AUKUS in 2024: Rep. Joe Courtney Pens New Op-Ed on Bipartisan AUKUS Progress in 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a new op-ed in The Australian, Rep. Joe Courtney AO (D-CT) details the bipartisan progress Congress made to advance the three-year-old AUKUS security agreement in 2024.
Rep. Courtney, Co-Chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, details how “momentum behind AUKUS still positively flexed its muscles” through the National Defense Authorization Act and the short-term spending package, both of which passed the Congress in the final weeks of the year. Measures to allow ship repairs overseas, analyze the addition of Japan to the security agreement, and funding to support the construction tempo of the Virginia class submarine program all point to a strong bipartisan commitment from lawmakers on Capitol Hill to advance the mission.
“In the same year Congress was marred with record low productivity and high levels of division, the AUKUS mission still saw real momentum among lawmakers in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle. That level of bipartisan, bicameral support in a challenging political environment sends a powerful signal to naysayers and skeptics that the AUKUS mission has a strong foundation of support ready to withstand the political winds the New Year will bring,” wrote Rep. Courtney AO in The Australian.
Read the full piece here or below.
Full Op-Ed
In the closing days of the 118th U.S. Congress, passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) revealed once again that the three-year-old trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States has strong bipartisan support. Each NDAA enacted since the rollout of AUKUS in September 2021 has steadily and surely authorized and implemented the building blocks to make the vision of this unique enterprise a reality.
After the initial announcement in September of 2021, it was clear that there were significant legal barriers in U.S. law that, if left untended, would prevent the three nations from reaching AUKUS’s ambitious goals. Only the U.S. Congress and the Australian and UK parliaments could enact the necessary reforms to share the jealously guarded “Crown Jewels” of each nation’s national security apparatus.
Beginning in 2022, all three nations moved quickly to start joint training of Australian naval officers and sailors who needed to upskill in the operation of nuclear-powered naval vessels. The U.S. Congress authorized such training for Aussie personnel through a provision proposed by former Congressman Gallagher (R-WI) and I. The UK began a similar program as well. Today, over a hundred Australian sailors and officers have graduated from the U.S. nuclear submarine schools in South Carolina and Connecticut, and this past summer, the Virginia class submarine USS HAWAII (SSN 776) had, for the first time, an Australian officer at the helm as it arrived in Perth, Australia to receive maintenance.
In 2023, after the release of the AUKUS “Optimal Pathway” plan jointly designed by the Navy leadership of all three nations, Congress’s “to-do list” grew significantly. The Pathway called for the U.S. to authorize the sale of Virginia Class submarines to Australia, accept Australia’s $3 billion investment into the U.S. submarine industrial base, train Australians in submarine maintenance, streamline technology and information sharing, and make the UK and Australia eligible for accelerated investment by the U.S. Department of Defense in Pillar Two projects.
Remarkably, despite the sprawling size of this legislative agenda spread across multiple committee jurisdictions, the House and Senate found a way to bundle this package in just six months within the NDAA signed into law on December 22, 2023.
After that heavy lift and all of the interagency follow-on work the bill required, the 2024 legislative session of the 118th Congress was not expected to see much AUKUS action. With the dust now settled after the passage of the annual defense bill and submarine-related appropriations, it is clear that the momentum behind AUKUS still positively flexed its muscles.
First, the NDAA significantly strengthened the Pillar 1 submarine program by legalizing Navy ship repairs to any yard overseas operated by a close ally. One of the key components of the Optimal Pathway was to skill up and acquaint Australian naval personnel and shipyard workers with the repair and maintenance of Virginia class submarines. The Australian government is committed to building out its submarine industrial base workforce and infrastructure and having U.S. subs now permitted to undergo repair and maintenance overseas boosts that effort and recognizes Australia’s progress toward gaining proficiency. Notably, the reform will also meet the Optimal Pathway’s calls for increased submarine presence in the Indo-Pacific by reducing gaps in U.S. naval presence caused by long transit times back and forth to U.S. repair yards.
The second AUKUS amendment was a mandate to the U.S. Department of Defense to analyze the potential benefits of including the nation of Japan in the Pillar Two program. One of the clear indicators of AUKUS’s success is the high interest of U.S. allies- New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan – in becoming partners in the security agreement. Congress has heard loud and clear this interest from democratic allies in the Indo-Pacific, and the NDAA formally asked the Pentagon to seriously examine the benefits and challenges of Japan as a potential participant.
Lastly, Congress acted forcefully through both the NDAA and the short-term spending package to support submarine production, which is essential to meeting the AUKUS schedule for the sale of Virginia class submarines to Australia. In the national defense bill, we successfully reversed the Navy’s woefully inadequate request to cut procurement of a Virginia class submarine and provided the Navy the authority to purchase a second Virginia class submarine in 2025. And through the Continuing Resolution passed just before the New Year, Congress delivered $5.7 billion to the Virginia Class submarine program – a significant infusion of funding to keep the construction tempo rising and invest in our frontline shipyard workers.
In the same year Congress was marred with record low productivity and high levels of division, the AUKUS mission still saw real momentum among lawmakers in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle. That level of bipartisan, bicameral support in a challenging political environment sends a powerful signal to naysayers and skeptics that the AUKUS mission has a strong foundation of support ready to withstand the political winds the New Year will bring.