§2931 Office of the United States Coordinator for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism

Summary

Creates a White House office called the Office of the United States Coordinator for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. The office is led by a Coordinator and a Deputy Coordinator who are chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They must work full time, cannot hold any other federal job, and the Deputy helps and acts for the Coordinator when needed. Congress and its committees keep the right to access the office’s information and staff. The Coordinator is the President’s main adviser on stopping the spread and use of WMDs and must create a single, coordinated U.S. strategy with measurable goals. That strategy must find and fix gaps and overlaps, protect U.S. nuclear security efforts in Russia and other countries, prioritize and expand programs that secure vulnerable sites and materials, start new programs to meet emerging threats and strengthen U.S. science and labs, coordinate work across departments and key international initiatives (for example, the Proliferation Security Initiative, the G‑8 Global Partnership, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540, and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism), and push for stronger international cooperation and legal tools to stop and prosecute smugglers. The Coordinator leads interagency work, oversees program implementation and budgeting, may hire staff, temporarily reassign agency employees with agreement, use federal, state, and local services on a reimbursable basis, hire outside experts at pay not to exceed the daily equivalent of Executive Schedule Level IV, and use the mail. Starting in fiscal year 2009 and every year after, the Coordinator must send Congress, with the President’s budget, a report on the strategy and any suggested law changes.