Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that several of her provisions were included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026.
“I’m proud to see that this year’s NDAA includes provisions that will expand protections for service members and make our country more secure,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This bill prioritizes the service members who put their lives on the line for our country, and it includes provisions that will expand health care for service members, help victims of sexual assault, and address brain-related health incidents. I’m also pleased to see that this bill expands my Cyber Service Academy scholarship program—which provides students with full scholarships in exchange for public service after school—and includes millions in funding for Fort Drum, Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, and other New York military installations.”
A list of Senator Gillibrand’s priorities included in the FY2026 NDAA is below:
Personnel:
- Expanding access to sexual assault medical forensic examinations by requiring the Secretary of Defense to authorize military medical treatment facilities to provide sexual assault medical forensic examinations to all victims, not just victims who are eligible for military health care.
- Bolstering OBGYN care at Fort Drum by directing a briefing on the adequacy and sufficiency of OBGYN care for TRICARE beneficiaries in the installation’s vicinity.
- Protecting service members’ brain health by conducting blast exposure monitoring within Special Operations Command.
- Helping victims of anomalous health incidents by encouraging the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide the cross-functional team addressing anomalous health incidents (AHIs) with adequate resources to continue its efforts, particularly treatment of those affected by AHIs, and by ensuring timely compensation under the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA) Act of 2021.
Cyber:
In the FY2023 NDAA, Gillibrand created the Cyber Service Academy scholarship program to address the widespread shortage in government cyber personnel. The program grants students a full scholarship in return for public service in a cyber-related discipline in DoD or the Intelligence Community. Successful applicants are provided a scholarship covering the full cost of tuition, select books and fees, a stipend, purchase of a laptop, and more. The following Cyber Service Academy provisions were included in this year’s NDAA:
- Funding to roughly double the number of scholarships available through the Cyber Service Academy scholarship program.
- Encouraging DoD to expand eligibility for the scholarship to freshmen and sophomores.
Other cyber provisions:
- $10 million in additional funding for the Critical Infrastructure Defense Analysis Center (CIDAC), which works to identify DoD’s reliance on critical infrastructure such as power grids, water treatment, and telecommunications infrastructure and improve DoD’s resiliency against potential cyber and kinetic attacks by adversaries.
- Requires the development of implementation plans for the creation of Joint Task Force-Cyber elements across the geographic combatant commands, starting with United States Indo-Pacific Command, that would have operational control over cyber forces in their areas of operations. This will better align operational control of cyber forces worldwide to better support combatant commanders.
New York Priorities:
Senator Gillibrand secured millions in funding for New York institutions in the NDAA, including:
- $90 million for the 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters Readiness Center, which will also clear the way for separate investments and construction at Watervliet Arsenal.
- $300 million for LC-130J aircraft, and an additional $70 million for LC-130J non-recurring engineering, which enables the NY Air National Guard to prepare the aircraft for Arctic conditions
- $54 million for the Combined Operations Facility at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station
- $31 million for the Fort Hamilton Child Development Center
- $21 million for the planning and design of future construction projects at Fort Drum:
- $9.8 for Fort Drum aircraft maintenance hangar addition design
- $8.7 million for Fort Drum Operational Readiness Training Center barracks design.
- $2.5 million for Fort Drum Range 41c, Automated Record Fire Plus range design
Strategic Forces:
- $500 million for Israeli Missile Defense Cooperative Programs such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow.
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs):
- Secured language to update congressional briefing requirements for UAP.
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