[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S3000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 812. Mr. KING (for himself and Ms. Murkowski) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2226, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 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 E of title III, add the following:

     SEC. 345. BRIEFING ON ARCTIC WATCHTOWER RESEARCH.

       (a) Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) confronting and adapting to rapidly evolving challenges 
     in the Arctic region, including coastal resilience, would 
     benefit from increased place-based, forward operating 
     research capacity;
       (2) establishing strategically located, scalable watchtower 
     field research centers known as Arctic Watchtowers to conduct 
     on-the-ground research in Arctic gateways could improve the 
     reliability and breadth of monitoring data to inform decision 
     making of the Department of Defense, such as when defense 
     operations impact mammalian habitat;
       (3) locally-based, forward operating research benefits from 
     robust partnerships with regional and local universities, 
     Tribal communities, and international collaboration;
       (4) on the ground, forward operating research data can 
     complement satellite and other data on littoral 
     meteorological or ecosystem changes;
       (5) the National Strategy for the Arctic Region highlights 
     the need to invest in research in such region and 
     collaboration with Arctic communities for co-production of 
     knowledge to advance monitoring and predictive capacity, such 
     as--
       (A) maritime domain awareness;
       (B) operational oceanography;
       (C) tracking shifts in sea ice flows;
       (D) monitoring emerging trade routes; and
       (E) reduction of data gaps where they exist; and
       (6) the Secretary of Defense should consider investments in 
     watchtower research efforts in the Arctic and near-Arctic 
     region as part of the execution of such strategy.
       (b) Briefing.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide 
     to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the 
     House of Representatives a briefing on the potential benefits 
     to be derived from, and the feasibility of, establishing 
     watchtower field research centers in the Arctic and near-
     Arctic region.
                                 ______