Pompeo testifies today at Senate Foreign Relations Presented by Northrop Grumman

With Eleanor Mueller, Connor O’Brien, Jacqueline Klimas and Wesley Morgan

TODAY: Pompeo testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee


TOP NEWS: Trump says he’s ready for a ‘real deal’ with Iran — Lockheed increases financial outlook after 2Q earnings

ON POLITICO: Mattis and Pompeo on Trump cleanup duty — A U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan was part of a CIA operation — Boeing leads defense contractors in 2Q lobbying

DRIVING THE DAY — POMPEO TALKS STRATEGY IN THE SENATE: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to provide an update to Senate Foreign Relations Committee this afternoon on “American Diplomacy to Advance our National Security Strategy.”

He's also scheduled to have lunch with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at the White House before heading to Capitol Hill to testify.

On Tuesday, Pompeo, who's been the president’s point person on North Korea, said Pyongyang reportedly dismantling a missile test site is consistent with commitments it made, via Reuters.

Likewise, the president told the VFW he’s pleased North Korea has reportedly started dismantling key parts of the site, via The Associated Press.

And he noted his hope that North Korea would soon return the remains of U.S. service members killed in the Korean War, also via Reuters.

— FIRST, POMPEO AND MATTIS TAKE CLEANUP DUTY: “President Donald Trump’s top national security and foreign policy leaders declared their allegiance Tuesday to the global order that U.S. diplomacy fashioned and reinforced over the decades — just a week after Trump upended that order in Helsinki,” writes POLITICO’s Bryan Bender.

”Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis completed two days of meetings with Australia's foreign and defense ministers at the Hoover Institution, a citadel of the foreign policy elite that’s become increasingly dismayed by Trump’s repeated slams at NATO, widening trade war and last week’s private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

HAPPY WEDNESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at [email protected], and follow on Twitter @greg_hellman, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

NDAA HUNG UP ON LAST-MINUTE PROCEDURAL ISSUE: The compromise fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act isn’t headed to the House floor just yet. The House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday raised a so-called “blue slip” issue related to revenue provisions originating in the House — a procedural snafu House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) says both panels are working to fix.

Instead, a rule approved by the committee Tuesday night provides expedited procedures for the House to consider the NDAA compromise on the floor through Friday. Sessions predicted House Rules would meet again today on the NDAA, adding, “There is no need to believe at this time that this cannot be resolved quickly.”

“There is agreement that this bill will go back to the conference, make the necessary changes ... resign the report, resend it back,” Sessions said. “What we are doing here tonight is to provide ourselves with the flexibility to move the bill as expeditiously as possible.”

— MONEY MATTERS ON ZTE SANCTIONS: House Armed Services leaders Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) added Tuesday that reinstating sanctions on the Chinese telecom firm ZTE, one of the most controversial issues negotiated as part of the compromise reached on the bill, would have cost upwards of $1 billion, reports our colleague Connor O’Brien.

“Everyone on the conference committee wanted to maintain the ZTE provisions, but in order to do that...we had to come up with a billion dollars because if we nixed the deal, ZTE would not give us the billion dollars,” Smith told House Rules.

And among the many provisions included in the must-pass defense bill, one would direct the Pentagon to target foreign spying on college campuses, writes our colleague Benjamin Wermund.

QUOTABLE — PUNARO WEIGHS-IN ON JSTARS SCUFFLE: Retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, a former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee under then-Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), weighed in this week on the NDAA’s decision to authorize moving forward with the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). The Air Force proposed ABMS to replace the Joint Surveillance Targeted Attack Radar aircraft, which is based in Georgia. And the move sparked a disagreement between Georgia Republicans Rep. Austin Scott and Sen. David Perdue.

“This is win for our warfighters and for the continued viability of an operational mission at Robins, which is so critical when the pressures for base closures and realignments continue,” Punaro said in a statement provided to Morning D.

ALSO ON THE HILL — A DEFENSE-DOMESTIC SPENDING DUO? “Senate leaders are closing in on a groundbreaking bipartisan strategy to fund the majority of government operations this summer, including the Pentagon, in a pointed bid to avoid a government shutdown,” writes POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris.

“Whether the plan makes it to the president's desk would still depend upon House Speaker Paul Ryan and his GOP conference, who would have to accept a hike in domestic spending in exchange for the assurance that defense spending would continue without interruption.”

— TEXAS GOP WEIGHS BACKING GRANGER IN BID FOR APPROPS GAVEL: "Texas Republicans, the largest GOP delegation in the House, are debating whether to use their leverage in a speakership race to plant Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) atop the powerful House Appropriations Committee," report POLITICO’s Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan.

Granger now chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

AFGHANISTAN REPORT — FALLEN RANGER WAS PART OF A CIA OP: “An Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this month was part of a secret program that helps the CIA hunt down militant leaders, according to three former special operations soldiers who knew him,” reports our colleague Wesley Morgan.

“Over the past year, the CIA has ramped up its activities in Afghanistan at the behest of the Trump administration, according to a report in The New York Times, including by expanding its target set to encompass members of regional militant groups like the Taliban, which were long the purview of the military — not just foreign terrorist groups like al-Qaida.”

