Baltic Security Initiative Act

Subjects: International Affairs


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2922 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2922

    To establish the Baltic Security Initiative for the purpose of 
 strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Baltic countries, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 27, 2023

Mr. Bacon (for himself and Mr. Gallego) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 
  to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To establish the Baltic Security Initiative for the purpose of 
 strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Baltic countries, and 
                          for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Baltic Security Initiative Act''.

SEC. 2. BALTIC SECURITY INITIATIVE.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) The Secretary of Defense shall establish and carry out 
        an initiative, to be known as the ``Baltic Security 
        Initiative'', for the purpose of deepening security cooperation 
        with the Baltic countries.
            (2) Relationship to existing authorities.--The initiative 
        required by this subsection shall be carried out pursuant to 
        the authorities of title 10, United States Code.
    (b) Objectives.--The objectives of the initiative required by 
subsection (a) shall be--
            (1) to achieve United States national security objectives 
        by--
                    (A) deterring Russian aggression; and
                    (B) implementing NATO's new Strategic Concept which 
                seeks to strengthen the alliance's deterrence and 
                defense posture by denying potential adversaries any 
                possible opportunities for aggression;
            (2) to enhance regional planning and cooperation among the 
        Baltic countries, particularly with respect to long-term 
        regional capability projects, including--
                    (A) long range precision fire systems and 
                capabilities;
                    (B) integrated air and missile defense;
                    (C) maritime domain awareness;
                    (D) land forces development, including stockpiling 
                large caliber ammunition;
                    (E) command, control, communications, computers, 
                intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance;
                    (F) special operations forces development;
                    (G) coordination with and security enhancements for 
                Poland, which is a neighboring NATO ally; and
                    (H) other military capabilities as determined by 
                the Secretary of Defense; and
            (3) to improve the Baltic countries' cyber defenses and 
        resilience to hybrid threats.
    (c) Strategy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
        submit to Congress a report setting forth a strategy of the 
        Department of Defense to achieve the objectives described in 
        subsection (b) of the initiative required by subsection (a).
            (2) Considerations.--The strategy required by this 
        subsection shall include a consideration of--
                    (A) current security assistance programs for the 
                Baltic countries;
                    (B) the ongoing security threats to NATO's eastern 
                flank posed by Russian aggression, including as a 
                result of the Russian Federation's 2022 invasion of 
                Ukraine with support from Belarus; and
                    (C) the ongoing security threats to the Baltic 
                countries posed by the presence, coercive economic 
                policies, and other malign activities of the People's 
                Republic of China.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Secretary of Defense $350,000,000 for each of the fiscal 
        years 2024, 2025, and 2026 to carry out the initiative required 
        by subsection (a).
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Secretary of Defense should seek to require matching funds 
        from those Baltic countries that participate in the initiative 
        required by subsection (a) in amounts commensurate with amounts 
        provided by the Department of Defense under such initiative.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``Baltic countries'' means--
                    (A) Estonia;
                    (B) Latvia; and
                    (C) Lithuania; and
            (2) the term ``NATO'' means the North Atlantic Treaty 
        Organization.
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