NASIC expected to receive funding in Senate bill

A U.S. Senate vote is expected in hours on funding the expansion of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

The measure was included as a part of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act and it is expected to pass the Senate Monday evening. The bill includes $116 million for military construction to expand NASIC, according to a statement Monday from the office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

The legislation also includes funds for Air Force bases to continue efforts to keep Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl substances – chemicals known as PFAS – from getting into the local water supply and additional funding to further the development of alternative chemicals that are safer, Brown’s office said.

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“The National Air and Space Intelligence Center is critical to our national security and the Wright-Patt community,” Brown said in his statement. “This investment ensures our service members have the necessary resources to tackle security challenges we face around the world.”

The House version of the defense bill, which passed last month, authorized $182 million for the full NASIC project, but it would be paid out or appropriated over a number of years starting with $61 million in the first year.

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The differences between the two versions will be reconciled in a conference committee before a final appropriations bill is passed.

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, whose district includes Wright-Patterson, had pushed for authorization of the entire construction cost.

In March 2017, Brown — as co-chair of the Senate Air Force Caucus — brought his Republican caucus co-chair John Boozman (R-Ark.), Armed Services Committee members Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to visit Wright-Patterson.

Loren B. Thompson, a Virginia-based senior defense analyst with the Lexington Institute and a defense industry consultant, said with the return of great power competition with Russia and China, NASIC’s intelligence analysis will be in growing and greater demand and bring “total job security.”

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