[Senate Report 106-43]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





                                                        Calendar No. 91

106th Congress                                                   Report
  1st Session                    SENATE                          106-43

=======================================================================



 
       FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEARS 2000-2001

                                _______
                                

                 April 27, 1999.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______


          Mr. Helms, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                             MINORITY VIEWS

                         [To accompany S. 886]

    The Committee on Foreign Relations having had under 
consideration an original bill to authorize appropriations for 
the Department of State for fiscal years 2000 and 2001; to 
provide for enhanced security at United States diplomatic 
facilities; to provide for certain arms control, 
nonproliferation, and other national security measures; to 
provide for reform of and arrears payments to the United 
Nations, and for other purposes, reports favorably thereon and 
recommends that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page

   I. Purposes...................................................     1
  II. Committee action...........................................     5
 III. Summary of Funds in State Department Authorization Bill....     6
  IV. Section-by-section analysis................................     7
   V. Cost estimate..............................................    49
  VI. Evaluation of regulatory impact............................    49
 VII. Changes in existing law....................................    50
VIII. Minority views of Senator Sarbanes.........................    82


                              I. Purposes

    The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000-
2001:
    1. Authorizes funding for the Department of State, United 
States international broadcasting activities, and other foreign 
affairs programs for Fiscal Years 2000-2001;
    2. Authorizes a five year, $3 billion embassy construction 
program to upgrade U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas in the 
wake of embassy bombings in East Africa, and other terrorist 
threats; and
    3. Mandates reforms at the United Nations that must be met 
and authorizes the payments of U.S. arrearages to the United 
Nations in light of such reforms.

                   A. STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZATION

    This legislation authorizes appropriations and activities 
for the Department of State and broadcasting activities for 
fiscal years 2000-2001. For these two fiscal years, 
respectively, the bill authorizes $6,382,404,000 and 
$6,031,404,000. The bill is the first authorization of State 
Department activities since enactment last October of the 
Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act, which requires 
the abolition of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) 
and the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and consolidation of the 
functions of these agencies into the State Department.
    That legislation required the full integration of these 
agencies into the Department of State. The authorization for 
the ``Diplomatic and Consular Programs'' account consolidates 
most of the funds formerly authorized under the ``International 
Information Programs'' account of the United States Information 
Agency. The most notable exceptions are the funding of exchange 
programs, which continue to be funded in a separate account, 
and international broadcasting activities, which will not be 
merged into the State Department. The Committee believes that 
consolidation of funding into the Diplomatic and Consular 
Programs account is essential to the full and effective 
integration of international information functions into the 
Department of State. Only through full consolidation and 
integration of these functions into all bureaus of the 
Department of State will the objectives of the Foreign Affairs 
Reform and Restructuring Act be fully realized. The Committee 
expects, therefore, that this integration will yield both 
efficiencies in the Department of State, and a more responsive 
foreign policy under the guidance of the Secretary of State.

                          B. EMBASSY SECURITY

    In 1985, the Advisory Panel on Overseas Security, chaired 
by Admiral Bobby Ray Inman concluded a review which identified 
significant shortcomings in security at U.S. diplomatic 
facilities overseas. The Inman panel called for major changes 
in State Department security standards, and recommended 
devoting significant financial resources to construct secure 
embassies in over 100 posts around the world.
    In 1986, Congress authorized $2.1 billion in funding for a 
major construction program to enhance security at U.S. 
embassies. Unfortunately, the full funding was not appropriated 
for this program and some of the appropriated funding was not 
even obligated by the State Department. The Department revised 
the ``one-size-fits-all'' approach of the Inman panel and 
implemented threat-driven, ``risk management'' security 
standards. By the early 1990's, as the budget deficit grew and 
the dissolution of the Soviet Union required the Department to 
open several new posts, the Inman construction program was all 
but forgotten.
    Even with the Inman funds received by the Department, there 
were serious problems in implementation, in particular, the 
State Department had difficulties absorbing such a large 
infusion of funding. The $2.1 billion authorized by Congress in 
1986 was estimated to allow the State Department to complete 57 
projects. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), of 
the 57 projects planned in 1986, only 7 had been completed by 
September of 1991. The GAO determined that there were many 
factors which led to this result, but a fundamental weakness of 
the State Department's building plan was the lack of a firm 
strategy to complete their mission.
    On August 7, 1998, two bombs exploded nearly simultaneously 
at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Over 200 persons 
were killed and over 4,000 were injured. As required by law, 
Accountability Review Boards were convened; the panels were 
jointly chaired by Admiral William Crowe, USN ret. The Crowe 
panels found that many of the problems identified by the Inman 
panel persist. As the report emphasized, there was a 
``collective failure'' on the part of the U.S. Government--both 
the Executive branch and Congress--in not providing adequate 
resources for security.
    The Crowe panels recommended that the government 
``undertake a comprehensive and long-term strategy for 
protecting American officials overseas.'' Congress is again 
prepared to provide a significant level of funding for the 
State Department to initiate a substantial construction 
program. The cost of rebuilding and upgrading overseas 
diplomatic facilities will be considerable, and this 
legislation provides a strong commitment to providing the level 
of funding to begin accomplishing that goal. The Committee 
recognizes that unlimited resources are not available. There 
should, therefore, be clear priorities within the construction 
program, focusing on those posts which are most vulnerable to 
terrorist attack and crucial to the conduct of our foreign 
policy.
    Securing U.S. embassies will not be achieved by a single 
legislative or executive action. Rather, the responsibility for 
keeping U.S. facilities and personnel safe is a constant duty 
shared by all parts of the United States Government. Service 
overseas will never be without risk, but the Committee is 
determined to do all that is feasible to ensure that the events 
of August 7, 1998 do not repeat themselves due to lack of 
attention or effort.

                          C. NONPROLIFERATION

    Title VI establishes policy and reporting requirements and 
establishes a new Assistant Secretary of State for Verification 
and Compliance, so as to improve the administration of United 
States arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament 
policies. Two new State Department funds will enable the 
Department to encourage other agencies to develop arms control 
verification technologies and humanitarian demining equipment.

                        D. UNITED NATIONS REFORM

    Title IX of this legislation authorizes payment of U.S. 
arrears to the United Nations only after specific reform 
benchmarks have been met by the United Nations and its 
specialized agencies. The bill would authorize $575 million in 
funds already appropriated in fiscal years 1998 and 1999 for 
payment of U.S. arrearages, as well as $244 million in fiscal 
year 2000 funds and $107 million in forgiveness of debt owed 
the United States by the United Nations.
    The Committee's plan does not micro-manage how the United 
Nations should downsize and eliminate its overlapping programs 
and activities. Just a cursory review of the organizational 
chart of the United Nations and its agencies, funds, and 
programs makes it clear that some downsizing is required and 
must be addressed squarely by Secretary General Kofi Annan and 
especially the member states. There are many proposals for 
restructuring the U.N. bureaucracy, including a widely-
circulated proposal from the Nordic countries to reform the 
development and the humanitarian assistance programs of the 
U.N. This legislation provides flexibility on these issues but 
requires that there be procedures for sunsetting antiquated and 
ineffective programs.
    The core purposes of this legislation are to reduce 
spending in the United Nations system and to clear up our 
arrearages with the United Nations. It makes a clear statement 
as to how much the Congress is willing to pay and the 
conditions under which it is willing to authorize spending for 
the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. It mandates a 
reduction in the U.S. share of the regular budget to at least 
22 percent of total assessments by the United Nations. Had this 
assessment scale been in place during the last five years the 
United States would have saved the American taxpayers at least 
a half billion dollars in assessed contributions to the United 
Nations and its specialized agencies. The legislation also 
directs the administration to negotiate zero nominal growth 
budgets at the three largest specialized agencies: the Food and 
Agriculture Organization, the International Labor Organization, 
and the World Health Organization.
    Another key reform in this legislation is a requirement 
that the United States seek and obtain reimbursement for all 
assistance to United Nations peacekeeping operations, unless 
the President notifies Congress that to do so without 
reimbursement serves an important national interest. Off-budget 
billing of the United States will come to an end under this 
plan. The President will be required to seek authorization of 
the Congress on all resources to fund United Nations 
peacekeeping efforts.
    Title IX does not contain every reform proposed by Members 
of Congress. The plan is the result of months of meetings and 
negotiations between this Committee, the appropriating 
committees, the leadership of both the Senate and House, and 
the administration which commenced in 1997 and resumed early 
this year. It is a consensus plan that provides basic reforms 
and much-needed curbs on spending in exchange for substantial 
arrears payments.

                          II. Committee Action

    The Committee on Foreign Relations held three public 
hearings on the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 
Years 2000-2001. On February 24, 1999, Secretary of State 
Madeleine K. Albright testified before the full Committee 
regarding the President's budget request for international 
affairs (function 150). On March 4, 1999, Under Secretary of 
State for Management Bonnie Cohen, Benjamin Nelson of the 
General Accounting Office, and State Department Inspector 
General Jacquelyn Williams-Bridgers, each testified before the 
International Operations Subcommittee regarding funding levels, 
needed managerial and organizational reforms, and the 
President's reorganization plan as required by the Foreign 
Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act. Finally, on March 11, 
1999, Admiral William J. Crowe, who chaired the Accountability 
Review Boards convened following the simultaneous terrorist 
bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, testified before 
the Committee regarding the Boards' recommendations for 
improving security of U.S. diplomatic facilities.
    The Committee considered the authorization bill on April 
21, 1999. There were several amendments approved by voice vote 
during the mark-up. These include:

   an amendment by Senator Feingold regarding U.S. 
        policy toward Nigeria;
   two amendments by Senator Boxer regarding reporting 
        on implementation of the Hague Convention on the Civil 
        Aspects of Parental Abduction;
   two amendments by Senator Torricelli: (1) regarding 
        the use of frozen Libyan assets to assist families of 
        victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing to travel to the 
        Hague for the upcoming trial of two Libyans accused of 
        the bombing, and (2) expressing the sense of Congress 
        regarding assistance to refugees from Israel;
   two amendments by Senator Kerry: (1) earmarking $5 
        million in Fulbright Exchange funding for exchanges in 
        Vietnam, and (2) increasing the authorization for the 
        Asia Foundation to $15 million;
   three amendments by Senators Thomas and Smith: (1) 
        clarifying the language of Sec. 723 regarding Taiwan, 
        (2) deleting section 706 of Title VII of the Committee 
        mark, and (3) deleting section 721 of Title VII of the 
        Committee mark;
   five amendments by Senators Helms and Biden 
        regarding Radio Free Asia Reauthorization, striking of 
        a provision regarding the Cuba Broadcasting Board, and 
        several other technical amendments;
   two amendments by Senator Brownback: (1) expressing 
        the sense of the Senate regarding the extradition of 
        Igor Giorgadze, and (2) regarding the Palestinian 
        Liberation Organization in the United States;
   three amendments by Senator Sarbanes regarding the 
        Foreign Service, which relate to: (1) workforce 
        planning, (2) educational expenses for children of 
        Foreign Service members, and (3) financial benefits for 
        administrative and technical personnel working 
        overseas.

    The Committee approved the bill, as amended, by a vote of 
17-1. Senators Helms, Lugar, Coverdell, Hagel, Smith, Grams, 
Brownback, Thomas, Ashcroft, Frist, Biden, Dodd, Kerry, 
Feingold, Wellstone, Boxer, and Torricelli voted for the bill. 
Senator Sarbanes voted in the negative.


                          III. SUMMARY OF FUNDS IN STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZATION BILL
                                             [Dollars in thousands]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      FY1999          FY2000       FY2000  SFRC
                                                     Estimate         Request          Mark           FY2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administration of Foreign Affairs
State Programs:
  Diplomatic & Consular Programs................       1,644,300       2,583,772       2,837,772       2,837,772
  Worldwide Security Upgrades...................         785,700         254,000  ..............  ..............
  Salaries & Expenses...........................         354,187  ..............  ..............  ..............
  Arms Control & Disarmament Agency.............          41,500  ..............  ..............  ..............
  International Information Programs (USIA).....         455,246  ..............  ..............  ..............
  Technology Fund (USIA)........................           9,062  ..............  ..............  ..............
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal....................................       3,289,995       2,837,772       2,837,772       2,837,772
  Capital Investment Fund.......................         137,890          90,000          90,000          90,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, State Programs....................       3,427,885       2,927,772       2,927,772       2,927,772

Security & Maintenance of U.S. Missions.........         403,561         434,066         434,066         434,066
  Worldwide Security Upgrades...................         627,000          49,617  ..............  ..............
  Capital Projects--Advance Appropriations......  ..............     (3,000,000)  ..............  ..............
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, S&MUSM............................       1,030,561         483,683         434,066         434,066

Embassy Security................................  ..............  ..............  \1\(3,000,000)  \1\(3,000,000)

Other Administration of Foreign Affairs:
  Office of Inspector General...................          28,495          30,054          30,054          30,054
  Educational and Cultural Exchanges............         200,500         210,329         210,329         210,329
  Representation Allowances.....................           4,350           5,850           5,850           5,850
  Prot. of Foreign Missions & Officials.........           8,100           9,490           9,490           9,490
  Emerg. in the Dipl. & Consular Service........          15,500          17,000          17,000          17,000
  Repatriation Loans Program Account............           1,200           1,200           1,200           1,200
  American Institute in Taiwan..................          14,750          15,760          15,760          15,760
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, Admin. of Foreign Affairs.........       4,731,341       3,701,138       3,651,521       3,651,521

International Organizations:
  Contributions to Int'l. Organizations (CIO)...         922,000         963,308         940,000         940,000
  Contr. for Int'l. Peacekeeping Activities              231,000         235,000         215,000         215,000
   (CIPA).......................................
  CIO/CIPA Arrearage Payments...................         475,000         446,000      \2\351,000  ..............
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, International Organizations.......       1,628,000       1,644,308       1,506,000       1,155,000

International Commissions:
  Int'l. Boundary & Water Comm.--S&E............          19,551          20,413          20,413          20,413
  Int'l. Boundary & Water Comm.--Construction...           5,939           8,435           8,435           8,435
  International Fisheries Commissions...........          14,549          16,702          16,702          16,702
  American Sections:
    Int'l. Boundary Commission..................             761             859             859             859
    Int'l. Joint Commission.....................           3,432           3,819           3,819           3,819
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
      Subtotal, American Sections...............           4,193           6,493           6,493           6,493
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
        Subtotal, International Commissions.....          44,232          52,043          52,043          52,043

Related Appropriations:
  The Asia Foundation...........................           8,250          15,000          15,000          15,000
  National Endowment for Democracy..............          31,000          32,000          31,000          31,000
  East-West Center..............................          12,500          12,500          12,500          12,500
  North-South Center............................           1,750           2,500           1,750           1,750
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, Related Appropriations............          53,500          62,000          60,250          60,250

Broadcasting:
  International Broadcasting Activities.........         384,374         431,722         408,979         408,979
  Radio Construction............................          13,245          20,868          20,868          20,868
  Broadcasting to Cuba..........................          22,095  ..............          22,743          22,743
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, Broadcasting......................         419,714         452,590         452,590         452,590

Refugee Assistance:
  Migration & Refugee Assistance................         640,000         660,000         660,000         660,000
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, Refugee Assistance................         640,000         660,000         660,000         660,000
                                                 ===============================================================
        Total Authorization of Appropriations...       7,516,787       6,572,079       6,382,404       6,031,404
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Administration requested $3 billion for FY2001-2005. Committee bill authorizes appropriation of $600 million
  per year for FY2000-2004.
\2\ Includes $107 million in debt relief not yet appropriated.


                    IV. Section-by-Section Analysis


                TITLE I--AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS


Sec. 101. Administration of Foreign Affairs

    This section authorizes appropriations under the heading 
``Administration of Foreign Affairs'' for fiscal years 2000 and 
2001. It includes funds for executive direction and policy 
formulation, conduct of diplomatic relations with foreign 
governments and international organizations, effective 
implementation of consular programs and its border security 
component, the acquisition and maintenance of office space and 
living quarters for the United States missions abroad, 
provision of security for those operations, and information 
resource management. This section includes authorization of 
appropriations for the conduct of United States public 
diplomacy programs and for arms control, nonproliferation and 
disarmament activities within the newly reorganized Department 
of State, incorporating the programs of the United States 
Information Agency and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
    Subsection (b) requires that the Office of Defense Trade 
Controls be provided at least $8,000,000 from funds made 
available in the Diplomatic and Consular Programs account. This 
is an increase of slightly more than $2,000,000 per year to 
this office beyond what it currently receives within the 
Department of State. These additional resources are essential 
to enable the Department of State to process commercial export 
licenses--including licenses for the export of commercial 
communications satellites and the use of foreign satellite 
launch services--in a timely fashion. The funds will be used to 
hire additional personnel and to update computer systems to 
enable the office to conduct license reviews more effectively.

Sec. 102. International Commissions

    This section authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 
2000 and 2001 under the heading ``International Commissions''. 
It authorizes funds necessary to enable the United States to 
meet its obligations as a participant in international 
commissions, including those commissions dealing with American 
boundaries and related matters with Canada and Mexico, and 
international fisheries commissions.

Sec. 103. Migration and Refugees

    This section authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 
2000 and 2001 under the heading ``Migration and Refugee 
Assistance'' to enable the Secretary of State to provide 
assistance and make contributions for migrants and refugees, 
including contributions to international organizations such as 
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the 
International Committee for the Red Cross, through private 
voluntary agencies, governments, and bilateral assistance, as 
authorized by law.

Sec. 104. United States Informational, Educational, and Cultural 
        Programs

    This section authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 
2000 and 2001 for Fulbright and other educational and cultural 
exchange programs, the East-West Center, the North-South 
Center, and the National Endowment for Democracy.
    The Committee has provided two earmarks within this 
section. The first is an earmark of $7 million for the Muskie 
Fellowship exchanges with Russia. U.S. relations with Russia 
have deteriorated in recent months. The Committee believes that 
while the United States must not compromise on our fundamental 
interests in areas like arms control, non-proliferation, and 
the war in Yugoslavia, we must continue to look for ways to 
engage Russia. Russia is simply too important to ignore.
    Strengthening already successful educational and technical 
programs with Russia offers a way to continue mutually 
beneficial engagement. One of the most successful of these 
programs is named after the former Senator from Maine and 
former Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie. The bill increases 
the Russian portion of the funding for the Edmund S. Muskie 
Fellowship Program from $3.7 million to $7 million over each of 
the next two fiscal years. The Muskie Fellowship Program 
selects outstanding citizens to receive fellowships for 
graduate-level study and professional development programs in 
the United States. Candidates are recruited through an open, 
merit-based competition and may apply in the fields of business 
administration, economics, law, and public administration. 
Fellows are placed at U.S. colleges and universities in 
graduate-degree, certificate, and non-degree programs, which 
last one to two academic years.
    The second earmark relates to the Vietnam Fulbright 
program.

Sec. 105. Grants to the Asia Foundation

    The Asia Foundation, founded in 1954, is a private, non-
governmental organization which makes grants for the purposes 
of promoting democracy, legal reform, trade and investment 
liberalization, and peaceful relations within the region.
    This section authorizes the administration's full request 
of $15 million for the Asia Foundation, a significant increase 
over the fiscal year 1999 appropriation of $8.25 million. The 
increased funding is to support the Asia Foundation's legal 
reform initiatives in Asia, including programs designed to 
reduce the arbitrary use of power by facilitating the 
development of reliable, transparent, legal frameworks. Recent 
political instability in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, 
and Cambodia, not only underscores the need for impartial 
judicial systems, it creates opportunities for legal reform.
    The Committee expects that in its efforts to promote legal 
reforms in China and elsewhere, the Asia Foundation will 
exercise the utmost discretion in choosing its partners. For 
instance, the Committee shares the Asia Foundation's concern 
about increasing regulatory control exercised by the Chinese 
Ministry of Civil Affairs, with which the Foundation has worked 
to promote village-level democracy in China.

     TITLE II--DEPARTMENT OF STATE BASIC AUTHORITIES AND ACTIVITIES


              Subtitle A--Basic Authorities and Activities


Sec. 201. Office of Children's Issues

    On October 1, 1998, the Committee on Foreign Relations 
convened a hearing to consider U.S. Responses to International 
Parental Kidnaping. Attorney General Janet Reno testified 
before the Committee, as did four parents whose children were 
abducted or wrongfully detained in international jurisdictions. 
The parents recounted their frustration with the current level 
of U.S. Government assistance in seeking the return of their 
children.
    Although the Attorney General pointed to limitations in the 
ability of the U.S. Government to resolve many cases of 
international parental abduction, she also recognized that the 
United States could improve its efforts in assisting in the 
return of abducted children and pledged to take steps to 
improve coordination between the Departments of State and 
Justice. Sections 201 and 202 of this bill are intended to 
improve the operations of the Department of State in addressing 
international parental abduction cases.
    Section 201 requires the State Department to make several 
changes with regard to its handling of international parental 
abduction and other children's issues. The section requires 
that: (1) the Director of the office is a career Senior 
Executive Service employee; (2) the staffing levels of the 
office include sufficient caseworkers so that the average 
caseload is 75; and (3) each embassy designate a point of 
contact on parental abduction issues and the director of the 
office must regularly inform the contact of cases in that 
country; the Secretary of State give notice of abductions to 
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) 
within 24 hours of a possible abduction, and must report to 
NCMEC every six months on closed and opened cases during the 
previous six months.

