I 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 de- termined 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 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 ‘‘Baltic Security Initia- 4 tive Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. BALTIC SECURITY INITIATIVE. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2922.IH H2922 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2922 IH (1) The Secretary of Defense shall establish 1 and carry out an initiative, to be known as the ‘‘Bal- 2 tic Security Initiative’’, for the purpose of deepening 3 security cooperation with the Baltic countries. 4 (2) RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING AUTHORI- 5 TIES.—The initiative required by this subsection 6 shall be carried out pursuant to the authorities of 7 title 10, United States Code. 8 (b) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of the initiative re- 9 quired by subsection (a) shall be— 10 (1) to achieve United States national security 11 objectives by— 12 (A) deterring Russian aggression; and 13 (B) implementing NATO’s new Strategic 14 Concept which seeks to strengthen the alliance’s 15 deterrence and defense posture by denying po- 16 tential adversaries any possible opportunities 17 for aggression; 18 (2) to enhance regional planning and coopera- 19 tion among the Baltic countries, particularly with re- 20 spect to long-term regional capability projects, in- 21 cluding— 22 (A) long range precision fire systems and 23 capabilities; 24 (B) integrated air and missile defense; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2922.IH H2922 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2922 IH (C) maritime domain awareness; 1 (D) land forces development, including 2 stockpiling large caliber ammunition; 3 (E) command, control, communications, 4 computers, intelligence, surveillance, and recon- 5 naissance; 6 (F) special operations forces development; 7 (G) coordination with and security en- 8 hancements for Poland, which is a neighboring 9 NATO ally; and 10 (H) other military capabilities as deter- 11 mined by the Secretary of Defense; and 12 (3) to improve the Baltic countries’ cyber de- 13 fenses and resilience to hybrid threats. 14 (c) STRATEGY.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 17 retary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report 18 setting forth a strategy of the Department of De- 19 fense to achieve the objectives described in sub- 20 section (b) of the initiative required by subsection 21 (a). 22 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—The strategy required 23 by this subsection shall include a consideration of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2922.IH H2922 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2922 IH (A) current security assistance programs 1 for the Baltic countries; 2 (B) the ongoing security threats to 3 NATO’s eastern flank posed by Russian aggres- 4 sion, including as a result of the Russian Fed- 5 eration’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine with support 6 from Belarus; and 7 (C) the ongoing security threats to the 8 Baltic countries posed by the presence, coercive 9 economic policies, and other malign activities of 10 the People’s Republic of China. 11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 13 appropriated to the Secretary of Defense 14 $350,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024, 15 2025, and 2026 to carry out the initiative required 16 by subsection (a). 17 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 18 Congress that the Secretary of Defense should seek 19 to require matching funds from those Baltic coun- 20 tries that participate in the initiative required by 21 subsection (a) in amounts commensurate with 22 amounts provided by the Department of Defense 23 under such initiative. 24 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2922.IH H2922 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2922 IH (1) the term ‘‘Baltic countries’’ means— 1 (A) Estonia; 2 (B) Latvia; and 3 (C) Lithuania; and 4 (2) the term ‘‘NATO’’ means the North Atlan- 5 tic Treaty Organization. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:24 May 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2922.IH H2922 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS