ADAM SMITH

On today's show, CNBC.com's Brad Howard takes a tour of a U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship, as older LCS ships are decommissioned.

The Littoral Combat Ship has experienced ups and downs over a two-decade development. Now, the Navy has to find a way to use these multimillion dollar warships.

With Florida at the forefront of the nation's COVID surge, local governments across Tampa Bay are wondering if — or how — they can subvert Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to do something to slow the spread.Why it matters: A day after Florida broke its record for daily cases, it did the same for the total number of COVID hospitalizations — set way back in July 2020, per the AP.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeIt's clear DeSantis

The U.S. warning to American firms operating in Hong Kong signals that Washington could take further action, says Adam Smith of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Shopping for a new forever home?

The American military is warning that China is probably accelerating its timetable for retaking Taiwan, the island democracy that's widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic U.S.-China war.

National Guard open a gate in the razor wire topped perimeter fence around the Capitol allow another member in at sunrise in Washington, Monday, March 8, 2021. The U.S. Capitol Police has asked for the fencing and the National Guard to remain, for now. As of Friday there were about 4,300 Guard troops in the city. "Our National Guard troops, who serve with great honor and distinction, are not law enforcement officers, and we will not abide the continued militarization of Capitol complex security,” wrote Sens. Coupled with the hiring of 350 additional officers, the report also recommends establishing a permanent “quick response force” within the Capitol Police but also at the National Guard in D.C. for emergencies.

According to the National Guard, troops from some states will stay in Washington for the entire two months. Military leaders were also concerned because governors initially expressed reluctance to have their troops stay in the city. Troops from the District of Columbia Guard will continue in the security mission. As of Friday there were about 4,300 Guard troops in the city. The National Guard Association of the United States also questioned the extension, noting that it was difficult for Guard leaders to find enough volunteers for the mission.

National Guard open a gate in the razor wire topped perimeter fence around the Capitol allow another member in at sunrise in Washington, Monday, March 8, 2021. The U.S. Capitol Police has asked for the fencing and the National Guard to remain, for now. As of Friday there were about 4,300 Guard troops in the city. "Our National Guard troops, who serve with great honor and distinction, are not law enforcement officers, and we will not abide the continued militarization of Capitol complex security,” wrote Sens. Coupled with the hiring of 350 additional officers, the report also recommends establishing a permanent “quick response force” within the Capitol Police but also at the National Guard in D.C. for emergencies.

A San Antonio man is now among the eight assigned to a bipartisan commission responsible for renaming Department of Defense property that commemorates the Confederacy. Bunch had to withdraw from his appointment for reasons unrelated to the commission's work, according to a news release. Smith noted the Highlands graduate's military service in his appointment announcement. The panel, which began onboarding members in February, will plan an overhaul of name changes of the DOD-controlled property in three years. "I'm proud (Romo) of San Antonio will serve on @DeptofDefense panel to rename bases that honor Confederates," he wrote online.

President-elect Joe Bidens pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines arrives for a confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. Neither Blinken nor Biden's other nominees for national security Cabinet posts encountered substantial opposition Tuesday. “When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics — ever,” she told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The House majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, indicated Tuesday that the full House would consider an Austin waiver bill on Thursday. Like Blinken, Austin said he views China as the leading international issue facing Biden's national security team.

Trump slammed GOP lawmakers on Twitter, charging that “Weak and tired Republican ‘leadership’ will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass.″Trump called the override vote a “disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech. !″The 322-87 vote in the House sends the override effort to the Senate, where the exact timing of a vote is uncertain. The House veto override was supported by 212 Democrats, 109 Republicans and an independent. Reed called the Dec. 23 veto “Trump’s parting gift to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and a lump of coal for our troops. The defense bill guides Pentagon policy and cements decisions about troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, personnel policy and other military goals.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, setting the stage for what would be the first veto override of his presidency. House members voted 322-87 to override the veto, well above the two-thirds needed to override. The veto override was supported by 212 Democrats, 109 Republicans and an independent. Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Trump’s declaration that China gained from the defense bill was false. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a rare break with Trump, had urged passage of the defense bill despite Trump’s veto threat.

