Warren Secures Wins on Service Member Safety, Transparency at Defense Department in FY 2026 Defense Policy Bill

Executive Summary of Final FY26 NDAA (Website)
Washington, D.C. —Following the passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (FY26 NDAA), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, announced she secured key wins, including on troop health and safety, transparency from Secretary Hegseth on major cuts at the Pentagon, boosting competition among defense contractors, improved housing conditions for American troops, and education.
Senator Warren secured the following provisions in the FY26 NDAA:
Service Member Health and Safety
“We owe it to our service members to do everything we can to stop the devastating effects of blast overpressures. For years, I’ve led the charge on bipartisan reforms to keep our service members safe and will continue to fight to get them the care they deserve,”said Senator Warren.
For over seven years, Senator Warren has led efforts to measure blast exposure and develop protocols that protect our military. She’s introducedbipartisan legislationto track service members’ exposure to and mitigate the effects of blast overpressure. She’s also hosted ahearingand aforum to highlightservice members’ and veterans’ experiences with getting care for these injuries. In last year’s NDAA, Senator Warrensecured historic reformsto improve access to care after exposure to blast overpressure and mitigate exposure risks.
“The best way I can honor Jake’s legacy is by fighting for transparency and accountability from the Pentagon,”said Senator Warren. “I'll keep fighting to make sure the V-22's safety defects are addressed so no more military families lose their loved ones in preventable accidents.”
Senator Warren has alsohighlighted the need for transparencyaround military accidents, the crash that killed Staff Sergeant Jacob Galliher– a young father from Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
“Secretary Hegseth’s cuts to the independent weapons testing office put service members’ lives in danger and threatens our national security. We need strong oversight to ensure our weapons don’t unnecessarily risk lives and that these programs are not a waste of taxpayer funds,”said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren haslong warnedthat Secretary Hegseth’s massive cuts to the weapons testing office would have devastating effects on service member safety. She alsodemanded accountabilityfrom the Secretary and asked the incoming Director of the officeto commit to more transparencyabout weapons programs.
Promoting Accountability
“The Trump administration’s politicization of the military undermines our national security and erodes trust in our armed forces. Our service members deserve better. These changes will help ensure transparency and rein in abuse from the Trump administration,”said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren, along with several of her SASC colleagues, sent aletterto Secretary Hegseth earlier this year raising concerns about how his firings of these top military lawyers would damage public trust and the apolitical foundation of the military legal system. In a March 2025 hearing, Senator Warren alsohighlighted, and a Trump defense nominee agreed with, the importance of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, whom American troops rely on for legal advice and Senator Lindsey Graham has praised as “the conscience of the military.”
Increasing Competition
“As we modernize our military’s AI and cloud computing programs, we need to protect these programs from Silicon Valley monopolies. I fought hard to ensure we’re implementing strong guardrails that save money and protect our national security,”said Senator Warren. “This provision is going to ensure our military can access cutting-edge tools while keeping our markets strong and our information secure.”
Senator Warren hasurged the Defense Departmentto ensure its AI contracting processes will protect government data, save taxpayer funds, and promote competition. She’s alsointroduced bipartisan legislationto help rein in Big Tech companies and prevent them from cutting out competitors in the AI and cloud computing markets when it comes to defense contracting.
Drug Supply Chains
“The DoD's overreliance on overseas manufacturers gives our adversaries the power to restrict our access to drugs we need to treat our men and women in uniform,”said Senator Warren. “Requiring the Pentagon to provide this crucial information is a step in the right direction that’ll help Congress develop the tools we need to protect Americans and strengthen our domestic pharmaceutical supply chain.”
Senator Warren has long sounded the alarm on the danger of overly relying on foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers, for both the military and civilians. She has ledbipartisan oversightand urged the Defense Department to reform acquisition rules to give preference to American-made products. She has alsofiled legislationto end the country’s dependence on foreign countries for critical drugs and tostudy the effectsof foreign investment on the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.
Military Health Care
“One of the nation's biggest drug middlemen may be ripping off our military to boost its profits--and trying to hide this information from Congress. I’m glad my colleagues agree we need to investigate these abuses to prevent price-gouging at the expense of our servicemembers,”said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren has alsocalled for auditingTRICARE’s pharmacy contractors and raised concerns about practices that mayprice gouge the military.Military leadersandexpertshave also testified before Congress on the need for more transparency to improve access and lower health care costs for the military.
Military Housing
“Military families deserve safe, affordable housing. Congress must investigate the potential use of rent-setting algorithms used to price gouge military families and the federal government,”said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren has led efforts to improve the conditions in privatized military housing and increase protections for military families. She has long led the effort to look intolandlords’ use of algorithmic pricing toolslike RealPage to illegally inflate rents on servicemembers. She has also introduced legislation to ban the use of NDAs byprivate military housing landlordsand addressunsafe housing conditions. At an April 2025 hearing, Senator Warrensecured a commitmentfrom a Trump defense nominee to hold military housing contractors accountable.
Education
“Service members put their lives on the line for this country, so there’s no excuse for our government to fall short of its promises to them. Helping service members afford quality education is how our country recruits and maintains a fighting force,”said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren has been a leading voice in fighting for strong education benefits for service members and families,fighting to restore benefitsto veterans cheated by for-profit colleges, and pushing the Defense Department torelease dataon the Postsecondary Education Complaint System (PECS), a centralized database to track complaints against schools who participate in tuition assistance programs. At an April 2025 hearing, shepressed military leaderson the impact of the Defense Department’s shortcomings on education benefits.
Supporting Massachusetts
“Massachusetts has long led the way in innovative research for national security. I fought hard to ensure our Commonwealth can continue to be a leader in cutting edge research, as well as securing funding for upgrading our bases and facilities,”said Senator Warren.
Since joining the committee, Senator Warren hassecuredhundreds of millionsin funding for family housing, safety upgrades, and other critical military construction at military bases in Massachusetts.
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