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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Armed Forces Digital 4 Advantage Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DIGITAL ENGINEERING AS A CORE COMPETENCY 6 OF THE ARMED FORCES. 7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 8 ings: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1471 IS (1) The National Defense Strategy states that 1 the Department of Defense will need to ‘‘emphasize 2 new skills and complement our current workforce 3 with information experts, data scientists, computer 4 programmers, and basic science researchers and en- 5 gineers—to use information, not simply manage it. 6 The Department will also continue to explore 7 streamlined, non-traditional pathways to bring crit- 8 ical skills into service, expanding access to outside 9 expertise’’. 10 (2) The Department workforce is challenged in 11 its ability to develop, use, update, and store digital 12 information. 13 (3) Transformational technologies, including 14 Artificial Intelligence, 5G telecommunications serv- 15 ices, and cloud computing, are presenting new op- 16 portunities and challenges for the Department. 17 (4) Department modernization programs de- 18 pend almost entirely on the integration of state-of- 19 the-art software, data, and information technology, 20 and will require a workforce that understands digital 21 engineering. 22 (5) The establishment of the Joint Artificial In- 23 telligence Center (JAIC) in 2018 was an important 24 step to accelerate the delivery of, and scale the De- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1471 IS partment-wide impact of, artificial intelligence–en- 1 abled capabilities, and a workforce experienced in 2 computer sciences and digital engineering will be 3 critical to the success of the Center and the Depart- 4 ment. 5 (6) The Defense Innovation Board stated that, 6 in order to fulfill its mission in the future, the De- 7 partment will need a ‘‘human capital strategy that 8 will ensure that DoD can grow and maintain ade- 9 quate computer science capability and capacity for 10 the wide range of software-centric requirements that 11 are unmet today and will only continue to grow’’. 12 (b) POLICY.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be a policy of the 14 Armed Forces to promote and maintain digital engi- 15 neering as a core competency of the Armed Forces, 16 which policy shall be achieved by— 17 (A) the recruitment, development, and 18 incentivization of retention in and to the Armed 19 Forces of individuals with aptitude, experience, 20 proficient expertise, or a combination thereof in 21 digital engineering; 22 (B) the development and maintenance of 23 multiple career tracks on digital engineering, 24 and related digital competencies (including data 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1471 IS science, machine learning, software engineering, 1 software product management, and artificial in- 2 telligence product management) for members of 3 the Armed Forces, including the development 4 and maintenance of training, education, talent 5 management, incentives, and promotion policies 6 in support of members at all levels of such ca- 7 reer tracks; and 8 (C) the development and application of ap- 9 propriate readiness standards and metrics to 10 measure and report on the overall capability, 11 capacity, utilization, and readiness of digital en- 12 gineering forces to develop and deliver oper- 13 ational capabilities and employ modern business 14 practices. 15 (2) DIGITAL ENGINEERING.—For purposes of 16 this section, digital engineering is the discipline and 17 set of skills involved in the creation, processing, 18 transmission, integration, and storage of digital 19 data. 20 (c) RESPONSIBILITY.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary of De- 22 fense for Personnel and Readiness shall be respon- 23 sible for the development and discharge of the policy 24 set forth in subsection (a), and shall carry out such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1471 IS responsibility through an officer or employee of the 1 Department of Defense assigned by the Under Sec- 2 retary for that purpose. 3 (2) DESIGNATION.—The individual assigned 4 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the 5 ‘‘Chief Digital Engineering Recruitment and Man- 6 agement Officer of the Department of Defense’’ (in 7 this section referred to as the ‘‘Officer’’). 8 (3) DURATION OF POSITION.—The requirement 9 for the Officer under paragraph (1) shall expire on 10 September 30, 2029. 11 (d) DUTIES.—In developing and providing for the 12 discharge of the policy set forth in subsection (a), the Offi- 13 cer shall, in close consultation with the Assistant Secre- 14 taries of the military department for Manpower and Re- 15 serve Affairs, do the following: 16 (1) Develop for, and enhance within, the re- 17 cruitment programs of the Armed Force various core 18 initiatives, programs, activities, and mechanisms, 19 tailored to the unique needs of each Armed Force, 20 to identify and recruit to the Armed Forces individ- 21 uals with demonstrated aptitude, interest, proficient 22 expertise, or a combination thereof in digital engi- 23 neering particularly, and in science, technology, en- 24 gineering, and mathematics (STEM) generally, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1471 IS cluding initiatives, programs, activities, and mecha- 1 nisms to target populations of individuals not typi- 2 cally aware of opportunities in the Armed Forces for 3 a digital engineering career. 4 (2) Establish one or more flexible career tracks 5 and identifiers for digital engineering and related 6 digital competencies tailored to the unique needs for 7 each Armed Force, including appropriate military 8 occupational specialties (MOS) and meaningful op- 9 portunities for career development, talent manage- 10 ment, and promotion within such career tracks. 11 (3) Develop and maintain education, training, 12 doctrine, rotational opportunities, and professional 13 development activities to support members of the 14 Armed Forces at each level of each career track es- 15 tablished pursuant to paragraph (2). 16 (4) Coordinate and synchronize digital force 17 management activities throughout the Department 18 of Defense, advise the Secretary of Defense on all 19 matters pertaining to the health and readiness of 20 digital forces, convene a Department-wide executive 21 steering group, and submit to Congress an annual 22 report on the readiness of digital forces and progress 23 toward achieving the policy set forth in subsection 24 (a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1471 IS (5) Create a Department-wide mechanism to 1 track digital expertise in the workforce, develop and 2 maintain organizational policies, strategies, and 3 plans sufficient to build, maintain, and refresh inter- 4 nal capacity at scale, and report to the Secretary 5 quarterly on the health and readiness of digital 6 forces. 7 (6) Assist the military departments in design- 8 ing, developing, and executing programs and incen- 9 tives to retain, track, and oversee digital expertise 10 among members of the Armed Forces on active duty. 11 (7) At the request of the Chief of Staff of an 12 Armed Force, or the head of another component or 13 element of the Department, undertake an executive 14 search for key leadership positions in digital engi- 15 neering in such Armed Force, component, or ele- 16 ment, and develop and deploy agile hiring processes 17 to fill such positions. 18 (8) Identify necessary changes in authorities, 19 policies, resources, or a combination thereof to fur- 20 ther the policy set forth in subsection (a), and sub- 21 mit to Congress a report on such changes. 22 (e) IMPLEMENTATION.—Commencing not later than 23 January 1, 2022, each Assistant Secretary of a military 24 department for Manpower and Reserve Affairs shall imple- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1471 IS ment and maintain the policy set forth in subsection (a) 1 for the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of such As- 2 sistant Secretary through implementation and mainte- 3 nance of the matters developed and established by the Of- 4 ficer pursuant to subsection (d). 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 May 24, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1471.IS S1471 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS