Overview
- The House Armed Services Committee rejected Rep. Ro Khanna’s amendment in a voice vote on Thursday to strip Section 224 from the FY2027 NDAA, leaving the provision in the committee draft.
- Section 224 would compel the secretary of defense to designate a single executive agent to synchronize bilateral defense research, testing, integration and industrial cooperation between the United States and Israel.
- Committee leaders from both parties defended the measure as a streamlining of existing programs that does not create new authorities, while critics warned it could make assistance less visible to Congress and entrench foreign technology in U.S. supply chains.
- Reporting corrected Khanna’s claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly endorsed this NDAA text; Netanyahu’s letter instead backed a separate proposal to shift Israel from aid recipient to co-development partner.
- Advocacy groups remain split and Rep. Thomas Massie has pledged to press a floor amendment to remove Section 224 when the NDAA reaches the full House, with any cooperative funding still requiring separate appropriations before money can be spent.