[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3353 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3353
To accelerate the identification of solutions to the challenges of the
Joint Force by assigning to specific components of the Department of
Defense certain responsibilities for the delivery of essential
integrated joint warfighting capabilities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 28, 2023
Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To accelerate the identification of solutions to the challenges of the
Joint Force by assigning to specific components of the Department of
Defense certain responsibilities for the delivery of essential
integrated joint warfighting capabilities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``JADC2 Implementation Act''.
SEC. 2. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR COMPONENTS OF OFFICE OF
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR JOINT ALL-DOMAIN COMMAND AND
CONTROL IN SUPPORT OF INTEGRATED JOINT WARFIGHTING.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish the roles
and responsibilities of components of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense for development and delivery to combatant commands of
capabilities that are essential to integrated joint warfighting
capabilities, as follows:
(1) The Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Mission
Capabilities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
for Research and Engineering (in this section referred to as
the ``Deputy Chief'') shall be responsible for--
(A) identifying new technology and operational
concepts for experimentation and prototyping for
delivery to the Joint Force to address key operational
challenges;
(B) providing technical support for the Joint Force
in exploring and analyzing new capabilities,
operational concepts, and systems-of-systems
composition, including through advanced modeling and
simulation; and
(C) executing associated experimentation, through
the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) or
another mechanism.
(2) The Executive Director for Acquisition, Integration,
and Interoperability of the Office of the Under Secretary of
Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment shall be responsible
for--
(A) enabling the acquisition of cross-domain,
joint, and cross-system kill chains and mission
capabilities, including resourcing of modifications
necessary for integration and interoperability among
kill chain and mission components; and
(B) ensuring the effectiveness of cross-domain,
joint, and cross-system kill chains and mission
capabilities through analysis and testing.
(3) The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer
shall be responsible for creating and operating a factory-based
approach for software development that allows for iterative,
secure, and continuous deployment of developmental, prototype,
and operational tools and capabilities from multiple vendors to
test networks and operational networks for combatant commanders
to--
(A) gain operational awareness, make decisions, and
take actions;
(B) integrate relevant data sources to support
target selection, target prioritization, and weapon-
target pairing; and
(C) prosecute targets through military service and
combat support agency networks, tools, and systems.
(b) Additional Deputy Chief Authorities.--
(1) In general.--The Deputy Chief may exercise the
authorities described in paragraph (2) in accordance with this
subsection to carry out the responsibilities of the Deputy
Chief described in subsection (a)(1).
(2) Authorities described.--The authorities described in
this paragraph are--
(A) the authority to enter contracts to acquire
goods and services; and
(B) except as otherwise provided by this
subsection, the authority to appoint, prescribe rates
of pay for, and provide additional pay to highly
qualified experts.
(3) Acquisition authority.--The laws and regulations
applicable to acquisitions of goods and services by the
Secretary of Defense shall apply to the acquisition of goods
and services by the Deputy Chief pursuant to paragraph (2)(A).
(4) Hiring authorities.--
(A) Appointment limits.--When exercising the
authority described in paragraph (2)(B), the Deputy
Chief may--
(i) appoint only individuals with
demonstrated expertise in the development,
testing, production, and delivery or
integration of modular systems and major system
components (as defined in section 4401(b) of
title 10, United States Code), including
autonomous vehicles, advanced sensors and radio
systems, and software systems; and
(ii) appoint individuals to not more than
12 positions as program managers in the Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research
and Engineering.
(B) Term extension.--The Deputy Chief may extend
the period which an employee appointed pursuant to
paragraph (2)(B) may serve by up to seven additional
years.
(C) Excepted service positions.--Each position to
which the Deputy Chief may appoint an individual
pursuant to paragraph (2)(B) shall be in the excepted
service.
(c) Coordination.--The officials referred to in paragraphs (1),
(2), and (3) of subsection (a) shall coordinate and align their plans
and activities to implement subsection (a) among themselves and with
the combatant commanders.
(d) Initial Prioritization.--In developing an initial set of
capabilities described in subsection (a), the officials referred to in
paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of that subsection shall prioritize the
requirements of the United States Indo-Pacific Command.
(e) Briefings Required.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter through
December 31, 2026, the officials referred to in paragraphs (1), (2),
and (3) of subsection (a) shall provide briefings to the congressional
defense committees on their plans and activities to implement
subsection (a).
(f) Report Required.--Not later than March 1, 2024, the Chief Data
and Artificial Intelligence Officer, in consultation with the Deputy
Chief and the Executive Director for Acquisition, Integration, and
Interoperability of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition and Sustainment, shall submit to the congressional defense
committees a report that includes--
(1) a plan and associated timelines for deploying and
demonstrating a joint data integration layer prototype in the
United States Indo-Pacific Command area of operations;
(2) a plan and associated timelines for transitioning such
a prototype, upon its successful demonstration, to fielding as
soon as practicable given the urgent need for a joint all-
domain command and control (commonly referred to as ``JADC2'')
capability;
(3) a plan and associated timelines for reaching initial
operational capability for a joint data integration layer
within the United States Indo-Pacific Command area of
operations;
(4) a plan and associated timelines for scaling that
capability to future areas of operation across the combatant
commands;
(5) an assessment of the required type and number of
personnel at the United States Indo-Pacific Command to enable
sustained growth in JADC2 capabilities; and
(6) a plan and associated timelines for--
(A) identifying specific critical effects chains
necessary to overcome anti-access and area denial
capabilities and offensive military operations of
foreign adversaries; and
(B) creating, demonstrating, deploying, and
sustaining such chains.
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