I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2973 To require the Secretary of Defense to develop, in cooperation with allies and partners in the Middle East, an integrated maritime domain aware- ness and interdiction capability, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mrs. RODGERS of Washington (for herself, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. TRONE, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. BACON, and Mr. PANETTA) 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 require the Secretary of Defense to develop, in coopera- tion with allies and partners in the Middle East, an integrated maritime domain awareness and interdiction capability, 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 ‘‘Maritime Architecture 4 and Response to International Terrorism In the Middle 5 East Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘MARITIME Act of 2023’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2973 IH SEC. 2. MIDDLE EAST INTEGRATED MARITIME DOMAIN 1 AWARENESS AND INTERDICTION CAPA- 2 BILITY. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in con- 4 sultation with the Secretary of State, shall seek to build 5 upon the historic opportunities created by the Abraham 6 Accords and the incorporation of Israel into the area of 7 responsibility of the United States Central Command to 8 develop a Middle East integrated maritime domain aware- 9 ness and interdiction capability for the purpose of pro- 10 tecting the people, infrastructure, and territory of such 11 countries from— 12 (1) manned and unmanned naval systems, un- 13 dersea warfare capabilities, and anti-ship missiles of 14 Iran and groups affiliated with Iran; and 15 (2) violent extremist organizations, criminal 16 networks, and piracy activities that threaten lawful 17 commerce in the waterways within the area of re- 18 sponsibility of the United States Naval Forces Cen- 19 tral Command. 20 (b) STRATEGY.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 23 of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of 24 State, shall submit to the appropriate committees of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2973 IH Congress a strategy for the cooperation described in 1 subsection (a). 2 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy 3 required by paragraph (1) shall include the fol- 4 lowing: 5 (A) An assessment of the threats posed to 6 ally or partner countries in the Middle East 7 by— 8 (i) manned and unmanned naval sys- 9 tems, undersea warfare capabilities, and 10 anti-ship missiles of Iran and groups affili- 11 ated with Iran; and 12 (ii) violent extremist organizations, 13 criminal networks, and piracy activities 14 that threaten lawful commerce in the wa- 15 terways within the area of responsibility of 16 the United States Naval Forces Central 17 Command. 18 (B) A description of existing multilateral 19 maritime partnerships currently led by the 20 United States Naval Forces Central Command, 21 including the Combined Maritime Forces (in- 22 cluding its associated Task Forces 150, 151, 23 152, and 153), the International Maritime Se- 24 curity Construct, and the Navy’s Task Force 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2973 IH 59, and a discussion of the role of such partner- 1 ships in building an integrated maritime secu- 2 rity capability. 3 (C) A description of progress made in ad- 4 vancing the integration of Israel into the exist- 5 ing multilateral maritime partnerships de- 6 scribed in subparagraph (B). 7 (D) A description of efforts among coun- 8 tries in the Middle East to coordinate intel- 9 ligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance capa- 10 bilities and indicators and warnings with re- 11 spect to the threats described in subparagraph 12 (A), and a description of any impediment to op- 13 timizing such efforts. 14 (E) A description of the current Depart- 15 ment of Defense systems that, in coordination 16 with ally and partner countries in the Middle 17 East— 18 (i) provide awareness of and defend 19 against such threats; and 20 (ii) address current capability gaps. 21 (F) An explanation of the manner in which 22 an integrated maritime domain awareness and 23 interdiction architecture would improve collec- 24 tive security in the Middle East. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2973 IH (G) A description of existing and planned 1 efforts to engage ally and partner countries in 2 the Middle East in establishing such an archi- 3 tecture. 4 (H) An identification of the elements of 5 such an architecture that may be acquired and 6 operated by ally and partner countries in the 7 Middle East, and a list of such elements for 8 each such ally and partner. 9 (I) An identification of the elements of 10 such an architecture that may only be provided 11 and operated by members of the United States 12 Armed Forces. 13 (J) An identification of any challenge to 14 optimizing such an architecture in the Middle 15 East. 16 (K) An assessment of progress and key 17 challenges in the implementation of the strategy 18 required by paragraph (1) using the metrics 19 identified in accordance with paragraph (3). 20 (L) Recommendations for improvements in 21 the implementation of such strategy based on 22 such metrics. 23 (M) An assessment of any capabilities or 24 lessons from the Navy’s Task Force 59 that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2973 IH may be leveraged to support an integrated mar- 1 itime domain awareness and interdiction capa- 2 bility in the Middle East. 3 (N) Any other matter the Secretary of De- 4 fense considers relevant. 5 (3) METRICS.—The Secretary of Defense shall 6 identify metrics to assess progress in the implemen- 7 tation of the strategy required by paragraph (1). 8 (4) FORMAT.—The strategy required by para- 9 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 10 may include a classified annex. 11 (c) FEASIBILITY STUDY.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 13 shall conduct a study on the feasibility and advis- 14 ability of establishing a fund for an integrated mari- 15 time domain awareness and interdiction capability to 16 protect the people, infrastructure, and territory of 17 ally and partner countries in the Middle East 18 from— 19 (A) manned and unmanned naval systems, 20 undersea warfare capabilities, and anti-ship 21 missiles of Iran and groups affiliated with Iran; 22 and 23 (B) violent extremist organizations, crimi- 24 nal networks, and piracy activities that threaten 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2973 IH lawful commerce in the waterways of the Middle 1 East. 2 (2) ELEMENT.—The study required by para- 3 graph (1) shall include an assessment of funds that 4 could be contributed by ally and partner countries of 5 the United States. 6 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 8 Defense shall submit to the appropriate committees 9 of Congress a report on the results of the study con- 10 ducted under paragraph (1). 11 (d) PROTECTION OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION.—Any 12 activity carried out under this section shall be conducted 13 in a manner that appropriately protects sensitive informa- 14 tion and the national security interests of the United 15 States. 16 (e) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE- 17 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit- 18 tees of Congress’’ means— 19 (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the 20 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 21 Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on In- 22 telligence of the Senate; and 23 (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the 24 Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 2973 IH Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Select Com- 1 mittee on Intelligence of the House of Representa- 2 tives. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:41 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2973.IH H2973 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB