Key Middle East Provisions in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) remains one of the few pieces of must-pass legislation in Congress each year, enabling effective congressional oversight of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and framing U.S. national security policy on a bipartisan basis across a broad spectrum of issues.

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have now each reported out their respective versions of the NDAA (H.R. 3838 and S.2296) to the full House and Senate. With the return of Congress after Labor Day, each chamber must now consider and amend their separate versions of the NDAA, before working to resolve hundreds of differences between them to get a consolidated final product to send to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

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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