After a Monday meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanders of the U.S. Northern Command, Transportation Command, and National Guard, Salesses established a task force to carry out “expedited implementation” of Trump’s orders to obtain “complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.”

“DOD will begin augmenting its forces at the southwest border with an additional [approximately] 1,500 ground personnel, as well as helicopters with associated crews, and intelligence analysts to support increased detection and monitoring efforts,” Salesses said in a statement from the Pentagon. The initial tranche of 1,500 additional troops will bring the total at the border to 4,000, a 60% increase in active-duty ground forces, according to the Pentagon.

“President Trump directed action from the Department of Defense on securing our nation’s borders and made clear he expects immediate results,” Salesses said. “That is exactly what our military is doing under his leadership.”

‘THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING’: Salesses promised that “in short order” the Pentagon will announce additional military deployments in support of DHS, federal agencies, and state partners “to address the full range of threats” outlined by President Trump.

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefing document obtained by the Washington Post, Trump is planning to send around 10,000 troops to the border with Mexico, where they will support Border Patrol agents under new orders to shut off all access to asylum. U.S. law permits anyone who presents themselves at border checkpoints to request an asylum hearing, but according to the briefing document, border agents will be authorized to refuse entry to asylum-seekers on the grounds that they have passed through countries where communicable diseases are present.

In an Oval Office interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump defended the total shutdown of the border. 

“Why would somebody say that open borders are good, where jails and mental institutions from other countries and gang members right off the streets of the toughest cities in the world are being brought to the United States of America and emptied out into our country?” Trump said. “There are people coming in with tattoos all over their face. Their entire face is covered with tattoos. Typically, you know he’s not going to be the head of the local bank.”

WHAT WILL US TROOPS BE DOING? The Pentagon directive has been crafted to keep the military, in particular active-duty troops, from playing a direct role in law enforcement.

“The Department will provide military airlift to support DHS deportation flights of more than five thousand illegal aliens from the San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas sectors detained by Customs and Border Protection,” Salesses said. “DHS will provide inflight law enforcement, and the State Department will obtain the requisite diplomatic clearances and provide host-nation notification.”

In addition, troops will assist in the construction of “temporary and permanent physical barriers to add additional security to curtail illegal border crossings and illicit trafficking.”

PENTAGON TO DEPLOY ABOUT 1,500 TROOPS TO THE SOUTHERN BORDER: ‘JUST THE BEGINNING’

Good Thursday 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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MAYBE HAPPENING TODAY: President Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, could get a preliminary vote on his nomination as soon as the afternoon and be confirmed as soon as tomorrow. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has filed for “cloture,” a procedural vote that ends debate. This vote could come today, setting up a final vote for tomorrow or Saturday if need be. Thune has promised to work into the weekend if necessary.

In a statement issued late last night, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MI) brushed aside the latest allegations by Hegseth’s former sister-in-law Danielle Hegseth, who in a sworn affidavit described Hegseth as someone “with an alcohol abuse problem” who was “abusive to his ex-wife Samantha.”

Samantha Hegseth previously told NBC News, “There was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make to you. I have let you know that I am not speaking and will not speak on my marriage to Pete. Please respect this decision.” 

“I have received three separate, detailed briefings on the FBI’s background investigation of Mr. Hegseth. After this thorough review, I am ironclad in my assessment that the nominee, Mr. Hegseth, is prepared to be the next Secretary of Defense, and that the allegations unfairly impugning his character do not pass scrutiny,” Wicker said. “Mr. Hegseth has the confidence of the President. He has the backing of Senate Republicans. During this precarious national security moment, the Senate needs to confirm this nominee as fast as possible.”

In a letter to Wicker obtained by the Washington Examiner, Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, called Danielle Hegseth a “lifelong Democrat” with issues with her “credibility and bias.” 

“There is no basis to credit this deeply flawed and questionable affidavit, which was submitted at the 11th hour in a clear and admitted partisan attempt to derail Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation,” Parlatore wrote. 

HEGSETH’S ATTORNEY URGES SENATE TO ‘MOVE FORWARD’ DESPITE NEW ALLEGATIONS

HOUTHIS DESIGNATED ‘FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION’: In yet another quick reversal of Biden administration policy, President Trump last night re-designated Yemen’s Houthi rebels, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

“President Trump designated the Iranian-backed Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in January 2021. Within one month of taking office, the Biden administration reversed the Houthis’ designation,” the executive order states. “As a result of the Biden administration’s weak policy, the Houthis have fired at U.S. Navy warships dozens of times, launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure in partner nations, and attacked commercial vessels transiting Bab al-Mandeb more than 100 times.”

