Sense of the Senate, Inspector General review, and restoration and remediation plans for United States Army, Kwajalein Atoll, and the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range

(a) Sense of the Senate It is the Sense of the Senate that— (1) Department of Defense test, evaluation, and space situational awareness capabilities residing on Kwajalein Atoll and supporting the missions of the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range are of paramount importance to the defense of the United States and the maintenance of the military capabilities required to achieve this goal; (2) the persistent inability of the Army to adequately maintain Department of Defense facilities and infrastructure on the Kwajalein Atoll belies the clear importance of this installation and represents a continuing failure of leadership at all levels of the Army; (3) this failure presents an ongoing health and safety risk to the military, civilian, and contractor workforce supporting Department of Defense activities on the atoll; (4) the Test Resource Management Center, at congressional direction, determined that the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range is functionally incapable of fully executing nearly every mission it has been charged with supporting for several years; (5) inadequate support and prioritization for sustainment and modernization activities, particularly with regard to the unique testing capabilities resident across the atoll, has placed tens of billions of dollars in critical investments in the modernization of the nuclear deterrent and ballistic missile defense capabilities of the United States at extreme risk due to the inability of the installation to fully support weapon system testing requirements; (6) such risks will only be magnified as the Department of Defense works to develop the Golden Dome for America integrated air and missile defense system, long-range hypersonic strike systems, and the suite of mass-producible, low-cost munitions envisioned by the Munitions Acceleration Council of the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and (7) continued failures to rectify these systemic sustainment issues is antithetical to the stated priorities of the Department of Defense to restore lethality to the Joint Force and undermines efforts of the United States to ensure United States warfighters are equipped with the tools needed to effectively compete against rapidly expanding Chinese, Russian, and North Korean capabilities and deter their aggressive intentions now and in the coming decades. (b) Inspector General review Commencing not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and concluding not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense shall conduct a comprehensive review of— (1) the status of United States facilities and capabilities located on the islands comprising the Kwajalein Atoll, as well as any associated capabilities supporting the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range not residing on the atoll; (2) the effectiveness of previous, ongoing, and planned Army sustainment and modernization plans for maintaining the infrastructure and capabilities required to perform the missions assigned to United States Army Kwajalein Atoll and the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range and support Joint Force weapon system testing needs; (3) the adequacy of previous, current, and planned funding to achieve the objectives of the sustainment and modernization plans of the Army for maintaining the infrastructure and capabilities required to perform the missions assigned to United States Army Kwajalein Atoll and the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range and support Joint Force weapon system testing needs; (4) the analytical and decisionmaking processes within the Army and the Department of Defense generally that have contributed to the current status of United States facilities and capabilities on the atoll; and (5) the effectiveness of the Army in providing health and welfare services to military, civilian, and contractor personnel assigned to the atoll at a level commensurate to such services provided at other Army installations outside the continental United States, including the determinations and decisionmaking processes that led to the absence of Department of Defense Education Activity, Defense Commissary Agency, and Defense Health Agency support for resident personnel and families. (c) Restoration and remediation plan (1) Initial plan Not later than 90 days after the date of the completion of the review required by subsection (b), the Deputy Secretary of Defense shall, in coordination with the Secretary of the Army, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, the Direct Reporting Program Manager for Critical Major Weapon Systems, the Direct Reporting Program Manager for Golden Dome for America, the Commander of United States Strategic Command, and the Commander of United States Space Command, complete an initial plan for restoring and remediating— (A) the full range of test and evaluation capabilities required to support weapon system program development efforts requiring the use of the Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range; and (B) any supporting Department of Defense infrastructure deficiencies on Kwajalein Atoll required to fully enable Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range operations, and any other deficiencies identified by the Inspector General as part of the review described in subsection (b). (2) Initial cost estimate In parallel to the development of the plan required by (1), the Secretary of the Army shall, in coordination with the Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, prepare an initial cost estimate for— (A) fully remediating not fewer than 75 percent of all identified deficiencies across the fiscal years 2028 to 2032 Future Years Defense Program; and (B) fully remediating all deficiencies in mission critical testing capabilities as determined jointly by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and the Direct Reporting Program Managers for Golden Dome for America and Critical Major Weapon Systems. (3) Annual updates The plan required by paragraph (1) and the cost estimate required by paragraph (2) shall be annually updated by the Secretary of the Army and submitted through the Director of the Test Resource Management Center to the Deputy Secretary of Defense as part of the Program Objective Memoranda request of the Army for the upcoming fiscal year, along with an independent evaluation by the Director of the sufficiency of the proposed resourcing of the Army to achieve the plan objectives. (4) Submittal to Congress No later than 45 days after the receipt of the plan required by paragraph (1), The Deputy Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees an unedited copy of the plan described required by paragraph (1), along with any comments, planned follow-up activities, or recommendations for congressional action. (d) Comptroller General of the United States review (1) Annual reviews Commencing not later than April 1, 2027, and not less frequently than once each year thereafter until December 31, 2032, the Comptroller General of the United States shall— (A) conduct a review of the condition of Department of Defense facilities and capabilities located on Kwajalein Atoll; and (B) submit to the congressional defense committees— (i) an assessment of the efforts of the Department of Defense to restore and remediate the capabilities described in subparagraph (A); and (ii) such recommendations for legislative or administrative action to improve the efforts described in clause (i) as the Comptroller General considers appropriate. (2) Annual briefings Not later than August 1 of each year, the Comptroller General shall provide the congressional defense committees a briefing on the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to the most recent review conducted pursuant to paragraph (1)(A).