I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4720 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish the Assistant Secretary 

of Defense for Space, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 17, 2019 

Mr. GREEN of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish the 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR 

4 SPACE. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF POSITION.—Section 138(b) 

6 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(5) One of the Assistant Secretaries is the Assistant 

9 Secretary of Defense for Space. The Assistant Secretary 

10 shall have as the Assistant Secretary’s principal duty the 


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1 overall supervision (including oversight of policy and re2 sources) of space activities of the Department of Defense. 

3 The Assistant Secretary is the principal civilian adviser 

4 to the Secretary of Defense on space operations and space 

5 conflict matters and (after the Secretary and the Deputy 

6 Secretary of Defense) is the principal space official within 

7 the senior management of the Department of Defense. 

8 Subject to the authority, direction, and control of the Sec9 retary, the Assistant Secretary shall do the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) Exercise authority, direction, and control 

11 of all space administrative matters relating to the 

12 organization, training, and equipping of space 

13 forces. 

14 ‘‘(B) Assist the Secretary in the development 

15 and supervision of policy, program planning and exe16 cution, and allocation and use of resources for the 

17 activities of the Department of Defense for the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(i) Space operations, defending national 

20 security assets in space, and the other space ac21 tivities of the Department. 

22 ‘‘(ii) Integration of the activities of the De23 partment to most efficiently and effectively pro24 vide for space-related activities. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Perform such additional duties as the Sec2 retary may prescribe.’’. 

3 (b) PLAN ON ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR DEFENSE

4 SPACE RESOURCES.— 

5 (1) PLAN REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date of the appointment, by and with the 

7 advice and consent of the Senate, of the first Assist8 ant Secretary of Defense for Space appointed after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant 

10 Secretary of Defense for Space shall submit to the 

11 congressional defense committees a plan to establish 

12 a separate, alternative acquisition system for defense 

13 space resources, including for acquisitions with re14 spect to space vehicles, ground segments relating to 

15 such vehicles, and satellite terminals. 

16 (2) SCOPE.—The plan required by paragraph 

17 (1) shall cover acquisitions of defense space re18 sources for the Department of Defense, other than 

19 resources for the National Reconnaissance Office 

20 and other elements of the Department that are ele21 ments of the intelligence community (as defined in 

22 section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 

23 U.S.C. 3003)). 

24 (3) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by para25 graph (1) shall include recommendations on whether 


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1 the alternative acquisition system covered by the 

2 plan should use the Joint Capabilities Integration 

3 and Development System process or another require4 ments process that is developed by the Assistant 

5 Secretary for purposes of the plan. 

6 (4) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES

7 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘congres8 sional defense committees’’ has the meaning given 

9 that term in section 101(a)(16) of title 10, United 

10 States Code. 

Æ 


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