[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 113 (Monday, July 13, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3750-S3751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6565. 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) the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Commerce 
     agree is likely to improve weather, ocean, or space weather 
     forecasts;
       (2) is able to be released in an unclassified or 
     declassified form;
       (3) may be shared within the United States Government, 
     notwithstanding restrictions on further redistribution 
     outside the United States Government; and

[[Page S3751]]

       (4) can be shared in standard machine-readable formats and 
     includes metadata.
       (c) Sharing Constraints.--In establishing the process under 
     subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall establish 
     procedures to unilaterally take a covered action if the 
     Secretary determines that--
       (1) such action will protect a sensitive source or method 
     or preserve the security of military operations; or
       (2) a civilian agency information technology system is not 
     cybersecure or fails to meet Department of Defense discovery 
     metadata specification and verification protocols.
       (d) Consultation Requirement.--Not later than 48 hours 
     after taking a covered action under subsection (c), the 
     Secretary of Defense shall consult with the Secretary of 
     Commerce regarding the covered action to include identifying 
     the rationale and any requirements for lifting the covered 
     action.
       (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;
       (3) cybersecurity procedures and any challenge to data 
     sharing, including ensuring degraded data is not shared;
       (4) reciprocal sharing of the National Oceanic and 
     Atmospheric Administration's data with the Department of 
     Defense;
       (5) the process established to provide recurring 
     coordination between the Department of Defense and the 
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regarding 
     planned technical, hardware, architectural, or data 
     management changes that could materially affect the secure, 
     reliable, or continuous exchange of environmental 
     observational data; and
       (6) recommendations to improve interagency data sharing and 
     any other relevant recommendations.
       (f) Covered Action Defined.--In this section, the term 
     ``covered action'' means--
       (1) withholding declassification or release of data;
       (2) placing limitations or restrictions on further 
     distribution of data received by the Secretary of Commerce; 
     and
       (3) severing connectivity of data sharing implementation.
                                 ______