10 U.S.C. § 5502 — Missile Defense Agency

(a) Director. The Missile Defense Agency^* Director must be a general or flag officer^* appointed for a six-year term.

(b) Deputy Director. (1) The Agency has a Deputy Director appointed by the Defense Secretary from active-duty general officers of the Army^*, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force, or active-duty Navy flag officers. The person must come from a different armed force than the Director.

(2) The appointment must last at least two and at most four years.

(3) The Deputy Director is under the Director's authority, direction, and control.

(4) The Deputy Director must perform duties assigned by the Director and act as Director when the Director is absent or the office is vacant.

(c) Changes to nonstandard processes. (1) The Defense Secretary may not change the missile-defense nonstandard acquisition and requirements processes and responsibilities unless the Secretary personally takes every action in paragraph (2) and 120 days pass after the report under paragraph (2)(C) is submitted.

(2) If proposing a change, the Secretary must (A) consult the Under Secretaries of Defense for Research and Engineering, Acquisition and Sustainment, and Policy; the military-department Secretaries; the Joint Chiefs Chairman; the commanders of United States Strategic Command and Northern Command; and the Agency Director; (B) certify to the congressional defense committees^* that the changes were coordinated with those people and that their views were received; (C) submit a report to those committees describing the changes, reasons, and those views; certifying that the changes will not impair United States missile-defense capabilities or degrade the Agency's unique special acquisition authorities; and, for changes to Department of Defense Directive 5134.09 or a successor, providing the final proposed modified directive in electronic and paper form; and (D) for such a directive change, brief the committees on the proposed directive.

(3) “Nonstandard acquisition and requirements processes and responsibilities” means those in the Secretary's January 2, 2002 memorandum “Missile Defense Program Direction,” as then effective or later modified under this subsection or succeeded under it; Department of Defense Directive 5134.09 as then effective, without changes described in the cited Deputy Secretary memorandum or amendments or extensions made before enactment of this subsection, or as later modified or succeeded under this subsection; and United States Strategic Command Instruction 538–3, “MD Warfighter Involvement Process,” as then effective or later modified or succeeded under this subsection.