Message to the Senate of the United States (Text Only)

I transmit herewith for Senate advice and consent to ratification the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (the "Amendment"). A conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, adopted on October 28, 1979, adopted the Amendment on July 8, 2005, at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the Department of State report on the Amendment. Legislation necessary to implement the Amendment will be submitted to the Congress separately.

The Amendment contains specific provisions to effect a coordinated international response to combating and preventing nuclear terrorism and ensuring global security. It will require each State Party to the Amendment to establish, implement, and maintain an appropriate physical protection regime applicable to nuclear material and nuclear facilities used for peaceful purposes. The aims of the regime are to protect such material against theft or other unlawful taking, to locate and rapidly recover missing or stolen material, to protect such material and facilities against sabotage, and to mitigate or minimize the radiological consequences of sabotage. The Amendment also provides a framework for cooperation among States Parties directed at preventing nuclear terrorism and ensuring punishment of offenders; contains provisions for protecting sensitive physical protection information; and adds new criminal offenses that each State Party must make punishable by law. States Parties must also either submit for prosecution or extradite any person within their jurisdictions alleged to have committed one of the offenses defined in the Convention, as amended.

This Amendment is important in the campaign against international nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation. I recommend, therefore, that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to this Amendment, subject to the understandings described in the accompanying report of the Department of State.

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