Sec. 202. Strengthening Implementation of the Hague Convention on the 
        Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

    This section makes permanent the reporting requirements 
enacted in the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 
1998 and adds new requirements that the Secretary report on the 
specific actions taken by U.S. embassies to facilitate the 
return of a child and actions by the Secretary to encourage 
other Hague Convention members to facilitate the work of 
nongovernmental organizations similar to NCMEC in those 
countries.

Sec. 203. Human Rights Reporting on the Treatment of Children

    This section expresses the sense of Congress that the 
Department of State's annual human rights reports address the 
treatment of children. This report should include an assessment 
of each country's implementation of the Hague Convention on the 
Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Sec. 204. Diplomatic Telecommunications Service Program Office; Report 
        on Cost Allocation System

    This section requires a report by the Diplomatic 
Telecommunications Service Program Office (DTS-PO) regarding 
the feasibility of fairly allocating the costs of DTS-PO to 
customer agencies at U.S. diplomatic missions overseas. At 
present, DTS-PO provides a ``basic'' service to each agency at 
a post, and charges for enhanced bandwidth beyond this basic 
service. The Committee is concerned that the rising cost for 
operations and maintenance is crowding out the continuation of 
necessary Post Communications Upgrade Projects. The Committee 
believes that fully allocating the costs of DTS-PO services to 
customer agencies (a system referred to as ``charge-back'') 
would be helpful in alleviating this funding shortfall, and 
urges the parent agencies of DTS-PO to explore the feasibility 
of implementing such a system in the near future.

Sec. 205. Study for Establishment of Russian Democracy Foundation

    This section requires the State Department to study the 
feasibility of establishing a foundation for the promotion of 
democratic institutions which would be based in the Russian 
Federation. Up to $50,000 in fiscal year 2000 funds is 
authorized for this purpose.
    The concept envisaged is a Russia-based, Russian-run 
institution. Its work would involve public education in a 
country where democracy increasingly is equated with crime, 
insider privatization, and mass poverty. The democracy 
foundation might also train democratic activists for 
governmental and non-governmental service.

Sec. 206. Limitation on Participation in International Expositions

    Section 230 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 provides that, absent a specific 
authorization of appropriation, funds appropriated for the 
United States Information Agency (USIA) are not to be used for 
a United States Government-funded pavilion or other major 
exhibit at an international exposition or world's fair. The 
provision has raised questions of whether the Director of USIA 
may carry out such basic duties as assisting the U.S. 
Commissioner General responsible for U.S. pavilions in 
fundraising or publicizing the United States participation in a 
world's fair. USIA requested the provision because it wants to 
make clear that these or similar duties supportive of U.S. 
participation in such activities are unrelated to expenditures 
for a pavilion or other major exhibit. Amendment of section 230 
will remove any ambiguity concerning its scope.

                    Subtitle B--Consular Authorities


Sec. 211. Fees for Machine Readable Visas

    Section 140 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, 
Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995, permits the Secretary of State to 
establish and retain a fee for machine readable visas and 
machine readable combined visa/border-crossing cards. The funds 
generated by this fee help cover the costs of consular 
operations, especially the costs of strengthening U.S. border 
security, such as the development, installation, and 
utilization of the Machine Readable Visa (MRV), improvements in 
the consular look-out system, maintenance of automated name-
check capability at all nonimmigrant visa-issuing posts, and 
activities to combat passport and visa fraud.
    This provision amends section 140(a) by extending and 
increasing the authority to collect and retain fees collected 
for the machine readable visa for fiscal years 2000 and 2001. 
The provision requires that collections that exceed $300 
million will be available for expenditure subject to 
congressional approval of a reprogramming notice that details 
how the Department intends to spend such fees.

Sec. 212. Fees Relating to Affidavits of Support

    Section 213A of the Immigration and Nationality Act as 
amended by the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility 
Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-208) requires sponsors of family-based 
and certain other immigrants to submit an affidavit of support 
(AOS) with respect to the person(s) they are sponsoring that 
meets stringent legal and financial requirements. The AOS must 
be legally binding, properly executed, and accompanied by 
certified copies of the sponsor's Federal income tax return for 
the three most recent tax years. In addition, the sponsor must 
meet certain income levels individually or with the assistance 
of a joint sponsor. Determining the income levels applicable 
requires reference to poverty guidelines for the applicable 
family unit. The AOS form and related requirements are complex, 
and are frequently completed incorrectly. When AOS forms and 
materials submitted at posts abroad are technically incorrect, 
significant consular officer resources are expended in an 
effort to identify and explain the difficulties, but there is 
little ability to correct the problems at post. Instead, the 
AOS must be returned to the sponsor, and a valuable immigrant 
visa interview slot may have been wasted on an applicant whose 
application was not in fact ready for adjudication. In such 
cases, the visa must be refused at least on an interim basis 
until the AOS can be corrected.
    Since the implementation of the new AOS requirement in 
December 1997, immigrant visa refusal rates have increased from 
roughly 10 percent to over 50 percent at several high volume 
posts. The high refusal rates have created backlogs in 
processing qualified immigrants and substantial delays before 
refused applicants can reapply.
    The State Department proposes to correct this problem by 
having all affidavits of support screened at the National Visa 
Center (NVC) in New Hampshire to ensure that they are properly 
completed before they are forwarded to consular posts for 
adjudication. This screening would include a telephone inquiry 
``help desk'' to answer questions before the AOS was submitted, 
a review of the completed AOS for technical correctness and a 
process for bringing deficiencies to the attention of sponsors 
to allow corrections to be made prior to the immigrant visa 
interview. To provide these services, which have not been part 
of the immigrant visa process in the past, will require new 
resources which the State Department proposes to fund through a 
new cost-based fee that it would retain for this purpose. The 
fee would be set to cover expanded NVC services to sponsors 
related to AOS processing and enhanced scanning and data 
communications between NVC and overseas posts to expedite the 
processing of the AOS. The Department indicates that this 
service should improve the Department's efficiency by ensuring 
that consular officer time is allocated only when the AOS is 
ready for adjudication, and could greatly benefit sponsors and 
their relatives by reducing the refusal rates of qualified 
immigrants with incomplete documentation or facially inadequate 
sponsor resources.
    The NVC will not perform any adjudicative functions. With 
respect to the financial adequacy of an AOS, the NVC will only 
review the form to ensure that the AOS shows sufficient 
resources on its face (e.g., that the sponsor has claimed to 
have the appropriate resources by referencing the proper 
property guideline for the family unit in question.) The 
consular officer will undertake the substantive review to 
determine whether the resources are genuinely available and 
whether the applicant otherwise meets the public charge 
requirement. The costs of consular officer adjudication will 
continue to be covered by the immigrant visa application and 
issuance fees, as appropriate. Fees will be collected and 
available for obligation only to the extent or in the amounts 
as are provided in advance in an appropriation act. The 
provision ensures, however, that these fees are not charged 
merely for duplicate copies of an AOS.

Sec. 213. Passport Fees

    This section amends Section 1 of the Passport Act of 1920 
to provide that, due to the excessive administrative costs, 
passport fees will not normally be refunded to unsuccessful 
applicants.
    Section 1 of the Passport Act of June 4, 1920 requires that 
fees be collected and paid into the Treasury for executing each 
passport application and for issuing each passport. Currently, 
approximately 17,000 of the nearly 6 million passport 
applications received are not approved and no passport is 
issued. Under current interpretations of the statute, these 
fees must be refunded to the applicants and for fiscal year 
1996 amounted to $0.9 million.
    The proposed amendment ends the requirement to refund the 
fee even if a passport application is denied. In addition to 
non-citizenship, the regulations set out conditions under which 
a U.S. passport may not be issued. For example, people 
incarcerated are not eligible for a passport notwithstanding 
their citizenship. The Department would retain the authority to 
refund the fees as may be prescribed by the Secretary in 
regulation.
    Section 213(b) would also repeal Section 4 of the Passport 
Act of 1920, which is an anachronistic provision that provides 
for the discretionary refund of passport fees in the event that 
a traveler is not able to obtain a visa to the country of 
intended travel. This authority reflects long-outmoded passport 
practices and is not in fact used. Given the costs of passport 
issuance and the fact that passports generally are valid for 
ten years and are not geographically limited, this provision is 
no longer necessary or appropriate.

Sec. 214. Deaths and Estates of United States Citizens Abroad

    This section would repeal 22 U.S.C. 4195 and replace it 
with new provisions in the State Department Basic Authorities 
Act to provide a revised statutory basis for the traditional 
consular function of protection and conservation, and 
ultimately disposition, of the estates of Americans who die 
overseas in those cases where a legal representative is not 
appointed by the heirs or other beneficiaries within a 
reasonable time. This section also provides a number of 
specific authorities not found in the original law which have 
been proposed by the Department of State based on its 
experience with the current law.
    Subsection (b) amends the State Department Basic 
Authorities Act to provide for reports of death and 
notification of next-of-kin in certain cases of American 
citizens dying overseas. The new section 43A of the Act would 
specifically authorize reports of presumptive death to be 
issued in the absence of a report by a local authority pursuant 
to regulations promulgated by the Secretary.
    The new section 43B would deal with the overseas 
conservation and disposition of estates of Americans who die 
abroad. It authorizes a consular officer to act as the 
provisional conservator of the U.S. citizen decedent's estate 
and take possession of the personal effects within his or her 
jurisdiction.
    Until 1996, 22 U.S.C. 4195 provided for consular officers 
to transfer unclaimed estates to the General Accounting Office 
and for that Office to conserve the property by various means, 
including sale of personal property and deposit of the net 
proceeds in the Treasury in trust for potential claimants. 
However, in the absence of valid claims after a period of 
years, such proceeds would be turned over to the U.S. State of 
last known domicile or, if not known, placed in miscellaneous 
receipts of the Treasury.
    In 1996, P.L. 104-316 substituted the Department of State 
or Secretary of State for the General Accounting Office, but 
made no procedural changes. Experience since that time, given 
the increasing number of Americans who establish permanent 
residence overseas and acquire interests in real property, and 
the related number of them who die intestate without clear ties 
to any particular U.S. State, has led the Department of State 
to propose expanded, more flexible authority to deal with both 
real and personal property, particularly where legal 
representatives or claimants cannot be located within a 
reasonable time. Taxes and other claims against such property 
continue to build up, and authority is needed to sell property 
to pay such claims and preserve the net proceeds. In some 
cases, no claimant can be found for real property interests, or 
none that is willing to take necessary legal action to transfer 
title, and, where there is a United States Government use for 
such property, the provision provides authority to take title 
for that use. There have been cases, absent authority to sell 
real property to cover estate expenses or to take title, where 
the only alternative is to abandon the property. Section 43B 
also provides authority to conserve and settle estates, 
including passage of title to the State Department for 
disposition of unclaimed property in accordance with the rules 
for domestic surplus United States Government property. Under 
the proposed procedures, after an initial waiting period of one 
year, followed by a further period of five full fiscal years, 
subsequent claims would be paid as refunds from the Treasury, 
which would have received the net proceeds of disposition as 
miscellaneous receipts. Title to any real property in an estate 
which is unclaimed by the end of an identified waiting period, 
shall pass to the Secretary who would retain the property if 
useful to the Department or dispose of the estate in the same 
manner as surplus U.S. Government-owned property. Such property 
would be considered foreign excess property under title IV of 
the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949.
    Section 43B also provides express authority for the State 
Department, as detailed by regulations, to settle and pay from 
official funds estate claims for lost, stolen, or destroyed 
property in custody of Department employees either overseas or 
in the United States. Such employees would be treated for 
purposes of personal liability to the Department in the same 
manner as for United States Government property for which they 
would be accountable, but only to the extent of the 
compensation paid by the State Department to the estate. The 
Secretary of State will establish by regulation procedures to 
ensure competent appraisal of effects and appropriate internal 
control procedures.

Sec. 215. Major Disasters and Other Incidents Abroad Affecting United 
        States Citizens

    This section amends section 43 of the State Department 
Basic Authorities Act to add a new subsection incorporating the 
enlarged definition of employees who may perform consular 
functions for purposes section 43 of the State Department Basic 
Authorities Act, and to apply that definition to new sections 
43A and 43B (see section 214, above).

    TITLE III--ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE


                    Subtitle A--Organization Matters


Sec. 301. Legislative Liaison Offices of the Department of State

    This section requires the Department of State to develop a 
plan for establishing legislative liaison offices for the 
Department that would be based on Capitol Hill. The Committee 
believes that establishment of such offices would help improve 
the relationship between Congress and the State Department. It 
is the intent of Congress that these offices function like the 
military liaison offices in the House and Senate--that is, as 
active and energetic participants in relations between the 
Executive and Congress.
    The Secretary of State's plan should treat administrative 
issues such as cost and space requirements; obviously, Congress 
would have to find the necessary office space for the liaison 
staffs. The Committee expects that the State Department would 
staff such an office with personnel intimately familiar with 
both the workings of U.S. embassies and Congress. For this 
reason, the provision includes a recommendation that 
participants in the State Department's Pearson fellowship 
program be the primary candidates for staffing the liaison 
offices in a second year of the fellowship, after having served 
a year in a member's office or on Committee staff.

                   Subtitle B--Foreign Service Reform


Sec. 311. Findings

    This section makes a number of findings that explain the 
need for the reforms contained in this subtitle.

Sec. 312. United States Citizens Hired Abroad

    In 1994, Congress amended section 408 of the Foreign 
Service Act to require that the compensation of U.S. citizens 
hired abroad (those who are not family members of government 
employees assigned abroad) to work at U.S. missions be the same 
as that of foreign service nationals. Specifically, the 
provision required that the ``total compensation package'' 
(including benefits and Social Security payments) must have the 
``equivalent cost'' to that received by a foreign service 
national (FSN) occupying a similar position at that post. The 
provision was designed to facilitate the hiring of U.S. 
citizens by U.S. missions.
    Because, however, U.S. citizens must be paid the minimum 
wage and because the U.S. Government, as the employer, must pay 
half of the Social Security (FICA) tax, the provision has led 
to inequities. In some posts, the costs to the U.S. Government 
of the total compensation package of a locally hired American 
exceeds the costs of employing an FSN in the same position. In 
those cases, to comply with the law, the post must reduce the 
American's compensation by all or some portion of the 
employer's portion of the FICA tax (7.65 percent) in order to 
ensure that the ``total compensation'' does not exceed that of 
the FSN. Thus, in effect, the American employees in some posts 
are paying the employer share of the FICA tax.
    The amendment made by Section 312 will delete the 
requirement that the total compensation package have the 
``equivalent cost'' to that of an FSN. In making this change, 
the Committee intends that the spirit of the 1994 amendment to 
Section 408 should be honored; that is, the cost of employing 
the U.S. citizen should remain generally the same, with two 
exceptions: (1) as Section 408 of the Foreign Service Act 
requires, the U.S. employee must receive at least the U.S. 
minimum wage; and (2) in the application of Social Security 
laws (both host country laws and U.S. laws).

Sec. 313. Limitation on Percentage of Senior Foreign Service Eligible 
        for Performance Pay

    This section attempts to give ``performance pay'' some 
meaning by reducing the percentage of members of the senior 
foreign service who can receive performance pay in a fiscal 
year from 50 percent to 33 percent.

Sec. 314. Placement of Senior Foreign Service Personnel

    This provision requires a regular report on the placement 
of senior Foreign Service Officers. The Committee has received 
complaints that senior Foreign Service Officers resist 
assignments until a desired position becomes available. This 
reporting requirement will provide information that will assist 
Congress in assessing whether this question requires a 
legislative remedy.

Sec. 315. Report on Management and Training

    This section is intended to oblige the State Department to 
address the lack of well-trained managers in the Foreign 
Service, which the Committee believes to be a serious internal 
flaw of the Foreign Service. The Secretary of State must 
produce a report to Congress regarding augmenting existing 
training programs so as to provide Department employees with 
``significant and comprehensive management training at all 
career grades for Foreign Service personnel.'' The Committee 
hopes that the Secretary's report will include suggestions for 
accomplishing this objective, and urges the Department to 
consider using outside management consultants to assist in 
designing the training programs.

Sec. 316. Workforce Planning for Foreign Service Personnel by Federal 
        Agencies

    Numerous reports, studies and commissions have recommended 
that the State Department establish a system of long-range 
planning that would identify the types of skills needed in the 
future and begin hiring and training appropriate numbers and 
categories of officers to meet these needs. The Committee 
believes that such planning is important for the morale and 
development of the career foreign service, and in helping to 
prevent shortages and mismatches between capabilities and 
missions. This section requires the Secretary of State to 
submit a report to the Congress every four years that describes 
the workforce plan for the following 5-year period, and that 
outlines the steps taken to promote uniform policies among 
agencies utilizing the foreign service personnel system.

Sec. 317. Records of Disciplinary Actions

    This section requires that any disciplinary action taken 
against a member of the Foreign Service be included in their 
personnel file until they are tenured or next promoted. Current 
regulations provide that records of such actions remain in a 
personnel file for just two years, or until the officer has 
gone before two selection (promotion) boards. In recent years, 
the Department has submitted several nominations for promotion 
to the Senate in which an officer received serious discipline, 
but, because of the regulations, such information had not been 
brought to the attention of the selection board. The Committee 
believes that, in an up-or-out system such as the Foreign 
Service, equity requires that the selection boards consider all 
information regarding the officer's record since his or her 
last promotion.

Sec. 318. Limitation on Salary and Benefits for Members of the Foreign 
        Service Recommended for Separation for Cause

    This provision would require the Secretary to place a 
Foreign Service member on leave without pay if that individual 
is recommended for separation from the Service for cause. 
Therefore, while the case is pending before the Foreign Service 
Grievance Board (under Section 610 of the Foreign Service Act, 
individuals cannot be separated for cause unless the agency 
recommendation is approved by the Board), the member will not 
receive pay and benefits.

Sec. 319. Foreign Language Proficiency

    This section requires an annual report to Congress 
containing data showing how many overseas positions are filled 
by language-qualified personnel. This reporting requirement 
replaces an analogous reporting provision in Section 304(c) of 
the Foreign Service Act of 1980.

Sec. 320. Treatment of Grievance Records

    This provision amends the Foreign Service Act to provide 
the Department the authority to place documentation in the 
officer's personnel file information that a disciplinary action 
has been reviewed and upheld by the Foreign Service Grievance 
Board. Under current practice, an employee typically appends to 
a discipline letter a statement of rebuttal. But nothing in the 
file will reflect that the employee has filed a grievance and 
that the Grievance Board has upheld the disciplinary action.

Sec. 321. Deadlines for Filing Grievances

    This is one of the key reforms in this title. It reduces 
from three years to one year the time for filing a grievance. 
It does provide flexibility of an additional year for members 
who are filing a grievance regarding an evaluation if the 
Foreign Service member is still supervised by the reviewer or 
rater of the evaluation. According to data provided by the 
American Foreign Service Association, most grievances are filed 
within this one year time frame.
    The Inspector General found, in a report issued in 1998, 
that the grievance process for the Foreign Service was long, 
drawn-out, and cumbersome. By comparison, members of the Civil 
Service have only one year to file a grievance. In the U.S. 
military, which like the Foreign Service is an up-or-out 
system, grievances are not permitted.

Sec. 322. Reports by the Foreign Service Grievance Board

    This provision requires the Foreign Service Grievance Board 
to compile information regarding its cases, and provide an 
annual report regarding the Board's activities during the 
previous year.

                  Subtitle C--Other Personnel Matters


Sec. 331. Border Equalization Pay Adjustment

    This section amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to 
provide for payment of a border equalization adjustment to an 
employee who regularly commutes from his or her place of 
residence in the continental United States to an official duty 
station in Canada or Mexico. The adjustment is equal to the 
amount that the employee would receive as locality pay (under 
section 5304 of title 5, United States Code) if assigned to an 
official duty station within the United States locality pay 
area closest to the employee's official duty station. A nearly 
identical provision was contained in the FY 1999 Departments of 
Commerce, Justice and State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies 
Appropriation Act. This provision would make the authority 
permanent.
    The Department of State employs Civil Service visa 
examiners who work at consulates in Ciudad Juarez and Tujuana, 
Mexico, but reside in Texas and California. They are caught in 
an unusual situation that denies them locality pay, which is 
restricted by law to employees serving at duty stations in the 
United States, and overseas allowances, which apply only to 
employees who live overseas. Other Federal personnel employed 
by the International Joint Commission (IJC) at the Canadian 
border, who may live in Michigan but work in Canada, face a 
similar situation. This section would equalize pay for these 
employees and help to ensure the continued appointment and 
retention of highly-qualified Civil Service employees to serve 
in consular and border control positions. It represents a 
smaller expense to the Government than that of the overseas 
allowances that would be payable to the same employees if they 
resided at their duty station.
    Subsection (c) provides that the amount of the adjustment 
will be considered basic pay for the same purposes as a 
locality rate of pay (e.g. computing retirement deductions and 
benefits).

