WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation, secured major wins in the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed the House in bipartisan fashion and is on its way to be signed into law by President Biden.
The NDAA is the legislative vehicle that authorizes policies, programs, and spending for the Department of Defense. As a member of House Armed Services Committee and subcommittee chairman, Rep. Gallagher is responsible for helping draft this critical legislation and was able to secure major wins for Northeast Wisconsin and our national defense, specifically in strengthening our cyber security and ability to counter CCP aggression.
“We are in the window of maximum danger when it comes to a conflict with China over Taiwan. Ensuring our military has the resources to deter, and if necessary, win such a conflict must be our primary focus in Congress. This year’s NDAA helps us achieve these objectives by requiring the Pentagon to develop a strategy for deploying and utilizing long-range conventional missiles in the Indo-Pacific, enhancing military cybersecurity cooperation with Taiwan, and strengthening programs that better integrate cutting-edge technologies from the private sector into our military. It also refocuses the Pentagon on warfighting – not wokeness – by gutting the Pentagon’s DEI bureaucracy, banning Critical Race Theory, and ensuring our men and women in uniform are promoted based on nothing more than their merits. All the while, it ensures hardworking Wisconsinites continue to play an outsized role in our national defense by fully authorizing funding for two Frigates built at Marinette Marine and supporting Oshkosh’s medium and heavy tactical vehicles.
“While this bill is absolutely essential, it is not alone sufficient to address the growing national security threats around the globe. Operating under Continuing Resolutions has hurt our men and women in uniform’s ability to do their job and the defense industrial base’s ability to build the weapons and the Navy we need. Absent a defense appropriations bill that fully funds the priorities laid out in this NDAA, Congress will only tie our warfighters’ hands behind their backs and drastically damage our ability to protect Americans and our interests around the globe. We should celebrate the passage of this NDAA by staying here next week and passing the funding for it, not by going home and saying job well done.”
The bill included a number of provisions benefitting Wisconsin and supporting new innovation in the military:
- Authorizes over $2 billion for Marinette to build two Frigates;
- Fully supports the Family of Medium and Heavy Tactical Vehicles;
- Elevates the Defense Innovation Unit within the Department of Defense and introduces a new, innovative fielding enterprise focused on bringing non-traditional vendors into the armed services to strengthen our warfighting capabilities;
- Establishes a Joint Transition Office for Energetic Materials to modernize and accelerate the development and scaling of advanced materials to make our missiles a more capable and powerful deterrent;
- Institutes a pilot program for Anything-as-a-Service model to promote competition in and expansion of the defense industry and to continuously improve buying practices to bring costs down;
- Requires a continuous analysis of key INDOPACOM systems’ supply chains and recommendations to ensure we are capable of supporting our priority theater’s needs in the industrial base;
- Establishes a military pharmaceutical and medical device vulnerability working group to identify and close gaps in our military pharmaceutical stockpiles and ensure in the event of a conflict that our troops have the medical supplies they need; and
- Supports innovative digital night vision technology produced in Wisconsin.
The bill also includes several China-related provisions led by Rep. Gallagher or relating to the work of the Select Committee on the CCP and its Ten for Taiwan report:
- Includes the text of the American Security Drone Act, which bans the federal operation and procurement of DJI drones;
- Fences funding to advance oversight surrounding DoD’s implementation of Sec. 1087 of the FY 23 NDAA, which mandated the establishment of a Joint Force Headquarters responsible for the operational employment of forces in the Western Pacific;
- Requires an independent review of DoD’s implementation of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative;
- Fences funding pending a feasibility study on accelerating the delivery of Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Taiwan;
- Enhances cross-strait deterrence through a new program of military cybersecurity cooperation with Taiwan;
- Requires a conventional ground-based missile deployment strategy in the Indo-Pacific;
- Mandates a “building block” based assessment of the PRC defense budget to accurately assess overall PRC defense spending;
- Advances Congressional oversight of the $19 billion backlog for Taiwan Foreign Military Sales;
- Supports a joint training program with the military forces of Taiwan.
- Secures defense supply chains by prohibiting DoD from contracting or procuring goods or services from Chinese military companies identified on its 1260H list;
- Requires DoD to conduct an assessment of biotechnology companies headquartered in China to determine if they should be identified as Chinese military companies operating in the United States and included on the 1260H list;
- Prohibits DoD from utilizing consulting services from firms that engage in “double dipping” by also consulting with the People’s Liberation Army or affiliated entities;
- Sunsets DoD waivers surrounding the continued operation of Confucius Institutes by the end of Fiscal Year 2026;
- Counters the threat posed by the CCP’s LOGINK logistics management platform at home and abroad;
- Requires an INDOPACOM assessment on options surrounding low-cost anti-ship munitions, as well as the appropriate mix between existing long range, short range, and low-cost anti-ship weapons.
- Enhances oversight implementation of the FY 23 NDAA joint multi-year plan to fulfill the defensive requirements of the military forces of Taiwan.
- Advances the integration of long-range anti-ship missiles onto legacy aircraft fleets.
Watch Rep. Gallagher’s Remarks on the NDAA prior to its passage on the House Floor HERE.
