REPORTS ON JOINT WARFIGHTING EXPERIMENTATION.

SEC. 923. REPORTS ON JOINT WARFIGHTING EXPERIMENTATION. (a) Initial Report.— (1) The commander of the combatant command assigned by the Secretary of Defense to have the mission for joint warfighting experimentation shall submit to the Secretary an initial report on the implementation of joint experimentation. Not later than April 1, 1999, the Secretary shall submit that report, together with any comments that the Secretary considers appropriate and any comments that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff considers appropriate, to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives. (2) The report of the commander under paragraph (1) shall include the commander’s assessment of the following: (A) The authority and responsibilities of the commander as described in section 922(b). (B) The organization of the commander’s combatant command, and of its staff, for carrying out the joint warfighting experimentation mission. (C) The process established for tasking forces to participate in experimentation and the commander’s specific authority over those forces, including forces designated as joint experimentation forces. (D) The resources provided for initial implementation of joint warfighting experimentation, the process for providing those resources to the commander, the categories of the funding, and the authority of the commander for budget execution. (E) The process established for the development and acquisition of the materiel, supplies, services, and equipment necessary for the conduct of joint warfighting experimentation. (F) The process established for designing, preparing, and conducting joint experiments. (G) The role assigned the commander for— (i) integrating and testing in joint warfighting experimentation the systems that emerge from warfighting experimentation by the Armed Forces or the Defense Agencies; (ii) assessing the effectiveness of organizational structures, operational concepts, and technologies; and (iii) assisting the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prioritize requirements or acquisition programs. 112 STAT. 2105 (b) Annual Report.— (1) Chapter 23 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: “§ 485. Joint warfighting experimentation “(a) Annual Report.— The commander of the combatant command assigned by the Secretary of Defense to have the mission for joint warfighting experimentation shall submit to the Secretary an annual report on the conduct of joint experimentation activities for the fiscal year ending in the year of the report. Not later than December 1 of each year, the Secretary shall submit that report, together with any comments that the Secretary considers appropriate and any comments that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff considers appropriate, to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives. “(b) Matters To Be Included.— Each report under this section shall include, for the fiscal year covered by the report, the following: “(1) Any changes in the assessments of the matters described in section 923(a)(2) of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 since the preparation of the assessments of those matters set forth in the latest report submitted under this section. “(2) A description of the conduct of joint experimentation activities, including the number of activities, the forces involved, the national security challenges addressed, the operational concepts assessed, and the scenarios and measures of effectiveness used. “(3) An assessment of the results of joint warfighting experimentation within the Department of Defense. “(4) “With respect to joint warfighting experimentation, any recommendations that the commander considers appropriate regarding— “(A) the development or acquisition of advanced technologies; “(B) changes in organizational structure, operational concepts, or joint doctrine; “(C) the conduct of experiments; “(D) the adequacy of resources; or “(E) changes in authority of the commander to develop or acquire materiel, supplies, services, or equipment directly for the conduct of joint warfighting experimentation.”. (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item: “485. Joint warfighting experimentation.”. (c) First Annual Report.— The first report under section 485 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (b), shall be made with respect to fiscal year 1999. In the case of the report under that section for fiscal year 1999, the reference in subsection (b)(1) of that section to the most recent report under that section shall be treated as referring to the report under subsection (a) of this section.112 STAT. 2106