Topic: Defense — Alliances
Subject: International affairs
Date: 2008-09-24 00:00:00

Security Assistance Act of 2008 - Title I: Military and Related Assistance: Subtitle A: Funding Authorizations - (Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2009-FY2010 appropriations for the foreign military financing program, including amounts for Israel and Egypt. (Sec. 102) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (Act) to authorize FY2009-FY2010 appropriations for international military education and training. Subtitle B: Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 Amendments and Related Provisions - (Sec. 111) Amends the Act to remove the 1985 delivery date limitation regarding waiver of the requirement that proceeds from the disposal of certain U.S.-supplied defense articles to foreign countries be paid to the United States. (Sec. 112) Extends the President's authority to transfer excess items to the Department of Defense (DOD) War Reserve Stockpile through FY2010. (Sec. 113) Revises law enforcement assistance provisions. (Sec. 114) Requires the President (under current law, the Department of State [Department]) to establish an Internet-accessible, interactive database (under current law, the report is available only in a PDF format) of the unclassified information in the annual U.S. military assistance report. (Sec. 115) Changes the annual due date of the foreign military training report to March 1. (Sec. 116) Revises demining program provisions. Authorizes the Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to dispose of demining equipment on a foreign grant basis. (Sec. 117) Revises specified waiver authorities. (Sec. 118) Prohibits assistance under the Act or the Arms Export Control Act if the duly elected head of a country is deposed by decree or military coup. (Sec. 119) Includes the protection of vulnerable populations within military education and training. Subtitle C: Arms Export Control Act Amendments and Related Provisions - (Sec. 121) Amends the Arms Export Control Act to increase dollar amount thresholds for sales or upgrades of defense articles, design and construction services, and major defense equipment that require advance congressional notice. (Sec. 122) Revises the advance congressional notice requirement regarding comprehensive export authorizations. (Sec. 123) Directs the President to provide Congress with specified information about disposal of existing weapons in conjunction with a proposed sale, export, or transfer of light weapons or small arms listed in category I of the U.S. Munitions List. (Sec. 124) Directs the Secretary of State (Secretary) to report to the appropriate congressional committees regarding a plan to eliminate the civilian risk posed by cluster munitions sold or transferred to other countries that are beyond their design life. (Sec. 125) Authorizes the President to provide cataloging data and services to non-NATO countries on a reciprocal basis. (Sec. 126) Makes Haiti eligible to purchase defense articles and services for its Coast Guard. (Sec. 127) Grants special foreign military sales status to the Republic of Korea. (Sec. 128) Expresses the sense of Congress regarding agreements relating to the sale or transfer of cluster munition or related technology. Title II: Authority to Transfer Naval Vessels - Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2008 - (Sec. 202) Authorizes the President to transfer on a grant basis to: (1) Pakistan, the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class guided missile frigate MCINERNEY; (2) Greece, the OSPREY class minehunter coastal ships OSPREY and ROBIN; (3) Chile, the KAISER class oiler ANDREW J. HIGGINS; and (4) Peru, the NEWPORT class amphibious tank landing ships FRESNO and RACINE. States that: (1) the value of such vessels transferred on a grant basis shall not be counted against the aggregate value of excess defense articles transferred to countries in any fiscal year under the Act; (2) transfer costs shall be charged to the recipient; and (3) to the maximum extent practicable, the country to which a vessel is transferred shall have necessary vessel repair and refurbishment carried out at U.S. shipyards (including U.S. Navy shipyards). Terminates transfer authority two years after enactment of this Act. Title III: Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, and Export Control Assistance - Subtitle A: Funding Authorizations - (Sec. 301) Authorizes FY2009-FY2010 appropriations for nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining, and related assistance. (Sec. 302) Authorizes additional FY2009 appropriations to meet 2008 membership obligations in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Subtitle B: Program Authorizations, Restrictions, and Limitations - (Sec. 311) Amends the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to require that: (1) agreements for nuclear cooperation be accompanied by a report on actions taken with the country involved to develop alternative energy resources; and (2) subsequent arrangements to an agreement be approved by a joint resolution of Congress. (Sec. 312) Amends the Act to direct the Secretary to establish a global program to combat bioterrorism. Subtitle C: Reporting Requirements - (Sec. 321) Amends the Arms Control and Disarmament Act to require the Verification and Compliance Bureau of the Department to provide compliance analysis of other formal commitments (in addition to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements) under such Act. Revises requirements for annual reports on objectives and negotiations and on Chemical Weapons Convention compliance. (Sec. 322) Amends the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978 regarding regular nonvoluntary funding for IAEA safeguard activities. (Sec. 323) Directs the President to report annually to Congress regarding federal nonproliferation efforts. (Sec. 325) Consolidates reporting requirements regarding nuclear and missile proliferation in South Asia. (Sec. 326) Repeals the annual reporting requirement regarding actions to reduce Russia's debt toward nonproliferation programs. (Sec. 327) Directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to carry out three assessments of projects carried out by the Department's Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund. (Sec. 328) Directs the President to report to Congress regarding U.S. objectives and policies concerning the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference. Title IV: Nuclear Safeguards and Supply - Nuclear Safeguards and Supply Act of 2008 - Subtitle A: Nuclear Safeguards and Nuclear Fuel Supply - (Sec. 412) States that it shall be U.S. policy to discourage the development of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities in additional countries, encourage the creation of bilateral and multilateral assurances of nuclear fuel supply, and ensure that all supply mechanisms operate in strict accordance with IAEA safeguards system and do not result in any additional unmet verification burdens for the system. (Sec. 413) Authorizes additional FY2009 appropriations for the refurbishment or possible replacement of the IAEA Safeguards Analytical Laboratory. (Sec. 414) Authorizes the Secretary to pursue a program to: (1) strengthen technical safeguards research and development; (2) increase resources, identify near-term technology goals, formulate a technology roadmap, and improve interagency coordination on safeguards technology; and (3) examine proliferation resistance in design and development of all future nuclear energy systems. (Sec. 415) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program to create a cadre of professionals assigned to promoting, strengthening, and providing technical assistance to the IAEA safeguards system. Subtitle B: Nuclear Fuel Supply - (Sec. 421) Authorizes the President to create bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to provide a reliable supply of nuclear fuel to those countries and groups of countries that adhere to policies to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation and that decide to forgo a national uranium enrichment program and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities. (Sec. 422) Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees respecting the feasibility of establishing an International Nuclear Fuel Authority. (Sec. 423) Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the United States should support a nuclear fuel bank within the IAEA; and (2) a combination of public and private efforts will be necessary to manage the growth of civilian nuclear power in a manner that does not result in undue burdens on the IAEA safeguards system. Title V: Global Pathogen Surveillance: - Global Pathogen Surveillance Act of 2008 - (Sec. 504) Prohibits assistance under this Act to an eligible developing country that does not: (1) permit World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) personnel to investigate infectious disease outbreaks within its borders; and (2) provide pathogen surveillance data to appropriate U.S. and international agencies and organizations. (Sec. 505) Prohibits any participating foreign national from having unsupervised access to specified agents or toxins that may be used in a biological weapon. (Sec. 506) Establishes a public health education and training fellowship program for eligible nationals to pursue: (1) a master of public health degree with a concentration in epidemiology; or (2) advanced public health training in epidemiology. Authorizes program participation of a U.S. citizen under specified conditions. (Sec. 507) Directs the Secretary to provide assistance for specified short training courses in-country (not in the United States) for laboratory technicians and other public health personnel. (Sec. 508) Authorizes the President to furnish assistance to eligible developing countries to purchase and maintain: (1) public health laboratory equipment and supplies; and (2) related communications equipment and information technology. (Sec. 510) Authorizes a federal agency head, upon the request of a U.S. chief of diplomatic mission or an international health organization, and with the Secretary's and the employee's concurrence, to assign to the respective U.S. mission or organization any public health officer or employee of the agency for the purpose of enhancing disease and pathogen surveillance efforts in developing countries. (Sec. 511) Directs CDC and DOD to: (1) increase the number of personnel assigned to their respective laboratories located in eligible developing countries that conduct infectious disease research; and (2) expand the operations of those laboratories. (Sec. 512) Authorizes: (1) the President to provide assistance to enhance the surveillance and reporting capabilities for WHO and existing regional and international health networks, and develop new health networks; and (2) the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish new country or regional foreign epidemiology training programs in eligible developing countries. (Sec. 513) Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriate congressional committees respecting program implementation under this Act. (Sec. 514) Authorizes FY2009-FY2010 appropriations. Title VI: International Space Station Payments - International Space Station Payments Act of 2008 - (Sec. 602) Amends the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act to exempt from the prohibition on extraordinary payments U.S. government payments made between January 1, 2012, and reentry into Earth's atmosphere of the International Space Station (ISS) at its end of life for work or services necessary to meet U.S. obligations under the Agreement Concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station. (Extraordinary payments are, generally, those made for work on the ISS which the Russian government pledged to provide at its expense and those for work on the ISS, or for the purchase of goods or services relating to human space flight, that are not required to be made under the terms of a contract or other agreement that was in effect on January 1, 1999, as the terms were in effect on that date.) Specifies that such exemption shall not permit payments for: (1) cargo services provided by a Progress vehicle; or (2) crew transportation or rescue services provided by a Soyuz vehicle after the U.S. Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle reaches full operational capability, or a U.S. commercial provider of crew transportation and rescue services demonstrates the capability to meet ISS mission requirements.