December 17, 2025
Mrs. Trahan (for herself, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Keating, and Ms. McBride) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish a pilot program to facilitate the development of certain traumatic brain injury diagnostics for members of the Armed Forces.
Section 1. Pilot program to facilitate development of certain traumatic brain injury diagnostics for members of the Armed Forces
(a) Pilot program
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, shall establish a pilot program to—
(1)
assess the feasibility of providing support to eligible entities engaged in the research, development, test, evaluation, or production of covered diagnostic technologies that may be procured by the Secretary and used in the diagnosis of traumatic brain injuries among members of the Armed Forces in connection with operational deployments, including in combat zones;
(2)
assess covered diagnostic technologies to determine—
(A)
whether such technologies are capable of distinguishing mild traumatic brain injury from moderate or severe traumatic brain injury;
(B)
how such technologies may be used with other diagnostics or diagnostic aids for traumatic brain injury (including neuroimaging biomarkers used in computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging or molecular imaging, blood-based biomarkers, electrophysiological biomarkers, oculomotor tracking systems, and environmental sensors);
(C)
how such technologies may be integrated with the detection of other indicators of physiological deficit, to enhance the health, survival, and long-term prognosis of members of the Armed Forces;
(D)
how such technologies may improve military readiness through the improved brain health of members of the Armed Forces; and
(E)
the extent to which such technologies may address concerns regarding the growing medical burden of traumatic brain injury by more accurately assessing and quantifying acute exposure; and
(3)
facilitate the research, development, test, evaluation, and production of safe and effective covered diagnostic technologies, including by facilitating the research and development of new or updated manufacturing processes for such technologies and the transitioning of such technologies from the prototyping phase to the production phase.
(b) Designation
The pilot program established under subsection (a) shall be known as the Warfighter Traumatic Brain Injury Diagnostics Project
(in this section referred to as the pilot program
).
(c) Activities
The pilot program shall include—
(1)
the conduct of research studies to make the assessments specified in subsection (a), including studies conducted by, or in consultation with—
(A)
trauma, primary care, and traumatic brain injury experts of the Department of Defense;
(B)
emergency medical technicians of the Department;
(C)
members of the Armed Forces diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries; and
(D)
personnel of the Department who are experts in the covered diagnostic technologies assessed under such studies; and
(2)
such activities as the Secretary determines may be necessary to incentivize participation in such studies by military medical treatment facilities, units of the United States Special Operations Command, civilian level one trauma centers, and such other entities as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(d) Grants
(1) Award of grants
In carrying out the pilot program, the Secretary of Defense may award a grant to an eligible entity engaged in the research, development, test, evaluation, or production of covered diagnostics, consistent with subsection (a)(3).
(2) Priority of awards
In awarding grants under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give preference to an eligible entity that the Secretary determines meets one or more of the following criteria:
(A)
The eligible entity has a demonstrated history of researching, developing, testing, evaluating, or producing a covered diagnostic technology.
(B)
The eligible entity has a demonstrated history of researching, developing, testing, evaluating, or producing a covered diagnostic technology or other related capability in the national technology and industrial base (as such term is defined in section 4801 of title 10, United States Code).
(C)
The covered diagnostic technology researched, developed, tested, evaluated, or produced by such eligible entity provides modularity to support diverse applications.
(3) Use of grant amounts
An eligible entity awarded a grant under paragraph (1) may only use such grant amounts to carry out one or more of the following activities:
(A)
Conducting research, development, testing, or evaluation activities to validate a covered diagnostic technology (including through experimentation, prototyping, or adapting such technology), to determine or improve the potential operational use to the Department of Defense of such technology, or to integrate such technology with other technologies and systems, including with respect to new or existing pathways of care.
(B)
Addressing manufacturing or other production challenges relating to a covered diagnostic technology.
(C)
Providing commercially available covered diagnostic technologies to any Secretary of a military department, or commander of a combatant command, to support use assessments or other testing by members of the Armed Forces.
(D)
Building or strengthening relationships with nontraditional defense contractors in the technology industry that may be capable of providing unused or underused solutions to specific operational challenges of the Department relating to traumatic brain injury diagnostics technology.
(e) Report
Not later than 90 days after the date on which the pilot program terminates under subsection (g), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the results of the pilot program. Such report shall include—
(1)
a summary of the results of the pilot program;
(2)
a determination of the Secretary regarding whether to procure and adopt covered diagnostic technologies in addition to tools already used by medical providers of the Department of Defense to screen for traumatic brain injury at the point of injury; and
(3)
any recommendations of the Secretary regarding necessary steps to promote the use of covered diagnostic technologies that meet the needs of the Armed Forces, including any legislative solutions that may be necessary.
(f) Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 to the Secretary of Defense for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029 to carry out this section.
(g) Termination
The authority to carry out the program shall terminate on September 30, 2029.
(h) Definitions
In this section:
(1)
The term congressional defense committees
has the meaning given that term in section 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code.
(2)
The term covered diagnostic technology means a device that aids in the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury, including by assisting clinicians in making such a diagnosis.
(3)
The term civilian level one trauma center has the meaning given that term in section 708 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 10 U.S.C. 1071 note).
(4)
The term eligible entity means—
(A)
any entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States; or
(B)
any entity that is owned by an entity described in subparagraph (A).
(5)
The term nontraditional defense contractor has the meaning given that term in section 3014 of title 10, United States Code.