I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3730
To take measures to protect the security of the United States from
proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 27, 1996
Mr. SPRATT (for himself and Mr. MCCOLLUM) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on National Security, and in addi-
tion to the Committees on International Relations, and the Judiciary, 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 com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To take measures to protect the security of the United States
from proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction.
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 ‘‘Defense Against Weap-
ons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
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(1) Weapons of mass destruction and related
materials and technologies are increasingly available
from worldwide sources. Technical information relat-
ing to such weapons is readily available on the
Internet, and raw materials for chemical, biological,
and radiological weapons are widely available for le-
gitimate commercial purposes.
(2) The former Soviet Union produced and
maintained a vast array of nuclear, biological, and
chemical weapons of mass destruction.
(3) Many of the states of the former Soviet
Union retain the facilities, materials, and tech-
nologies capable of producing additional quantities
of weapons of mass destruction.
(4) The disintegration of the former Soviet
Union was accompanied by disruptions of command
and control systems, deficiencies in accountability
for weapons, weapons-related materials and tech-
nologies, economic hardships, and significant gaps in
border control among the states of the former Soviet
Union. The problems of organized crime and corrup-
tion in the states of the former Soviet Union in-
crease the potential for proliferation of nuclear, radi-
ological, biological, and chemical weapons and relat-
ed materials.
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(5) The conditions described in paragraph (4)
have substantially increased the ability of potentially
hostile nations, terrorist groups, and individuals to
acquire weapons of mass destruction and related
materials and technologies from within the states of
the former Soviet Union and from unemployed sci-
entists who worked on those programs.
(6) As a result of such conditions, the capability
of potentially hostile nations and terrorist groups to
acquire nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical
weapons is greater than any time in history.
(7) The President has identified North Korea,
Iraq, Iran, and Libya as hostile states which already
possess some weapons of mass destruction and are
developing others.
(8) The acquisition or the development and use
of weapons of mass destruction is well within the ca-
pability of many extremist and terrorist movements,
acting independently or as proxies for foreign states.
(9) Foreign states can transfer weapons to or
otherwise aid extremist and terrorist movements in-
directly and with plausible deniability.
(10) Terrorist groups have already conducted
chemical attacks against civilian targets in the Unit-
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ed States and Japan, and a radiological attack in
Russia.
(11) The potential for the national security of
the United States to be threatened by nuclear, radio-
logical, chemical, or biological terrorism must be
taken as seriously as the risk of an attack by long-
range ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons.
(12) There is a significant and growing threat
of attack by weapons of mass destruction on targets
that are not military targets in the usual sense of
the term.
(13) Concomitantly, the threat posed to the citi-
zens of the United States by nuclear, radiological,
biological, and chemical weapons delivered by uncon-
ventional means is significant and growing.
(14) Mass terror may result from terrorist inci-
dents involving nuclear, radiological, biological, or
chemical materials, even if such materials are not
configured as military weapons.
(15) Facilities required for production of radio-
logical, biological, and chemical weapons are much
smaller and harder to detect than nuclear weapons
facilities, and biological, and chemical weapons can
be deployed by alternative delivery means that are
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much harder to detect than long-range ballistic mis-
siles.
(16) Such delivery systems have no assignment
of responsibility, unlike ballistic missiles, for which
a launch location would be unambiguously known.
(17) Covert or unconventional means of delivery
of nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical
weapons, which might be preferable to foreign states
and nonstate organizations, include cargo ships, pas-
senger aircraft, commercial and private vehicles and
vessels, and commercial cargo shipments routed
through multiple destinations.
(18) Traditional arms control efforts assume
large state efforts with detectable manufacturing
programs and weapons production programs, but are
ineffective in monitoring and controlling smaller,
though potentially more dangerous, unconventional
proliferation efforts.
(19) Conventional counterproliferation efforts
would do little to detect or prevent the rapid devel-
opment of a capability to suddenly manufacture sev-
eral hundred chemical or biological weapons with
nothing but commercial supplies and equipment.
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(20) The United States lacks adequate planning
and countermeasures to address the threat of nu-
clear, radiological, biological, and chemical terrorism.
(21) The Department of Energy has established
a Nuclear Emergency Response Team which is avail-
able in case of nuclear or radiological emergencies,
but no comparable units exist to deal with emer-
gencies involving biological, or chemical weapons or
related materials.
(22) State and local emergency response per-
sonnel are not adequately prepared or trained for in-
cidents involving nuclear, radiological, biological, or
chemical materials.
(23) Exercises of the Federal, State, and local
response to nuclear, radiological, biological, or chem-
ical terrorism have revealed serious deficiencies in
preparedness and severe problems of coordination.
(24) The development of, and allocation of re-
sponsibilities for, effective countermeasures to nu-
clear, radiological, biological, or chemical terrorism
in the United States requires well-coordinated par-
ticipation of many Federal agencies, and careful
planning by the Federal Government and State and
local governments.
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(25) Training and exercises can significantly
improve the preparedness of State and local emer-
gency response personnel for emergencies involving
nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical weapons
or related materials.
