FIRST LOOK: HOUSE DEFENSE SPENDING: At noon a House Appropriations subcommittee will mark up the chamber’s 2019 defense spending bill. A draft text of the $675 billion appropriations legislation was unveiled yesterday, providing the first look at how and whether priorities already proposed in House and Senate authorization bills will be funded. House appropriators are already breaking with those bills and the Pentagon’s request by dramatically boosting purchases of F-35 joint strike fighters.

BREAKING: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced a temporary cease-fire with the Taliban that would coincide with the end of the Ramadan fasting month, Eid. A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, confirmed to me this morning that the cease-fire applies only to the Taliban and “not other regional or international terrorists.”

Last week, after Gen. John Nicholson revealed there were secret talks going on with some elements of the Taliban, a Taliban spokesman issued a categorical denial, but yesterday Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s chief executive confirmed there were “contacts” that he described as “pre-negotiating.”

HAPPENING TODAY: As the June 12 Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un draws closer, Trump welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House. Japan wants to make sure its security concerns are addressed in the historic meeting, including its desire to secure the release of more than a dozen Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

“I want to make sure to be on the same page with President Trump ahead of the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit so we can push forward nuclear and missile issues, and most importantly the abduction problem, and make for a successful summit,” Abe said in Tokyo before leaving for Washington.

Trump meets with Abe at noon, and the two leaders are scheduled to hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at 2 p.m.

LAND OF THE UNKNOWN: As for whether next week’s summit will produce tangible results, Trump was waxing philosophical in private remarks yesterday. “It’s an interesting journey. It’s called the land of the unknown — who knows? We’ll maybe make a deal. Maybe not. As I say to everybody, are you going to make a deal? Maybe and maybe not. Who knows?” Trump said, according to audio of a FEMA meeting obtained by the Washington Post.

MORE TRUMP UNPLUGGED: Trump’s remarks were behind closed doors, away from the cameras, and show that Trump continues to be fixated on the idea that defense contractors are ripping off American taxpayers, because the “ordering process for the military is so bad. … It’s not a competitive bid.”

Trump repeated his claim to have personally negotiated a huge discount on the contract to buy two replacement 747 Air Force One aircraft from Boeing. “We saved $1.6 billion on Air Force One,” he said. “Can you believe it? I got involved in the negotiations. The press refuses to report that, but that’s okay. … People were really surprised.”

It’s true that people were really surprised because to date neither the Air Force, Boeing nor the White House has provided any explanation or evidence for purported savings. The contract was, and remains, about $4 billion for the two new planes.

According to the Post, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan promised to brief Trump on acquisition guidelines soon and would “begin bringing him receipts.”

‘RIDICULOUS’ MAGNETS: And Trump is still not over the idea that the Navy has moved beyond steam catapults for its Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. “Part of it is, they want to have all new. Instead of having the system that throws the aircraft off the [ship], which was always steam,” Trump said. “They now have magnets. They’re using magnets instead of steam. … They spent hundreds of millions of dollars, I’m hearing not great things about it. It’s frankly ridiculous.”

The electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS, which was developed by General Atomics, has been plagued with problems, and government reports have questioned how reliable the system can be in the long-term. In an interview with Time magazine last year, Trump said the Navy should return to “goddamned steam.”

‘A LITTLE ROCKY, A LITTLE BUMPY’: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Brussels today for a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers, where the official agenda includes decisions on a new command structure, a formal NATO training mission in Iraq, discussion of better burden sharing, and Afghanistan.

But talking to reporters on his plane en route to Belgium, Mattis conceded that trade and tariffs will also be a subtext to the meetings. “I think it’s still premature to call it a trade war, because as it starts maturing, you know, there’s only give and take on these things.

“What we’re looking for is fair and reciprocal trade. We can’t have a 2 percent on imported cars and other nations have a 10 percent tax on our cars when they’re imported to their country,” Mattis said. “Certainly it’ll be a little rocky, a little bumpy at times, but so far I do not anticipate any effects in the security arena.”

At NATO headquarters yesterday, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged “serious disagreements between NATO allies on serious issues,” and cited trade specifically. “My message is that despite those disagreements, we have to make sure that we continue to strengthen and sustain the close partnership on security between NATO Allies.”

THE FOUR 30s: NATO is also expected to approve a readiness initiative to counter Russia, which has been dubbed “The Four Thirties.” Under the plan NATO would, by 2020, have 30 mechanized battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 combat vessels, all ready to deploy in 30 days or less. “This is not about setting up or deploying new forces,” Stoltenberg said. “It is about boosting the readiness of existing forces.”

