---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 497"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "497"
heading: "Notification required for reduction, consolidation, or withdrawal of nuclear forces based in Europe"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/497"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part I — Organization and General Military Powers"
  - "Chapter 24 — Nuclear Posture"
---

# §497. Notification required for reduction, consolidation, or withdrawal of nuclear forces based in Europe

- (a) **Notification.—** Upon any decision to reduce, consolidate, or withdraw the nuclear forces of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) that are based in Europe, the President shall transmit to the [appropriate congressional committees](/usc/10/301.md?p=1) a notification containing—
  - (1) justification for such reduction, consolidation, or withdrawal; and
  - (2) an assessment of how member [states](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in light of such reduction, consolidation, or withdrawal, assess the credibility of the deterrence capability of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) in support of its commitments undertaken pursuant to article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington, District of Columbia, on April 4, 1949, and entered into force on August 24, 1949 (63 Stat. 2241; TIAS 1964).
- (b) **Prior Notification Required.—**
  - (1) **In general.—** The President shall transmit the notification required by [subsection (a)](#a) by not later than 120 days before the date on which the President commences a reduction, consolidation, or withdrawal of the nuclear forces of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) that are based in Europe described in such notification.
  - (2) **Exception.—** The limitation in [paragraph (1)](#b-1) shall not apply to a reduction, consolidation, or withdrawal of nuclear weapons of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) that are based in Europe made to ensure the safety, security, reliability, and credibility of such weapons.
- (c) **Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.—** In this section, the term “[appropriate congressional committees](/usc/10/301.md?p=1)” means—
  - (1) the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate; and
  - (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title X, § 1037(b)(1), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 1926; amended Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title XVI, § 1635, Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 2091.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2021—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 117–81 substituted “120 days” for “60 days”.