Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004

(This measure has not been amended since the Conference Report was filed in the House on September 24, 2003. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004 - Title I: Military Personnel - Appropriates funds for FY 2004 for active-duty and reserve personnel in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force and for National Guard personnel in the Army and Air Force.

Title II: Operation and Maintenance - Appropriates funds for FY 2004 for operation and maintenance (O&M) of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, the defense agencies, the reserve components, and the Army and Air National Guards. Appropriates funds for: (1) the Overseas Contingency Operations Transfer Account; (2) the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; (3) environmental restoration for the Army, Navy, and Air Force and defense-wide; (4) environmental restoration at formerly used defense sites; (5) overseas humanitarian,disaster, and civic aid; and (6) former Soviet Union threat reduction.

Title III: Procurement - Appropriates funds for FY 2004 for procurement by the armed forces and reserve components of aircraft, missiles, weapons, tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, and shipbuilding and conversion and for other procurement. Appropriates funds for: (1) defense-wide procurement; (2) National Guard and reserve equipment; and (3) certain procurements under the Defense Production Act of 1950.

Title IV: Research, Development, Test and Evaluation - Appropriates funds for FY 2004 for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) by the armed forces and defense agencies. Appropriates funds for the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.

Title V: Revolving and Management Funds - Appropriates funds for the Defense Working Capital funds and programs under the National Defense Sealift Fund.

Title VI: Other Department of Defense Programs - Appropriates funds for: (1) Department of Defense (DOD) medical and health care programs; (2) the destruction of lethal chemical agents and munitions; (3) drug interdiction and counter-drug activities, defense; and (4) the Office of the Inspector General.

Title VII: Related Agencies - Appropriates funds for: (1) the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System Fund; (2) the Intelligence Community Management Account; (3) payment to the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance, Remediation, and Environmental Restoration Fund; and (4) national security scholarships, fellowships, and grants (using funds derived from the National Security Education Trust Fund).

Title VIII: General Provisions - Specifies authorized, restricted, and prohibited uses of appropriated funds.

(Sec. 8008) Permits procurement funds to be used for multiyear procurement contracts for F/A-18 aircraft, E-2C aircraft, the Tactical Tomahawk missile, and a Virginia class submarine.

(Sec. 8010) Prohibits during FY 2004 the management by end strengths of DOD civilian personnel.

(Sec. 8018) Authorizes the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to establish, with host governments of NATO-member countries, an account for the deposit of residual amounts negotiated in the return of U.S. military installations to such countries.

(Sec. 8027) Authorizes DOD to incur obligations of up to $350 million for DOD military personnel compensation, military construction projects, and supplies and services in anticipation of receipts of contributions from the Government of Kuwait.

(Sec. 8029) Prohibits the use of funds from this Act to establish a new DOD federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). Limits the Federal compensation to be paid to FFRDC members or consultants. Prohibits the use of FY 2004 FFRDC funds for new building construction, cost-sharing payments for projects funded by Government grants, absorption of cost overruns, or certain charitable contributions. Limits the staff years of technical effort that may be funded for FFRDCs from FY 2004 funds. Reduces by $74.2 million the total amount appropriated in this Act for FFRDCs.

(Sec. 8030) Provides Buy American requirements with respect to the DOD procurement of carbon, alloy, or armor steel plating.

(Sec. 8033) Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the amount of DOD purchases from foreign entities in FY 2004.

(Sec. 8036) Directs the President to include within each fiscal year budget the amounts requested for administrative activities of DOD, the military departments, and the defense agencies.

(Sec. 8039) Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to convey to Indian tribes located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota relocatable military housing units currently located at Grand Forks and Minot Air Force Bases that are excess to the needs of the Air Force. Requires the Operation Walking Shield program to resolve any housing unit conflicts arising after such conveyance.

(Sec. 8044) Earmarks funds appropriated under this Act for the mitigation of adverse environmental impacts on Indian lands resulting from DOD activities.

(Sec. 8045) Prohibits the use of funds: (1) by a DOD entity without compliance with the Buy American Act; (2) to establish additional field operating agencies of DOD elements, except for those funded within the National Foreign Intelligence Program; (3) for assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, unless specifically appropriated for such purpose; (4) to reduce the civilian medical and medical support personnel assigned to military treatment facilities below the September 30, 2002, level; and (5) to transport chemical munitions to the Johnston Atoll for storage or demilitarization (with an exception and an authorized wartime waiver by the President).

(Sec. 8048) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to lease real and personal property at the Adak Naval Air Facility, Alaska.

(Sec. 8049) Rescinds specified funds from various accounts under prior defense appropriations Acts.

(Sec. 8055) Directs the Secretary to certify to Congress that the total renovation costs for wedges 2 through 5 of the Pentagon Reservation, cumulatively, will not exceed four times the total renovation cost of wedge 1. Authorizes an annual cost inflation adjustment. Excludes certain costs under such limitation, including costs necessary as a result of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Requires certification reports until all renovation is completed.