Sec. 332. Treatment of Certain Persons Reemployed After Service With 
        International Organizations

    This section is intended to provide the full scope of 
retirement benefits to Federal employees who transfer to 
international organizations under 5 U.S.C. 3582 by allowing 
such employees to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan 
(``TSP'') for the period of their transfer to the international 
organization. In this regard it is important to recall that the 
new Federal retirement plans--the Federal Employees Retirement 
System (``FERS'') and the Foreign Service Pension System 
(``FSPS'')--are integrated plans consisting of three 
components: Social Security, FERS/FSPS annuity, and the TSP. 
Under current law, employees who transfer to international 
organizations may continue coverage under Social Security and 
FERS/FSPS, but they are not eligible to participate in the TSP 
component. The period of service with an international 
organization is creditable for retirement purposes only if it 
does not form the basis for an annuity or pension under the 
retirement system of the international organization. Because 
the TSP is such an integral component of retirement coverage, 
the lack of full retirement coverage creates a significant 
disincentive for employees and hampers the State Department's 
ability to provide U.S. Government experts to international 
organizations to work on major global issues. It is expected 
that, unless the law is amended to allow for TSP participation, 
the number of eligible employees who may seek transfers will 
continue to decrease.
    This section amends the Thrift Savings provisions of Title 
5 of the United States Code to allow persons who transfer to 
international organizations the ability to make up missed TSP 
contributions after they are re-employed in Federal service. 
The provisions are modeled after similar provisions for persons 
who are performing military service under the Uniform Services 
Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994. The military service 
provides for the ability for all Federal retirement plan-
covered employees (under both the old and the new retirement 
plans) to make the same TSP contributions they could have made 
had they remained on the agency's rolls. The employee's make up 
contributions are limited by the maximum annual employee 
contributions for the year in which the contributions would 
have been made. This section also provides that, with respect 
to persons covered under the ``new'' retirement systems, the 
employing agency provide associated agency automatic 
contributions and retroactive matching contributions, as well 
as lost earnings on the agency contributions. This arrangement 
places the returning employee where he or she would have been 
but for the period of time served with the international 
organization. It also has the advantage of ensuring that 
qualified plan contributions are paid out of pre-tax dollars 
and holding out an incentive for employee to return to the 
agency.

Sec. 333. Home Service Transfer Allowance

    This section would amend Title 5 of the United States Code 
to provide for a home transfer allowance when an employee 
assigned to a foreign area is killed in the line of duty.
    Currently, if a Foreign Service officer is transferred back 
to the United States from an overseas posting, he or she is 
provided a home service transfer allowance composed of several 
elements such as: lump sum payments to cover extraordinary 
costs (e.g. connecting and disconnecting appliances, utilities 
or registration of automobiles); subsistence payments intended 
to offset the costs of temporary lodging and ancillary expenses 
incurred during the transition to permanent quarters; and a 
lease penalty payment designed to assist with the often 
unavoidable penalties associated with early termination of a 
lease due to transfer required by the Government. If an officer 
is killed in the line of duty, under current law his survivors 
are merely provided with a return ticket to the United States 
and the return of their household effects. The need for a more 
humanitarian basis for easing the transition of surviving 
family members back to the United States was clearly evident in 
the aftermath of the tragic bombing of our embassies in Kenya 
and Tanzania. The Department of Defense provides a similar 
benefit for dependents of uniformed members dying on active 
duty for six months after the death of the service member (37 
U.S.C. 403).

Sec. 334. Parental Choice in Education

    Members of the Foreign Service, when posted abroad, receive 
an educational allowance for their children. The size of the 
allowance is equal to the cost of attending an ``adequate'' 
school in the local country. In the past, parents could take 
that same amount of money and use it to send their children to 
schools in the United States or outside the country of posting. 
The allowance could be used for room, board and transportation 
costs as well as tuition, but the total amount could not be any 
higher than it would have been for local schooling. Last year 
the Department of State issued a new interpretation of the law, 
stating that the money may no longer be used for room, board or 
transportation expenses. This provision clarifies the law to 
permit the educational allowance to be spent on room, board and 
transportation, without affecting the current size of the 
allowance given to Foreign Service Members.

Sec. 335. Medical Emergency Assistance

    The Foreign Service Act provides broad authority for the 
Secretary of State to establish a health care program to 
promote and maintain physical and mental health of members of 
the Service and other designated eligible Government employees 
and family members, when incident to service abroad. It 
authorizes the Secretary to pay the cost of treatment if an 
individual eligible for health care incurs an illness, injury 
or medical condition that requires treatment while assigned to 
a post abroad or located overseas pursuant to Government 
authorization.
    Since the passage of the Act in 1980, the architecture of 
medical care and its cost has been redesigned. Cost containment 
has led to the formation of health maintenance organizations 
and the development of preferred provider networks and 
negotiated payment schedules. Advances in medical treatment 
mean that many conditions and treatments that heretofore 
required hospitalization may now be performed on an outpatient 
basis. Employees who serve overseas currently pay for the costs 
associated with outpatient treatment. Even under the Federal 
Employee Health Benefit Plan coverage overseas, employees must 
pay for outpatient services provided in host or third country 
facilities and other overseas locations at the time of the 
treatment. Immediate payment in full is usually required for 
expensive in-hospital surgical procedures that do not require 
overnight hospitalization. Such procedures can run in the 
thousands of dollars.
    The increasing use of outpatient services has created a 
serious financial burden for Department of State employees 
serving abroad. While employees in the United States may be 
charged copayments at the time of service or are billed at a 
later date, full payment is usually required at the time of 
service for outpatient services overseas. If U.S. employees 
cannot pay promptly at the time of service, ready access to 
foreign medical professionals and facilities will erode.
    This section would permit an agency to advance up to three 
months' pay to an employee assigned or located outside of the 
United States on Government authorization (i.e., on temporary 
duty), when the employee or a family member must undergo 
medical treatment abroad of the nature specified in regulations 
to be promulgated by the Secretary of State. In deciding what 
kinds of treatments would entitle the employee to request such 
an advance, the Committee understands that the Secretary will 
exclude treatments in situations where the Government would 
actually be advancing payment for the treatment in any case. 
For example, the Department of State's medical program for 
Foreign Service and other employees and their eligible family 
members currently acts as secondary insurer for the cost of 
hospitalization and related outpatient treatment when the 
illness, injury or medical condition of such an individual 
requiring such treatment is incurred while the individual is 
assigned to a post abroad or located overseas pursuant to 
Government authorization. Pay advances would generally not be 
available in that situation, in contrast to a case involving 
outpatient procedures where the medical program does not 
currently act as secondary insurer. The requested authority 
would also be available to advance pay to foreign national 
employees and non-family member United States citizen employees 
hired abroad when such individuals need medical care while they 
are located outside their country of employment on United 
States Government authorization.
    Repayment of pay advances made under this new authority 
would be made in the same manner as repayment of other types of 
fund advances currently permitted. Waiver authority is 
provided, but the Committee understands that it would be used 
in only extremely unusual circumstances.

Sec. 336. Report Concerning Financial Disadvantages for Administrative 
        and Technical Personnel

    At U.S. overseas missions, administrative and technical 
personnel, such as office managers, information systems 
managers, diplomatic security agents and medical personnel, 
generally do not hold standard diplomatic status. Without such 
status, they do not benefit from waivers of local taxes and 
import duties. This can often impose a substantial financial 
burden, particularly in posts with high consumption taxes and 
tariffs, and tends to affect those who can afford it the least. 
Since it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to 
negotiate full diplomatic status for these personnel without 
offering a reciprocal benefit to foreign missions in the U.S., 
other avenues for reducing this burden must be explored. This 
section requires the State Department to study and report to 
the Congress on the financial disparities between diplomatic 
and non-diplomatic personnel posted abroad, and to make 
proposals for alleviating the financial burden placed on 
administrative and technical personnel.

        TITLE IV--EMBASSY SECURITY AND COUNTERTERRORISM MEASURES


Sec. 401. Short Title

    Section 401 states that this title may be cited as the 
``Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 
1999.''

Sec. 402. Findings

    Section 402 sets forth findings regarding the bombing of 
the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, 
Kenya in August 1998, and the subsequent investigation by the 
State Department Accountability Review Boards, which were 
chaired by Admiral William Crowe, USN ret.

Sec. 403. United States Diplomatic Facility Defined

    Section 403 defines the term ``United States diplomatic 
facility'' which is used throughout this section. The 
definition is not intended to apply to facilities such as 
warehouses or other storage facilities used by a diplomatic 
mission.

Sec. 404. Authorization of Appropriations

    This section establishes a new account in the Treasury to 
be entitled the ``Embassy Construction and Security'' account. 
It authorizes appropriations of $3 billion over the next five 
fiscal years, in $600 million per year increments.
    This authorization equals the President's budget request, 
which sought $3 billion in advance appropriations for embassy 
security over five years, beginning in fiscal years 2001. The 
Committee believes the security situation is so critical that 
the necessary construction program should not be delayed until 
fiscal 2001. Therefore, the bill accelerates the construction 
program so that it can begin in fiscal 2000.
    It should be noted, as explained below, that this account 
is only for construction or major security enhancements. But 
security is more than bricks and mortar. It also requires the 
necessary personnel to help implement the security standards. 
The supplemental appropriations provided by Congress for fiscal 
1999 following the embassy bombings will permit the Bureau of 
Diplomatic Security (DS) to hire 200 new special agents. But 
even with these new hires, DS will remain understaffed, and 
personnel shortfalls will not be limited to special agents 
alone. As of March 1, 1999, for example, only 188 of the 
Bureau's 267 special agent positions in its domestic field 
offices were filled, and many of those 188 agents were deployed 
on temporary duty elsewhere. The Committee notes also that DS 
is expected to lose nearly 200 agents to mandatory retirement 
or because of time-in-class rules in the next five years. The 
Department must begin planning to bring on a steady stream of 
new agents and technical engineers in the coming years--not 
only to meet attrition, but also to meet the enhanced security 
requirements that the current threat requires.
    Subsection (b) provides that funds made be available only 
for new construction or major security enhancements needed to 
bring U.S. diplomatic facilities into compliance with security 
standards.

Sec. 405. Obligations and Expenditures

    This section contains several provisions designed to ensure 
that funds appropriated to the account established in Section 
404 are used only for (1) the intended purpose and (2) high 
priority projects.
    Subsection (a) requires the Secretary of State to submit an 
annual report on the facilities that are a priority for 
replacement because of their vulnerability to terrorist attack. 
The report must list such facilities in groups of 20. The 
groups of 20 must then be ranked in order of most to least 
vulnerable. Funds made available in the account may only be 
used for those facilities in the first four groups--that is, 
the 80 most vulnerable facilities. An exception to this rule 
may be made if the Secretary certifies that it is justified by 
the national interest.
    In requesting $3 billion in advance funding, the Department 
of State estimated that it could construct roughly 50 new 
facilities with this amount of funds. Subsection (a) requires 
the Department to focus its efforts on the posts that are 
currently the most vulnerable. The Committee created an 
exception for important cases. In giving the Department this 
waiver authority, however, the Committee does not expect that 
it will be used casually or frequently.
    Subsection (b) subjects transfers of funds from this 
account to reprogramming procedures.
    Subsection (c) requires semiannual reports on obligations 
and expenditures from the account, projected obligations and 
expenditures, and the status of ongoing projects. The Committee 
intends to monitor the progress of the construction program 
closely as it proceeds in the coming years. The Committee 
believes these reports will be useful to the Committee in the 
exercise of its oversight responsibilities.

Sec. 406. Security Requirements for United States Diplomatic Facilities

    Section 406 identifies new security requirements with 
respect to United States diplomatic facilities. These new 
requirements, which are based on recommendations of the 
Accountability Review Board, are specifically focused on the 
threat of large vehicular bombs. Section 406(a)(1)(A) requires 
that the Emergency Action Plan of each United States mission 
address the threat of large explosive attacks vehicles and the 
safety of employees during such an attack.
    Section 406(a)(1)(B) requires the State Department Security 
Environment Threat List to contain a section that addresses 
potential acts of international terrorism against United States 
diplomatic facilities based on threat identification criteria 
that emphasize the threat of transnational terrorism, host 
government support and other relevant factors.
    Section 406(a)(2) requires that the State Department, in 
selecting sites for diplomatic facilities overseas, adhere to 
its existing security standard (set forth in 12 Foreign Affairs 
Handbook-5) requiring that all U.S. Government offices and 
activities subject to the authority of the Chief of Mission be 
located in the same chancery buildings or on the same compound. 
The Committee recognizes that there may need to be exceptions 
to the rule, as there are in the present standards. Exceptions 
can be granted if the Secretary of State certifies to Congress 
that it is in the national interest of the United States to do 
so.
    This authority cannot be delegated by the Secretary of 
State. The Committee has included this non-delegation provision 
in order to ensure that, as recommended by the Crowe panels, 
the Secretary take a personal and active role in security 
matters.
    Section 406(a)(3) requires that each newly acquired or 
constructed U.S. diplomatic facility be situated not less than 
100 feet from the perimeter of the property on which the 
facility is located. An exception can be granted if the 
Secretary of State certifies to Congress that it is in the 
national interest of the United States to do so.
    The best tool for mitigating the effects of a large bomb 
blast is to provide sufficient distance, or setback, for 
diplomatic facilities from their perimeters. There will be 
circumstances when it will not be feasible or practical to 
provide 100 feet of setback distance. The Committee recognizes 
this fact and provides the flexibility to the State Department 
to allow for such circumstances.
    The State Department should survey the status of high 
technology infrastructure blast protection and ballistics 
mitigation products as well as protective films for glass 
windows now commercially available. The use of commercially 
available technologies should be given prime consideration in 
the Department's security enhancement decisions. In particular, 
effective products and technologies that can be immediately 
incorporated into new building construction and ongoing 
retrofit solutions could save significant funds.
    The Committee notes that the Federal Aviation 
Administration has undertaken extensive laboratory and field 
testing of equipment to improve airport security, including 
comparisons of electronic explosive detection equipment. The 
State Department should consider the results, data and 
conclusions of the FAA and of other Federal agencies which have 
previously tested existing commercial technology.
    Although the prime threat against U.S. embassies has been 
large vehicular bombs, as evidenced by the bombings in East 
Africa, there are other significant security threats. Attention 
also should be given to providing integrated, real-time 
chemical and biological agent detection and identification, 
which is critical to protecting diplomatic facilities. 
Immediate detection and alarm allows personnel to respond 
appropriately to an attack, minimizing casualties. As it 
reviews and updates its security requirements, the State 
Department should begin to evaluate the threat to U.S. 
diplomatic facilities of chemical or biological terrorist 
attack. The State Department should also evaluate the 
possibility of integrating a chem/bio detection capability, and 
immediate action response to such a detection, into the 
physical security procedures of diplomatic facilities overseas.
     Section 406(a)(4) requires that the State Department 
conduct crisis management training for State Department 
Headquarters personnel, as well as personnel serving in 
facilities overseas.
    Section 406(a)(5)(A) requires that the State Department 
provide sufficient support to the Foreign Emergency Support 
Team (FEST) to identify personnel to serve on the FEST as a 
collateral duty, conduct routine training exercises, and 
provide any additional support that may be necessary to make 
the FEST more effective in a post-crisis environment.
    Section 406(a)(5)(B) requires the President to develop a 
plan to replace on a priority basis the current FEST aircraft 
funded by the Department of Defense with a reliable replacement 
and backup aircraft. The Committee understands that the 
executive branch is examining the issue of replacing the FEST 
aircraft. The Committee understands that the airplanes will 
continue to be funded, operated and maintained by the 
Department of Defense. Not later than 60 days after the 
enactment of this act, the President shall submit to Congress a 
report describing the aircraft selected pursuant to this 
provision.
    Section 406(a)(6) requires the Secretary of State to enter 
into a memorandum of understanding with the Secretary of 
Defense to better coordinate the requirements for a more 
effective rapid response procedure in times of emergency with 
respect to U.S. diplomatic facilities.
    Section 406(a)(7) requires all United States diplomatic 
facilities to maintain emergency equipment and records required 
stored at an offsite facility in case of an emergency 
situation.
    Section 406(b) is a statutory construction provision 
intended to make clear that the provisions set forth in this 
section are not intended to alter or amend any existing 
security requirements not addressed in this section.

Sec. 407. Closure of Vulnerable Posts

    Section 407 requires the Secretary of State to review the 
work of the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel, which the State 
Department established in February 1999. According to the 
Charter of the Panel, it is charged with preparing a report 
recommending the criteria by which the Department, working with 
Chiefs of Mission, might determine the location, size, and 
composition of overseas posts in the coming decade. The Panel 
is also tasked to propose a multi-year funding program for the 
Department to achieve the appropriate U.S. presence overseas.
    The Panel is expected to provide its report later this 
year. After reviewing the work of the Panel, the Secretary is 
required to submit to Congress a report responding to that 
review. The Secretary's report will determine whether any U.S. 
diplomatic facility should be closed due to high vulnerability 
to terrorist threat and if adequate security enhancements 
cannot be provided to that facility. It will contain an 
analysis of the concept of regional facilities and recommend 
whether such a concept should be implemented at appropriate 
diplomatic facilities. In addition, the report will evaluate 
the foreign policy objectives served by missions in countries 
that may be dangerous or of limited strategic value to the 
United States.
    The Committee notes that the Panel does not include a 
representative from the body which is the elected voice of 
Foreign Service Officers and Specialists, the American Foreign 
Service Association (AFSA). Foreign Service members obviously 
have a professional and personal stake in the work of the 
Panel. As of mid-March, the Panel consisted of nearly two dozen 
members, from both the government and the private sector. The 
Committee urges the Panel chairman to provide a place at the 
table for an AFSA representative.

Sec. 408. Accountability Review Boards

    This section amends Section 301 of the Omnibus Diplomatic 
Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986, which requires the 
convening of Accountability Review Boards to examine an 
instance of serious injury, loss of life, or significant 
destruction of property at or related to a U.S. Government 
mission abroad, or in case of serious breach of security 
involving intelligence activities of a foreign government. 
Under current law, there is no deadline for the convening of a 
board following such an event. This provision requires the 
Secretary of State to convene a board within 60 days of the 
event, and allows two 30-day extensions of this deadline. This 
provision does not apply to breaches of security involving 
intelligence activities.

Sec. 409. Awards of Foreign Service Stars

    Section 409 amends the State Department Basic Authorities 
Act of 1956 to create the Foreign Service Star award. The 
Foreign Service Star may be awarded by the President to any 
member of the Foreign Service or other Federal employee who is 
wounded, injured, or contracts an illness while employed in an 
official capacity overseas. The Secretary of State will 
determine the procedures for awarding the Foreign Service Star, 
as well as selecting those to be recommended for the award.

      TITLE V--UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING ACTIVITIES


Sec. 501. Authorization of Appropriations

    This section authorizes appropriations for U.S. Government-
sponsored international broadcasting--the Voice of America, 
Worldnet, Radio and TV Marti, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 
and Radio Free Asia--at the requested level in fiscal 2000. The 
same authorization levels apply to fiscal 2001.

Sec. 502. Radio Free Asia Reauthorization

    This section reauthorizes Radio Free Asia until the end of 
fiscal year 2005. The radio service, modeled on Radio Free 
Europe and Radio Liberty, was first authorized in the United 
States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (title III of the 
Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1994-95). 
For various reasons, however, the radio service did not begin 
broadcasting until Fall 1996. As authorized by law, Radio Free 
Asia broadcasts news and information to the non-democratic 
states of East Asia: the People's Republic of China, Burma, 
Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam about events in 
those countries and in the East Asian region.
    In addition to reauthorizing Radio Free Asia for another 
six years, this section makes one other significant change in 
the Broadcasting Act: it raises the current limit on annual 
expenditures for Radio Free Asia's operating costs--$22 million 
per year--to $28 million over the next two fiscal years. The 
section also makes several minor and technical changes to 
Section 309 of the Broadcasting Act.

Sec. 503. Nomination Requirements

    This section amends the provision of law creating the 
Broadcasting Board of Governors (Sec. 304 of the United States 
International Broadcasting Act of 1994), which oversees all 
U.S. government-sponsored international broadcasting. The 
section subjects the designation of the position of Chairman of 
the Broadcasting Board of Governors to Senate advice and 
consent. Current law provides that all members are subject to 
Senate confirmation, but the President may designate any of 
these members as chairman at any time. This occurred late last 
year without any action by the Senate. Given that the Board 
will become an independent entity in October, pursuant to the 
Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, the 
Committee believes the appointment of the Chairman of the Board 
should be subject to Senate confirmation.

