I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2939

To strengthen and enhance the prevention and prosecution of crimes using 

weapons of mass destruction, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2003

Mr. FORBES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce, 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 

A BILL

To strengthen and enhance the prevention and prosecution 

of crimes using weapons of mass destruction, and for 

other purposes.

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 ‘‘Weapons of Mass De5 struction Prohibition Improvement Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. 

2 (a) EXPANSION OF JURISDICTIONAL BASES AND

3 SCOPE.—Section 2332a of title 18, United States Code, 

4 is amended by—

5 (1) amending paragraph (a)(2) to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(2) against any person or property within the 

8 United States, and 

9 ‘‘(A) the mail or any facility of interstate 

10 or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of 

11 the offense; 

12 ‘‘(B) such property is used in interstate or 

13 foreign commerce or in an activity that affects 

14 interstate or foreign commerce; 

15 ‘‘(C) any perpetrator travels in or causes 

16 another to travel in interstate or foreign com17 merce in furtherance of the offense; or 

18 ‘‘(D) the offense, or the results of the of19 fense, affect interstate or foreign commerce, or, 

20 in the case of a threat, attempt, or conspiracy, 

21 would have affected interstate or foreign com22 merce;’’; 

23 (2) in paragraph (a)(3), deleting the comma at 

24 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

25 (3) in subsection (a), adding the following at 

26 the end: 
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1 ‘‘(4) against any property within the United 

2 States that is owned, leased, or used by a foreign 

3 government,’’; 

4 (4) in paragraph (c)(1), deleting ‘‘and’’ at the 

5 end; 

6 (5) in paragraph (c)(2), deleting the period at 

7 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (6) in subsection (c), inserting the following at 

9 the end: 

10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘property’ includes all real and 

11 personal property.’’. 

12 (b) RESTORATION OF THE COVERAGE OF CHEMICAL

13 WEAPONS.—Section 2332a of title 18, United States 

14 Code, as amended by subsection (a), is further amended 

15 by—

16 (1) in the caption, deleting ‘‘certain’’; 

17 (2) in subsection (a), deleting ‘‘(other than a 

18 chemical weapon as that term is defined in section 

19 229F); and 

20 (3) in subsection (b), deleting ‘‘(other than a 

21 chemical weapon (as that term is defined in section 

22 229F))’’. 

23 (c) EXPANSION OF CATEGORIES OF RESTRICTED

24 PERSONS SUBJECT TO PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO SE-
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1 LECT AGENTS.—Section 175b(d)(2) of title 18, United 

2 States Code, is amended—

3 (1) in subparagraph (G) by—

4 (A) inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(G)’’; 

5 (B) inserting ‘‘, or (ii) acts for or on behalf 

6 of, or operates subject to the direction or con7 trol of, a government or official of a country de8 scribed in this subparagraph’’ after ‘‘ter9 rorism’’; and 

10 (C) striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon. 

11 (2) in subparagraph (H) by striking the period 

12 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

13 (3) by adding the following new subparagraph 

14 to the end thereof: 

15 ‘‘(I) is a member of, acts for or on behalf 

16 of, or operates subject to the direction or con17 trol of, a terrorist organization as defined in 

18 section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi) of the Immigration and 

19 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(vi)).’’. 

20 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO REGULATIONS.—

21 (1) Section 175b(a)(1) of title 18, United 

22 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘as a select 

23 agent in Appendix A’’ and all that follows and in24 serting the following: ‘‘as a non-overlap or overlap 

25 select biological agent or toxin in sections 73.4 and 
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1 73.5 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, pursu2 ant to section 351A of the Public Health Service 

3 Act, and is not excluded under sections 73.4 and 

4 73.5 or exempted under section 73.6 of title 42, 

5 Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

6 (2) The amendment made by paragraph (1) 

7 shall take effect at the same time that sections 73.4, 

8 73.5, and 73.6 of title 42, Code of Federal Regula9 tions, become effective. 

10 SEC. 3. PARTICIPATION IN NUCLEAR AND WEAPONS OF 

11 MASS DESTRUCTION THREATS TO THE 

12 UNITED STATES. 

13 (a) Section 57(b) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 

14 (42 U.S.C. 2077(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘in the pro15 duction of any special nuclear material’’ and inserting ‘‘or 

16 participate in the development or production of any special 

17 nuclear material or atomic weapon’’. 

18 (b) Title 18, United States Code, is amended—

19 (1) in the chapter analysis for chapter 39, by 

20 inserting after the item relating to section 831 the 

21 following:

‘‘832. Participation in nuclear threats to the United States.’’;

22 (2) by inserting after section 831 the following: 
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1 ‘‘§ 832. Participation in nuclear and weapons of mass 

2 destruction threats to the United States 

3 ‘‘(a) Whoever, within the United States or subject to 

4 the jurisdiction of the United States, willfully participates 

5 in or provides material support or resources (as defined 

6 in section 2339A) to a nuclear weapons program or other 

7 weapons of mass destruction program of a foreign ter8 rorist power, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be 

9 imprisoned for not more than 20 years. 

10 ‘‘(b) There is extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction 

11 over an offense under this section. 

12 ‘‘(c) As used in this section—

13 ‘‘(1) ‘nuclear weapons program’ means a pro14 gram or plan for the development, acquisition, or 

15 production of any nuclear weapon or weapons; 

16 ‘‘(2) ‘weapons of mass destruction program’ 

17 means a program or plan for the development, ac18 quisition, or production of any weapon or weapons 

19 of mass destruction (as defined in section 2332a(c)); 

20 ‘‘(3) ‘foreign terrorist power’ means a terrorist 

21 organization designated under section 219 of the 

22 Immigration and Nationality Act, or a state sponsor 

23 of terrorism designated under section 6(j) of the Ex24 port Administration Act of 1979 or section 620A of 

25 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; and 
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1 ‘‘(4) ‘nuclear weapon’ means any weapon that 

2 contains or uses nuclear material as defined in sec3 tion 831(f)(1).’’; and 

4 (3) in section 2332b(g)(5)(B)(i), by inserting 

5 after ‘‘nuclear materials),’’ the following: ‘‘832 (re6 lating to participation in nuclear and weapons of 

7 mass destruction threats to the United States)’’.

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