United States-Israel Anti-Tunnel Defense Cooperation Act
This bill authorizes the President, upon request of the government of Israel, and acting through the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, to:
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act may be obligated or expended until the President, acting through the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, makes specified certifications to Congress regarding:
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1349 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1349
To authorize assistance to Israel to establish an anti-tunneling
defense system, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 10, 2015
Ms. Graham introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize assistance to Israel to establish an anti-tunneling
defense system, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Israel Anti-Tunnel
Defense Cooperation Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are
United States-designated terrorist organizations.
(2) Designated Palestinian terrorist organizations have
killed hundreds of Israelis and dozens of Americans in rocket
attacks and suicide bombings.
(3) Hamas has used underground tunnels to Israel and Egypt
to smuggle weapons, money, and supplies into Gaza and to send
members of Hamas out of Gaza for training and to bring trainers
in to Gaza to teach Hamas how to manufacture rockets and build
better tunnels. Tunnels in Gaza have also been used as
underground rocket launching sites, weapons caches, bunkers,
transportation networks and command and control centers.
(4) In 2006, Hamas kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit
through a tunnel and held him for five years.
(5) The Israel Defense Forces discovered 32 tunnels during
the conflict with Hamas in the summer of 2014, 14 of which
crossed into Israel.
(6) Hamas intentionally uses civilians as human shields by
placing its underground tunnel network in densely populated
areas and schools, hospitals, and mosques.
(7) Hamas's placement of explosive material in its vast
network of tunnels in Gaza has caused civilian casualties
through secondary and tertiary explosions.
(8) While the unemployment rate in Gaza is at 38 percent,
it is estimated that Hamas spends $3,000,000 per tunnel.
(9) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he
was ``shocked by the tunnels used for the infiltration of
terrorists''.
(10) Hamas has claimed to be rebuilding tunnels in Gaza
after the war with Israel in the summer of 2014.
(11) Hezbollah has used underground tunnels in southern
Lebanon to move Hezbollah fighters and to launch attacks.
(12) The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims to be digging new
tunnels on the Gaza border. Israel has a right to defend itself
from the violence of Palestinian terrorist groups, including
the violence that is facilitated through terrorist tunnel
networks.
(13) The United States is working cooperatively with the
Government of Israel to develop technologies to detect and
destroy tunnels penetrating the territory of Israel.
SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO ISRAEL TO ESTABLISH AN ANTI-TUNNELING DEFENSE
SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--The President, upon request of the Government of
Israel and acting through the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of
State, is authorized to carry out research, development, and test
activities on a joint basis with Israel to establish an anti-tunneling
defense system to detect, map, and destroy underground tunnels from
Gaza to the territory of Israel or other countries that share a border
with Gaza.
(b) Certification.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated
to carry out this Act may be obligated or expended to carry out
subsection (a) until the President, acting through the Secretary of
Defense and the Secretary of State, certifies to Congress the
following:
(1) The President has finalized a memorandum of
understanding or other formal agreement between the United
States and Israel regarding sharing of research and development
costs for the system described in subsection (a).
(2) The understanding or agreement--
(A) requires sharing of costs of projects,
including the cost of claims, between the United States
and Israel on an equitable basis unless the President
determines, on a case-by-case basis, the Government of
Israel is unable to contribute on an equitable basis;
(B) requires the designation of payment of non-
recurring engineering costs in connection with the
establishment of a capacity for co-production in the
United States;
(C) establishes a framework to negotiate the rights
to any intellectual property developed under the
cooperative research and development projects; and
(D) requires the Department of Defense to receive
quarterly reports on expenditure of funds by the
Government of Israel, including a description of what
the funds have been used for, when funds were expended,
and an identification of entities that expended the
funds.
(c) Assistance.--The President, upon request of the Government of
Israel and acting through the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of
State, is authorized to provide assistance to Israel for the
procurement, maintenance, and sustainment of an anti-tunneling system
described in subsection (a).
SEC. 4. REPORTS.
(a) Initial Report.--The President shall submit to Congress a
report that contains a copy of the memorandum of understanding or other
formal agreement between the United States and Israel as described in
section 3(b)(1).
(b) Quarterly Reports.--The President, acting through the Secretary
of Defense and the Secretary of State, shall submit to Congress a
quarterly report that contains a copy of the most-recent quarterly
report provided by the Government of Israel to the Department of
Defense pursuant to section 3(b)(2)(D).
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Of the funds authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2016 for
procurement, defense-wide activities and for research, development,
test, and evaluation of the Department of Defense, $200,000,000 is
authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry out this Act.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
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