WASHINGTON, D.C. – Led by Chairman Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces today released their proposals for the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Subcommittee will meet at 12:00pm ET on Wednesday, July 28 in Rayburn 2118 and via the WebEx platform. The markup will be live streamed on the committee’s website. The Subcommittee's mark is available here. 
 
Specifically, this year's proposal:
 
Strategic Weapons
  • Requires the Department of Defense to conduct an assessment of infrastructure necessary to support strategic weapons programs, including nuclear, hypersonic, and missile defense systems.  
Nuclear Deterrence/Nonproliferation
  • Increases oversight of Department of Defense and Department of Energy nuclear weapon and warhead programs. 
  • Requires that the President participate in at least one nuclear command and control exercise per term.
  • Directs an independent review of the nuclear command, control, and communications system by the National Academy of Sciences.
  • Expands the scope of the Department of Energy annual weapons stockpile assessment of all nuclear warheads to include a cybersecurity component. 
  • Requires reports and briefings on:
    • Sexual assault prevention and response efforts of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s security forces;
    • The National Nuclear Security Administration’s artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science capabilities; and
    • Sustaining and improving monitoring, detection, and verification capabilities for nonproliferation.
Missile Defense
  • Requires the Secretary of Defense to expeditiously identify an architecture for the Defense of Guam from air- and ballistic-missile threats.
  • Establishes a Congressional notice and wait period prior to implementation of changes to non-standard missile defense requirements and acquisition processes.
  • Allows the Director of the Missile Defense Agency to continue research, engineering, and development for promising directed energy technologies that could be used to counter ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
  • Requires a report on a layered missile defense architecture for the homeland. 
National Security Space
  • Requires the Chief of Space Operations to submit a report to the congressional defense committees regarding the “Range of the Future” initiative, including any proposals to improve U.S. Space Force launch ranges in support of future national security space launch requirements.
  • Supports efforts of the Department to develop a hybrid space architecture, integrating both commercial and government systems.
  • Requires reports and briefings on:
    • The Department’s ability to leverage commercial space capabilities across several areas, including imagery, weather, and space situational awareness; and
    • Plans to launch an alternate position, navigation, and timing satellite constellation.

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