§127d Support of Special Operations for Irregular Warfare

Summary

The Secretary of Defense may spend up to $20,000,000 in any fiscal year, with the agreement of the relevant Chief of Mission, to help foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals who are assisting U.S. Special Operations Forces in ongoing, authorized irregular warfare. The money must come from Department of Defense operation and maintenance funds. The Secretary must create written procedures that set policy limits, show how activities are planned and coordinated with other U.S. agencies, require legal review, check recipients for counterintelligence or force protection risks and serious human rights abuses, and keep the congressional defense committees informed. The Secretary must tell those committees the procedures before using the money and report any major changes. This authority does not authorize covert action, sending U.S. forces into hostilities, supporting operations that U.S. Special Operations Forces are not allowed to do, or activities that break the laws of war. The Secretary cannot delegate the power to make funds available for a military operation. The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict has primary oversight inside the Office of the Secretary of Defense. At least 15 days before starting support or increasing support by $500,000 or 10 percent (whichever is less), the Secretary must give a written notice to the congressional defense committees describing the operation, the recipients, the type of support and end-use monitoring, the amount, the expected duration and review plan, and a determination that the support is not covert action, an introduction of U.S. forces into hostilities, unauthorized support, or inconsistent with the laws of armed conflict. If support is suspended or stopped, the Secretary must notify the committees within 48 hours with reasons, effects, and any transition plan. The Secretary must also send reports after each fiscal year (within 120 days) and a mid-year report (within 180 days after that) with details on operations, recipients, amounts, duration, value, and prior fiscal year totals, and must brief the committees at least quarterly. Irregular warfare means DoD activities not involving armed conflict that support set U.S. policy and military goals done by, with, and through regular and irregular forces, groups, and individuals.