---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 8101"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "8101"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/8101"
units:
  - "Chapter 88 — Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—united States Additional Protocol Implementation"
---

# §8101. Findings


Congress makes the following findings:

- (1) The proliferation of nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices poses a grave threat to the national security of the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) and its vital national interests.
- (2) The [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty](/usc/22/8102.md?p=9) has proven critical to limiting such proliferation.
- (3) For the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty](/usc/22/8102.md?p=9) to be effective, each of the [non-nuclear-weapon State Parties](/usc/22/8102.md?p=10) must conclude a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the [IAEA](/usc/22/8102.md?p=6), and such agreements must be honored and enforced.
- (4) Recent events emphasize the urgency of strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system. This can best be accomplished by providing [IAEA](/usc/22/8102.md?p=6) inspectors with more information about, and broader access to, nuclear activities within the territory of [non-nuclear-weapon State Parties](/usc/22/8102.md?p=10).
- (5) The proposed scope of such expanded information and access has been negotiated by the member states of the [IAEA](/usc/22/8102.md?p=6) in the form of a Model [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) to its existing safeguards agreements, and universal acceptance of [Additional Protocols](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) by non-nuclear weapons states is essential to enhancing the effectiveness of the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty](/usc/22/8102.md?p=9).
- (6) On June 12, 1998, the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13), as a [nuclear-weapon State Party](/usc/22/8102.md?p=10), signed an [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) that is based on the Model [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1), but which also contains measures, consistent with its existing safeguards agreements with its members, that protect the right of the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) to exclude the application of [IAEA](/usc/22/8102.md?p=6) safeguards to [locations](/usc/22/8102.md?p=8) and activities with direct national security significance or to [locations](/usc/22/8102.md?p=8) or information associated with such activities.
- (7) Implementation of the [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) in the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) in a manner consistent with [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) obligations under the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty](/usc/22/8102.md?p=9) may encourage other parties to the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty](/usc/22/8102.md?p=9), especially [non-nuclear-weapon State Parties](/usc/22/8102.md?p=10), to conclude [Additional Protocols](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) and thereby strengthen the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty](/usc/22/8102.md?p=9) safeguards system and help reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation, which is of direct and substantial benefit to the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13).
- (8) Implementation of the [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) by the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) is not required and is completely voluntary given its status as a [nuclear-weapon State Party](/usc/22/8102.md?p=10), but the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) has acceded to the [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) to demonstrate its commitment to the nuclear nonproliferation regime and to make [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) civil nuclear activities available to the same [IAEA](/usc/22/8102.md?p=6) inspections as are applied in the case of [non-nuclear-weapon State Parties](/usc/22/8102.md?p=10).
- (9) In accordance with the national security exclusion contained in Article 1.b of its [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1), the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) will not allow any inspection activities, nor make any declaration of any information with respect to, [locations](/usc/22/8102.md?p=8), information, and activities of direct national security significance to the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13).
- (10) Implementation of the [Additional Protocol](/usc/22/8102.md?p=1) will conform to the principles set forth in the letter of April 30, 2002, from the [United States](/usc/22/8102.md?p=13) Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Vienna Office of the United Nations to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–401, title II, § 202, Dec. 18, 2006, 120 Stat. 2741.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 109–401, title II, § 201, Dec. 18, 2006, 120 Stat. 2741, provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘United States Additional Protocol Implementation Act’.”

### Executive Documents

### Ex. Ord. No. 13458. Implementation of the Protocol Additional to the Agreement Between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America

Ex. Ord. No. 13458, Feb. 4, 2008, 73 F.R. 7181, provided:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the United States Additional Protocol Implementation Act (the “Act”) (Public Law 109–401[, title II]) and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and in order to facilitate implementation of the Act and the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America (the “Additional Protocol”), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. The Secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, and Energy, the Attorney General, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and heads of such other agencies as appropriate, each shall issue, amend, or revise, and enforce such regulations, orders, directives, instructions, or procedures as are necessary to implement the Act and United States obligations under the Additional Protocol.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of Commerce, with the assistance, as necessary, of the Attorney General, is authorized to obtain and to execute warrants pursuant to section 223 of the Act for the purpose of gaining complementary access to locations subject to regulations issued by the Department of Commerce pursuant to section 1 of this order.

Sec. 3. The Secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, and Energy, the Attorney General, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and heads of such other departments and agencies as appropriate, are authorized to carry out, consistent with the Act and in accordance with subsequent directives, appropriate functions that are not otherwise assigned in the Act and are necessary to implement the Act and United States obligations under the Additional Protocol. The Secretary of State shall perform the function of providing notifications or information to the Congress when required by the Act.

Sec. 4. This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

Sec. 5. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.