Statement by the Press Secretary on the Submission of Legislation Required for Four Key Nuclear Security Treaties

Today, on the first anniversary of the landmark Nuclear Security Summit convened by President Obama, the administration is submitting legislation required for the ratification of four key treaties that are critical to securing nuclear materials and preventing nuclear terrorism around the world.  The Department of Justice has submitted to Congress legislation to implement the 2005 Amendment to the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM Amendment), the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT), the 2005 Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Protocol), and the 2005 Protocol to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (Fixed Platforms Protocol). 

At last year’s Summit, 47 world leaders embraced President Obama’s goal of securing all nuclear material around the globe, and agreed to take action to meet it. As a part of that effort, the leaders at the Summit called for all nations to accept and fully implement the CPPNM Amendment and the ICSANT, and 19 countries have since ratified one or both of these treaties.  Building on the Senate’s advice and consent on these treaties in 2008, the legislation being proposed today would update the U.S. Criminal Code to strengthen our ability to fully investigate and prosecute acts of nuclear terrorism.  We call on Congress to pass these bills as swiftly as possible so that the United States can fully ratify these treaties and continue to lead the global effort to prevent the world’s most deadly weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists.