[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1009 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1009
To establish the Baltic Security Initiative for the purpose of
strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Baltic countries, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 12, 2025
Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Booker, Mr. Padilla, Mr.
King, Ms. Slotkin, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Rosen, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Cassidy,
Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Gallego) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Baltic Security Initiative for the purpose of
strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Baltic countries, 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 ``Baltic Security Initiative Act''.
SEC. 2. BALTIC SECURITY INITIATIVE.
(a) Establishment.--Pursuant to the authority provided in chapter
16 of title 10, United States Code, the Secretary of Defense shall
establish and carry out an initiative, to be known as the ``Baltic
Security Initiative'' (in this section referred to as the
``Initiative''), for the purpose of deepening security cooperation with
the military forces of the Baltic countries.
(b) Relationship to Existing Authorities.--The Initiative required
by subsection (a) shall be carried out pursuant to the authorities
provided in title 10, United States Code.
(c) Objectives.--The objectives of the Initiative shall be--
(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 of Defense; 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 of Defense 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 (b).
(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 of Defense $350,000,000 for each of the fiscal
years 2026, 2027, and 2028 to carry out the Initiative.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Secretary of Defense should seek to require matching funds
from each of the Baltic countries that participate in the
Initiative in amounts commensurate with amounts provided by the
Department of Defense 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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