PETERS’ PUTIN THEORY: In his first on-camera interview since he quit as a Fox News analyst, retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he’s convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin has “some grip” on Trump.

“And, look, I may be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. I hope he doesn’t have a grip on him,” Peters said. “I think in the future, we’re going to look back at the much-maligned Christopher Steele who took that dossier to the FBI as something of a hero.

“When I first learned of the Steele dossier, it just rang true to me, because that’s how the Russians do things. And before he became a candidate or president, Donald Trump was the perfect target for Russian intelligence,” Peters said. “Here is someone who has no self-control, a sense of sexual entitlement and intermittent financial crisis. I mean, that’s made-to-order for seduction by Russian intelligence.”

HYPERSONIC MISSILE: The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $928 million contract to develop a hypersonic conventional strike system, the firm announced Wednesday. The system will be air-launched.

NORTHROP CLOSES DEAL: Northrop Grumman announced yesterday that it had finalized the deal to acquire aerospace and tech firm Orbital ATK. Orbital will now be called Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.

NEW MISSION FOR ROBINS AFB: The Air Force has announced Robins Air Force Base in Georgia will host the Advanced Battle Management System, a new global airspace intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information mission. “This decision by the U.S. Air Force underscores our ability to host critical strategic assets capable of impacting battlefields around the world,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson. As the service transitions to this new mission, the Air Force will continue to fly the existing E-8C JSTARS, which is based out of Robins, according to a news release from Isakson, Sen. David Perdue and Rep. Austin Scott.

WAR POWERS DEBATE: Sens. Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders convened a hearing Wednesday to air concerns about expansion of executive war powers. There was consensus among witnesses that a bill, proposed by Sens. Bob Corker and Tim Kaine, would consolidate military authority unilaterally behind the presidency, reducing any need for congressional approval to a professional courtesy.

ANOTHER SHUTDOWN? House Democrats are threatening to vote against the first wave of fiscal 2019 spending bills, forcing Republicans into a familiar fight with themselves over government funding that could leave them headed for another government shutdown threat in September.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is urging Democrats to vote against an upcoming “mini-bus” package that pulls together a few spending bills into one bill.

The House plans to vote Friday on the first bill — the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2019. It’s the first in what House and Senate Republicans plan as a series of minibus measures that would allow Congress to avoid a yearslong habit of passing nearly all federal spending in one massive omnibus package.

CHINA’S WARNING: A “training mission” conducted by B-52 bombers near contested islands in the South China Sea drew an angry response yesterday from the Chinese government, which is asserting sovereignty over the territory.

“Stop stirring up troubles in the South China Sea, because freedom run amok carries risks and their benefit-seeking behavior comes with a cost,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in her June 6 press briefing.

HOSTILE DRONES: Federal officials and lawmakers are working to give the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security the authority to shoot down drones that may be used by terrorists or criminals in the United States.

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY, PART 1: CNN is quoting “sources” who say during a contentious phone conversation Trudeau about trade, Trump made a bad joke with what CNN called “an erroneous historical reference.”

According to the CNN report, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a “national security” issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” referring to the War of 1812.  

“Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony,” CNN said.

DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY, PART 2: And at a State Department briefing Tuesday, spokeswoman Heather Nauert probably didn’t pick the best example to illustrate the close relationship between the U.S. and Germany. Answering questions about comments made by the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Rick Grenell, which were seen by some as interfering in domestic politics, Nauert said, “When you talk about Germany, we have a very strong relationship with the Government of Germany. Looking back in the history books, today is the 71st anniversary of the speech that announced the Marshall Plan. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day invasion.”

Suffice it to say D-Day was not a high water mark in U.S.-German relations.

THE RUNDOWN

Washington Examiner: Trump could release US-Saudi citizen accused of being ISIS fighter in the next 72 hours

AP: Iran opens new nuclear facility for centrifuge production

Business Insider: The US Air Force flew a specially painted A-10 over Normandy to mark 74 years since D-Day

Reuters: In Europe, Mattis is in familiar spot: calming U.S. allies

Breaking Defense: Israel Deploying to Eastern Europe, Pacific for First Time Alongside U.S. Forces

Washington Examiner: State Department: ‘A number of people’ in China may have suffered mystery attack

New York Times: 30,000 Afghan Police Officers, on Front Line of War, Are Denied Pay

Defense One: How Sanctions Feed Authoritarianism

Task & Purpose: The Soldier Who Allegedly Took A Joyride In An APC Live-Tweeted The Entire Incident