Section 1221, 1222, and 1223: The National Defense Authorization Act FY 2027
Sec. 1221—Extension of War Reserve Stockpile Authority for Israel This section would extend the existing War Reserve Stockpile Authority for Israel established by section 12001(d) of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law 108-287) to January 1, 2029.
The War Reserve Stockpile Authority is a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) stockpile located in Israel. The equipment stored in it is available for use by DoD or for transfer to a foreign country. It lacks a publicly available inventory. Significant withdrawals from WRSA-I have been made for Israeli use during conflicts, without public documentation of the details of the transfers in most cases. There is no required comprehensive reporting to Congress for weapons added to or transferred from WRSA-I, limiting legislative oversight and public accountability.
In effect, the WRSA-I is an opaque method for the U.S. government to rapidly transfer arms to Israel without Congressional oversight or notification.
A New Policy opposes Section 1221 because extending the WRSA-I reinforces America’s exceptional treatment of Israel, and limits American oversight and accountability mechanisms for Israeli arms transfers.
Sec. 1222—United States-Israel Subterranean Cooperation This section would modify section 1279 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114-92) to extend the authority for the Secretary of Defense to conduct collaborative research, development, testing, and evaluation of anti-tunnel capabilities with Israel through December 31, 2029. This section would also expand the authority to include subterranean threats of all types.
Section 1222 extends and broadens an existing U.S.–Israel defense-cooperation authority in the domain of underground warfare. Rather than creating a new program, it amends Section 1279 of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which first authorized joint research, development, testing, and evaluation of anti-tunnel capabilities in response to the 2014 Gaza conflict and Hamas's cross-border tunnel network—to push the sunset on that authority to December 31, 2029.
A New Policy opposes Section 1222 as it broadens the scope from "anti-tunnel" to "subterranean threats of all types, converting a narrowly defined counter-tunnel effort into a general underground-warfare cooperation track that reaches a wider class of challenges such as deep bunkers and hardened underground facilities, reflecting operational concerns that surfaced in Israelis genocide in Gaza campaign, ethnic cleansing in Lebanon, and in strikes on hardened underground sites in Iran.
Sec. 1223—United States-Israel Cooperation to Counter Unmanned Systems in All Warfighting Domains This section would modify section 1278 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92) to extend the authority for the Secretary of Defense to conduct collaborative research, development, testing, and evaluation of technologies to counter unmanned systems with Israel through December 31, 2029.
Section 1223 extends an existing U.S. - Israel defense-cooperation authority focused on countering unmanned systems. Rather than creating a new program, it amends Section 1278 of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized joint research, development, testing, and evaluation of counter-unmanned-systems technologies, to push the sunset on that authority to December 31, 2029. The reauthorization keeps the program alive across several additional budget cycles.
A New Policy opposes these sections because they would continue to entrench the special relationship between the US and Israel. Extending our collaboration with Israel on the research, development, and testing of anti-tunnel capabilities and Counter Unmanned Systems extends the period that the US is implicated in the field testing of such technologies on residents of the occupied West Bank and Gaza and supports the use of these technologies which have been used in war crimes.
