II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3775 

To establish a United States-Israel Operations-Technology Working Group, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 20, 2020 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. COTTON) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To establish a United States-Israel Operations-Technology 

Working Group, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Israel 

5 Military Capability Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The United States confronts an intense 

9 military technology competition with the People’s 

10 Republic of China and the Russian Federation that 


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1 may determine whether the United States can effec2 tively deter and defeat adversaries in the future. 

3 (2) On July 11, 2019, Chairman of the Joint 

4 Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said, ‘‘China is 

5 improving their military very, very rapidly in space, 

6 air, cyber, maritime, land domains, et cetera.’’. Not7 ing the rapid technology development by the People’s 

8 Republic of China, General Milley warned that the 

9 United States must ensure ‘‘that we do not lose our 

10 advantages that we have relative to other countries, 

11 specifically relative to China.’’. 

12 (3) The People’s Republic of China and the 

13 Russian Federation have already developed or field14 ed some capabilities in areas such as hypersonics 

15 and artificial intelligence that are superior to those 

16 of the United States. 

17 (4) A closer and more systematic early coopera18 tive research and development effort with select al19 lies may help the United States more quickly and in20 expensively restore and sustain military supremacy 

21 in critical military capabilities. 

22 (5) The innovative and agile defense technology 

23 sector of Israel and the status of Israel as one of the 

24 closest and most reliable allies of the United States 

25 make Israel an ideal candidate for a more systematic 


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1 and institutionalized partnership with the United 

2 States focused on early cooperative research and de3 velopment. 

4 (6) The defense innovation sector of Israel is a 

5 global leader in many of the technologies important 

6 to Department of Defense modernization efforts. 

7 (7) Despite many laudable ongoing defense 

8 partnership efforts between the United States and 

9 Israel, dangerous United States military capability 

10 gaps continue to emerge that a more systematic and 

11 institutionalized United States-Israel early coopera12 tive research and development program could have 

13 prevented. 

14 (8) Such a program would allow the United 

15 States to benefit from the innovation agility and 

16 sense of urgency of Israel, and Israel would benefit 

17 from the economy of scale of the United States. 

18 Such a program could be carefully designed to re19 duce the time and cost associated with research and 

20 development, assiduously avoiding anything that 

21 would slow down or constrain the research and de22 velopment of either country. 

23 (9) Belatedly acquiring already produced equip24 ment or weapons from Israel to fill a United States 

25 capability gap is not a substitute for a systematic 


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1 program that prevents the capability gap from 

2 emerging in the first place. 

3 (10) On March 4, 2020, Secretary of Defense 

4 Mark Esper said, ‘‘We have a very good innovative 

5 base, [the Israelis] have a very good innovative base. 

6 And I think the more we can cooperate together as 

7 allies and partners to come up with common solu8 tions, the better.’’. Secretary Esper continued, ‘‘so I 

9 think if there are ways to improve that, we should 

10 pursue it.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that— 

13 (1) the United States Government has a re14 sponsibility to undertake all reasonable measures to 

15 ensure that members of the Armed Forces never 

16 confront a more technologically advanced foe; and 

17 (2) building on positive ongoing efforts, the 

18 United States and Israel should further institu19 tionalize and strengthen their defense innovation 

20 partnership by establishing a United States-Israel 

21 Operations-Technology Working Group to identify 

22 and expeditiously field capabilities that the military 

23 forces of both countries need to deter and defeat re24 spective adversaries. 


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1 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES-ISRAEL OPERATIONS-TECHNOLOGY 

2 WORKING GROUP. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of De5 fense, with the concurrence of the Minister of Defense of 

6 Israel and in consultation with the Secretary of State and 

7 the Director of National Intelligence, shall establish a 

8 United States-Israel Operations-Technology Working 

9 Group (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Working Group’’) 

10 for the following purposes: 

11 (1) To provide a standing forum for the United 

12 States and Israel to systematically share intel13 ligence-informed military capability requirements. 

14 (2) To identify military capability requirements 

15 common to both the Department of Defense and the 

16 Ministry of Defense of Israel. 

17 (3) To assist defense suppliers in the United 

18 States and Israel with efforts to expeditiously gain 

19 government approval to conduct joint science, tech20 nology, research, development, test, evaluation, and 

21 production efforts. 

