Van Hollen and 11 Other Senators Ask Leaders to Strip U.S.-Israel Tech and Intelligence Provisions From the NDAA

Status: Twelve U.S. senators, led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), sent congressional leaders a letter dated Nov. 10 asking them to exclude three provisions from the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, Van Hollen's office and the Jerusalem Post report. The provisions have not been removed; the letter is a request to the conference on the final bill.

Van Hollen was joined by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray, Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Tammy Duckworth, Tina Smith, Peter Welch, and Andy Kim, and by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. The letter was addressed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.

"These provisions would constrain the Administration's ability to independently determine how best to protect U.S. national security and would lock in long-term commitments despite our serious concerns with the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, the West Bank, and other parts of the region," the senators wrote.

According to the letter, Section 1217 of the Senate Armed Services Committee-reported bill and Section 219 of the House-passed bill would mandate a "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative" to expand technology sharing, co-production of weapons systems, and bilateral research and development in areas including biotechnology, quantum technology, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and cyberwarfare. "The agreements and projects these provisions envision threaten U.S. national security interests by handing Israel leverage over American weapons systems and military technology," the senators wrote. They argued that such arrangements could "create long-term dependencies by embedding Israeli technology into the U.S. defense industrial base" and said the executive branch does not need a congressional mandate to enter new agreements with Israel under existing law.

The letter also targets Section 618 of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's fiscal 2027 Intelligence Authorization Act, which is typically incorporated into the final NDAA. That provision, the senators wrote, would require the executive branch to "expand and enhance intelligence sharing with the Government of Israel" and states that such sharing "shall not be suspended, reduced, or otherwise materially limited." "The provision would tie the President's hands from limiting intelligence sharing with Israel, even when doing so may be necessary to protect U.S. national security," they wrote. They called that restriction especially troubling in light of "public reports that the Defense Intelligence Agency recently raised the counterintelligence threat from Israel to its highest level." That DIA assessment is cited by the senators; AFNS has not independently reviewed the underlying report.

The senators asked leaders to exclude Sections 1217, 219, and 618 from the NDAA final conference report. "For all these reasons, we should not legally mandate an expansion in defense co-production or a requirement to increase intelligence sharing with the Government of Israel," they wrote. The letter does not call for ending existing U.S. defense assistance or intelligence cooperation with Israel; it opposes writing an expansion into statute. The Jerusalem Post and Van Hollen's office did not report a formal response from congressional leaders or from the Israeli government.