EconDefense
USC-78 / Enterprise resources and shared execution

Indemnify Transportation for covered defense-related aviation losses

Pay and transfer available operation-and-maintenance funds to indemnify the Secretary of Transportation for qualifying defense-related aviation insurance losses.

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Authority / instrument · USC-78

Commercial space and airlift

Enterprise resources and shared execution

Statute & instrument
Authority holder

Secretary of Defense; Secretary of Transportation administers the insurance

What this does not authorize / hard limit

Not standalone general commercial insurance authority or a guarantee that a particular loss is covered.

Recorded executor

Responsible commercial-space or airlift contracting/agreement office; current assignment must be verified

Continue to actor →

Recorded executing role; this record-specific route is not an additional institutional office.

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedPayment may use any available DoD operation-and-maintenance funds; the specific additional transfer authority does not create funds beyond available appropriations. Office budget figures are separate institutional context, not an allocation to this instrument.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementProgram unverifiedAdded in the October 5 statutory review; no current implementing program, intake or individual delegation verified.

Public evidence describes the institution and instrument; it is not approval of an individual transaction.

At a glance

Possible toolUSC-78 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis10 U.S.C. §9514

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense; Secretary of Transportation administers the insurance

Other statutory tools

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory mechanism; current program implementation, open intake, funds and individual delegations were not verified in this statutory review.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • The insurance must be the specified no-premium defense-requested coverage under 49 U.S.C. chapter 443, supported by the interdepartmental indemnity agreement.
  • Statutory payment deadlines apply; incidents exceeding or expected to exceed $10 million trigger congressional notice within 30 days of the loss.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not standalone general commercial insurance authority or a guarantee that a particular loss is covered.
  • This specific transfer power has its own exemptions from other transfer caps and prior-notification rules; do not generalize them to unrelated transfers.

Funding conditions

  • Payment may use any available DoD operation-and-maintenance funds; the specific additional transfer authority does not create funds beyond available appropriations.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Sponsoring defense component and mission customer; current assignment must be verified

Resources

  • Sponsoring component budget owner and comptroller

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense; Secretary of Transportation administers the insurance; transaction-specific delegation must be verified
    Office profile

Execution

  • Responsible commercial-space or airlift contracting/agreement office; current assignment must be verified

Partners & review

  • Participating eligible commercial entity; fiscal, security and legal reviewers

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Mission customer → responsible component program office → eligibility, fiscal and security review → authorized contracting or agreement official. This is an illustrative routing chain, not a verified delegation.

Actor and execution-role sources

October 5 statutory review

Added in the October 5 statutory coverage review. The cited legal mechanism and its conditions were examined; a current implementing program, intake, funding balance and individual delegation were not verified.

Section coverage and review findings

Legal basis

  • 10 U.S.C. §9514Official 2024 Code baseline; reviewed October 5, 2026 with targeted P.L. 119-60 amendment check. Not a complete current-law citator.

What this research establishes

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedPayment may use any available DoD operation-and-maintenance funds; the specific additional transfer authority does not create funds beyond available appropriations. Office budget figures are separate institutional context, not an allocation to this instrument.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementProgram unverifiedAdded in the October 5 statutory review; no current implementing program, intake or individual delegation verified.

Confidence: High on the express mechanism in the reviewed official text; no claim of verified transaction readiness.

Currentness: Reviewed October 5, 2026: official 2024 Code body and targeted enacted P.L. 119-60 text search. Selected OLRC September 2026 indexed text corroborates §§2274, 2276, 9513 and 9531. Later enactments and annual riders were not exhaustively reconciled.

Review scope: Record reviewed 2026-10-05. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.

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