PAUL-GRAHAM STANDOFF: The legislative standoff between Sens. Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham continued last night and threatened to derail amendments to the Senate’s annual defense policy bill. “We are committed to an open amendment process, it looks like we are not going to get it so far, and I just ask that whatever is causing my good friend from Kentucky to object to these amendments will be satisfied by some change,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee who is shepherding the bill’s passage. Inhofe warned that the National Defense Authorization Act may now be passed without any votes on the hundreds of filed amendments.

HAPPENING TODAY — TV WORTH WATCHING: A man with deep experience thinking about and planning for the North Korea nuclear threat gets a hearing this morning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10. Former head of U.S. Pacific Command Adm. Harry Harris was originally tapped to be the U.S. ambassador to Australia after he retired this year. But having gone more than a year with no top diplomat in South Korea, the president, on the advice of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, decided Harris’ talents would be better used in Seoul.

Harris is known not just for his insight, but for his willingness to share his unvarnished views in sometimes colorful language, so his confirmation hearing should be worth watching. The live stream can be found on the committee’s website.

In March, Harris told the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea “remains our most urgent security threat in the region,” and that its “rapid and comprehensive improvement” in its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities meant the threat from the North now “looms over the American homeland.” And he said while China remains the key to a peaceful outcome on the Korean Peninsula, it’s “not the key to all outcomes.”

POMPEO IN CHINA: Meanwhile Harris’ potential future boss is on the second leg of his shuttle diplomacy mission to help explain to allies and other key players just what the U.S. expects to happen next after the Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong Un. Pompeo is in Beijing today, following meetings yesterday with South Korea President Moon Jae-in, and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

Although Trump tweeted yesterday that the nuclear threat from North Korea is no more, and that everybody can feel much safer, Pompeo told reporters in Seoul that he’s hopeful “major disarmament” can be achieved in “two and a half years, something like that.”

EMPHASIS ON ‘COMPLETE’ DENUCLEARIZATION: Much of the back and forth with reporters who are traveling with Pompeo was about whether the U.S. had actually received a firm commitment for a “verifiable, irreversible” denuclearization, two words that were not in the document signed by Trump and Kim.

It’s in there, all covered with the single word “complete,” Pompeo insisted in a news conference in Seoul last night. “Let me assure you that the ‘complete’ encompasses verifiable in the minds of everyone concerned. One can’t completely denuclearize without validating, authenticating — you pick the word.” Pompeo said. “You could argue semantics, but let me assure you that it’s in the document.”

Pompeo said he had two separate conversations with Kim, and met for hours with his top lieutenant Kim Yong Chol. “I am confident that they understand what we’re prepared to do, a handful of things we’re likely not prepared to do,” Pompeo said. “I am equally confident they understand that there will be in-depth verification.”

Pompeo also urged skepticism of North Korean media’s claims that Trump agreed to a step-by-step approach to denuclearization. “One should heavily discount some things that are written in other places,” he told the U.S. reporters adding, “including from some of your colleagues.”

‘DON’T SAY SILLY THINGS’: Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, but Pompeo has little patience for questions he deems “silly” or “insulting.” When reporters asked for details on how verification might work, Pompeo bristled, and then displayed a flash of temper.

“I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous. I just have to be honest with you. It’s a game and one ought not play games with serious matters like this,” he said. When the reporter pressed again about whether the verification process had been discussed with North Korea, Pompeo unleashed another verbal tirade.

“Don’t say silly things. No, don’t, don’t. It’s not productive. It’s not productive to do that, to say silly things. It’s just — it’s unhelpful. It’s unhelpful for your readers, your listeners, for the world. It’s — because it doesn’t remotely reflect the American position or the understandings that the North Koreans have either.”

ABOUT THOSE ‘WAR GAMES’: Pompeo said Trump made perfectly clear in his face-to-face with Kim that the goodwill gesture to end “provocative war games” was entirely contingent on North Korea doing it part.

