50 U.S.C. § 1521 : US Code - Section 1521: Destruction of existing stockpile of lethal chemical agents and munitions

Search 50 U.S.C. § 1521 : US Code - Section 1521: Destruction of existing stockpile of lethal chemical agents and munitions

(a) In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of
Defense (hereinafter in this section referred to as the
"Secretary") shall, in accordance with the provisions of this
section, carry out the destruction of the United States' stockpile
of lethal chemical agents and munitions that exists on November 8,
1985.
(b) Date for completion
(1) Except as provided by paragraphs (2) and (3), the destruction
of such stockpile shall be completed by the stockpile elimination
deadline.
(2) If a treaty banning the possession of chemical agents and
munitions is ratified by the United States, the date for completing
the destruction of the United States' stockpile of such agents and
munitions shall be the date established by such treaty.
(3)(A) In the event of a declaration of war by the Congress or of
a national emergency by the President or the Congress or if the
Secretary of Defense determines that there has been a significant
delay in the acquisition of an adequate number of binary chemical
weapons to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces (as defined by
the Joint Chiefs of Staff as of September 30, 1985), the Secretary
may defer, beyond the stockpile elimination deadline, the
destruction of not more than 10 percent of the stockpile described
in subsection (a)(1) of this section.
(B) The Secretary shall transmit written notice to the Congress
of any deferral made under subparagraph (A) not later than the
earlier of (A) 30 days after the date on which the decision to
defer is made, or (B) 30 days before the stockpile elimination
deadline.
(4) If the Secretary determines at any time that there will be a
delay in meeting the requirement in paragraph (1) for the
completion of the destruction of chemical weapons by the stockpile
elimination deadline, the Secretary shall immediately notify the
Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on
Armed Services of the House of Representatives of that projected
delay.
(5) For purposes of this section, the term "stockpile elimination
deadline" means December 31, 2004.
(c) Environmental protection and use of facilities
(1) In carrying out the requirement of subsection (a) of this
section, the Secretary shall provide for -
(A) maximum protection for the environment, the general public,
and the personnel who are involved in the destruction of the
lethal chemical agents and munitions referred to in subsection
(a) of this section; and
(B) adequate and safe facilities designed solely for the
destruction of lethal chemical agents and munitions.
(2) Facilities constructed to carry out this section shall, when
no longer needed for the purposes for which they were constructed,
be disposed of in accordance with applicable laws and regulations
and mutual agreements between the Secretary of the Army and the
Governor of the State in which the facility is located.
(3)(A) Facilities constructed to carry out this section may not
be used for a purpose other than the destruction of the stockpile
of lethal chemical agents and munitions that exists on November 8,
1985.
(B) The prohibition in subparagraph (A) shall not apply with
respect to items designated by the Secretary of Defense as lethal
chemical agents, munitions, or related materials after November 8,
1985, if the State in which a destruction facility is located
issues the appropriate permit or permits for the destruction of
such items at the facility.
(4)(A) In order to carry out subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1),
the Secretary may make grants to State and local governments and to
tribal organizations (either directly or through the Federal
Emergency Management Agency) to assist those governments and tribal
organizations in carrying out functions relating to emergency
preparedness and response in connection with the disposal of the
lethal chemical agents and munitions referred to in subsection (a)
of this section. Funds available to the Department of Defense for
the purpose of carrying out this section may be used for such
grants.
(B) Additionally, the Secretary may provide funds through
cooperative agreements with State and local governments, and with
tribal organizations, for the purpose of assisting them in
processing, approving, and overseeing permits and licenses
necessary for the construction and operation of facilities to carry
out this section. The Secretary shall ensure that funds provided
through such a cooperative agreement are used only for the purpose
set forth in the preceding sentence.
(C) In this paragraph, the term "tribal organization" has the
meaning given that term in section 450b(l) of title 25.
(5)(A) In coordination with the Secretary of the Army and in
accordance with agreements between the Secretary of the Army and
the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the
Director shall carry out a program to provide assistance to State
and local governments in developing capabilities to respond to
emergencies involving risks to the public health or safety within
their jurisdictions that are identified by the Secretary as being
risks resulting from -
(i) the storage of lethal chemical agents and munitions
referred to in subsection (a) of this section at military
installations in the continental United States; or
(ii) the destruction of such agents and munitions at facilities
referred to in paragraph (1)(B).
(B) No assistance may be provided under this paragraph after the
completion of the destruction of the United States' stockpile of
lethal chemical agents and munitions.
(C) Not later than December 15 of each year, the Director shall
transmit a report to Congress on the activities carried out under
this paragraph during the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in
which the report is submitted.
(d) Requirement for strategic plan
(1) The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology,
and Logistics and the Secretary of the Army shall jointly prepare,
and from time to time shall update as appropriate, a strategic plan
for future activities for destruction of the United States'
stockpile of lethal chemical agents and munitions.
(2) The plan shall include, at a minimum, the following
considerations:
(A) Realistic budgeting for stockpile destruction and related
support programs.
(B) Contingency planning for foreseeable or anticipated
problems.
(C) A management approach and associated actions that address
compliance with the obligations of the United States under the
Chemical Weapons Convention treaty and that take full advantage
of opportunities to accelerate destruction of the stockpile.
