SORTING OUT SPACE FORCE: Judging by the careful comments of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as he chatted with reporters on the steps of the Pentagon yesterday, President Trump’s dream of a separate military service to focus on space is still in limbo. Mattis was clear the Pentagon concurs with the urgent need to address space as a “developing warfighting domain,” but hedged on if that will result in a full-fledged Space Force, or whether the Pentagon’s interim step of creating a unified Space Operations Command might fill the bill. “We are in complete alignment with the president’s concern about protecting our assets in space that contribute to our security, to our economy,” Mattis said. “And we’re going to have to address it as other countries show a capability to attack those assets.”

HAPPENING TODAY, ARMS SALES DISCUSSION: Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, who is the acting assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs and oversees foreign weapons sales, will talk about the future of U.S. arms transfer policy at 10:30 a.m. at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. You can catch the webcast here.

BITING, JUST NOT THE MOST BITING: When Trump took to Twitter yesterday to tout his reimposition of economic sanctions that were relaxed after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal he called them, “the most biting sanctions ever imposed.” Aside from the obvious fact that he was reinstituting the same sanctions that were in effect before, it’s also the case that this time the U.S. alone is imposing the sanctions, not the other six signatories: Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, and the EU.

On Fox News yesterday, it fell to White House national security adviser John Bolton to admit the obvious, namely the previous sanctions regime had a little more bite. “The sanctions that the United States had imposed over the years against Iran were really very stringent. There were additional sanctions that came in as a result of security council resolutions, those are not coming back into effect,” Bolton told Fox’s Brian Kilmeade.

But Bolton argued America, as “the driving force in the world economy,” is imposing sanctions that are hitting Iran where it hurts. “We’ve seen the impact in Iran, the currency’s going through the floor, assets are leaving the country rapidly as people with assets try and get them out before the economy crashes, and average people are in demonstrations all over Iran protesting the deterioration of the economy,” he said. “So we think it’s significant, there will be more to come.”

And he downplayed the rift between the Trump administration and the European Union, indicating they had been sold a bill of goods by the previous U.S. administration. “I’ll tell you this, on the way John Kerry and Barack Obama negotiated it, and I’ve heard from some of the Europeans, they did feel cut out. So, I sympathize with them in that regard.” But Bolton said Trump is just doing what is in the best interest of the United States. “We’d like the Europeans to come along with us. We haven’t stopped talking to them and we’re all still in agreement on the fundamental point, which is we don’t [want] Iran with deliverable nuclear weapons.”

BOLTON SAYS NORTH KOREA NEEDS TO STEP IT UP: Bolton also said on Fox that North Korea has yet to live up to it deal to dismantle its nuclear program. “We’re still waiting for them to take real steps towards denuclearization,” Bolton said. “The consequences of denuclearization for North Korea are enormous and positive and he just needs to get to performance.”

RUBIO’S RIGHT: Bolton also said he agrees with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is trying to play Trump by making a series of unilateral concessions that do not undermine his capabilities in the long term. “For example,” Rubio said in a video clip played on Fox, “I think he’s more than willing to tear apart facilities that are no longer necessary for old missiles, because he’s got newer ones that work better. I believe he has undisclosed sites that he thinks he can shield from the world.”

“I agree with everything that Sen. Rubio said, and that’s why I’ve said repeatedly there’s nobody in the Trump administration, starting with the president, who has stars in their eyes about North Korea,” Bolton said. Trump, he said, having seen 25 years of failure in getting North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program, is “not going to fall for those North Korean tricks.”

“He’s made it very clear to Kim Jong Un that if he walks through the door there’s a different life ahead for the people of North Korea, and it’s up to them to do it.

NOTHING TO ANNOUNCE: Responding to the reports from the White House that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might soon return to North Korea next for a second meeting with Kim, the State Department was noncommittal. “I think that would be getting ahead of where we are right now,” said spokeswoman Heather Nauert. “We have no trips, no travel to announce. And by the way, just on Sunday, we got back from a very long — a lot of flying hours to Asia. I think it was 20-some hours. So I think we’re OK with being here right now.”

NO OFFENSE INTENDED: When Mattis was chatting up Pentagon reporters yesterday outside the Pentagon, he was awaiting the arrival of his British counterpart Gavin Williamson. It was just two months ago that Mattis sent U.K. defense secretary a strongly-worded letter warning him that even though Great Britain was meeting its 2 percent NATO defense spending goal, global nations like the U.K. needed to do more, requiring “a level of defense spending beyond what we would expect from allies with only regional interests.”

“I am concerned that your ability to continue to provide this critical military foundation for diplomatic success is at risk of erosion while together we face a world awash in change,” Mattis wrote, adding pointedly that “It is in the best interest of both our nation’s for the U.K. to remain the U.S. partner of choice.” Asked yesterday why he chose to rebuke America’s closest and most stalwart ally, Mattis insisted it was all just routine “back and forth dialogue.”

“This is the normal collaboration, the normal consultation between allies,” Mattis said. “I have letters frequently going between myself and trusted ministers of defense, which is throughout NATO. And this was a letter to the U.K. None of them are form letters. They’re all very specific about what we as democracies are doing, united to protect ourselves.”

NO OFFENSE TAKEN: Meanwhile, before his meeting with Mattis, Williamson complemented the United States for it greatly increased its commitment to NATO despite Trump’s constant refrain that the allies are not paying their fair share, and veiled threats to exit the alliance.

“What you see is a United States that is incredibly committed to NATO, that has deployed or put more resources into NATO over the last 2-3 years than we’ve seen over the last 20 years, and I say you judge a nation on their actions and that is what the United States has been doing,” Williamson told an audience at the Atlantic Council think tank. “The U.S. has been the most reliable partners for us and many other nations, and I have no doubt that that will continue and that will continue to grow,” Williamson said.

“Defense is a brilliant example of a debt of that relationship, so many British service personnel working side by side together making sure that the world is a much more peaceful place and you’re seeing that level of commitment not degraded but actually stepped up over the last few years.”

PROTECTION RACKET: Trump continues to refer to NATO as if it’s a security arrangement in which European countries pay the U.S. to protect them from Russia, instead of a mutual defense pact aimed at making the world safer for everyone by promoting global security.

Here’s how he described his meeting with the leaders of NATO countries to a crowd of cheering supporters in Pennsylvania last Thursday:

“I came I said, ‘Fellas, you’re delinquent, you got to pay. You gotta pay.’ And one of the leaders said, ‘Well, Mr. President, could I ask you a question? If we don’t pay, what are you going to do about it?’ I said, “Do you want protection or not? Do you want protection or not?”

CONFRONTING CHINA: Assistant Defense Secretary Randy Schriver made his own think tank appearance yesterday and sent a message to Beijing, saying the Trump administration will “confront and compete” with it throughout the Indo-Pacific region. “We seek a positive, results-oriented military and security relationship with Beijing,” Schriver, who oversees Asian and Pacific security affairs, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute. “But Chairman Xi Jinping and the [Communist Party of China] need to understand that, while we seek cooperation where our interests align, we will confront and compete where we must.”

THE RUNDOWN

AP: Russia warns of ‘horrible’ conflict if Georgia joins NATO

ProPublica: The Shadow Rulers of the VA

Defense News: Trump’s arms sales nominee bogged down by 3D gun debate

New York Times: Turks Rally Behind Erdogan as Dispute with U.S. Deepens

Defense One: The Future Airman is a Hacker

AP: Experts: Iran could answer US sanctions with cyberattacks

Task and Purpose: The Recruit Who Shipped To Boot Camp With A Mullet Is Now A Marine

Foreign Policy: Somalia Is a Country Without an Army

Military Times: Naked British Army captain destroys toilet in harrowing bathroom escape

Roll Call: Army Seeks Money Shift as Long-Range Weapons Get Longer

Business Insider: Check out these stunning photos of sailors swimming next to their nuclear submarine

Defense Tech: Air Force Studying Spider Silk For Stronger Body Armor, Parachutes

Navy Times: Navy helicopter crewman killed in North Island accident

Washington Post: The Chinese threat that an aircraft carrier can’t stop

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