TRUMPETING THE BUILD-UP: At his rally last night in West Virginia, President Trump was still touting one of his proudest achievements: Securing what he called “$716 billion with a B,” for the military next year. “Our military will be stronger, and bigger, and better and more sophisticated than it’s ever been. Ever,” Trump told the crowd at the Charleston Civic Center. “The stronger your military, the better chance you have of never having to use it. We don’t want to use it. We don’t want to use it.”

HAPPENING TODAY: After a month of deadly attacks, rising civilian deaths and talks with the Taliban seemingly going nowhere, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan will have a challenge putting a positive spin on the state of the 17-year war when he briefs Pentagon reporters live from Kabul at 11 a.m. This will be Gen. John Nicholson’s final Pentagon briefing as commander of the NATO Resolute Support mission before Lt. Gen. Scott Miller assumes command next month. Miller will become the third commander of Resolute Support, and the 17th commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, since the war began in October of 2001.

Nicholson, who has spent more than two years as Afghanistan commander, is the general who enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s new strategy as a “fundamentally different” game-changer that put the U.S. and its Afghan partners “on our way to a win.” In a Pentagon briefing last November, Nicholson predicted this would be the year everything changed. “Now, looking ahead to 2018, as President [Ashraf] Ghani said, he believes we have turned the corner and I agree. The momentum is now with the Afghan Security Forces and the Taliban cannot win in the face of the pressures that I outlined. Again, their choices are to reconcile, live in irrelevance, or die.”

A just-released report from the Lead Inspector General finds that “it is difficult to fully assess the overall progress under the strategy.” The report notes that while commanders in Afghanistan “stated that the strategy is working. … The Taliban maintained its hold on rural parts of the country and launched attacks on Afghan forces and population centers. During this quarter, civilian deaths reached historically high levels, and violence displaced tens of thousands of Afghans.”

Nicholson’s briefing will be live-streamed here.

ALSO TODAY: Trump is scheduled to have lunch with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in his private dining room, and then at 3:30 pm will present the Medal of Honor posthumously to Air Force Tech Sgt. John Chapman for his “conspicuous gallantry and valorous actions” on March 4, 2002, during the Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan. The ceremony will be live-streamed here

Chapman, an Air Force Special Tactics Combat Controller, was part of a joint special operations reconnaissance team that came under overwhelming enemy fire during a heroic rescue attempt. An account of his heroism is here.

HUNTER INDICTED: After months of investigation and allegations, a federal grand jury has indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and his wife Margaret Hunter for allegedly stealing more than $250,000 in campaign funds to support a lavish lifestyle over a span of seven years. The money, according to the Justice Department, covered the cost of family vacations in the U.S. and abroad, school tuition, dental work, theater tickets, and travel for nearly 12 relatives. During that time, the couple’s personal finances were in shambles, they had less than $1,000 in assets, and had racked up huge credit card debt.

The two allegedly spent thousands of dollars on less expensive purchases such as fast food, movie tickets, video games and utilities. In one instance, Hunter, a Marine veteran, wanted to buy Hawaiian shorts and the couple decided they could purchase them at a golf club and falsely claim the expense as golf balls for wounded veterans, according to the indictment. Their dental bills, paid using campaign money, were described as a charitable donation to “Smiles for Life,” while theater tickets were characterized as “holiday gift certificates.”

BOOTED FROM HASC: House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday stripped Hunter of his committee assignments after he was indicted, which includes his seat on the House Armed Services Committee. “The charges against Rep. Hunter are deeply serious,” Ryan said. “The Ethics Committee deferred its investigation at the request of the Justice Department.”

DOD NOMINEES: Senate Democrats may want to finish up the minibus and head out of Washington for an abbreviated summer recess. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear he intends to stick around to work on Trump administration nominees. That could be quite a workload with about 168 nominations awaiting floor votes in the chamber. Only six of those could be confirmed to the Pentagon. Here are the nominees waiting in the Senate queue:

• Anthony Kurta, principal deputy undersecretary of defense.
• Charles Douglas Stimson, general counsel of the Navy.
• James Anderson, assistant secretary of defense.
• Lisa Porter, deputy undersecretary of defense.
• James Stewart, assistant secretary of defense.
• John Whitley, assistant secretary of the Army.

The Senate Armed Services Committee also has seven Pentagon nominees it could pass to the chamber floor. It held a relatively serene and uneventful hearing on five of those nominees Tuesday. It was a marked contrast from the withering questioning and critiques of McCain when he helmed the process. “It’s a great team. I’m just very proud of them. I’ve never seen a panel of more qualified people,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, the senior Republican now in charge of the committee. “It is my wish that all of you will be confirmed and I believe that will take place.”

