S.Amdt. 3822

SA 3822. Ms. ERNST (for herself and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 3748 proposed by Mr.
Wicker (for himself and Mr. Reed) to the bill S. 2296, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2026 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 XII, add the following:

SEC. 1265. MIDDLE EAST DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION
COOPERATION INITIATIVE.

(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Defense, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of State and in coordination
with the Defense Innovation Community of Entities, shall
establish an initiative to cooperate with defense innovation
partners in the Middle East for the purpose of developing a
strong international community of defense innovation entities
among such partners--
(1) to create opportunities to procure the leading
commercial technology from international companies, including
United States companies and such companies located in
countries that are defense innovation partners in the Middle
East, so as to meet the needs of warfighters that are such
partners;
(2) to develop interoperable solutions compatible with
capabilities of the United States and such partners;
(3) to build defense technology and defense innovation
capacity in the United States and in countries that are such
partners;
(4) to mature and expand the reach and impact of the
innovation ecosystems within and among such partners;
(5) to strengthen the collective defense innovation bases
and security posture of the United States and such partners
through co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment
opportunities; and
(6) to implement other partnerships, as the Secretary of
Defense considers necessary.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the initiative established
under subsection (a) is to address--
(1) shared challenges facing the United States and defense
innovation partners in the Middle East from--
(A) the Islamic Republic of Iran;
(B) Iran-backed terrorist threats, including Hamas, the
Houthis, and Hezbollah; and
(C) any other violent extremist organization within the
area of responsibility of the United States Central Command;
and
(2) any other such shared challenge, as determined by the
Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the commander of
the United States Central Command and the Defense Innovation
Community of Entities.
(c) Focus.--The initiative established under subsection (a)
shall focus on the following capabilities:
(1) Unmanned systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles,
unmanned underwater vehicles, and unmanned surface vehicles.
(2) Capabilities to counter unmanned systems, including
kinetic, high-power microwave, and directed energy
capabilities.
(3) Advanced intelligence and its defense applications.
(4) Any other capability necessary to resolve the shared
challenges described in subsection (b), as determined by the
Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the commander of
the United States Central Command and the Defense Innovation
Community of Entities.
(d) Exploratory Defense Innovation Partnerships.--To
implement the initiative established under subsection (a),
the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of the
Secretary of State and in coordination with the Defense
Innovation Community of Entities, shall seek to enter into
exploratory defense innovation partnerships with defense
innovation partners in the Middle East.

[[Page S6431]]

(e) Determination on Entering in Mature Defense Innovation
Partnerships.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of State and in coordination
with the Defense Innovation Community of Entities, shall
issue a determination as to whether it is feasible for the
United States to enter into a mature defense innovation
partnership described in paragraph (2).
(2) Mature defense innovation partnerships described.--A
mature defense innovation partnership described in this
paragraph may include--
(A) the signing of a memorandum of understanding or defense
innovation cooperation agreement between or among the United
States and one or more defense innovation partners in the
Middle East to facilitate joint defense innovation;
(B) the implementation of liaison officer exchange programs
to deepen the integration of defense innovation efforts of
the United States and one or more defense innovation partners
in the Middle East;
(C) the implementation of commercial opportunities
programming, including--
(i) prize challenges;
(ii) dual-use accelerators; and
(iii) educational series; and
(D) the solicitation, through commercial solutions
openings, of innovative defense solutions from companies
located within the country of one or more defense innovation
partners in the Middle East.
(3) Consideration.--The Secretary of Defense, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of State and in coordination
with the Defense Innovation Community of Entities, shall make
the determination required by paragraph (1) based on the
following considerations:
(A) An evaluation as to the whether the implementation of
exploratory defense innovation partnerships has served the
interests of United States national security.
(B) An assessment of potential benefits and risks to United
States national security interests from pursuing mature
defense innovation partnerships described in paragraph (2),
including the risks posed by defense and technology
relationships between defense innovation partners in the
Middle East and the People's Republic of China.
(C) An evaluation as to whether the pursuit of such a
mature defense innovation partnership will unacceptably
reduce the ability of the Defense Innovation Community of
Entities to pursue defense innovation partnerships with
allies and partners in the areas of responsibility of the
United States Europe Command and the United States Indo-
Pacific Command.
(D) Any other matter the Secretary of Defense considers
relevant.
(4) Revision.--In the case of a determination under
paragraph (1) that it is not feasible to enter into a mature
defense innovation partnership described in paragraph (2),
the Secretary of Defense may--
(A) at any time if circumstances have changed to make such
a partnership feasible, revise such determination; and
(B) not earlier than 30 days after the date on which the
Secretary submits to the appropriate committees of Congress a
justification for the revision of such determination, enter
into such a partnership.
(f) Annual Certification.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of the
Central Intelligence Agency, with respect to each country
described in paragraph (2), shall submit to the appropriate
committees of Congress a certification as to whether the
country--
(A) has in place and is fulfilling comprehensive and
effective measures to protect and prevent the transfer of
United States military technology to third parties; and
(B) is intentionally misusing defense articles procured or
developed through the initiative under this section,
including against civilians or civilian infrastructure.
(2) Countries described.--The countries described in this
paragraph are the following:
(A) Israel.
(B) The United Arab Emirates.
(C) The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(D) The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
(E) Qatar.
(F) The Kingdom of Bahrain.
(G) Each country within the area of responsibility of the
United States Central Command selected by the Secretary of
Defense, in coordination with the Commander of the United
States Central Command and the Defense Innovation Community
of Entities, as an ideal partner for collaboration in the
area of defense innovation.
(g) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of State and in coordination
with the Defense Innovation Community of Entities, shall
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report
that includes--
(1) a description of the implementation of exploratory
defense innovation partnerships; and
(2) the determination required by subsection (e) and a
justification for such determination.
(h) Protection of Intellectual Property.--The Secretary of
Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce,
shall take all necessary steps to ensure the protection from
foreign actors of the intellectual property of United States
companies that participate in the initiative established
under subsection (a).
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Defense innovation partner in the middle east.--The
term ``defense innovation partner in the Middle East'' means
a country with respect to which the Secretary of State, in
consultation with the Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, has submitted a certification under subsection (f)(1)
that the country--
(A) has in place and is fulfilling comprehensive and
effective measures to protect and prevent the transfer of
United States military technology to third parties; and
(B) is not intentionally misusing defense articles procured
or developed through initiative under this section, including
against civilians or civilian infrastructure.
(3) Exploratory defense innovation partnership.--The term
``exploratory defense innovation partnership'' means a
partnership that involves the following collaborative
activities between the United States and defense innovation
partners in the Middle East:
(A) Convening events focused on defense innovation, with
participation of representatives of government, industry, and
investors of the United States and defense innovation
partners in the Middle East.
(B) Information exchanges between the United States and
defense innovation partners in the Middle East to share best
practices with respect to the acquisition of commercial
technology that meets the needs of warfighters.
(C) Meetings to share lessons learned on rapidly
prototyping, experimenting, and scaling innovative defense
solutions during an ongoing military conflict.
(D) Any other collaborative activity to improve and
integrate the defense innovation base of the United States
and defense innovation partners in the Middle East.
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