22 U.S.C. § 10431 — Authorization of sales of Virginia Class

Page 2338 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 10422 the United Kingdom to transfer defense articles and services under section 2761 of this title re- lated to AUKUS to receive expedited consider- ation and processing relative to all other letters of request other than from Taiwan and Ukraine. (b) Technology transfer policy for Australia, Can- ada, and the United Kingdom (1) In general The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall create an an- ticipatory release policy for the transfer of technologies described in paragraph (2) to Aus- tralia, the United Kingdom, and Canada through Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales that are not covered by an exemption under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. (2) Capabilities described The capabilities described in this paragraph are— (A) Pillar One-related technologies associ- ated with submarine and associated combat systems; and (B) Pillar Two-related technologies, in- cluding hypersonic missiles, cyber capabili- ties, artificial intelligence, quantum tech- nologies, undersea capabilities, and other advanced technologies. (3) Expedited decision-making Review of a transfer under the policy estab- lished under paragraph (1) shall be subject to an expedited decision-making process. (c) Interagency policy and guidance The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly review and update inter- agency policies and implementation guidance related to requests for Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales, including by in- corporating the anticipatory release provisions of this section. (Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XIII, § 1341, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 509.) § 10422. Identification and pre-clearance of plat- forms, technologies, and equipment for sale to Australia and the United Kingdom through foreign military sales and direct commercial sales (a) In general Not later than 90 days after December 22, 2023, and on a biennial basis thereafter for 8 years, the President shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep- resentatives a report that includes a list of ad- vanced military platforms, technologies, and equipment that are pre-cleared and prioritized for sale and release to Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada through the Foreign Mili- tary Sales and Direct Commercial Sales pro- grams without regard to whether a letter of re- quest or license to purchase such platforms, technologies, or equipment has been received from any of such country. (b) Additional items Each list may include items that are not re- lated to the AUKUS partnership but may not in- clude items that are not covered by an exemp- tion under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations except unmanned aerial or hypersonic systems. (Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XIII, § 1342, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 509.) Executive Documents DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS Functions and authorities vested in the President under this section delegated to Secretary of State, in consultation with Secretaries of Defense and Energy, by Memorandum of President of the United States, § 1(c)(ii), July 9, 2024, 89 F.R. 57337, set out in a note under section 10413 of this title. § 10423. Expedited review of export licenses for exports of advanced technologies to Aus- tralia, the United Kingdom, and Canada (a) In general Not later than 180 days after December 22, 2023, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, shall initiate a rulemaking to establish an expedited decision- making process, classified or unclassified, for applications to export to Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada commercial, advanced- technology defense articles and defense services that are not covered by an exemption under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. (b) Eligibility To qualify for the expedited decision-making process described in subsection (a), an applica- tion shall be for an export of defense articles or defense services that will take place wholly within or between the physical territory of Aus- tralia, Canada, or the United Kingdom and the United States and with governments or cor- porate entities from such countries. (c) Availability of expedited process The expedited decision-making process de- scribed in subsection (a) shall be available for both classified and unclassified items, and the process must satisfy the following criteria to the extent practicable: (1) Any licensing application to export de- fense articles and services that is related to a government to government agreement must be approved, returned, or denied within 30 days of submission. (2) For all other licensing requests, any re- view shall be completed not later than 45 cal- endar days after the date of application. (Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XIII, § 1344, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 513.) SUBCHAPTER III—AUKUS SUBMARINE TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION ACT § 10431. Authorization of sales of Virginia Class submarines to Australia (a) In general Effective beginning on the date that is one year after December 22, 2023, the President is au- thorized to transfer up to two Virginia Class submarines from the inventory of the Depart- ment of the Navy to the Government of Aus- Page 2339 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 10431 tralia on a sale basis, and transfer not more than one additional Virginia Class submarine to the Government of Australia on a sale basis pur- suant to section 21 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2761) during the 20-year period be- ginning on December 22, 2023, to implement the trilateral security partnership between Aus- tralia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (in this section referred to as the ‘‘AUKUS partnership’’). (b) Provisions of law superseded The transfer of a vessel authorized under sub- section (a) shall not be subject to the require- ments of— (1) section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776); or (2) section 8677 of title 10. (c) Costs of transfers Any expense incurred by the United States in connection with a transfer of a vessel authorized under subsection (a) shall be charged to the Gov- ernment of Australia notwithstanding section 2321j(e) of this title. (d) Certifications and other requirements (1) In general Not later than 270 days prior to the transfer of a vessel authorized under subsection (a), the President shall submit to the appropriate con- gressional committees and leadership a cer- tification that— (A) the transfer of such vessels— (i) will not degrade the United States un- dersea capabilities; (ii) is consistent with United States for- eign policy and national security inter- ests; and (iii) is in furtherance of the AUKUS part- nership; (B) the United States is making sufficient submarine production and maintenance in- vestments to meet the