II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1471 

To require digital engineering as a core competency of the Armed Forces, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2019 

Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require digital engineering as a core competency of the 

Armed Forces, 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 ‘‘Armed Forces Digital 

5 Advantage Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DIGITAL ENGINEERING AS A CORE COMPETENCY 

7 OF THE ARMED FORCES. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find9 ings: 


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1 (1) The National Defense Strategy states that 

2 the Department of Defense will need to ‘‘emphasize 

3 new skills and complement our current workforce 

4 with information experts, data scientists, computer 

5 programmers, and basic science researchers and en6 gineers—to use information, not simply manage it. 

7 The Department will also continue to explore 

8 streamlined, non-traditional pathways to bring crit9 ical skills into service, expanding access to outside 

10 expertise’’. 

11 (2) The Department workforce is challenged in 

12 its ability to develop, use, update, and store digital 

13 information. 

14 (3) Transformational technologies, including 

15 Artificial Intelligence, 5G telecommunications serv16 ices, and cloud computing, are presenting new op17 portunities and challenges for the Department. 

18 (4) Department modernization programs de19 pend almost entirely on the integration of state-of20 the-art software, data, and information technology, 

21 and will require a workforce that understands digital 

22 engineering. 

23 (5) The establishment of the Joint Artificial In24 telligence Center (JAIC) in 2018 was an important 

25 step to accelerate the delivery of, and scale the DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471

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1 partment-wide impact of, artificial intelligence–en2 abled capabilities, and a workforce experienced in 

3 computer sciences and digital engineering will be 

4 critical to the success of the Center and the Depart5 ment. 

6 (6) The Defense Innovation Board stated that, 

7 in order to fulfill its mission in the future, the De8 partment will need a ‘‘human capital strategy that 

9 will ensure that DoD can grow and maintain ade10 quate computer science capability and capacity for 

11 the wide range of software-centric requirements that 

12 are unmet today and will only continue to grow’’. 

13 (b) POLICY.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be a policy of the 

15 Armed Forces to promote and maintain digital engi16 neering as a core competency of the Armed Forces, 

17 which policy shall be achieved by— 

18 (A) the recruitment, development, and 

19 incentivization of retention in and to the Armed 

20 Forces of individuals with aptitude, experience, 

21 proficient expertise, or a combination thereof in 

22 digital engineering; 

23 (B) the development and maintenance of 

24 multiple career tracks on digital engineering, 

25 and related digital competencies (including data 


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1 science, machine learning, software engineering, 

2 software product management, and artificial in3 telligence product management) for members of 

4 the Armed Forces, including the development 

5 and maintenance of training, education, talent 

6 management, incentives, and promotion policies 

7 in support of members at all levels of such ca8 reer tracks; and 

9 (C) the development and application of ap10 propriate readiness standards and metrics to 

11 measure and report on the overall capability, 

12 capacity, utilization, and readiness of digital en13 gineering forces to develop and deliver oper14 ational capabilities and employ modern business 

15 practices. 

16 (2) DIGITAL ENGINEERING.—For purposes of 

17 this section, digital engineering is the discipline and 

18 set of skills involved in the creation, processing, 

19 transmission, integration, and storage of digital 

20 data. 

21 (c) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of De23 fense for Personnel and Readiness shall be respon24 sible for the development and discharge of the policy 

25 set forth in subsection (a), and shall carry out such 


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1 responsibility through an officer or employee of the 

2 Department of Defense assigned by the Under Sec3 retary for that purpose. 

4 (2) DESIGNATION.—The individual assigned 

5 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the 

6 ‘‘Chief Digital Engineering Recruitment and Man7 agement Officer of the Department of Defense’’ (in 

8 this section referred to as the ‘‘Officer’’). 

9 (3) DURATION OF POSITION.—The requirement 

10 for the Officer under paragraph (1) shall expire on 

11 September 30, 2029. 

12 (d) DUTIES.—In developing and providing for the 

13 discharge of the policy set forth in subsection (a), the Offi14 cer shall, in close consultation with the Assistant Secre15 taries of the military department for Manpower and Re16 serve Affairs, do the following: 

17 (1) Develop for, and enhance within, the re18 cruitment programs of the Armed Force various core 

19 initiatives, programs, activities, and mechanisms, 

20 tailored to the unique needs of each Armed Force, 

21 to identify and recruit to the Armed Forces individ22 uals with demonstrated aptitude, interest, proficient 

23 expertise, or a combination thereof in digital engi24 neering particularly, and in science, technology, en25 gineering, and mathematics (STEM) generally, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471

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1 cluding initiatives, programs, activities, and mecha2 nisms to target populations of individuals not typi3 cally aware of opportunities in the Armed Forces for 

4 a digital engineering career. 

5 (2) Establish one or more flexible career tracks 

6 and identifiers for digital engineering and related 

7 digital competencies tailored to the unique needs for 

8 each Armed Force, including appropriate military 

9 occupational specialties (MOS) and meaningful op10 portunities for career development, talent manage11 ment, and promotion within such career tracks. 

12 (3) Develop and maintain education, training, 

13 doctrine, rotational opportunities, and professional 

14 development activities to support members of the 

15 Armed Forces at each level of each career track es16 tablished pursuant to paragraph (2). 

17 (4) Coordinate and synchronize digital force 

18 management activities throughout the Department 

19 of Defense, advise the Secretary of Defense on all 

20 matters pertaining to the health and readiness of 

21 digital forces, convene a Department-wide executive 

22 steering group, and submit to Congress an annual 

23 report on the readiness of digital forces and progress 

24 toward achieving the policy set forth in subsection 

25 (a). 


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1 (5) Create a Department-wide mechanism to 

2 track digital expertise in the workforce, develop and 

3 maintain organizational policies, strategies, and 

4 plans sufficient to build, maintain, and refresh inter5 nal capacity at scale, and report to the Secretary 

6 quarterly on the health and readiness of digital 

7 forces. 

8 (6) Assist the military departments in design9 ing, developing, and executing programs and incen10 tives to retain, track, and oversee digital expertise 

11 among members of the Armed Forces on active duty. 

12 (7) At the request of the Chief of Staff of an 

13 Armed Force, or the head of another component or 

14 element of the Department, undertake an executive 

15 search for key leadership positions in digital engi16 neering in such Armed Force, component, or ele17 ment, and develop and deploy agile hiring processes 

18 to fill such positions. 

19 (8) Identify necessary changes in authorities, 

20 policies, resources, or a combination thereof to fur21 ther the policy set forth in subsection (a), and sub22 mit to Congress a report on such changes. 

23 (e) IMPLEMENTATION.—Commencing not later than 

24 January 1, 2022, each Assistant Secretary of a military 

25 department for Manpower and Reserve Affairs shall impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471

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1 ment and maintain the policy set forth in subsection (a) 

2 for the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of such As3 sistant Secretary through implementation and mainte4 nance of the matters developed and established by the Of5 ficer pursuant to subsection (d). 

Æ 


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