I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6444 

To accelerate the identification of solutions to the challenges of the Joint 

Force by assigning to specific components of the Department of Defense 

certain responsibilities for the delivery of essential integrated joint 

warfighting capabilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2023 

Mr. ISSA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To accelerate the identification of solutions to the challenges 

of the Joint Force by assigning to specific components 

of the Department of Defense certain responsibilities for 

the delivery of essential integrated joint warfighting capabilities, 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 ‘‘JADC2 Implementa5 tion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR COMPONENTS 

2 OF OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR 

3 JOINT ALL-DOMAIN COMMAND AND CONTROL 

4 IN SUPPORT OF INTEGRATED JOINT 

5 WARFIGHTING. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall es7 tablish the roles and responsibilities of components of the 

8 Office of the Secretary of Defense for development and 

9 delivery to combatant commands of capabilities that are 

10 essential to integrated joint warfighting capabilities, as 

11 follows: 

12 (1) The Deputy Chief Technology Officer for 

13 Mission Capabilities of the Office of the Under Sec14 retary of Defense for Research and Engineering (in 

15 this section referred to as the ‘‘Deputy Chief’’) shall 

16 be responsible for— 

17 (A) identifying new technology and oper18 ational concepts for experimentation and proto19 typing for delivery to the Joint Force to ad20 dress key operational challenges; 

21 (B) providing technical support for the 

22 Joint Force in exploring and analyzing new ca23 pabilities, operational concepts, and systems-of24 systems composition, including through ad25 vanced modeling and simulation; and 


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1 (C) executing associated experimentation, 

2 through the Rapid Defense Experimentation 

3 Reserve (RDER) or another mechanism. 

4 (2) The Executive Director for Acquisition, In5 tegration, and Interoperability of the Office of the 

6 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 

7 Sustainment shall be responsible for— 

8 (A) enabling the acquisition of cross-do9 main, joint, and cross-system kill chains and 

10 mission capabilities, including resourcing of 

11 modifications necessary for integration and 

12 interoperability among kill chain and mission 

13 components; and 

14 (B) ensuring the effectiveness of cross-do15 main, joint, and cross-system kill chains and 

16 mission capabilities through analysis and test17 ing. 

18 (3) The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence 

19 Officer shall be responsible for creating and oper20 ating a factory-based approach for software develop21 ment that allows for iterative, secure, and contin22 uous deployment of developmental, prototype, and 

23 operational tools and capabilities from multiple ven24 dors to test networks and operational networks for 

25 combatant commanders to— 


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1 (A) gain operational awareness, make deci2 sions, and take actions; 

3 (B) integrate relevant data sources to sup4 port target selection, target prioritization, and 

5 weapon-target pairing; and 

6 (C) prosecute targets through military 

7 service and combat support agency networks, 

8 tools, and systems. 

9 (b) ADDITIONAL DEPUTY CHIEF AUTHORITIES.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Chief may exer11 cise the authorities described in paragraph (2) in ac12 cordance with this subsection to carry out the re13 sponsibilities of the Deputy Chief described in sub14 section (a)(1). 

15 (2) AUTHORITIES DESCRIBED.—The authorities 

16 described in this paragraph are— 

17 (A) the authority to enter contracts to ac18 quire goods and services; and 

19 (B) except as otherwise provided by this 

20 subsection, the authority to appoint, prescribe 

21 rates of pay for, and provide additional pay to 

22 highly qualified experts. 

23 (3) ACQUISITION AUTHORITY.—The laws and 

24 regulations applicable to acquisitions of goods and 

25 services by the Secretary of Defense shall apply to 


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1 the acquisition of goods and services by the Deputy 

2 Chief pursuant to paragraph (2)(A). 

3 (4) HIRING AUTHORITIES.— 

4 (A) APPOINTMENT LIMITS.—When exer5 cising the authority described in paragraph 

6 (2)(B), the Deputy Chief may— 

7 (i) appoint only individuals with dem8 onstrated expertise in the development, 

9 testing, production, and delivery or inte10 gration of modular systems and major sys11 tem components (as defined in section 

12 4401(b) of title 10, United States Code), 

13 including autonomous vehicles, advanced 

14 sensors and radio systems, and software 

15 systems; and 

16 (ii) appoint individuals to not more 

17 than 12 positions as program managers in 

18 the Office of the Under Secretary of De19 fense for Research and Engineering. 

20 (B) TERM EXTENSION.—The Deputy Chief 

21 may extend the period which an employee ap22 pointed pursuant to paragraph (2)(B) may 

23 serve by up to seven additional years. 

24 (C) EXCEPTED SERVICE POSITIONS.— 

25 Each position to which the Deputy Chief may 


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1 appoint an individual pursuant to paragraph 

2 (2)(B) shall be in the excepted service. 

3 (c) COORDINATION.—The officials referred to in 

4 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a) shall coordi5 nate and align their plans and activities to implement sub6 section (a) among themselves and with the combatant 

7 commanders. 

8 (d) INITIAL PRIORITIZATION.—In developing an ini9 tial set of capabilities described in subsection (a), the offi10 cials referred to in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of that 

11 subsection shall prioritize the requirements of the United 

12 States Indo-Pacific Command. 

13 (e) BRIEFINGS REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 

15 days thereafter through December 31, 2026, the officials 

16 referred to in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection 

17 (a) shall provide briefings to the congressional defense 

18 committees on their plans and activities to implement sub19 section (a). 

20 (f) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than March 1, 

21 2024, the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer, 

22 in consultation with the Deputy Chief and the Executive 

23 Director for Acquisition, Integration, and Interoperability 

24 of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for AcquiVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Nov 27, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6444.IH H6444

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1 sition and Sustainment, shall submit to the congressional 

2 defense committees a report that includes— 

3 (1) a plan and associated timelines for deploy4 ing and demonstrating a joint data integration layer 

5 prototype in the United States Indo-Pacific Com6 mand area of operations; 

7 (2) a plan and associated timelines for 

8 transitioning such a prototype, upon its successful 

9 demonstration, to fielding as soon as practicable 

10 given the urgent need for a joint all-domain com11 mand and control (commonly referred to as 

12 ‘‘JADC2’’) capability; 

13 (3) a plan and associated timelines for reaching 

14 initial operational capability for a joint data integra15 tion layer within the United States Indo-Pacific 

16 Command area of operations; 

17 (4) a plan and associated timelines for scaling 

18 that capability to future areas of operation across 

19 the combatant commands; 

20 (5) an assessment of the required type and 

21 number of personnel at the United States Indo-Pa22 cific Command to enable sustained growth in 

23 JADC2 capabilities; and 

24 (6) a plan and associated timelines for— 


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1 (A) identifying specific critical effects 

2 chains necessary to overcome anti-access and 

3 area denial capabilities and offensive military 

4 operations of foreign adversaries; and 

5 (B) creating, demonstrating, deploying, 

6 and sustaining such chains. 

Æ 


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