In a signing statement for a $716 billion defense policy bill, President Trump “raised objections to 52 provisions of the law – including four of the eight provisions dealing specifically with Russia. The signing statement suggests he may not enforce provisions that he said raise constitutional concerns,” USA Today reports.

“As passed by Congress, the defense bill attempts to tie the president’s hands on Russia in a number of ways. It forbids him from using federal funds to recognize Russian control over Crimea and bans military cooperation with Russia until Russia pulls out of Ukraine.”

Trump said those provisions undermine the president’s role “as the sole representative of the nation in foreign affairs.”

“The U.S. Defense Department this week will take the first steps to create the Space Force, a new branch of the military ordered up by President Trump but not yet fully backed by Congress,” Defense One reports.

BuzzFeed News: “The emails document two days of the aftermath of an unusual, and seemingly sudden, statement released by the White House late on the night of June 26 last year. It warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he and his military would ‘pay a heavy price’ if they carried out another chemical weapons attack… But the channels at the Pentagon that usually would have coordinated such a release were in the dark.”

“Republican lawmakers backed away from a plan to reinstate stiff penalties on Chinese telecom firm ZTE, handing a win to President Trump, who had personally intervened to save the Beijing company,” the New York Times reports.

Congressional leaders removed a provision, tucked into a military policy bill, that would have stopped the Trump administration from lifting penalties on ZTE. Rather than prevent the company from buying American technology, the bill will simply limit federal purchases of ZTE products, such as handsets.

NBC News: “Hours after President Trump departed NATO headquarters Thursday, U.S. military leaders embarked on a full-scale ‘damage control’ operation with calls to their counterparts across Europe to reassure them that America will abide by its defense commitments in the region.”

“The outreach, directed by the Pentagon leadership, came after Trump threatened to reassess those commitments during a gathering with NATO allies in Brussels.”

“The United States is preparing to undertake a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told Reuters, a year after President Trump begrudgingly agreed to extend America’s involvement in the 17-year-old war,” Reuters reports.

“Officials said Trump has shown signs of frustration over the lack of progress since he unveiled a strategy last August that committed to an open-ended deployment of U.S. military advisers, trainers and special forces and increased air support for Afghan security forces. The goal was to force the Taliban militants to open peace talks with the Kabul government.”

“Trump was opposed to remaining in America’s longest war, but was convinced by his advisers to give it more time.”

“The Pentagon is analyzing the cost and impact of a large-scale withdrawal or transfer of American troops stationed in Germany amid growing tensions between President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” the Washington Post reports.

“The effort follows Trump’s expression of interest in removing the troops, made during a meeting earlier this year with White House and military aides, U.S. officials said. Trump was said to have been taken aback by the size of the U.S. presence, which includes about 35,000 active-duty troops, and complained that other countries were not contributing fairly to joint security or paying enough to NATO.”