[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S3445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6308. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2027 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 B of title III, add the following:

     SEC. 320C. SHARING OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ENVIRONMENTAL 
                   OBSERVATIONAL DATA.

       (a) Requirement.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, and 
     the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the Secretary 
     of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, and the Under 
     Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, shall 
     establish a process under which the Secretary of Defense, on 
     a continual or recurring basis, shall review and share 
     environmental observational data collected by the Department 
     of Defense with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration for the purposes of improving weather, ocean, 
     space weather forecasting, or any other mission area of the 
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as 
     determined by the Secretary of Defense.
       (b) Data Eligible for Sharing.--The process established 
     under subsection (a) shall identify real-time, near real-
     time, and longer-time series environmental observational data 
     that--
       (1) may improve weather, ocean, or space weather forecasts;
       (2) is able to be released in an unclassified or 
     declassified form;
       (3) is free from redistribution restrictions in contract or 
     other written agreements; and
       (4) can be shared in standard machine-readable formats and 
     includes metadata.
       (c) Declassification Review.--In establishing the process 
     under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall 
     establish procedures to review environmental observational 
     data for potential declassification or release in a manner 
     that protects sensitive sources and methods and preserves the 
     security of ongoing operations.
       (d) Distribution Limitations for National Security.--In 
     establishing the process under subsection (a), the Secretary 
     of Defense and the Secretary of Commerce shall establish 
     procedures to review options and appropriate mechanisms to 
     conditionally limit distribution of certain military 
     environmental observational data provided under this section 
     during a national security crisis or war to deny adversary 
     use of such data while maintaining access by United States 
     civil agencies and non-adversarial nations.
       (e) Report to Congress.--Not later than two years after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 
     and the Secretary of Commerce shall jointly submit to 
     Congress a report describing--
       (1) categories of environmental observational data 
     identified for potential sharing under subsection (a);
       (2) barriers to declassification or release of such data; 
     and
       (3) recommendations to improve interagency data sharing and 
     any other relevant recommendations.
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