SENATE TAKES UP NDAA: The text of the Senate’s version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act could be unveiled today as the chamber is poised to begin floor debate. “Months of hearings and markups allow Congress to direct resources and authorize programs, equipping our brave servicemen and women to confront emerging challenges. The Armed Services Committee should be commended for their earnest, bipartisan work this year. The legislation they’ve produced is strong,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. He is expected to bring the bill to the floor today.

FACEBOOK NAT SEC CONCERNS: Facebook’s confirmation that it has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese telecom companies, including Huawei, a company that has been flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, has raised concerns in Congress.

“The news that Facebook provided privileged access to Facebook’s API to Chinese device makers like Huawei and TCL raises legitimate concerns, and I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information about their users was not sent to Chinese servers,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “Concerns about Huawei aren’t new — they were widely publicized beginning in 2012, when the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a well-read report on the close relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and equipment makers like Huawei.”

The fact that Facebook gave “deep access” to the Chinese device makers along with other manufacturers — including Amazon, Apple, BlackBerry and Samsung — was first disclosed by The New York Times.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACCUSES U.S. OF WAR CRIMES: The human rights groups Amnesty International is out with a report, “War of annihilation”: Devastating Toll on Civilians, Raqqa – Syria, which accuses the U.S.-led coalition in Syria of war crimes in failing to protect innocent civilians during the liberation of Raqqa last October.

“There is strong evidence that Coalition air and artillery strikes killed and injured thousands of civilians, including in disproportionate or indiscriminate attacks that violated international humanitarian law and are potential war crimes,” a summary of the report alleges. “The Coalition’s claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb [the Islamic State] out of Raqqa while causing very few civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny. On the ground in Raqqa we witnessed a level of destruction comparable to anything we’ve seen in decades of covering the impact of wars.”

THE MILITARY FIRES BACK: The report rankled a spokesman for the U.S.-led counter ISIS coalition. “They are literally judging us guilty until proven innocent,” fumed Col. Thomas Veale at yesterday’s Pentagon briefing piped in from Baghdad. “They never asked us for a comment, an interview or a courtesy check of the draft. They also failed to check the public record thoroughly. So not only did they not discuss the article with us, but they didn’t thoroughly research things we’ve said.”

The U.S. continues to assert its bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria is the most precise in the history of warfare. “We adhere to a meticulous targeting and strike process that always aims to minimize harm to noncombatants and civilian infrastructure,” Veale said. “We’ve also been transparent in our process and accountability, publishing weekly strike reports and monthly civilian casualty statements on our website.”

U.S. Central Command publishes a monthly tally of civilians deaths that it can confirm were the result of coalition strikes. The latest report concludes at least 892 civilians have been unintentionally killed since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve in August 2014. Another 321 reports are still open and under investigation.

But the U.S. is limited because it doesn’t have many forces on the ground. “As far as how do we know how many civilians were killed — I’m just being honest — no one will ever know. Anyone who claims they will know is lying, and there’s no possible way,” Veale said. “It is a terrible, awful part of this war.”

NOT ABANDONING THE KURDS: Trump plans to give political support to the local Syrian forces who have partnered with the United States in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement yesterday.

But you had to read the statement carefully to understand what the U.S. is promising to make sure the Kurds and other Syrian allies will be represented at peace talks in Geneva, as the fighting dies down and U.S. military support is withdrawn. “We will also work to ensure that all the diverse people of northeast Syria, including Arabs, Kurds, Christian, and Turkmen, have an appropriate say in defining the future of Syria pursuant to the political process set forth in the UN Security Council Resolution 2254,” Pompeo said.

OPERATION ROUNDUP: The U.S.-backed forces are on the final push to eliminate an ISIS stronghold in Dashisha, Syria, near the Iraqi border. Iraqi forces, including Iraqi F-16s, are attacking from the Iraqi side to make sure the ISIS fighters can’t escape into the desert. “Iraqi border guard forces and the Iraqi Army have covered the western border as our partners’ ground defenses attack ISIS remnants in Syria,” Veale said. “Iraqi forces have not simply been the anvil, though; they’re also the hammer.”

TRANSGENDER POLICY UNDER FIRE: A group of 121 House lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis asking him to abandon a new proposed policy that would ban many transgender people from serving in the military. The letter, first reported by USA Today, was organized by Rep. Joe Kennedy and questioned Mattis’ conclusion that potential medical issues should exclude people diagnosed with gender dysphoria. It also charges the Pentagon with cherry-picking outdated research to support its decision.

