TITLE I—NAVAL VESSEL 
TRANSFER 
SECTION 101. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Naval Vessel Transfer 
Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 102. TRANSFER OF NAVAL VESSELS TO CERTAIN FOR-
EIGN RECIPIENTS. 
(a) TRANSFERS BY GRANT.—The President is au-
thorized to transfer the vessels specified in paragraphs 
(1), (3), and (4) of section 501(a) of H.R. 5916 of the 
110th Congress, as passed the House of Representatives 
on May 15, 2008, to the foreign recipients specified in 
paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of such section, respectively, 
on a grant basis under section 516 of the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j). 
(b) GRANTS NOT COUNTED IN ANNUAL TOTAL OF 
TRANSFERRED EXCESS DEFENSE ARTICLES.—The value 
of a vessel transferred to a recipient on a grant basis pur-
suant to authority provided by subsection (a) shall not be 
counted against the aggregate value of excess defense arti-
cles transferred in any fiscal year under section 516 of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j). 
(c) COSTS OF TRANSFERS.—Any expense incurred by 
the United States in connection with a transfer authorized 
by this section shall be charged to the recipient (notwith-
standing section 516(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j(e))). 
(d) REPAIR
AND
REFURBISHMENT
IN
UNITED 
STATES SHIPYARDS.—To the maximum extent prac-
ticable, the President shall require, as a condition of the 
transfer of a vessel under this section, that the recipient 
to which the vessel is transferred have such repair or re-
furbishment of the vessel as is needed, before the vessel 
joins the naval forces of the recipient, performed at a ship-
yard located in the United States, including a United 
States Navy shipyard. 
(e) EXPIRATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority to 
transfer a vessel under this section shall expire at the end 
of the 2-year period beginning on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
TITLE II—UNITED STATES ARMS 
EXPORTS 
SEC. 201. ASSESSMENT OF ISRAEL’S QUALITATIVE MILI-
TARY EDGE OVER MILITARY THREATS. 
(a) ASSESSMENT REQUIRED.—The President shall 
carry out an empirical and qualitative assessment on an 
ongoing basis of the extent to which Israel possesses a 
qualitative military edge over military threats to Israel. 
The assessment required under this subsection shall be
sufficiently robust so as to facilitate comparability of data 
over concurrent years. 
(b) USE OF ASSESSMENT.—The President shall en-
sure that the assessment required under subsection (a) is 
used to inform the review by the United States of applica-
tions to sell defense articles and defense services under 
the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) 
to countries in the Middle East. 
(c) REPORTS.— 
(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than June 30, 
2009, the President shall transmit to the appro-
priate congressional committees a report on the ini-
tial assessment required under subsection (a). 
(2) QUADRENNIAL
REPORT.—Not later than 
four years after the date on which the President 
transmits the initial report under paragraph (1), 
and every four years thereafter, the President shall 
transmit to the appropriate congressional commit-
tees a report on the most recent assessment required 
under subsection (a). 
(d) CERTIFICATION.—Section 36 of the Arms Export 
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(h) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT RELATING TO 
ISRAEL’S QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any certification relating 
to a proposed sale or export of defense articles or 
defense services under this section to any country in 
the Middle East other than Israel shall include a de-
termination that the sale or export of the defense ar-
ticles or defense services will not adversely affect 
Israel’s qualitative military edge over military 
threats to Israel. 
‘‘(2) QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE DEFINED.— 
In this subsection, the term ‘qualitative military 
edge’ means the ability to counter and defeat any 
credible conventional military threat from any indi-
vidual state or possible coalition of states or from 
non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damages 
and casualties, through the use of superior military 
means, possessed in sufficient quantity, including 
weapons, command, control, communication, intel-
ligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities 
that in their technical characteristics are superior in 
capability to those of such other individual or pos-
sible coalition of states or non-state actors.’’. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate. 
(2) QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE.—The term 
‘‘qualitative military edge’’ has the meaning given 
the term in section 36(h) of the Arms Export Con-
trol Act, as added by subsection (d) of this section. 
