The Secretary of Defense shall establish a comprehensive readiness reporting system for the Department of Defense. The readiness reporting system shall measure in an objective, accurate, and timely manner the capability of the armed forces to carry out—

(1) the National Security Strategy prescribed by the President in the most recent annual national security strategy report under section 108 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3043);

(2) the defense planning guidance provided by the Secretary of Defense pursuant to section 113(g) of this title; and

(3) the National Military Strategy prescribed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In establishing and maintaining the readiness reporting system, the Secretary shall ensure—

(1) that the readiness reporting system and associated policies are applied uniformly throughout the Department of Defense, including between and among the joint staff and each of the armed forces;

(2) that is the single authoritative readiness reporting system for the Department, and that there shall be no military service specific systems;

(3) that readiness assessments are accomplished at an organizational level at, or below, the level at which forces are employed;

(4) that the reporting system include resources information, force posture, and mission centric capability assessments, as well as predicted changes to these attributes;

(5) that information in the readiness reporting system is continually updated, with (A) any change in the overall readiness status of a unit, or element of a unit, that is required to be reported as part of the readiness reporting system being reported within 24 hours of the event necessitating the change in readiness status, and (B) any change in the overall readiness status of an element of the training establishment or an element of defense infrastructure that is required to be reported as part of the readiness reporting system being reported within 72 hours of the event necessitating the change in readiness status; and

(6) that sufficient resources are provided to establish and maintain the system so as to allow reporting of changes in readiness status as required by this section.

The readiness reporting system shall measure such factors relating to readiness as the Secretary prescribes, except that the system shall include the capability to do each of the following:

(1) Measure the readiness of units (both as elements of their respective armed force and as elements of joint forces) to conduct their designed and assigned missions.

(2) Measure the capability of training establishments to provide trained and ready forces for designed and assigned missions.

(3) Measure the capability of defense installations and facilities and other elements of Department of Defense infrastructure, both in the United States and abroad, to provide appropriate support to forces in the conduct of their designed and assigned missions.

(4) Measure critical warfighting deficiencies in unit capability.

(5) Measure critical warfighting deficiencies in training establishments and defense infrastructure.

(6) Measure the extent to which units of the armed forces remove serviceable parts, supplies, or equipment from one vehicle, vessel, or aircraft in order to render a different vehicle, vessel, or aircraft operational.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall—

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall—

(A) on a semi-annual basis, conduct a joint readiness review, which includes a validation of readiness data currency and accuracy; and

(B) on a monthly basis, review any changes that have been reported in readiness since the previous joint readiness review.

(2) The Chairman shall incorporate into both the joint readiness review required under paragraph (1)(A) and the monthly review required under paragraph (1)(B) the current information derived from the readiness reporting system and shall assess the capability of the armed forces to execute their wartime missions based upon their posture at the time the review is conducted. The Chairman shall submit to the Secretary of Defense the results of each review under paragraph (1), including the deficiencies in readiness identified during that review.

The Secretary shall semi-annually submit to the congressional defense committees a report in writing containing the results of the most recent joint readiness review under subsection (d)(1)(A), including the current information derived from the readiness reporting system. Each such report shall be submitted in unclassified form and may, as the Secretary determines necessary, also be submitted in classified form.

For each quarter that begins after the date of the enactment of this subsection and ends on or before September 30, 2023, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on each monthly upgrade or downgrade of the current state of readiness of a unit that was issued by the commander of a unit during the previous quarter, together with the rationale of the commander for the issuance of such upgrade or downgrade.

The Secretary shall each year submit to the congressional defense committees a report in writing containing the results of the most recent annual measurement of the capability of operational contract support to support current and anticipated wartime missions of the armed forces. Each such report shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.

The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section. In those regulations, the Secretary shall prescribe the established information technology system for Department of Defense reporting, specifically authorize exceptions to a single-system architecture, and identify the organizations, units, and entities that are subject to reporting in the readiness reporting system, what organization resources are subject to such reporting, and the elements of the training establishment and of defense infrastructure that are subject to such reporting.

(Added Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title III, § 373(a)(1), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 1990; amended Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title III, § 361(d)(1), title X, § 1067(1), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 575, 774; Pub. L. 106–398, § 1 [[div. A], title III, § 371], Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654, 1654A–80; Pub. L. 108–136, div. A, title X, § 1031(a)(1), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1595; Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title VIII, § 845(a), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 1848; Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title X, § 1071(c)(2), Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3508; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title III, § 331(b), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1354; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title III, § 331(a)–(g)(1), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1723, 1724.)