CRAMMING FOR THE SUMMIT: The White House says it is “actively preparing” for the Singapore summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which is one week away. An advance team in Singapore is finalizing preparations and will remain in place until the summit begins. In the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the U.S. ambassador’s delegation continues diplomatic negotiations with the North Korean delegation.

HAPPENING TODAY: Army Secretary Mark Esper discusses priorities for the Army at 1:15 this afternoon at the Brookings Institution. No doubt he’ll be asked about where things stand with the Army’s search for a home for its new Futures command.

RALEIGH, BOSTON AMONG FINALISTS: Raleigh, N.C., could be the big winner, according to Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He says it was one of five cities still in the running. “This decision comes as no surprise. Raleigh would be a perfect host of the Futures Command and the perfect home for the soldiers and their families, DoD civilians, academics, scientists, engineers, and innovators who are involved with the effort,” Tillis said Monday.

But the Army was not ready to say it has whittled down an earlier list of 15 potential locations. Col. Pat Seiber said the service is still weighing options. Officials visited Raleigh and are scheduled to visit Boston and other locations as well. An announcement on the Army’s technology innovation hub is expected by the end of the month, he said.

DEFENSE BILL MARKUP: As the Senate gears up for a potential vote this week on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, the House is now moving on its annual defense spending bill. A House Appropriations subcommittee is slated to vote on 2019 defense appropriations Thursday. The hearing starts at noon and could bump the legislation to the full committee. The House has already passed a defense policy bill.

DUNFORD’S STEADY HAND: Don’t expect to see Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford on the Sunday shows talking about the North Korea negotiations, or anything else political for that matter. “Generally Sunday talk shows talk about policy, and I don’t address policy. I’m an implementer of policy not a maker of policy,” Dunford told me on a recent trip to NATO.

Dunford has won plaudits from former JCS Chairman retired Adm. Mike Mullen for how he has upheld the tradition of an apolitical military, giving his advice in private, and saluting smartly once the president makes a decision. “I think in respect to this issue in particular, I think he’s been terrific,” Mullen said in a profile of Dunford in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine. “Politics isn’t what we do. We carry out the orders of the president, the policies of the president,” Mullen said.

FIRST SHIPS, THEN BOMBERS: Two Air Force B-52s flew near the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea yesterday, a defense official told CNN, days after two Navy warships sailed near man-made islands in a freedom-of-navigation operation.

RUBIO’S TOUGH WORDS: U.S. officials must develop plans to “destroy” China’s military installations in the South China Sea, according to Sen. Marco Rubio, to avert the Communist power’s dominance of one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes.

“If they’ve created a missile base that we can destroy, because we can position enough assets in the region that can penetrate defenses and destroy it, then we have neutralized that advantage,” the Florida Republican told the Washington Examiner last week.

INVESTIGATING DR. JACKSON: White House physician Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson’s trials and tribulations might not be over just yet. The Defense Department inspector general confirmed Monday it has opened a formal investigation after claims of misconduct scuttled his nomination to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. IG spokesman Bruce Anderson said the probe involves allegations related to Jackson but did not disclose the scope.

Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, had said current and former military members told him Jackson drank on the job and improperly dispensed medications, but Jackson has denied any wrongdoing. “The allegations against me are completely false and fabricated. If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years,” Jackson said in a statement in April announcing his withdrawal.

AIR FORCE ONE REFRIGERATORS ON ICE: The Air Force has decided nearly $24 million is too much to pay for new refrigerators on Air Force One. The service and the White House came to the conclusion that canceling the purchase of new units to cool food on the jets made “most prudent fiscal sense,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson wrote in a letter to Rep. Joe Courtney, who sits on the Armed Services Committee. “While not optimal, mitigation options exist to ensure food security until new aircraft are developed,” she wrote.

Boeing, which makes the two modified 747s used to transport the president, had won the sole-source contract to replace the aging refrigerators on the jets. But it has been notified of the cancellation, according to Wilson. “Clearly, the Air Force is making the right decision to cancel the previously announced sole-source contract and hit restart on this process,” Courtney said in a statement. “Even with the understanding that the Air Force One mission brings with it unique requirements and challenges, a $24 million sole-source contract just didn’t pass the smell test.”

