VENTING BUT NO VETO: At his “Make America Great Again” rally in Las Vegas last night, President Trump was still fuming about the failure of Congress to provide billions more to fund his signature campaign promise, a border wall he repeatedly guaranteed would be paid for by Mexico.

HAPPENING TODAY: The Pentagon ceremonial parade field outside the River Entrance doesn’t see much action these days, but this afternoon it will be the site of a full honors ceremony in recognition of Defense Department’s National POW/MIA Recognition Day. It will feature a review of the troops, a joint service anthem medley, and a flyover. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford are scheduled to make remarks. The ceremony begins at 5 p.m. and will be live-streamed here.

PENCE PRESENTS FLAG: Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the Korean War Veteran Memorial yesterday to present a flag that was used in transfer ceremonies for remains repatriated by North Korea last month. “This flag was among those flags that graced the cases of some 55 remains of fallen American heroes. And it was my great honor to receive it,” Pence said. “We will work and we will pray that the remains that came to Hawaii on August 1st will simply be a vanguard of what’s to come.”

Pence said POW-MIA Recognition Day is a time for the nation to pause to remember all the men and women of our armed forces who never came home, but credited the president for securing a promise for the return of remains from the Korean War. “Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, once again, our boys are coming home.”

TRUMP ID’s KOREA REMAINS: The president sent out a tweet yesterday identifying the two soldiers whose remains have been positively identified so far as Master Sgt. Charles H. McDaniel, 32, of Vernon, Ind., and Pfc. William H. Jones, 19, of Nash County, N.C.

The two soldiers “are the first American remains from North Korea to be identified as a result of my Summit with Chairman Kim. These HEROES are home, they may Rest In Peace, and hopefully their families can have closure,” Trump tweeted.

SUMMIT ON RECOVERY OPS: The Pentagon is hoping to hold a summit with North Korea at the end of October to discuss restarting U.S. field operations inside the country to recover more troop remains, said Kelly McKeague, the director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. “They want to sit down with us, we’ve yet to work out the details and receive any kind of confirmation from them on when and where,” McKeague said at a breakfast meeting with reporters. An earlier plan to send Pentagon recovery teams into North Korea in 2012 was canceled due to the regime’s nuclear weapons testing.

If the current negotiations result in field operations resuming next year, as McKeague hopes, it would be the first time in more than a decade. But the Pentagon and the North must still iron out an understanding on costs. The North has made an unreasonable request for reimbursement, which includes the cost of U.S. teams using eight ambulances. “Our counter-proposal will say that is not reasonable,” McKeague said. “Once we are able to commit to a counterproposal that would be the basis for sitting down with the North Koreans.”

CORN AND WATER MARKERS: Americans’ high-corn diet could prove a big help as the Pentagon analyzes the rest of the bone fragments in the boxes. It is working with the University of California, Davis, on a cutting-edge technique using stable isotopes to make identifications. “Stable isotope testing is a fairly emergent technology that we are very excited about because it is a more expedient, more economical means of testing than DNA,” McKeague said.

The analysis of isotopes in teeth and bones can show what the person drank and ate as an infant and adolescent. “Americans have a high corn diet as compared to Asians who have a high wheat or rice [diet],” McKeague said. Drinking water could even be more helpful. It leaves markers in bones that can pinpoint the specific geographic areas where Korea War troops grew up. “You can differentiate Kansas from California,” McKeague said.

UK BUYS CIWS UPGRADES: The UK has been cleared to buy 50 MK 15 Phalanx Close-in Weapon System, or CWIS, upgrade kits for $75 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency says. The kits “will be used for close-in ship self-defense against air and surface threats onboard the UK’s naval combatants and auxiliaries,” the agency said. The prime contractor is Raytheon Missile Systems.

HALEY: ‘BABY STEPS’ ON NORTH KOREA: In an interview on Fox yesterday, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the slow progress on the denuclearization of North Korea is to be expected. “It is baby steps. It’s not going to happen overnight, we knew that.” Haley said, but said the warm feeling expressed between the leaders of the two Koreas Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un this week were important.

“You’re seeing Kim now socialize with the region. That needed to happen,” Haley said. “Kim felt suffocated and the president, when he felt suffocated the president opened that door to him to say there’s a different life for North Koreans if you want it.”

BLOWING SMOKE: Over on CNN, Max Boot, who is now a CNN contributor, accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “blowing smoke” in suggesting that North Korea could completely denuclearize by 2021. “I don’t know where he gets this. He’s smoking something. He’s making this up. North Korea has not agreed to denuclearize by 2021. I don’t see much chance of that happening,” said Boot, a conservative national security analyst who has turned into a sharp critic of Trump.

