With Jacqueline Feldscher, Connor O’Brien and Lara Seligman

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— President Trump threatened to veto the defense policy bill while the White House budget chief slammed proposed nuclear weapons cuts.

— Rep. Mike Rogers clears a major hurdle to be the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

— Michèle Flournoy sat down for an interview with Joe Biden to be his defense secretary, and it “went well.”

IT’S WEDNESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at [email protected], and follow on Twitter @bryandbender, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

ROGERS GETS THE NOD: The House Republican Steering Committee on Tuesday chose Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama over Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Rob Wittman of Virginia to be the top Republican on House Armed Services to replace retiring Rep. Mac Thornberry, according to a source familiar with the situation, our colleague Connor O’Brien reports.

Rogers, who previously chaired the Armed Services Strategic Forces panel and is the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, is considered the most conservative of the three contenders.

His backers argued that his priorities, relationships in the GOP conference, fundraising prowess and legislative record made him the strongest candidate, including his leading role in the establishment of a separate Space Force.

The selection of Rogers, which must still be approved by the House GOP Conference, would also put him in line to chair the committee if Republicans retake the House in 2022.

RACE FOR APPROPRIATIONS CHAIR: On the Democratic side, the House Steering and Policy Committee on Tuesday endorsed Rep. Rosa DeLauro as the next chair of the Appropriations Committee — but the battle isn’t over, POLITICO’s Caitlin Emma and Sarah Ferris report.

DeLauro has been in a three-way battle with Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Marcy Kaptur for nearly a year. The competition now comes down to whether the Connecticut Democrat can secure the post when the full caucus is expected to vote on Thursday.

‘THE CREDIBILITY OF THE DETERRENT’: The White House budget director is objecting to proposed cuts to nuclear weapons and missile defenses in the Senate’s fiscal 2021 appropriations bill, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.

“These programs are integral to the Administration’s nuclear triad modernization and to sustaining the credibility of the deterrent of the United States,” said Russ Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, our colleague Jacqeuline Feldscher reports.

He also objected to reductions in missile defense spending and a plan to cut $2.1 billion from the Pentagon’s research, development, testing and evaluation efforts. Vought also advocated for an additional $2.76 billion to purchase a second Virginia-class attack submarine.

NDAA’s 11TH HOUR HANGUP: President Donald Trump's push to repeal the legal shield for social media companies is presenting a last-minute complication for a final National Defense Authorization Act, O'Brien reports.

The standoff only deepened late Tuesday when Trump threatened to veto any defense policy bill that doesn't include the provision.

"Section 230, which is a liability shielding gift from the U.S. to 'Big Tech' (the only companies in America that have it - corporate welfare!), is a serious threat to our National Security & Election Integrity. Our Country can never be safe & secure if we allow it to stand," he tweeted.

"Therefore, if the very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk," Trump added.

A senior House staffer said the issue has no chance of success with Democrats. “It’s a fucking joke. This is a complex debate that has no business as an eleventh-hour airdrop.”

REBUKING THE PRESIDENT? Congress will soon have its final chance to rein in Trump’s foreign policy agenda when lawmakers force votes to block a weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates, POLITICO’s Andrew Desiderio reports.

Senior defense officials have already started lobbying lawmakers to oppose the series of bipartisan measures that could soon come to the floor to halt a $23 billion deal for advanced weaponry to the Gulf nation, according to congressional aides.

“I think there’s a lot of things that simply they don’t have answers for — things that are critical to be considered,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, who is leading the effort to overturn the weapons sale alongside Sens. Chris Murphy and Rand Paul.

SASC HEARS FROM NAVY, MARINE BRASS: Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s readiness and management support subcommittee at 9:15 a.m.

‘FAR FROM INVULNERABLE’: NATO desperately needs a “new strategic concept,” according to a self-assessment the alliance published Tuesday that warns it’s ill-prepared to deal with an array of nontraditional threats.

