Senator Schmitt Touts Major Wins for Missouri Military Installations, Cybersecurity, Space Exploration, and Military Preparedness in 2025 National Defense Authorization Act

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Eric Schmitt released a statement following a successful effort to allocate critical resources to Missouri military installations, ensure cyber resiliency across the Department of Defense, spark critical geospatial work, and focus our efforts on countering China. In an effort to reorient the Military’s focus away from distractions like divisive DEI, Senator Schmitt championed numerous provisions included in the FY 25 NDAA that move towards reinstalling a culture of merit within the Armed Forces. The bill now heads to the President’s desk:

“The NDAA represents one of the most basic functions of government: providing for the national defense. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I have worked from day one to provide Missouri’s military and national security installations with the resources needed to ensure they can continue to operate at peak efficiency. In the same vein, I have prioritized rooting out divisive, wasteful, and distracting DEI policies and returning our service branches to a culture that celebrates merit and accomplishment. This year’s NDAA is a big win for Missouri and continues to ensure we remain the most lethal and capable fighting force in the world, especially as we continue to face down our greatest adversary, The People’s Republic of China,” said Senator Eric Schmitt. 

BACKGROUND:

• In this year’s NDAA, Senator Schmitt focused on inserting provisions that will improve quality of life for servicemembers, spark geospatial and critical minerals research, Strengthen the Department of Defense’s cyber resiliency, foster innovation in commercial spaceflight, ensure that the United States is continuing to counter China, and more. All of these provisions were included in the final Senate-passed version of the NDAA, and will be signed into law:

• Geospatial Workforce Pilot Program. This amendment creates a pilot program to assess the feasibility of establishing a program to develop a skilled workforce in geospatial technologies, methodologies, and capabilities to support the defense intelligence requirements of the Department of Defense. The pilot program could potentially be housed at NGA West. Senator Schmitt touted this amendment in his geospatial roundtable in August and his tour of the new NGA facilities in October.
• Missouri S&T Critical Hybrid Advanced Minerals Processing. This provision supports grants for critical minerals research, which Missouri S&T is uniquely positioned for with their experimental mine. As international demand for advanced batteries takes off, this will help position Missouri at the forefront of the industry.
• DEI Hiring Freeze Extension. In last year’s NDAA, Sen. Schmitt was able to implement a temporary hiring freeze on DEI professionals in DoD. This provision extends that provision for at least another year, allowing President Trump’s administration the time to permanently terminate these positions. 
• Learning Period Extension. This amendment extends the moratorium on the FAA’s ability to regulate commercial human spaceflight for an additional three years, delaying stifling regulations from being levied on the growing commercial space sector, which has national security applications. Extending the learning period will allow the commercial space industry to continue to innovate under the current informed consent structure and give the FAA more time to construct eventual regulations that better reflect the needs and capabilities of the industry.
• Service Members Are Ready to Save (SMART Save) Act. This provision will improve DoD’s financial literacy training to ensure that servicemembers transitioning out of the military have the tools to succeed in their next steps.
• Rip & Replace—Secure and Trusted Networks Reimbursement Program. After years of delay, this provision fully funds the Rip and Replace program, offset by auction proceeds from the FCC-initiated spectrum auction of the AWS-3 spectrum band. In doing so, we can finally rid American networks of harmful Chinese telecommunications equipment, address a critical weak point in our telecommunications networks, and better safeguard American privacy and security at little to no cost to the taxpayer.  
• Defense Technology Reporting Parity Act. PRC security laws mandate that cyber companies with presences in China must report any cybersecurity vulnerability discovered to their government, potentially giving the People’s Republic of China a treasure trove of zero-day flaws to exploit. This bill would ensure that companies doing business with DoD that have presences in the PRC report the same information to their US-based arm as their PRC arm reports to the CCP government. This provision helps mitigate a serious problem by encouraging timely vulnerability patches, so the People’s Republic of China and others are less likely to exploit internet-based systems that are critical to DoD operations around the world.   
• Returning Cyber Purchasing Authorities to DoD Components to Combat Monoculture and Encourage Competition. This amendment amends portions of Sec. 1521 of the FY 22 NDAA, which provided centralized decision-making authority to DoD-CIO regarding cybersecurity services. DoD-CIO has used this authority to create a one-size-fits all approach to all DoD components, causing serious concerns related to risk concentration. The amendment returns decision-making power back to DoD components, so they can adopt tailored cybersecurity approaches based on the threats they face. 

• Additionally, Senator Schmitt fought for funding for Missouri’s military installations and assets, including:
  • $120,000,000 for the Advanced Individual Training Barracks at Fort Leonard Wood
  • $19,500,000 for Whiteman Air Force Base
  • Boeing St. Louis:
    • $2,703,471,000 for F-15 EX procurement
    • $28,554,000 for F/A-18 procurement
    • $553, 027,000 for MQ-25 Stingray procurement
    • $235,207,000 for T-7 procurement