Letter to your U.S. Representative
Use this for your House Representative, not your Senators.
[Your name] [Your street] [Your city, state zipcode] [August 12, 2026] [U.S. Representative name] [U.S. Representative address] RE: Strong Opposition to Section 219 (U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative) in H.R. 8800 Dear Representative [U.S. Representative name], As your constituent, I am writing to express my strong opposition to H.R. 8800, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2027, unless Section 219 (formerly Section 224) is completely stripped from the final legislation. I was deeply disappointed that the House Rules Committee declined to make the bipartisan Massie-Khanna amendment eligible for floor debate on June 29, 2026, which blocked a recorded vote and prevented representatives from publicly debating this massive policy shift. Section 219 goes far beyond a typical weapons agreement or conventional bilateral defense partnership. It establishes a permanent, sweeping framework to integrate portions of the United States and Israeli defense industrial bases across highly sensitive, cutting-edge fields, including artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, autonomous systems, biotechnology, and data-sharing. This deep integration raises several critical national security and sovereignty concerns: 1. Loss of National Autonomy: As noted by opponents, Section 219 represents an unprecedented escalation of foreign involvement in our military. It bypasses conventional defense partnerships—which are typically limited to information sharing or specific contracts—and instead integrates foreign systems permanently into the U.S. defense supply chain. 2. Bypassing Congressional Oversight: The provision mandates the designation of an Executive Agent (EA) whose authority would take precedence over other Department of Defense components, including the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA). This EA would have the unchecked power to overrule determinations regarding foreign access to U.S. technology, effectively replacing direct Congressional oversight with unelected defense bureaucracy. 3. Counterintelligence and Security Risks: The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recently identified Israeli intelligence collection as a significant counterintelligence concern on U.S. soil, describing those efforts in reported documents as "unhinged." Embedding a nation with a history of technological espionage into our most sensitive R&D pipelines poses a severe threat to the U.S. military's technological advantage. 4. Human Rights and International Trust: The integration of AI-powered targeting and surveillance platforms—field-tested in the occupied West Bank and Gaza—places the U.S. at risk of complicity in serious human rights violations and erodes our international standing. 5. Unsafeguarded Biotechnology Cooperation: Israel is one of only ten countries that has refused to sign or ratify the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Authorizing biomedical and biotechnology defense cooperation with a nation that has not foresworn offensive biological weapons, without any human rights or safety safeguards, is an incredibly dangerous precedent. As my elected representative, I urge you to oppose the inclusion of Section 219 during any future House-Senate conference negotiations on the FY 2027 NDAA. If this provision remains in the final bill, I respectfully ask that you vote against the conference report. Thank you for your time and for your consideration of my views as your constituent. Sincerely, [your first and last name] [your city, state zipcode]