II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1464 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish the transfer of any 

nuclear weapon, device, material, or technology to terrorists as a crime 

against humanity. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 16, 2009 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish the 

transfer of any nuclear weapon, device, material, or technology to terrorists as a crime against humanity. 

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 Trafficking 

5 Prevention Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) A single, simple nuclear weapon detonated 

9 in the heart of an American city would kill 100,000 


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1 people instantly, and seriously injure tens of thou2 sands more. A significant portion of the city would 

3 probably become permanently uninhabitable, with lit4 tle chance of a successful cleanup. 

5 (2) Making such a weapon would not be dif6 ficult, by modern technological standards, given 25 

7 to 35 pounds of highly enriched uranium. 

8 (3) Since the development of the first nuclear 

9 weapons, countries around the world have recognized 

10 the unique risk that nuclear weapons pose to peace 

11 and security. 

12 (4) The first treaty limiting the use of nuclear 

13 technology was the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 

14 1963, which banned the testing of nuclear weapons 

15 in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater. 

16 Since that time, many treaties to limit the use and 

17 proliferation of nuclear weapons have been signed. 

18 (5) Perhaps the most important of these trea19 ties is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nu20 clear Weapons, which restricts almost all of the 188 

21 nations that are signatories from developing nuclear 

22 weapons. As part of their obligation under the Trea23 ty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 

24 163 countries have reached safeguards agreements 

25 with the International Atomic Energy Agency that 


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1 require a comprehensive system for accounting for 

2 nuclear materials and intrusive inspections of their 

3 nuclear facilities. 

4 (6) These treaties and safeguards agreements 

5 reflect the worldwide understanding that nuclear 

6 materials in the wrong hands pose a direct threat to 

7 peace and prosperity. 

8 (7) Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, 

9 article 39 states the following: ‘‘The Security Coun10 cil shall determine the existence of any threat to the 

11 peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and 

12 shall make recommendations, or decide what meas13 ures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 

14 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace 

15 and security.’’. 

16 (8) In 2004, the United Nations Security Coun17 cil unanimously adopted Resolution 1540, binding on 

18 all members of the United Nations, which stated in 

19 part the following: 

20 ‘‘The Security Council, . . . Acting under Chapter 

21 VII of the Charter of the United Nations, . . . 

22 ‘‘2. Decides also that all States, in accord23 ance with their national procedures, shall adopt 

24 and enforce appropriate effective laws which 

25 prohibit any non-State actor to manufacture, 


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1 acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer or 

2 use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and 

3 their means of delivery, in particular for ter4 rorist purposes, as well as attempts to engage 

5 in any of the foregoing activities, participate in 

6 them as an accomplice, assist or finance them; 

7 ‘‘3. Decides also that all States shall take 

8 and enforce effective measures to establish do9 mestic controls to prevent the proliferation of 

10 nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons and 

11 their means of delivery, including by estab12 lishing appropriate controls over related mate13 rials and to this end shall: . . . 

14 ‘‘(d) Establish, develop, review and 

15 maintain appropriate effective national ex16 port and trans-shipment controls over such 

17 items, including appropriate laws and reg18 ulations to control export, transit, trans19 shipment and re-export and controls on 

20 providing funds and services related to 

21 such export and trans-shipment such as fi22 nancing, and transporting that would con23 tribute to proliferation, as well as estab24 lishing end-user controls; and establishing 

25 and enforcing appropriate criminal or civil 


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1 penalties for violations of such export con2 trol laws and regulations;’’. 

3 (9) Resolution 1540 reflects the general under4 standing of the members of the United Nations that 

5 the illicit transfer of nuclear weapons and related 

6 materials is a ‘‘threat to the peace’’. 

7 (10) The international community has dem8 onstrated a growing appreciation of the scope and 

9 urgency of the threat posed by nuclear terrorism. At 

10 the G–8 Summit held in July 2009 in L’Aquila, 

11 Italy, the heads of state assembled agreed that ‘‘The 

12 threat of terrorists acquiring WMDs continues to be 

13 cause for deep concern’’ and ‘‘We are determined to 

14 continue working together to ensure that terrorists 

15 never have access to those weapons and related ma16 terials.’’. 

17 (11) The President has announced his intention 

18 to host a Global Nuclear Security Summit in March 

19 2010 in part to ‘‘deter, detect, and disrupt attempts 

20 at nuclear terrorism’’, declaring that the inter21 national community ‘‘should not wait for an act of 

22 nuclear terrorism before working together to collec23 tively improve our nuclear security culture, share 

24 our best practices and raise our standards for nu25 clear security.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY REGARDING CRIMES 

2 AGAINST HUMANITY. 

3 It is the policy of the United States that the transfer 

4 of a nuclear weapon or device or of nuclear material or 

5 technology with reason to believe that the weapon or de6 vice, or a weapon or device made using the transferred 

7 material or technology, may be used for terrorist purposes, 

8 is a crime against humanity and that individuals are liable 

9 for such acts under customary international criminal law. 

10 SEC. 4. CRIMINAL OFFENSE. 

11 (a) OFFENSE.—Chapter 113B of title 18, United 

12 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing new section: 

14 ‘‘§ 2332i. Transfer of nuclear weapons, devices, mate15 rial, or technology 

16 ‘‘(a) UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

18 person to knowingly transfer to any organization or 

19 person described in paragraph (2)— 

20 ‘‘(A) any weapon that is designed or in21 tended to release radiation or radioactivity at a 

22 level dangerous to human life, or that uses a 

23 nuclear reaction in order to create an explosion; 

24 ‘‘(B) any device or other object that is ca25 pable of endangering, and is designed or inVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:53 Jul 17, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1464.IS S1464

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1 tended to endanger, human life through the re2 lease of radiation or radioactivity; 

3 ‘‘(C) any nuclear material or nuclear by4 product material; or 

5 ‘‘(D) any sensitive nuclear technology. 

