§5604 Determinations Regarding Use of Chemical or Biological Weapons

Summary

When the executive branch gets credible information that a foreign government, on or after October 28, 1991, may have prepared to use or actually used chemical or biological weapons, the President must decide within 60 days whether that government used those weapons in violation of international law or used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own people. To decide, the President must look at all physical and background evidence, reports from victims and witnesses, how available the weapons were, official and unofficial statements, and whether the government will let a United Nations fact‑finding team or other outside investigators in. The President must quickly tell Congress the decision. If the President finds such use, the report must say what sanctions will be applied under the law referenced. The leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or the House Foreign Affairs Committee may ask the President to review whether a particular foreign government, on or after December 4, 1991, used chemical or biological weapons. Within 60 days of that request, the President must give those committee leaders a written report of the executive branch’s information and the same analysis described above.