[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 614. Mr. SULLIVAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2020 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 F of title XII, insert the
following:
SEC. 1272. REPORT ON ARCTIC CAPABILITIES OF THE ARMED FORCES.
(a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense,
in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security,
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a
report on the Arctic capabilities of the Armed forces.
(b) Elements.--The report required under subsection (a)
shall include the following:
(1) A comparison of the capabilities of the United States,
the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, and
other countries operating in the Arctic, including an
assessment of the ability of the navy of each such country to
operate in varying sea-ice conditions.
(2) A description of commercial and foreign military
surface forces currently operating in the Arctic in
conditions inaccessible to Navy surface forces.
(3) An assessment of the potential security risk posed to
the Armed Forces (other than the Army, Navy, Air Force, and
Marine Corps) by military forces of other countries operating
in the Arctic in conditions inaccessible to Navy surface or
aviation forces in the manner such forces currently operate.
(4) A comparison of--
(A) current Armed Forces (other than the Army, Navy, Air
Force, and Marine Corps) domain awareness capabilities in the
Arctic; and
(B) the effects of supplementing United States capabilities
described in subparagraph (A) with Navy surface and aviation
forces and the surface and aviation forces of other allies.
(5) A comparison of--
(A) the current defensive capabilities of the Armed Forces
(other than the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps) in
the Arctic; and
(B) the defensive capabilities of the Armed Forces (other
than the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps) in the
Arctic in mutual defense with the military forces of allies.
(c) Form.--The report required under subsection (a) shall
be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a
classified annex.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the congressional defense committees; and
(B) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives.
(2) Armed forces.--The term ``Armed Forces'' has the
meaning given the term ``armed forces'' in section 101(a) of
title 10, United States Code.
______