    TITLE VI--ARMS CONTROL, NONPROLIFERATION, AND NATIONAL SECURITY


                        Subtitle A--Arms Control


   Chapter 1--Effective Verification of Compliance with Arms Control 
                               Agreements

Sec. 611. Key Verification Assets Fund

    This provision makes $5,000,000 available each year from 
existing funds for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 to a ``Key 
Verification Assets Fund.'' This fund will be used for the 
research, development, and acquisition of arms control, non-
proliferation and disarmament verification technologies. 
Because only limited funding is available, the Fund generally 
should be used as ``seed money'' for the Department to 
encourage other agencies either to develop new technologies or 
to adapt existing projects to the needs of arms control 
verification. Thus, some of the fund might be offered in a 
competition among laboratories serving other departments and 
agencies.
    Funds made available also may be used to retain existing 
verification assets. The Fund therefore can serve as a tool of 
the policy community in those instances when policy objectives 
diverge from intelligence community priorities. Again, because 
resources are limited, this Fund should not be used for the 
long-term retention of assets, but rather as an emergency, 
``stop-gap'' funding source to keep critical verification 
assets in operation until a more appropriate source of funds 
can be identified.
    The Secretary of State needs discretionary funds to prevent 
verification technologies and programs from falling by the 
wayside. In recent years, both the WC-135 aircraft that is used 
to collect debris from nuclear tests and the Cobra Dane radar 
that monitors missile tests in the northern Pacific region have 
been threatened with loss of funding. The Committee hopes that 
with defense budgets once again on the rise, the Secretary of 
Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence will accept 
more readily the need to monitor the nuclear and missile 
activities of foreign nations.
    While the authority to transfer funds made available to the 
``Key Verification Assets Fund'' resides with the Secretary, 
the Committee intends that the Assistant Secretary of State for 
Verification and Compliance will assume responsibility for the 
identification of technologies or programs to be funded and 
manage those programs if that should prove necessary. Funds may 
not be reprogrammed from this account.

Sec. 612. Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance

    This provision establishes a new bureau in the Department 
of State headed by an Assistant Secretary for Verification and 
Compliance. The reorganization plan proposed by the Department 
of State pursuant to the Foreign Affairs Reform and 
Restructuring Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-277) unfortunately did not 
provide for such a Bureau as a successor to the Arms Control 
and Disarmament Agency's Bureau for Intelligence, Verification, 
and Information Support (IVI), which was the only entity within 
the United States Government whose principal function was the 
verification and enforcement of arms control treaties and 
commitments.
    The Department of State proposed to divide the ACDA 
bureau's verification staff functions between a ``Special 
Advisor'' to the Under Secretary for Arms Control and 
International Security and a Deputy Assistant Secretary within 
the larger bureau for arms control, neither of whom would be 
confirmed by the Senate. This would be a demotion of 
verification and compliance functions, as the principal 
advocate for arms control verification would have far less 
stature than officials within the State Department and 
elsewhere in the administration who are responsible for 
reaching agreements or for maintaining good relations with 
countries that may violate their arms control obligations.
    This portion of the State Department reorganization plan 
runs counter to the Senate's stated purpose for ACDA's 
incorporation within the State Department. As the Committee's 
report of June 13, 1997, accompanying S. 903 made clear, the 
Committee considers it essential that the verification and 
compliance aspects of arms control agreements are given a voice 
at the most senior level of the Administration. A true 
commitment to vigorous enforcement of arms control and 
nonproliferation agreements and sanctions cannot be maintained 
by submerging compliance analysis within other bureaus.
    In keeping with the bipartisan commitment to verification, 
several key Reagan, Bush, and former Clinton administration 
officials, including former ACDA Directors Ron Lehman and 
Eugene Rostow, have written to the Committee regarding the need 
for an Assistant Secretary--and a Bureau--for Verification and 
Compliance. In addition, the chairman and vice chairman of the 
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have expressed support 
for these steps.
    Accordingly, Section 612 establishes the position of 
Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance 
and identifies the principal authorities and responsibilities 
of the position. Specifically, Section 612(c)(1) provides that 
the Assistant Secretary shall have primary responsibility for 
all verification and compliance issues associated with arms 
control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements or 
commitments. As such, the Committee intends the Assistant 
Secretary to have overall oversight of policy and resources for 
verification and compliance regarding not only various 
treaties, but also executive agreements and commitments, 
including those falling within the purview of regional bureaus 
when such agreements or commitments pertain to arms control, 
nonproliferation, or disarmament.
    Section 612(c)(2) ensures that--with some specific 
exceptions--the Assistant Secretary shall serve as the 
principal State Department participant in all executive branch 
interagency groups, including intelligence groups, concerned 
with verification or compliance matters. The exceptions are 
cases in which (a) a more senior official represents the 
Department; or (b) either the President or a cabinet official 
responsible for safeguarding exceptionally sensitive 
information determines that inclusion of the Assistant 
Secretary would not be in the national security interests of 
the United States and so notifies the foreign relations and 
intelligence committees of Congress. Section 612(c)(3) provides 
that the Assistant Secretary, rather than any other official 
within the Department of State or elsewhere, shall be 
considered the principal liaison with the intelligence 
community on verification and compliance issues.
    Finally, Section 612(c)(4) identifies those reports, or 
portions thereof, for which the Assistant Secretary is to have 
primary responsibility. The Committee notes the inevitable 
tension between the enforcement of arms control, 
nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and the 
implications that such enforcement has for U.S. relations with 
various countries--and therefore the implications that the 
policies pursued by the Assistant Secretary will have upon the 
policies pursued by other Bureaus. The Committee urges that 
these reports be submitted to Congress as prepared by the 
Assistant Secretary to the maximum extent possible, with any 
concerns of other Bureaus or State Department officials 
presented in annexes to such reports.

Sec. 613. Enhanced Annual (``Pell'') Report

    With the reorganization of the executive branch's foreign 
affairs apparatus, the Department of State has undertaken 
responsibility for the preparation of an annual report by the 
President to Congress detailing the adherence of other nations 
to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements. 
Section 613 expands the reporting requirement contained in 
Section 51 of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act to include 
an assessment of the adherence of other nations to commitments 
such as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). 
Compliance with commitments such as the MTCR (which is central 
to United States nonproliferation efforts) is no less important 
than compliance with arms control measures, and should be 
assessed in the same report, according to the same standards.
    Section 613 further amends Section 51 of the Arms Control 
and Disarmament Act by requiring that each report specifically 
identify, to the maximum extent practicable in unclassified 
form, each and every compliance question that arises. Although 
the Committee understands the need to protect sensitive 
intelligence information and information on diplomatic 
initiatives, it rejects the argument that the confidentiality 
clause of the START Treaty, in and of itself, bars public 
identification of violations of that treaty. Previous reports 
included specific unclassified discussions of compliance 
issues, which Congress found most useful. In recent years, 
however, the unclassified section of the annual ``Pell Report'' 
has dwindled. The most recent report does not have an 
unclassified mention of any specific violation under the START 
Treaty, for instance. The Committee urges the administration to 
include in the current annual report, which is now overdue by 
three months, an unclassified section assessing specific 
compliance questions.
    Additionally, Section 613 requires that compliance 
questions be carried in each successive report until the 
situation of concern has been resolved and the conclusion 
reported to the Congress. In this way, such issues will not be 
allowed to go unresolved or be forgotten.

Sec. 614. Report on START and START II Treaty Monitoring Issues

    The Senate gave its advice and consent to both the START 
treaty and the START II treaty on the basis of several 
commitments from the executive branch regarding planned 
capabilities to monitor those treaties. Section 614 requires an 
assessment by the Director of Central Intelligence of the 
extent to which those capabilities have, or have not, 
materialized as promised.
    Specifically, the report shall include an assessment of all 
monitoring activities, intelligence community assets and 
capabilities deemed necessary to accomplish those activities, 
and the status of those assets. In addition, section 614 
requires an assessment of any Russian activities which have an 
impact on the United States' ability to monitor Russian 
compliance. This section also allows the Director of Central 
Intelligence to provide extremely sensitive, compartmented 
information separately to the intelligence committees of 
Congress. The Committee notes that the Senate Select Committee 
on Intelligence, in turn, has an obligation under section 4(a) 
of Senate Resolution 400, 94th Congress, to ``promptly call to 
the attention of'' the Foreign Relations Committee ``any matter 
requiring the attention of'' this Committee.

Sec. 615. Standards for Verification

    Terms such as ``effective verification'' and ``militarily 
significant violation'' are used often in reports and testimony 
regarding arms control and nonproliferation agreements. Section 
615 sets forth the Senate's understanding of these terms, and 
encourages the executive branch to adhere to the standards 
embodied in previous administrations' testimony regarding the 
meaning of these terms, in order to establish a clear framework 
in which the terms can be used and understood.
    The definition of ``effective verification'' was first 
offered to the Committee during its consideration of the 
Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1988 by Ambassador 
Paul Nitze:

          What do we mean by effective verification? We mean 
        that we want to be sure that, if the other side moves 
        beyond the limits of the Treaty in any militarily 
        significant way, we would be able to detect such 
        violation in time to respond effectively and thereby 
        deny the other side the benefit of the violation.

    The standard for effective verification was reaffirmed and 
clarified by the then-Director of the Arms Control and 
Disarmament Agency, Major General William Burns, in testimony 
before the Committee on January 24, 1989, on ongoing 
negotiations for a multilateral chemical weapons ban:

          What is effective verification? It is a system by 
        which we can have a high level of assurance that we 
        will be able to detect a violation of the terms of the 
        treaty early enough so we can do something about it. 
        That is sort of a simple layman's definition, I think, 
        of effective verification.

    Then-Secretary of State James Baker further elaborated upon 
the nature of an effective verification regime when responding 
to a question from Senator Pell on the START Treaty in January 
1992:

          A key criterion in evaluating whether the START 
        agreement is effectively verifiable is whether, if the 
        other side attempts to move beyond the limits of the 
        Treaty in any militarily significant way, we would be 
        able to detect such a violation well before it became a 
        threat to national security so that we are able to 
        respond. Additionally, the verification regime should 
        enable us to detect patterns of marginal violations 
        that do not present immediate risk to U.S. security.

    As can be seen from these statements, ``effective 
verification'' consists of: (1) a ``high level of assurance'' 
in the United States' ability to detect (2) a ``militarily 
significant'' violation in (3) a ``timely fashion.'' Moreover, 
an effective verification regime should, according to Secretary 
of State Baker's testimony, provide detection of patterns of 
marginal violation. These, then, are the elements of the 
standard of effective verification put forward since the 1980's 
during Senate consideration of arms control treaties.
    This is the standard reaffirmed by this provision. In 
addition, this section makes clear that it is the Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff who determines what would constitute 
a militarily significant violation.
    Section 615 also amends Section 37 of the Arms Control and 
Disarmament Act, providing the chairman and ranking minority 
member of the foreign relations committees of Congress the 
authority to request verification assessments of arms control, 
nonproliferation, and disarmament proposals under 
consideration. The Committee anticipates that the Assistant 
Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance will be 
responsible for responding to such requests in a thorough and 
timely fashion.

Sec. 616. Contribution to the Advancement of Seismology

    Scientists who work in the field of seismology provide an 
invaluable service around the world. Their close monitoring of 
data helps mankind to anticipate earthquakes, tsunamis and 
other natural disasters. This provision ensures that they are 
given immediate access to all unclassified seismological data 
provided to the United States Government by any international 
organization that is directly responsible for seismological 
monitoring. The Committee is of the opinion that, if the United 
States is going to invest funds in these types of 
organizations, it should ensure that its participation benefits 
the nation's universities, science centers, and seismological 
community. Section 616 is not intended to require, however, 
that the United States make public seismological data that a 
country might submit to an international organization, but that 
is not part of a network managed or sponsored by such 
organization.

Sec. 617. Protection of United States Companies.

    When the Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification 
of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an issue of great concern 
was the right of international inspectors to conduct intrusive 
inspections of any company in the United States. To guard 
against the potential for economic espionage, the Congress 
required that a special agent of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI) accompany every inspection team. This 
imposes a financial burden on the FBI. The Committee therefore 
supports the transfer of up to $1,000,000 per year from the 
Department of State to the FBI to ensure that United States 
companies are protected.
    For the time being, the Committee is willing to support the 
transfer of such funds to the FBI in order to ensure that an 
effective program to protect companies is established and 
supported within the FBI. Ultimately, however, the Committee 
intends to work with other committees of Congress to ensure 
that this program is carried within the Bureau's budget line.

  Chapter 2--Landmine Policy, Demining Activities, and Related Matters

Sec. 621. Conforming Amendment

    Section 621 ensures that the Foreign Relations Committee 
will be kept fully apprised of the development of landmine 
alternatives by the Department of Defense. The Committee has a 
need for this information by virtue of its role in the review 
and approval of treaties regarding such weapons. Unfortunately, 
the foreign relations committees of Congress were not included 
as recipients of the relevant report in the original 
legislation. This provision fixes that oversight.

Sec. 622. Development of Advanced Humanitarian Demining Capabilities 
        Fund

    Section 622 provides $5,000,000 in ``seed money'' to the 
Department of State to capitalize on demining technology under 
development by the Department of Defense, the Department of 
Energy, or any of the military departments, and to adapt that 
technology to serve humanitarian objectives. There are a number 
of promising programs under review or development by these 
agencies. With the funding flexibility provided under this 
section, the Department of State will be able to ensure that 
these capabilities are utilized to their maximum potential for 
humanitarian demining programs.
    Funds made available under the ``Development of Advanced 
Humanitarian Demining Capabilities Fund'' may not be 
reprogrammed.

   Subtitle B--Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safety, and Related Matters


Sec. 631. Reporting Burden on United States Nuclear Industry

    Section 631 prohibits the executive branch from using 
United States obligations under the recently ratified 
Convention on Nuclear Safety to impose any new reporting 
requirements on United States nuclear power utilities and 
companies. The nuclear industry in the United States expressed 
concern about this possibility during Committee consideration 
of the Convention. Given the massive volume of information 
already demanded of these companies by the Federal Government, 
the Committee judges that there is no need to subject the 
nuclear industry to any additional reporting obligations. The 
Committee has been assured by the executive branch, moreover, 
that there is no need or intent to impose such reporting 
obligations for this purpose.

Sec. 632. Authority to Suspend Nuclear Cooperation for Failure to 
        Ratify Convention on Nuclear Safety

    Section 632 amends Section 132 of the Atomic Energy Act, 
providing the President the right to suspend domestic nuclear 
cooperation with any country that does not ratify the Nuclear 
Safety Convention. The President currently has this right with 
respect to nations that do not ratify the Convention on the 
Physical Security of Nuclear Material.

Sec. 633. Elimination of Duplicative Government Activities

    The United States currently participates in and expends 
funds on a number of organizations dealing with nuclear safety 
issues. Review of the terms of reference/mandates of these 
various groups, and of the subject matters considered by them 
in recent years, reveals that the stated objectives of all of 
these organizations duplicate--at least in part--those of the 
Convention on Nuclear Safety, as expressed in Article 1 of that 
treaty.
    For example, the International Nuclear Regulators 
Association (INRA) replicates the object and purpose of the 
Convention on Nuclear Safety in entirety. Article 2 of the 
terms of reference for INRA states that the Association's 
fundamental purpose is to ``influence and enhance nuclear 
safety, from the regulatory perspective, among its members as 
well as worldwide.'' This differs little in substance from the 
primary objective of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which is 
``to achieve and maintain a high level of nuclear safety 
worldwide through the enhancement of national measures and 
international cooperation including, where appropriate, safety-
related technical cooperation.''
    Section 633 urges the Secretary of State to ensure that 
INRA's functions are undertaken to the maximum extent 
practicable in connection with implementation of the Convention 
on Nuclear Safety.
    In providing advice and consent to United States 
ratification of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Senate 
required the President to agree to eliminate U.S. participation 
in any multilateral activity in this field that unnecessarily 
duplicates a multilateral activity undertaken pursuant to the 
Convention. While this certification was made by the President, 
the Committee is unaware of any practical impact on the large 
number of multilateral nuclear safety fora in which the United 
States participates. Section 633 requires the President to 
report to the Congress on all steps taken to eliminate 
redundancy in nuclear safety fora.

Sec. 634. Congressional Notification of Non-Proliferation Activities

    Section 634 revises and expands the obligation of executive 
branch agencies to keep the Committee ``fully and currently 
informed'' of nonproliferation issues. Several agencies have 
had this obligation for decades, including the Departments of 
Commerce, Energy, Defense, and State. However, the Committee 
has become concerned that few have been fulfilling their 
obligations in a timely manner.
    Section 634 extends part of the reporting obligation 
contained in Section 602(c) of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act 
of 1978 to the Director of Central Intelligence, makes clear 
that all proliferation matters are to be covered, and requires 
disclosure to the Committee of sensitive matters relating to 
significant proliferation activities of foreign nations within 
60 days of the executive branch agency in question becoming 
aware of such activity.

Sec. 635. Effective Use of Resources for Non-Proliferation Programs

    Section 635 requires the Secretary of Energy to submit a 
report responding to a February 1999 study by the General 
Accounting Office (GAO) entitled ``Nuclear Nonproliferation: 
Concerns With DOE's Efforts to Reduce the Risks Posed by 
Russia's Unemployed Weapons Scientists.'' The GAO found several 
serious concerns with DOE's Initiatives for Proliferation 
Prevention program (IPP) and the Nuclear Cities Initiative.
    Further, Section 635 prohibits the allocation of funds 
under the International Science and Technology Center program 
of the Department of State or the Initiatives for Proliferation 
Prevention program to any individual who is involved with 
offensive chemical or biological warfare programs. Such 
activities would violate the Chemical Weapons Convention or the 
Biological Weapons Convention. This prohibition does not extend 
to those individuals working on legitimate chemical or 
biological defense programs that are permitted under those 
Conventions.

Sec. 636. Disposition of Weapons-Grade Material

    Section 636 requires the Department of Energy to identify 
for Congress the number of nuclear weapons ``pits'' of each 
type that it intends to dismantle pursuant to an excess 
plutonium disposition agreement with Russia. It is not clear to 
the Committee whether the administration has identified the 
sources for a self-declared 50 metric tons of ``excess'' 
plutonium or thought through the implications of that selection 
for maintenance of the United States nuclear weapon stockpile 
under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.
    Section 636 also requires the Secretary of State to certify 
that the proposed establishment of a mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear 
fuel fabrication plant in Russia will not become a major 
proliferation headache for future administrations. Section 636 
seeks to guard against such nonproliferation concerns by 
prohibiting the use of funds for the establishment of such a 
plant unless Russia provides clear guarantees that it will not 
supply fuel assemblies containing weapons-grade plutonium, or 
sensitive nuclear technology related to the MOX facility, to 
any country of concern to the United States. This is essential 
given the nuclear-supply relationship that Russia has with 
countries such as Iran and India. Further, Section 636 requires 
Russia to agree that the MOX facility will be subject to 
sufficient international safeguards to ensure that special 
nuclear material (e.g., weapons-grade plutonium) is not 
diverted.

Sec. 637. Status of Hong Kong and Macao in United States Export Law

    Section 637 establishes a set of clear and reasonable 
expectations for Hong Kong and Macao regarding their practices 
for protecting sensitive commodities exported from the United 
States. Specifically, it requires both entities to allow U.S. 
officials to do all necessary pre-license and post-shipment 
checks to ensure that the United States' commercial 
relationship is not fueling China's military programs, or the 
programs of any other nation. The Committee's intent is to 
guard against Hong Kong and Macao becoming a haven for ``front 
companies'' buying sensitive technology for nations that are 
prohibited from acquiring such items directly from the United 
States.
    In the event that either Hong Kong or Macao should refuse 
to allow pre-license verification of an end-user's identity, no 
license could be issued. If the United States were denied the 
ability to conduct post-shipment verification of the end-use of 
a licensed export, the administration is given the discretion 
to treat the entity in question just as it does the rest of 
China. However, because Macao does not revert to Chinese rule 
until the end of this year, the provisions of this section are 
delayed in their applicability to Macao until January 1, 2000.
    For items on the United States Munitions List, the 
Secretary of State may waive the imposition of these penalties 
upon certification to Congress that the underlying case has 
been settled to the satisfaction of the United States or that 
there are specific reasons why such waiver is in the national 
interest of the United States. For items controlled by the 
Department of Commerce, the Secretary of Commerce will have 
those waiver rights.

                  Subtitle C--Miscellaneous Provisions


Sec. 641. Requirement for Transmittal of Summaries

    Section 641 requires that the Committee receive the various 
arms control negotiation summaries that are routinely prepared 
by U.S. delegations overseas. While those summaries have been 
submitted to the Arms Control Observer Group of the Senate, 
many Committee members are not part of that group and do not 
have access to the information. The Foreign Relations 
Committee, not the Observer Group, has oversight and 
legislative responsibilities regarding the negotiation, 
ratification and implementation of arms control treaties.