combination of United States military requirements and the requirements under subparagraph (A); (C) the Government of Australia has pro- vided the appropriate funds and support for the additional capacity required to meet the requirements identified in this section; and (D) the Government Australia has the ca- pability to host and fully operate the vessels authorized to be transferred. (2) Waiver of chief of naval operations certifi- cation The requirement for the Chief of Naval Oper- ations to make a certification under section 8678 of title 10 shall not apply to the transfer of a vessel authorized under subsection (a). (3) Required mutual defense agreement (A) In general The President may not provide for the transfer of a vessel authorized under sub- section (a) unless the United States and Aus- tralia have entered into a mutual defense agreement that meets the requirements of subparagraph (B) and such agreement is in effect. (B) Requirements A mutual defense agreement meets the re- quirements described in this subparagraph if the agreement— (i) provides a clear legal framework for the sole purpose of Australia’s acquisition of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines; and (ii) meets the highest nonproliferation standards for the exchange of nuclear ma- terials, technology, equipment, and infor- mation between the United States and Australia. (4) Subsequent sales A transfer of vessel that is a Virginia class submarine on a sale basis other than a trans- fer described in subsection (a) may occur only if such transfer is explicitly authorized pursu- ant to a law enacted after December 22, 2023. (e) Crediting of receipts (1) In general Notwithstanding any provision of law per- taining to the crediting of amounts received from a sale under the terms of section 21 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2761), any receipt of the United States as a result of a transfer of a vessel authorized under sub- section (a) shall— (A) be credited, at the discretion of the President to— (i) the appropriation, fund, or account used in incurring the original obligation; (ii) an appropriate appropriation, fund, or account currently available for the pur- poses for which the expenditures for the original acquisition of submarines trans- ferred under this section were made; or (iii) any other appropriation, fund, or ac- count available for the improvement of the United States submarine industrial base; and (B) remain available for obligation until expended for the same purpose as the appro- priation to which the receipt is credited. (2) Notifications and report (A) Initial notification Not later than 30 days before the date of the delivery of the first vessel authorized to be transferred under subsection (a), the President shall notify the appropriate con- gressional committees and leadership of the following: (i) The Government of Australia has achieved Submarine Rotational Forces- West full operational capability to support 4 rotationally deployed Virginia class sub- marines and one Astute class submarine, including having demonstrated the domes- tic capacity to fully perform all the associ- ated activities necessary for the safe hosting and operation of nuclear-powered submarines. (ii) The Government of Australia has achieved sovereign-ready initial oper- ational capability to support a Royal Aus- tralian Navy Virginia class submarine, in- cluding having demonstrated the domestic capacity to fully perform all the associ- ated— (I) activities necessary for the safe hosting and operation of nuclear-pow- ered submarines; Page 2340 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 10431 (II) crewing; (III) operations; (IV) regulatory and emergency proce- dures, including those specific to nuclear power plants; and (V) detailed planning for enduring Vir- ginia class submarine ownership, includ- ing each significant event leading up to and including nuclear defueling. (B) Notification Not later than 30 days after the date of a transfer of any vessel authorized under sub- section (a), and upon any transfer or depos- iting of funds received pursuant to such a transfer, the President shall notify the ap- propriate congressional committees and leadership of— (i) the amount of funds received pursu- ant to the transfer; and (ii) the specific account or fund into which the funds described in clause (i) are deposited. (C) Report Not later than 30 days after the receipt of funds as described in subparagraph (B), the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and leadership a report on the matters described in clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A). (f) Applicability of existing law to transfer of special nuclear material and utilization fa- cilities for military applications (1) In general With respect to any special nuclear material for use in utilization facilities or any portion of a vessel transferred under the authority of subsection (a) constituting utilization facili- ties for military applications under section 2121 of title 42, the transfer of such material or such facilities shall only occur in accordance with such section 2121 of title 42. (2) Use of funds The President may use proceeds from a transfer described in subparagraph (1) for the acquisition of submarine naval nuclear propul- sion plants and the nuclear fuel to replace the propulsion plants and fuel transferred to the Government of Australia. (g) Omitted (h) Transfer or export of defense services (1) In general The President may transfer or authorize the export of defense services (as such term is de- fined in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794)) to the Government of Aus- tralia and the Government of the United King- dom necessary or incidental to support the transfer and operation of vessels authorized under subsection (a). (2) Authority to export to Australian and United Kingdom private and public-sector personnel The transfer or export of defense services under this subsection may be directly ex- ported to private and public-sector personnel of Australia or to private and public-sector personnel of the United Kingdom to support the development of the Australian submarine industrial base necessary for submarine secu- rity activities between members of the AUKUS partnership, including in the case in which such private and public-sector personnel are not officers, employees, or agents of the Government of Australia or the Government of the United Kingdom. (3) Application of requirements for retransfer and reexport Any person who receives any defense service transferred or exported under paragraph (1) may retransfer or reexport such service to other persons only in accordance with the re- quirements of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.). (4) Security controls (A) In general Any defense service transferred or ex- ported under paragraph (1) shall be subject to appropriate security controls to ensure that any sensitive information conveyed by such transfer or export is protected from dis- closure to persons unauthorized by the United States to receive such information. (B) Certification Not