Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1983

(Measure passed House, amended, roll call #232 (290-73))

Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1983 - Title I: Procurement - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1983 for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Defense agencies for procurement of aircraft, missiles, weapons, tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, torpedoes, other procurement, and shipbuilding and conversion. Prohibits the expenditure of funds for the basing and deployment of the MX missile until the President gives Congress 30 days notice of the basing mode selected.

Earmarks a portion of the Air Force funds for the United States FY 1983 share of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) cost of acquiring the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Permits the Secretary of Defense, in carrying out the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Defense concerning the NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) Program, to waive reimbursement for the cost of specified functions performed by other than AWACS personnel and to assume contingent liability for program losses and specified charges during FY 1983.

Prohibits the construction of naval vessels in foreign shipyards. Requires that the T-AH hospital ship authorized by this Act be constructed or converted in a U.S. shipyard.

Prohibits the use of authorizations for the 9-millimeter handgun.

Permits the Secretary of the Air Force to acquire a tethered aerostat radar set for deployment at Kennedy Air Force Station, Florida.

Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to procure secure telephone communication systems in support of a national program to provide such a service.

Prohibits the obligation of funds for the procurement or production of binary chemical munitions

Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should: (1) combine to promote negotiations through the United Nations' Ad Hoc Working Group on Chemical Warfare of the Committee on Disarmament to draft a treaty for the effective and verifiable prohibition on the development, production, and stockpiling of all chemical weapons; and (2) press for an inquiry into the Soviet use of such weapons and express to the Soviets a desire for a comprehensive, verifiable ban on such weapons.

Title II: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation - Authorizes appropriations for the armed forces for research, development, test, and evaluation for FY 1983. Prohibits the obligation of funds for the MX missile basing mode until the President gives Congress 30 days notice of the basing mode selected. Earmarks funds for the C-17 cargo transport aircraft.

Limits the amount of funds available for the Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Technology Program and other programs. Prohibits the Navy from obligating funds for the DDGX (DDG-51) until the Secretary of the Navy notifies the Armed Services Committees of Congress of a plan for the deployment of the 5-inch semi-active laser guided projectile and seafire electro-optical fire control system concurrently with the deployment of the DDG-51 lead ship.

Prohibits the use of Defense agency funds for the High Energy Laser Technology, Alpha, and Large Optics Demonstration Experiment (LODE) programs of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Limits funding for short wave length laser technology research and development.

Title III: Operation and Maintenance - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1983 for the armed and reserved forces, including the national guard, and for other activities and agencies of the Department of Defense. Authorizes additional sums for increases in benefits for civilian employees of the Department of Defense.

Authorizes appropriations: (1) to promote rifle practice; (2) for payment of Department claims; and (3) for expenses of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals.

Prohibits long-term leasing of a naval vessel with a substantial termination liability unless the Secretary of the Navy gives the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees 30 days notice with a description and justification for leasing rather than acquiring such vessel.

Prohibits the use of funds for the leasing of any vessel associated with the T-5 Replacement Tanker Program which has a major component not made in the United States.

Prohibits the use of funds for purchasing non-U.S. coal or coke for use at U.S. military installations in Europe.

Prohibits the use of funds for any study begun after FY 1982 on the benefits or feasibility of contracting-out commercial or industrial type functions of the Department performed by Department personnel.

Title IV: Active Forces - Establishes end strength levels for FY 1983 for active duty personnel for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and the Air Force.

Extends through FY 1983 the limitation on enlistment and induction of persons into the armed forces whose score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test is below a prescribed level.

Title V: Reserve Forces - Establishes average strengths for FY 1983 for: (1) the Army National Guard; (2) the Army Reserve; (3) the Naval Reserve; (4) the Marine Corps Reserve; (5) the Air National Guard; (6) the Air Force Reserve; and (7) the Coast Guard Reserve. Sets forth the number of Reserves serving on full-time active duty to administer, recruit, or train the Reserve components. Provides for the adjustment of average strength levels as specified.

Increases the number of enlisted personnel who may be on active duty in support of the Reserve components.

Title VI: Civilian Personnel: - Establishes an end strength level for civilian personnel for the Department of Defense for FY 1983. Requires the apportionment of such personnel among the various military branches and departments. Requires the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress on such allocation within 60 days. Specifies the types of civilian employees to be included in such end levels. Permits the Secretary to increase the number of civilian personnel beyond the authorized end strength.