(3) The Secretary of Defense shall each year submit to the
Committee on the Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on
Armed Services of the House of Representatives the strategic plan
as most recently prepared and updated under paragraph (1). Such
submission shall be made each year at the time of the submission to
the Congress that year of the President's budget for the next
fiscal year.
(e) Management organization
(1) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall provide for
the establishment, not later than May 1, 1986, of a management
organization within the Department of the Army.
(2) Such organization shall be responsible for management of the
destruction of agents and munitions under this section.
(3) The Secretary shall designate a general officer or civilian
equivalent as the director of the management organization
established under paragraph (1). Such officer shall have -
(A) experience in the acquisition, storage, and destruction of
chemical agents and munitions;
(B) training in chemical warfare defense operations; and
(C) outstanding qualifications regarding safety in handling
chemical agents and munitions.
(f) Identification of funds
(1) Funds for carrying out this section, including funds for
military construction projects necessary to carry out this section,
shall be set forth in the budget of the Department of Defense for
any fiscal year as a separate account. Such funds shall not be
included in the budget accounts for any military department.
(2) Amounts appropriated to the Secretary for the purpose of
carrying out subsection (c)(5) of this section shall be promptly
made available to the Director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
(g) Periodic reports
(1) Except as provided by paragraph (3), the Secretary shall
transmit, by December 15 of each year, a report to the Congress on
the activities carried out under this section during the fiscal
year ending on September 30 of the calendar year in which the
report is to be made.
(2) Each annual report shall include the following:
(A) A site-by-site description of the construction, equipment,
operation, and dismantling of facilities (during the fiscal year
for which the report is made) used to carry out the destruction
of agents and munitions under this section, including any
accidents or other unplanned occurrences associated with such
construction and operation.
(B) A site-by-site description of actions taken to assist State
and local governments (either directly or through the Federal
Emergency Management Agency) in carrying out functions relating
to emergency preparedness and response in accordance with
subsection (c)(4) of this section.
(C) An accounting of all funds expended (during such fiscal
year) for activities carried out under this section, with a
separate accounting for amounts expended for -
(i) the construction of and equipment for facilities used for
the destruction of agents and munitions;
(ii) the operation of such facilities;
(iii) the dismantling or other closure of such facilities;
(iv) research and development;
(v) program management;
(vi) travel and associated travel costs for Citizens'
Advisory Commissioners under section 172(g) of Public Law 102-
484 (50 U.S.C. 1521 note); and
(vii) grants to State and local governments to assist those
governments in carrying out functions relating to emergency
preparedness and response in accordance with subsection (c)(4)
of this section.
(D) An assessment of the safety status and the integrity of the
stockpile of lethal chemical agents and munitions subject to this
section, including -
(i) an estimate on how much longer that stockpile can
continue to be stored safely;
(ii) a site-by-site assessment of the safety of those agents
and munitions; and
(iii) a description of the steps taken (to the date of the
report) to monitor the safety status of the stockpile and to
mitigate any further deterioration of that status.
(3) The Secretary shall transmit the final report under paragraph
(1) not later than 120 days following the completion of activities
under this section.
(h) Prohibition on acquiring certain lethal chemical agents and
munitions
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no agency of the Federal
Government may, after November 8, 1985, develop or acquire lethal
chemical agents or munitions other than binary chemical weapons.
(2)(A) The Secretary of Defense may acquire any chemical agent or
munition at any time for purposes of intelligence analysis.
(B) Chemical agents and munitions may be acquired for research,
development, test, and evaluation purposes at any time, but only in
quantities needed for such purposes and not in production
quantities.
(i) Reaffirmation of United States position on first use of
chemical agents and munitions
It is the sense of Congress that the President should publicly
reaffirm the position of the United States as set out in the Geneva
Protocol of 1925, which the United States ratified with
reservations in 1975.
(j) Definitions
For purposes of this section:
(1) The term "chemical agent and munition" means an agent or
munition that, through its chemical properties, produces lethal
or other damaging effects on human beings, except that such term
does not include riot control agents, chemical herbicides, smoke
and other obscuration materials.
(2) The term "lethal chemical agent and munition" means a
chemical agent or munition that is designed to cause death,
through its chemical properties, to human beings in field
concentrations.
(3) The term "destruction" means, with respect to chemical
munitions or agents -
(A) the demolishment of such munitions or agents by
incineration or by any other means; or
(B) the dismantling or other disposal of such munitions or
agents so as to make them useless for military purposes and
harmless to human beings under normal circumstances.
(k) Operational verification
(1) Until the Secretary of the Army successfully completes
(through the prove-out work to be conducted at Johnston Atoll)
operational verification of the technology to be used for the
destruction of live chemical agents and munitions under this
section, the Secretary may not conduct any activity for equipment
prove out and systems test before live chemical agents are
introduced at a facility (other than the Johnston Atoll facility)
at which the destruction of chemical agent (!1) and munitions
weapons is to take place under this section. The limitation in the
preceding sentence shall not apply with respect to the Chemical
Agent Munition Disposal System in Tooele, Utah.
(2) Upon the successful completion of the prove out of the
equipment and facility at Johnston Atoll, the Secretary of Defense
shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and
the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a
report certifying that the prove out is completed.
(3) If the Secretary determines at any time that there will be a
delay in meeting the deadline of December 31, 1990, scheduled by
the Department of Defense for completion of the operational
verification at Johnston Atoll referred to in paragraph (1), the
Secretary shall immediately notify the Committees of that projected
delay.