Key Middle East Provisions in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act

A successful end is in sight for this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), after the Senate and House of Representatives completed many months of hard work to resolve hundreds of significant differences between their respective versions of the bill to get to a consolidated final product. The House passed the updated bill with a strong bipartisan vote of 281-140 on December 11 and the Senate voted 83-12 to end debate on the bill on Monday, December 16. A final Senate vote will occur as soon as today, and President Biden is expected to sign it into law shortly thereafter.

The NDAA remains must-pass legislation for Congress each year due to its importance in both framing U.S. national security policy across a broad spectrum of issues and enabling effective congressional oversight of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). As they have for the past few years, Congress also amended the final NDAA bill text to include the Intelligence and State Department Authorization Acts, contributing to the bill’s 1,780-page mammoth size.

Dozens of provisions designed to strengthen U.S. security and advance U.S. interests in the Middle East were included in the final NDAA, including key provisions inspired and impacted by JINSA’s original research.

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