§2576a Excess personal property: sale or donation for law enforcement activities

Summary

The Defense Secretary can give extra military personal property, including small arms and ammunition, to federal and state agencies if the items are useful for law enforcement work like fighting drugs, terrorism, disaster response, and border security and if the items are extra to the military’s needs. The Defense Secretary must talk with the Attorney General, the Director of National Drug Control Policy, and the Secretary of Homeland Security when making these transfers. Transfers must come from existing DoD stocks, be accepted by the recipient "as is, where is," and cannot use DoD money set aside to buy defense equipment. After transfer, the recipient pays any costs or reimburses them. Each year, with local government approval, the recipient must certify it has public rules for using, supervising, auditing, and evaluating the items. After the assessment required by section 1051(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 is completed, recipients must also certify yearly that they train staff on maintenance, proper use, respect for constitutional rights, and de‑escalation. Transfers can be free to the recipient, and priority is given to requests for counterdrug, counterterrorism, disaster-preparedness, or border-security uses, with the highest priority for disaster vehicles like high-water rescue vehicles. The Defense Secretary may not give bayonets, grenades (except stun or flash‑bang), weaponized tracked combat vehicles, or weaponized drones to tribal, state, or local law enforcement. The Secretary must keep a public website listing transferred controlled property, pending requests, and required reports. Controlled property means items labeled by the DoD with demilitarization codes B, C, D, E, G, or Q.