[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1437 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1437

  To establish a partnership program to assist the military forces of 
     partner countries in developing and maintaining military-wide 
   transformational strategies for operational energy, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 3, 2023

 Ms. Duckworth introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish a partnership program to assist the military forces of 
     partner countries in developing and maintaining military-wide 
   transformational strategies for operational energy, 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 ``Energy Security for Overseas Troops 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR PARTNER COUNTRIES TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN 
              MILITARY-WIDE TRANSFORMATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR OPERATIONAL 
              ENERGY.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than January 1, 2025, the 
        Secretary of Defense shall establish a partnership program to 
        assist the military forces of partner countries in developing 
        and maintaining military-wide transformational strategies for 
        operational energy (in this section referred to as the 
        ``Program'').
            (2) Organization.--The Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
        Energy, Installations, and Environment, in consultation with 
        the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the Secretaries of 
        the military departments, the commanders of the combatant 
        commands, and any other individual the Secretary of Defense 
        considers appropriate, shall be responsible for, and shall 
        oversee, the Program.
    (b) Objective.--The objective of the Program is to promote the 
readiness of the United States Armed Forces and the military forces of 
partner countries for missions in contested logistics environments by 
reducing reliance on fossil fuels and employing more diverse and 
renewable operational energy sources so as to enhance energy security, 
energy resilience, and energy conservation, reduce logistical 
vulnerabilities, and ensure that supply lines are resilient to climate 
change, disruptions to energy supplies, and direct or indirect cyber 
attacks.
    (c) Activities.--
            (1) In general.--Under the Program, the United States Armed 
        Forces and the military forces of each participating partner 
        country shall, in coordination--
                    (A) establish policies to improve warfighting 
                capability through energy security and energy 
                resilience;
                    (B) integrate efforts to mitigate mutual contested 
                logistics challenges through the reduction of 
                operational energy demand;
                    (C) identify and mitigate operational energy 
                challenges presented by any contested logistics 
                environment, including through developing innovative 
                delivery systems, distributed storage, flexible 
                contracting, and improved automation;
                    (D) assess and integrate, to the extent 
                practicable, any technology, including electric, 
                hydrogen, nuclear, biofuels, and any other sustainable 
                fuel technology or renewable energy technology, that 
                may reduce operational energy demand in the near term 
                or long term;
                    (E) assess and consider any infrastructure 
                investment of allied and partner countries that may 
                affect operational energy availability in the event of 
                a conflict with a near-peer adversary; and
                    (F) assess and integrate, to the extent 
                practicable--
                            (i) any technology that increases 
                        sustainability and lowers emissions; and
                            (ii) any practice, technology or strategy 
                        that reduces negative impacts on human health.
            (2) Country considerations.--In carrying out any activity 
        under paragraph (1), to the extent practicable, the relevant 
        existing and past military conflicts and cultural practices of, 
        and beliefs prevalent in, the participating country shall be 
        taken into account.
    (d) Strategy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than September 30, 2024, the 
        Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed 
        Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a 
        strategy for the implementation of the Program.
            (2) Elements.--The strategy required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) A governance structure for the Program, 
                including--
                            (i) the officials tasked to oversee the 
                        Program;
                            (ii) the format of the governing body of 
                        the Program;
                            (iii) the functions and duties of such 
                        governing body with respect to establishing and 
                        maintaining the Program; and
                            (iv) mechanisms for coordinating with 
                        partner countries selected to participate in 
                        the Program.
                    (B) With respect to the selection of partner 
                countries initially selected to participate in the 
                Program--
                            (i) an identification of each such country;
                            (ii) the rationale for selecting each such 
                        country, including a description of--
                                    (I) the benefits to the military 
                                forces of the partner country; and
                                    (II) the benefits to the United 
                                States Armed Forces of participation by 
                                such country;
                            (iii) a description of any limitation on 
                        the participation of a selected partner 
                        country; and
                            (iv) any other information the Secretary of 
                        Defense considers appropriate.
                    (C) A list of additional authorities, 
                appropriations, or other congressional support 
                necessary to ensure the success of the Program.
                    (D) A campaign of objectives for the first three 
                fiscal years of the Program, including--
                            (i) a description of, and a rationale for 
                        selecting, such objectives;
                            (ii) an identification of milestones toward 
                        achieving such objectives; and
                            (iii) metrics for evaluating success in 
                        achieving such objectives.
                    (E) A description of opportunities and potential 
                timelines for future Program expansion, as appropriate.
                    (F) Any other information the Secretary of Defense 
                considers appropriate.
            (3) Form.--The strategy required by paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified 
        annex.
    (e) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than September 20, 2025, and 
        annually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to 
        the congressional defense committees (as defined in section 101 
        of title 10, United States Code) a report on the Program.
            (2) Elements.--Each report required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) A narrative summary of activities conducted as 
                part of the Program during the preceding fiscal year.
                    (B) Except in the case of the initial report, an 
                assessment of progress toward the objectives 
                established for the preceding fiscal year described in 
                the preceding report under this subsection using the 
                metrics established in such report.
                    (C) A campaign of objectives for the three fiscal 
                years following the date of submission of the report, 
                including--
                            (i) a description of, and a rationale for 
                        selecting, such objectives;
                            (ii) an identification of milestones toward 
                        achieving such objectives; and
                            (iii) metrics for evaluating success in 
                        achieving such objectives.
                    (D) A description of opportunities and potential 
                timelines for future Program expansion, as appropriate.
                    (E) Any other information the Secretary of Defense 
                considers appropriate.
            (3) Form.--Each report required by paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified 
        annex.
    (f) Termination.--The Program shall terminate on December 31, 2029.
    (g) Contested Logistics Environment Defined.--In this section, the 
term ``contested logistics environment'' means an environment in which 
the United States Armed Forces or the military forces of a partner 
country engage in conflict with an adversary that presents challenges 
in all domains and directly targets logistics operations, facilities, 
and activities in the United States, abroad, or in transit from one 
location to the other.
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