10 U.S.C. § 222a — Unfunded priorities of the armed forces and combatant commands: annual report

This section requires military leaders to tell Congress what they need but did not get funded. (a) Annual Report. Within 10 days after the President submits the federal budget to Congress each year, each officer named in subsection (b) must send a report to the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the congressional defense committees. This report lists the "unfunded priorities" for that officer's military branch or combatant command. (b) Officers. The officers who must file this report are: (1) the Chief of Staff of the Army, (2) the Chief of Naval Operations, (3) the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, (4) the Commandant of the Marine Corps, (5) the Chief of Space Operations, (6) each commander of a combatant command, and (7) the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (in the specific role given by section 10502(c)(1) of this title). (c) Elements. For each unfunded priority listed, the report must include: (1) A set of required details: (A) a summary of the priority and how it would advance the national defense strategy and National Military Strategy if funded, even partly; (B) how much extra money it would take; (C) account details, like line item numbers, program element numbers, or sub-activity group codes, where they apply; (D) a detailed look at what risk would go down if the priority were funded; (E) what requirement the priority addresses; (F) why it wasn't in the President's budget; (G) what funding, if any, it already got in the current and previous year; and (H) how funding it would affect the long-term defense plan. (2) The priorities must be ranked three ways: (A) overall, by how much risk they reduce; (B) among all unfunded priorities except military construction projects; and (C) among military construction projects. (3) National Guard unfunded priorities follow special rules: (A) The National Guard Bureau chief can only list priorities that (i) relate to equipping non-federalized National Guard units for homeland defense or civil support, and (ii) generally were not already reported as a warfighting need by the Army or Air Force chief in the last five years. (B) There's an exception: the National Guard Bureau chief can still include such a priority if the Secretary of Defense decides it reasonably supports the national defense strategy, and tells the congressional defense committees about that decision in writing. (d) Prioritization. Within 10 days after receiving all these reports, the Secretary of Defense, working with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, must send the congressional defense committees a combined report. It ranks every priority from every officer's report together, based on how much risk each one reduces under the national defense strategy and National Military Strategy. (e) Definitions. (1) An "unfunded priority" for a given fiscal year is a program, activity, mission need, or military construction project that: (A) is not funded in the President's budget for that year; (B) is needed to meet a requirement tied to a combatant command's operational plan or another validated need; and (C) the reporting officer would have recommended for funding if either (i) more money had been available, or (ii) the need came up after the budget was already put together. (2) A "covered military construction project" for a fiscal year is a military construction project that either (A) appears in the future-years defense program under section 221 and can be built that year, or (B) a combatant commander (under subsection (b)(5)) considers urgently needed and buildable that year.