H.R.1229 & S.554 - United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
H.R.1229 was introduced on 12 February 2025 by REP Joe Wilson (R-SC). It is currently pending before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
S.554 was introduced on 12 February 2025 by SEN Dan Sullivan (R-AK). It is currently pending before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Some version of the text of these Bills is expected to be advanced in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) process.
Related legislation: The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
Bill Summary: These bills would create a joint U.S.-Israel program on countering unmanned systems, extend and expand existing U.S.-Israel programs on countering tunnels and unmanned aerial systems, and create an emerging defense technology program with Israel, including in the areas of AI, cybersecurity, robotics, quantum, and automation. They would also extend Israel's access to U.S. War Reserve stocks by two years to 2029, and establish a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) office in Israel. The Bills would also require an assessment and report on air defense integration in the Middle East.
Context: Emerging defense technologies, including AI and quantum, involve the “crown jewels” of U.S. future defense capabilities and access to U.S. research on such technologies is strictly limited to trusted allies (such as the UK and Australia under AUKUS Pillar 2). Israel is a leading exporter of offensive cyber tools that have been used to target U.S. citizens, including U.S. Government officials, and Israel is known to maintain a robust technological espionage program. Moreover, many of Israel’s military technologies have been tested against Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, most notoriously in the field of AI, which has been used to enable the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
American Values Analysis: By building future U.S. defense capabilities on the back of technologies tested against an occupied people and linked to war crimes, these Bills run counter to American values.
American Interest Analysis: Deepening defense co-operation with Israel, particularly in the field of emerging defense technologies, creates and expands risks to the U.S. military edge by exposing future areas of U.S. military advantage to a country that is known to engage in economic espionage and which has previously exported sensitive U.S. military technologies to adversaries including the People’s Republic of China. The program also further associates the United States with the misuse of defense technologies by Israel, and could implicate U.S. officials and corporations in future war crimes and other violations of international law, as well as the ongoing illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories which has been a test-bed for many of the technologies that would be the subject of these research and development programs.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: OPPOSE
A New Policy opposes H.R.1229 and S.554. The United States does not need Israel’s help to advance our defense capabilities in these areas, and should not expose sensitive U.S. emerging technologies to potential espionage and exploitation.
For more information please contact: Josh Paul, (202) 770-0055, info@anewpolicy.org
