§496 Consideration of Expansion of Nuclear Forces of Other Countries

Summary

At least 60 days before the President recommends any cuts to U.S. nuclear forces, the President must send a report to the listed congressional committees. For every country with nuclear weapons, the report must include intelligence assessments (high, medium, and low confidence) about how many and what kinds of nuclear weapons they have; their plans to modernize those weapons; their capacity to produce warheads and strategic delivery systems; their nuclear doctrine; and how the proposed U.S. reductions would affect U.S. deterrence and extended deterrence. The Commander of U.S. Strategic Command must also tell those committees whether the proposed cuts would harm the U.S. ability to handle unplanned strategic or geopolitical events or technical problems, or would weaken deterrence or the reassurance given to allies. The report must be unclassified but may have a classified annex. "Appropriate congressional committees" means the congressional defense committees and the House and Senate foreign affairs committees.