Washington, D.C. – Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced four of his measures to strengthen national security and defense efforts were included in the final 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the Senate today.

The Bennet-led measures include:  

• Strengthening Our Understanding of Chinese Artificial Intelligence: An amendment introduced with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) to understand the artificial intelligence capabilities of China and the path forward for the United States to maintain superiority in this emerging technology.
• Ensuring Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Programs Are Available in Underserved Areas: An amendment to ensure our officer corps represents the regional and demographic diversity of the country by examining access to Senior ROTC programs and possible expansions of the ROTC structure.
• Ensuring American Technology Stays in Safe Hands: An amendment to examine the national security effects of the sale of American satellites to entities that could transfer use of our satellites to adversarial nations.
• Increasing Transparency of American Efforts in the War in Afghanistan: An amendment with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to increase public transparency on the war in Afghanistan by including key metrics for success in Department of Defense reports.

Bennet also introduced an amendment to authorize the U.S. Air Force to reimburse local water districts for actions they took to treat and mitigate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in drinking water. He will continue to push for its inclusion as the process moves forward.

Also, included in the NDAA was the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020 passed out of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on a bipartisan vote in May.

Bennet-backed measures to the bill, which improves the Intelligence Community’s ability to defend the United States, include:  

• Addressing technological threats from China and other nations by requiring assessments of the threat to U.S. national security posed by global adoption of 5G technology built by foreign companies and possible U.S.-led mitigation efforts, and of predatory and anticompetitive foreign economic influence.  
• Enhancing access to innovation by requiring a report on the development of multi-use sensitive compartmented facilities where multiple companies can securely work on multiple projects at different security levels and on options for co-use and shared workspace environments such as: innovation, incubation, catalyst, and accelerator environments.