SAILOR SUING: A former U.S. Navy sailor pardoned by Trump intends to file a lawsuit against former President Barack Obama and former FBI Director James Comey that argues he received unequal punishment for his handling of classified information, according to Fox News.

DIA OFFICER ACCUSED OF SPYING: A former Defense Intelligence Agency officer was arrested Saturday on charges of attempting to pass national defense information to China. FBI agents took Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, into custody while he was on his way to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington to board a connecting flight to China.

According to a Justice Department release, Hansen retired from the Army as a warrant officer and joined the DIA in 2006. He speaks fluent Mandarin-Chinese and Russian, and held a top secret clearance.

“Between 2013 and 2017, Hansen regularly traveled between the United States and China, attending military and intelligence conferences in the U.S. and provided the information he learned at the conferences to contacts in China,” said the release. “From May of 2013 to the date of the complaint, Hansen received not less than $800,000 in funds originating from China.”

If convicted, Hansen faces life in prison.

TAKING OUT AL SHABAAB IN SOMALIA: The U.S. military says it has killed 49 members of the militant group al Shabaab in three separate airstrikes over the past 12 days in Somalia. The latest strike was conducted Saturday in which 27 suspected terrorists were killed, according to U.S. Africa Command.

Two other strikes southwest of the capital Mogadishu on May 23 and May 31 resulted in a total of 22 deaths, the U.S. said. Africa Command does not release the type of aircraft used in the precision strikes, but Pentagon sources say most airstrikes in Somalia are carried out by American drones.

MIDWAY REMEMBERED: There will be a sea of white at the U.S. Navy Memorial this morning as sailors gather in their summer uniforms to remember a time when the fate of the world hung in the balance. “Seventy-six years ago our Navy achieved the greatest at-sea victory in our nation’s history at the Battle of Midway,” writes Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William  Moran in a guest column in the Washington Examiner this morning. “We also remember how dangerously close we came to not changing the momentum of the Battle for the Pacific — everything depended on those four critical days in June 1942.”

Moran speaks a 9 this morning at the memorial, and invites everyone in the area of 7th and Pennsylvania to stop by. “There are important lessons from that era that apply today. Some of the challenges we face — authoritarianism, great power competition, and coercion — are on the rise.”

FRANK CARLUCCI, 1930-2018: “It is with profound sadness that I extend my deepest condolences on the passing of former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement last night. Carlucci, who served in various capacities under four presidents and was defense secretary under President Ronald Reagan, died Sunday at his home in McLean, Va. from complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 87.

“Secretary Carlucci was a transformative leader,” Mattis said. “He changed the way the Department worked with Congress, and managed critical defense issues, such as procuring major weapon systems, and rebalancing military priorities and resources under dynamic and challenging geopolitical circumstances.”

THE RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Weighs Expanding Military Role in Yemen War

New York Times: Pentagon May Cut Commando Forces In Africa In Shift To New Threats

Breaking Defense: Why Are We Buying The Army’s Big Six? What Will They Do?

Daily Beast: Russia’s Experimental Arsenal Takes to Syria’s Skies

New York Times: U.S. And Turkey Reach Deal Over Disputed Syrian Town

Reuters: Khamenei says Iran set to boost enrichment capacity if nuclear deal founders

Defense News: What’s the frequency, Putin? 5 questions about Russia’s EW capability

Air Force Times: The Afghan Air Force may be one of the few success stories in a 17-year war

Defense One: Another Defense Agency to Tap CIA’s Commercial Cloud

Wall Street Journal: Seoul Plays Down Hopes For Peace Declaration Soon

Washington Post: Arlington Cemetery to open new section with space-saving pre-dug graves

USNI News: Navy Testing New Two-Piece Work Uniforms As Alternative To Coveralls On Ships

Military Times: Check out the Taliban’s new punk rock uniform