Task force on international agreements for Indo-Pacific medical partnerships

(a) In general Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall establish a task force responsible for securing and negotiating the international agreements required to implement the Indo-Pacific Medical Readiness Program established under section 735 of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (Public Law 118–159; 10 U.S.C. 1074 note) to ensure the Armed Forces of the United States can partner with foreign medical facilities during peacetime and wartime operations for military medical care, casualty evacuation, and storage relevant to military medical preparedness (in this section referred to as the task force). (b) Lead and participants (1) Lead Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall designate a senior official from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to lead and coordinate the activities of the task force. (2) Participants Participants in the task force shall include senior representatives from the following: (A) The Joint Staff. (B) Relevant combatant commands. (C) Each military department. (D) The Department of State. (E) The Defense Health Agency. (F) The Defense Logistics Agency. (c) Duties The duties of the task force shall include the following: (1) Identifying the possible foreign governments and medical facilities that could meet the priority requirements in the contingency and operational plans of the United States Indo-Pacific Command. (2) Reviewing existing United States agreements with those foreign governments for medical readiness and identifying necessary expansions or adjustments to ensure that the Department of Defense can leverage medical facilities to carry out those requirements. (3) Agreeing on a priority target list of foreign governments for diplomatic outreach and developing a diplomatic plan between the Department of Defense and the Department of State for each country, in consultation with the local United States mission with responsibility for the bilateral relationship. (4) Coordinating outreach to foreign governments and foreign companies to develop or adjust medical readiness agreements as needed, in consultation with the local United States mission with responsibility for the bilateral relationship. (d) Interim progress report Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the task force shall submit to Congress a progress report that— (1) indicates the senior official designated under subsection (b)(1); (2) details a list of priority foreign governments with which the task force intends to expand cooperation and, for each such government— (A) the type of desired cooperation with foreign medical facilities under the jurisdiction of such government; (B) existing medical readiness agreement frameworks with such government; and (C) barriers to implementing the medical readiness program under section 735 of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (Public Law 118–159; 10 U.S.C. 1074 note) with such government; and (3) a strategy and plan for overcoming those barriers by not later than March 2027.