Preserving American Sovereignty

Every year, Congress considers a critical piece of legislation called the “National Defense Authorization Act” (“NDAA”). Many bills that would never pass individually, such as the so-called “Corporate Transparency Act,” are shoved into this “must pass” bill to get them through. The FY2027 NDAA is being used to enact a law that must be stopped.

As it passed the House,the NDAA contains Section 219, “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” which melds our military weapons development and procurement with those of a foreign nation --- the State of Israel. Some cosmetic changes were made to the bill in the House, such as removing the word “integration,” but that was window dressing. The truth is that this provision creates an unprecedented level of fusing of key aspects of the U.S. and Israeli militaries with regard to weapons development and acquisition.

Let me make my position clear as to why this is a bad law. I would oppose this provision if it was made to join our military procurement with any nation. I would oppose it if done with any of the other Five Eyes countries: the UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. I would oppose it if it were applied to any of the 32 NATO countries. I would oppose it if it applied to Ireland, from whence my ancestors came. America should NOT have such an agreement with any other country. And if anyone wanted to have such an agreement, it seems to me it would require a Constitutional Amendment before we sacrifice some of our national sovereignty, or at minimum, require a Treaty approved by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate.

One of the reasons that this provision passed in the House was that House leadership would not allow a floor vote on a motion to strike it. With this provision included, the NDAA passed on a narrow 216 to 212 vote, with only six Republicans voting no. However, you must remember how the leadership coerces Members of Congress to vote for the NDAA each year. These Members are warned: “You don’t want to vote against the military — do you?” By now, Americans should be aware of this trick to manipulate our Representatives, which is based on the view that “we the People” are stupid and do not realize what is going on. I think a lot more people understand this issue than what the House leadership thinks.

Military.com reports that the bill “could move the U.S.-Israel military relationship beyond traditional aid and into a far deeper form of defense-industrial integration.” It would “require the defense secretary to designate an executive agent to coordinate U.S.-Israel defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration and industrial cooperation.” No other nation gets this kind of access to our military secrets and planning — nor should any nation.

Ben Freeman, of the Quincy Institute, and author of the book The Trillion Dollar War Machine writes, “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.” And Freeman explains “that if Israel later took actions that caused Washington to reconsider the relationship, disentangling the two defense sectors could take years and create real national security costs.”

The Senate has not yet passed the NDAA, but every effort will be made to get it through by September 30, the end of FY2026. Fortunately, there are reports that Republican opposition has been forming.

This would be a good time to remember the words of George Washington in his Farewell Address to the nation. As he retired to private life, he urged: “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” Our third President echoed this sentiment. In Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address, he reminded Americans what our priorities should be: “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

In my view, to preserve our national security, this provision needs to be stripped from the NDAA before passage. If ever there was an “America First” issue on which all should unite, it is this issue. Americans should inundate the Capitol with the demand that Congress protect and defend our national sovereignty, not share our sovereignty with anyone.