§10412 Designation of senior official for Department of Defense activities relating to, and implementation plan for, the AUKUS partnership

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must pick a senior civilian leader no later than 90 days after December 22, 2023 to run all Department of Defense work related to the AUKUS partnership. Also no later than 90 days after December 22, 2023, the Secretary, working with the Administrator for Nuclear Security and the Secretary of State, must send the appropriate congressional committees a written plan that explains how the Department will carry out AUKUS. The plan must give timelines and big milestones; say which milestones depend on non-AUKUS defense needs or on decisions only Australia or the United Kingdom can make; explain effects on industry (including U.S. submarine building capacity, restarting production of highly enriched uranium for submarine reactors, stabilizing supplies of steel and other materials, and coordinating sourcing among the three countries); list staffing and resource needs (including whether more foreign disclosure officers are needed and other personnel for moving defense items to Australia and the UK); show how information sharing will be improved (including changes to disclosure rules, written guidelines, an AUKUS-specific handling mark, and less use of NOFORN); explain how private intellectual property will be protected; and recommend any needed legal, regulatory, or policy changes. Sixty days after the plan is sent, and then every April 1 and October 1 through 2029, the senior civilian official must brief the congressional defense committees and the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees on progress implementing AUKUS.