Sec. 642. Prohibition on Withholding Certain Information From Congress

    This provision makes clear that no executive branch agency 
may legally withhold information from the Committee that it is 
required to submit pursuant to Section 602 (c) or (d) of the 
Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978. It also requires the 
issuance of regulations by these agencies to ensure that all 
necessary information is provided to the Committee in a timely 
fashion, as required by law. As noted with regard to Section 
634, timeliness has been a problem at times. Department of 
Defense guidelines have called into question, moreover, the 
Committee's access to highly compartmented information even if 
that access were necessary in order for the Defense Department 
to comply with Section 602 (c) or (d) of the Nuclear 
Nonproliferation Act.

                  TITLE VII--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS


                 Subtitle A--People's Republic of China


Sec. 701. Findings

    The Committee remains seriously concerned with the human 
rights situation in the People's Republic of China, in 
particular the major crackdown on dissent begun in late 1998. 
The findings in this section are largely a restatement and 
concurrence with the findings of the State Department in its 
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which noted that 
serious human rights abuses persisted and, in some cases, 
intensified in the People's Republic of China in 1998.

Sec. 702. Funding for Additional Personnel at Diplomatic Posts To 
        Report on Political, Economic, and Human Rights Matters in the 
        People's Republic of China

    This section provides $2,200,000 for each of fiscal years 
2000 and 2001 for additional personnel at the United States 
embassies in the People's Republic of China and Nepal, and U.S. 
consulates in the People's Republic of China, in order to 
monitor political and economic conditions, in particular the 
human rights situation, in the People's Republic of China.

Sec. 703. Prisoner Information Registry

    This section requires the establishment of a registry to 
list and provide information on all known political prisoners 
in the People's Republic of China. According to the State 
Department, there are thought to be thousands of such prisoners 
in the People's Republic of China, but to date, no 
comprehensive list of all known prisoners exists. The 
provisions allow the State Department to make funds available 
to non-government organizations to assist in establishing and 
maintaining the registry.

Sec. 704. Report Regarding the Establishment of Organization for 
        Security and Cooperation in Asia

    This section requires a report to Congress on the 
feasibility and utility of establishing an Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Asia modeled on the Organization 
for Security and Cooperation in Europe within 180 days of 
enactment.

Sec. 705. Sense of Congress Regarding Organ Harvesting and 
        Transplanting in the People's Republic of China

    The Committee views the practice of harvesting organs from 
executed prisoners in the People's Republic of China as a 
particularly gruesome form of human rights abuse in that 
country. This section expresses the sense of Congress that the 
government of the People's Republic of China should be 
condemned for this practice, that any officials involved in the 
practice should be barred from the United States and that any 
individuals involved in the sale of such organs in the United 
States should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

                       Subtitle B--Other Matters


Sec. 721. Denial of Entry Into United States of Foreign Nationals 
        Engaged in Establishment or Enforcement of Forced Abortion or 
        Sterilization Policy

    This section requires the Secretary of State to deny a visa 
to any foreign national whom the Secretary of State finds to 
have been directly involved in the establishment or enforcement 
of coercive population control policies. Drafted with 
flexibility for the executive branch in mind, this provision 
allows the Secretary of State to determine which officials meet 
this definition, contains exceptions for heads of state, heads 
of government and cabinet level officials, and also contains a 
vital national interest waiver.

Sec. 722. Semiannual Reports on United States Support for Membership or 
        Participation of Taiwan in International Organizations

    In its 1994 Taiwan Policy Review, the Clinton 
administration announced, in recognition of Taiwan's important 
role in transnational issues, that the administration would 
support Taiwan's membership in international organizations 
where statehood is not a prerequisite, and would support 
opportunities for Taiwan's voice to be heard in those 
organizations where membership is not possible. The Committee 
supports Taiwan's membership and participation in appropriate 
organizations, and lauds efforts to bring this about. The 
Committee is concerned, however, over the slow pace of progress 
toward this goal. In recent testimony before the Committee, the 
administration admitted that this task has been more difficult 
than it anticipated. In order to boost efforts toward Taiwan's 
appropriate membership or participation in international 
organizations, this section requires semi-annual reports from 
the Secretary of State on the United States Government's 
efforts to achieve this goal.

Sec. 723. Congressional Policy Regarding United Nations General 
        Assembly Resolution ES-10/6

    It is the view of this Committee that U.N. Resolution ES-
10/6, which would convene the parties of the Fourth Geneva 
Convention in order to criticize Israeli actions in the West 
Bank and Gaza, dangerously politicizes the Convention, which 
was established to deal with critical humanitarian crises. 
Further, it would unfairly blame Israel for the deterioration 
of the Middle East peace process, prejudge subsequent 
negotiations, and offer no relief to the Palestinian people it 
purports to help.
    The amendment commends the Department of State for the U.S. 
vote against the U.N. resolution and urges the Department to 
continue its efforts against convening the conference.

Sec. 724. Waiver of Certain Prohibitions Regarding the Palestine 
        Liberation Organization

    This section permits the President to waive the provisions 
of Section 1003 of P.L. 100-204 (barring the existence of the 
office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the United 
States) if he determines and so certifies in writing to the 
Congress that it is both in the national interest of the United 
States to do so, and that after the date of enactment of this 
Act, no governing body of the Palestinian people (including but 
not restricted to the PLO or Palestinian Authority) has made a 
declaration of statehood outside the framework of negotiations 
with the State of Israel.
    The Congress has spoken to this issue several times, most 
recently by a vote of 98-1 in the Senate on a concurrent 
resolution to oppose any unilateral declaration of Palestinian 
statehood. While the Committee acknowledges some of the 
positive steps taken by the Palestinian Authority, including 
ongoing security cooperation with Israeli authorities which 
recently thwarted a planned attack by Hamas, the Committee 
believes strongly that the unilateral declaration of a 
Palestinian state would do irrevocable damage to the Middle 
East peace process, and urges the Palestinians not to take this 
step.

Sec. 725. United States Policy Regarding Jerusalem as the Capital of 
        Israel

    Subsection (a) reaffirms and updates the Jerusalem Embassy 
Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-45). It reaffirms congressional intent 
concerning the establishment of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, 
Israel, no later than May 31, 1999.
    Subsection (b) urges the President to correct the current 
anomalous situation in which the United States Ambassador to 
Israel, currently resident in Tel Aviv, does not supervise all 
U.S. diplomatic and consular activities in the State of Israel, 
and particularly, does not supervise the Consul General and 
Consulate personnel in Jerusalem, Israel.
    Subsection (c) requires new public documents to describe 
Jerusalem as Israel's capital as a prerequisite for funding 
under the bill. This restriction follows State Department 
practice in such publications as the ``Background Notes'' for 
Israel.
    Subsection (d) requires that for purposes of registration 
of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a 
passport, that the Secretary of State, upon the request of a 
U.S. citizen born in Jerusalem, record the place of birth as 
Israel. This section does not constitute a requirement that 
U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem have Israel recorded as their 
place of birth.

Sec. 726. United States Policy With Respect to Nigeria

    This section declares that the United States supports a 
timely, effective, and sustainable transition to democratic, 
civilian government in Nigeria and encourages the incoming 
civilian government in Nigeria to make the political, economic 
and legal reforms necessary to ensure rule of law and respect 
for human rights in Nigeria. The Committee welcomed the 
transition program, announced in July 1998, which will 
culminate in the inauguration of a civilian president, members 
of the National Assembly, governors, and local leaders on May 
29, 1999. However, the Committee is concerned about the massive 
reports of fraud during the four rounds of elections leading up 
to that date, and the potentially negative impact of that fraud 
on the legitimacy of the incoming government. The Committee 
believes that the performance of the incoming government needs 
to be closely monitored to ensure the establishment of 
effective democratic institutions, the integration of the 
military into democratic society, and the creation of 
mechanisms of transparency and accountability.

Sec. 727. Partial Liquidation of Blocked Libyan Assets

    This section requires the President to liquidate Libyan 
assets blocked by the United States to pay for the reasonable 
costs of travel to and from the Hague, Netherlands, by 
immediate family members of the victims of the crash of Pan 
American flight 103 on December 21, 1988, who may wish to 
attend the trial of Libyans suspected of committing terrorist 
acts that caused the crash.
    The Committee notes that the Government of Libya defied 
United Nations Security Council resolutions for over seven 
years by refusing to surrender two suspected terrorists for 
trial before a court in the United States or the United 
Kingdom. It also notes that Libya continues to be designated by 
the Secretary of State as a state sponsor of terrorism. It 
therefore considers it appropriate that blocked Libyan assets 
be used to reimburse the reasonable travel costs for immediate 
family members of victims so that they may attend trial 
proceedings in the Hague. This provision is not intended to 
affect the outcome of any civil suit filed by the families 
against the Libyan Government.
    The Committee also notes that funds have been disbursed 
from assets frozen by the United States on a previous occasion. 
In November 1996, President Clinton authorized the disbursement 
of $300,000 to each of the four families of the victims of the 
Brothers to the Rescue flight shot down by Cuban MiG-29 
fighters on February 24, 1996 over international waters. The 
funds were disbursed from Cuban assets frozen by the United 
States.

Sec. 728. Support for Refugees From Russia Who Choose To Resettle in 
        Israel

    This provision is a sense of the Congress that the United 
States should support members of Russia's Jewish community and 
continue to provide assistance to refugees resettling in 
Israel.

Sec. 729. Sense of Congress Regarding Extradition of Lt. General Igor 
        Giorgadze

    This provision is a sense of the Congress that the 
President and other senior officials should raise at each 
bilateral meeting between officials of the U.S. Government and 
of the Russian Federation the issue of the extradition of Lt. 
General Igor Giorgadze to Georgia to stand trial for the 
attempted assassination of Georgian President Eduard 
Shevardnadze.

        TITLE VIII--INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMISSIONS


               Subtitle A--Authorization of Appropriation


Sec. 801. Contributions to International Organizations

    This section authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 
2000 and 2001 under the heading ``Contributions to 
International Organizations''. It authorizes $940 million in 
fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for United States contributions of 
its assessed share of the expenses of the United Nations and 
some 50 other international organizations of which the United 
States is a member.
    Paragraph (2) of subsection (a) responds to a condition in 
the Senate resolution of advice and consent to the ratification 
of the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on 
Accession of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which was 
adopted by the Senate on April 30, 1998. Condition 2(C)(ii) of 
that resolution limits the total amount of expenditures by the 
United States in any fiscal year on or after October 1, 1998, 
for payments to the common-funded budgets of NATO to the total 
of all such payments made by the United States in fiscal year 
1998, unless specifically authorized by law. For fiscal year 
1999, a proviso in the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency 
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (P.L. 105-277) addressed 
this condition. Paragraph (2) provides the authorization called 
for in this condition for fiscal years 2000 and 2001.
            No Growth Budget
    Of the funds authorized, subsection (b) makes available 
$80,000,000 on an annual basis only when the Secretary of State 
certifies to the Congress that no action has been taken by the 
United Nations to increase the United Nations 1998-99 budget of 
$2,533,000,000 during that period without finding an offset 
elsewhere in the United Nations budget during that period.
            Inspector General
    Of the funds authorized, subsection (c) withholds 20 
percent of the funds made available for the United Nations 
until the Secretary of State certifies that the Office of 
Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues to function as an 
independent inspector general. This subsection requires the 
Director of the OIOS to report directly to the Secretary 
General on the adequacy of his resources and to notify in 
writing each program, project, or activity funded by the United 
Nations that it has the authority to audit, inspect, or 
investigate it.
            Prohibition on Certain U.N. Global Conferences
    Of the funds authorized, subsection (d) prohibits U.S. 
funding of U.N. global conferences, except that it exempts 
conferences that were approved by the United Nations prior to 
October 1, 1998. The Committee agrees that the U.N. Global 
Conferences referred to in this section are those organized on 
a one-time basis with universal participation to address a 
single subject, such as the environment or population, outside 
of the normal course of regularly scheduled deliberations by 
existing U.N. bodies. For example, this section would have 
applied to the Rio Earth Summit, the Beijing Women's 
Conference, or the Habitat Conference. Should the U.N. schedule 
a conference of this kind, the U.S. will not fund such a 
conference nor any arrears related to such a conference. This 
section does not include conferences directed to the 
achievement of a binding international agreement, or other 
legal instrument, on a particular matter (such as, the 
negotiation on the control and elimination of anti-personnel 
land mines in the U.N. Conference on anti-personnel land mines 
in the U.N. Conference on Conventional Weapons and the U.N. 
Conference on Disarmament).
            Prohibition on Funding Organizations Other Than the United 
                    Nations From the United Nations Regular Budget
    Of the funds authorized, subsection (e) requires that no 
portion of the U.S. contribution to the United Nations regular 
budget should be used to fund the operating cost of an another 
organization, which has been established through a framework 
treaty. Such organizations are those established under separate 
treaties of a framework nature, composed only of parties to the 
treaties, having their own secretariats. This term does not 
include U.N. human rights treaty bodies. Should any framework 
treaty organization be funded out of the regular budget, the 
provision will require that the United States withhold from it 
assessment to the U.N. budget the U.S. share of the amount 
budgeted for such organizations.
            Refund of Excess Contributions
    The United States is directed to continue to press its 
policy that the United Nations and its specialized and 
affiliated organizations should have procedures in place to 
return excess contributions to member states when contributions 
exceed expenditures.

Sec. 802. Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities

    This section authorizes appropriation of $215 million in 
fiscal year 2000, and $215 million in fiscal year 2001, for 
assessed contributions to international peacekeeping activities 
under United Nations auspices. This section also consolidates 
many current reporting requirements regarding international 
peacekeeping activities.

                 Subtitle B--United Nations Activities


Sec. 811. United Nations Policy on Israel and the Palestinians

    It is the view of the Committee that it is inequitable that 
Israel be denied participation in a regional bloc at the United 
Nations and therefore the opportunity of a rotating seat on the 
Security Council of the United Nations. Paragraph (a) of this 
section states that it shall be the policy of the United States 
to end this inequity.
    Further, the existence of certain groups within the United 
Nations, such as the Committee on the Exercise of the 
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People reflects an anti-
Israel bias. Paragraph (b) of this section states that it shall 
the policy of the United States to seek the abolition of such 
groups.
    Paragraphs (c) and (d) require annual reports and 
consultations with the Congress on actions to accomplish the 
stated policies in (a) and (b).

Sec. 812. Data on Costs Incurred in Support of United Nations 
        Peacekeeping Operations

    This section requires the President to report annually to 
the United Nations on the total costs of United States 
Department of Defense activities in support of Security Council 
resolutions--including assessed, voluntary and incremental 
costs. The section also requires the President to request that 
the United Nations prepare and publish a report that compiles 
similar information for other United Nations member states. The 
Committee expects that this comprehensive reporting will 
quantify all costs to the Department of Defense for support of 
U.N. Security Council resolutions, and enable the Congress to 
consider those costs in relation to the proposed operation or 
expansion of an operation prior to action by the United Nations 
Security Council.

Sec. 813. Reimbursement for Goods and Services Provided by the United 
        States to the United Nations

    This section is intended to ensure that the U.S. Government 
is reimbursed by the United Nations in a timely manner for 
military assistance it provides in support of the United 
Nations or U.N. peacekeeping operations, whether this 
assistance is provided to the United Nations or to another 
country participating in such an operation. The section is not 
intended to apply to civilian police monitors, which are funded 
individually by the nation contributing monitors.
    As drafted, the Committee believes that this section does 
not impede the President in his ability to use any 
constitutional authority to provide assistance at any time. 
This section exempts the deployment of United States troops by 
the President from the requirement of reprogramming procedures 
under section 634A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. As 
written, this section does not affect the President's 
constitutional authority as Commander in Chief. Nothing in this 
section shall be construed as an authorization of the use of 
force.

 Subtitle C--International Organizations Other Than the United Nations


Sec. 821. Restriction Relating to United States Accession to the 
        International Criminal Court

    This section prohibits funding for use by, or in support of 
the International Criminal Court, without Senate advice and 
consent to the treaty establishing the Court. On July 17, 1998, 
a majority of nations at the U.N. Diplomatic Conference in 
Rome, Italy, on the Establishment of an International Criminal 
Court voted 120-7, with 21 abstentions, in favor of a treaty 
that would establish an international criminal court. The court 
is empowered to investigate and prosecute war crimes, crimes 
against humanity, genocide and aggression. The United States 
voted against the treaty.

Sec. 822. Prohibition on Extradition or Transfer of United States 
        Citizens to the International Criminal Court

    Subsection (a) prohibits the use of funds to extradite any 
U.S. citizen to a foreign country that is under an obligation 
to surrender individuals to the International Criminal Court 
unless that country provides direct assurances to the United 
States that applicable prohibitions in existing extradition 
treaties apply to such surrender or gives other satisfactory 
assurances to the United States that it will not transfer that 
individual to the International Criminal Court (ICC). 
Subsection (b) bars the United States from providing consent to 
the transfer of such individual to a third country under an 
obligation to surrender persons to the ICC unless that third 
country confirms to the United States that applicable 
prohibitions on reextradition apply or gives other satisfactory 
assurances to the United States that it will not transfer that 
individual to the ICC.

Sec. 823. Permanent Requirement for Reports Regarding Foreign Travel

    This section makes permanent reporting requirements on 
executive branch travel for purposes of diplomatic conferences.

Sec. 824. Assistance to States and Local Governments by the 
        International Boundary and Water Commission

    Section 501(a) authorizes the Commissioner of the U.S. 
Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to 
provide technical tests, evaluations, information, surveys or 
other services to State or local governments upon request on a 
reimbursable basis. The IBWC is charged by treaty to establish 
and preserve the 1,254 mile boundary of the Rio Grande and the 
24 mile boundary of the Colorado River. The IBWC is also 
responsible for demarcation of the land boundary and for 
management and sanitation of transboundary water bodies. Their 
work includes the monitoring and improvement of water quality, 
border sanitation, hydroelectric generation, flood protection 
control, and the maintenance of levee roads and river channels. 
From time to time, this work requires the IBWC to work with 
local communities to gain solutions to problems on border 
issues and to share information affecting water issues. Joint 
ventures with State and local entities, such as universities, 
can leverage the ability to conduct research on issues such as 
ground water monitoring. For instance, the IBWC could form a 
partnership with a State agency to establish monitoring wells 
for transboundary groundwater flows in areas where 
contamination is suspected. This provision would authorize such 
cooperative initiatives.
    Section 501(b) provides that reimbursements to the IBWC 
shall be provided in advance and shall be credited to the 
appropriation from which the cost of providing the services 
will be charged.

                 TITLE IX--ARREARS PAYMENTS AND REFORM


                     Subtitle A--General Provisions

    This subtitle (sections 901 and 902) outlines the short 
title and key definitions regarding this title.

              Subtitle B--Arrearages to the United Nations


Chapter 1--Authorization of Appropriations Obligations and Expenditure 
                                of Funds

Sec. 911. Authorization of Appropriations

    The section authorizes $100,000,000 in fiscal year 1998, 
$475 million in fiscal year 1999, and $244 million in fiscal 
year 2000 for the repayment of arrears to the United Nations, 
United Nations peacekeeping activities, United Nations 
specialized agencies, and other international organizations. 
Funds are authorized to remain available until expended.

Sec. 912. Obligation and Expenditure of Funds

    The section outlines the manner in which disbursements will 
be made, and requires that certification of specified reforms 
be completed prior to any disbursement of funds by the United 
States. The Secretary of State must notify the Congress 30 days 
prior to the disbursement of any funds. This section also 
provides the Secretary with the authority to waive two required 
certifications in order to disburse the funds authorized by 
this bill. Specifically, with respect to the funds authorized 
for fiscal year 1999, the Secretary may waive the certification 
that the United Nations has established a ``contested arrears'' 
account for disputed arrears if there is substantial progress 
in meeting this condition. Waiver of this condition shall 
require the Secretary to notify the United Nations that the 
United States Congress does not consider the United States 
obligated to pay these amounts. With respect to fiscal year 
2000 funds the Secretary may waive the requirement that the 
United Nations and designated specialized agencies cap at 20 
percent the U.S. share of the regular budget.

Sec. 913. Forgiveness of Amounts Owed by the United Nations to the 
        United States

    This section permits the President to forgive the United 
Nations up to $107 million in debt currently owed to the United 
States. In order to forgive this debt the United Nations must 
reduce its record of U.S. arrears to the United Nations by the 
amount of the debt forgiven by the United States.

