II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 70

To require the establishment of a Federal task force on Regional Threats

to International Security.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To require the establishment of a Federal task force on

Regional Threats to International Security.

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 ‘‘Prevention and Deter5 rence of International Conflict Act of 1999 (PREDICT)’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) On August 24, 1997, the Chairman of the

9 Joint Chiefs of Staff assured Congress in writing

10 that the acquisition of an intercontinental ballistic
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1 missile capability by a rogue nation without the de2 tection of the United States intelligence community

3 would be an ‘‘unlikely event’’.

4 (2) The United States intelligence community

5 did not detect the August 31, 1998 launching of an

6 intercontinental multistage rocket by the Govern7 ment of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.

8 (3) On May 11, 1998 and May 13, 1998, the

9 Government of India broke a 24-year voluntary mor10 atorium by conducting 5 underground nuclear tests.

11 (4) The Secretary of Defense predicted there12 after that these tests by the Government of India

13 could induce other nations to obtain nuclear weap14 ons technologies.

15 (5) On May 28, 1998, the Government of Paki16 stan announced that for the first time, it had con17 ducted 5 underground nuclear tests and acknowl18 edged ongoing efforts to place nuclear warheads on

19 missiles capable of striking any target in India.

20 (6) The Director of Central Intelligence has ac21 cepted the June 2, 1998, findings of an independent

22 investigation revealing that the Central Intelligence

23 Agency lacked adequate analytical capabilities to de24 tect the explosions in India despite satellite-gen25 erated evidence to the contrary and repeated dec-
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1 larations by representatives of the Government of

2 India of an intent to improve India’s nuclear arse3 nal.

4 (7) Written assessments by the United States

5 Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency con6 flicted on the issue of whether the May 10, 1996

7 transmission to the Government of China of a pri8 vate industry report exploring the potential causes of

9 an earlier rocket crash contained information that

10 may advance the capabilities of China to launch mis11 siles equipped with nuclear warheads.

12 (8) The President did not receive or review the

13 Air Force assessment prior to his February 18,

14 1998, approval of a license for the export of a com15 mercial satellite to China.

16 (9) A March 11, 1998, report by the National

17 Air Intelligence Center concluded that Chinese stra18 tegic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads pose

19 a threat to the United States.

20 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION OF THE TASK

21 FORCE.

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after

23 the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall es24 tablish the Task Force on Regional Threats to Inter-
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1 national Security (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Task

2 Force’’).

3 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Task Force shall consist

4 of—

5 (1) one official of the Department of State, who

6 shall be appointed by the Secretary of State;

7 (2) one official of the Department of Defense,

8 who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Defense;

9 (3) one official of the Department of Com10 merce, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of

11 Commerce;

12 (4) one official each of any appropriate United

13 States agency (as defined in section 551(1) of title

14 5, United States Code) designated by the President,

15 who shall be appointed by the head of the agency;

16 and

17 (5) one official each of any appropriate agency,

18 entity, or component of the intelligence community

19 (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act

20 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a)) designated by the Presi21 dent, who shall be appointed by the agency, entity,

22 or component, as the case may be.

23 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE TASK FORCE.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Under the direction of the Presi25 dent, the Task Force shall develop and execute plans, in
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1 cooperation with foreign allied governments when appro2 priate, for—

3 (1) the active mediation of the United States to

4 foster negotiations between or among foreign govern5 ments engaged in civil, ethnic, or geographic con6 flicts that increase the risk of the acquisition, test7 ing, or the deployment of weapons of mass destruc8 tion;

9 (2) trade, economic reform, and investment pro10 grams of the United States to promote the market11 based development of the countries described in

12 paragraph (1) to reduce incentives for the acquisi13 tion or use of such weapons; and

14 (3) a revised and integrated intelligence net15 work that gathers, analyzes, and transmits all vital

16 data to the President in advance of policy decisions

17 related to such weapons.

18 (b) REPORTS.—Beginning 6 months after the date

19 of enactment of this Act, and every 6 months thereafter,

20 the Task Force shall submit a report to Congress on the

21 progress made during the preceding 6 months in carrying

22 out its responsibilities pursuant to paragraphs (1), (2),

23 and (3) of subsection (a).
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1 SEC. 5. TERMINATION OF TASK FORCE AUTHORITY.

2 The Task Force shall terminate on October 1, 2001.

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