Overnight Defense: Boeing signs Iran Air deal | Kerry meets dissenting diplomats | Groundwork being laid for defense bill talks

THE TOPLINE: Staff directors for the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Tuesday shed some insight on the upcoming conference between the two panels to hash out the National Defense Authorization Act. 

During A reporters-only session, Chris Brose, staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he expected the major sticking points between the two committees’ bills to be over funding levels, military health reform, and acquisition reform.

{mosads}Bob Simmons, staff director for the House Armed Services Committee, defended the House panel’s decision to authorize shifting $23 billion from the Pentagon’s war fund to the base budget and rely on the incoming administration to request more money. 

He said it was exactly what was done as President Obama came into office. 

“I do want to point out that this approach that we’re taking is the exact approach that the Democrats when they controlled the Congress took in 2008 to initiate the Obama administration,” Simmons said. 

“It’s not like we haven’t done this before,” he said. 

The Hill’s Kristina Wong has more here.  

ADMINISTRATION WELCOMES BOEING AGREEMENT WITH IRAN AIR: The State Department said Tuesday it welcomes Boeing’s announcement of an agreement with Iran Air, and that it involves the “type of permissible business activity envisioned” in the Iran nuclear deal. 

“The State Department welcomes Boeing’s announcement of this deal with Iran Air,” State Department press secretary John Kirby said at a briefing. “Boeing has been in close contact with the State Department regarding this deal.”  

But the deal has sparked criticism from Republicans.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said he would work to block the transaction. 

“If this moves forward, Boeing and terror will be intertwined,” he told USA Today. “Congress will not be sitting by idly without something to say about it.” 

Boeing Co. announced earlier Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with Iran Air “expressing the airline’s intent” to buy its aircraft, in what would be the biggest business deal between Iran and a U.S. company since 1979.  

For more on Boeing’s deal, read here.

For more on the State Department response, click here. 

KERRY POWWOW WITH AUTHORS OF DISSENTING SYRIA MEMO: Secretary of State John Kerry met on Tuesday with authors of a recent memo dissenting from the Obama administration’s Syria policy, according to a spokesman.

He met with about 10 of the 51 authors for about half an hour Tuesday morning, for a “collegial discussion,” State Department press secretary John Kirby told reporters. 

“He thanked them for expressing their views, for using the dissent channel, to do that he made clear that he takes the dissent channel seriously and he took their views seriously,” Kirby said.

The memo, which was issued through the Department’s formal dissent channel but was leaked to the press last week, urged the administration to conduct military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, instead of just the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. 

However, there were no indications a change in policy was forthcoming.

The Hill’s Kristina Wong has more here.

WH SEEKS DISTANCE FROM ORLANDO 911 TRANSCRIPT: The White House on Tuesday sought to distance itself from the controversy swirling around the Justice Department’s decision to remove references to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the transcript of a 911 call placed by Orlando shooter Omar Mateen. 

After coming under withering criticism, the law enforcement agency reversed course on Monday and released the complete text of the call — a decision the White House said was made without their input.  

“The decision to release the unredacted version of the transcript that was released yesterday was made independently and entirely by the Department of Justice,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

The Hill’s Jordan Fabian has more. 

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW: 

The House Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on cyber operations at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2118. http://1.usa.gov/1XZw3QI

A House Foreign Affairs Committee subpanel will have a hearing on the crisis in Venezuela at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Rayburn 2172. http://1.usa.gov/24VL0Sw

Another Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing on missed human rights opportunities following President Obama’s visit to Vietnam at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Rayburn 2200. http://1.usa.gov/1XrI28S

ICYMI:

— The Hill: Report: 85 percent of female Marine recruits failing combat job tests

— The Hill: Dems push for allowing base closures

— The Hill: Lawmakers press Pentagon to stop using animals in medical training

— The Hill: White House: Redaction decision was all Justice

— The Hill: ISIS survivors urge US: Don’t close door to refugees

— The Hill: Opinion: Married soldiers stand to lose in defense policy bill

— USA Today: Pentagon close to repealing transgender ban

— Associated Press: US-Led Coalition Says Only 1/3 of Fallujah Cleared of IS

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