National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026

Amends provisions governing preseparation counseling and related information transmittals by adding opt-out language, requirements for storage and transfer agreements with State veterans agencies, privacy and cybersecurity compliance requirements, and a limitation on State use of transferred information to connecting veterans to benefits; also inserts additional counseling factors into subsection (c)(1) (child care, employment status of other adults, duty station location including separations from family, and effects of operating/personnel tempo) as explicit new subparagraphs. See amendments adding subsections (e) and (f) and new subparagraphs (M)–(P) to section 1142 in this section.

Inserts a rule of construction clarifying that nothing in the cited section authorizes transfers of Air National Guard members except as a one-time transfer specified elsewhere, and that nothing therein sets precedent for waiving applicability of provisions of title 32. (Amendment to section 514 of the NDAA for FY2025 as codified at 10 U.S.C. 20001.)

Amends provisions (as implemented by earlier NDAA provisions) related to Disability Evaluation System reviews to provide additional Secretarial discretion, permit requiring statements of contention as part of appeals to physical evaluation boards, and specify that a fitness-for-duty determination on appeal may be either a records review or an impartial appellate hearing, as determined by the Secretary concerned.

Adds a new 10 U.S.C. section establishing an 'Army University' to integrate professional military education institutions within the Army into a single educational structure and lists component centers and schools to be part of that University (Army War College; U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; Army Warrant Officer Career College; Army Management Staff College; Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation; and any additional colleges the Secretary of the Army determines appropriate).

Adds a new provision to the Defense Production Act of 1950 relating to prohibition and notification on investments relating to covered national security transactions.

Amends section 10 (Enforcement) to strike specified text in subsection (c)(1) and to modify punctuation/wording in subsection (d)(1)(A) clauses.

Amends section 11 (Findings by Secretary) to modify prefatory wording, revise subparagraph references and certain subparagraph text in subsection (a), and to strike language in subsection (b).

Rewrites section 12 (Disclosure of information), replacing prior confidentiality/reporting text with a new multi-subsection confidentiality and authorized-disclosure framework.

Modifies the closed-area stowage requirement by removing detailed, prescriptive language and replacing it with a more general requirement tied to Secretary-established requirements.

Repeals section 14 (Observers).