Energy Security for Overseas Troops Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1437 To establish a partnership program to assist the military forces of partner countries in developing and maintaining military-wide transformational strategies for operational energy, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 3, 2023 Ms. DUCKWORTH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To establish a partnership program to assist the military forces of partner countries in developing and maintaining military-wide transformational strategies for operational energy, 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 ‘‘Energy Security for 4 Overseas Troops Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1437 IS SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR PARTNER COUNTRIES TO DE- 1 VELOP AND MAINTAIN MILITARY-WIDE 2 TRANSFORMATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR 3 OPERATIONAL ENERGY. 4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 6 2025, the Secretary of Defense shall establish a 7 partnership program to assist the military forces of 8 partner countries in developing and maintaining 9 military-wide transformational strategies for oper- 10 ational energy (in this section referred to as the 11 ‘‘Program’’). 12 (2) ORGANIZATION.—The Assistant Secretary 13 of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environ- 14 ment, in consultation with the Under Secretary of 15 Defense for Policy, the Secretaries of the military 16 departments, the commanders of the combatant 17 commands, and any other individual the Secretary of 18 Defense considers appropriate, shall be responsible 19 for, and shall oversee, the Program. 20 (b) OBJECTIVE.—The objective of the Program is to 21 promote the readiness of the United States Armed Forces 22 and the military forces of partner countries for missions 23 in contested logistics environments by reducing reliance on 24 fossil fuels and employing more diverse and renewable 25 operational energy sources so as to enhance energy secu- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1437 IS rity, energy resilience, and energy conservation, reduce 1 logistical vulnerabilities, and ensure that supply lines are 2 resilient to climate change, disruptions to energy supplies, 3 and direct or indirect cyber attacks. 4 (c) ACTIVITIES.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under the Program, the 6 United States Armed Forces and the military forces 7 of each participating partner country shall, in co- 8 ordination— 9 (A) establish policies to improve 10 warfighting capability through energy security 11 and energy resilience; 12 (B) integrate efforts to mitigate mutual 13 contested logistics challenges through the reduc- 14 tion of operational energy demand; 15 (C) identify and mitigate operational en- 16 ergy challenges presented by any contested lo- 17 gistics environment, including through devel- 18 oping innovative delivery systems, distributed 19 storage, flexible contracting, and improved au- 20 tomation; 21 (D) assess and integrate, to the extent 22 practicable, any technology, including electric, 23 hydrogen, nuclear, biofuels, and any other sus- 24 tainable fuel technology or renewable energy 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1437 IS technology, that may reduce operational energy 1 demand in the near term or long term; 2 (E) assess and consider any infrastructure 3 investment of allied and partner countries that 4 may affect operational energy availability in the 5 event of a conflict with a near-peer adversary; 6 and 7 (F) assess and integrate, to the extent 8 practicable— 9 (i) any technology that increases sus- 10 tainability and lowers emissions; and 11 (ii) any practice, technology or strat- 12 egy that reduces negative impacts on 13 human health. 14 (2) COUNTRY CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying 15 out any activity under paragraph (1), to the extent 16 practicable, the relevant existing and past military 17 conflicts and cultural practices of, and beliefs preva- 18 lent in, the participating country shall be taken into 19 account. 20 (d) STRATEGY.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 22 30, 2024, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to 23 the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1437 IS and the House of Representatives a strategy for the 1 implementation of the Program. 2 (2) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by 3 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 4 (A) A governance structure for the Pro- 5 gram, including— 6 (i) the officials tasked to oversee the 7 Program; 8 (ii) the format of the governing body 9 of the Program; 10 (iii) the functions and duties of such 11 governing body with respect to establishing 12 and maintaining the Program; and 13 (iv) mechanisms for coordinating with 14 partner countries selected to participate in 15 the Program. 16 (B) With respect to the selection of part- 17 ner countries initially selected to participate in 18 the Program— 19 (i) an identification of each such 20 country; 21 (ii) the rationale for selecting each 22 such country, including a description of— 23 (I) the benefits to the military 24 forces of the partner country; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1437 IS (II) the benefits to the United 1 States Armed Forces of participation 2 by such country; 3 (iii) a description of any limitation on 4 the participation of a selected partner 5 country; and 6 (iv) any other information the Sec- 7 retary of Defense considers appropriate. 8 (C) A list of additional authorities, appro- 9 priations, or other congressional support nec- 10 essary to ensure the success of the Program. 11 (D) A campaign of objectives for the first 12 three fiscal years of the Program, including— 13 (i) a description of, and a rationale 14 for selecting, such objectives; 15 (ii) an identification of milestones to- 16 ward achieving such objectives; and 17 (iii) metrics for evaluating success in 18 achieving such objectives. 19 (E) A description of opportunities and po- 20 tential timelines for future Program expansion, 21 as appropriate. 22 (F) Any other information the Secretary of 23 Defense considers appropriate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1437 IS (3) FORM.—The strategy required by para- 1 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 2 may include a classified annex. 3 (e) REPORT.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 5 20, 2025, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of 6 Defense shall submit to the congressional defense 7 committees (as defined in section 101 of title 10, 8 United States Code) a report on the Program. 9 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each report required by para- 10 graph (1) shall include the following: 11 (A) A narrative summary of activities con- 12 ducted as part of the Program during the pre- 13 ceding fiscal year. 14 (B) Except in the case of the initial report, 15 an assessment of progress toward the objectives 16 established for the preceding fiscal year de- 17 scribed in the preceding report under this sub- 18 section using the metrics established in such re- 19 port. 20 (C) A campaign of objectives for the three 21 fiscal years following the date of submission of 22 the report, including— 23 (i) a description of, and a rationale 24 for selecting, such objectives; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1437 IS (ii) an identification of milestones to- 1 ward achieving such objectives; and 2 (iii) metrics for evaluating success in 3 achieving such objectives. 4 (D) A description of opportunities and po- 5 tential timelines for future Program expansion, 6 as appropriate. 7 (E) Any other information the Secretary of 8 Defense considers appropriate. 9 (3) FORM.—Each report required by paragraph 10 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 11 include a classified annex. 12 (f) TERMINATION.—The Program shall terminate on 13 December 31, 2029. 14 (g) CONTESTED LOGISTICS ENVIRONMENT DE- 15 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘contested logistics en- 16 vironment’’ means an environment in which the United 17 States Armed Forces or the military forces of a partner 18 country engage in conflict with an adversary that presents 19 challenges in all domains and directly targets logistics op- 20 erations, facilities, and activities in the United States, 21 abroad, or in transit from one location to the other. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1437.IS S1437 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS