22 U.S.C. § 2593a: Annual report to Congress

a detailed statement concerning the arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament objectives of the executive branch of Government for the forthcoming year; a detailed assessment of the status of any ongoing arms control, nonproliferation, or disarmament negotiations, including a comprehensive description of negotiations or other activities during the preceding year and an appraisal of the status and prospects for the forthcoming year; a detailed assessment of adherence of the United States to obligations undertaken in arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements, including information on the policies and organization of each relevant agency or department of the United States to ensure adherence to such obligations, a description of national security programs with a direct bearing on questions of adherence to such obligations and of steps being taken to ensure adherence, and a compilation of any substantive questions raised during the preceding year and any corrective action taken; a description of each significant issue raised and efforts made and contemplated with the other participating state to seek resolution of the difficulty; an assessment of damage, if any, to the United States security and other interests; and recommendations as to any steps that should be considered to redress any damage to United States national security and to reduce compliance problems; a net assessment of the aggregate military significance of all such violations; a statement of the compliance policy of the United States with respect to violations of those commitments; and what actions, if any, the President has taken or proposes to take to bring any nation committing such a violation into compliance with those commitments; and a specific identification, to the maximum extent practicable in unclassified form, of each and every question that exists with respect to compliance by other countries with arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements with the United States. The report required by this section shall be submitted in unclassified form, with classified annexes, as appropriate. The portions of this report described in paragraphs (4) and (5) of subsection (a) shall summarize in detail, at least in classified annexes, the information, analysis, and conclusions relevant to possible noncompliance by other nations that are provided by United States intelligence agencies. If the President in consecutive reports submitted to the appropriate congressional committees under this section reports that any designated nation is not in full compliance with its binding nonproliferation commitments to the United States, then the President shall include in the second such report an assessment of what actions are necessary to compensate for such violations. Each report required by this section shall include a discussion of each significant issue described in subsection (a)(6) that was contained in a previous report issued under this section during 1995, or after December 31, 1995 , until the question or concern has been resolved and such resolution has been reported in detail to the appropriate committees of Congress (as defined in section 1102(1) of the Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Security Assistance Act of 1999). Not later than June 15 of each year described in paragraph (2), the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that contains a detailed assessment, consistent with the provision of classified information and intelligence sources and methods, of the adherence of other nations to obligations undertaken in all arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements or commitments to which the United States is a party, including information of cases in which any such nation has behaved inconsistently with respect to its obligations undertaken in such agreements or commitments. A year described in this paragraph is a year in which the President fails to submit the report required by subsection (a) by not later than April 15 of such year. The report required by this subsection shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if necessary. the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives. such withdrawal is in the best interests of the United States national security; and the other state parties to the Treaty have been consulted with respect to such withdrawal. In this section [enacting this note], the term ‘Open Skies Treaty’ or ‘Treaty’ means the Treaty on Open Skies, done at Helsinki March 24, 1992 , and entered into force January 1, 2002 .” the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. The term ‘INF Treaty’ means the Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, signed at Washington December 8, 1987 , and entered into force June 1, 1988 . The term ‘intelligence community’ has the meaning given the term in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3003(4) ). The term ‘New START Treaty’ means the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed at Prague April 8, 2010 , and entered into force February 5, 2011 . The term ‘Open Skies Treaty’ means the Treaty on Open Skies, done at Helsinki March 24, 1992 , and entered into force January 1, 2002 .” It was the object and purpose of the INF Treaty to eliminate the production or deployment of ground launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, which was accomplished in 1992. The July 2014 Department of State annual report on ‘Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments’ stated that ‘The United States has determined that the Russian Federation is in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty not to possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500km to 5,500km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.’. In a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee dated October 23, 2014 , General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote ‘these violations are a serious challenge to the security of the United States and our allies. These actions, particularly when placed in the broader context of Russian regional aggression, must be met with a strategic response.’. the Russian Federation’s actions in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty adversely affect the national security of the United States and its allies, including the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and those in East Asia; the Government of the Russian Federation is responsible for this violation and also for returning to compliance with the INF Treaty; it is in the national security interests of the United States and its allies for the INF Treaty to remain in effect and for the Russian Federation to return to full and verifiable compliance with all its obligations under the INF Treaty; and as identified in section 1061 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 ( Public Law 113–66 ; 127 Stat. 865 ), the President should take appropriate actions to resolve the issues relating to noncompliance by the Russian Federation with its obligations under the INF Treaty. Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [ Dec. 19, 2014 ], the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on noncompliance by the Russian Federation with its obligations under the INF Treaty. An assessment of the effect of Russian noncompliance on the national security interests of the United States and its allies, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and those in East Asia. actions that have been taken, and what further actions are planned or warranted by the United States; plans to address Russian noncompliance diplomatically with the Russian Federation to resolve concerns about such noncompliance and bring Russia back into full compliance with the INF Treaty; an assessment of possible steps (including verification measures) that would permit confidence that the Russian Federation has returned to full compliance; and the status of any United States efforts to develop coordinated or cooperative responses with allies. An assessment of whether Russian noncompliance threatens the viability of the INF Treaty, whether such noncompliance constitutes a material breach of the INF Treaty, and whether it is in the interests of the United States to remain a party to the INF Treaty if such noncompliance continues. The report required under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex. At the time of the submission of the report required under subsection (c), and every six months thereafter until the date on which the Russian Federation is in compliance with its obligations under the INF Treaty, the Secretary of State, jointly with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of such other departments or agencies as appropriate, shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees a briefing on the status of United States efforts to resolve its concerns relating to noncompliance by the Russian Federation with its obligations under the INF Treaty. The briefing requirement under paragraph (1) shall be in effect so long as the INF Treaty remains in force. In the event the President determines that the Russian Federation has deployed, or intends to deploy, systems that violate the INF Treaty, the President shall promptly notify the appropriate congressional committees of such determination and any plans to respond to such deployments. the congressional defense committees [Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives]; the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives. The term ‘INF Treaty’ means the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, commonly referred to as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed at Washington December 8, 1987 , and entered into force June 1, 1988 .” If the Secretary of Defense, after consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, has substantial reason to believe that there is a case of foreign activity that would pose a significant threat to United States national security interests and that may be inconsistent with an arms control treaty to which the United States is a party, and such case is not included in, or is significantly different from a case included in, the most-recent annual report submitted to Congress pursuant to section 403 of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2593a ), the Secretary of Defense shall notify the President of such belief of the Secretary. If the President receives a notification from the Secretary of Defense under subsection (a), the President shall promptly refer the matter to the Secretary of State to arrange for an inter-agency review of the case in order to provide for an assessment of whether the case constitutes a significant case of non-compliance with an arms control treaty to which the United States is a party. Not later than 60 days after the date on which the President makes a referral under subsection (b), the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress the results of the assessment of the case with respect to which the referral was made under subsection (b). the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.” The Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (or the Secretary of State, if the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency becomes an element of the Department of State) shall transmit to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives on a periodic basis reports containing classified summaries of arms control developments. The reports required by subsection (a) shall include information reflecting the activities of forums established to consider issues relating to treaty implementation and treaty compliance.”