A U.S. official confirmed Saturday that the Pentagon has a plan for separating the National Security Agency and Cyber Command. In his letter to Miller, Smith said the Pentagon has not met conditions set by the 2017 defense bill for severing the NSA from Cyber Command. The notion of splitting NSA from Cyber Command goes back to the Obama administration, which proposed to elevate the status of Cyber Command by making it a unified military command, taking it from under the purview of U.S. Strategic Command. That move was approved by President Donald Trump in 2017, and it was foreseen that at some point Cyber Command would split away from the NSA, although such a move had strong opponents in Congress. It's not clear who the Trump administration might install as head of the NSA if it were split from Cyber Command before President-elect Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20.

The U.S. experienced major disasters like the western wildfires, a record-breaking hurricane season and the mid-summer Midwest derecho that caused extensive damage. This is the sixth consecutive year in which the U.S. has experienced 10 or more billion-dollar weather and climate-related disasters. Climate CentralSteve Bowen is a meteorologist and head of catastrophe insight for Aon PLC, a professional services firm focused on risk. "Together, this is not just a recipe for disaster, it's a recipe for repetitive disasters," Strader said. "Much of the news about 2020 disasters and the associated records will likely be overshadowed by the pandemic, politics, societal issues, etc.," said Strader.

The measure guides Pentagon policy and cements decisions about troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, military personnel policy and other military goals. It follows Trump's bid to sabotage the package with an earlier veto threat over Confederate base names. If he does veto the defense bill, Congress could cut short its Christmas recess to hold override votes, senior House members said. And I think he will get substantial pressure, advice (from Republicans) that, you know, you don’t want to put the defense bill at risk.'' The defense bill is typically a widely bipartisan measure, one of the few areas of common ground.

It follows Trump's bid to sabotage the package with an earlier veto threat over Confederate base names. If he does veto the defense bill, Congress could cut short its Christmas recess to hold override votes, senior House members said. And I think he will get substantial pressure, advice (from Republicans) that, you know, you don’t want to put the defense bill at risk.'' The defense bill is typically a widely bipartisan measure, one of the few areas of common ground. Some Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, agree the Section 230 provision could be revisited, even as they disagree with Trump’s tactic of attaching it to the defense bill.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Washington. But interjecting the complicated tech issue threatens to upend the massive defense bill, which Congress takes pride in having passed unfailingly for half a century. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at briefing Wednesday that the president is serious about vetoing the defense bill unless Congress repeals Section 230. Some Democrats, including Schumer, agree the Section 230 provision could be revisited, even as they disagree with Trump’s tactic of attaching it to the defense bill. But he also said he doesn’t believe Trump will veto the must-pass defense bill.

(Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File)WASHINGTON – A day after President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, three staunch loyalists to the president were named to top defense jobs. Patel and Cohen-Watnick are both considered staunchly loyal to Trump and previously worked at the National Security Council. He also is a former prosecutor in the national security division of the Department of Justice and former staff member on the House Intelligence Committee. Cohen-Watnick was a protégé of Trump’s initial national security adviser, Michael Flynn, but was replaced in the summer of 2017 by Flynn’s successor, H.R. McMaster, as part of a string of shakeups at the White House and National Security Council.

Author and poet Louise Gluck was apparently caught unaware Thursday morning during a phone interview to discuss her new Nobel Prize in literature. The former U.S. poet laureate was reluctant to start chatting about the win because she hadn’t yet had her first coffee of the day, she told interviewer Adam Smith. A clip of the hesitant exchange, which she initially didn’t want recorded, was published online Thursday on the Nobel Prize’s social media accounts. Two minutes.”Advertisement“I have no idea [what it means to me],” the 77-year-old writer said of winning the prize. Take a listen to this brief conversation with new Literature Laureate Louise Glück, recorded shortly after the announcement of her #NobelPrize: pic.twitter.com/g6qg4lf84r — The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 8, 2020Practically speaking, Glück said that the honor would allow her to buy a new house in Vermont.

