US lawmakers have included an article calling for sharing lessons learned from the war in Ukraine with Taiwan in the draft of the Intelligence Authorization Act (IIA) for fiscal 2026.
The US Senate recently added to the bill an order to the Ukraine Lessons Learned Working Group to evaluate sharing its findings with Taiwan to guide defense acquisition and capabilities development, the Central News Agency (CNA) said in an exclusive report yesterday.
The 2026 IIA must be reconciled and passed by both chambers of the US Congress — the Senate and the House of Representatives — before heading to US President Donald Trump’s desk.
Photo: CNA
The study group — which the US Congress authorized last year — is a joint task force organized by the Pentagon and the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence to draw tactical and operational lessons from the conflict.
Former US National Security Council director for Taiwan Affairs Marvin Park said that the article encompassed aspects of intelligence operations, ammunition expenditures by munition type, command and control, and force dispersion.
This meant US officials would be able to guide Taiwan in making decisions about the types and quantity of arms it seeks to acquire by applying knowledge garnered in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, he said.
The proposed article marks the first time the Ukraine study group would be mandated by law to research and evaluate the potential for sharing information with Taiwan, as oral reports had sufficed in the past, he said.
The Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act in 2023 still outweighs the article in the 2026 IAA bill in terms of relevance to Taiwan’s quest to bolster its defense capabilities, Park said.
That law enables the use of the presidential drawdown authority to earmark materiel stockpiled in US military reserves for Taiwan, in response to concern about delays in arms sales, he said.
Former CIA analyst Peter Mattis told CNA in a written statement that the article in the 2026 IAA bill showed that US lawmakers and their staffers remain committed to maintaining Taiwan’s autonomy and defense.
However, mandating the study group to evaluate a potential policy is not a binding order for its enactment, as the authority for making such decisions falls under the executive branch’s discretionary powers.
The article in the bill signals recognition that mobilizing a nation’s defense industrial base involves overcoming transnational supply chain and procurement challenges by collaborating with like-minded nations, he said.
John Dotson, director of the Washington-based Global Taiwan Institute think tank, said that the article lacked specificity and binding force, despite being a sign of a possible effort to strengthen intelligence sharing between the US and Taiwan.
Any part in a proposed bill is subject to amendment or deletion in the legislative process, he said, adding that the executive branch is at liberty to ignore such directives.
Many US officials are reluctant to broaden Taiwan’s access to sensitive information due to fears of Chinese infiltration, he said, adding that the bill remains surrounded by uncertainty.
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