10 U.S.C. § 198 — Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation

(a) This section sets up the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation inside the Department of Defense. The Secretary of Defense must designate it as a "Department of Defense Field Activity" under a different law, section 191. This designation took effect on the date the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 became law. (b) The Office is led by a Director. The Secretary of Defense appoints the Director. The Director can be a civilian federal employee or a private citizen. Either way, the person must have: (1) experience working across different parts of the Executive Branch, and (2) experience running or managing federal grant programs. (c) The Office has these jobs: (1) It is the main Defense Department office for two things: (A) helping states, counties, cities, regions, and other communities work well with military bases — to support the military's mission, save money on facilities and operations, deal with land-use conflicts near bases (called "encroachment"), support military families, and make the military, civilians, and industry more ready and resilient; and (B) giving adjustment and diversification help to state and local governments, under a separate law (section 2391(b) of this title), to reach those same goals. (2) It must coordinate this help with other parts of the Defense Department. (3) It supports the Economic Adjustment Committee, a body created by a presidential executive order (or whatever committee replaces it). (4) It does any other work the Secretary of Defense decides is appropriate. (d) Every year, by June 1, the Director must send a report to Congress's defense committees. The report must describe what the Office did during the past year, including the help it gave under (c)(1).