HOUSE VOTE ON NDAA: This evening lawmakers on the House Rules Committee will sit down to hash out guidelines for a chamber vote on the massive $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act. The annual policy bill is set for a floor debate and vote later this week, most likely on Thursday. It is a major step for the 2019 NDAA after the House Armed Services Committee passed it with a 60-1 vote on May 10. For the Pentagon, it represents the second half of a two-year budget deal that hikes defense spending and aims to patch up underfunded and overworked forces.

HAPPENING TODAY: POMPEO LAYS OUT IRAN STRATEGY: Critics of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal were quick to claim the administration had no backup plan. But that is set to change this morning. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will unveil a new framework for dealing with Tehran at 9 a.m. in a speech at the Heritage Foundation.

Trump had criticized the 2015 deal as too limited in scope and this new plan will take aim at Iran’s malign influence in the Middle East and its funding of terrorism, according to the State Department. “Our broad approach now that we’ve been emphasizing is that we need … a framework that’s going to address the totality of Iran’s threats,” Brian Hook, the department’s director of policy planning, said Friday.

TRUMP TO ATTEND: Trump is scheduled to be on hand this morning at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., when Gina Haspel is sworn in as the agency’s first female director. Haspel was confirmed by the Senate last week after overcoming objections about her role in so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding, that the agency employed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

PAUL: AFGHANS STAY HOME: Over the years, many U.S. military members have expressed frustration over how hard it can be to get local translators, who have been vital to their mission, approval to come the United States. Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul said he thinks Afghan immigrants who speak English should stay in their home country.

“We’ve admitted about 60,000 people from Afghanistan, and my point there is, if they speak English and were helping us as translators, they should stay in Afghanistan and be the founding fathers of their country and bring Western appeal and Western ideas to Afghanistan,” Paul said during an interview that aired Sunday with John Catsimatidis on his “Cats Roundtable” AM 970 radio show in New York.

TALIBAN CLAIM: Just days after the Pentagon and U.S. military officials claimed Afghan forces were showing new resolve in repelling the Taliban in Farah, the Taliban are claiming that Afghan forces melted away in the southeastern province of Ghazni. On its official website it claimed a “major of enemy troops surrendered to Mujahideen and the rest were forced to flee,” and the district center and police headquarters was taken “without any firefight,” according to Fox News.

But this morning the U.S. military is denying the report. “The report is inaccurate,” Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission, told me in an email. “I just spoke with our operations center, who is literally watching the Afghan flag flying in Ajristan district.”

SFABs ANNOUNCED: One key to the new revamped U.S. strategy for Afghanistan is the creation of Army units specifically designed to maximize the effectiveness of the advise-and-assist mission. On Friday, the Army announced the stationing of 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas; the 4th SFAB at Fort Carson, Colo., and 5th SFAB at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

“I think we’ll see a much better adviser capability built out of these brigades,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, in a press release. “Meanwhile, we’ll recoup the readiness value of bringing the regular [combat] brigades home to train for their regularly designed missions.”

The Army will now have a total of six SFABs. The other three are 1st SFAB stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., and the 2nd SFAB at Fort Bragg, N.C. The National Guard is still considering locations for its SFAB.

KOREA UPDATE: Trump spoke by phone yesterday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in ahead of Moon’s scheduled visit to the White House tomorrow. Planning is continuing for the Singapore summit in just three weeks, where Trump is scheduled for a historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. “The two leaders will work closely and unwaveringly for the successful hosting of the North Korea-U.S. summit set on June 12,” said a statement issued by the South Korean presidential office. Planning for the Trump-Kim summit has been thrown for a loop over concerns that Kim may not be serious about wanting a deal.

While North Korea’s tone has reverted to bellicose insults and threats, the North is continuing with its stated intention to allow international journalists to observe the shutdown of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site at the partially collapsed Mount Mantap, where it has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006.

