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Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-110

§6126 Advice to President and Congress Regarding Safety, Security, and Reliability of United States Nuclear Weapons Stockpile

Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART VI — ELEMENTS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND OTHER MATTERS › Subpart B — Atomic Energy Defense › CHAPTER 602 — NUCLEAR WEAPONS STOCKPILE MATTERS › SUBCHAPTER I — STOCKPILE STEWARDSHIP AND WEAPONS PRODUCTION › § 6126

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States must keep its nuclear weapons safe, secure, effective, and reliable. While other countries have or seek nuclear arms, the U.S. must keep a credible nuclear deterrent. The stockpile must be sustained by a stewardship program run at the national security labs and weapons production sites. Congress says the U.S. should keep a three-part strategic force able to deter hostile leaders with nuclear weapons, keep enough forces and capability for a strong deterrent, and make sure advice about safety and reliability is scientific and not political. Members of the Nuclear Weapons Council and lab or production directors may give advice to the President, the Defense and Energy Secretaries, or congressional defense committees about the stockpile. No one, including a President’s representative, may punish or stop them from giving their professional views to the President, the National Security Council, or Congress about weapons or the systems that support them. That does not change the interagency budget process. A “representative of the President” means certain Senate‑confirmed Defense or Energy officials, National Security Council and Joint Chiefs members or officials, and Office of Management and Budget officials.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §6126

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Policy.—
(1)It is the policy of the United States—
(A)to maintain a safe, secure, effective, and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile; and
(B)as long as other nations control or actively seek to acquire nuclear weapons, to retain a credible nuclear deterrent.
(2)It is in the security interest of the United States to sustain the United States nuclear weapons stockpile through a program of stockpile stewardship, carried out at the national security laboratories and nuclear weapons production facilities.
(3)It is the sense of Congress that—
(A)the United States should retain a triad of strategic nuclear forces sufficient to deter any future hostile foreign leadership with access to strategic nuclear forces from acting against the vital interests of the United States;
(B)the United States should continue to maintain nuclear forces of sufficient size and capability to implement an effective and robust deterrent strategy; and
(C)the advice of the persons required to provide the President and Congress with assurances of the safety, security, effectiveness, and reliability of the nuclear weapons force should be scientifically based, without regard for politics, and of the highest quality and integrity.
(b)Advice and Opinions Regarding Nuclear Weapons Stockpile.—
In addition to a director of a national security laboratory or a nuclear weapons production facility under section 6124, any member of the Nuclear Weapons Council may also submit to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, or the congressional defense committees advice or opinion regarding the safety, security, effectiveness, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile.
(c)Expression of Individual Views.—
(1)No individual, including a representative of the President, may take any action against, or otherwise constrain, a director of a national security laboratory or a nuclear weapons production facility or a member of the Nuclear Weapons Council from presenting the professional views of the director or member, as the case may be, to the President, the National Security Council, or Congress regarding—
(A)the safety, security, reliability, or credibility of the nuclear weapons stockpile and nuclear forces; or
(B)the status of, and plans for, the capabilities and infrastructure that support and sustain the nuclear weapons stockpile and nuclear forces.
(2)Nothing in paragraph (1)(B) may be construed to affect the interagency budget process.
(d)Representative of the President Defined.—
In this section, the term “representative of the President” means the following:
(1)Any official of the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
(2)Any member or official of the National Security Council.
(3)Any member or official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(4)Any official of the Office of Management and Budget.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 2538 of Title 50, War and National Defense, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(b)(1).

Amendments

2025—Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(d)(2)(B), realigned margins. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(d)(2)(A), struck out pars. (1) to (3) headings which read as follows: “In general”, “Nuclear weapons stockpile”, and “Sense of congress”, respectively. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(d)(2)(A), struck out pars. (1) and (2) headings which read as follows: “In general” and “

Construction

”, respectively.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the advanced scientific computing research program and activities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including the functions of the Secretary of Energy relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, see section 183(1), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6. All national security functions and activities performed immediately before Oct. 5, 1999, by nuclear weapons laboratories and production plants defined in this section, transferred to the Administrator for Nuclear Security of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy, see section 2481 of Title 50, War and National Defense.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 6126

Title 10, Armed Forces

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110