The Cold War-era alliance also “should consider creating a new net assessment office, composed of both military and civilian staff and reporting directly to the Secretary General, with the mission of examining NATO’s strategic environment on the basis of agreed threats and challenges across the whole spectrum of military and non-military tools,” it says.

One of the biggest threats is disinformation. “Strategic competitors continue to demonstrate their growing capability and will to deploy the latest digital technologies against NATO and Allies, particularly in the information environment,” according to the assessment. “However, across the board, Allies have not invested sufficiently in the human, technical, and financial resources required to engage in a consistent and sustained manner ...”

But a major question also remains as to whether the 30-nation alliance can even hold together. “Inside NATO, societal divisions have arisen and representative democracy is being challenged,” the report says. “In many ways, the Alliance could be said to be formidable in military strength; but it is far from invulnerable to such political turbulence.”

The assessment is expected to be a major topic of discussion at a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers set to begin today.

CLOSING IN ON A SECDEF? Michèle Flournoy, long considered the top candidate for secretary of defense, formally interviewed with President-elect Joe Biden this week, three people close to the transition told our colleague Lara Seligman. And the session “went well,” one of them relayed Tuesday night.

Flournoy was the early frontrunner, but has faced growing scrutiny over her ties to the defense industry and past policy clashes with Biden. But the biggest hurdle facing her nomination appears to be pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus and progressive groups for Biden to appoint a more diverse Cabinet.

Related: Lawmakers to Biden: 'Step it up' on Cabinet diversity, via POLITICO’s Megan Cassella, Laura Barrón-López and Alice Miranda Ollstein.

And: Anticipating Senate bottlenecks, Biden plans a nomination workaround, via POLITICO's Nahal Toosi, Tyler Pager, and Andrew Desiderio.

MORE ARMS SALES: The State Department on Tuesday approved six proposed foreign arms sales totaling more than $1.5 billion, our colleague Jacqueline Feldscher reports.

The deals include: support services to the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense over the next five years worth $350 million; refurbishment and modernization of 76 Bradley fighting vehicles in Croatia at a cost of $757 million; maintenance support for Canada’s fleet of C-17 aircraft at a cost of $275 million; $70 million worth of MK54 lightweight torpedoes for Brazil; up to 300 Humvees for Lebanon worth more than $55 million; and two Phalanx close-in weapons systems and 4,000 rounds to South Korea for ship defense at a cost of $39 million.

Congress has 30 days to block the sales if it objects..

BLUE ORIGIN POWERS UP: Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin has added a number of bold-faced Pentagon names to its newly-formed board of advisers, the company announced Tuesday.

They include: former Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson; retired Maj. Gen. Sue Mashiko, who was deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office; former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Kari Bingen; and former chief scientist of the Air Force Dan Hastings.

‘MISSIONS THAT WILL MATERIALIZE': The Space Force is preparing to tap the commercial space industry to track objects in space, improve satellites already in orbit and predict space weather, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

“Today we leverage commercial launch, we leverage commercial [satellite communications],” he said. “We also are now beginning to leverage commercial ... space domain awareness and I will tell you there are other missions that will materialize in the future [like] commercial weather [and] commercial on-orbit servicing.”

ALSO: The libertarian-leaning Cato Institute is out with a new white paper that tackles whether the Space Force is “ahead of its time or dreadfully premature.”

Alexander Vindman, the retired Army lieutenant colonel and National Security Council official who testified against President Donald Trump in the impeachment proceedings, has joined the board of directors of the Renew Democracy Initiative.

— Another official is ousted from the Pentagon: The New York Times

— DOE issues guidance calling for critical minerals projects: POLITICO Pro

— We need a backup for GPS. Actually, we need several of them, by Robert Cardillo: Defense One

— Russia deploys missiles to Pacific island claimed by Japan: The Associated Press

— In Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal, Putin applied a deft new touch: The New York Times

— Trump administration launches rewards program targeting North Korea and China: The Washington Post

— Nuclear scientist’s killing prompts Iranian lawmakers to act: The Wall Street Journal

— Army hits back against false claim that soldiers died in CIA op to nab election servers: Military.com