The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 25-2 to approve annual authorization of Defense Department spending that exceeds levels requested by the administration in a number of areas, including emerging technology investments to keep pace with China, according to a summary the committee released today.
Text of the bill won’t be released until it is brought to the Senate floor, which committee aides on a press call with reporters said they expect will happen next week. The markup process for the House version of the NDAA is scheduled to begin June 22 by the House Armed Services Committee’s panel on intelligence and emerging threats and capabilities.
In the meantime, the Senate committee’s summary offers insight into where $740.5 billion it’s authorized in spending for the department might go next year.
“Unfortunately, in key technologies and capabilities, we’ve fallen behind our near-peer competitors,” the summary reads. “The FY21 NDAA accelerates innovation so we can compete effectively and regain our comparative advantage over China and Russia.”
The bill covers research and development, management of acquisitions and increased joint capability practices and workforce training and development for these areas, much of which relate to cybersecurity, according to the summary.
Broadly, the Senate Armed Services Committee “authorizes more than $300 million above the president’s request for DOD science and technology research, and extends or adds authorities that accelerates research [and] authorizes $200 million above the president’s request to prototype new critical subsystems for naval vessels, including unmanned vessels,” it reads, for example.
But officials also want ..
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