Overnight Defense: Trump offers more military equipment to Japan, S. Korea | Pentagon backs push to close bases | Transgender soldiers sue Trump over ban

THE TOPLINE: President Trump said Tuesday he is letting South Korea and Japan buy an “increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment,” an announcement that comes two days after North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

Trump made the announcement on Twitter.

Pyongyang said Sunday that it tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb that can be placed on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Trump in a Monday call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to lift limits on South Korea’s missile payload capabilities.

Read more here.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) warned Trump on Tuesday that only Congress can authorize a military strike on North Korea, as tensions with Pyongyang continue to escalate.

Read about that here.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, dismissed a U.S. push for more sanctions against North Korea, calling them “useless and ineffective.”

He said the only path is “for a peaceful, diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem.”

Read about that here.

NORTH KOREA: MORE ‘GIFT PACKAGES’ COMING FOR US: North Korea is warning the U.S. of “more gift packages” in the wake of Pyongyang’s latest hydrogen bomb test.

“The recent self-defense measures by my country, DPRK, are a gift package addressed to none other than the U.S.,” Han Tae Song, the ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), said on Tuesday to the United Nations in Geneva, Reuters reported.

“The U.S. will receive more gift packages from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK,” he said.

Read more here.

In the wake of the latest missile test, Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) is pushing to add an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would require the Trump administration to submit a North Korea strategy to Congress.

“As we confront the serious threat that North Korea poses to the security of our country, our service members, and our allies in the region, we must have a clear, comprehensive strategy,” Donnelly said in a statement Tuesday. “That plan must be realistic about our capabilities and the resources it would take to achieve our objectives.”

The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel has more on the amendment here.

HALEY LAYS OUT ARGUMENT FOR LEAVING IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley laid out an argument in a speech Tuesday for President Trump to potentially declare Iran in violation of the nuclear deal later this year.

Haley detailed the “many flaws” in the Iran nuclear deal, though several of the examples occurred before the agreement was created. She also said that Iran was using the deal  to “hold the world hostage to its bad behavior.”

“The truth is, the Iran deal has so many flaws that it’s tempting to leave it,” she told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

“The deal was constructed in a way that makes leaving less attractive. It gave Iran what it wanted upfront in exchange for temporary promises to deliver what we want. That’s not good.”

Read the rest here.

PENTAGON BACKS MCCAIN, REED BASE CLOSURE PUSH: The top Pentagon official in charge of military installations on Tuesday said the Department of Defense (DOD) backs a Congressional push to have another round of base closures in 2019.

A Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) — meant to divest the DOD of unused or underutilized military infrastructure — could help the Pentagon save money and reorganize for new military technologies, said Lucian Niemeyer, the new assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment.

Congress is also interested in such savings, prompting Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) in July to draft a bill to be introduced as a possible amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2018 defense policy bill. The bill will be debated next week.

“For us, it’s not just a matter of finding efficiencies, it’s a matter of improving the military value and the effectiveness and lethality of our military forces,” Niemeyer said at a Heritage Foundation event.

Read the rest here.

TRANSGENDER SOLDIERS BRING NEW LAWSUIT OVER MILITARY BAN: Transgender soldiers are suing President Trump over the administration’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.

“This action, brought on behalf of transgender individuals, seeks to ensure that all qualified Americans have an equal opportunity to serve in the United States military, that transgender individuals are free from arbitrary and invidious discrimination and that the constitutional rights of transgender individuals to autonomy, privacy and freedom of expression are respected and protected,” the suit says.

The complaint was brought by transgender people who have taken steps to enlist in the military and other openly transgender active service members, according to a BuzzFeed reporter.

It says the directive from Trump denies them “equal protection of the laws, their right to freedom of expression, and their right to liberty and privacy.”

The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky has more here.

ICYMI:

— The Hill: Putin urges Trump to avoid hysteria on North Korea

— The Hill: Trump: Putin: US risks escalation by supplying defensive weapons to Ukraine

— The Hill: Putin: No guarantees on future US diplomatic staff cuts

— The Hill: South Korea conducts live-fire exercises for second day

— The Hill: North Korea moving rocket believed to be ICBM: report

— Defense News: White House advances more defense, VA nominees

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