In “Congress quietly moves to integrate U.S. and Israeli militaries,” Responsible Statecraft reports: “At a time when the American public is expressing unprecedented levels of distrust in the Israeli government, Congress just proposed tying the U.S. to the Israeli military more than ever before.
“Buried in the House’s version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released [last week], is section 224, entitled ‘United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.’ The provision would arguably do more to intertwine the U.S. military with the Israeli military than the more than $200 billion (inflation adjusted) in military assistance Israel has received from the U.S. since its founding in 1948.
“Section 224 lays the groundwork for bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and seemingly every manner of U.S.-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation. The U.S. and Israel already work together heavily on missile defense, but this provision would greatly expand coordination to seemingly every area of defense tech, including AI, quantum, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, biotech, and many more. It also proposes ‘network integration’ and ‘data fusion.’ In other words, the U.S. military’s data could soon be the Israeli military’s data.”
Kelley B. Vlahos, the editor-in-chief of Responsible Statecraft, commented on the context of the article: “Netanyahu and Lindsey [Graham] say it’s fine to shut down the $3.8B a year in military aid to Israel. They don’t tell you how they will make it up — by ‘partnering’ with the U.S. military directly.”
Congressional representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna have pledged to introduce amendments to get rid of the provision.
Economist Dean Baker notes: “Trump’s $1.5 trillion military budget is $11,200 per household.”
Available for a limited number of interviews:
BENJAMIN FREEMAN, [email protected], @BenFreemanDC
Freeman wrote the piece and is director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy Program at the Quincy Institute. He is also co-author of the The Trillion Dollar War Machine.
ANNELLE SHELINE, [email protected], @AnnelleSheline
Sheline is research fellow for the Middle East at the Quincy Institute. In 2024, Sheline resigned from the State Department over Biden’s “unconscionable” Gaza policy. Common Dreams reports: “‘Ceasefire Is a Joke’: Israeli Soldiers Recount Ongoing Indiscriminate Killings in Gaza.” AntiWar.com reports: “Netanyahu Announces ‘Dramatic Shift’ in Lebanon Invasion as Israel Conquers Medieval Castle.”