IB 

Union Calendar No. 449 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2631 

[Report No. 110–708, Part I] 

To strengthen efforts in the Department of Homeland Security to develop 

nuclear forensics capabilities to permit attribution of the source of nuclear material. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 7, 2007 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. SHAYS, and Mr. 

THORNBERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

JUNE 11, 2008 

Additional sponsor: Mr. MCCAUL of Texas 

JUNE 11, 2008 

Reported from the Committee on Homeland Security with amendments 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

JUNE 11, 2008 

Committee on Foreign Affairs discharged; committed to the Committee of the 

Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 7, 2007] 

A BILL 

To strengthen efforts in the Department of Homeland Secumstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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rity to develop nuclear forensics capabilities to permit 

attribution of the source of nuclear material. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nuclear Forensics and 

5 Attribution Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The threat of a nuclear terrorist attack on 

9 American interests, both domestic and abroad, is one 

10 of the most serious threats to the national security of 

11 the United States. In the wake of an attack, attribu12 tion of responsibility would be of utmost importance. 

13 Because of the destructive power of the weapon, there 

14 could be little forensic evidence except the radioactive 

15 material in the bomb itself. 

16 (2) Through advanced nuclear forensics, using 

17 both existing techniques and those under development, 

18 it may be possible to identify the source and pathway 

19 of a weapon or material after it is interdicted or deto20 nated. Though identifying intercepted smuggled mate21 rial is now possible in some cases, pre-detonation 

22 forensics is a relatively undeveloped field. The post23 detonation nuclear forensics field is also immature, 

24 and the challenges are compounded by the pressures 

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1 and time constraints of performing forensics after a 

2 nuclear or radiological attack. 

3 (3) A robust and well-known capability to iden4 tify the source of nuclear or radiological material in5 tended for or used in an act of terror could also deter 

6 prospective proliferators. Furthermore, the threat of 

7 effective attribution could compel improved security 

8 at material storage facilities, preventing the unwit9 ting transfer of nuclear or radiological materials. 

10 (4)(A) In order to identify special nuclear mate11 rial and other radioactive materials confidently, it is 

12 necessary to have a robust capability to acquire sam13 ples in a timely manner, analyze and characterize 

14 samples, and compare samples against known signa15 tures of nuclear and radiological material. 

16 (B) Many of the radioisotopes produced in the 

17 detonation of a nuclear device have short half-lives, so 

18 the timely acquisition of samples is of the utmost im19 portance. Over the past several decades, the ability of 

20 the United States to gather atmospheric samples— 

21 often the preferred method of sample acquisition has 

22 diminished. This ability must be restored and modern 

23 techniques that could complement or replace existing 

24 techniques should be pursued. 

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1 (C) The discipline of pre-detonation forensics is 

2 a relatively undeveloped field. The radiation associ3 ated with a nuclear or radiological device may affect 

4 traditional forensics techniques in unknown ways. In 

5 a post-detonation scenario, radiochemistry may pro6 vide the most useful tools for analysis and character7 ization of samples. The number of radiochemistry 

8 programs and radiochemists in United States Na9 tional Laboratories and universities has dramatically 

10 declined over the past several decades. The narrowing 

11 pipeline of qualified people into this critical field is 

12 a serious impediment to maintaining a robust and 

13 credible nuclear forensics program. 

14 (5) Once samples have been acquired and charac15 terized, it is necessary to compare the results against 

16 samples of known material from reactors, weapons, 

17 and enrichment facilities, and from medical, aca18 demic, commercial, and other facilities containing 

19 such materials, throughout the world. Some of these 

20 samples are available to the International Atomic 

21 Energy Agency through safeguards agreements, and 

22 some countries maintain internal sample databases. 

23 Access to samples in many countries is limited by na24 tional security concerns. 

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1 (6) In order to create a sufficient deterrent, it is 

2 necessary to have the capability to positively identify 

3 the source of nuclear or radiological material, and po4 tential traffickers in nuclear or radiological material 

5 must be aware of that capability. International co6 operation may be essential to catalogue all existing 

7 sources of nuclear or radiological material. 

8 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON INTERNATIONAL AGREE9 MENTS FOR FORENSICS COOPERATION. 

10 It is the sense of the Congress that the President 

11 should— 

12 (1) pursue bilateral and multilateral inter13 national agreements to establish, or seek to establish 

14 under the auspices of existing bilateral or multilateral 

15 agreements, an international framework for deter16 mining the source of any confiscated nuclear or radi17 ological material or weapon, as well as the source of 

18 any detonated weapon and the nuclear or radiological 

19 material used in such a weapon; 

20 (2) develop protocols for the data exchange and 

21 dissemination of sensitive information relating to nu22 clear or radiological materials and samples of con23 trolled nuclear or radiological materials, to the extent 

24 required by the agreements entered into under para25 graph (1); and 

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1 (3) develop expedited protocols for the data ex2 change and dissemination of sensitive information 

3 needed to publicly identify the source of a nuclear det4 onation. 

