TITLE XIV--DEFENSE
AGAINST WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION COOPERATIVE THREAT REDUCTION (CTR)
PROGRAM, DOMESTIC EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS AND PROGRAMS FOR THE
DEFENSE AGAINST WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (SECS. 1401-1505)
The House bill
contained provisions (sec. 1101-1105) that would: authorize $302.9 million
for the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, a $25.0 million
reduction to the budget request; would specify CTR programs; allocate
fiscal year 1997 funding for the various CTR programs and activities;
prohibit the use of CTR funds for specific purposes; prohibit the obligation
of CTR funds until various reports are submitted to Congress; and make
fiscal year 1997 CTR funds available for three fiscal years. Additionally,
the House report (H. Rept. 104-563) encouraged the Secretary of Defense
to report to the Congress by September 30, 1996, an assessment of the
advisability of the Department of Defense's establishing a program for
enhancing the capability of the Department to assist law enforcement
agencies in responding to terrorism or natural disasters involving chemical
or biological agents and recommended an increase of $12.0 million in
PE 65160D to preserve the option of initiating such a program in fiscal
year 1997.
The Senate amendment
would fully fund the budget request for CTR at $327.9 million. In addition,
the Senate amendment contained provisions (secs. 1301-1356) that would
increase the overall budget request for defense operation and maintenance
by $150.0 million, and add $85.0 million to the budget request for the
Department of Energy to establish a comprehensive program to improve
U.S. capabilities to deal with the use, or threatened use, of weapons
of mass destruction. In that regard, the amendment would expand the
scope of the DOD CTR program and the DOE arms control and materials,
protection, control and accountability programs to include additional
activities, especially assistance to the independent states of the former
Soviet Union. Of the $235.0 million budget increase for DOD and DOE,
$80.0 million would be authorized for the establishment of a DOD and
DOE domestic emergency assistance program; $59.0 would be authorized
for domestic and international border security assistance DOD CTR and
DOE materials, protection, control and accountability activities would
be increased by $94.0 million; and $2.0 million would be authorized
for research activities of the proliferation coordinator.
Additionally, the
provision would provide the President with more specific authorities
than exist under current law by authorizing the limited use of U.S.
military forces to assist the Department of Justice in domestic emergency
situations involving the terrorist use of WMD and by amending the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The House recedes
with an amendment to the Senate provisions.
The Senate recedes
with an amendment to the House provisions.
Since the end of
the Cold War, materials and technologies related to weapons of mass
destruction--nuclear, radiological, chemical, and biological weapons--have
become increasingly more available to rogue states, terrorist groups,
and unstable individuals. Controls over nuclear materials in the former
Soviet Union continue to require significant improvement. Easy access
to dual-use materials and technologies to fabricate chemical and biological
weapons make the proliferation of these weapons arguably the most urgent
and serious threat the United States faces today.
The United States
government must improve and make comprehensive the way it addresses
this threat. To this end, the conferees agree to a series of provisions
that address all aspects of the threat of the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction. The conferees agree to recommend an additional
$201.0 million to the budget to address this issue. These increased
funds would: increase the budget request for the Cooperative Threat
Reduction (CTR) program by $37.0 million; authorize a $10.0 million
increase to the budget request for the counterproliferation support
program; authorize $30.0 million for U.S. and international border security
activities; add $65.0 million for the establishment of a domestic emergency
response program; and add $57.0 for DOE materials, protection, control
and accountability.
DOMESTIC PREPAREDNESS
Enhancing the nation's
ability to prevent, and, if necessary, to respond to a terrorist incident
involving nuclear, radiological, chemical, or biological weapons or
materials is the cornerstone of this program. The conferees note that
an interagency group, composed of the Federal Response Plan signatory
agencies led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) completed
and forwarded to the President on July 1, 1996, a report titled "Consequences
Management for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Terrorism."