later than 30 days before the first transfer or export of a defense service under paragraph (1), and annually thereafter, the President shall certify to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives that the controls de- scribed in subparagraph (A) will protect the information described in such subparagraph for the defense services so transferred or ex- ported. (i) Report (1) In general Not later than 180 days after December 22, 2023, and annually thereafter for 15 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con- gressional committees and leadership a report describing— (A) the status of the transfer of vessels au- thorized under subsection (a); (B) the implementation of submarine secu- rity cooperation under the AUKUS partner- ship and challenges towards its implementa- tion; (C) expansion of the public and private Virginia class submarine production and re- pair facilities, to include proposed work con- ducted in Australia and the United Kingdom to meet the additional work required by commitments under the AUKUS partner- ship; (D) an annual procurement schedule for the total quantity of submarines the Depart- ment of Defense plans to procure over the 15 years following December 22, 2023; and (E) a list of transfers or exports of defense services authorized under subsection (h) and the private-sector personnel of Australia or the private-sector personnel of the United Kingdom to whom the defense services were exported. Page 2341 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 10432 (2) Form The report required by this subsection shall be submitted in classified form. (Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XIII, § 1352, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 514.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Arms Export Control Act, referred to in subsec. (h)(3), is Pub. L. 90–629, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1320, which is classified principally to chapter 39 (§ 2751 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 2751 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section is comprised of section 1352 of Pub. L. 118–31. Subsec. (g) of section 1352 of Pub. L. 118–31 amended section 8680 of Title 10, Armed Forces. Executive Documents DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS Functions and authorities vested in the President under subsecs. (e)(2)(B), (C) and (g) of this section dele- gated to Secretary of Defense, in consultation with Secretary of Energy, and under subsecs. (d)(1), (e)(2)(A), (h)(4), and (i) of this section to Secretary of Defense, in consultation with Secretaries of State and Energy, by Memorandum of President of the United States, § 1(a), (b), (c)(iii)–(v), July 9, 2024, 89 F.R. 57337, set out in a note under section 10413 of this title. DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS AND AUTHORITIES UNDER SEC- TIONS 1352 AND 1353 OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AU- THORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024 Memorandum of President of the United States, Dec. 11, 2024, 89 F.R. 101835, provided: Memorandum for the Secretary of State[,] the Sec- retary of Defense[,] the Secretary of Energy[, and] the Director of the Office of Management and Budget By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code: SECTION 1. (a) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and Energy, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 1352(a) of the National Defense Au- thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (Public Law 118–31) (the ‘‘Act’’) [22 U.S.C. 10431(a)]. (b) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretaries of State and Energy and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 1352(e)(1)(A) of the Act. (c) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Di- rector of the Office of Management and Budget, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 1352(f)(2) of the Act. (d) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of Defense for funds transferred to Department of Defense accounts and to the Secretary of Energy for funds transferred to Department of Energy accounts, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the functions and authorities vested in the President by sections 1353(c), 1353(e)(1)(D), and 1353(e)(3) of the Act [22 U.S.C. 10432(c), (e)(1)(D), (e)(3)]. (e) I hereby delegate to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Sec- retaries of Defense and Energy, as appropriate, the functions and authorities vested in the President by sections 1353(a), 1353(e)(1)(A), 1353(e)(2), and 1353(f)(1) of the Act. SEC. 2. The delegation in this memorandum shall apply to any provision of any future public law that is the same or substantially the same as the provision ref- erenced in this memorandum. SEC. 3. The Secretary of Defense is authorized and di- rected to publish this memorandum in the Federal Reg- ister. J.R. BIDEN, JR. § 10432. Acceptance of contributions in support of Australia, United Kingdom, and United States submarine security activities (a) Acceptance authority The President may accept from the Govern- ment of Australia contributions of money made by the Government of Australia for use by the Department of Defense in support of non-nuclear related aspects of submarine security activities between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (in this section referred to as the ‘‘AUKUS partnership’’). (b) Establishment of Submarine Security Activi- ties Account (1) In general There is established in the Treasury of the United States a special account to be known as the ‘Submarine Security Activities Ac- count’. (2) Credit to account Contributions of money accepted by the President under subsection (a) shall be cred- ited to the Submarine Security Activities Ac- count. (3) Availability Amounts credited to the Submarine Secu- rity Activities Account shall remain available until expended. (c) Use of funds (1) In general Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) of sub- section (b), the President may use funds in the Submarine Security Activities Account— (A) for any purpose authorized by law that the President determines would support the AUKUS submarine security activities; (B) to carry out a military construction project that is consistent with the purposes for which the contributions were made and is authorized by law; (C) to develop and increase the submarine industrial base workforce by investing in re- cruiting, training, and retaining key special- ized labor at public and private shipyards; or (D) to upgrade facilities, equipment, and infrastructure needed to repair and maintain submarines at public and private shipyards. (2) No further specific authorization in law re- quired Funds in the Submarine Security Activities Account may be used as described in this sub- section without further specific authorization in law. (d) Plan for use of funds Not later than 30 days prior to any use of any funds in the Submarine Security Activities Ac- count, the President shall submit to the appro- priate congressional committees and leadership a plan detailing—