H.R. 6510: National Military Civilian Medical Surge Program Act of 2025

H.R. 6510 creates the Military-Civilian Medical Surge Program, run by the Defense Department alongside the Department of Health and Human Services. Day-to-day management sits at the Institute for Defense Health Cooperation at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. So this isn't a vague partnership idea — there's a lead department, a partner cabinet agency, and a named office in charge.

The law requires a real operating network, not a pilot on paper. It must include at least eight locations, picked because they're useful to military missions and because they sit at aeromedical hubs, transport centers, or logistics points in the United States. More sites can be added, including overseas. Hospitals, academic medical centers, and nonprofit and private health systems can all become partners, but they have to prove they can handle the hard stuff: high-consequence infectious disease and special pathogen care, including containment and transport.

The network can be switched on by any of six events: a national emergency, a public health emergency, a declaration of war by Congress, a contingency operation, a presidential move under the War Powers Resolution, or any other emergency or major disaster the President declares. During a contingency operation, the Defense Health Agency steps in as a combat support agency to the relevant combatant command.

There's a built-in oversight rhythm: coordination meetings twice a year and updates every quarter among DoD, the military branches, the Joint Staff, the Defense Health Agency, and HHS, with outside partners joining one of those meetings each year. The first report to Congress is due within 180 days of the FY2026 defense bill's enactment, then yearly after that. And one guardrail is explicit — the Secretary of Defense cannot control, direct, or limit HHS's authority over the National Disaster Medical System, public health preparedness, staffing, or resources.