In the August complaint, Lt. Col Yevgeny Vindman alleges he faced retaliation from Trump and White House officials after raising concerns about the presidents pressure on Ukrainian officials to investigate Democrat Joe Bidens family the heart of the Democrats impeachment inquiry. Both Vindmans worked for the National Security Council in the White House and were reassigned to the Army after the Senate voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial. If the White House refuses to cooperate fully including by denying requests for documents or for interviews with White House officials we will have no other choice but to infer that any such actions were retaliatory, the Democrats wrote. Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Yevgeny Vindman, confirmed the existence of the complaint and said it states that that senior White House officials, to include the president, retaliated against him for performing his duty as an attorney and soldier. The White House did not immediately comment on the allegations. The allegations are wide-ranging, including his apprehension about the pressure on Ukraine and the behavior of OBrien, who was then the assistant to the president for national security affairs.

Gen. Anthony Tata to a job performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary for defense policy, amid ongoing furor over offensive remarks Tata made, including about Islam. Last week the Senate canceled a hearing on Tata's nomination to become defense undersecretary for policy, the third-highest civilian post at the Pentagon. Tata, who also has been a Fox News commentator, withdrew his name from consideration for the undersecretary job over the weekend, and was then appointed by Trump to serve in the deputy's post. James Anderson, who had been serving as Rood's deputy, is currently the acting policy undersecretary the job Tata was initially nominated to fill. Officials who carry the acting title have more authority than those who are performing the duties of the job.

On Friday, the House passed a $259 billion funding bill for foreign aid and the Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments along party lines. The measure is the first annual spending measure to pass either the House or Senate this year, but it has scant chance of becoming law, serving instead as a springboard for negotiations down the line. And if Trump loses the election, Democrats are likely to wait until the Biden administration is in place before wrapping up the annual bills, which fund the annual operations of federal Cabinet agencies. The Senate Appropriations panel canceled plans for drafting its 12 annual bills after Democrats served notice they would offer amendments on COVID relief and policing reform that Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., deemed too politically troublesome. As a result, Congress is likely to return to Washington in September to handle a stopgap funding bill that would last until December to prevent a campaign season government shutdown.

WASHINGTON The White House is threatening to veto a massive defense policy bill over a provision that would rename military bases such as Fort Bragg that are named after Confederate officers. The House approved the bill, 295-125, sending it to the Senate, where lawmakers are considering a similar measure. If the bill were presented to President Donald Trump in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto it, the White House said. The Senate's top Democrat, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, dared Trump to veto the defense bill over Confederate base naming. It also requires designation of an assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, charged with supervising Pentagon policies to develop and maintain the nation's defense industrial base.

Brett Crozier, then-commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), addresses the crew on Jan. 17, 2020, in San Diego, Calif. In a stunning reversal, the Navy has upheld the firing of Crozier, the aircraft carrier captain who urged faster action to protect his crew from a coronavirus outbreak, according to a U.S. official. After about two weeks of training at sea, the carrier returned to operations at sea with a reduced crew on June 4. Sailors have continued to fly back to the ship from Guam after they have recovered from the virus or completed two weeks of quarantine. The Roosevelts experience with the virus, however, spurred the development of widespread cleaning and health precautions across the military.

FILE - In this June 1, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON The nation's top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, spoke privately with congressional leaders and many other lawmakers as Pentagon officials came under fire for the military's role in containing protests following the police killing of George Floyd. That was the day after authorities cleared protesters near the White House so President Donald Trump could hold a photo opportunity at a nearby church. Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were sharply criticized for accompanying Trump and thereby giving the impression of endorsing a politicization of the military. The White House has prohibited officials from the administration from testifying before the House unless they have cleared any appearances with the White House chief of staff.