“I was present when the discussion took place,” Pompeo said. “He made it very clear that the condition precedent for the exercises not to proceed was a productive, good-faith negotiations being ongoing. And at the point it’s concluded that they are not, the president’s commitment to not have those joint exercises take place will no longer be in effect.”

GAMES OFF? THORNBERRY OK WITH THAT: At a gaggle with reporters on Capitol Hill yesterday, Thornberry said while two major annual joint military drills with South Korea could be canceled during negotiations with the North, it was his understanding regular training by the roughly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea would continue.

“Obviously, there is a lot more training that goes on consistently throughout the year. I think the thing that would be suspended as long as the negotiations are making progress would be those big joint exercises, so the next one would be roughly August timeframe. I do not think any military can stop training and we will continue to train in sectors and in various ways that make sense,” he said.

The Pentagon has confirmed that the next large exercise scheduled with South Korea is Ulchi Freedom Guardian. Last year, the computer-simulated exercise involved 17,500 U.S. troops and lasted 10 days. The major springtime exercise is Foal Eagle, the same exercise that was postponed to accommodate South Korea’s request to lower tension during the Winter Olympics.

The U.S. has consistently said the exercises are purely defensive and vital to maintaining the readiness of U.S. and South Korean troops to defend the South from any attack from the North. But Thornberry indicated he is OK with dialing back to give the diplomatic process some breathing room.

“You’ve got to give these negotiations every opportunity to succeed, so postponing as long as the negotiations are being productive these particular joint exercises that were planned for August, well, OK, this is an opportunity to hold their feet to the fire and see if North Korea is serious about this,” he said.

TRUMP’S ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ RHETORIC: After meeting with Kim, Trump called the U.S. “war games” too costly and provocative, while lavishing praise on the dictator as a “great negotiator” and “very, very smart.” The comments drew some criticism, but Thornberry said the president’s unconventional rhetoric has spurred progress with the North. “If complimenting the guy can lead him to give up his nuclear weapons, I think most of us would think the world would be better off than it is today,” the House Armed Services chairman said.

“I think the president’s unconventional rhetoric has been very helpful in getting us to this place. Look, I am more of a ‘speak softly, carry a big stick’ guy, but I think there’s no doubt that in addition to diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions, our military buildup … the president’s rhetoric gave North Korea pause. So, he continues to have some unconventional rhetoric and I’m not as concerned about what is said as what is done,” Thornberry said.

KIM’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD: Trump discounted Kim’s human rights record as he called the leader of the rogue regime a “very smart guy” and a “great negotiator.”  In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that aired yesterday, Baier pointed out that Kim has “done some really bad things.”

“Yeah, but so have a lot of other people … done some really bad things,” Trump said in a response similar to his past defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I mean, I could go through a lot of nations where a lot of bad things were done.”

GETTING THE BLACK OUT OF THE BLUE: Analyst Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute is out with an opinion piece this morning that argues when it comes to the Air Force’s budget, it’s time to transfer the “non-blue” pass-through money to the defense-wide portion of the Pentagon’s budget, where it properly belongs.

“Every year, the Air Force budget includes tens of billions of dollars … which funds people and institutions that are not the Air Force — most notably the intelligence community,” Eaglen writes. “Even at the height of sequestration, these non-service funds accounted for about $30 billion annually. In the current request, that figure has shot up to $38 billion — about one-fifth of the total service budget.

DEPOT ISSUES HEARING: Navy and Air Force officers will testify to the House Armed Services Committee at 9 a.m. about depot policy issues and infrastructure concerns.

RAYTHEON WINS F-35 DAS CONTRACT: Raytheon has won the contract to provide the distributed aperture system, or DAS, for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the aircraft maker Lockheed Martin confirmed Wednesday. The system of sensors provides a 360-degree spherical view of the airspace around the F-35. Pilots can use the DAS to virtually see through the floor of the fighter, even at night or in poor conditions. “The Raytheon-built DAS will be integrated into F-35 aircraft starting with Lot 15 aircraft, expected to begin deliveries in 2023,” Lockheed said in a release.

