10 U.S.C. § 166a — Combatant commands: funding through the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff

(a) Combatant Commander Initiative Fund. From money set aside each fiscal year in the Department of Defense's "Combatant Commander Initiative Fund," the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may give funds to a combatant commander who requests them, or — for an area not covered by any combatant command — to an officer the Chairman designates. The Chairman may fund any activity listed in subsection (b). (b) Authorized Activities. Funds under subsection (a) may pay for: (1) force training; (2) contingencies; (3) selected operations; (4) command and control; (5) joint exercises, including those of participating foreign countries; (6) humanitarian and civic assistance — coordinated with the relevant chief of mission where practical — including urgent disaster relief and reconstruction; (7) military education and training for foreign military and related civilian personnel, including transportation, translation, and administrative costs; (8) personnel expenses for bilateral or regional cooperation programs; (9) force protection; (10) joint warfighting capabilities; and (11) incremental expenses tied to Defense Department security cooperation programs, as those terms are defined in section 301. (c) Priority. When considering requests, the Chairman should give priority to: (1) funding that would boost the war-fighting capability, readiness, or sustainability of the requesting commander's forces; (2) funding for areas outside any combatant command's region that would reduce threats to, or otherwise boost, U.S. national security; (3) urgent, unplanned humanitarian relief and reconstruction assistance, especially in a foreign country where U.S. forces are in a contingency operation; and (4) incremental security-cooperation expenses under subsection (b)(11) for U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Southern Command. (d) Relationship to Other Funding. Any money the Chairman provides from this Fund for an activity in subsection (b) is in addition to, not instead of, the money that activity would otherwise get that year. (e) Limitations. (1) Each fiscal year: (A) no more than $25,000,000 of this money may buy items costing more than $300,000 each; (B) no more than $15,000,000 may cover foreign countries' expenses in joint exercises under (b)(5); and (C) no more than $10,000,000 may fund military education and training for foreign personnel under (b)(7). (2) None of this money can fund an activity Congress has specifically denied authorization for. (f) Inclusion of NORAD. For this section, the Commander of the U.S. Element of the North American Aerospace Defense Command counts as a combatant commander.