[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 192 (Tuesday, November 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7661-S7662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4208. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed 
to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 
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:

       Add at the appropriate place in title XV, insert the 
     following:

     SEC. 15__. REPORT ON SENSING CAPABILITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT 
                   OF DEFENSE TO ASSIST FIGHTING WILDFIRES.

       (a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, in 
     consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and 
     such other head of an agency or department as the Secretary 
     determines appropriate, submit to the appropriate 
     congressional committees a report on the capabilities of the 
     Department of Defense to assist fighting wildfires through 
     the use and analysis of satellite and other aerial survey 
     technology.
       (b) Matters Included.--The report under subsection (a) 
     shall include the following:
       (1) An examination of the current and future sensing 
     requirements for the wildfire fighting and analysis 
     community.
       (2) Identification of assets of the Department of Defense 
     and intelligence community that can provide data that is 
     relevant to the requirements under paragraph (1), including 
     an examination of such assets that--
       (A) are currently available;
       (B) are in development; and
       (C) have been formally proposed by a department or agency 
     of the Federal Government, but which have not yet been 
     approved by Congress.
       (3) With respect to the assets identified under paragraph 
     (2)(A), an examination of how close the data such assets 
     provide comes to meeting the wildfire management and 
     suppression community needs.

[[Page S7662]]

       (4) An identification of the total and breakdown of costs 
     reimbursed to the Department of Defense during the five-year 
     period preceding the date of the report for reimbursable 
     requests for assistance from lead departments or agencies of 
     the Federal Government responding to natural disasters, 
     including an assessment of the feasibility of not charging or 
     requiring reimbursement for satellite time used in emergency 
     response for wildfires.
       (5) A discussion of the feasibility of establishing 
     capabilities at civilian agencies such as the National 
     Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the National 
     Aeronautics and Space Administration to replicate or 
     supplement the FireGuard program.
       (6) A discussion of issues involved in producing 
     unclassified products using unclassified and classified 
     assets, and policy options for Congress regarding that 
     translation, including by explicitly addressing 
     classification choices that could ease the application of 
     data from such assets to wildfire detection and tracking.
       (7) Identification of options to address gaps between 
     requirements and capabilities to be met by additional 
     solutions, whether from the Department of Defense, the 
     intelligence community, or from the civil or commercial 
     domain.
       (8) A retrospective analysis to determine whether the 
     existing data could have been used to defend against past 
     fires.
       (9) Options for the Department of Defense to assist the 
     Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, 
     the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration, the National Institute of Standards and 
     Technology, the National Science Foundation, and State and 
     local governments in identifying and responding to wildfires.
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) The term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means 
     the following:
       (A) The Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
     Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Committee on 
     Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Committee on 
     Energy and Natural Resources, and the Select Committee on 
     Intelligence of the Senate.
       (B) The Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
     Agriculture, the Committee on Natural Resources, the 
     Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and the 
     Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
     Representatives.
       (2) The term ``intelligence community'' has the meaning 
     given that term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 
     1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).
                                 ______