(26) Sharing of the expertise and capabilities of
the Department of Defense, which traditionally has
provided assistance to Federal, State, and local offi-
cials in neutralizing, dismantling, and disposing of
explosive ordnance, as well as radiological, biological,
and chemical materials, can be a vital contribution
to the development and deployment of counter-
measures against nuclear, biological, and chemical
weapons of mass destruction.
(27) The United States lacks effective policy co-
ordination regarding the threat posed by the pro-
liferation of weapons of mass destruction.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘weapon of mass destruction’’
means any weapon or device that is intended, or has
the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury
to a significant number of people through the re-
lease, dissemination, or impact of—
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(A) toxic or poisonous chemicals or their
precursors;
(B) a disease organism; or
(C) radiation or radioactivity.
(2) The term ‘‘independent states of the former
Soviet Union’’ has the meaning given the term in
section 3 of the FREEDOM Support Act (22 U.S.C.
5801).
(3) The term ‘‘highly enriched uranium’’ means
uranium enriched to 20 percent or more in the iso-
tope U–235.
TITLE I—DOMESTIC
PREPAREDNESS
SEC. 101. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
(a) PROGRAM REQUIRED.—(1) The Secretary of De-
fense shall carry out a program to provide civilian person-
nel of Federal, State, and local agencies with training and
expert advice regarding emergency responses to a use or
threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction or related
materials.
(2) The President may designate the head of an agen-
cy other than the Department of Defense to assume the
responsibility for carrying out the program on or after Oc-
tober 1, 1999, and relieve the Secretary of Defense of that
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responsibility upon the assumption of the responsibility by
the designated official.
(3) Hereafter in this section, the official responsible
for carrying out the program is referred to as the ‘‘lead
official’’.
(b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the program,
the lead official shall coordinate with each of the following
officials who is not serving as the lead official:
(1) The Director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
(2) The Secretary of Energy.
(3) The Secretary of Defense.
(4) The heads of any other Federal, State, and
local government agencies that have an expertise or
responsibilities relevant to emergency responses de-
scribed in subsection (a)(1).
(c) ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS.—The civilian personnel
eligible to receive assistance under the program are civil-
ian personnel of Federal, State, and local agencies who
have emergency preparedness responsibilities.
(d) INVOLVEMENT
OF
OTHER
FEDERAL
AGEN-
CIES.—(1) The lead official may use personnel and capa-
bilities of Federal agencies outside the agency of the lead
official to provide training and expert advice under the
program.
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(2)(A) Personnel used under paragraph (1) shall be
personnel who have special skills relevant to the particular
assistance that the personnel are to provide.
(B) Capabilities used under paragraph (1) shall be
capabilities that are especially relevant to the particular
assistance for which the capabilities are used.
(e) AVAILABLE ASSISTANCE.—Assistance available
under this program shall include the following:
(1) Training in the use, operation, and mainte-
nance of equipment for—
(A) detecting a chemical or biological agent
or nuclear radiation;
(B) monitoring the presence of such an
agent or radiation;
(C) protecting emergency personnel and
the public; and
(D) decontamination.
(2) Establishment of a designated telephonic
link (commonly referred to as a ‘‘hot line’’) to a des-
ignated source of relevant data and expert advice for
the use of State or local officials responding to emer-
gencies involving a weapon of mass destruction or
related materials.
(3) Use of the National Guard and other re-
serve components for purposes authorized under this
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section that are specified by the lead official (with
the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense if the
Secretary is not the lead official).
(4) Loan of appropriate equipment.
(f) LIMITATIONS ON DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AS-
SISTANCE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.—Assist-
ance provided by the Department of Defense to law en-
forcement agencies under this section shall be provided
under the authority of, and subject to the restrictions pro-
vided in, chapter 18 of title 10, United States Code.
(g) ADMINISTRATION OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of Defense shall designate
an official within the Department of Defense to serve as
the executive agent of the Secretary for the coordination
of the provision of Department of Defense assistance
under this section.
(h) FUNDING.—(1) Of the total amount authorized
to be appropriated for the Department of Defense for op-
eration 
and 
maintenance 
for 
fiscal 
year 
1997,
$35,000,000 is available for the program required under
this section.
(2) Of the amount available for the program pursu-
ant to paragraph (1), $10,500,000 is available for use by
the Secretary of Defense to assist the Surgeon General
of the United States in the establishment of metropolitan
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emergency medical response teams (commonly referred to
as ‘‘Metropolitan Medical Strike Force Teams’’) to provide
medical services that are necessary or potentially nec-
essary by reason of a use or threatened use of a weapon
of mass destruction.
(3) The amount available for the program under
paragraph (1) is in addition to any other amount author-
ized to be appropriated for the program under any other
provision of law.
SEC. 102. NUCLEAR, CHEMICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL EMER-
GENCY RESPONSE.
(a) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—The Secretary of
Defense shall designate an official within the Department
of Defense as the executive agent for—
(1) the coordination of Department of Defense
assistance to Federal, State, and local officials in re-
sponding to threats involving biological or chemical
weapons or related materials or technologies, includ-
ing assistance in identifying, neutralizing, disman-
tling, and disposing of biological and chemical weap-
ons and related materials and technologies; and
(2) the coordination of Department of Defense
assistance to the Department of Energy in carrying
out that department’s responsibilities under sub-
section (b).