                  Chapter 2--United States Sovereignty

Sec. 921. Certification Requirements

            Supremacy of the Constitution
    The Secretary of State must certify that no action has been 
taken by the United Nations or any of its agencies to cause the 
United States to violate the Constitution.
            No United Nations Sovereignty
    The Secretary of State must certify that neither the United 
Nations nor its specialized agencies have exercised authority 
over the United States or taken steps to require that the 
United States cede sovereignty.
            No United Nations Taxation
    The Secretary of State must certify that U.S. law does not 
give the United Nations any legal authority to tax the American 
people; no taxes or comparable fees have in fact been imposed; 
and there has been no effort sanctioned by the United Nations 
to develop, advocate or promote such a taxation proposal. The 
exception for fees charged by the World Intellectual Property 
Organization is not intended to limit the scope of the 
exception for ``fees for publications or other kinds of fees 
that are not tantamount to a tax on United States citizens,'' 
thus fees such as those charged by the International 
Telecommunications Union may be viewed as falling under the 
broader exception.
            No United Nations Standing Army
    The Secretary of State must certify that the United Nations 
has not taken formal steps to create or develop a standing army 
under Article 43 of the United Nations Charter.
            No Interest Fees
    The Secretary of State must certify that interest fees have 
not been levied on the United States for any arrears owed to 
the United Nations.
            No United Nations Real Property Rights
    The Secretary of State must certify that neither the United 
Nations nor its specialized agencies have exercised any 
authority or control over public or private property in the 
United States. The Committee agrees that this section should 
not be construed to override obligations of the International 
Organization Immunities Act, the Agreement Regarding the 
Headquarters of the United Nations, supplemental agreements to 
the Agreement, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities 
of the United Nations, or under any other agreement with the 
United States according the United Nations or its specialized 
agencies privileges and immunities, or which are otherwise 
provided for under United States law, or apply to property 
occupied or utilized under lease, sublease, or contract with 
private or government owners.
            Termination of Borrowing Authority
    The Secretary of State must certify that the United Nations 
has not engaged in external borrowing, nor have the financial 
regulations of the United Nations or any of its specialized 
agencies been amended to permit borrowing, nor has the United 
States paid any interest for any loans incurred through 
external borrowing by the United Nations or its specialized 
agencies.

  Chapter 3--Reform of Assessments and United Nations Peace Operations

Sec. 931. Certification Requirements for Fiscal Year 1999

    This section requires that the Secretary shall not make her 
1999 certification if she determines the 1998 certifications 
are no longer valid, and prior to payment of authorized arrears 
in fiscal year 1999, certify that the certification 
requirements set out below have been met.
            Contested Arrears Account
    The Secretary of State must certify that a contested 
arrears account or some other appropriate mechanism has been 
created for the United States. This account represents the 
difference between what the United Nations says is owed by the 
United States and the amount recognized by the United States 
Congress. Thus, the sum of the obligations that the Congress is 
authorizing in this legislation is the total that the Congress 
shall authorize to be appropriated to the United Nations for 
its arrears under the regular and peacekeeping budgets. 
Agreement must be reached with the United Nations that any 
monies identified in this account will not affect the voting 
rights of the United States as contained in Article 19 of the 
United Nations charter.
            Limitation on Assessed Share of Budget for Peace Operations
    The Secretary of State must certify that the share of the 
total peacekeeping budget for each United Nations assessed 
peace operation does not exceed 25 percent for any member.
            Limitation on Share of Regular Budget
    The Secretary of State must certify that the share of the 
total regular budget assessment for the United Nations does not 
exceed 22 percent for any member.

                 Chapter 4--Budget and Personnel Reform

Sec. 941. Certification Requirements

    The Secretary shall not make her fiscal year 2000 
certification if she determines the fiscal year 1998 and 1999 
certifications are no longer valid, and prior to payment of 
authorized arrears in fiscal year 2000, she shall certify that 
the certification requirements set out below have been met.
            Limitation on Assessed Share of Regular Budget
    The Secretary of State must certify that the share of the 
total regular budget assessment for the United Nations and its 
specialized agencies does not exceed 20 percent for any member.
            Inspector General for Certain Organizations
    The Secretary of State must certify that the three largest 
U.N. specialized agencies--the International Labor 
Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the 
World Health Organization--have each established an internal 
inspector general office comparable to the Office of Internal 
Oversight Services established in the United Nations following 
a similar certification requirement in the Foreign Relations 
Authorization Act, FY94-95 (section 401 of P.L. 103-236). With 
regard to subparagraph (B), the Committee notes that the 
approval of the member states of those organizations need not 
be expressed in a formal voting procedure, but may be expressed 
by means of ascertaining and taking into account the view of 
the member states. If such means is used in lieu of a formal 
vote, the views of the United States must be taken into 
account. With regard to the distribution of reports in 
subparagraph (F) of this requirement, the Committee believes 
what is essential is that the United States (and other Member 
States) have access to all annual and other relevant reports 
without modification, except to the extent it is necessary to 
protect the privacy rights of individuals. When privacy rights 
are impacted, the Committee understands that reports may be 
redacted to protect individuals. However, the Committee does 
not anticipate that wrong-doers cited in such reports are 
entitled to privacy protections.
            New Budget Procedures for the United Nations
    The Secretary of State must certify that the United Nations 
is implementing budget procedures that require the budget 
agreed to at the start of a budgetary cycle to be maintained, 
and the system-wide identification of expenditures by 
functional categories. For purposes of this section, system-
wide identification of expenditures by functional categories is 
defined to mean an object class distribution of resources. The 
object class distribution should accompany the initial regular 
assessed budget estimates for both the United Nations and its 
specialized agencies.
            Sunset Policy for Certain United Nations Programs
    The Secretary of State must certify that the United Nations 
and the International Labor Organization, the Food and 
Agriculture Organization, and the World Health Organization 
have each established an evaluation system that requires a 
determination as to the relevance and effectiveness of each 
program. The United States is required to seek a ``sunset'' 
date for each program unless the program demonstrates relevance 
and effectiveness. The Committee strongly objects to the 
incorporation of funding for terminated programs into the 
baseline of the UN budget for the next biennium. Funding for 
programs which have ceased and one-time expenditures should not 
be carried over into the next budget cycle. The sunset of 
programs should result in financial savings for the member 
states.
            United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and 
                    Budgetary Questions
    The Secretary of State must certify that the United States 
has a seat on the United Nations Advisory Committee on 
Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). Until 1997, the 
United States served on this committee since the creation of 
the United Nations. This committee is key to the budgetary 
decisions at the United Nations and the United States, as the 
largest contributing nation, should have a seat on this 
Committee.
            National Audits
    The Secretary of State must certify that the General 
Accounting Office (GAO) has access to United Nations financial 
data so that the GAO may perform nationally mandated reviews of 
all United Nations operations. Financial data means data 
pertaining to the financial transactions of the United Nations 
as well as data relating to its organization and activities. It 
is contemplated that as a result of this provision GAO will 
have access to the data it needs to conduct reviews of all U.N. 
operations.
            Personnel
    The Secretary of State must certify that the United Nations 
is enforcing a personnel system based on merit and is enforcing 
a worldwide availability of its international civil servants; a 
code of conduct is being implemented that requires, among other 
standards, financial disclosure statements by senior United 
Nations officials; a personnel evaluation system is being 
implemented; periodic assessments are being completed by the 
United Nations to determine total staffing levels and reporting 
of those assessments; and the United States has completed a 
review of the United Nations allowance system, including 
recommendations for reductions in allowances.
            Reduction in Budget Authorities
    The Secretary of State must certify that the International 
Labor Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and 
the World Health Organization have each approved a budget that 
is a no-growth budget in the 2000-2001 biennium as compared to 
levels agreed to for the 1998-1999 budgets.
            New Budget Procedures and Financial Regulations for 
                    Specialized Agencies
    The Secretary of State must certify that the International 
Labor Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and 
the World Health Organization have each established procedures 
that require the budget agreed to at the start of a budgetary 
cycle to be maintained; the system-wide identification of 
expenditures by functional categories; and approval of 
supplemental budget requests to the Secretariat in advance of 
appropriations for those requests.
            Limitation on Share of Regular Budget for Specialized 
                    Agencies
    The Secretary of State must certify that the share of the 
total regular budget assessment for the International Labor 
Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and the 
World Health Organization does not exceed 22 percent for any 
member.

                  Subtitle C--Miscellaneous Provisions


Sec. 951. Statutory Construction in Relation to Existing Laws

    This section makes clear that this bill will not change or 
reverse any previous provision of law regarding restriction on 
funding to international organizations.

Sec. 952. Prohibition on Payments Relating to UNIDO and Other 
        Organizations From Which the United States Has Withdrawn or 
        Rescinded Funding

    This section prohibits payment to organizations from which 
the United States has withdrawn or from which Congress has 
rescinded funding because the United States no longer 
participates in the organization, including the United Nations 
Industrial Development Organization and the World Tourism 
Organization.

                            V. Cost Estimate

    The Congressional Budget Office had not completed an 
estimate of the cost of the legislation at the date of filing 
of this report. The Committee expects to have this estimate 
prior to consideration of the bill by the full Senate.

                  VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    In accordance with rule XXVI, paragraph 11(b) of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has concluded that 
there is no regulatory impact from this legislation.
                      VII. Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of Rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):


FOREIGN AFFAIRS REFORM AND RESTRUCTURING ACT OF 1998

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE XXV--INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OTHER THAN UNITED NATIONS

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 2505. REPORTS REGARDING FOREIGN TRAVEL.

  (a) Prohibition.--Except as provided in subsection (e), none 
of the funds authorized to be appropriated [by this division 
for fiscal year 1999] for the Department of State for any 
fiscal year may be used to pay for the expenses of foreign 
travel by an officer or employee of an Executive branch agency 
to attend an international conference, or for the routine 
services that a United States diplomatic mission or consular 
post provides in support of foreign travel by such an officer 
or employee to attend an international conference, unless that 
officer or employee has submitted a preliminary report with 
respect to that foreign travel in accordance with subsection 
(b), and has not previously failed to submit a final report 
with respect to foreign travel to attend an international 
conference required by subsection (c).

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

  (d) Report to Congress.--The Director shall submit a report 
[not later than April 1, 1999,] on April 1 and October 1 of 
each year, to the Committees on Foreign Relations and 
Appropriations of the Senate and the Committees on 
International Relations and Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives, setting forth with respect to each 
international conference for which reports described in 
subsection (c) were required to be submitted to the Director 
during the preceding six months--

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE XXVIII--OTHER FOREIGN POLICY PROVISIONS

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 2803. REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH THE HAGUE CONVENTION ON 
                    INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION.

    (a) In General.--Beginning 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and every 12 months thereafter [during 
the period ending September 30, 1999], the Secretary of State 
shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional 
committees on the compliance with the provisions of the 
Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child 
Abduction, done at The Hague on October 25, 1980, by the 
signatory countries of the Convention. Each such report shall 
include the following information:
          (1) The number of applications for the return of 
        children submitted by United States citizens to the 
        Central Authority for the United States that remain 
        unresolved more than 18 months after the date of 
        filing.
          (2) A list of the countries to which children in 
        unresolved applications described in paragraph (1) are 
        alleged to have been abducted.
          (3) A list of the countries that have demonstrated a 
        pattern of noncompliance with the obligations of the 
        Convention with respect to applications for the return 
        of children submitted by United States citizens to the 
        Central Authority for the United States.
          (4) Detailed information on each unresolved case 
        described in paragraph (1) and on actions taken by the 
        Department of State to resolve each such case, 
        including the specific actions taken by the United 
        States chief of mission in the country to which the 
        child is alleged to have been abducted.
          (5) Information on efforts by the Department of State 
        to encourage other countries to become signatories of 
        the Convention.
          (6) A description of the efforts of the Secretary of 
        State to encourage the parties to the Convention to 
        facilitate the work of nongovernmental organizations 
        within their countries that assist parents seeking the 
        return of children under the Convention.


FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEARS 1994 AND 1995

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND RELATED AGENCIES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


PART B--AUTHORITIES AND ACTIVITIES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 140. VISAS.

    (a) Surcharge for Processing Certain Visas.--
          (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
        Secretary of State is authorized to charge a fee or 
        surcharge for processing machine readable nonimmigrant 
        visas and machine readable combined border crossing 
        identification cards and nonimmigrant visas.
          (2) Fees collected under the authority of paragraph 
        (1) shall be deposited as an offsetting collection to 
        any Department of State appropriation, to recover the 
        costs of providing consular services. Such fees shall 
        remain available for obligation until expended.
          (3) [For fiscal years 1994 and 1995, fees deposited 
        under the authority of paragraph (2) may not exceed a 
        total of $107,500,000.] For each of the fiscal years 
        2000 and 2001, and amount collected under paragraph (1) 
        that exceeds $300,000,000 may be made available for the 
        purposes of paragraph (2) only if a notification is 
        submitted to Congress in accordance with the procedures 
        applicable to reprogramming notifications under section 
        34 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 
        1956 (22 U.S.C. 2706). For subsequent fiscal years, 
        fees may be collected under the authority of paragraph 
        (1) only in such amounts as shall be prescribed in 
        subsequent authorization Acts.
          [(4) The provisions of the Act of August 18, 1856 
        (Revised Statutes 1726-28; 22 U.S.C. 4212-14), 
        concerning accounting for consular fees shall not apply 
        to fees collected under this subsection.
          [(5) No fee or surcharge authorized under paragraph 
        (1) may be charged to a citizen of a country that is a 
        signatory as of the date of enactment of this Act to 
        the North American Free Trade Agreement, except that 
        the Secretary of State may charge such fee or surcharge 
        to a citizen of such a country if the Secretary 
        determines that such country charges a visa application 
        or issuance fee to citizens of the United States.]
    (b) Automated Visa Lookout System.-- *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


    TITLE II--UNITED STATES INFORMATIONAL EDUCATIONAL, AND CULTURAL 
PROGRAMS

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


PART B--USIA AND RELATED AGENCIES AUTHORITIES AND ACTIVITIES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 230. LIMITATION CONCERNING PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL 
                    EXPOSITIONS.

    [Notwithstanding] (a) Limitation.--Except as provided in 
subsection (b) and notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
the United States Information Agency shall not obligate or 
expend any funds for a United States Government funded pavilion 
or other major exhibit at any international exposition or 
world's fair registered by the Bureau of International 
Expositions in excess of amounts expressly authorized and 
appropriated for such purpose.
  (b) Exceptions.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), the United 
States Information Agency may use funds to carry out any of its 
responsibilities--
          (1) under section 102(a)(3) of the Mutual Educational 
        and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
        2452(a)(3)) to provide for United States participation 
        in international fairs and expositions abroad;
          (2) under section 105(f) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 
        2455(f)) with respect to encouraging foreign 
        governments, international organizations, and private 
        individuals, firms, associations, agencies, and other 
        groups to participate in international fairs and 
        expositions and to make contributions to be utilized 
        for United States participation in international fairs 
        and expositions; or
          (3) to facilitate support to the United States 
        Commissioner General for participation in international 
        fairs and expositions.
  (c) Statutory Construction.--Nothing in subsection (b) 
authorizes the use of funds available to the United States 
Information Agency to make any payment for--
          (1) any contract, grant, or other agreement with any 
        other party to carry out any activity described in 
        subsection (b); or
          (2) any legal judgment or the cost of any litigation 
        brought against the United States Information Agency 
        arising from any activity described in subsection (b).

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE III--UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING ACT

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 304. ESTABLISHMENT OF BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS.

    (a) Establishment.--There is hereby established within the 
United States Information Agency a Broadcasting Board of 
Governors (hereafter in this title referred to as the 
``Board'').
    (b) Composition of the Board.--
          (1) The Board shall consist of 9 members, as follows:
                  (A) 8 voting members who shall be appointed 
                by the President, by and with the advice and 
                consent of the Senate.
                  (B) The Director of the United States 
                Information Agency who shall also be a voting 
                member.
          (2) The President shall [designate] appoint one 
        member (other than the Director of the United States 
        Information Agency) as Chairman of the Board, subject 
        to the advice and consent of the Senate.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 309. RADIO FREE ASIA.

  (a) Authority.
          (1) Grants authorized under section 6204 of this 
        title shall be available to make annual grants for the 
        purpose of carrying out radio broadcasting to the 
        following countries: The People's Republic of China, 
        Burma, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam.
          (2) Such broadcasting service shall be referred to as 
        ``Radio Free Asia''.
  (b) Functions.--Radio Free Asia shall--
          (1) provide accurate and timely information, news, 
        and commentary about events in the respective countries 
        of Asia and elsewhere; and
          (2) be a forum for a variety of opinions and voices 
        from within Asian nations whose people do not fully 
        enjoy freedom of expression.
  [(c) Submission of detailed plan for Radio Free Asia.
          [(1) No grant may be awarded to carry out this 
        section unless the Board, through the Director of the 
        United States Information Agency, has submitted to 
        Congress a detailed plan for the establishment and 
        operation of Radio Free Asia, including--
                  [(A) a description of the manner in which 
                Radio Free Asia would meet the funding 
                limitations provided in subsection (d)(4) of 
                this section;
                  [(B) a description of the numbers and 
                qualifications of employees it proposes to 
                hire; and
                  [(C) how it proposes to meet the technical 
                requirements for carrying out its 
                responsibilities under this section.
          [(2) The plan required by paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted not later than 90 days after the date on 
        which all members of the Board are confirmed.
          [(3) No grant may be awarded to carry out the 
        provisions of this section unless the plan submitted by 
        the Board includes a certification by the Board that 
        Radio Free Asia can be established and operated within 
        the funding limitations provided for in subsection 
        (d)(4) of this section and subsection (d)(5) of this 
        section.
          [(4) If the Board determines that a Radio Free Asia 
        cannot be established or operated effectively within 
        the funding limitations provided for in this section, 
        the Board may submit, through the Director of the 
        United States Information Agency, an alternative plan 
        and such proposed changes in legislation as may be 
        necessary to the appropriate congressional committees.]
  [(d)] (c) Grant agreement.--Any grant agreement or grants 
under this section shall be subject to the following 
limitations and restrictions:
          (1)[(A)] The Board may not make any grant to Radio 
        Free Asia unless the headquarters of Radio Free Asia 
        and its senior administrative and managerial staff are 
        in a location which ensures economy, operational 
        effectiveness, and accountability to the Board.
                  [(B) Not later than 90 days after 
                confirmation of all members of the Board, the 
                Board shall provide a report to Congress on the 
                number of administrative, managerial, and 
                technical staff of Radio Free Asia who will be 
                located within the metropolitan area of 
                Washington, D.C., and the number of employees 
                whose principal place of business will be 
                located outside the metropolitan area of 
                Washington, D.C.]
          (2) Any grant agreement under this section shall 
        require that any contract entered into by Radio Free 
        Asia shall specify that all obligations are assumed by 
        Radio Free Asia and not by the United States 
        Government, and shall further specify that funds to 
        carry out the activities of Radio Free Asia may not be 
        available after [September 30, 1999] September 30, 
        2005.
          (3) Any grant agreement shall require that any lease 
        agreements entered into by Radio Free Asia shall be, to 
        the maximum extent possible, assignable to the United 
        States Government.
          (4) Grants made for the operating costs of Radio Free 
        Asia may not exceed [$22,000,000 in any fiscal year] 
        $28,000,000 in each of fiscal years 2000 and 2001.
          [(5) The total amount of grant funds made available 
        for one-time capital costs of Radio Free Asia may not 
        exceed $8,000,000.]
          [(6)] (5) Grants awarded under this section shall be 
        made pursuant to a grant agreement which requires that 
        grant funds be used only for activities consistent with 
        this section, and that failure to comply with such 
        requirements shall permit the grant to be terminated 
        without fiscal obligation to the United States.
  [(e)] (d) Limitations on administrative and managerial 
costs.--It is the sense of the Congress that administrative and 
managerial costs for operation of Radio Free Asia should be 
kept to a minimum and, to the maximum extent feasible, should 
not exceed the costs that would have been incurred if Radio 
Free Asia had been operated as a Federal entity rather than as 
a grantee.
  [(f)] (e) Assessment of effectiveness of Radio Free Asia.--
Not later than 3 years after the date on which initial funding 
is provided for the purpose of operating Radio Free Asia, the 
Board shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a report on--
          (1) whether Radio Free Asia is technically sound and 
        cost-effective,
          (2) whether Radio Free Asia consistently meets the 
        standards for quality and objectivity established by 
        this chapter,
          (3) whether Radio Free Asia is received by a 
        sufficient audience to warrant its continuation,
          (4) the extent to which such broadcasting is already 
        being received by the target audience from other 
        credible sources; and
          (5) the extent to which the interests of the United 
        States are being served by maintaining broadcasting of 
        Radio Free Asia.
  [(g)] (f) Sunset provision.--The Board may not make any grant 
for the purpose of operating Radio Free Asia after [September 
30, 1998, unless the President of the United States determines 
in the President's fiscal year 1999 budget submission that 
continuation of funding for Radio Free Asia for 1 additional 
year is in the interest of the United States] September 30, 
2005.
  [(h)] (g) Notification and consultation regarding 
displacement of Voice of America broadcasting.--The Board shall 
notify the appropriate congressional committees before entering 
into any agreements for the utilization of Voice of America 
transmitters, equipment, or other resources that will 
significantly reduce the broadcasting activities of the Voice 
of America in Asia or any other region in order to accommodate 
the broadcasting activities of Radio Free Asia. The Chairman of 
the Board shall consult with such committees on the impact of 
any such reduction in Voice of America broadcasting activities.
  [(i)] (h) Not a Federal agency or instrumentality.--Nothing 
in this chapter may be construed to make Radio Free Asia a 
Federal agency or instrumentality.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                 TITLE IV--INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

       PART A--UNITED NATIONS REFORM AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS 

SEC. 401. UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF [INSPECTOR GENERAL] OFFICE OF 
                    INTERNAL OVERSIGHT SERVICES.