“Yes. He is blowing smoke. He is making that up. There’s no substance for that. He’s just pulling a figure out of thin air. North Korea has not even delivered a full declaration of their nuclear program, which would be the basic prerequisite for going forward,” Boot said. “You can’t eliminate their program unless they declare what their program is, and they won’t declare their program.”

SANCTIONS ON CHINA: Trump is sanctioning China for purchasing Russian fighter jets and anti-aircraft weapons systems, and neither China nor Russia are happy about it.

State and Treasury Department officials unveiled the sanctions yesterday against China’s Equipment Development Department, which procures new weaponry and technology for the Chinese military. The sanctions are being imposed pursuant to the 2017 sanctions law punishing Russian interference in the 2016 elections, which threatens to sanction any third party that conducts a “significant transaction” with the Russian defense industry.

“These significant transactions involved Russia’s delivery to China of Su-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday.

China’s Foreign Ministry today strongly urged the U.S. to withdraw sanctions and Russia warned the U.S. is “playing with fire.”

CHINA’S WARNING: Western navies that sail warships near contested islands in the South China Sea are risking a military confrontation, according to a top Chinese diplomat. “No one should underestimate China’s will to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests,” Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, said Wednesday in remarks published Thursday.

ARMY BRIGADE UPGRADES: The Army announced yesterday that it plans to convert a Stryker brigade at Fort Bliss to a full armored brigade next spring, and an infantry brigade at Fort Carson to a Stryker brigade in the spring of 2020.

“Converting a brigade combat team from infantry to armor ensures the Army remains the world’s most lethal ground combat force, able to deploy, fight, and win against any adversary, anytime and anywhere,” said Army Secretary Mark Esper in a news release.

The two brigades are the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division. The conversions are designed to create “a more balanced distribution between light and heavy fighting forces” and “increase overmatch against our potential adversaries,” according to an Army statement.

MARINES TO THE RESCUE: Marines joined local fire departments in evacuating residents of a senior housing complex near their military post in Washington, D.C., after a fire broke out in the building Wednesday afternoon.

“This afternoon when a fire broke out at an apartment complex for the elderly in Southeast D.C., Barracks Marines immediately responded to assist local fire departments,” Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday. “Marines rushed into the building to rescue those who needed assistance and evacuated residents to the Marine Barracks Washington Annex where they were checked and treated for any injuries and sheltered until their loved ones arrived.”

WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS MATTIS? In response to our query, we got the following answers to questions about what Mattis was up to yesterday, when the Pentagon daily schedule listed him as “traveling.”

Q: Where did he go? A: Naval War College.

Q: Is he back? A: No.

Q: Is it a secret? A: No.

Q: Did he have reporters with him? A: No.

Q: Did he talk to any groups or meet with anyone? A: He had meetings.

Q: Was it personal vacation? A: No.

Q: Why is his domestic travel schedule so tightly held? A: It’s not. We announce any travel that media is participating in or able to cover. This did not fall in that category.

BEATING MATTIS AT HIS OWN GAME: In a question-and-answer session after his Wednesday speech at the Air Force Association conference, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan revealed he’s in a daily competition with his boss to see who can get to work first in the morning. “I try to, you know, outrun him, and work more hours,” Shanahan said, expressing admiration for Mattis’ work ethic. “I really do want to beat him. I’m competitive.”

But Shanahan said Mattis is a worthy opponent, and gave a recent example. “So he comes in and he says, ‘Well, I had breakfast in New Delhi, lunch in Kabul, dinner in Dubai, got off the airplane and at 4 in the morning and was in the Pentagon,’ and that was on his birthday. So I mean, what are you going to do?”

Working for Mattis, Shanahan said, is “like getting a PhD in world affairs.”

THE RUNDOWN

Wall Street Journal: Top U.S. Diplomat Backed Continuing Support for Saudi War in Yemen Over Objections of Staff

Washington Post: A ‘massive’ spike in oil smuggling has eased the economic pressure on North Korea

New York Times: U.S. Retreats on Publicizing Body Count of Militants Killed in Afghanistan

Bloomberg: Trump Eases Curbs on U.S. Cyberweapons as Election Threat Looms

Air Force Times: “WATCH YOUR DECK!” The story behind last summer’s Tiger II crash

Defense One: Build Small Nuclear Reactors for Battlefield Power

Foreign Policy: U.N. Report Details How North Korea Evades Sanctions

Defense News: Raytheon to upgrade UK’s ‘R2D2’ naval defense system

Roll Call: Russians Targeting Senate, Staff Personal Emails, Sen. Ron Wyden Warns

Task and Purpose: How A ‘Blue Wave’ May Kill The New Air Force Expansion — And The Space Force