(Sec. 8057) Prohibits the transfer to any other department or agency, except as specifically provided in an appropriations law, of funds available to DOD or the Central Intelligence Agency for drug interdiction and counter-drug activities.

(Sec. 8065) Prohibits current fiscal year DOD funds from being obligated or expended to transfer to another nation or international organization defense articles or services for use in any UN peacekeeping or peace enforcement operation, or for any other international peacekeeping, peace enforcement, or humanitarian assistance operation, unless specified congressional committees are given 15 days' advance notice.

(Sec. 8066) Authorizes the Secretary, to the extent authorized by law, to issue loan guarantees in support of U.S. defense exports not otherwise provided for, with a contingent liability limit of $15 billion. Requires quarterly reports to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 8075) Prohibits the use of appropriated funds to approve or license the sale of the F-22 advanced tactical fighter to any foreign government.

(Sec. 8076) Authorizes the Secretary, on a case-by-case basis, to waive limitations on the procurement of defense items from a foreign country if: (1) the Secretary determines that such limitations would invalidate cooperative or reciprocal trade agreements for the procurement of defense items; and (2) such country does not discriminate against the same or similar defense items procured in the United States for that country. Provides exceptions.

(Sec. 8077) Prohibits the use of appropriated funds to support a unit of the security forces of a foreign country if credible information exists that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights, unless all necessary corrective steps have been taken. Requires the monitoring of such information. Authorizes the Secretary to waive such prohibition under extraordinary circumstances (requiring a report to the defense committees on any such waiver).

(Sec. 8078) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a program to distribute surplus DOD dental equipment to Indian health service facilities and federally-qualified health centers.

(Sec. 8082) Directs the Secretary to provide a quarterly classified report to the defense subcommittees of the appropriations committees on certain matters as directed in the classified annex accompanying this Act.

(Sec. 8083) Provides for the crediting during the current fiscal year of certain refunds attributable to the use of Government travel or purchase cards or refunds for travel arranged by a Government-contracted travel management center.

(Sec. 8084) Prohibits appropriated funds from being used for a mission critical or mission essential financial management information technology system that is not registered with the DOD Chief Information Officer. Prohibits such a system from receiving a Milestone A or B approval, or full rate production approval, until the Chief Information Officer certifies that the system is being developed in accordance with the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996.

(Sec. 8086) Prohibits appropriated funds from being used to transfer to any nongovernmental entity specified armor-piercing ammunition, except to an entity performing demilitarization services for DOD.

(Sec. 8087) Authorizes the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to waive payment for the lease of non-excess DOD personal property to certain youth, social, or fraternal nonprofit organizations.

(Sec. 8094) Reduces by $504.5 million the total amount of O&M and RDT&E funds appropriated in this Act to: (1) reflect savings attributable to improvements in the management of professional support services, surveys and analysis, and engineering and technical support contracted by the military departments; and (2) limit excessive growth in the procurement of advisory and assistance services.

(Sec. 8095) Makes specified Navy shipbuilding and conversion funds available to fund prior-year shipbuilding cost increases, allocating such funds among specified naval accounts.

(Sec. 8096) Appropriates funds for transfer to the Coast Guard for mission essential equipment for HC-130J aircraft.

(Sec. 8098) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to settle any and all admiralty claims arising out of the collision involving the U.S.S. GREENEVILLE and the EHIME MARU.

(Sec. 8101) Reduces the total amount of O&M funds appropriated in this Act by: (1) $200 million to reduce cost growth in information technology development; (2) $372 million to reflect cash balance and rate stabilization adjustments; and (3) $44 million to reduce excess funded carryover.

(Sec. 8102) Appropriates funds to provide assistance to public schools that have unusually high concentrations of special needs military dependents enrolled, with special consideration with respect to overseas assignments.

(Sec. 8106) Appropriates funds for a grant by the Secretary of the Army to facilitate access by veterans to opportunities for skilled employment in the construction industry.

(Sec. 8107) Directs: (1) DOD and the Army to make future budgetary and programming plans to fully finance the Non-Line of Sight Objective Force cannon and resupply vehicle program in order to field such system in the 2008 timeframe; and (2) the Army to ensure that budgetary and programmatic plans will provide for no fewer than six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams to be fielded between 2003 and 2008.

(Sec. 8108) Earmarks specified appropriated funds to maintain an attrition reserve force of 18 B-52 aircraft. Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to maintain a total B-52 force of 94, including the 18 reserve aircraft, during FY 2004.

(Sec. 8112) Appropriates funds to DOD for grants for:(1) the Fort Benning Infantry Museum; (2) establishment and operation of the Joint Military Science Leadership Program; (3) Armed Forces Emergency Services; (4) the National D-Day Museum; (5) renovation of the Broadway Armory, Chicago, Illinois; (6) the National Guard Youth Foundation; (7) the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Foundation; (8) the Army Museum of the Southwest at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; (9) the Tregedar National Civil War Center; (10) the Philadelphia Korean War Memorial; and (11) the CSS Alabama Association.