5 SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF DOMESTIC NUCLEAR DETEC6 TION OFFICE. 

7 (a) ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—Section 1902 of 

8 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (as redesignated by 

9 Public Law 110–53; 6 U.S.C. 592) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

12 after the semicolon; 

13 (B) by redesignating paragraph (10) as 

14 paragraph (14); and 

15 (C) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(10) develop and implement, with the approval 

18 of the Secretary and in coordination with the heads 

19 of appropriate departments and agencies, methods 

20 and capabilities to support the attribution of nuclear 

21 or radiological material to its source when such mate22 rial is intercepted by the United States, foreign gov23 ernments, or international bodies or is dispersed in 

24 the course of a terrorist attack or other nuclear or ra25 diological explosion; 

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1 ‘‘(11) establish, within the Domestic Nuclear De2 tection Office, the National Technical Nuclear 

3 Forensics Center to provide centralized stewardship, 

4 planning, assessment, gap analysis, exercises, im5 provement, and integration for all Federal nuclear 

6 forensics activities to ensure an enduring national 

7 technical nuclear forensics capability to strengthen 

8 the collective response of the United States to nuclear 

9 terrorism or other nuclear attacks; 

10 ‘‘(12) establish a National Nuclear Forensics Ex11 pertise Development Program which— 

12 ‘‘(A) is devoted to developing and maintain13 ing a vibrant and enduring academic pathway 

14 from undergraduate to post-doctorate study in 

15 nuclear and geochemical science specialties di16 rectly relevant to technical nuclear forensics, in17 cluding radiochemistry, geochemistry, nuclear 

18 physics, nuclear engineering, materials science, 

19 and analytical chemistry; and 

20 ‘‘(B) shall— 

21 ‘‘(i) make available for undergraduate 

22 study student scholarships, with a duration 

23 of up to four years per student, which shall 

24 include, whenever possible, at least one sum25 mer internship at a national laboratory or 

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1 appropriate Federal agency in the field of 

2 technical nuclear forensics during the course 

3 of the student’s undergraduate career; 

4 ‘‘(ii) make available for graduate study 

5 student fellowships, with a duration of up 

6 to five years per student, which— 

7 ‘‘(I) shall include, whenever pos8 sible, at least two summer internships 

9 at a national laboratory or appro10 priate Federal agency in the field of 

11 technical nuclear forensics during the 

12 course of the student’s graduate career; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(II) shall require each recipient 

15 to commit to serve for two years in a 

16 post-doctoral position in a technical 

17 nuclear forensics-related specialty at a 

18 national laboratory or appropriate 

19 Federal agency after graduation; 

20 ‘‘(iii) make available to faculty 

21 awards, with a duration of three to five 

22 years each, to ensure faculty and their grad23 uate students a sustained funding stream; 

24 and 

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1 ‘‘(iv) place a particular emphasis on 

2 reinvigorating technical nuclear forensics 

3 programs, while encouraging the participa4 tion of undergraduate students, graduate 

5 students, and university faculty from his6 torically Black colleges and universities, 

7 Hispanic-serving institutions, and Tribal 

8 Colleges and Universities; 

9 ‘‘(13) provide an annual report to Congress on 

10 the activities carried out under paragraphs (10), (11), 

11 and (12); and’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub13 section: 

14 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNIVER16 SITY.—The term ‘historically Black college or univer17 sity’ has the meaning given the term ‘part B institu18 tion’ in section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act 

19 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)). 

20 ‘‘(2) HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The term 

21 ‘Hispanic-serving institution’ has the meaning given 

22 that term in section 502 of the Higher Education Act 

23 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a). 

24 ‘‘(3) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.—The 

25 term ‘Tribal College or University’ has the meaning 

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1 given that term in section 316(b) of the Higher Edu2 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)).’’. 

3 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated the sum of $30,000,000 for 

5 each of the fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011 to carry out 

6 paragraphs (10) through (13) of section 1902(a) of the 

7 Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added by subsection (a) 

8 of this section. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to strengthen 

efforts in the Department of Homeland Security to develop nuclear forensics capabilities to permit attribution 

of the source of nuclear material, and for other purposes.’’. 

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Union Calendar No. 449 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2631 

[Report No. 110

–708, Part I] 

A BILL 

To strengthen efforts in the Department of Homeclear material. bilities to permit attribution of the source of nu- land Security to develop nuclear forensics capaJUNE 11, 2008 

Reported from the Committee on Homeland Security 

with amendments 

JUNE 11, 2008 

Committee on Foreign Affairs discharged; committed to 

Union and ordered to be printed the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the 

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