That was the day after authorities cleared protesters near the White House so President Donald Trump could hold a photo opportunity at a nearby church. Late Friday, Esper and Milley declined a request from Democrats to appear before the House Armed Services Committee next week. Our military leaders are sworn to be accountable to the people of this country, and Congress is constitutionally responsible for oversight, the Democrats wrote. The White House has prohibited officials from the administration from testifying before the House unless they have cleared any appearances with the White House chief of staff. In his own Senate speech Tuesday morning, Inhofe said he wanted to set the record straight after conferring with Milley before and after Mondays events.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), House Armed Services Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) talk to journalists in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is threatening to block the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision regarding the deployment of a 5G network that may interfere with commercial and military GPS signals. Last week, the five-member FCC voted unanimously to allow Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power nationwide 5G network despite objections from federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Commerce and Justice, as well as major U.S. airlines. The 5G network will use an L-band spectrum that has the potential to disrupt commercial and military GPS signals, therefore raising concerns that the technology will impact U.S. national security. The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, representing both parties, called on the Federal Communications Commission to reverse its unanimous decision in an April 22 op-ed.

Related: What is the Space Force? The main challenge, Smith added, is to make sure the Space Force works in an efficient way. That's because, beyond public announcements on uniforms and a logo , much of what the Space Force is doing appears to be classified. While Raymond is the only Space Force employee at the moment, he anticipates many others will join shortly. "We need to speed that up," he said of space launches.

A section of border fence is pictured by the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley near Hidalgo, Texas, U.S., October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Loren ElliottWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are working on new legislation that would claw back funds the White House took from the Pentagons budget to fund construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the chairman of the House Armed Services committee said on Thursday. The Trump administration has vowed to build at least 400 miles (640 km) of wall along the border by November 2020. The bill is being discussed with the staff of top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, Representative Mac Thornberry, Smith said. While it might be approved in the House, the bill looks unlikely to be passed in the Senate, controlled by Trumps Republicans.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrives for a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the Capitol on Wednesday, December 4, 2019. If the speaker thinks withholding the articles will "help force a fair trial in the Senate," Smith added, "then I wholeheartedly support that decision." House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith quickly reversed himself Thursday after saying Speaker Nancy Pelosi should send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate. Earlier this week, he said he would move forward on Trump's impeachment trial without any Democratic support. Bolton said Monday he would testify in Trump's impeachment trial if he received a subpoena.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a $738 billion defense policy bill providing the first paid family leave for all federal workers and the creation of a Space Force, a top military priority for President Donald Trump. All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA: Pay Raise for our Troops, Rebuilding our Military, Paid Parental Leave, Border Security, and Space Force! Democratic Representative Adam Smith, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, defended the bill, pointing to the family leave policy and other benefits for troops and the difficulty reaching compromise in a bitterly divided government. MORE MONEY FOR THE MILITARYThe fiscal 2020 NDAA increases defense spending by about $20 billion, or about 2.8%. It includes $658.4 billion for Department of Defense and Department of Energy national security programs, $71.5 billion to pay for ongoing foreign wars and $5.3 billion in emergency funding for repairs from natural disasters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 2 million federal workers will get paid parental leave for the first time, for 12 weeks, following a birth or adoption, under U.S. legislation poised to pass the House of Representatives on Wednesday. U.S. civilian federal workers do not have paid family leave. The extended paid leave provision is part of the annual defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, claimed the family leave policy inclusion in the bill as a victory. Paid leave as a pro-work and a pro-family issue, Mathur said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a $738 billion defense policy bill providing the first paid family leave for all federal workers and the creation of a Space Force, a top military priority for President Donald Trump. All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA: Pay Raise for our Troops, Rebuilding our Military, Paid Parental Leave, Border Security, and Space Force! Those provisions were included in a version of the NDAA the House passed in October, but not in one passed by the Senate. Democratic Representative Adam Smith, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, defended the bill, pointing to the family leave policy and other benefits for troops and the difficulty reaching compromise in a bitterly divided government. MORE MONEY FOR THE MILITARYThe fiscal 2020 NDAA increases defense spending by about $20 billion, or about 2.8%.