(Sec. 8115) Requires the President's budget for FY 2005 to include separate justification documents for the costs of U.S. military forces' participation in contingency operations for the military personnel accounts, the O&M accounts, and the procurement accounts.

(Sec. 8116) Prohibits funds from being used for RDT&E, procurement, or deployment of nuclear armed interceptors of a missile defense system.

(Sec. 8118) Makes DOD Buy American requirements inapplicable to the procurement of any fish, shellfish, or seafood product during the current fiscal year.

(Sec. 8120) Earmarks O&M funds for the Regional Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program.

(Sec. 8121) Directs the Secretary of the Interior, in exchange for certain private property, to convey to the Veterans Home of California-Barstow all rights and interest to a parcel of property in the Mojave National Preserve designated as a national World War I memorial. Requires the conveyed property to continue to be used as such memorial.

(Sec. 8123) Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to convey to the Inland Valley Development Agency, California, all rights and interest to certain parcels of property in San Bernardino, California, currently leased to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Requires a leaseback arrangement to be entered for the Service.

(Sec. 8124) Authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to charter, through FY 2008, the vessel RV CORY CHOUEST in support of the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor program.

(Sec. 8125) Appropriates funds for a grant to the Silver Valley Unified School District, California, for school construction at Fort Irwin, California.

(Sec. 8126) Reduces by $1.662 billion the total amount appropriated in titles II through IV of this Act to reflect savings from outsourcing, management efficiencies, and revised economic assumptions.

(Sec. 8127) Reduces the total amount of O&M funds appropriated in this Act by $451 million to reflect cash balance and rate stabilization adjustments in the Department of Defense Transportation Working Capital Fund. Requires an offsetting transfer from such Fund to O&M funds.

(Sec. 8128) Rescinds $3.49 billion of the funds appropriated for the Iraq Freedom Fund under the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003.

(Sec. 8131) Prohibits the obligation of funds from this or any other Act for the Terrorism Information Awareness Program, except for a program, authorized herein, for processing, analysis, and collaboration tools for counterterrorism foreign intelligence. Provides limitations under the latter program.

(Sec. 8132) Directs the Secretary of the Navy to close Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, within six months after enactment of this Act.

(Sec. 8134) Designates the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, as America's National World War II Museum.

(Sec. 8135) Removes a provision in the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 which prohibits new Native American veteran housing loans in excess of $5 million from being made in FY 2003.

(Sec. 8138) Directs the Secretary to: (1) review offset arrangements and memoranda of understanding entered into between the United States and a foreign country for the transfer of technology between such countries or the bilateral purchases of defense equipment or supplies; (2) determine the effects of such arrangements on the national technology and industrial base; and (3) report review results to Congress. Requires the Secretary to make recommendations to the President concerning the use or administration of such arrangements.

(Sec. 8139) Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) any request for funds for a fiscal year for an ongoing overseas military operation, including operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, should be included in the President's annual budget submitted to Congress; and (2) such funds should be provided in appropriations Acts for that fiscal year.

(Sec. 8140) Directs the Comptroller General (CG) to study and report to the defense committees on the delivery of mail to U.S. troops in the Middle East.

(Sec. 8141) Prohibits the obligation or expenditure of appropriated funds to decommission a Naval or Marine Corps Reserve aviation squadron until submission of a report from the CG to the defense committees on Navy and Marine Corps requirements for tactical aviation, including mission and recapitalization requirements. Requires such report to include an appropriate aviation force structure and personnel requirements for the next ten-year period.

(Sec. 8142) Directs the Secretary of the Air Force to study the mission of the 932nd Airlift Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, to determine the appropriateness of substituting a mixed mission of transporting patients, passengers, and cargo that would increase Air Force airlift capability. Requires such Secretary to report to the defense committees on study results.

(Sec. 8143) Directs the Secretary to examine and report to the defense committees on the implementation of a system for tracking safety-critical parts, including airplane parts, so that parts found defective can be identified. Requires a related report from the CG on the oversight of prime contractors and subcontractors with respect to the testing and quality assurance of such parts.

(Sec. 8144) Extends through FY 2004 the requirement that the Secretary evaluate an individual's creditworthiness before issuing a Government purchase or travel charge card.

(Sec. 8145) Directs the Secretary of the Navy to transfer the Sturgeon class submarine NARWHAL to the National Submarine Science Discovery Center in Newport, Kentucky, after removing the reactor compartment and other classified or sensitive military equipment.

(Sec. 8146) Exempts from the requirement of payment of subsistence charges while hospitalized in a military facility an enlisted or former enlisted member, or officer or former officer, who is hospitalized in a military facility because of an injury incurred: (1) as a direct result of armed conflict; (2) while engaged in hazardous service; (3) in the performance of duty under conditions simulating war; or (4) through an instrumentality of war.