“President Trump wasted no time in doing the right thing and re-designating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, intent on harming the United States and its citizens,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement. “I called on President Biden to reverse his reckless removal of their FTO designation time and time again, but he instead chose a strategy of appeasement that only emboldened these Iran-backed terrorists as they worked to destabilize the region.”

“Thank you, Mr. President, for demonstrating the strength needed to deter our adversaries and keep Americans safe!” McCaul said.

“Good decision,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Military and Political Power. “Good policy starts with a recognition of the truth. The Houthis have proven with their actions that they are terrorists,” Bowman posted on X. “Along with their patrons in Tehran, the Houthis are responsible for the largest assault on civilian mariners and commercial shipping in decades.”

TURNER: INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE MIGHT BE LOSING FOCUS: Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the highly respected former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, suggested in a CNN appearance yesterday that his colleagues on the committee may be too fixated on the “elusive deep state,” instead of focusing on external threats. 

“If you go in a different direction with the Intelligence Committee where you’re looking into the intelligence community itself and, you know, the so-called deep state, you stop looking at the nation states or the non-state actors that seek to threaten Americans,” said Turner, who was unceremoniously removed as chairman of the committee in a surprise move by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). “And that’s what I’m fearful of.”

“My focus was on national security. It will continue to be on national security,” Turner said. “And I think, you know, it’s unfortunate that the committee might be losing its focus and instead focusing on what they consider to be the elusive deep state.”

JOHNSON: JAN. 6 ‘PEACEFUL PROTESTS’: Asked at a Capitol Hill news conference yesterday how he could “justify” President Trump’s pardon of violent rioters who attacked Capitol Police in 2021, House Speaker Mike Johnson lent his support to the rewriting of the history of the January 6, favored by Trump.

“It was a terrible time and a terrible chapter in America’s history. The president’s made his decision. I don’t second-guess those,” Johnson said. “What was made clear all along is that peaceful protests and people who engage in that should never be punished. There was a weaponization of the Justice Department.”

In his interview with Sean Hannity, Trump expressed the belief that despite the clear popular and Electoral vote margins that he really did win the 2020 election, and that the rioters were justified in storming the Capitol. “And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote,” Trump said. “They were treated like the worst criminals in history … they were in there for three and a half years, a long time. And in many solitary confinement, treated like nobody’s ever been treated. Treated so badly.”

Trump said the reason he ran for a second term is that he knew he won and that the election had been stolen from him. “If I thought that I didn’t get the number of votes — and it was reported that I got almost 75 million votes … That was more than anybody has gotten in history. Any sitting president had ever gotten, and you lost. Had I gotten like 50 million, 40 million, or 60 million, I would never have run.”

In 2020, Biden received 81,284,666 votes, which gave him a 51.3% to 46.9% popular vote win.

‘PARDONS … WILL NOT CHANGE THE TRUTH’: Several federal judges who spent the last three years adjudicating the Jan. 6 cases have expressed frustration with the whitewashing of the history of Jan. 6, and arguably none has been more outspoken than U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly who was forced to dismiss one riot defendant’s case because of Trump’s blanket pardons.

“Dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021. What occurred that day is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts, and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her six-page order. “Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.”

“No ‘national injustice’ occurred here, just as no outcome-determinative election fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election,” wrote U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in a similar case. “No “process of national reconciliation” can begin when poor losers, whose preferred candidate loses an election, are glorified for disrupting a constitutionally mandated proceeding in Congress and doing so with impunity. That merely raises the dangerous specter of future lawless conduct by other poor losers and undermines the rule of law.”

THE RUNDOWN:

Washington Examiner: Pentagon to deploy about 1,500 troops to the southern border: ‘Just the beginning’

Washington Examiner: Trump threatens tariffs for Russia if it doesn’t ‘make a deal’ with Ukraine soon

Washington Examiner: Rubio announces State Department priorities: ‘Does it make America stronger?’

Washington Examiner: Hamas reasserts itself in Gaza following ceasefire

Washington Examiner: Ilhan Omar pushes repeal of Alien Enemies Act that Trump cites for immigration crackdown

Washington Examiner: Senate Democrats plead with GOP to work together on immigration

Washington Examiner: House intelligence chairman determined to get to Havana syndrome truth

Washington Examiner: Trump talks Newsom and Biden pardons: Top Hannity interview takeaways

Washington Examiner: Tom Homan notes ‘significant difference’ at border since Trump’s return

Washington Examiner: Opinion: Doug Collins will restore America’s promise to veterans

AP: 160 National Security Staffers Are Sent Home as the White House Aligns Its Team to Trump’s Agenda

AP: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes visits Capitol Hill after Trump clemency

New York Times: Far-Right Leaders Granted Clemency by Trump Express Desire for Retribution

New York Times: Trump Administration Cancels Flights for Refugees Already Approved for Travel

Defense News: Ukraine to Hand Combat Units $60 Million Monthly for New Drones

New York Times: Fighting Alongside Russia, North Koreans Wage Their Own War

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force to Conduct Deportation Flights for Thousands of People

Breaking Defense: Philippines to Increase FA-50 Fighter Fleet, Among Moves Analysts Say Complicate Planning in Beijing

The War Zone: We Went with Marine F-35Bs as They Fought a Mock War from a Pacific Island

Air & Space Forces Magazine: First Warning: How Guardians Sparked Fight to Defeat Iran’s Missiles

Military Times: Lawmakers Move to Limit Foreign Real Estate Buys Near Military Bases

DefenseScoop: DOD Names Officials Temporarily Helming Key Tech Offices as the Pentagon Awaits New Leadership

Inside Defense: Air Force Wants to ‘Overcome Blind Spots’ in Advanced Propulsion Development

SpaceNews: US Space Force Forecasts $2.3 Billion in Commercial Satellite Services Contracts

Breaking Defense: ​​Viasat Bid Protest at Heart of DOD Investigation of SDA Head Tournear

Air & Space Forces Magazine: Money-Saving Microvanes Inch Closer to Fleetwide C-17 Use

THE CALENDAR: 

THURSDAY | JANUARY 23

8 a.m. 7920 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, Virginia — Potomac Officers Club 2025 Defense R&D Summit with Gil Herrera, director of research at the National Security Agency: Ronzelle Green, director of research at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and Maj. Gen. Dennis Bythewood, special assistant to the chief of space operations at U.S. Space Force https://potomacofficersclub.com/events/2025-defense-rd-summit/

9 a.m. 418 Russell — Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee markup to vote on the nomination of Douglas Collins to be Veterans Affairs secretary http://veterans.senate.gov

9:30 a.m. G-50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of Daniel P. Driscoll to be secretary of the Army http://www.armed-services.senate.gov

10 a.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion: “Want Combat Airpower? Then Fix the Air Force Pilot Crisis ,” with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella; and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Sasseville https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/event/want-combat-airpower

9:30 a.m. HVC-Studio A, U.S. Capitol — House Republicans news conference on the “Birthright Citizenship Act,” with Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX)

2 p.m. 1957 E St. NW — George Washington University Institute for Middle East Studies book discussion: How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare, with author Narges Bajoghil, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies; Sina Azodi, lecturer at GWU; and Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter at the Washington Post https://imes.elliott.gwu.edu/events/how-sanctions-work/

6 p.m. 2425 Virginia Ave. NW — Jerusalem Fund hybrid discussion: “Ceasefire in Gaza: Challenges and Struggles Ahead,” with Hani Almadhoun, senior director of philanthropy at UNRWA USA; Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of The Grayzone; and Helena Cobban, writer and researcher on international affairs https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register

FRIDAY | JANUARY 24 

9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave, NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies debate: “Artificial Intelligence Integration in Nuclear Command, Control and Communications,” with Paul Scharre, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security; and Chris Andrews, fellow at National Defense University https://www.csis.org/events/poni-live-debate-ai-integration-nc3

9 a.m. 418 Russell — Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee markup to vote on the nomination of Douglas Collins to be veterans affairs secretary http://veterans.senate.gov

2: 30 p.m. — National Press Club “NPC Headliners” virtual book discussion: A Different Russia: Khrushchev and Kennedy on a Collision Course,” with Marvin Kalb, former correspondent for CBS News https://www.press.org/events/npc-headliners-marvin-kalb

WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 29

7:15 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia — Association of the U.S. Army “Coffee Series” discussion with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy Georgehttps://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/gen-george