Professional Military Education Review Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7444 To direct the Secretary of Defense to review and report to Congress on the status of the professional military education enterprise, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 1, 2020 Mr. BACON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To direct the Secretary of Defense to review and report to Congress on the status of the professional military education enterprise, 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 ‘‘Professional Military 4 Education Review Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. TRANSFORMATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL MILI- 6 TARY EDUCATION ENTERPRISE. 7 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 8 gress that— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7444.IH H7444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7444 IH (1) professional military education is founda- 1 tional to the development of ethical and effective 2 military leaders and vital to national security; 3 (2) oversight of professional military education 4 is an essential part of Congress’ constitutional re- 5 sponsibilities to regulate and maintain the Armed 6 Forces of the United States; 7 (3) reform of the professional military edu- 8 cation system, as directed by the congressional de- 9 fense committees, has played a central role in the in- 10 stitutionalization of jointness as envisioned by the 11 Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorga- 12 nization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–433); 13 (4) the Goldwater-Nichols professional military 14 education model has served the Nation well since the 15 end of the Cold War by enabling successful joint 16 military operations across the spectrum of conflict; 17 (5) recent changes in the national security envi- 18 ronment require that the professional military edu- 19 cation enterprise adapt to prepare the joint force to 20 successfully defend American interests in evolving 21 areas of strategic competition; and 22 (6) the Department of Defense must transform 23 the professional military education enterprise to 24 meet these challenges by emphasizing focused and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7444.IH H7444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7444 IH rigorous intellectual study reflecting the hard won 1 strategic insights of history, while leveraging ad- 2 vancements in the modern learning environment. 3 (b) LIMITATION.—None of the funds authorized to 4 be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available 5 for fiscal year 2021 for the Department of Defense may 6 be obligated or expended to consolidate, close, or signifi- 7 cantly change the curriculum of the National Defense Uni- 8 versity or any institution of professional military education 9 of an Armed Force until a period of 120 days has elapsed 10 following the date on which the Under Secretary of De- 11 fense for Personnel and Readiness submits the report re- 12 quired under subsection (c). 13 (c) REPORT REQUIRED.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 16 retary of Defense, acting through the Under Sec- 17 retary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, shall 18 submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the 19 Senate and the House of Representatives a report on 20 the status of the professional military education en- 21 terprise. 22 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 23 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 24 (A) A consolidated summary that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7444.IH H7444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7444 IH (i) lists all components of the profes- 1 sional military education enterprise of the 2 Department of Defense, including all asso- 3 ciated schools, programs, research centers, 4 and support activities; and 5 (ii) for each such component, identi- 6 fies the assigned personnel strength, an- 7 nual student throughput, and budget de- 8 tails covering the period of three fiscal 9 years preceding the date of the report. 10 (B) An assessment of the effectiveness and 11 shortfalls of the existing professional military 12 education enterprise as measured against grad- 13 uate utilization, post-graduate evaluations, and 14 the education and force development require- 15 ments of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 16 Staff and the Chiefs of the Armed Forces. 17 (C) Recommendations to improve the intel- 18 lectual readiness of the joint force through re- 19 forms designed to— 20 (i) improve the warfighting readiness, 21 intellectual fitness, and cognitive ingenuity 22 of military leaders; 23 (ii) promote development of strategic 24 thinkers capable of developing integrated 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7444.IH H7444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7444 IH political-military and cross-domain strate- 1 gies and new doctrinal concepts; 2 (iii) enhance the effectiveness, coher- 3 ence, and efficiency of individual service 4 approaches to professional military edu- 5 cation; 6 (iv) improve the depth and rigor of 7 professional military education curriculum 8 in alignment with national defense strategy 9 pacing threats while enhancing strategic 10 relationships and operational integration 11 with key allies and international security 12 partners; and 13 (v) foster the deliberate development 14 of world-class faculty through increasing 15 the value of faculty assignments and other 16 appropriate measures. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:35 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7444.IH H7444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS