[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 82 (Tuesday, May 24, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3117-S3118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4129. Mr. GARDNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2017 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle I of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1097. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE 
                   STATION.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station (CMAFS) is an 
     indispensable national security asset that is vital to the 
     defense of North America;
       (2) CMAFS, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 
     15, 2016, remains one of the greatest engineering marvels of 
     our time, an American cultural icon, and relevant both now 
     and in the future;
       (3) CMAFS is an Electromagnetic Pulse-Hardened facility and 
     operates as the alternate command center for the NORAD and 
     United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM);
       (4) since the establishment of the North American Defense 
     Command (NORAD) in 1958, the U.S. and Canada have jointly 
     invested in significant and irreplaceable infrastructure and 
     capabilities to support NORAD in executing its assigned 
     missions, including irreplaceable investment in CMAFS;
       (5) CMAFS facilitates integration and operational synergy 
     with NORAD for defense of the homeland, and the significant 
     fixed and unique infrastructure at this location enables 
     daily and contingency operations execution of NORTHCOM's 
     missions;
       (6) NORAD and NORTHCOM rely heavily on various 
     communications and data feeds that go through CMAFS, which 
     enable NORAD and NORTHCOM to continue to operate throughout a 
     conflict or other national crisis; and
       (7) portions of the Integrated Tactical Warning / Attack 
     Assessment (ITW/AA) system that reside in CMAFS receive, 
     process, and provide national leadership with information on 
     air, missile, and space threats,

[[Page S3118]]

     which is a critical component of the Nuclear Command and 
     Control System, and is required to provide unambiguous, 
     timely, accurate, and continuous tactical warning and attack 
     assessment information to senior leaders of the United States 
     and Canada throughout conflict or national crisis.
                                 ______