Separately, a Green Beret who fired on a civilian truck in Afghanistan showed “horribly poor judgment” during a deployment in which officers let soldiers drink alcohol and have sex in violation of military rules, according to an Army investigative report obtained by Stars and Stripes.

Meanwhile, Afghan commandos killed senior Taliban leaders in an operation conducted last week, adds the AP.

Still, the Taliban is gaining the upper hand in an Afghan district as a result of a U.S.-backed cease-fire by the government in Kabul, locals tell Stars and Stripes.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S READY FOR A ‘REAL DEAL’ WITH IRAN: “President Donald Trump Tuesday said the United States is ready to make a ‘real deal’ with Iran just days after he threatened the country ‘will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before,’” via POLITICO’s Rebecca Morin.

“‘Iran is not the same country anymore, that I can say,’ Trump said during the VFW National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. ‘And we'll see what happens, but we're ready to make a real deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration which was a disaster.’”

And Mattis told reporters Tuesday that Trump’s Sunday tweet just made “clear that Iran is on the wrong track,” given the “destabilizing influence that Iran has consistently portrayed and demonstrated throughout the region,” via POLITICO’s Carla Marinucci.

ON RUSSIA — TRUMP MAKES A NEW ELECTION MEDDLING CLAIM: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that he is ‘very concerned’ that Russia will be ‘pushing very hard’ for Democrats in the upcoming midterms, contradicting his earlier statement he does not believe Russia is still interfering in U.S. politics and renewing his allegation of potentially rigged elections,” via Rebecca.

“‘I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!’ the president tweeted.”

On Monday, the White House caused a political stir by threatening to revoke the security clearances of former top officials who criticized the president.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) played down the threat on Tuesday, via The Washington Post.

“I think he’s trolling people, honestly,” Ryan said at a news conference with other House Republican leaders.

TOP DOCS — NATIONAL SECURITY DEMS SEEK A BRIEFING ON THE TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT: The top Democrats on the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees called on Tuesday for Trump Cabinet officials to brief their panels on the president’s private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki.

The members wrote in a letter they have “profound concerns” about the meeting and whether the two leaders reached any potential agreements.

The letter to Mattis, Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, requests the officials schedule the briefings by Thursday afternoon.

— DEMS SLAM COAST GUARD CUTS: Democrats from the House Armed Services and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees are calling out Republican appropriators for cutting funding the Coast Guard while boosting funds for ICE and a border wall.

In a letter, led by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.), the lawmakers highlighted a lack of funding for a heavy polar icebreaker or a 12th cutter in the House Homeland Security funding bill, arguing the U.S. is “woefully unprepared for the reality of rising global temperatures and melting sea ice.”

“We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider this misallocation of resources, which would undermine all eleven of the Coast Guard’s statutory missions and place our nation at a distinct economic, geopolitical, and national security disadvantage for decades to come,” the Democrats wrote.

TALE OF THE LOBBYING TAPE — BOEING LEADS AS 2Q SPENDING DROPS: Lobbying spending among the top 20 defense contractors totaled $25.2 million in the second quarter of this year, according to Morning D’s analysis of quarterly disclosures. That’s a decrease of $2.8 million from the same period last year when defense industry racked up nearly $28 million to lobby Congress and the Executive Branch.

The rankings: Boeing topped all defense contractors with $3.9 million in second quarter lobbying spending, a decrease of $910,000 from the previous year. Lockheed Martin, the largest contractor, was second with $3.3 million, down $550,000. General Dynamics came in third with $2.9 million. Contractors Northrop Grumman and United Technologies tied at $2.3 million. And shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls spent $1.5 million.

INDUSTRY INTEL — LOCKHEED REPORTS $13.4B IN 2Q SALES: “Lockheed Martin [Tuesday] reported $13.4 billion in net sales during the second quarter of the year, up from $12.6 billion in the same time period last year, prompting the company to increase its financial outlook for the year,” via our colleague Jacqueline Klimas.

“Net earnings in this second quarter were $1.2 billion, compared to $955 million in the second quarter of 2017.”

SPEED READ

— A no-bid maintenance contract sweetens the Air Force One deal for Boeing: Defense One

— The VFW scolds members for heckling the press during the president's speech: POLITICO

— In a tumultuous administration, the Defense secretary endures: NPR

— The Pentagon plans to boost the security of its public web sites: POLITICO Pro

— Peering into the black box of OTA awards: Federal News Radio

— The Israeli military says a Syrian plane was shot down after crossing the Golan Heights line: The Washington Post

— There are no changes on Syria from Trump, Mattis says: The Hill

— Russia says the chief of U.S. Central Command discredited Trump’s position on Syria cooperation: The Wall Street Journal

— Two Americans, transferred to the U.S. from Syria, will be tried in federal courts: The Washington Post

— Explosion kills 31 as Pakistanis vote in general elections: AP

— Suicide bombings kill 38 in southern Syria: AP

— The ISIS-fighting coalition says it killed Islamic State members who were targeting Saudi Arabia and the West: Reuters

— The Air Force is giving away retired light attack aircraft to the Philippines: Defense News

— China’s robot subs will lean heavily on AI: Defense One

— This stealth drone may be the future of Russia’s fighter jets: Defense One

Follow us on Twitter Dave Brown @dave_brown24



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