National Defense Authorization Act
On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2021 became law (
Public Law 116-283), marking the 60th straight year of the NDAA’s passage into law. The President vetoed the bill on December 23, 2020 as was widely expected. The President had long threatened to veto the bill if it did not include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents social media websites from being held liable for users’ comments. On December 28, 2020, the House voted 322-87 to override the President’s veto. The Senate followed suit and voted 81-13 to override the veto on January 1, 2021. This law contains several provisions that significantly impact government contractors, which are summarized below:
Quantum technology is going to revolutionize the future. Whatever else one might say about the Trump administration, one of its major achievements was revolutionizing how the US addressed this potentially disruptive technology including its possible threat to the world’s encryption systems especially at the federal level.
President Trump signed the National Quantum Initiative passed by Congress, increasing funding for quantum research by $1.25 billion. The administration also established the National Quantum Coordination Office at the Office of Science and Technology Policy; prompted the Department of Energy to establish a series of Quantum Information Science Research Centers at its outstanding national labs; and created the Quantum Economic Development Consortium to encourage commercialization of quantum technology and components. Meanwhile, Congress injected requirements for the Pentagon to embrace the need for quantum technology in successive National Defense Authorization Act
On January 15, 2021, the Department of Defense (DoD) published in the Federal Register a final rule [Docket DARS–2019–0063] adopting as final, with changes, an interim rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement sections of the National Defense Authorization Acts for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019 related to the procurement of covered telecommunications equipment or services.
2020/12/29 17:17 President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen theater on Dec. 28, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen theater on Dec. 28, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP photo) With only a few weeks to go before Joseph Biden becomes president of the United States, Taiwan’s American friends need to press hard for the policies we want to see the new administration pursue toward Taiwan.
Most important, we must continue to strengthen Taiwan’s security As Randall Schriver, chairman of the Project 2049 Institute, and Ian Easton, senior director at the same institute, have recently reiterated, we must counter the enormous military threat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) poses to Taiwan, Asia, the United States, and the world.