Last Updated:
The provision would require the US defence secretary to appoint a senior “executive agent” to oversee and coordinate joint work with Israel.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.(Photo: Reuters/File)
A proposal before the US Congress could significantly deepen defence ties between the US and Israel, increasing cooperation in military research, production and advanced technology.
The plan appears in Section 224 of the House Armed Services Committee’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets out US defence policy and spending priorities each year.
The provision, titled the “United States-Israel Defence Technology Cooperation Initiative”, would require the US defence secretary to appoint a senior “executive agent” to oversee and coordinate joint work with Israel.
This official would oversee collaboration across a wide range of areas, including weapons research, development, testing, evaluation, system integration and defence industry cooperation.
“Sec. 224: This section would require the Secretary of Defense to designate an executive agent responsible for synchronizing cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel, including bilateral defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation,” the report said.
If approved, the measure would formalise and expand existing defence links between the two countries. The US and Israel already work together on missile defence systems and other military programmes.
A former US State Department official said the proposal would further embed US-Israel defence ties deep within America’s defence industry. He warned that the plan could give Israel wider access to US technology and push greater integration of Israeli systems into American military supply chains, potentially increasing its influence over US defence priorities, Al Jazeera reported.
In a video shared on social media Friday, Josh Paul said, “What Congress is trying to do now is find different ways of entrenching the relationship so deep in America’s own defence industrial base that it’s impossible to root it out.”
“A new section of law in the National Defense Authorization Act would give Israel unprecedented access to American technology and would force the United States military to integrate Israeli defence technologies into our own critical military supply chain..,” he added.
The proposal comes amid the ongoing war in Iran, sparked after joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28, and also continued scrutiny over Washington’s military support for Israel.
United States of America (USA)
Read More
Source link
[ad_3]
