Baltic Security Initiative Act

Subjects: International Affairs


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1465 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1465

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2023

   Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. King, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. 
   Blumenthal, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Booker, Mr. Casey, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
Merkley, Mr. Van Hollen, and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish and 
carry out an initiative, to be known as the ``Baltic Security 
Initiative'' (in this section referred to as the ``Initiative'') for 
the purpose of deepening security cooperation with the Baltic 
countries.
    (b) Relationship to Existing Authorities.--The Initiative required 
by subsection (a) shall be carried out pursuant to the authorities 
provided in title 10, United States Code.
    (c) Objectives.--The objectives of the Initiative shall be--
            (1) to achieve United States national security objectives 
        by--
                    (A) deterring aggression by the Russian Federation; 
                and
                    (B) implementing the North Atlantic Treaty 
                Organization'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 North Atlantic Treaty 
                Organization 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.
    (d) 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 for the 
        Department of Defense to achieve the objectives described in 
        subsection (b).
            (2) Considerations.--The strategy required by this 
        subsection shall include a consideration of--
                    (A) security assistance programs for the Baltic 
                countries authorized as of the date on which the 
                strategy is submitted;
                    (B) the ongoing security threats to the North 
                Atlantic Treaty Organization'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.
    (e) 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.
            (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Secretary of Defense should seek to require matching funds 
        from each of the Baltic countries that participate in the 
        Initiative in amounts commensurate with amounts provided by the 
        Department of Defense for the Initiative.
    (f) Baltic Countries Defined.--In this section, the term ``Baltic 
countries'' means--
            (1) Estonia;
            (2) Latvia; and
            (3) Lithuania.
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