§498. Unilateral change in nuclear weapons stockpile of the United States

(a) In General.-Other than pursuant to a treaty to which the Senate has provided advice and consent pursuant to section 2 of article II of the Constitution of the United States, if the President has under consideration to unilaterally change the size of the total stockpile of nuclear weapons of the United States, or the total number of deployed nuclear weapons (as defined under the New START Treaty), by more than 20 percent, prior to doing so the President shall initiate a Nuclear Posture Review.

(b) Terms of Reference.-Prior to the initiation of a Nuclear Posture Review under this section, the President shall determine the terms of reference for the Nuclear Posture Review, which the President shall provide to the congressional defense committees.

(c) Nuclear Posture Review.-Upon completion of a Nuclear Posture Review under this section, the President shall submit the Nuclear Posture Review to the congressional defense committees prior to implementing any change described in subsection (a).

(d) Construction.-This section shall not apply to changes to the nuclear weapons stockpile resulting from obligations pursuant to a treaty to which the Senate has provided advice and consent pursuant to section 2 of article II of the Constitution.

(e) Form.-A Nuclear Posture Review under this section shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.

(f) New START Treaty Defined.-In this section, 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 on April 8, 2010, and entered into force on February 5, 2011.

(Added Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title X, §1038(a), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 1927 ; amended Pub. L. 113–66, div. A, title X, §1091(a)(6), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 875 ; Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title XVI, §1633, Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 2090 .)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2021-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–81, §1633(1), added subsec. (a) and struck out former subsec. (a). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "Other than pursuant to a treaty, if the President has under consideration to unilaterally change the size of the total stockpile of nuclear weapons of the United States by more than 25 percent, prior to doing so the President shall initiate a Nuclear Posture Review."

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 117–81, §1633(2), substituted "described in subsection (a)" for "in the nuclear weapons stockpile by more than 25 percent".

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 117–81, §1633(3), substituted "obligations pursuant to a treaty to which the Senate has provided advice and consent pursuant to section 2 of article II of the Constitution" for "treaty obligations".

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 117–81, §1633(4), added subsec. (f).

2013-Pub. L. 113–66 inserted a period after the enumerator in section catchline.