§1974 Connecting Oceania’s Nations with Vanguard Exercises and National Empowerment

Summary

Lets the Secretary of State work with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau to help set up or advise a national security council or a similar government coordinating body. Those bodies would be run by the local governments and would help them work with the U.S. on security and disaster response, improve emergency and law‑enforcement coordination, support maritime security, and provide trained people for committees under the Compacts of Free Association. "Appropriate committees of Congress" means the Senate Foreign Relations and Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Foreign Affairs and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the congressional defense committees. A "national security council" here is the main government group that coordinates security cooperation and disaster response. The Secretary may help make sure each council has enough staff, that its equipment and services meet security standards, avoid certain risky suppliers identified in section 1260H of the FY2021 NDAA, and, when possible, work so equipment is interoperable across the three countries. Within 180 days after December 22, 2023, and once each year for the next 2 years, the Secretary must report to the listed congressional committees with assessments of whether these councils are useful at a reasonable cost, what U.S. actions have been taken, whether the councils are staffed and able to do key tasks, any challenges or foreign influence attempts, and any other relevant matters. The councils would focus on homeland security work such as coordinating investigations of transnational crime, disaster response, counterintelligence and counter‑coercion, combating illegal fishing, coordinating with U.S. officials on humanitarian response, military exercises, and law enforcement, and identifying a government entity to support homeland defense and civil support.