Title 50War and National DefenseRelease 119-73

§2353 Comprehensive preparedness program

Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 40— - DEFENSE AGAINST WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - COORDINATION OF POLICY AND COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST PROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION › § 2353

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President must work with the Committee on Nonproliferation to make a complete program to prevent and respond to weapons of mass destruction. The program must include plans in ten areas, such as stopping the spread of WMDs, training and equipping federal, state, and local officials and border agents, sharing information among intelligence and law enforcement, setting up labs to analyze seized nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical items, creating export controls, helping other countries enforce anti‑smuggling laws, building U.S.‑Russia confidence in controls and verifying dismantlement, reducing excess plutonium with options for U.S.–Russia cooperation, and studying a global network to detect and respond to biological attacks. When the President sends the fiscal year 1998 budget to Congress, he must also send a report with the program. The report must spell out the required plans, give cost estimates by agency or department for fiscal year 1998 and the following five fiscal years, be unclassified, and include a classified version at the same time if one exists.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §2353

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(a)The President, acting through the Committee on Nonproliferation established under section 2352 of this title, shall develop a comprehensive program for carrying out this chapter.
(b)The program set forth in the report shall include specific plans as follows:
(1)Plans for countering proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and related materials and technologies.
(2)Plans for training and equipping Federal, State, and local officials for managing a crisis involving a use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction, including the consequences of the use of such a weapon.
(3)Plans for providing for regular sharing of information among intelligence, law enforcement, and customs agencies.
(4)Plans for training and equipping law enforcement units, customs services, and border security personnel to counter the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction and related materials and technologies.
(5)Plans for establishing appropriate centers for analyzing seized nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical weapons, and related materials and technologies.
(6)Plans for establishing in the United States appropriate legal controls and authorities relating to the exporting of nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical weapons, and related materials and technologies.
(7)Plans for encouraging and assisting governments of foreign countries to implement and enforce laws that set forth appropriate penalties for offenses regarding the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction and related materials and technologies.
(8)Plans for building the confidence of the United States and Russia in each other’s controls over United States and Russian nuclear weapons and fissile materials, including plans for verifying the dismantlement of nuclear weapons.
(9)Plans for reducing United States and Russian stockpiles of excess plutonium, reflecting—
(A)consideration of the desirability and feasibility of a United States-Russian agreement governing fissile material disposition and the specific technologies and approaches to be used for disposition of excess plutonium; and
(B)an assessment of the options for United States cooperation with Russia in the disposition of Russian plutonium.
(10)Plans for studying the merits and costs of establishing a global network of means for detecting and responding to terroristic or other criminal use of biological agents against people or other forms of life in the United States or any foreign country.
(c)(1)At the same time that the President submits the budget for fiscal year 1998 to Congress pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, the President shall submit to Congress a report that sets forth the comprehensive program developed under subsection (a).
(2)The report shall include the following:
(A)The specific plans for the program that are required under subsection (b).
(B)Estimates of the funds necessary, by agency or department, for carrying out such plans in fiscal year 1998 and the following five fiscal years.
(3)The report shall be in an unclassified form. If there is a classified version of the report, the President shall submit the classified version at the same time.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original “this title”, meaning title XIV of div. A of Pub. L. 104–201, Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2714, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of title XIV to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2301 of this title and Tables.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 2353

Title 50War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73