To authorize the establishment of a Baltic Security Initiative for the purpose of strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Baltic countries.

SA 3825. Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Bennet, Mr.
Welch, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Gallego, and Ms. Baldwin)
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 C of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1230B. BALTIC SECURITY INITIATIVE.

(a) Establishment.--Pursuant to the authority provided in
chapter 16 of title 10, United States Code, the Secretary of
Defense may establish and carry out an initiative, to be
known as the ``Baltic Security Initiative'', for the purpose
of deepening security cooperation with the military forces of
the Baltic countries.
(b) Relationship to Existing Authorities.--An initiative
established under subsection (a) shall be carried out
pursuant to the authorities provided in title 10, United
States Code.
(c) Objectives.--The objectives of an initiative
established under subsection (a) should include--
(1) to achieve United States national security objectives
by--
(A) deterring aggression by the Russian Federation; and
(B) implementing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's
new Strategic Concept, which seeks to strengthen the
alliance's deterrence and defense posture by denying
potential adversaries any possible opportunities for
aggression;
(2) to enhance regional planning and cooperation among the
military forces of the Baltic countries, particularly with
respect to long-term regional capability projects,
including--
(A) long-range precision fire systems and capabilities;
(B) integrated air and missile defense;
(C) maritime domain awareness;
(D) land forces development, including stockpiling large
caliber ammunition;
(E) command, control, communications, computers,
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance;
(F) special operations forces development;
(G) coordination with and security enhancements for Poland,
which is a neighboring North Atlantic Treaty Organization
ally; and
(H) other military capabilities, as determined by the
Secretary; and
(3) with respect to the military forces of the Baltic
countries, to improve cyber defenses and resilience to hybrid
threats.
(d) Strategy.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of
Representatives a report setting forth a strategy for the
Department of Defense to achieve the objectives described in
subsection (c).
(2) Considerations.--The strategy required by this
subsection shall include a consideration of--
(A) security assistance programs for the Baltic countries
authorized as of the date on which the strategy is submitted;
(B) the ongoing security threats to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization's eastern flank posed by Russian
aggression, including as a result of the Russian Federation's
2022 invasion of Ukraine with support from Belarus; and
(C) the ongoing security threats to the Baltic countries
posed by the presence, coercive economic policies, and other
malign activities of the People's Republic of China.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
the Secretary $350,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2026,
2027, and 2028 to carry out an initiative established under
subsection (a).
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Secretary should seek to require matching funds from each
of the Baltic countries that participate in such an
initiative in amounts commensurate with amounts provided by
the Department for the initiative.
(f) Baltic Countries Defined.--In this section, the term
``Baltic countries'' means--
(1) Estonia;
(2) Latvia; and
(3) Lithuania.
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