SEC. 202. IMPLEMENTATION OF MEMORANDUM OF UNDER-
STANDING WITH ISRAEL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount made available for 
fiscal year 2009 for assistance under the program author-
ized by section 23 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 
U.S.C. 2763) (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Foreign Mili-
tary Financing Program’’), the amount specified in sub-
section (b) is authorized to be made available on a grant 
basis for Israel. 
(b) COMPUTATION OF AMOUNT.—The amount re-
ferred to in subsection (a) is the amount equal to— 
(1) the amount specified under the heading 
‘‘Foreign Military Financing Program’’ for Israel for 
fiscal year 2008; plus 
(2) $150,000,000. 
(c) OTHER AUTHORITIES.— 
(1) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR ADVANCED 
WEAPONS SYSTEMS.—To the extent the Government 
of Israel requests the United States to provide as-
sistance for fiscal year 2009 for the procurement of 
advanced weapons systems, amounts authorized to 
be made available for Israel under this section shall, 
as agreed to by Israel and the United States, be 
available for such purposes, of which not less than 
$670,650,000 shall be available for the procurement 
in Israel of defense articles and defense services, in-
cluding research and development. 
(2) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—Amounts au-
thorized to be made available for Israel under this 
section shall be disbursed not later than 30 days 
after the date of the enactment of an Act making 
appropriations for the Department of State, foreign 
operations, and related programs for fiscal year 
2009, or October 31, 2008, whichever occurs later. 
SEC. 203. SECURITY COOPERATION WITH THE REPUBLIC 
OF KOREA. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) Close and continuing defense cooperation 
between the United States and the Republic of 
Korea continues to be in the national security inter-
est of the United States.
(2) The Republic of Korea was designated a 
major non-NATO ally in 1987, the first such des-
ignation. 
(3) The Republic of Korea has been a major 
purchaser of United States defense articles and serv-
ices through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) pro-
gram, totaling $6,900,000,000 in deliveries over the 
last 10 years. 
(4) Purchases of United States defense articles, 
services, and major defense equipment facilitate and 
increase the interoperability of Republic of Korea 
military forces with the United States Armed 
Forces. 
(5) Congress has previously enacted important, 
special defense cooperation arrangements for the Re-
public of Korea, as in the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 
authorize the transfer of items in the War Reserves 
Stockpile for Allies, Korea’’, approved December 30, 
2005 (Public Law 109–159; 119 Stat. 2955), which 
authorized the President, notwithstanding section 
514 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2321h), to transfer to the Republic of Korea 
certain defense items to be included in a war reserve 
stockpile for that country.
(6) Enhanced support for defense cooperation 
with the Republic of Korea is important to the na-
tional security of the United States, including 
through creation of a status in law for the Republic 
of Korea similar to the countries in the North Atlan-
tic Treaty Organization, Japan, Australia, and New 
Zealand, with respect to consideration by Congress 
of foreign military sales to the Republic of Korea. 
(b) SPECIAL FOREIGN MILITARY SALES STATUS FOR 
REPUBLIC OF KOREA.—The Arms Export Control Act (22 
U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) 
in 
sections 
3(d)(2)(B), 
3(d)(3)(A)(i), 
3(d)(5), 21(e)(2)(A), 36(b), 36(c), 36(d)(2)(A), 
62(c)(1), and 63(a)(2), by inserting ‘‘the Republic of 
Korea,’’ before ‘‘or New Zealand’’ each place it ap-
pears; 
(2) in section 3(b)(2), by inserting ‘‘the Govern-
ment of the Republic of Korea,’’ before ‘‘or the Gov-
ernment of New Zealand’’; 
(3) in section 21(h)(1)(A), by inserting ‘‘the 
Republic of Korea,’’ before ‘‘or Israel’’; and 
(4) in section 21(h)(2), by striking ‘‘or to any 
member government of that Organization if that Or-
ganization or member government’’ and inserting ‘‘, 
to any member government of that Organization, or
to the Governments of the Republic of Korea, Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, Japan, or Israel if that Organi-
zation, member government, or the Governments of 
the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, 
Japan, or Israel’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 27, 
2008. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7177 
AN ACT 
To authorize the transfer of naval vessels to certain 
foreign recipients, and for other purposes.