Pentagon: US will respond if Russia bounty reports true
WASHINGTON — Top Pentagon leaders told Congress on Thursday that reports of Russia offering Taliban militants bounties for killing Americans were not corroborated by defense intelligence agencies, but said they are looking into it and the U.S. will respond if necessary.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said his military commanders heard initial reports on the bounty issue in January and he first saw an intelligence paper about it in February. While the threats were taken seriously, he said they have not yet been found credible.
Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on the role of the military during protests triggered by the May 25 killing of George Floyd. Several House members asked about the Russian bounty reports. Milley said Russia and other nations have long worked against the U.S. in Afghanistan and provided support to the Taliban, but the specific notion of bounties hasn’t been proven.
President Donald Trump initially labeled the reports about bounties “just another hoax” made up by the media.
The White House has said Trump wasn’t briefed on the intelligence until after the stories broke. According to U.S. intelligence officials, information that Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants for killing American troops was included in a briefing for Trump in late February.
Milley and Esper appeared to walk a fine line. Esper said he didn’t recall a briefing that mentioned the word “bounties.” But, under questioning he later acknowledged that there were reports that mentioned “payments.”
And Milley was pressed about the difference between Iran backing militants in Iraq — which has triggered U.S. retaliation — and what the Russians are doing in Afghanistan. He said that while Russia continues to back the Taliban, there is no evidence it directed militant attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“If in fact there’s bounties directed by the government of Russia or any of their institutions to kill American soldiers, that’s a big deal,” Milley said. “I and the secretary and many others are taking it seriously, we’re going to get to the bottom of it, we’re going to find out if, in fact, it’s true. And if it is true we will take action.”
That action, he said, could be military, financial or other steps.
The bulk of the hearing focused on the role of the National Guard soldiers in supporting law enforcement agencies during the civil unrest.
Esper said using the Guard was a better alternative than using active-duty forces as Trump had threatened. His stance is at odds with Trump, who had spoken of invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 in order to use active-duty forces on the streets of the nation’s capital during protests in late May and early June that included limited acts of violence, such as setting a fire in St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House. Several active-duty units were put on alert but ultimately were not deployed in Washington.
Esper and Milley acknowledged there was confusion in the streets and it was often difficult to tell the difference between the Guard troops and the many law enforcement agencies that also had personnel in Washington.