    (a) Withholding of Portion of Certain Assessed 
Contributions.--Until a certification is made under subsection 
(b), the following amounts shall be withheld from obligation 
and expenditure (in addition to any amounts required to be 
withheld by any other provision of this Act):
          (1) FY 1994 Assessed contributions for u.n. regular 
        budget.--Of the funds appropriated for ``Contributions 
        to International Organizations'' for fiscal year 1994, 
        10 percent of the amount for United States assessed 
        contributions to the regular budget of the United 
        Nations shall be withheld.
          (2) FY 1995 Assessed contributions for u.n. regular 
        budget.--Of the funds appropriated for ``Contributions 
        to International Organizations'' for fiscal year 1995, 
        20 percent of the amount for United States assessed 
        contributions to the regular budget of the United 
        Nations shall be withheld.
          (3) Supplemental assessed peacekeeping 
        contributions.--Of the funds appropriated for 
        ``Contributions for International Peacekeeping 
        Activities'' for a fiscal year pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations under section 102(d), 
        50 percent shall be withheld.
    (b) Certification.--The certification referred to in 
subsection (a) is a certification by the President to the 
Congress that--
          (1) the United Nations has established an independent 
        office of [Inspector General] Office of Internal 
        Oversight Services to conduct and supervise objective 
        audits, inspections, and investigations relating to the 
        programs and operations of the United Nations;
          (2) the Secretary General of the United Nations has 
        appointed an [Inspector General] Office of Internal 
        Oversight Services, with the approval of the General 
        Assembly, and that appointment was made principally on 
        the basis of the appointee's integrity and demonstrated 
        ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, 
        law, management analysis, public administration, or 
        investigations;
          (3) the [Inspector General] Office of Internal 
        Oversight Services is authorized to--
                  (A) make investigations and reports relating 
                to the administration of the programs and 
                operations of the United Nations;
                  (B) have access to all records, documents, 
                and other available materials relating to those 
                programs and operations; and
                  (C) have direct and prompt access to any 
                official of the United Nations;
          (4) the United Nations has procedures in place 
        designed to protect the identity of, and to prevent 
        reprisals against, any staff member making a complaint 
        or disclosing information to, or cooperating in any 
        investigation or inspection by, the [Inspector General] 
        Office of Internal Oversight Services;
          (5) the United Nations has procedures in place 
        designed to ensure compliance with the recommendations 
        of the [Inspector General] Office of Internal Oversight 
        Services; and
          [(6) the United Nations has procedures in place to 
        ensure that all annual and other relevant reports 
        submitted by the Inspector General are made available 
        to the General Assembly without modification.]
          (6) the United Nations has procedures in place to 
        ensure that all reports submitted by the Office of 
        Internal Oversight Services are made available to the 
        member states of the United Nations without 
        modification except to the extent necessary to protect 
        the privacy rights of individuals.
    (c) Specialized Agencies.--United States representatives to 
the United Nations should promote complete [Inspector General] 
Office of Internal Oversight Services access to all records and 
officials of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, 
and should strive to achieve such access by fiscal year 1996.
    (d) Definition.--For purposes of this part, the term 
``[Inspector General] Office of Internal Oversight Services'' 
means the head of an independent office (or other independent 
entity) established by the United Nations to conduct and 
supervise objective audits, inspections, and investigations 
relating to the programs and operations of the United Nations.


FOREIGN SERVICE ACT OF 1980

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE I--THE FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Chapter 3--Appointments

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 304. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEFS OF MISSION.

    (a)  *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    [(c) Within 6 months after assuming the position, the chief 
of mission to a foreign country shall submit, to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs of the House of Representatives, a report describing 
his or her own foreign language competence and the foreign 
language competence of the mission staff in the principal 
language or other dialect of that country.]

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 405. PERFORMANCE PAY.

    (a)  *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (b) Awards of performance pay shall take into account the 
criteria established by the Office of Personnel Management for 
performance awards under section 5384 of title 5, United States 
Code, and rank awards under section 4507 of title 5, United 
States Code. Awards of performance pay under this section shall 
be subject to the following limitations:
          (1) Not more than [50] 33 percent of the members of 
        the Senior Foreign Service may receive performance pay 
        in any fiscal year.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 408. LOCAL COMPENSATION PLANS.

    (a)(1) The Secretary shall establish compensation 
(including position classification) plans for foreign national 
employees of the Service and United States citizens employed 
under section 311(c)(1). To the extent consistent with the 
public interest, each compensation plan shall be based upon 
prevailing wage rates and compensation practices (including 
participation in local social security plans) for corresponding 
types of positions in the locality of employment, except that 
such compensation plans shall provide for payment of wages to 
United States citizens at a rate which is no less than the then 
applicable minimum wage rate specified in section 6(a)(1) of 
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)). Any 
compensation plan established under this section may include 
provision for (A) leaves of absence with pay for employees in 
accordance with prevailing law and employment practices in the 
locality of employment without regard to any limitation 
contained in section 6310 of title 5, United States Code, (B) 
programs for voluntary transfers of such leave and voluntary 
leave banks, which shall, to the extent practicable, be 
established in a manner consistent with the provisions of 
subchapters III and IV, respectively, of chapter 63 of title 5, 
United States Code, and (C) payments by the Government and 
employees to a trust or other fund in a financial institution 
in order to finance future benefits for employees, including 
provision for retention in the fund of accumulated interest for 
the benefit of covered employees. For United States citizens 
under a compensation plan, the Secretary shall [(A) provide 
such citizens with a total compensation package (including 
wages, allowances, benefits, and other employer payments, such 
as for social security) that has the equivalent cost to that 
received by foreign national employees occupying a similar 
position at that post and (B)] define those allowances and 
benefits provided under United States law which shall be 
included as part of this total compensation package, 
notwithstanding any other provision of law, except that this 
section shall not be used to override United States minimum 
wage requirements, or any provision of the Social Security Act 
or the Internal Revenue Code.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 413. DEATH GRATUITY.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 414. BORDER EQUALIZATION PAY ADJUSTMENT.

  (a) In General.--An employee who regularly commutes from the 
employee's place of residence in the continental United States 
to an official duty station in Canada or Mexico shall receive a 
border equalization pay adjustment equal to the amount of 
comparability payments under section 5304 of title 5, United 
States Code, that the employee would receive if the employee 
were assigned to an official duty station within the United 
States locality pay area closest to the employee's official 
duty station.
  (b)  Employee Defined.--For purposes of this section, the 
term `employee' means a person who--
          (1) is an `employee' as defined under section 2105 of 
        title 5, United States Code; and
          (2) is employed by the Department of State, the 
        United States Agency for International Development, or 
        the International Joint Commission of the United States 
        and Canada (established under Article VII of the treaty 
        signed January 11, 1909) (36 Stat. 2448), except that 
        the term shall not include members of the Service (as 
        specified in section 103).
  (c)  Treatment as Basic Pay.--An equalization pay adjustment 
paid under this section shall be considered to be part of basic 
pay for the same purposes for which comparability payments are 
considered to be part of basic pay under section 5304 of title 
5, United States Code.
  (d)  Regulations.--The heads of the agencies referred to in 
subsection (b)(2) may prescribe regulations to carry out this 
section.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                   Chapter 6--Promotion and Retention

SEC. 601. PROMOTIONS.--

    (a) *  *  *
    (b) *  *  *
          (1) *  *  *
          (2) *  *  *
    (c)(1) *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    [(4) Not later than March 1 of each year, the Secretary of 
State shall submit a report to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and to the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
the Senate which shall--
          [(A) describe the steps taken and planned in 
        furtherance of--
                  [(i) maximum compatibility among agencies 
                utilizing the Foreign Service personnel system, 
                as provided for in section 203, and
                  [(ii) the development of uniform policies and 
                procedures and consolidated personnel 
                functions, as provided for in section 204;
          [(B) specify the upper and lower limits planned by 
        each such agency for recruitment, advancement, and 
        retention of members of the Service, as provided for in 
        section 601(c)(2), including, with respect to each of 
        the relevant promotion competition groups, the 
        projected ranges of rates of appointment, promotion, 
        and attrition over each of the next 5 fiscal years, as 
        well as a comparison of such projections with the 
        projections for the preceding year and with actual 
        rates of appointment, promotion, and attrition, 
        including a full explanation of any deviations from 
        projections reported in the preceding year; and
          [(C) specify the numbers of members of the Service 
        who are assigned to positions classified under section 
        501 which are more than one grade higher or lower than 
        the personal rank of the member.]
  (4) Not later than March 1, 2001, and every four years 
thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate which shall include the 
following:
          (A) A description of the steps taken and planned in 
        furtherance of--
                  (i) maximum compatibility among agencies 
                utilizing the Foreign Service personnel system, 
                as provided for in section 203, and
                  (ii) the development of uniform policies and 
                procedures and consolidated personnel 
                functions, as provided for in section 204.
          (B) A workforce plan for the subsequent five years, 
        including projected personnel needs, by grade and by 
        skill. Each such plan shall include for each category 
        the needs for foreign language proficiency, geographic 
        and functional expertise, and specialist technical 
        skills. Each workforce plan shall specifically account 
        for the training needs of Foreign Service personnel and 
        shall set forth a recruitment/training program? of 
        generalist and specialist Foreign Service personnel to 
        meet projected future requirements.
  (5) If there are substantial modifications to any workforce 
plan under paragraph (4)(B) during any year in which a report 
under paragraph (4) is not required, a supplemental annual 
notification shall be submitted in the same manner as reports 
are required to be submitted under paragraph (4).

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 604. RECORDS.

    (a) The records described in section 603(a) shall be 
maintained in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 
Secretary. Except to the extent that they pertain to the 
receipt, disbursement, and accounting for public funds, such 
records shall be confidential and subject to inspection only by 
the President, the Secretary, such employees of the Government 
as may be authorized by law or assigned by the Secretary to 
work on such records, the legislative and appropriations 
committees of the Congress charged with considering legislation 
and appropriations for the Service, and representatives duly 
authorized by such committees. Access to such records relating 
to a member of the Service shall be granted to such member, 
upon written request.
  (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), any record of 
disciplinary action taken against a member of the Service, 
including any correction of that record under section 
1107(b)(1), shall remain a part of the personnel records for a 
period of five years, or until the member is next promoted, 
whichever is longer.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 610. SEPARATION FOR CAUSE.

    (a)(1) *  *  *
    (2) *  *  *
    (3) *  *  *
    (4) *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (5) *  *  *
  (6) Notwithstanding the hearing required by paragraph (2), at 
the time the Secretary recommends that a member of the Service 
be separated for cause, that member shall be placed on leave 
without pay pending final resolution of the underlying matter, 
subject to reinstatement with back pay if cause for separation 
is not established in a hearing before the Board.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 702. FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) The Secretary shall establish foreign language 
proficiency requirements for members of the Service who are to 
be assigned abroad in order that Foreign Service posts abroad 
will be staffed by individuals having a useful knowledge of the 
language or dialect common to the country in which the post is 
located.
    (b) The Secretary of State shall arrange for appropriate 
language training of members of the Service by the institution 
or otherwise in order to assist in meeting the requirements 
established under subsection (a).
  (c) Not later than March 31 of each year, the Director 
General of the Foreign Service and Director of Personnel of the 
Department of State shall submit a report to the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 
International Relations of the House of Representatives 
summarizing the number of positions in each overseas mission 
requiring foreign language competence that--
          (1) became vacant during the previous calendar year; 
        and
          (2) were filled by individuals having the required 
        foreign language competence.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 1103. FREEDOM OF ACTION.

    (a) *  *  *
    (b)(1) *  *  *
    (2) *  *  *
    (3) *  *  *
    (c) *  *  *
    (d)(1) No record of--
          (A) a determination by the Secretary to reject a 
        recommendation of the Foreign Service Grievance Board,
          (B) a finding by the Grievance Board against the 
        grievant, or
          (C) the fact that a grievance proceeding is pending 
        or has been held,
shall be entered in the personnel records of the grievant 
(except by order of the Grievance Board as a remedy for the 
grievance) or those of any other individual connected with the 
grievance. Nothing in this subsection prevents a grievant from 
placing in the grievant's personnell records a rebuttal to 
accompany a record of disciplinary action, nor prevents the 
Department from placing in the file a statement that the 
disciplinary action has been reviewed and upheld by the Foreign 
Service Grievance Board.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 1104. TIME LIMITATIONS.

    (a) A grievance is forever barred under this chapter unless 
it is filed with the Department [within a period of 3 years 
after the occurrence or occurrences giving rise to the 
grievance or such shorter period as may be agreed to by the 
Department and the exclusive representative] not later than one 
year after the occurrence giving rise to the grievance or, if 
the grievance arises from an employee's performance evaluation, 
not later than one year after the date on which the employee 
ceased to be supervised by the person who was the employee's 
rater or reviewer in that evaluation. The limitation in the 
preceding sentence may not be extended by regulation. There 
shall be excluded from the computation of any such period any 
time during which, as determined by the Foreign Service 
Grievance Board, the grievant was unaware of the grounds for 
the grievance and could not have discovered such grounds 
through reasonable diligence.
    (b) If a grievance is not resolved under Department 
procedures (which have been negotiated with the exclusive 
representative, if any) within ninety days after it is filed 
with the Department, the grievant or the exclusive 
representative (on behalf of a grievant who is a member of the 
bargaining unit) shall be entitled to file a grievance with the 
Foreign Service Grievance Board for its consideration and 
resolution.
  [(c)(1) In applying subsection (a) with respect to an alleged 
violation of a law, rule, regulation, or policy directive 
referred to in section 1101(a)(1)(H), the reference to ``3 
years'' shall be deemed to read ``180 days'', subject to 
paragraph (2).]

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 1105. FOREIGN SERVICE GRIEVANCE BOARD.

    (a) *  *  *
    (b) *  *  *
    (c) *  *  *
    (d) *  *  *
    (e) *  *  *
  (f)(1) Not later than March 1 of each year, the Chairman of 
the Foreign Service Review Board shall prepare a report 
summarizing the activities of the Board during the previous 
calendar year. The report shall include--
          (A) the number of cases filed;
          (B) the types of cases filed;
          (C) the number of cases on which a final decision was 
        reached, as well as data on the outcome of cases, 
        whether affirmed, reversed, settled, withdrawn, or 
        dismissed;
          (D) the number of oral hearings conducted and the 
        length of each such hearing;
          (E) the number of instances in which interim relief 
        was granted by the Board; and
          (F) data on the average time for consideration of a 
        grievance, from the time of filing to a decision of the 
        Board.
  (2) The report required under paragraph (1) shall be 
submitted to the Director General of the Foreign Service and 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 
Committee on International Relations of the House of 
Representatives.

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


PART II

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                   Chapter 6--Peacekeeping Operations

SEC. 553. ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITIES.-- *  *  *

SEC. 554. DATA ON COSTS INCURRED IN SUPPORT OF UNITED NATIONS 
                    PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS.

  (a) United States Costs.--The President shall annually 
provide to the Secretary General of the United Nations data 
regarding all costs incurred by the United States Department of 
Defense during the preceding year in support of all United 
Nations Security Council resolutions.
  (b) United Nations Member Costs.--The President shall request 
that the United Nations compile and publish information 
concerning costs incurred by United Nations members in support 
of such resolutions.


STROM THURMOND NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 248. LANDMINE ALTERNATIVES.

    (a) *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (d) Report.--Not later than April 1 of 2000 and 2001, the 
Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees, 
and to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 
Committee on International Relations of the House of 
Representatives, a report describing the progress made in 
identifying technologies and concepts referred to in subsection 
(a). At the same time the report is submitted, the Secretary 
shall transmit to such committees copies of the reports (and 
recommendations, if any) received by the Secretary farom the 
scientific organizations that carried out the studies referred 
to in subsection (c).


ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT ACT

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                       verification of compliance

    Sec. 37. (a) In General.--In order to ensure that arms 
control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements can be 
[adequately] verified, the Director shall report to Congress, 
on a timely basis, or upon request by an appropriate committee 
of the Congress--
          (1) in the case of any arms control, 
        nonproliferation, or disarmament agreement that has 
        been concluded by the United States, the determination 
        of the Director as to the degree to which the 
        components of such agreement can be verified;
          (2) in the case of any arms control, 
        nonproliferation, or disarmament agreement that has 
        entered into force, any significant degradation or 
        alteration in the capacity of the United States to 
        verify compliance of the components of such agreement;
          (3) the amount and percentage of research funds 
        expended by the Agency for the purpose of analyzing 
        issues relating to arms control, nonproliferation, and 
        disarmament verification; and
          (4) the number of professional personnel assigned to 
        arms control verification on a full-time basis by each 
        Government agency.
    (b) Assessments Upon Request.--Upon the request of the 
chairman or ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate or the Committee on International 
Relations of the House of Representatives, in case of an arms 
control, nonproliferation, or disarmament proposal--
          (1) under consideration for presentation to a foreign 
        country by the United States;
          (2) presented to a foreign country by the United 
        States; or
          (3) presented to the United States by a foreign 
        country;

the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committee 
on his determination as to the degree to which elements of the 
proposal are capable of being verified.
    (c) Standard for verification of compliance. In making 
determinations under paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) 
of this section, the Director shall assume that all measures of 
concealment not expressly prohibited could be employed and that 
standard practices could be altered so as to impede 
verification.
    (d) Rule of Construction.--Except as otherwise provided for 
by law, nothing in this section may be construed as requiring 
the disclosure of sensitive information relating to 
intelligence sources or methods or persons employed in the 
verification of compliance with arms control, nonproliferation, 
and disarmament agreements.
    (e) Participation of Agency. In order to ensure adherence 
of the United States to obligations or commitments undertaken 
in arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements, 
and in order for the Director to make the assessment required 
by section 2593a(a)(5) of this title, the Director, or the 
Director's designee, shall participate in all interagency 
groups or organizations within the executive branch of 
Government that assess, analyze, or review United States 
planned or ongoing policies, programs, or actions that have a 
direct bearing on United States adherence to obligations 
undertaken in arms control, nonproliferation, or disarmament 
agreements.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                       annual report to congress

SEC. 51. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    (a) In general. Not later than January 31 of each year, the 
President shall submit to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and to the chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate a report prepared by the Director, in 
consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 
Defense, the Secretary of Energy, the Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, and the Director of Central Intelligence, on 
the status of United States policy and actions with respect to 
arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament. Such report 
shall include--
          (1) *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

          (6) a detailed assessment of the adherence of other 
        nations to obligations undertaken in all arms control, 
        nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements or 
        commitments, including the Missile Technology Control 
        Regime, to which the United States is a participating 
        state, including information on actions taken by each 
        nation with regard to the size, structure, and 
        disposition of its military forces in order to comply 
        with arms control, nonproliferation, or disarmament 
        agreements or commitments, and shall include, in the 
        case of each agreement or commitment about which 
        compliance questions exist--
                  (A) a description of each significant issue 
                raised and efforts made and contemplated with 
                the other participating state to seek 
                resolution of the difficulty;
                  (B) an assessment of damage, if any, to the 
                United States security and other interests; and
                  (C) recommendations as to any steps that 
                should be considered to redress any damage to 
                United States national security and to reduce 
                compliance problems; [and]
          (7) a discussion of any material noncompliance by 
        foreign governments with their binding commitments to 
        the United States with respect to the prevention of the 
        spread of nuclear explosive devices (as defined in 
        section 6305(4) of this title) by non-nuclear-weapon 
        states (as defined in section 6305(5) of this title) or 
        the acquisition by such states of unsafeguarded special 
        nuclear material (as defined in section 6305(8) of this 
        title), including--
                  (A) a net assessment of the aggregate 
                military significance of all such violations;
                  (B) a statement of the compliance policy of 
                the United States with respect to violations of 
                those commitments; and
                  (C) what actions, if any, the President has 
                taken or proposes to take to bring any nation 
                committing such a violation into compliance 
                with those commitments[.] ; and
          (8) a specific identification, to the maximum extent 
        practicable in unclassified form, of each and every 
        question that exists with respect to compliance by 
        other countries with arms control, nonproliferation, 
        and disarmament agreements with the United States.
    (b) *  *  *
    (c) *  *  *
  (d) Each report shall include a discussion of each 
significant issue contained in a previous report issued during 
1995, or after December 31, 1995, pursuant to paragraph (6), 
until the question or concern has been resolved and such 
resolution has been reported to the appropriate committees of 
Congress in detail.


