I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5149 
To prohibit actions to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the United States 
from the Open Skies Treaty. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2019 
Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. BACON, Mr. HASTINGS, and Mr. FORTEN-
BERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To prohibit actions to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the 
United States from the Open Skies Treaty. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open Skies Treaty 
Stability Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Open Skies Treaty is a vital component 
of joint international arms control agreements. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 Nov 27, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5149.IH
H5149
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
(2) The Open Skies Treaty provides signatories 
with the ability to conduct short-notice, unarmed re-
connaissance flights over the territories of other sig-
natories to gather information through aerial imag-
ing on military forces and activities of concern. 
(3) The Open Skies Treaty aims to build con-
fidence among signatories through participation in 
overflights. 
(4) Open Skies Treaty observation missions 
contribute to greater transparency and stability in 
the Euro-Atlantic region, benefitting both the 
United States and United States allies and partners. 
(5) In May 2018, Secretary of Defense Jim 
Mattis affirmed the Open Skies Treaty is an impor-
tant mechanism for engaging with United States al-
lies and partners, and it is in our Nation’s best in-
terest to remain a party to the Open Skies Treaty. 
(6) In December 2018, the United States, along 
with Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ger-
many, and Romania, demonstrated that Open Skies 
Treaty mechanisms can be used during times of cri-
sis. 
(7) Following Russia’s unprovoked attack on 
Ukrainian vessels near the Kerch Strait, the United 
States and United States allies conducted an ‘‘ex-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 Nov 27, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5149.IH
H5149
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON ACTIONS TO SUSPEND, TERMI-
NATE, OR WITHDRAW THE UNITED STATES 
FROM THE OPEN SKIES TREATY. 
The President may not take any action to suspend, 
terminate, or withdraw the United States from the Open 
Skies Treaty unless, not later than 180 days before such 
action is to take effect, the Secretary of Defense and the 
Secretary of State jointly determine and certify to the ap-
propriate congressional committees that— 
(1) Russia is in material breach of its obliga-
tions under the Open Skies Treaty and is not taking 
steps to return to compliance with such obligations, 
and all other state parties to the Open Skies Treaty 
have been consulted with respect to such determina-
tion of the Secretaries; 
(2) withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty 
would be in the best interests of United States na-
tional security and the other state parties to the 
Open Skies Treaty have been consulted with respect 
to such withdrawal; and 
(3) a comprehensive strategy to mitigate 
against reduced military transparency, including po-
tential new multilateral confidence building meas-
ures, has been developed. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 Nov 27, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5149.IH
H5149
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the congressional defense committees 
(as such term is defined in section 101 of title 
10, United States Code); and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 
(2) OPEN SKIES TREATY; TREATY.—The term 
‘‘Open Skies Treaty’’ or ‘‘Treaty’’ means the Treaty 
on Open Skies, done at Helsinki March 24, 1992, 
and entered into force January 1, 2002. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:32 Nov 27, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5149.IH
H5149
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS