WASHINGTON, D.C. – Led by Chairman Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), the Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces today released their proposals for the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Subcommittee will meet at 12:00pm ET on Wednesday, June 8 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 includes: 

Nuclear Deterrence/Nonproliferation
  • Supports greater oversight into risk management and prioritization activities across the nuclear weapons portfolio by requiring the Secretary of Defense to implement a portfolio management framework for nuclear forces and establishing a role for the Nuclear Weapons Council in coordinating risk management efforts between the Department of Defense and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
  • Bolsters the ability of NNSA to address government workforce needs in carrying out a critical, growing mission by replacing the cap on National Nuclear Security Administration personnel with a requirement to not exceed 110 percent of the total number of employees during the previous year.
  • Requires various reports and briefings, to include:
    • The effectiveness of Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications Enterprise Center;
    • The Air Force's plan for the Survivable Airborne Operations Center;
    • Quality assurance functions across the Department of Energy Environmental Management complex;
    • Implementation of nuclear forensics recommendations; and
    • Implementation of the University-Based Defense Nuclear Policy Collaboration Program.
Missile Defense
  • Requires a strategy from the Department of Defense on how to implement asymmetric capabilities to defeat hypersonic missile threats.
  • Reenforces an FY17 NDAA requirement for the designation of an acquisition organization with the responsibility of developing an architecture for protection of the U.S. homeland from cruise missile threats. 
  • Directs the Secretary of Defense to contract with a federally funded research center to provide an independent analysis regarding the proposed integrated air and missile defense architecture for the territory of Guam, and further requires the Secretary of Defense to provide an update on analysis conducted regarding the integrated air and missile defense architecture of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility.
  • Includes an Administration legislative proposal to repeal section 1676 of the FY18 NDAA, which requires the Missile Defense Agency to transfer programs to the Services once they had achieved milestone C, or equivalent, approval.
  • Requires the Secretary of the Army to reassess the current Patriot battery requirement in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
  • Requires various reports and briefings, to include:
    • Integration of artificial intelligence technologies into hypersonic missile defense programs;
    • Addressing Patriot system obsolescence issues; and
    • An updated assessment on the ability to counter missile threats to U.S. territory. 
National Security Space
  • Requires various reports and briefings, to include:
    • The use of radio frequency remote sensing capabilities to support Combatant Commander needs
    • Efforts to establish a common launch integrator, which could reduce cost and schedule for future missions of the U.S. Space Force; and
    • Future plans for commercial synthetic aperture radar imagery.
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