The report documents the inadequacy of the Federal Response Plan to
deal with NBC terrorist incidents and makes specific recommendations
regarding capability enhancements. The conferees agree to a provision
(sec. 1411) that would require the President to take immediate action
to enhance the capability of the Federal Government to respond to such
incidents and to provide enhanced support to improve the capabilities
of State and local emergency response and law enforcement agencies to
respond to such incidents. The provision would further require the President
to provide to the Congress by January 31, 1997, a report containing
an assessment of such capabilities, improvements required, and measures
that should be taken to achieve such improvements, including additional
resources and legislative authority that might be necessary.
The conferees agree
to recommend $50.0 million for the establishment of a domestic emergency
assistance program for the Department of Defense to immediately begin
sharing its unique expertise, experience, and equipment in dealing with
chemical and biological weapons and materials with local emergency first
respondents (firemen, policemen, and medical workers).
The conferees expect
that the Secretary of Defense will work expeditiously with the Secretary
of Health and Human Services in providing DOD resources and expertise
to the Office of Emergency Preparedness for the formation of emergency
medical teams that are trained and equipped to handle incidents involving
weapons of mass destruction.
The conferees agree
to provide $15.0 million for DOD to conduct interagency exercises that
will focus on testing and improving the U.S. Government's ability to
respond to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction.
The conferees have
agreed to an additional provision (sec. 1414) that would require DOD
to establish at least one Chemical- Biological Emergency Response Team
for rapid response to domestic terrorism. The conferees expect that
such teams would be similar in concept to the Nuclear Emergency Search
Team and Accident Response Groups that are maintained by DOE for response
to a nuclear incident. The conferees note in the joint DOD/DOE report
to the Congress, "Preparedness and Response to a Nuclear, Radiological,
Biological, or Chemical Terrorist Attack," dated June 13, 1996,
that the DOD is attempting to establish such a capability. The conferees
note that many of the capabilities sought for such teams are already
present in the Army's Technical Escort Unit, Edgewood Research, Development,
and Engineering Center, and Chemical Defense and Infectious Disease
Medical Research Institutes. The conferees also note the Counterproliferation
Program Review Committee's "Report on Activities and Programs for
Countering Proliferation", dated May 1996, which states that U.S.
Marine Forces, Atlantic was scheduled to activate a Department of the
Navy/Marine Corps Chemical/ Biological Incident Response Force on June
1, 1996, to respond to chemical and biological incidents (terrorist
or otherwise) occurring on Naval installations and Department of State
legations worldwide. The conferees understand that the unit has been
activated and is now in training.
In section 1416,
the conferees agree to provide authority, very narrowly defined and
carefully constructed, for the President and the Attorney General to
request military support to local authorities in incidents involving
chemical and biological weapons. This authority is in addition to the
authorities otherwise provided in Chapter 18 of title 10, U.S. Code.
The conferees agree that the use of the military in any emergency situation
involving biological or chemical weapons or materials should be limited
both in time and scope to dealing with the specific chemical or biological
weapons- related incident.
Finally, the conferees
have included a provision (sec. 1417) that would require Federal Response
Plan agencies to develop and maintain an inventory of equipment and
other assets that could be made available to aid State and local officials
in search and rescue and other disaster management and mitigation efforts
associated with an emergency involving weapons of mass destruction,
and would require FEMA to maintain a comprehensive master list of the
inventory. The provision would also require FEMA to establish a data
base on chemical and biological agent and munitions characteristics
and safety precautions and to develop a system to provide federal, State,
and local officials access to the data base and to the master inventory.
INTERDICTION OF
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND RELATED MATERIALS
This section focuses
attention on enhancing our efforts at interdicting and detecting nuclear,
radiological, chemical, and biological weapons and related materials,
the next step of protecting the United States against the threat posed
by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The conferees agree
to recommend $15.0 million for the DOD to assist the U.S. Customs Service
in interdicting these materials before they enter the United States.
As mentioned above,
the conferees also agree to an increase of $10.0 million to the DOD
counterproliferation support program and an increase of $17.0 million
to the DOE nonproliferation and verification research and development
program to conduct research and development of technical means for detecting
the presence, transportation, production, and use of weapons of mass
destruction and related materials and technologies.
