[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 146 (Monday, September 11, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S5143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 910. Mr. CARDIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2018 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 A of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. __. USE OF PRIVATE CONTRACTORS.

       (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) combat operations, actions, and combat-enabling support 
     to operations such as close air support, are inherently 
     government functions that cannot be appropriately carried out 
     by private contractors; and
       (2) the United States Government should respect the 
     sovereignty of democratically elected governments over their 
     territory.
       (b) Limitations on Use of Private Contractors.--
       (1) Prohibition on use in combat operations.--No department 
     or agency of the United States Government may employ a 
     private contractor to conduct combat operations, or embed a 
     private contractor with foreign military units to engage 
     directly in combat operations.
       (2) Compliance with international law in other 
     activities.--Any department or agency of the United States 
     Government that employs a private contractor to conduct 
     activities not otherwise prohibited by paragraph (1) shall 
     ensure that such contractor--
       (A) acts in the conduct of such activities in accordance 
     with principles, standards, and codes of conduct based on 
     international law; and
       (B) participates in oversight and accountability mechanisms 
     to ensure that its actions in the conduct of such activities 
     accord with such principles, standards, and codes of conduct.
       (3) Waiver.--The Secretary of Defense may waive the 
     prohibition in paragraph (1) or a requirement in paragraph 
     (2) with respect to a private contractor if the Secretary 
     determines that the waiver is necessary for reasons of 
     national security of the United States. The Secretary shall 
     notify the appropriate committees of Congress in writing of 
     any such waiver, and the reasons for such waiver, not later 
     than 48 hours after making the determination on which such 
     waiver is based.
       (4) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this 
     subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 
     means--
       (A) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
     Foreign Relations of the Senate; and
       (B) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
     Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
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