1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I’m writing to urge you to oppose Section 1217 of the FY2027 NDAA — we should not fuse our military with Israel’s. Section 1217 — and its House companion Section 219 — would permanently fuse U.S. and Israeli defense technology cooperation through a dedicated “executive agent” at the Pentagon, who will be tasked with integrating our military research, production, and technology programs. Section 622 of the Intelligence Authorization Act, a separate Senate provision, would expand intelligence sharing. Reversing this would not be easy. A future president would be required to make a formal national security finding and notify Congress to start the process. Annual aid requires a yearly vote to continue. This would not, making it next to impossible to revisit should it go through. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly said he wants a shift from U.S. aid subject to periodic votes to a permanent partnership. Congress should not consider a foreign leader’s preference for the structure of U.S. military and intelligence policy. This idea is rejected across the political spectrum. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) worked to strip Section 219 from the NDAA, but the House Rules Committee denied it a floor vote. Senators Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Peter Welch, Ed Markey, and Elizabeth Warren sent a letter in July requesting a full floor debate on this issue. Senator Van Hollen points out that Israel has already blocked us from sending Iron Dome batteries to Ukraine, our ally in need. This is what co-production means in practice. Americans are already on record as rejecting Section 1217, according to an August survey, with 61% of voters opposing this kind of military integration with Israel — including 78% of Democrats and 73% of Independents. When the question is structured without Israel’s name, the majority of Republicans object too, because the very structure of the proposal is not acceptable. I ask that you oppose Section 1217 outright. Thank you for your time.