NDAA MARKUP TODAY: Let the legislative marathon begin. The House Armed Services Committee gets started this morning at 10 on its day-long debate and amendment hearing for the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The $717 billion policy bill will cover the second and final year of Congress’ deal to hike spending caps on defense. Committee members will gather and are slated to vote on 400 filed amendments to the NDAA. The annual session typically lasts late into the night and possibly to the morning (the 2018 markup with 347 amendments ended around midnight). We will be covering the debate throughout, so check back here for updates.

ENDING A DEAL, STARTING ANOTHER: As Trump spoke from the podium yesterday to announce — to the surprise of no one — that the U.S. is pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and reinstating harsh sanctions as punishment for the regime’s support for terrorists and ballistic missile activity, he finished with a bang.

“At this very moment, [Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] is on his way to North Korea in preparation for my upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un,” Trump said, emphasizing that the withdrawal from the Iran deal wouldn’t derail a nuclear deal with North Korea.

THE BIG QUESTION: Speculation immediately began that Pompeo’s mission, beyond laying the groundwork for the Trump-Kim meeting, also involved bringing home the three Americans being detained in North Korea. Trump has teased that negotiations are in the works, and yesterday when a reporter asked if the American’s would be freed, the president answered with a variation of his trademark “we’ll see what happens.”

“We’ll all soon be finding out. We will soon be finding out. It would be a great thing if they are.  We’ll soon be finding out,” he said.

SOUTH KOREA CONFIRMS: An official with the government in Seoul confirmed to reporters that Pyongyang is expected to hand the three over to Pompeo, and to also provide him with firm details for the Trump-Kim meeting.

“We expect him to bring the date, time and the captives,” the government official said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. Trump has already said they have a date and location, but these details may involve exact times and a venue.

SURPRISE TRIP: “Pompeo flew out of Washington under cover of darkness late Monday aboard an Air Force 757 accompanied by a handful of senior aides, a security detail and two journalists: one from The Associated Press and one from The Washington Post, who were given roughly four hours’ notice of his departure. The flight arrived Wednesday morning and North Korean officials were on hand to greet the American diplomat,” the AP reported.

AND A PLEDGE: “For decades, we have been adversaries,” Pompeo told Kim Yong Chol, an intermediary between the regime and the rest of the world, according to the Post. “Now we are hopeful that we can work together to resolve this conflict, take away threats to the world and make your country have all the opportunities your people so richly deserve.

“There are many challenges along the way. But you have been a great partner in working to make sure our two leaders will have a summit that is successful,” Pompeo said before lunch at the Koryo Hotel, a large, double-towered building in central Pyongyang.

Pompeo told reporters that he did not know whether he would meet with Kim during this trip.

ENOUGH ABOUT MAX PRESSURE: Meanwhile, North Korean state media is blasting the U.S. message that “maximum pressure” brought Pyongyang to the negotiating table.

“The U.S. should refrain from making words and acts that may destroy the hard-won atmosphere of dialogue. It should be aware that doing so will benefit itself, too, and make every effort to show its sincerity in line with the present situation,” the Korean Central News Agency said.

THE OTHER BIG STORY: Yesterday was supposed to be all about the Iran deal, before Trump’s surprise North Korea announcement. His declaration that the 2015 deal was “defective at its core” brought out all the familiar reactions: Republicans cheered it, Democrats said it threatens world peace.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS: Gabby Morrongiello has this handy explainer on the mechanics of pulling out of the deal.

EUROPE REACTS: Major U.S. allies in Europe said they would remain in the Iran nuclear deal despite Trump’s decision to renew economic sanctions on the regime that could punish international investors.

“Our governments remain committed to ensuring the agreement is upheld, and will work with all the remaining parties to the deal to ensure this remains the case including through ensuring the continuing economic benefits to the Iranian people that are linked to the agreement,” British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.

BIBI BACKS TRUMP: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he “fully supports” Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal.

DON’T BEAT THE WAR DRUMS: National security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal isn’t part of a broader plan to attack the country. Bolton, a national security hawk considered by detractors to be too quick to support the use of military force, denied a plan to invade Iran following Trump’s televised speech ending U.S. participation in the deal.

A reporter told Bolton there was speculation that the decision was a “precursor to the U.S. putting boots on the ground in Iran.” “They would be badly mistaken,” Bolton said at an off-camera briefing.

GOOD FOR DEFENSE STOCKS: Despite Bolton’s denial that we’re going to war, stocks in the top U.S. defense contractors jumped Tuesday after Trump’s Iran announcement.

Falls Church, Va.-based Northrop Grumman increased 3.7 percent to $328.84, while Raytheon rose 2.4 percent to $210.03, Lockheed Martin climbed 2 percent to $323.97, and General Dynamics added 1.8 percent to $199.93.

The markets in general had a tepid reaction to the news. The NASDAQ and the Dow Jones both closed slightly up, but the S&P 500 slipped.