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(b) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.—The Secretary of
Energy shall designate an official within the Department
of Energy as the executive agent for—
(1) the coordination of Department of Energy
assistance to Federal, State, and local officials in re-
sponding to threats involving nuclear weapons or re-
lated materials or technologies, including assistance
in identifying, neutralizing, dismantling, and dispos-
ing of nuclear weapons and related materials and
technologies; and
(2) the coordination of Department of Energy
assistance to the Department of Defense in carrying
out that department’s responsibilities under sub-
section (a).
(c) FUNDING.—(1)(A) Of the total amount author-
ized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense for
operation and maintenance for fiscal year 1997,
$15,000,000 is available for providing assistance described
in subsection (a).
(B) The amount available under subparagraph (A)
for providing assistance described in subsection (a) is in
addition to any other amount authorized to be appro-
priated by any other provision of law for that purpose.
(2)(A) Of the total amount authorized to be appro-
priated for national defense programs of the Department
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of Energy for fiscal year 1997, $15,000,000 is available
for providing assistance described in subsection (b).
(B) The amount available under subparagraph (A)
for providing assistance is in addition to any other amount
authorized to be appropriated under any other provision
of law for that purpose.
SEC. 103. MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO CIVILIAN LAW EN-
FORCEMENT OFFICIALS IN EMERGENCY SIT-
UATIONS INVOLVING BIOLOGICAL OR CHEMI-
CAL WEAPONS.
(a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—(1) Chapter 18 of
title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
‘‘§ 382. Emergency situations involving chemical or
biological weapons of mass destruction
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— The Secretary of Defense, upon
the request of the Attorney General, may provide assist-
ance in support of Department of Justice activities relat-
ing to the enforcement of section 175 or 2332c of title
18 during an emergency situation involving a biological
or chemical weapon of mass destruction. Department of
Defense resources, including personnel of the Department
of Defense, may be used to provide such assistance if—
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‘‘(1) the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney
General jointly determine that an emergency situa-
tion exists; and
‘‘(2) the Secretary of Defense determines that
the provision of such assistance will not adversely af-
fect the military preparedness of the United States.
‘‘(b) EMERGENCY SITUATIONS COVERED.—In this
section, the term ‘emergency situation involving a biologi-
cal or chemical weapon of mass destruction’ means a cir-
cumstance involving a biological or chemical weapon of
mass destruction—
‘‘(1) that poses a serious threat to the interests
of the United States; and
‘‘(2) in which—
‘‘(A) civilian expertise and capabilities are
not readily available to provide the required as-
sistance to counter the threat immediately
posed by the weapon involved;
‘‘(B) special capabilities and expertise of
the Department of Defense are necessary and
critical to counter the threat posed by the weap-
on involved; and
‘‘(C) enforcement of section 175 or 2332c
of title 18 would be seriously impaired if the
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Department of Defense assistance were not pro-
vided.
‘‘(c) FORMS
OF ASSISTANCE.—The assistance re-
ferred to in subsection (a) includes the operation of equip-
ment (including equipment made available under section
372 of this title) to monitor, contain, disable, or dispose
of the weapon involved or elements of the weapon.
‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—(1) The Secretary of Defense
and the Attorney General shall jointly issue regulations
concerning the types of assistance that may be provided
under this section. Such regulations shall also describe the
actions that Department of Defense personnel may take
in circumstances incident to the provision of assistance
under this section.
‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the
regulations may not authorize the following actions:
‘‘(i) Arrest.
‘‘(ii) Any direct participation in conducting a
search for or seizure of evidence related to a viola-
tion of section 175 or 2332c of title 18.
‘‘(iii) Any direct participation in the collection
of intelligence for law enforcement purposes.
‘‘(B) The regulations may authorize an action de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) to be taken under the follow-
ing conditions:
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‘‘(i) The action is considered necessary for the
immediate protection of human life, and civilian law
enforcement officials are not capable of taking the
action.
‘‘(ii) The action is otherwise authorized under
subsection (c) or under otherwise applicable law.
‘‘(e) REIMBURSEMENTS.—The Secretary of Defense
shall require reimbursement as a condition for providing
assistance under this section to the extent required under
section 377 of this title.
‘‘(f) DELEGATIONS OF AUTHORITY.—(1) Except to
the extent otherwise provided by the Secretary of Defense,
the Deputy Secretary of Defense may exercise the author-
ity of the Secretary of Defense under this section. The
Secretary of Defense may delegate the Secretary’s author-
ity under this section only to an Under Secretary of De-
fense or an Assistant Secretary of Defense and only if the
Under Secretary or Assistant Secretary to whom delegated
has been designated by the Secretary to act for, and to
exercise the general powers of, the Secretary.
‘‘(2) Except to the extent otherwise provided by the
Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General may exer-
cise the authority of the Attorney General under this sec-
tion. The Attorney General may delegate that authority
only to the Associate Attorney General or an Assistant At-