ANOTHER WAR THREAT: On Fox News Sunday, Korea hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham was beating the war drums again, in a message aimed directly at Kim. Graham said he talked to Trump a few days ago and says the president is resolute that he would not be played. “He says he’s going to end this conflict within his first term, that every other president has been played. They’ve done every agreement known to man — bilateral, multilateral agreements. They promised to give up their weapons. They back out and they build up their weapons program. There’s no place to kick the can,” Graham told host Chris Wallace.

“President Trump told me three days ago that he wants to end this in a win-win way. He thinks that’s possible, but if they pull out, they play him, that we’re going to end North Korea’s threat to the American homeland in his first term and I’ll let you surmise as to what that might look like,” Graham said. “If there’s a war, it will be in China’s backyard, not ours.”

REROUTED BOMBERS: The U.S., South Korea, and Japan altered the route of a scheduled flight of several B-52 bombers so that they would not fly over the Korean Peninsula, CNN reported Friday.

The move followed warnings from Pyongyang that next month’s summit in Singapore could be in jeopardy due to “provocative military disturbances with South Korea.”

It’s uncertain if changing the planned flight was a result of North Korea’s threat, but officials said that the shift was an attempt to mitigate accusations that the U.S. was participating in “provocative” activities.

38 NORTH BACK ON SOLID GROUND: The highly-respected website 38 North, which was looking for a new sponsor after the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy stopped funding the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins in a policy dispute, has found a new home with the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan policy research center.

“This moment in history on the Korean peninsula demands high-quality, fact-based, informed analysis. 38 North rises above soundbites and provides timely information that is critical to our understanding of one of the most consequential security issues of our time.” said Brian Finlay, president and CEO of the Stimson Center. “We could not be more pleased.”

COMMENCEMENT LINEUP: It’s graduation time at the U.S. service academies, and everyone has their assignments. On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence will give the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., while Defense Secretary Jim Mattis does the honors at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

On Saturday, Trump will address the graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., while Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford will be the featured speaker at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

McCAIN AT PEACE: Armed Service Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, who is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, says in a new HBO documentary that he is thankful for the life he’s lived.

“The American people don’t hold Washington and the people who work there in very high esteem. We need to make sure that we give the American people what they deserve, and right now they’re not getting it,” McCain said in an interview for “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” named for the Ernest Hemingway novel that McCain still lists as his favorite.

“I know this is a very vicious disease. I greet every day with gratitude, and I will continue to do everything that I can but I’m also very aware that none of us live forever,” he continued. “And I’m confident, and I’m happy, and I’m very grateful for the life I’ve been able to lead, and I greet the future with joy.”

AMONG THE VICTIMS: Pompeo issued this statement Saturday on the death of Pakistani exchange student Sabika Sheikh.

“I send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sabika Sheikh, who was killed in the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, yesterday. Sabika was in the United States on the State Department-sponsored Youth Exchange and Study program, helping to build ties between the United States and her native Pakistan. Sabika’s death and that of the other victims is heartbreaking and will be mourned deeply both here in the United States, and in Pakistan.”

THE RUNDOWN

Defense News: Bath forges ahead with Flight IIA DDGs, gears up for Flight III

AP: US anti-IS office gets reprieve as Syria pullout accelerates

Washington Post: New clues bolster belief that ISIS leader is still alive — and busy with a chilling new mission

Air Force Times: More reasons to be worried about cancer-causing chemicals on military bases

New York Times: Once Hated by U.S. and Tied to Iran, Is Sadr Now ‘Face of Reform’ in Iraq?

Washington Post: In Bahrain, a smoldering insurgency reveals the resilience of Iran’s proxy war

Defense One: What the North Koreans Told Me About Their Plans

New York Times: Trump Grappling With Risks of Proceeding With North Korea Meeting

Washington Post: Confusion and squabbling undermine Trump’s steps forward on the world stage

Business Insider: 9 photos of the CH-53K King Stallion, the US military’s most-powerful and expensive helicopter

Reuters: U.S. sees strong shared interests with EU on Iran concerns

The Hill: Defense bill moves forward with lawmakers thinking about McCain