Congresswoman Tenney Testifies in Support of Rome Lab at House Armed Services Committee

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) on Thursday testified in support of the Air Force Research Lab Information Directorate, also known as Rome Lab, at the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). Tenney joined HASC for a full committee hearing on “Member Day” to ask for the Committee’s support for three key investments in Rome Lab in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. These initiatives greatly expand Rome Lab’s capabilities and in turn enable the United States to compete globally with our adversaries, dominate the virtual battlespace, and counter emerging threats to our country.

Tenney’s requests included:

• $10 million to develop the first and only government-owned Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management System, which would lead to the development of revolutionary tools to counter small UAS’s that our adversaries use to exploit U.S. airspace and target Americans;
• $10 million for a Quantum Cloud Computing and Multi-Modality Network Testbed, which will help the US lead in the development of quantum computing technologies, especially given recent advances made by adversaries like China;
• $10 million for the development of the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) for Joint All-Domain Command and Control Future Flag Testbed, which will further our military’s AI capabilities, a critical technology that supports every aspect of the Pentagon’s mission.

As part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, Tenney fought hard and successfully secured the inclusion of an additional $30 million in funding for Rome Lab. This included additional funding for the quantum network testbed, ion trap quantum computing, and the Air Force’s academic partnership intermediary agreements.

A full video of Tenney’s remarks is available here.

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