NK still making bomb fuel; F-15X details; Big personnel reform, at last; Stop losing the infowar; and just a bit more...

North Korea is still making nuclear-bomb fuel despite what U.S. officials have said is a pledge to denuclearize. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked about it at a Wednesday Senate committee. “Yes, that’s correct,” he responded. “Yes, they continue to produce fissile material.” The Guardian reports: “Pompeo declined to respond when asked whether North Korea was continuing to pursue submarine-launched ballistic missiles or whether North Korea’s nuclear program was advancing generally.” More, here.

From Defense One

New Details About the F-15X That Boeing is Pitching the US Air Force // Marcus Weisgerber: The single-seat jet is being built to shoot down enemy aircraft, pound targets on the air, and even hit ships at sea.

How to Stop Losing the Information War // Maj. Luke Karl, Maj. Joseph Lane, and Cmdr. David Sanchez: No one is in charge of messaging, counter-messaging, and coordinating America’s instruments of information power. Here’s a way to change that.

How the Five Eyes Can Harness Commercial Innovation // Daniel Kliman and Brendan Thomas-Noone: Here are a few concrete ways to get this alliance’s vibrant commercial technology sectors to address common national-security concerns.

Pulling Security Clearances Is Just the Start // Eliot A. Cohen: Another norm falls victim to Trump as he turns the power of government against his critics.

North Korea Talks Have Entered the Realm of Small Victories // Uri Friedman: After the summit, the grind.

The Marines Still Need a New Amphibious Combat Vehicle // Rep. Rob Wittman: Those who argue that beach landings are irrelevant are not seeing the whole picture.

How the U.S. is Preparing for a Quantum Future // John Breeden II: Not surprisingly, it's a complex issue.

Welcome to this Thursday edition of The D Brief  by Bradley Peniston. And if you find this useful, consider forwarding it to a friend or colleague. They can subscribe here for free.

Officer personnel reform, at last? Congress is putting the finishing touches on a bill that could bring a once-in-a-generation update to how the U.S. military woos, promotes, and tries to keep its officers. “These are the most significant reforms we’ve seen since the late 1970s — if not longer,” Brad Carson, who led the team that laid the groundwork for the changes during the Obama administration, told Military Times.

Some of the changes:

• “Ending some of the up-or-out rules that force officers to leave military service if they fail to be promoted along rigid timelines.
• “Allowing for mid-career civilians with high-demand skills to enter the military up to the rank of O-6.
• “Allowing promotion boards to move high-performing officers higher on the promotion list regardless of their time in service.
• “Allowing service secretaries to create “an alternative promotion process” for specific career fields.”

Trying to keep hot runners and experts. “The bill aims to make military promotion boards place more emphasis on merit and job performance rather than seniority. The changes would also allow officers the opportunity to develop more technical expertise in increasingly complex career fields that are essential to future missions.” Read on, here.

Tri-service agreement on hypersonic weapons. The Army, Navy, and Air Force are joining forces to develop super-speedy missiles, a partnership that gives them hope for such weapons earlier than expected, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told an audience at the Washington Post on Wednesday. Stars & Stripes: “Wilson said she believes by working with the other military services, a prototype weapon could be tested by 2020 or 2021, significantly earlier than Pentagon officials had previously publicly said such a trial would be expected.” More, here.

Trade wars are bad for defense. That’s the argument from UK prof Robert Farley, whose new piece at The Diplomat takes us through a capsule history of America’s fostering and participation in an ever-more-globalized economic system helped propel its military beyond the Soviet Union’s. “So where does that leave us now? The United States appears to stand on the brink of another long-term competition in military technology, only this time with a far more dynamic economy,” Farley writes. And “instead of attempting to leverage the advantages it has established through standing at the head of the global trading order, the U.S. has decided to launch trade wars against not only China, but also several of the world’s most innovative economies.” Read on, here.

And finally: “We are fighting for information about war.” Politico reports on “an increasingly adversarial relationship between Defense Secretary James Mattis’ Cabinet department and the reporters who cover it.” Examples include military public-affairs officials cutting off press conferences when asked a question. As well, “Mattis has not briefed reporters on-camera in the Pentagon since April, while his chief spokesperson, Dana White, has not done so since May.”

Quote: Kevin Baron, the executive editor of Defense One, said Trump’s simultaneous war on the press and hyperfocus on media have combined to fundamentally change interactions inside the Pentagon. “We used to have the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs side by side in briefing room at least once a month, and if we didn’t get once a month, we complained. We’re so far beyond the way things used to be, and it’s all because of Trump.” Read on, here.

See also: The White House officials banned a CNN reporter from a press event on Tuesday after she asked questions they didn't like.