LARRY JOHNSON: 2027 NDAA would do away with 'normal' weapons procurement process for Israel
Responsible Statecraft reported last week that Section 224 of the NDAA is titled: “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.”
Larry Johnson, the former CIA analyst, said in an interview with Mario Nawfal that Section 224 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would mean that American citizens have no idea what the U.S. provides to the Israeli military if the legislation is passed.
“The normal procurement process goes through State Department,” he said. “Because the State Department is the one that does government-to-government relations.”
But if the bill is passed, procurements that once were visible to the public would be put into “basically a classified channel” that the public will never see.
Responsible Statecraft reported last week that Section 224 of the NDAA is titled: “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.”
The bill calls for Pete Hegseth, the head of the Department of War, to “designate an executive agent” who will be responsible for synchronizing cooperative efforts between the U.S. and Israel in “bilateral defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation.”
This official will be tasked with “ensuring collaborative research initiatives involving government, private sector, and academic institutions in the United States and Israel are done in a manner that protects sensitive technology, information, and the national security interests” of both countries.
The bill envisions this official promoting “joint training exercises and information-sharing mechanisms to enhance operational readiness to deploy jointly developed technologies.”
Responsible Statecraft wrote: “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.”
Marjorie Taylor-Greene, the former Republican lawmaker, reposted the Responsible Statecraft report and wrote: “This is what complete capture to a foreign government looks like and there hasn’t been a single shot fired.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., promised to fight the new NDAA.
“If the provision in the NDAA to integrate/synchronize the U.S. and Israeli militaries (section 224) makes it out of committee, I’ll offer an amendment to strip it from the bill on the floor. We are a sovereign country,” he posted.