Title VII: Military Training Student Loads - Establishes average military training student loads for FY 1983. Amends the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1981 to extend through August 31, 1983, the reduction in the number of students required to be in a unit of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

Title VIII: Civil Defense - Authorizes appropriations for FY 1983 to carry out the provisions of the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950, including amounts for State personnel and administrative expenses. Redesignates the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the Civil Disaster Agency.

Title IX: Former Spouse's Protection - Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act - Limits the treatment of military pensions as marital property to: (1) marriages of ten years or longer duration during the member's service; and (2) to payments due on or after June 21, 1981, the date of the McCarty decision.

Requires the Secretary of the military department concerned to pay from the military pension of a member or former member of a uniformed service to a spouse or former spouse the amount specified in a court's final decree of divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation or a court ordered, ratified, or approved property settlement. Limits the total amount of pension subject to court order to 50 percent. States that orders for payments to more than one spouse shall be satisfied on a first-come-first-served basis. Sets forth procedures for the Secretary to follow in the event of conflicting orders regarding one spouse.

States that orders for payments in a particular month from a decree of divorce or separation and from service of legal process for enforcement of child support or alimony payments shall be paid on a first-come-first-served basis, up to 65 percent of disposable pension.

Entitles members or former members with a former spouse to participate in the Survivor Benefit Plan.

Entitles former spouses married 20 years or more during the member's service to coverage under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) if such spouse does not have other medical coverage. Grants former spouses married 20 years or more during the member's service commissary and post exchange privileges on the same basis as surviving spouses of retired members.

States that this Act shall not pre-empt State law concerning community property.

Title X: General Provisions - Permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer up to $1,500,000,000 of the funds authorized among categories as specified. Requires the Secretary to notify Congress immediately of any transfers.

Directs the Secretary of Defense to conduct a test program in FY 1983 to determine the effect of exempting certain Department contracts from the provision prohibiting the use of funds to pay a price differential to relieve economic dislocations. Directs the President to report to Congress on the results of such test.

Directs the Secretary of Defense to submit quarterly reports to Congress on current major defense acquisition programs, to be known as Selected Acquisition Reports. Requires such reports to include current program acquisition unit costs and the history of such costs. Differentiates the requirements for such reports, requiring a comprehensive report in only one quarter, and requiring no report if the cost, performance, or schedule of a program has not changed. Requires program managers to report cost increases of 15 percent or more to the Secretary concerned, whereupon the Secretary will report the same within 30 days to Congress. Permits waivers of such reports with the approval of the Armed Services Committees.

Directs the Secretary to submit to such committees a report concerning the sufficiency of civilian personnel for the Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defense Audit Service, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, including current and projected numbers and the amount of cost savings such agencies have achieved.

Permits the obligation of appropriated but unauthorized funds in FY 1982 for the procurement of: (1) aircraft for the Army; (2) aircraft for the Air Force; (3) missiles for the Air Force; and (4) operations and maintenance for Defense-wide activities.

Prohibits the Secretary from transferring funds to the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to defray costs of placing Department payloads into orbit by means of the space shuttle.

Prohibits the use of funds to purchase major equipment essential to national defense from non-U.S. manufacturers that would make the United States dependent on such manufacturer as a sole source unless the Secretary gives the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees 30 days notice.

Requires a person who must register for the draft, who applies for student aid under title IV of the Higher Education Act, to file a statement of compliance with the school.

Amends the Inspector General Act of 1978 to establish an Office of Inspector General in the Department of Defense.

Transfers the Defense Audit Service, Office of Inspector General, Defense Logistics Agency, and portions of the Defense Investigative Service to such Office. Directs the Inspector General to report to the Secretary and Congress within one year on the advisability of transferring the Defense Contract Audit Agency to such office.

Permits the Secretary of a military department to purchase administrative motor vehicles to be used outside the United States only from the lowest bidder from the United States or the host nation.

Prohibits the transfer of naval vessels to foreign countries for one year.

Prohibits the contracting out of security and firefighting functions at military installations.

Directs the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study on the report entitled "Vista 1999", a long range look at the future of the Army and Air National Guard. Requires the Secretary to report to the Armed Services Committees by February 1, 1983.

Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress within a year on the feasibility of increasing the foreign language requirements at the service academies and in the Senior Reserve Officer's Training Corps Program (ROTC).

Prohibits the construction of naval vessels in a foreign shipyard except as authorized by the President in the national interest. Directs the President to give Congress 30 days notice of any exceptions.

Permits the Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy to use gifts made to the United States for the benefit of such Academy.

Limits the amount of total defense authorizations which may be obligated or expended in FY 1983.