"National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year: Implementing Trump's 'Peace Through Strength' Agenda"

Key Chapter Title List

1. REFORMING ACQUISITION TO DELIVER FOR OUR WARFIGHTERS
2. REVITALIZING THE DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE
3. RESTORING LETHALITY & THE WARRIOR ETHOS
4. SECURING THE BORDER
5. BUDGET SAVINGS & REFORMS
6. IMPROVING SERVICEMEMBER QUALITY OF LIFE
7. BUILDING READY, CAPABLE, LETHAL FIGHTING FORCES
8. STRENGTHENING STRATEGIC DETERRENCE, MISSILE DEFENSE, & NATIONAL DEFENSE SPACE CAPABILITIES
9. FOSTERING INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY
10. DETERRING CHINA
11. DEFENDING ISRAEL
12. COUNTERING OTHER ADVERSARIES

Document Introduction

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the "Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act" (FY26 NDAA), spearheaded by the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. The Act is positioned as the core legislative instrument for the comprehensive implementation of the Trump administration's peace-through-strength agenda, aiming to fulfill its promise of building a ready, capable, and lethal armed force to deter adversaries. By codifying 15 presidential executive orders and 30 executive legislative proposals, the Act systematically shapes the priorities for defense policy, resource allocation, and military operations.

The report begins by outlining the Act's core orientation: to decisively reverse the influence of wokeism and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs within the defense establishment, restoring a performance-based military culture focused on the core mission of lethality. Subsequently, the report delves into detailed discussions across multiple dimensions. Regarding defense management, the Act proposes an acquisition reform package named SPEED, designed to deliver needed capabilities to warfighters faster and at scale by accelerating requirements generation, streamlining decision-making layers, prioritizing commercial off-the-shelf solutions, reforming cost accounting standards, and developing a mission-oriented acquisition workforce. Concurrently, the Act authorizes nearly $900 billion in defense budget and plans to achieve nearly $20 billion in savings by cutting DEI activities, climate change-related programs, retiring legacy platforms, and streamlining bureaucracy.

In the realm of force building and readiness, the Act focuses on restoring lethality, explicitly prohibiting biological males from participating in female sports, abolishing all DEI programs and offices within the Department of Defense, and significantly reducing spending on climate change programs. The Act details massive investments allocated for shipbuilding, aircraft, combat vehicles, munitions, and emerging technologies (hypersonics, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, etc.) to maintain and expand U.S. military superiority. Furthermore, the Act vigorously advances the Golden Dome national missile defense plan and provides comprehensive support for nuclear force modernization, space capability development, and defense energy independence, particularly the deployment of advanced nuclear reactor technology.

Geostrategy and foreign security cooperation constitute another focal point of the Act. The report clearly identifies China as the United States' core strategic competitor. The Act demonstrates a resolve for comprehensive competition and decoupling with China by extending the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, funding key technologies to counter the Chinese Communist Party, and implementing a series of stringent measures to completely exclude China from the U.S. defense supply chain. The Act also strengthens military cooperation and assistance to Israel, including full funding for joint missile defense programs and establishing a defense industrial cooperation working group. Simultaneously, the Act elaborates on strategies for countering other adversaries such as Russia, Iran and its proxies, and North Korea. These include requiring allies to share the cost of U.S. troop deployments, authorizing limited aid to Ukraine (while emphasizing that European allies should bear the primary costs), targeting Iran-backed terrorist organizations, and maintaining military force posture on the Korean Peninsula.

The final section of this report focuses on improving servicemember quality of life, including pay and allowance increases, reforms to dining and housing programs, expanded healthcare and childcare services, and enhanced career transition assistance, all aimed at maintaining troop morale and recruitment appeal. Based on the text of the Act, this entire report systematically outlines the potential roadmap for U.S. defense strategy, resource allocation, and military transformation driven by a specific political agenda, providing researchers and analysts in related fields with detailed firsthand policy basis and an analytical framework.