House authorizers want Pentagon acquisition office to take on JASON contract

House authorizers want to require the Pentagon to support the contract for JASON national security research studies after the Defense Department's research and engineering organization cut ties with the group of scientists earlier this spring.

The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee's fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill would require the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment to enter into a contract to support the JASON scientific advisory group, according to the bill released this week. The legislation would further require notification to the congressional defense committees 90 days before termination of the JASON contract.

Earlier this year, the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, led by Mike Griffin, decided at the last minute not to renew a long-standing contract with the JASON group. Griffin had argued other organizations and labs could study thorny technical issues for DOD.

House and Senate lawmakers are now pressing the Pentagon for more information on the decision to break with the group

Meanwhile, the National Nuclear Security Administration has already signaled it would pick up the JASON contract for the remainder of the year until a longer-term solution can be worked out.

Established by a group of physicists in 1960, JASON has studied a wide range of national security issues on behalf of DOD and the Energy Department. The group of 40 to 60 scientists is self-selecting and secretive. Every summer, it comes together for about two months to conduct between 15 and 20 studies.