Sec. 1231. Prohibition on the use of funds to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty

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Congress finds the following: Since 1992, the United States has supported the Open Skies Treaty with dedicated aircraft and observation mission teams, conducting several hundred training and observation missions with other countries. This commitment by the United States has helped to confirm and refine operational procedures, to improve implementation and effectiveness of the Open Skies Treaty, and provide United States leadership and engagement opportunities that have supported broader objectives and improved European transparency.

The Open Skies Treaty provides signatories with the ability to gather information through aerial imaging on military forces and activities of concern to them which contributes to greater transparency and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region, which benefits both the United States and United States allies and partners. In order to maximize United States benefits from the Open Skies Treaty, the United States needs to recapitalize and modernize its aircraft and sensors, and the ongoing work to certify the Digital Visual Imaging System and the new effort for the Open Skies Treaty Aircraft Recapitalization (OSTAR) are critical to United States leadership and involvement in the Treaty.

The current 1960s-era United States aircraft used with respect to the Open Skies Treaty are ill-suited to extreme operating environments in Russia and experience regular, unplanned maintenance issues, often resulting in mission delays or cancellations. The OSTAR effort will provide a United States aircraft capability that allows the United States to fully implement the goals and objectives of the Open Skies Treaty. The United States also demonstrated in December 2018, along with United States allies of Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Romania, that Open Skies Treaty mechanisms can be used during times of crisis.

Following Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukrainian vessels near the Kerch Strait, the United States and United States allies conducted an extraordinary Open Skies Treaty observation mission over Ukraine to reaffirm commitment to Ukraine. It is the sense of Congress that— the United States should forcefully address Russian violations of its obligations under the Open Skies Treaty; and due to the significant benefits that observation missions under the Open Skies Treaty provide to the United States and United States allies, the United States should commit to continued participation in the Treaty.

Except as provided in paragraph (2), none of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2020 may be obligated or expended to take any action to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty. The prohibition in paragraph

(1)shall not apply if the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State jointly determine and certify to the congressional defense committees, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, that— Russia is in material breach of its obligations under the Open Skies Treaty and is not taking steps to return to compliance with such obligations, and all other state parties to the Open Skies Treaty concur in such determination of the Secretaries; or withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty would be in the best interests of United States national security and the other state parties to the Open Skies Treaty have been consulted with respect to such withdrawal. Section 1236 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ( Public Law 114–328 ; 130 Stat. 2491) is amended— by striking subsections

(a)and (b); and by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), and

(f)as subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d), respectively. Subsection

(a)of such section, as so redesignated, is amended— in the heading, by striking and inserting Quarterly ; Bi-annual in paragraph (1)— by inserting the Secretary of State, before the Secretary of Energy ; by striking quarterly basis and inserting bi-annual basis ; by striking by the Russian Federation over the United States and inserting by all parties to the Open Skies Treaty, including the United States, under the Treaty ; and by striking calendar quarter and inserting preceding 6-month period ; and in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraphs (B), (C), and

(D)and inserting the following: In the case of an observation flight by the United States, including an observation flight over the territory of Russia— an analysis of data collected that supports United States intelligence and military collection goals; and an assessment of data collected regarding military activity that could not be collected through other means. In the case of an observation flight over the territory of the United States— an analysis of whether and the extent to which any United States critical infrastructure was the subject of image capture activities of such observation flight; an estimate for the mitigation costs imposed on the Department of Defense or other United States Government agencies by such observation flight; and assessment of how such information is used by party conducting the observation flight, for what purpose, and how the information fits into the overall collection posture. . Subsection

(c)of such section, as so redesignated, is amended by striking certification, report, and notice and inserting report . Subsection

(d)of such section, as so redesignated, is amended— by striking paragraphs

(3)and (6); and by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), and

(7)as paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively. Section 1235(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 ( Public Law 115–91 ; 131 Stat. 1660) is amended— in paragraph (1)— by striking during such fiscal year and inserting during a calendar year ; and by striking the President submits and all that follows and inserting the Secretary of Defense provides to the appropriate congressional committees a briefing on a plan described in paragraph

(2)with respect to such calendar year. ; in paragraph (2), by striking such fiscal year and inserting such calendar year ; and in paragraph (3), by striking a fiscal year and submit the updated plan and inserting a calendar year and provide a briefing on the updated plan . In this section, the term Open Skies Treaty or Treaty means the Treaty on Open Skies, done at Helsinki March 24, 1992, and entered into force January 1, 2002.

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Pub. L. 114-328
130 Stat. 2491
Pub. L. 115-91
131 Stat. 1660

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Sec. 1231

Prohibition on the use of funds to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty

Pub. L.Pub. L. 114-328

Stat.130 Stat. 2491

Pub. L.Pub. L. 115-91

Stat.131 Stat. 1660

Cites 4Cited by 0 across 0 sources