In the just passed 2007 defense authorization bill, Congress prohibits the Air Force from retiring any U-2 high flying reconnaissance aircraft in 2007 and requires a stringent certification of no need in subsequent years. Lawmakers want the Secretary of Defense to certify that U-2s “no longer contribute to mitigating any gaps” in intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance capabilities as “identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review,” according to a House Armed Services Committee summary.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.