IAEA FINDS NO EVIDENCE NORTH KOREA’S DE-NUKING: The International Atomic Energy Agency says in its latest report that it has not been able to verify “the correctness and completeness” of North Korea’s declarations of compliance promises it made regarding the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

“The continuation and further development of the DPRK’s nuclear programme and related statements by the DPRK are a cause for grave concern,” the report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog concludes. It cited continued nuclear activities, including work at the Yongbyon nuclear power plant and the use of the building that houses the reported centrifuge enrichment facility.

At his rally last night, Trump again cited his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un but acknowledged there’s no guarantee he’ll keep his word. “Can I be honest, who knows? But I haven’t taken off the sanctions. We have massive sanctions. I want to take them off quickly but they’ve got to get rid of the nukes. We’ve got to get rid of the nukes. Got to get rid of them,” Trump said.

“But who knows what’s going to happen, I mean maybe it will work out, but I think we’ve done a good job, you know, in a short period of time.”

NORTH KOREA PARADE: North Korea appears to be gearing up to host a larger Foundation Day Parade than a February demonstration intended to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army.

According to recent commercial satellite imagery, preparations and training at the Mirim Parade Training Ground signal that the parade — expected to be held on Sept. 9 — could be bigger in scope than the February one, 38 North reports.

MORE RUSSIA SANCTIONS: The Trump administration is blacklisting a pair of Russian companies for smuggling oil to North Korea, stepping up efforts to implement international sanctions on the regime. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has authorized the sanctioning of two shipping companies and six vessels based in Vladivostok, a major Russian port city just north of the Korean Peninsula, in order to punish and deter “ship-to-ship transfers” of oil products.

U.S. officials believe that Kim, aided by such smuggling, has breached the cap on oil imports mandated by a recent United Nations Security Council resolution.

SOMALIA STRIKE: U.S. Africa Command has announced that an airstrike yesterday targeting al-Shabaab militants northeast of Kismayo, Somalia, has killed two suspected terrorists. “We currently assess no civilians were injured or killed in this airstrike,” a release said.

SOLDIER ID’D: The Pentagon has released the name of the U.S. soldier who died when his special operations helicopter crashed Monday in Iraq. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Taylor J. Galvin, 34, from Spokane, Wash., was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Fort Campbell, Ky. The Pentagon says there are no indications that hostile fire played any part in the crash, which remains under investigation.

PASSING OF POWELL MOORE: The Pentagon and Washington lost a storied public servant and widely respected adviser last week. Powell Moore, who served under presidents, defense secretaries and senators during a career that spanned five decades, died Aug. 13 at the age of 80. He was deputy director of public information for the Justice Department in the early 1970s, assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs under President Ronald Reagan and assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs under President George W. Bush, according to the obituary in his hometown newspaper in Georgia. His last job was the defense secretary’s representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna

“Presidents, cabinet secretaries, and senators sought Mr. Moore’s advice and counsel. They trusted his steady hand and unflappable approach to any crisis. He was deeply respected by leaders of both parties as an honest broker,” the obit said. “Throughout his career, Powell Moore played a leading role during some of our nation’s most critical moments, including the rise of the Berlin Wall in Germany, the end of the Cold War at President Reagan’s State Department, Watergate, the confirmation of Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon and the war on terror.”

THE RUNDOWN

Washington Post: The White House was seriously considering a Space Force well before Trump talked about it publicly

New York Times: Pushing Further into Africa, Russia Signs a New Military Accord

Roll Call: Russia Sanctions Getting on Senate September Calendar is ‘Pretty Slim,’ McConnell Says

Business Insider: The Russian maker of the AK-47 just unveiled a golden robot straight out of ‘Aliens’

Washington Post: Russia invites Taliban to Moscow for Afghanistan peace talks, expects delegates to attend

Bloomberg: Microsoft’s Russian Hacking Revelations Spur U.S. Lawmakers’ Ire

Task and Purpose: Army Reinstates Foreign-Born Recruits As It Reviews How To Kick Them Out Again

Defense News: Air Force’s next GPS satellite ready to boost accuracy, anti-jamming capabilities

Foreign Policy: The Trump Administration Just Threw Out America’s Rules for Cyberweapons

Breaking Defense: Mattis’ Team Moves In, Promising Reforms

Defense One: US Soldiers May Take Flying Ubers to the Front Lines

Navy Times: This color footage of hazing during a World War II line-crossing ceremony does not disappoint

USNI News: USS John S. McCain Collision, A Year Later