§1523 — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must put a section about chemical and biological warfare defense into the yearly report. The report must check how ready the Armed Forces are to operate in a chemical or biological threat, and list steps already taken and planned to improve that readiness. It must also say what the program needs for training, detection, protective gear, medical prevention, and treatment of casualties. The report must give details on things like amounts and capabilities of fielded defense equipment (including individual protective gear); the status of research, development, and acquisition and whether the Department of Defense and industry can meet those needs; how requirements are being coordinated across the services; training and realistic war-game simulations; management and coordination improvements; problems from the past year and recommended fixes that may need Congress help; preparations under Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other treaty-related work; any testing of chemical or biological agents on people (with a full justification, the purposes, descriptions of each agent, and the Secretary’s certification that informed consent was obtained); and how DARPA’s program is coordinated with the overall Defense program and how that coordination is measured.

Title 50, §1523

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Defense shall include in the annual report of the Secretary under section 113(c) of title 10 a report on chemical and biological warfare defense. The report shall assess—

(1)the overall readiness of the Armed Forces to fight in a chemical-biological warfare environment and shall describe steps taken and planned to be taken to improve such readiness; and

(2)requirements for the chemical and biological warfare defense program, including requirements for training, detection, and protective equipment, for medical prophylaxis, and for treatment of casualties resulting from use of chemical or biological weapons.

(b)The report shall include information on the following:

(1)The quantities, characteristics, and capabilities of fielded chemical and biological defense equipment to meet wartime and peacetime requirements for support of the Armed Forces, including individual protective items.

(2)The status of research and development programs, and acquisition programs, for required improvements in chemical and biological defense equipment and medical treatment, including an assessment of the ability of the Department of Defense and the industrial base to meet those requirements.

(3)Measures taken to ensure the integration of requirements for chemical and biological defense equipment and material among the Armed Forces.

(4)The status of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) warfare defense training and readiness among the Armed Forces and measures being taken to include realistic nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare simulations in war games, battle simulations, and training exercises.

(5)Measures taken to improve overall management and coordination of the chemical and biological defense program.

(6)Problems encountered in the chemical and biological warfare defense program during the past year and recommended solutions to those problems for which additional resources or actions by the Congress are required.

(7)A description of the chemical warfare defense preparations that have been and are being undertaken by the Department of Defense to address needs which may arise under article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

(8)A summary of other preparations undertaken by the Department of Defense and the On-Site Inspection Agency to prepare for and to assist in the implementation of the convention, including activities such as training for inspectors, preparation of defense installations for inspections under the convention using the Defense Treaty Inspection Readiness Program, provision of chemical weapons detection equipment, and assistance in the safe transportation, storage, and destruction of chemical weapons in other signatory nations to the convention.

(9)A description of any program involving the testing of biological or chemical agents on human subjects that was carried out by the Department of Defense during the period covered by the report, together with—

(A)a detailed justification for the testing;

(B)a detailed explanation of the purposes of the testing;

(C)a description of each chemical or biological agent tested; and

(D)the Secretary’s certification that informed consent to the testing was obtained from each human subject in advance of the testing on that subject.

(10)A description of the coordination and integration of the program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on basic and applied research and advanced technology development on chemical and biological warfare defense technologies and systems under section 1522(c)(2) of this title with the overall program of the Department of Defense on chemical and biological warfare defense, including—

(A)an assessment of the degree to which the DARPA program is coordinated and integrated with, and supports the objectives and requirements of, the overall program of the Department of Defense; and

(B)the means by which the Department determines the level of such coordination and support.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, and not as part of Pub. L. 91–121, title IV, § 409, Nov. 19, 1969, 83 Stat. 209, which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

2006—Subsec. (b)(10). Pub. L. 109–364 added par. (10). 1997—Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 105–85 added par. (9).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Termination of Reporting RequirementsFor termination, effective Dec. 31, 2021, of provisions of this section requiring submittal of annual report to Congress, see section 1061 of Pub. L. 114–328, set out as a note under section 111 of Title 10, Armed Forces.

§1523 Annual Report on Chemical and Biological Warfare Defense