F-35 SNUB? Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration might purchase Russian fighter jets instead of American planes, a top Turkish official for arms procurement said Wednesday.

“I wouldn’t name specific aircraft models, but I can say that negotiations with other partners on these technical issues are underway,” said Ismail Demir, the head of the Undersecreteriat for Defense Industries.

That statement follows a report last month in Turkish media that Erdogan might look to buy Russian Su-57 fighters, instead of the Lockheed Martin F-35. That would be a significant escalation of military cooperation between a member of NATO and Russia, as Erdogan is also in the process of purchasing S-400s, a Russian-made anti-aircraft system, despite the potential for undermining NATO cooperation and violating U.S. sanctions on Russia.

MEANWHILE IN MANBIJ: U.S. European Command says Turkish and U.S. military representatives have just wrapped up two days of meetings aimed at implementing the “Manbij Roadmap and Security Principles,” an agreement worked out with Turkey to defuse tensions over the presence of Kurdish YPG militia that Turkey considers terrorists, in the northern Syrian town of Manbij.

“The U.S. and Turkish military officials who participated in the discussions agreed on a proposed Manbij implementation plan that will be recommended to senior U.S. and Turkish leadership for further discussions,” according to a EUCOM release out this morning.

IS IRAQ TURNING AGAINST THE U.S.? The Institute for the Study of War has been studying the Iraqi election results and concludes a potential ruling coalition is forming that would strengthen Iran’s position in Iraq and undermine the U.S. ability to secure its own interests in Iraq.

“Nationalist Iraqi Shi’a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has allied with Hadi al-Ameri, the leader of the coalition of Iranian-backed militias and their political wings. Sadr and Ameri lead the two winningest alliances in Iraq’s federal legislative elections and are nearing the 165-seat threshold necessary to form a government if Shi’a cleric Ammar al-Hakim (19 seats) and secularist Ayad Allawi (21 seats) follow through on their previously announced intention to ally with Sadr.

“Both Sadr and Ameri may push for the full expulsion of U.S. forces from Iraq and will further the entrenchment of Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces in the Iraqi security apparatus,” the ISW analysis concludes.

Last week in a session with Pentagon reporters, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis professed to be unconcerned about the outcome of the democratic elections. “Obviously, in Iraq, they ran an election. It may not be perfect, may be contested in some regard, but the fact is, none of us knew, going into it, who was going to win,” Mattis said. “So if you remember what it was like in 2014, when people thought Baghdad was going to fall and you look at where they’re at today, think of what a change and circumstance there has been.”  

NAVY CONTRACTOR SENTENCED: A former defense contractor was sentenced to 41 months in prison for unlawfully retaining classified material while serving in the Navy and while working for a defense contractor, the Justice Department said yesterday. Weldon Marshall, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully retaining national defense information in March and was sentenced Wednesday. In addition to his prison sentence, he received one year of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.

THE RUNDOWN

Defense News: New sub-launched nuke clears congressional hurdle

Washington Post: Trump says North Korea is ‘no longer’ a nuclear threat. The Pentagon budget suggests otherwise

Roll Call: Inhofe, Frustrated by Defense Bill Amendments, May Favor Rules Changes

Task and Purpose: Air Force A-10 Warthogs Are Practicing For Rough Landings Close To The Russian Border

Defense One: Congress May Declare the Forever War

Politico: Republicans buck Trump on Korea troop pullout talk

USA Today: U.S. military adjusts feeding schedule for Ramadan at Guantanamo

The Hill: House panel rejects war authorization sunset it passed last year

New York Times: How Yemen Became a Humanitarian Nightmare: Untangling a Complex War

USNI News: Trump, Kim Joint Summit Statement Could Restrict U.S. Navy Presence Near Korean Peninsula