Top News Second Trump-Kim summit to go ahead without list of nuclear North Korean weapons, Pence says NBC News China appears to relax North Korea sanctions: report to U.S. Congress Reuters Smith aims to scrap Trump’s nuclear weapons policy Defense News East Asia Second Trump-Kim summit to go ahead without list of nuclear North Korean weapons, Pence says NBC News11/15/18 The U.S. will not require North Korea to provide a complete list of its nuclear weapons and missile sites before President Donald Trump and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un meet for a second time, Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News exclusively on Thursday. Since an initial agreement for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula was reached between Trump and Kim in June, the United States has pressed the North Koreans to provide information on the entirety of its nuclear operations. China appears to relax North Korea sanctions: report to U.S. Congress Reuters11/14/18 A U.S. congressional commission said on Wednesday that China appears to have relaxed enforcement of sanctions on North Korea and called on the Treasury Department to provide a report on Chinese compliance within 180 days. In its annual report, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the Treasury report should include a classified list of Chinese financial institutions, businesses, and officials involved in trading with North Korea that could be subject to future sanctions. Russia/FSU/Europe Russia’s Putin discusses nuclear pact with U.S.’s Pence Reuters11/15/18 Russian President Vladimir Putin said he discussed Washington’s plans to exit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) arms treaty with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence when they met in Singapore on Thursday. Speaking to reporters at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Putin said he and Pence had also discussed relations with Iran. U.S. Nuclear Policy Smith aims to scrap Trump’s nuclear weapons policy Defense News11/14/18 Rep. Adam Smith — set to become the next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the new Congress — and other Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday they hope to use their party’s takeover of the House to check the Trump administration’s expansive policies toward nuclear weapons. Speaking at an event sponsored by the Ploughshares Fund, an anti-nuclear weapons group, Smith said he wants to see a redo of the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, to continue multilateral nuclear pacts and to advance a no-first-use policy toward nuclear weapons for the United States. STRATCOM head on key lawmaker’s arms control agenda: ‘If you want to save money, change the threat’ Defense News11/14/18 If Rep. Adam Smith gains control of the House Armed Services Committee, as projected, the head of U.S. Strategic Command has some advice for him: There are ways to trim down the cost of the nuclear arsenal, but don’t cut a leg off of the nuclear triad. “When Congressman Smith asks me — and he has — I will tell him next year the same thing I told him last year and the year before,” Gen. John Hyten said during a Nov. 14 discussion at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics. Will Budget Crunch Pentagon Laser & Space Investments? Breaking Defense11/13/18 Despite increasing uncertainty over President Trump’s surprise proposal to cut $33 billion from defense, the Pentagon’s R&D chief says he’s confident more cash will be pumped into laser weapons and new space capabilities. Opinion and Analysis North Korean Missile Bases are a Violation, but Not a ‘Deception’ The National Interest Bruce Klingner 11/14/18 More than a dozen North Korean missile bases could accommodate all types of missiles, which means the nuclear negotiation process cannot be deemed a success.