Sec. 1246. Sense of Congress on burden sharing by partners and allies
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/bill/116/hr/6395/pcs/section-1246A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: The United States’ alliances and other critical defense partnerships are a cornerstone of Department of Defense
(DOD)efforts to deter aggression from our adversaries, counter violent extremism, and preserve United States national security interests in the face of challenges to those interests by Russia, China and other actors. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)is the most successful military alliance in history, having deterred war between major state powers for more than 70 years. Collective security and the responsibility of each member of the security of the other members as well as the alliance as a whole is a pillar of the NATO alliance. NATO members other than the United States collectively expend over $300,000,000,000 in defense investments annually and maintain military forces totaling an estimated 1,900,000 service members, bolstering the alliance’s collective capacity to counter shared threats. At the NATO Wales Summit in 2014, NATO members pledged to strive to increase their own defense spending to 2 percent of their respective gross domestic products and to spend at least 20 percent of their defense budgets on equipment by 2024 as part of their burden sharing commitments. Since 2014, there has been a steady increase in allied defense spending, with 22 member countries meeting defense spending targets in 2018 and having submitted plans to meet the targets by 2024. In addition to individual defense spending contributions, NATO allies and partners also contribute to NATO and United States operations around the world, including the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). South Korea hosts a baseline of 28,500 United States forces including the Eighth Army and Seventh Air Force. South Korea maintains Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and Patriot Batteries that contribute to regional Ballistic Missile Defense, is a participant in the Enforcement Coordination Center, and is a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations. South Korea is an active consumer of United States Foreign Military Sales
(FMS)with approximately $30,500,000,000 in active FMS cases and makes significant financial contributions to support forward deployed United States forces in South Korea, including contributions of $924,000,000 under the Special Measures Agreement in 2019 and over 90 percent of the cost of developing Camp Humphreys. Japan hosts 54,000 United States forces including the Seventh Fleet, the only forward-deployed United States aircraft carrier, and the United States Marine Corps’ III Marine Expeditionary Force. Japan maintains Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and Patriot Batteries that contribute to regional Ballistic Missile Defense, conducts bilateral presence operations and mutual asset protection missions with United States forces, and is a capacity building contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Japan is an active consumer of United States FMS with approximately $28,400,000,000 in active FMS cases and makes significant financial contributions to enable optimized United States military posture, including contributions of approximately $2,000,000,000 annually under the Special Measures Agreement, $187,000,000 annually under the Japan Facilities Improvement Program, $12,100,000,000 for the Futenma Replacement Facility, $4,800,000,000 for Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, and $3,100,000,000 for construction on Guam to support the movement of United States Marines from Okinawa. It is the sense of Congress that— the United States Government should focus on United States national security requirements for investment in forward presence, joint exercises, investments, and commitments that contribute to the security of the United States and collective security, and cease efforts that solely focus on the financial contributions of United States allies and partners when negotiating joint security arrangements; the United States must continue to strengthen its alliances and security partnerships with like-minded democracies around the world to deter aggression from authoritarian competitors and promote peace and respect for democratic values and human rights around the world; United States partners and allies should continue to increase their military capacity and enhance their ability to contribute to global peace and security; NATO allies should continue working toward their 2014 Wales Defense Investment Pledge commitments; the United States should work with the Governments of South Korea and Japan respectively to reach fair and equitable Special Measures Agreements that reflect the critical security relationships between both countries and the United States; the United States should maintain forward-deployed United States forces in order to better ensure United States national security and global stability; alliances and partnerships are the cornerstone of United States national security and critical to countering the threat posed by malign actors to the post-World War II liberal international order; and the United States and NATO allies should prioritize at each NATO Summit deterrence against Russian aggression.