Sec. 1614. PLANS ON TRANSFER OF ACQUISITION AND FUNDING AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN WEATHER MISSIONS TO NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

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## SEC. 1614 PLANS ON TRANSFER OF ACQUISITION AND FUNDING AUTHORITY OF CERTAIN WEATHER MISSIONS TO NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE ###

(a)Limitation Except as provided by subsection (c), of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2017 for research, development, test, and evaluation, Air Force, for the weather satellite follow-on system, not more than 50 percent may be obligated or expended until the date on which the Secretary of the Air Force submits to the appropriate congressional committees the plan under subsection (b)(1). ###

(b)Plans for Transfer of Authority ####

(1)Air force plan Except as provided by subsection (c), the Secretary of the Air Force shall develop a plan for the Air Force to transfer, beginning with fiscal year 2018, the acquisition authority and the funding authority for covered space-based environmental monitoring missions from the Air Force to the National Reconnaissance Office, including a description of the amount of funds that would be necessary to be transferred from the Air Force to the National Reconnaissance Office during fiscal years 2018 through 2022 to carry out such plan. ####

(2)NRO plan #####

(A)Except as provided by subsection (c), the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office shall develop a plan for the National Reconnaissance Office to address how to carry out covered space-based environmental monitoring missions. Such plan shall include— #####

(I)a description of the related national security requirements for such missions; ######

(ii)a description of the appropriate manner to meet such requirements; and ######

(iii)the amount of funds that would be necessary to be transferred from the Air Force to the National Reconnaissance Office during fiscal years 2018 through 2022 to carry out such plan. #####

(B)In developing the plan under subparagraph (A), the Director may conduct pre-acquisition activities, including with respect to requests for information, analyses of alternatives, study contracts, modeling and simulation, and other activities the Director determines necessary to develop such plan. #####

(C)Except as provided by subsection (c), the Director shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees such plan by not later than July 1, 2017. ####

(3)Independent cost estimate The Director of the Cost Assessment Improvement Group of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, shall certify to the appropriate congressional committees that the amounts of funds identified under paragraphs

(1)and (2)(A)(iii) as being necessary to transfer are appropriate and include funding for positions and personnel to support program office costs. ###

(c)Waiver Based on Report and Certification of Air Force Acquisition Program The Secretary of the Air Force may waive the limitation in subsection

(a)and the requirement to develop a plan under subsection (b)(1), and the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office may waive the requirement to develop a plan under subsection (b)(2), if the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff jointly submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report by not later than July 1, 2017, that contains— ####

(1)a certification that the Secretary of the Air Force is carrying out a formal acquisition program that has received Milestone A approval to address the cloud characterization and theater weather imagery requirements of the Department of Defense; and ####

(2)an identification of the cost, schedule, requirements, and acquisition strategy of such acquisition program. ###

(d)Definitions In this section: ####

(1)The term “appropriate congressional committees” means— #####

(A)the congressional defense committees; and #####

(B)the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate. ####

(2)The term “covered space-based environmental monitoring missions” means the acquisition programs necessary to meet the national security requirements for cloud characterization and theater weather imagery. ####

(3)The term “Milestone A approval” has the meaning given that term in section 2366a(d) of title 10, United States Code.