Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 3.djvu/985

 PUBLIC LAW 104-201—SEPT. 23, 1996 110 STAT. 2715 Subtitle E—Miscellaneous Sec. 1451. Sense of Congress concerning contracting policy. Sec. 1452. Transfers of allocations among Cooperative Threat Reduction programs. Sec. 1453. Sense of Congress concerning assistance to states of former Soviet Union. Sec. 1454. Purchase of low-enriched viranium derived from Russian highly enriched uranium. Sec. 1455. Sense of Congress concerning purchase, packaging, and transportation of fissile materials at risk of theft. SEC. 1401. SHORT TITLE. 50 USC 2301 This title may be cited as the "Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996". SEC. 1402. FINDmCS. 50 USC 2301 Congress makes the following findings: (1) Weapons of mass destruction and related materials and technologies are increasingly available from worldwide sources. Technical information relating to such weapons is readily available on the Internet, and raw materials for chemical, biological, and radiological weapons are widely available for legitimate commercial purposes. (2) The former Soviet Union produced and maintained a vast array of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction. (3) Many of the states of the former Soviet Union retain the facilities, materials, and technologies capable of producing additional quantities of weapons of mass destruction. (4) The disintegration of the former Soviet Union was accompanied by disruptions of command and control systems, deficiencies in accountability for weapons, weapons-related materials and technologies, economic hardships, and significant gaps in border control among the states of the former Soviet Union. The problems of organized crime and corruption in the states of the former Soviet Union increase the potential for proliferation of nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical weapons and related materials. (5) The conditions described in paragraph (4) have substantially increased the ability of potentially hostile nations, terrorist groups, and individuals to acquire weapons of mass destruction and related materials and technologies from within the states of the former Soviet Union and from unemployed scientists who worked on those programs. (6) As a result of such conditions, the capability of potentially hostile nations and terrorist groups to acquire nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical weapons is greater than at any time in history. (7) The President has identified North Korea, Iraq, Iran, and Libya as hostile states which already possess some weapons of mass destruction and are developing others. (8) The acquisition or the development and use of weapons of mass destruction is well within the capability of many extremist and terrorist movements, acting independently or as proxies for foreign states. (9) Foreign states can transfer weapons to or otherwise aid extremist and terrorist movements indirectly and with plausible deniability.

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