U.S. Air Force Space Command Gen. John "Jay" Raymond stands next to the flag of the newly established U.S. Space Command, the sixth national armed service, in the Rose Garden at the White House August 29, 2019 in Washington, DC. Citing potential threats from China and Russia and the nations reliance on satellites for defense operations, Trump said the U.S. needs to launch a 'space force.' The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a $738 billion defense policy bill providing the first paid family leave for all federal workers and the creation of a Space Force, a top military priority for President Donald Trump. "All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA: Pay Raise for our Troops, Rebuilding our Military, Paid Parental Leave, Border Security, and Space Force! The establishment of the U.S. Space Force as the sixth Armed Service of the United States, under the Air Force, fulfills one of Trump's most high-profile requests.

REUTERS/Jose Luis GonzalezWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. legislators are making slow progress negotiating the bill that will set spending policy for the Department of Defense in 2020, the head of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee said on Wednesday. The Democratic-majority House and the Republican-controlled Senate have each passed their own versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets spending policy. The house's version of the massive bill authorized spending at $733 billion. Lawmakers from both political parties have been critical of the decision to use military funds for the wall. Most years, the bill has been passed by mid-December, but Smith wouldnt predict when this years might reach a vote.

The meeting comes as new video shows chaos and carnage tearing Syria apart as America struggles to redefine its role in this region. President Trump said the priority now is for U.S. troops to protect oil wells in Syria, giving the country's natural resources higher priority than its civilian population. He also said the decision to pull back U.S. troops in Syria, giving the green light for Turkey to attack Kurdish forces, has had far-reaching implications. "Absolutely we have a credibility issue and that's part of the reason we're here is to begin to rebuild that credibility," Smith said. Smith said the number one priority for U.S. troops in Iraq remains the fight against ISIS.

And even when she moved several times, that box went with her. "It turns out it was a baby," Smith told KSDK. St. Louis investigators are treating the case as a "suspicious death," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Even as she was on her deathbed, she never told me what was in that box, Smith told the Post-Dispatch. RELATED STORIESWhat to Know About the Canada Highway Murders of Chynna Deese, Lucas Fowler and Leonard DyckOfficers Stopped Canada Highway Murder Suspects but Let Them Go: CopsDad of Canada Highway Murders Suspect Predicts Teen Son Is on 'Suicide Mission'

Yumi Kimura via Wikimedia Commons(CNN) - Adam Smith said he's known about the white cardboard box in his mother's freezer his entire life. The white cardboard box was wrapped in garbage bags, Smith told CNN. I remember trying to grab a stool and rip through the plastic," Smith told CNN. It traveled with his mother to four different homes in St. Louis, Smith said, including the apartment on Magnolia Avenue where she lived for 25 years until her death. There was no blood on it, looked like a newborn baby," Smith recalled.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri - A man in St. Louis believes a frozen baby he found in his mother's freezer might have been his sister, according to a report from KTVI. Adam Smith found a baby wrapped in a pink blanket inside a box in the freezer Sunday morning, just days after his mother died from cancer. Smith told reporters that his mother always told him to stay away from the box and he did, assuming it was a wedding cake. He worries he may never get answers now that his mother is gone, but according to Smith, his mother told him she lost a child at birth. According to the report, a relative told Smith that his mother had twins and gave one up for adoption but the other died at birth.

The U.S. destroyed an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, President Trump announced in the East Room of the White House. The president claimed the action was a defensive one after an Iranian drone came within 1,000 yards of the U.S.S. "Before I begin, I want to apprise everyone of an incident in the strait of Hormuz today involving U.S.S. The Pentagon says the incident took place at roughly 10 a.m. local time. Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told CBS News he met with national security adviser John Bolton, who updated him on the drone incident Thursday.

Is it too risky to bomb ISIS? Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., spoke with CBS News White House Correspondent Major Garrett on “Face the Nation” about how the United States should face the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Open: This is Face the Nation, August 31 The latest on the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the unfolding saga with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and more.

August 31: McCain, King, Smith The latest on the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the unfolding saga with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and more.