[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7177 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.7177
One Hundred Tenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
the third day of January, two thousand and eight
An Act
To authorize the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign
recipients, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I--NAVAL VESSEL TRANSFER
SECTION 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``Naval Vessel Transfer Act of
2008''.
SEC. 102. TRANSFER OF NAVAL VESSELS TO CERTAIN FOREIGN RECIPIENTS.
(a) Transfers by Grant.--The President is authorized to transfer
the vessels specified in paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of section 501(a)
of H.R. 5916 of the 110th Congress, as passed the House of
Representatives on May 15, 2008, to the foreign recipients specified in
paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of such section, respectively, on a grant
basis under section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2321j).
(b) Grants Not Counted in Annual Total of Transferred Excess
Defense Articles.--The value of a vessel transferred to a recipient on
a grant basis pursuant to authority provided by subsection (a) shall
not be counted against the aggregate value of excess defense articles
transferred in any fiscal year under section 516 of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j).
(c) Costs of Transfers.--Any expense incurred by the United States
in connection with a transfer authorized by this section shall be
charged to the recipient (notwithstanding section 516(e) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j(e))).
(d) Repair and Refurbishment in United States Shipyards.--To the
maximum extent practicable, the President shall require, as a condition
of the transfer of a vessel under this section, that the recipient to
which the vessel is transferred have such repair or refurbishment of
the vessel as is needed, before the vessel joins the naval forces of
the recipient, performed at a shipyard located in the United States,
including a United States Navy shipyard.
(e) Expiration of Authority.--The authority to transfer a vessel
under this section shall expire at the end of the 2-year period
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
TITLE II--UNITED STATES ARMS EXPORTS
SEC. 201. ASSESSMENT OF ISRAEL'S QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE OVER
MILITARY THREATS.
(a) Assessment Required.--The President shall carry out an
empirical and qualitative assessment on an ongoing basis of the extent
to which Israel possesses a qualitative military edge over military
threats to Israel. The assessment required under this subsection shall
be sufficiently robust so as to facilitate comparability of data over
concurrent years.
(b) Use of Assessment.--The President shall ensure that the
assessment required under subsection (a) is used to inform the review
by the United States of applications to sell defense articles and
defense services under the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et
seq.) to countries in the Middle East.
(c) Reports.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than June 30, 2009, the
President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report on the initial assessment required under
subsection (a).
(2) Quadrennial report.--Not later than four years after the
date on which the President transmits the initial report under
paragraph (1), and every four years thereafter, the President shall
transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on
the most recent assessment required under subsection (a).
(d) Certification.--Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act (22
U.S.C. 2776) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(h) Certification Requirement Relating to Israel's Qualitative
Military Edge.--
``(1) In general.--Any certification relating to a proposed
sale or export of defense articles or defense services under this
section to any country in the Middle East other than Israel shall
include a determination that the sale or export of the defense
articles or defense services will not adversely affect Israel's
qualitative military edge over military threats to Israel.
``(2) Qualitative military edge defined.--In this subsection,
the term `qualitative military edge' means the ability to counter
and defeat any credible conventional military threat from any
individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state
actors, while sustaining minimal damages and casualties, through
the use of superior military means, possessed in sufficient
quantity, including weapons, command, control, communication,
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities that in
their technical characteristics are superior in capability to those
of such other individual or possible coalition of states or non-
state actors.''.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee
on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
(2) Qualitative military edge.--The term ``qualitative military
edge'' has the meaning given the term in section 36(h) of the Arms
Export Control Act, as added by subsection (d) of this section.
SEC. 202. IMPLEMENTATION OF MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH
ISRAEL.
(a) In General.--Of the amount made available for fiscal year 2009
for assistance under the program authorized by section 23 of the Arms
Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2763) (commonly referred to as the
``Foreign Military Financing Program''), the amount specified in
subsection (b) is authorized to be made available on a grant basis for
Israel.
(b) Computation of Amount.--The amount referred to in subsection
(a) is the amount equal to--
(1) the amount specified under the heading ``Foreign Military
Financing Program'' for Israel for fiscal year 2008; plus
(2) $150,000,000.
(c) Other Authorities.--
(1) Availability of funds for advanced weapons systems.--To the
extent the Government of Israel requests the United States to
provide assistance for fiscal year 2009 for the procurement of
advanced weapons systems, amounts authorized to be made available
for Israel under this section shall, as agreed to by Israel and the
United States, be available for such purposes, of which not less
than $670,650,000 shall be available for the procurement in Israel
of defense articles and defense services, including research and
development.
(2) Disbursement of funds.--Amounts authorized to be made
available for Israel under this section shall be disbursed not
later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of an Act making
appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and
related programs for fiscal year 2009, or October 31, 2008,
whichever occurs later.
SEC. 203. SECURITY COOPERATION WITH THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Close and continuing defense cooperation between the United
States and the Republic of Korea continues to be in the national
security interest of the United States.
(2) The Republic of Korea was designated a major non-NATO ally
in 1987, the first such designation.
(3) The Republic of Korea has been a major purchaser of United
States defense articles and services through the Foreign Military
Sales (FMS) program, totaling $6,900,000,000 in deliveries over the
last 10 years.
(4) Purchases of United States defense articles, services, and
major defense equipment facilitate and increase the
interoperability of Republic of Korea military forces with the
United States Armed Forces.
(5) Congress has previously enacted important, special defense
cooperation arrangements for the Republic of Korea, as in the Act
entitled ``An Act to authorize the transfer of items in the War
Reserves Stockpile for Allies, Korea'', approved December 30, 2005
(Public Law 109-159; 119 Stat. 2955), which authorized the
President, notwithstanding section 514 of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321h), to transfer to the Republic of Korea
certain defense items to be included in a war reserve stockpile for
that country.
(6) Enhanced support for defense cooperation with the Republic
of Korea is important to the national security of the United
States, including through creation of a status in law for the
Republic of Korea similar to the countries in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, with
respect to consideration by Congress of foreign military sales to
the Republic of Korea.
(b) Special Foreign Military Sales Status for Republic of Korea.--
The Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in sections 3(d)(2)(B), 3(d)(3)(A)(i), 3(d)(5),
21(e)(2)(A), 36(b), 36(c), 36(d)(2)(A), 62(c)(1), and 63(a)(2), by
inserting ``the Republic of Korea,'' before ``or New Zealand'' each
place it appears;
(2) in section 3(b)(2), by inserting ``the Government of the
Republic of Korea,'' before ``or the Government of New Zealand'';
(3) in section 21(h)(1)(A), by inserting ``the Republic of
Korea,'' before ``or Israel''; and
(4) in section 21(h)(2), by striking ``or to any member
government of that Organization if that Organization or member
government'' and inserting ``, to any member government of that
Organization, or to the Governments of the Republic of Korea,
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Israel if that Organization,
member government, or the Governments of the Republic of Korea,
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, or Israel''.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.