22 (4) To develop, as feasible and advisable, com23 bined United States-Israel plans to research, de24 velop, procure, and field weapons systems and mili25 tary capabilities as quickly and economically as pos26 sible to meet common capability requirements of the 


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1 Department of Defense and the Ministry of Defense 

2 of Israel. 

3 (b) WORKING GROUP LEADERSHIP.— 

4 (1) UNITED STATES LEADERSHIP.—With re5 spect to the United States, the Working Group shall 

6 be headed by the Under Secretary of Defense for 

7 Research and Engineering and the Director of the 

8 Joint Staff, with the active support of the Director 

9 of the Bureau of Political Military Affairs of the De10 partment of State and the Director of National In11 telligence. 

12 (2) ISRAEL LEADERSHIP.—The Secretary of 

13 Defense shall invite the Government of Israel to des14 ignate the head of the appropriate office or offices 

15 to head the Working Group with respect to Israel. 

16 (c) WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIP.— 

17 (1) UNITED STATES MEMBERSHIP.—The Sec18 retary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the 

19 Director of National Intelligence shall each des20 ignate one or more individuals to serve as members 

21 of the Working Group. 

22 (A) MANDATORY UNITED STATES MEM23 BERS.—The membership of the Working Group 

24 shall consist of, at a minimum, representatives 

25 from— 


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1 (i) the Office of the Secretary of De2 fense; 

3 (ii) the Joint Staff; 

4 (iii) each of the military departments 

5 (including, as appropriate, subordinate en6 tities such as Army Futures Command and 

7 research laboratories); 

8 (iv) the defense agencies (including 

9 the Defense Advanced Research Projects 

10 Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, 

11 and the Defense Security Cooperation 

12 Agency); 

13 (v) United States Central Command; 

14 (vi) United States European Com15 mand; 

16 (vii) United States Indo-Pacific Com17 mand; 

18 (viii) the Department of State; and 

19 (ix) the intelligence community. 

20 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

21 this paragraph shall be construed as limiting 

22 the ability of the Secretary of Defense, the Sec23 retary of State, or the Director of National In24 telligence to add members to the Working 

25 Group as considered appropriate. 


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1 (2) ISRAEL MEMBERSHIP.—The Secretary of 

2 Defense, the Secretary of State, and the Director of 

3 National Intelligence shall invite their counterparts 

4 in the Government of Israel to designate individuals 

5 from the Government of Israel to serve as members 

6 of the Working Group. 

7 (3) REPRESENTATION OF DEFENSE INDUS8 TRY.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group 

10 may incorporate recommendations from the de11 fense industries of the United States and Israel 

12 with respect to combined science and technology 

13 efforts and combined research, development, 

14 test, and evaluation efforts. 

15 (B) INCLUSION IN WORKING GROUP.—The 

16 membership of the Working Group may include, 

17 as appropriate, members of the defense indus18 tries of the United States and Israel. 

19 (d) EXISTING EFFORTS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, 

21 the Secretary of State, and the Director of National 

22 Intelligence shall jointly determine the most efficient 

23 and effective means to integrate the Working Group 

24 into existing United States science and technology 


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1 efforts and research, development, test, and evalua2 tion efforts with Israel. 

3 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

4 Act shall be construed as requiring the termination 

5 of any existing United States defense activity, group, 

6 program, or partnership with Israel. 

7 (e) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 

9 shall, with the concurrence of the Minister of De10 fense of Israel, establish a memorandum of under11 standing between the United States and Israel es12 tablishing the United States-Israel Operations Tech13 nology Working Group. 

14 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The memo15 randum of understanding under paragraph (1) shall 

16 set forth— 

17 (A) the purposes of the Working Group, 

18 consistent with subsection (a); 

19 (B) the membership of the Working 

20 Group, consistent with subsection (c); and 

21 (C) any other matter considered appro22 priate. 

23 (f) REPORTS.— 

24 (1) INITIAL REPORT.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

3 Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the 

4 Secretary of State and the Director of National 

5 Intelligence, shall submit to the appropriate 

6 committees of Congress an initial report on the 

7 Working Group. 

8 (B) ELEMENTS.—The report required by 

9 subparagraph (A) shall include the following: 

10 (i) The finalized memorandum of un11 derstanding under subsection (e). 

12 (ii) The name of each individual of 

13 the Government of the United States and 

14 of the Government of Israel designated to 

15 lead the Working Group. 

16 (iii) The name of each member of the 

17 Working Group designated under para18 graph (1) or (2) of subsection (c). 

19 (iv) A description of the manner in 

20 which the Working Group is anticipated to 

21 complement and augment existing science 

22 and technology efforts and research, devel23 opment, test, and evaluation efforts with 

24 Israel. 


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1 (v) A schedule for Working Group 

2 meetings. 

3 (vi) A description of key metrics and 

4 milestones for the Working Group. 

5 (vii) A description of any authority or 

6 authorization of appropriations required 

7 for the Working Group to carry out the 

8 purposes described in subsection (a). 

9 (C) FORM.—The report required by sub10 paragraph (A) shall be submitted in unclassi11 fied form, but may include a classified annex. 

12 (2) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 

14 15 of each year following the submittal of the 

15 report required by paragraph (1), the Secretary 

16 of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary 

17 of State and the Director of National Intel18 ligence, shall submit to the appropriate commit19 tees of Congress a report on the activities of the 

20 Working Group during the preceding calendar 

21 year. 

22 (B) ELEMENTS.—The report required by 

23 subparagraph (A) shall include the following: 

24 (i) A summary of the performance of 

25 the Working Group relative to— 


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1 (I) with respect to the first an2 nual report under this paragraph, the 

3 metrics and milestones described in 

4 the initial report in accordance with in 

5 paragraph (1)(B)(vi); or 

6 (II) with respect to each subse7 quent annual report under this para8 graph, the metrics and milestones de9 scribed in the preceding annual report 

10 under clause (viii). 

11 (ii) A description of military capabili12 ties needed by both the United States and 

13 Israel. 

14 (iii) A description of any United 

15 States, or any United States-Israel, science 

16 and technology efforts, or research, devel17 opment, test, and evaluation efforts, asso18 ciated with the military capabilities de19 scribed under clause (ii) carried out during 

20 the reporting period. 

21 (iv) A description of any obstacle or 

22 challenge associated with an effort de23 scribed in clause (iii) and the plan of the 

24 Working Group to address such obstacle or 

25 challenge. 


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1 (v) A description of any request to the 

2 Working Group made by a United States 

3 or Israel defense supplier for combined 

4 science and technology efforts or combined 

5 research, development, test, and evaluation 

6 efforts, including— 

7 (I) the date on which the request 

8 was received; 

9 (II) the efforts made by the 

10 Working Group to expeditiously ad11 dress the request; and 

12 (III) the status of any decision 

13 associated with the request. 

14 (vi) A description of the efforts of the 

15 Working Group to prevent the People’s Re16 public of China or the Russian Federation 

17 from obtaining intellectual property or 

18 military technology associated with com19 bined United States and Israel science and 

20 technology efforts and research, develop21 ment, test, and evaluation efforts. 

22 (vii) A description of any science and 

23 technology effort, or research, develop24 ment, test, or evaluation effort, facilitated 

25 by the Working Group, including efforts 


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1 that result in a United States or Israel 

2 program of record. 

3 (viii) A description of metrics and 

4 milestones for the Working Group for the 

5 following calendar year. 

6 (C) FORM.—The report required by sub7 paragraph (A) shall be submitted in unclassi8 fied form and shall include a classified annex in 

9 which the elements required under clauses (ii) 

10 and (vi) of subparagraph (B) shall be ad11 dressed. 

12 (3) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS

13 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appro14 priate committees of Congress’’ means— 

15 (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

16 Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select 

17 Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

19 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Perma20 nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

21 House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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