Additionally, the
conferees agree to provisions that would amend the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act to provide penalties to cover attempts to import
or export weapons of mass destruction and related materials, and would
express the sense of the Congress that criminal penalties for proliferation-related
activities should be increased.
Finally, the conferees
agree to recommend $15.0 million for DOD training and assistance to
customs services and border guards in the former Soviet Union, the Baltic
states, and Eastern Europe in detecting and interdicting the smuggling
of weapons of mass destruction and related materials. This program is
intended to be separate and distinct from the existing DOD/FBI counterproliferation
assistance program, which focuses largely on training law enforcement
officials in the interdiction of these materials. The conferees believe
that law enforcement and Customs agents, and border guards, must be
familiar with proliferation issues if any counterproliferation effort
is to be viable. While there may be some beneficial overlap between
the DOD/FBI effort and the DOD/Customs program envisioned in this legislation,
it is the view of the conferees that the most effective way to reach
and establish productive relations is through expanding relations between
analogous counterparts. The conferees expect the Secretary of Defense
to make DOD equipment and related materials and technologies available
to the Commissioner of Customs for use in detecting and interdicting
the movement of weapons of mass destruction into the United States to
the extent authorized under existing law. The Secretary of Defense and
the U.S. Customs Commissioner shall provide to Congress a joint report
on the scope and impact of this program and an inventory of items provided
under this authority. This report should also include the extent to
which it will interface with the DoD/FBI effort.
CONTROL AND DISPOSITION
OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND RELATED MATERIALS THREATENING THE
UNITED STATES
With regard to
the DOD budget request for the CTR program and the DOE budget request
for materials, protection, control and accountability, the conferees
agree to recommend authority for a variety of programs that focus on
assisting the states of the former Soviet Union to better control and/or
eliminate their stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and related
materials. Programs include: $15.0 million for DOE MPC&A activity;
$10.0 million for DOD MPC&A activity; $10.0 million for a DOE program
to develop technologies associated with improving the verification of
nuclear warhead dismantlement; $15.0 million for DOD activities related
to the dismantlement of chemical and biological weapons-related facilities;
$9.0 million for DOE's Lab-to-Lab program; and $6.0 million for DOE
to work with the Russian government in enhancing the security of fissile
material used for the propulsion of Russian military and civilian ships.
It is the view
of the conferees that both DOE and DOD should seek to expand these activities
in the former Soviet Union beyond nuclear activities in Russia, Ukraine,
Kazakhstan, and Belarus. While programs to date have appropriately focused
on the most pressing strategic concerns, critical work remains to be
done in combating the threat of proliferation at a variety of sites
in the other states of the former Soviet Union where nuclear, chemical,
and biological weapons-related materials and technologies continue to
be vulnerable to proliferation.
The conferees agree
to transfer $10.0 million in DOD funds to DOE for activities related
to the conversion of several Russian nuclear core reactors so they no
longer produce weapons-grade plutonium. It is the view of the conferees
that the Secretary of Defense should transfer these funds to the Secretary
of Energy expeditiously so that the Department of Energy can continue
to move forward on this program.
COORDINATION OF
POLICY AND COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST PROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION
The conferees agree
that the nation's overall coordination of policy, efforts, and activities
addressing the threat posed by the increasing availability of nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons, materials, and technology must be
improved. The conferees agree to a provision that would direct the appointment
by the President of a national coordinator on proliferation within the
Executive Office of the President, to advise the President on nonproliferation
and related issues regarding terrorism and international organized crime.
The provision would establish a committee on nonproliferation, to be
chaired by the coordinator, and composed of members of the Executive
Branch who have responsibilities for crisis and consequence management,
nonproliferation, and related issues. This committee will review and
coordinate programs, policies, and directives related to the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and the threat they pose to our national
security. The conference agreement also requires the President, through
the committee on nonproliferation, to submit a comprehensive report
for carrying out this amendment.
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