try: Last month, the panel said it would hold what it was calling paper hearings in an effort to keep the annual defense policy bill on track despite lawmakers staying out of Washington during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the format laid out last month, opening statements from Inhofe (R-Okla.), Reed (D-R.I.) and the witnesses were to be posted online at the time the hearing was scheduled to start. Written questions from committee members and witnesses’ written answers were then to be posted a week later.
The committee held one such hearing for the Army secretary and chief of staff. The opening statements were posted on time, but a week later, when the questions and answers were supposed to be released, the committee said the Army asked for more time since it was dealing with the coronavirus crisis.
ROCKETS STRIKE US BASE IN AFGHANISTAN: A worldwide pandemic has apparently not put an end to attacks on U.S. forces, with a U.S. air base in Afghanistan struck by several rockets early Thursday in what seemed to be an ISIS attack, defense officials confirmed.
The NATO-led mission announced on Twitter that five rockets struck Bagram Airfield, though no casualties or injuries were reported.
Several unknowns: The extent of any physical damage to the base was unclear.
“Five rockets were fired at Bagram airfield early this morning. There were no casualties or injuries,” Operation Resolute Support tweeted.
“Our #ANDSF partners are investigating the incident,” it added.
The attack comes as the Trump administration has struck a deal with the Taliban for a reduction of fighting in the country and a partial withdrawal of U.S. forces. The agreement, however, did not involve the ISIS forces that have been active in the country for several years.
Taliban representatives denied involvement in the attack, according to Reuters.
ISIS forces arrived in Afghanistan, the site of America’s longest-running war, following the fall of the self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE OF ALASKA…..: U.S. Air Force fighter jets intercepted two Russian patrol aircraft near Alaska on Wednesday, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced.
The U.S. F-22 Raptors “intercepted two Russian IL-38 aircraft entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone,” NORAD said over multiple posts to Twitter on Thursday.
The intercept: NORAD said the Russian maritime reconnaissance aircraft — which are used to hunt for submarines — were intercepted in the Bering Sea, north of the Aleutian Islands, and did not enter United States or Canadian sovereign airspace.
“COVID-19 or not, NORAD continues actively watching for threats and defending the homelands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year,” NORAD Commander Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said in the posts.
Russia’s testing US defenses?: O’Shaughnessy later on Thursday on “Fox & Friends” said the Russian aircraft flew within 50 miles of the Alaskan coast, adding that Moscow “wanted to see if we are able to react.”
Russia repeatedly flies its reconnaissance aircraft as well as bomber plane patrols near Alaska — with 48 such patrols in 2019 — which the United States sometimes intercepts.
The most recent such instance was in early March, when U.S. and Royal Canadian air force fighter jets intercepted two Russian Tu-142 aircraft.
ICYMI
— The Hill: Trip that led to acting Navy secretary’s resignation cost $243K: reports
— The Hill: Navy ‘moving forward’ after ‘difficult’ week, top officer says
— The Hill: Some coronavirus testing sites delayed due to lack of personal protective equipment
— The Hill: Senators demand more details from Trump on intel watchdog firing
— The Hill: Opinion: Why the US must quit negotiating with Iran
— Military Times: What you need to know about travel, stop-loss, masks and more, from senior Pentagon leadership
— Stars and Stripes: VA spent $200,000 on controversial anti-malaria drug touted as coronavirus ‘game-changer’