AND THEN THERE’S BOEING: The Treasury Department announced last night it will revoke the licenses that Boeing and Airbus obtained in order to sell civilian jets to Iranian carriers following Trump’s decision.

The authorization under which the companies were granted the license will be removed over the next 90 days as part of the larger termination of the Iran agreement, Treasury said.

Boeing agreed in 2016 to sell 80 aircraft to Iran Air for $17 billion. The Chicago-based company also agreed to sell Iran Aseman Airlines 30 single-aisle 737s in a deal worth $3 billion.

‘DEATH TO AMERICA’: Iranian hard-line lawmakers responding by lighting a paper U.S. flag on fire at parliament Wednesday, shouting, “Death to America,” the Associated Press reported.

The impromptu demonstration reflected broad public anger in Iran after Trump’s decision. While Iranian officials, including the parliament speaker, say they hope Europe will work with them to preserve the deal, many are pessimistic.

The lawmakers, including a Shiite cleric, held the flaming flag alight as their colleagues joined their chants. They also burned a piece of paper representing the nuclear deal and stomped on the papers’ ashes. You can see video of the demonstration here.

LAST-MINUTE DECISION: Bolton said Trump waited to officially decide to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal shortly before his announcement Tuesday, giving European allies as long as possible to suggest fixes for the troubled agreement.

“I think just before the speech really,” Bolton said on Fox News when asked when Trump made his final determination. When pressed, Bolton explained Trump’s decision-making process included seeking input from a range of sources.

“He has listened to everybody who wanted to talk to him up to and including over the weekend with Prime Minister May of Great Britain,” Bolton said.

HAPPENING TODAY — HASPEL NOMINATION: Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee this morning at 9:30 for her confirmation hearing.

Republicans hope that her gender might help her win the Senate votes she needs to get confirmed. Haspel is at risk given her past ties to enhanced interrogation techniques that her critics say amounted to torture, and she reportedly offered to withdraw her nomination over fears she can’t get the votes in the Senate. But Republicans are playing up the idea that she would be the first woman ever to be confirmed to run the spy agency, which could make it much harder for lawmakers, particularly women, to vote “no.”

In a floor speech Monday, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn warned that “women everywhere will be watching this week” as Haspel faces the Senate Intelligence Committee.

A PROMISE: Haspel is pledging that, if she gets the job, the days of enhanced interrogation at the agency will be over, the Washington Post reports. According to excerpts of her prepared testimony, Haspel is expected to give a “personal commitment, clearly and without reservation,” not to restart the practice.

AIR FORCE SAFETY REVIEW: The Air Force said Tuesday it is ordering a safety review of all of its aviation units after increases in deadly mishaps, including the fiery crash of a C-130 Hercules cargo plane last week that killed nine troops. The review will reinforce safety measures across the Air Force, but so far, the service has found no systemic causes for aviation mishaps that have killed 18 airmen since last fall, Maj. Gen. John Rauch, the Air Force chief of safety, told reporters at the Pentagon.

“Really, a cluster of these mishaps together is what brought them to say hey, let’s look at this,” Rauch said. “In each one of those, there could be common themes across, which we are not seeing, but otherwise, they are really not related to each other.”

BUT IS IT ENOUGH? “The Air Force on Tuesday took reporters aside in the Pentagon to explain their next steps in addressing a clear spike in aviation mishaps and fatalities. The new plan: Take a symbolic half-measure while continuing to deny there’s a crisis,” according to Task and Purpose.

NEW NAME FOR NEW MISSION: It’s called Operation Roundup, and it’s the new name for the coalition’s drive to rid Syria of the last remnants of Islamic State fighters east of the Euphrates River. The UK’s Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney made the announcement yesterday while briefing Pentagon reporters via video teleconference, and told them that while ISIS is on its last legs, the job of ending the “fake caliphate” won’t be easy.

“We’re going to continue an aggressive pace of operations in our strikes and to clear through those areas. It’s going to take a while to do that, and even after that we then need to focus on making sure we can secure those liberated areas, and provide the stabilization necessary to ensure a lasting defeat of ISIS,” he said.

THE RUNDOWN

Daily Beast: Trump Withdrawal From Nuclear Deal Leaves Iran’s Moderates in a Tight Corner

Air Force Times: US-backed Syrian fighters spotted in MRAPs prior to ISIS assault

Defense News: Former US Air Force head details decision to cut maintenance budgets in 2013

New York Times: 9/11 Planner, Tortured by C.I.A., Asks to Tell Senators About Gina Haspel

Defense News: Did military hide Niger mission from Congress, key senator asks

Army Times: An investigation found this Army IG official kissed, groped female employees. He retired with all of his benefits.

Foreign Policy: The Art of the Regime Change

Business Insider: Russia is about to put on a massive military show of force — here’s what to watch for

Bloomberg: Carrier Suffers New Failure at Sea as U.S. Navy Seeks More Funds

Navy Times: Officer of the deck during fatal Fitzgerald collision pleads guilty at court-martial