Title 50War and National DefenseRelease 119-73

§2314 Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives response team

Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 40— - DEFENSE AGAINST WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - DOMESTIC PREPAREDNESS › § 2314

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must create and keep at least one domestic terrorism rapid response team. The team will include members of the Armed Forces and Department of Defense employees who can help federal, state, and local officials find, disable, contain, dismantle, and get rid of weapons of mass destruction that are chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosives. The Secretary of Homeland Security must put guidance on how to use and send these teams into the National Response Plan, other federal emergency plans, and certain federal programs. The Secretary of Homeland Security must do this work with the Secretary of Defense and other federal agency heads.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §2314

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Defense shall develop and maintain at least one domestic terrorism rapid response team composed of members of the Armed Forces and employees of the Department of Defense who are capable of aiding Federal, State, and local officials in the detection, neutralization, containment, dismantlement, and disposal of weapons of mass destruction containing chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives.
(b)The Secretary of Homeland Security shall incorporate into the National Response Plan prepared pursuant to section 502(6) 11 See References in Text note below. of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 312(6)), other existing Federal emergency response plans, and programs prepared under section 5196(b) of title 42 guidance on the use and deployment of the rapid response teams established under this section to respond to emergencies involving weapons of mass destruction. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall carry out this subsection in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other Federal agencies involved with the emergency response plans.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 502(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, referred to in subsec. (b), probably should be a reference to section 504(a)(6) of that Act, which is classified to section 314(a)(6) of Title 6, Domestic Security. section 502 of the Act was renumbered section 504 and par. (6) of that section was redesignated subsec. (a)(6) by Pub. L. 109–295, title VI, § 611(8), (12)(B), Oct. 4, 2006, 120 Stat. 1395, 1398.

Amendments

2006—Pub. L. 109–163, § 1033(1), substituted “Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives response team” for “Chemical-biological emergency response team” in section catchline. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–163, § 1033(2), substituted “radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives” for “or related materials”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 109–163, § 1033(3), in heading, substituted “plans” for “plan” and, in text, substituted “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall incorporate into the National Response Plan prepared pursuant to section 312(6) of title 6, other existing Federal emergency response plans, and” for “Not later than December 31, 1997, the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall develop and incorporate into existing Federal emergency response plans and” in first sentence and “Secretary of Homeland Security” for “Director” and “coordination” for “consultation” in second sentence.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 2314

Title 50War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73