“The Trump Administration’s decision to ban transgender troops abandons our proudest values, undermines our armed forces, defies established medical research and ignores basic science,” Kennedy said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. Rights groups and U.S. medical associations have made similar claims about Mattis’ proposed policy, which would bar anyone with the condition from enlisting and prohibit medical care for those newly diagnosed while serving.

AND THE VENUE IS: President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet for their historic June 12 summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has announced. And in a brief answer to a question yesterday, Trump indicated the meeting would be more than a single session.

“It will be a very important couple of days,” the president said at a bill-signing ceremony. “North Korea looks like it’s moving along very well. A lot of relationship being built. A lot of negotiation going on even before the trip. But it looks like it’s coming along fine. We’ll see what happens.”

TRUMP’S GOALS: The administration wants Kim to commit to a timetable on denuclearizing, and Trump may offer up a second summit at Mar-a-Lago, according to a Bloomberg report. It also cited administration officials who believe Kim is fearful of being assassinated.

CONGRESS GETS A VOTE: CNN is quoting several Republican senators as saying they have received private assurances that whatever deal is worked out with North Korea will ultimately be submitted to Congress in the form of a treaty.

“The president, vice president and the secretary of state have all told me separately that their intent is to put together a treaty that will be submitted to the United States Senate under the Constitution for ratification,” said Sen. Jim Risch, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Bob Corker, the committee chairman, said Pompeo had given him similar assurances.

“I know that Pompeo and others have indicated that they would like it to be a treaty,” Corker told CNN. “We are way ahead of ourselves right now. I mean who knows if there’s going to be an agreement, but if one is reached, I hope it’s a treaty.”

Republicans were sharply critical of former President Barack Obama for signing onto the Iran nuclear deal without bothering to get Senate ratification.

THE WORM WILL BE THERE: Former NBA star Dennis Rodman will reportedly be in Singapore for the summit, sources told the New York Post. He’ll land in Singapore one day before the summit and could even be part of the negotiations, they said.

“No matter what you might think about his presence. One thing’s for sure the ratings will be huge,” a source told the paper. “A lot of times in situations that involve complex diplomacy countries like to identify ambassadors of goodwill and whether you agree with it or not Dennis Rodman fits the bill.”

‘BYE FELICIA’: “Bye, Felicia” is a catchphrase used as a dismissive kiss-off by actor Ice Cube in the 1995 movie “Friday.” It was also the response of Meghan McCain to the news that Kelly Sadler was no longer a White House special assistant to the president following Sadler’s comments mocking the health of her father, Sen. John McCain.

Meghan had demanded a promised public apology from Sadler after it was leaked that she told fellow White House communications staffers it didn’t matter that Sen. McCain wouldn’t support then-CIA director nominee Gina Haspel’s Senate confirmation because “he’s dying anyway.”

According to the New York Times, McCain’s daughter, an employee of ABC News, hit “reply all” on an internal email chain that included the White House statement about Sadler’s departure, saying simply: “Bye, Felicia.”

D-DAY ANNIVERSARY: Today marks 74 years since Operation Overlord, the allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. The invasion force comprised 4,000 ships, 11,000 planes, and nearly three million troops who were assembled in England for the assault.

“On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along a heavily fortified, 50-mile stretch of French coastline in the historic operation known as D-Day. Allied casualties were heavy — an estimated 10,000 killed, wounded and missing in action — but by day’s end, the Allies had gained a foothold to begin liberating Europe,” notes the Pentagon’s commemorative website.

Here was the “Order of the Day,” issued by Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme allied commander in Europe: “Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”

Eisenhower also drafted a message to be issued in the event the invasion failed, and he was forced to order a full retreat. “My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

THE RUNDOWN

Bloomberg: Key F-35 Defects Must Be Fixed Before Full-Production, GAO Says

Defense News: Troubling U.S. Navy review finds widespread shortfalls in basic seamanship

New York Times: Putin Moves to Capitalize on Europe’s Fury With Trump

Washington Post: North Korea summit should avoid talk of human rights, top expert and Trump supporter say

Reuters: China’s ZTE signed preliminary agreement to lift U.S. ban – sources

Roll Call: Trump Uses Flags, Military Troops to Make a Political Point

Breaking Defense: Marines Train ‘Surge’ Force For Major War: ‘Two Different MAGTFs’

AP: US Army commander approves Bergdahl sentence, no prison time

Task and Purpose: Trump Wants US Troops Out Of Syria. The Pentagon Really Can’t Say When That’ll Happen

Defense News: The Air Force is getting a next-gen GPS boost

Navy Times: Surface warfare: A running fix

Defense One: How Much Caffeine Do You Need? Ask the Army’s New Algorithm