6 ‘‘(2) ORGANIZATIONS AND PERSONS DE7 SCRIBED.—The organizations and persons referred 

8 to in paragraph (1) are— 

9 ‘‘(A) any organization designated by the 

10 Secretary of State under section 219(a)(1) of 

11 the Immigration and Nationality Act as a for12 eign terrorist organization; and 

13 ‘‘(B) any other person, if the transferor 

14 knew or had reasonable grounds to believe that 

15 the weapon, device, material, or technology 

16 transferred would be used in preparation for, or 

17 in carrying out, a Federal crime of terrorism or 

18 an act of international terrorism, whether or 

19 not such a crime or act occurs. 

20 ‘‘(3) EFFECT ON INTERNATIONAL LAW.—Noth21 ing in this section shall be construed to apply with 

22 respect to activities undertaken by the military 

23 forces of a country in the exercise of their official 

24 duties. 


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1 ‘‘(b) JURISDICTION.—Conduct prohibited by sub2 section (a) is within the jurisdiction of the United States 

3 if— 

4 ‘‘(1) the offense occurs in or affects interstate 

5 or foreign commerce; 

6 ‘‘(2) the offense occurs outside of the United 

7 States and is committed by a national of the United 

8 States; 

9 ‘‘(3) the offense occurs outside of the United 

10 States and the recipient of the weapon, device, mate11 rial, or technology that is the subject of the offense 

12 has at any time conspired, attempted, or threatened 

13 to commit a Federal crime of terrorism or an act of 

14 international terrorism against the United States 

15 Government, any property of the United States, a 

16 United States national, or an instrumentality of the 

17 interstate or foreign commerce of the United States; 

18 ‘‘(4) a financial institution or other person 

19 doing business in the United States, or any other fi20 nancial institution or other person that is under the 

21 control of an entity organized under the laws of the 

22 United States, provides funds or any form of financ23 ing in furtherance of the offense; or 

24 ‘‘(5) an offender aids or abets any person over 

25 whom jurisdiction exists under this subsection in 


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1 committing an offense under this section or con2 spires with any person over whom jurisdiction exists 

3 under this subsection to commit an offense under 

4 this section. 

5 ‘‘(c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person who violates, or 

7 attempts or conspires to violate, subsection (a) shall 

8 be fined not more than $2,000,000 and imprisoned 

9 for a term of not less than 25 years or for life. 

10 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.—If the death 

11 of another results from the use of the weapon, de12 vice, material, or technology that is the subject of 

13 the person’s violation of subsection (a), the person 

14 shall be fined not more than $2,000,000 and pun15 ished by imprisonment for life. 

16 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

17 ‘‘(1) an institution or person is under the ‘con18 trol’ of another entity if that other entity owns a 

19 majority of the equity interest in that institution or 

20 person; 

21 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Federal crime of terrorism’ has 

22 the meaning given that term in section 2332b(g)(5); 

23 ‘‘(3) the term ‘international terrorism’ has the 

24 meaning given that term in section 2331(1); 


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1 ‘‘(4) the terms ‘nuclear material’ and ‘nuclear 

2 byproduct material’ have the meanings given those 

3 terms in section 831(f) of this title; and 

4 ‘‘(5)(A) the term ‘sensitive nuclear technology’ 

5 means any information (including information incor6 porated in a production facility or utilization facility 

7 or important component part thereof) which is not 

8 available to the public and which is important to the 

9 design, construction, fabrication, operation or main10 tenance of a uranium enrichment or nuclear fuel re11 processing facility or a facility for the production of 

12 heavy water, or detonators, charges, or other compo13 nents necessary to ignite or facilitate the detonation 

14 of a weapon, device, or object described in subpara15 graph (A) or (B) of subsection (a)(1); 

16 ‘‘(B) the terms ‘production facility’ and ‘utiliza17 tion facility’ have the meanings given those terms in 

18 section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 

19 U.S.C. 2014).’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec21 tions for chapter 113B of title 18, United States Code, 

22 is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘2332i. Transfer of nuclear weapons, devices, material, or technology.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND BILATERAL 

2 AND MULTILATERAL FORA. 

3 (a) UNITED NATIONS.—The Secretary of State shall 

4 direct the Permanent Representative of the United States 

5 to the United Nations to seek the adoption in the General 

6 Assembly of a resolution recognizing that the transfer of 

7 a nuclear weapon or device, material, or technology, with 

8 reason to believe that the weapon or device, or a weapon 

9 or device made using the transferred material or tech10 nology, may be used for terrorist purposes, is a crime 

11 against humanity. 

12 (b) BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL FORA.—The 

13 Secretary of State shall direct the representatives of the 

14 United States to bilateral and multilateral fora to urge 

15 their foreign counterparts to seek the enactment in their 

16 home countries of national laws recognizing that the 

17 transfer of a nuclear weapon or device, material, or tech18 nology, with reason to believe that the weapon or device, 

19 or a weapon or device made using the transferred material 

20 or technology, may be used for terrorist purposes, is a 

21 crime against humanity. 

Æ 


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