S.Amdt. 572

SA 572. Mr. KING (for himself and Ms. Murkowski) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2226, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle E of title III, add the following:

SEC. 345. BRIEFING ON ARCTIC WATCHTOWER RESEARCH.

(a) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) confronting and adapting to rapidly evolving challenges
in the Arctic region, including coastal resilience, would
benefit from increased place-based, forward operating
research capacity;
(2) establishing strategically located watchtower field
research centers to conduct on-the-ground research in Arctic
gateways could improve the reliability and breadth of
monitoring data to inform decision making of the Department
of Defense, such as when defense operations impact mammalian
habitat;
(3) locally-based, forward operating research benefits from
robust partnerships with regional and local universities,
Tribal communities, and international communities; and
(4) the Secretary of Defense should consider a role for
watchtower research efforts in the Arctic region as part of
the execution of the Arctic strategy of the Department.
(b) Briefing.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the

[[Page S2698]]

Secretary of Defense shall provide to the Committees on Armed
Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a
briefing on the potential and return on investment for
watchtower field research centers in the Arctic region.
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