UNITED NATIONS PARTICIPATION ACT OF 1945

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


    Sec. 4. (a) Periodic Reports.--The President shall, from 
time to time as occasion may require, but not less than once 
each year, make reports to the Congress of the activities of 
the United Nations and of the participation of the United 
States therein. [He shall make special current reports on 
decisions of the Security Council to take enforcement measures 
under the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, and 
on the participation therein, under his instructions, of the 
representative of the United States.]
    (b) *  *  *
    (c) *  *  *
    (d) *  *  *
    [(e) Designated Congressional Committees.--As used in this 
section, the term ``designated congressional committees'' has 
the meaning given that term by section 415 of the Foreign 
Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995.]
  (e) Consultations and Reports on United Nations Peacekeeping 
Operations.--
          (1) Consultations.--Each month the President shall 
        consult with Congress on the status of United Nations 
        peacekeeping operations.
          (2) Information to be provided.--In connection with 
        such consultations, the following information shall be 
        provided each month to the designated congressional 
        committees:
                  (A) With respect to ongoing United Nations 
                peacekeeping operations, the following:
                          (i) A list of all resolutions of the 
                        United Nations Security Council 
                        anticipated to be voted on during such 
                        month that would extend or change the 
                        mandate of any United Nations 
                        peacekeeping operation.
                          (ii) For each such operation, any 
                        changes in the duration, mandate, and 
                        command and control arrangements that 
                        are anticipated as a result of the 
                        adoption of the resolution.
                          (iii) An estimate of the total cost 
                        to the United Nations of each such 
                        operation for the period covered by the 
                        resolution, and an estimate of the 
                        amount of that cost that will be 
                        assessed to the United States.
                          (iv) Any anticipated significant 
                        changes in United States participation 
                        in or support for each such operation 
                        during the period covered by the 
                        resolution (including the provision of 
                        facilities, training, transportation, 
                        communication, and logistical support, 
                        but not including intelligence 
                        activities reportable under title V of 
                        the National Security Act of 1947 (50 
                        U.S.C. 413 et seq.)), and the estimated 
                        costs to the United States of such 
                        changes.
                  (B) With respect to each new United Nations 
                peacekeeping operation that is anticipated to 
                be authorized by a Security Council resolution 
                during such month, the following information 
                for the period covered by the resolution:
                          (i) The anticipated duration, 
                        mandate, and command and control 
                        arrangements of such operation, the 
                        planned exit strategy, and the vital 
                        national interest to be served.
                          (ii) An estimate of the total cost to 
                        the United Nations of the operation, 
                        and an estimate of the amount of that 
                        cost that will be assessed to the 
                        United States.
                          (iii) A description of the functions 
                        that would be performed by any United 
                        States Armed Forces participating in or 
                        otherwise operating in support of the 
                        operation, an estimate of the number of 
                        members of the Armed Forces that will 
                        participate in or otherwise operate in 
                        support of the operation, and an 
                        estimate of the cost to the United 
                        States of such participation or 
                        support.
                          (iv) A description of any other 
                        United States assistance to or support 
                        for the operation (including the 
                        provision of facilities, training, 
                        transportation, communication, and 
                        logistical support, but not including 
                        intelligence activities reportable 
                        under title V of the National Security 
                        Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.)), 
                        and an estimate of the cost to the 
                        United States of such assistance or 
                        support.
                          (v) A reprogramming of funds pursuant 
                        to section 34 of the State Department 
                        Basic Authorities Act of 1956, 
                        submitted in accordance with the 
                        procedures set forth in such section, 
                        describing the source of funds that 
                        will be used to pay for the cost of the 
                        new United Nations peacekeeping 
                        operation, provided that such 
                        notification shall also be submitted to 
                        the Committee on Appropriations of the 
                        House of Representatives and the 
                        Committee on Appropriations of the 
                        Senate.
          (3) Form and timing of information.--
                  (A) Form.--The President shall submit 
                information under clauses (i) and (iii) of 
                paragraph (2)(A) in writing.
                  (B) Timing.--
                          (i) Ongoing operations.--The 
                        information required under paragraph 
                        (2)(A) for a month shall be submitted 
                        not later than the 10th day of the 
                        month.
                          (ii) New operations.--The information 
                        required under paragraph (2)(B) shall 
                        be submitted in writing with respect to 
                        each new United Nations peacekeeping 
                        operation not less than 15 days before 
                        the anticipated date of the vote on the 
                        resolution concerned unless the 
                        President determines that exceptional 
                        circumstances prevent compliance with 
                        the requirement to report 15 days in 
                        advance. If the President makes such a 
                        determination, the information required 
                        under paragraph (2)(B) shall be 
                        submitted as far in advance of the vote 
                        as is practicable.
          (4) New united nations peacekeeping operation 
        defined.--As used in paragraph (2), the term `new 
        United Nations peacekeeping operation' includes any 
        existing or otherwise ongoing United Nations 
        peacekeeping operation--
                  (A) where the authorized force strength is to 
                be expanded;
                  (B) that is to be authorized to operate in a 
                country in which it was not previously 
                authorized to operate; or
                  (C) the mandate of which is to be changed so 
                that the operation would be engaged in 
                significant additional or significantly 
                different functions.
          (5) Notification and quarterly reports regarding 
        united states assistance.--
                  (A) Notification of certain assistance.--
                          (i) In general.--The President shall 
                        notify the designated congressional 
                        committees at least 15 days before the 
                        United States provides any assistance 
                        to the United Nations to support 
                        peacekeeping operations.
                          (ii) Exception.--This subparagraph 
                        does not apply to--
                                  (I) assistance having a value 
                                of less than $3,000,000 in the 
                                case of nonreimbursable 
                                assistance or less than 
                                $14,000,000 in the case of 
                                reimbursable assistance; or
                                  (II) assistance provided 
                                under the emergency drawdown 
                                authority of sections 506(a)(1) 
                                and 552(c)(2) of the Foreign 
                                Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
                                U.S.C. 2318(a)(1) and 
                                2348a(c)(2)).
                  (B) Quarterly reports.--
                          (i) In general.--The President shall 
                        submit quarterly reports to the 
                        designated congressional committees on 
                        all assistance provided by the United 
                        States during the preceding calendar 
                        quarter to the United Nations to 
                        support peacekeeping operations.
                          (ii) Matters included.--Each report 
                        under this subparagraph shall describe 
                        the assistance provided for each such 
                        operation, listed by category of 
                        assistance.
                          (iii) Fourth quarter report.--The 
                        report under this subparagraph for the 
                        fourth calendar quarter of each year 
                        shall be submitted as part of the 
                        annual report required by subsection 
                        (d) and shall include cumulative 
                        information for the preceding calendar 
                        year.
  (f) Designated Congressional Committees.--In this section, 
the term `designated congressional committees' means the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on International 
Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives.
  (g) Relationship to Other Notification Requirements.--Nothing 
in this section is intended to alter or supersede any 
notification requirement with respect to peacekeeping 
operations that is established under any other provision of 
law.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 9. *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 10. REIMBURSEMENT FOR GOODS AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE UNITED 
                    STATES TO THE UNITED NATIONS.

  (a) Requirement To Obtain Reimbursement.--
          (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
        the President shall seek and obtain in a timely fashion 
        a commitment from the United Nations to provide 
        reimbursement to the United States from the United 
        Nations whenever the United States Government furnishes 
        assistance pursuant to the provisions of law described 
        in subsection (c)--
                  (A) to the United Nations when the assistance 
                is designed to facilitate or assist in carrying 
                out an assessed peacekeeping operation;
                  (B) for any United Nations peacekeeping 
                operation that is authorized by the United 
                Nations Security Council under Chapter VI or 
                Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and 
                paid for by peacekeeping or regular budget 
                assessment of the United Nations members; or
                  (C) to any country participating in any 
                operation authorized by the United Nations 
                Security Council under Chapter VI or Chapter 
                VII of the United Nations Charter and paid for 
                by peacekeeping assessments of United Nations 
                members when the assistance is designed to 
                facilitate or assist the participation of that 
                country in the operation.
          (2) Exceptions.--
                  (A) In general.--The requirement in paragraph 
                (1) shall not apply to--
                          (i) goods and services provided to 
                        the United States Armed Forces;
                          (ii) assistance having a value of 
                        less than $3,000,000 per fiscal year 
                        per operation;
                          (iii) assistance furnished before the 
                        date of enactment of this section;
                          (iv) salaries and expenses of 
                        civilian police and other civilian and 
                        military monitors where United Nations 
                        policy is to require payment by 
                        contributing members for similar 
                        assistance to United Nations 
                        peacekeeping operations; or
                          (v) any assistance commitment made 
                        before the date of enactment of this 
                        section.
                  (B) Deployments of united states military 
                forces.-- The requirements of subsection 
                (d)(1)(B) shall not apply to the deployment of 
                United States military forces when the 
                President determines that such deployment is 
                important to the security interests of the 
                United States. The cost of such deployment 
                shall be included in the data provided under 
                section 554 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
                1961.
          (3) Form and amount.--
                  (A) Amount.--The amount of any reimbursement 
                under this subsection shall be determined at 
                the usual rate established by the United 
                Nations.
                  (B) Form.--Reimbursement under this 
                subsection may include credits against the 
                United States assessed contributions for United 
                States peacekeeping operations, if the expenses 
                incurred by any United States department or 
                agency providing the assistance have first been 
                reimbursed.
  (b) Treatment of Reimbursements.--
          (1) Credit.--The amount of any reimbursement paid the 
        United States under subsection (a) shall be credited to 
        the current applicable appropriation, fund, or account 
        of the United States department or agency providing the 
        assistance for which the reimbursement is paid.
          (2) Availability.--Amounts credited under paragraph 
        (1) shall be merged with the appropriations, or with 
        appropriations in the fund or account, to which 
        credited and shall be available for the same purposes, 
        and subject to the same conditions and limitations, as 
        the appropriations with which merged.
  (c) Covered Assistance.--Subsection (a) applies to assistance 
provided under the following provisions of law:
          (1) Sections 6 and 7 of this Act.
          (2) Sections 451, 506(a)(1), 516, 552(c), and 607 of 
        the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
          (3) Any other provisions of law pursuant to which 
        assistance is provided by the United States to carry 
        out the mandate of an assessed United Nations 
        peacekeeping operation.
  (d) Waiver.--
          (1) Authority.--
                  (A) In general.--The President may authorize 
                the furnishing of assistance covered by this 
                section without regard to subsection (a) if the 
                President determines, and so notifies in 
                writing the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
                the Senate and the Speaker of the House of 
                Representatives, that to do so is important to 
                the security interests of the United States.
                  (B) Congressional notification.--When 
                exercising the authorities of subparagraph (A), 
                the President shall notify the appropriate 
                congressional committees in accordance with the 
                procedures applicable to reprogramming 
                notifications under section 634A of the Foreign 
                Assistance Act of 1961.
          (2) Congressional review.--Notwithstanding a notice 
        under paragraph (1) with respect to assistance covered 
        by this section, subsection (a) shall apply to the 
        furnishing of the assistance if, not later than 15 
        calendar days after receipt of a notification under 
        that paragraph, the Congress enacts a joint resolution 
        disapproving the determination of the President 
        contained in the notification.
          (3) Senate procedures.--Any joint resolution 
        described in paragraph (2) shall be considered in the 
        Senate in accordance with the provisions of section 
        601(b) of the International Security Assistance and 
        Arms Export Control Act of 1976.
  (e) Relationship to Other Reimbursement Authority.--Nothing 
in this section shall preclude the President from seeking 
reimbursement for assistance covered by this section that is in 
addition to the reimbursement sought for the assistance under 
subsection (a).
  (f) Definition.--In this section, the term `assistance' 
includes personnel, services, supplies, equipment, facilities, 
and other assistance if such assistance is provided by the 
Department of Defense or any other United States Government 
agency.


             STATE DEPARTMENT BASIC AUTHORITIES ACT OF 1956

administrative services

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 36. *  *  *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


``SEC. 36A. AWARDS OF FOREIGN SERVICE STARS.

  ``(a) Authority to Award.--The President, upon the 
recommendation of the Secretary, may award a Foreign Service 
star to any member of the Foreign Service or any other civilian 
employee of the Government of the United States who, after 
August 1, 1998, while employed at, or assigned permanently or 
temporarily to, an official mission overseas or while traveling 
abroad on official business, incurred a wound or other injury 
or an illness (whether or not the wound, other injury, or 
illness resulted in death) in a case described in subsection 
(b)--
          ``(1) as the person was performing official duties;
          ``(2) as the person was on the premises of a United 
        States mission abroad; or
          ``(3) by reason of the person's status as a United 
        States Government employee.
  ``(b) Cases Resulting From Unlawful Conduct.--Cases covered 
by subsection (a) include cases of wounds or other injuries 
incurred as a result of terrorist or military action, civil 
unrest, or criminal activities directed at any facility of the 
Government of the United States.
  ``(c) Selection Criteria.--The Secretary shall prescribe the 
procedures for identifying and considering persons eligible for 
award of a Foreign Service star and for selecting the persons 
to be recommended for the award.
  ``(d) Award in the Event of Death.--If a person selected for 
award of a Foreign Service star dies before being presented the 
award, the award may be made and the star presented to the 
person's family or to the person's representative, as 
designated by the President.
  ``(e) Form of Award.--The Secretary shall prescribe the 
design of the Foreign Service star. The award may not include a 
stipend or any other cash payment.
  ``(f) Funding.--Any expenses incurred for awarding a person a 
Foreign Service star may be paid out of appropriations 
available at the time of the award for personnel of the 
department or agency of the United States Government in which 
the person was employed when the person incurred the wound, 
injury, or illness upon which the award is based.''.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


  procedures regarding major disasters and incidents abroad affecting 
                         united states citizens

    Sec. 43. (a) Authority._In the case of a major disaster or 
incident abroad which affects the health and safety of citizens 
of the United States residing or traveling abroad, the 
Secretary of State shall provide prompt and thorough 
notification of all appropriate information concerning such 
disaster or incident and its effect on United States citizens 
to the next-of-kin of such individuals. Notification shall be 
provided through the most expeditious means available, 
including telephone communications, and shall include timely 
written notice. The Secretary, through the appropriate offices 
of the Department of State, shall act as a clearinghouse for 
up-to-date information for the next-of-kin and shall provide 
other services and assistance. Assistance shall include liaison 
with foreign governments and persons and with United State air 
carriers concerning arrangements for the preparation and 
transport to the United States of the remains of citizens who 
die abroad, as well as [disposition of personal effects] 
disposition of personal estates pursuant to section 43B.
    (b) Definitions._For purposes of this section and sections 
43A and 43B, the term `consular officer' includes any United 
States citizen employee of the Department of State who is 
designated by the Secretary of State to perform consular 
services pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary may 
prescribe.

SEC. 43A. NOTIFICATION OF NEXT OF KIN; REPORTS OF DEATH.

  (a) In General.--Whenever a United States citizen or national 
dies abroad, a consular officer shall endeavor to notify, or 
assist the Secretary of State in notifying, the next of kin or 
legal guardian as soon as possible, except that, in the case of 
death of any Peace Corps volunteer (within the meaning of 
section 5(a) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2504(a)), any 
member of the Armed Forces, any dependent of such a volunteer 
or member, or any Department of Defense employee, the consular 
officer shall assist the Peace Corps or the appropriate 
military authorities, as the case may be, in making such 
notifications.
  (b) Reports of Death or Presumptive Death.--The consular 
officer may, for any United States citizen who dies abroad--
          (1) in the case of a finding of death by the 
        appropriate local authorities, issue a report of death 
        or of presumptive death; or
          (2) in the absence of a finding of death by the 
        appropriate local authorities, issue a report of 
        presumptive death.
  (c) Implementing Regulations.--The Secretary of State shall 
prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out 
this section.

SEC. 43B. CONSERVATION AND DISPOSITION OF ESTATES.

  (a) Conservation of Estates Abroad.--
          (1) Authority to act as conservator.--Whenever a 
        United States citizen or national dies abroad, a 
        consular officer shall act as the provisional 
        conservator of the portion of the decedent's estate 
        located abroad and, subject to paragraphs (3), (4), and 
        (5), shall--
                  (A) take possession of the personal effects 
                of the decedent within his jurisdiction;
                  (B) inventory and appraise the personal 
                effects of the decedent, sign the inventory, 
                and annex thereto a certificate as to the 
                accuracy of the inventory and appraised value 
                of each article;
                  (C) when appropriate in the exercise of 
                prudent administration, collect the debts due 
                to the decedent in the officer's jurisdiction 
                and pay from the estate the obligations owed by 
                the decedent;
                  (D) sell or dispose of, as appropriate, in 
                the exercise of prudent administration, all 
                perishable items of property;
                  (E) sell, after reasonable public notice and 
                notice to such next of kin as can be 
                ascertained with reasonable diligence, such 
                additional items of property as necessary to 
                provide funds sufficient to pay the decedent's 
                debts and property taxes in the country of 
                death, funeral expenses, and other expenses 
                incident to the disposition of the estate;
                  (F) upon the expiration of the one-year 
                period beginning on the date of death (or after 
                such additional period as may be required for 
                final settlement of the estate), if no claimant 
                shall have appeared, after reasonable public 
                notice and notice to such next of kin as can be 
                ascertained with reasonable diligence, sell or 
                dispose of the residue of the personal estate, 
                except as provided in subparagraph (G), in the 
                same manner as United States Government-owned 
                foreign excess property;
                  (G) transmit to the custody of the Secretary 
                of State in Washington, D.C. the proceeds of 
                any sales, together with all financial 
                instruments (including bonds, shares of stock, 
                and notes of indebtedness), jewelry, heirlooms, 
                and other articles of obvious sentimental 
                value, to be held in trust for the legal 
                claimant; and
                  (H) in the event that the decedent's estate 
                includes an interest in real property located 
                within the jurisdiction of the officer and such 
                interest does not devolve by the applicable 
                laws of intestate succession or otherwise, 
                provide for title to the property to be 
                conveyed to the Government of the United States 
                unless the Secretary declines to accept such 
                conveyance.
          (2) Authority to act as administrator.--Subject to 
        paragraphs (3) and (4), a consular officer may act as 
        administrator of an estate in exceptional circumstances 
        if expressly authorized to do so by the Secretary of 
        State.
          (3) Exceptions.--The responsibilities described in 
        paragraphs (1) and (2) may not be performed to the 
        extent that the decedent has left or there is otherwise 
        appointed, in the country where the death occurred or 
        where the decedent was domiciled, a legal 
        representative, partner in trade, or trustee appointed 
        to take care of his personal estate. If the decedent's 
        legal representative shall appear at any time prior to 
        transmission of the estate to the Secretary and demand 
        the proceeds and effects being held by the consular 
        officer, the officer shall deliver them to the 
        representative after having collected any prescribed 
        fee for the services performed under this section.
          (4) Additional requirement.--In addition to being 
        subject to the limitations in paragraph (3), the 
        responsibilities described in paragraphs (1) and (2) 
        may not be performed unless--
                  (A) authorized by treaty provisions or 
                permitted by the laws or authorities of the 
                country wherein the death occurs, or the 
                decedent is domiciled; or
                  (B) permitted by established usage in that 
                country.
          (5) Statutory construction.--Nothing in this section 
        supersedes or otherwise affects the authority of any 
        military commander under title 10 of the United States 
        Code with respect to the person or property of any 
        decedent who died while under a military command or 
        jurisdiction or the authority of the Peace Corps with 
        respect to a Peace Corps volunteer or the volunteer's 
        property.
  (b) Disposition of Estates by the Secretary of State.--
          (1) Personal estates.--
                  (A) In general.--After receipt of a personal 
                estate pursuant to subsection (a), the 
                Secretary may seek payment of all outstanding 
                debts to the estate as they become due, may 
                receive any balances due on such estate, may 
                endorse all checks, bills of exchange, 
                promissory notes, and other instruments of 
                indebtedness payable to the estate for the 
                benefit thereof, and may take such other action 
                as is reasonably necessary for the conservation 
                of the estate.
                  (B) Disposition as surplus united states 
                property.--If, upon the expiration of a period 
                of 5 fiscal years beginning on October 1 after 
                a consular officer takes possession of a 
                personal estate under subsection (a), no legal 
                claimant for such estate has appeared, title to 
                the estate shall be conveyed to the United 
                States, the property in the estate shall be 
                under the custody of the Department of State, 
                and the Secretary shall dispose of the estate 
                in the same manner as surplus United States 
                Government-owned property is disposed or by 
                such means as may be appropriate in light of 
                the nature and value of the property involved. 
                The expenses of sales shall be paid from the 
                estate, and any lawful claim received 
                thereafter shall be payable to the extent of 
                the value of the net proceeds of the estate as 
                a refund from the appropriate Treasury 
                appropriations account.
                  (C) Transfer of proceeds.--The net cash 
                estate after disposition as provided in 
                subparagraph (B) shall be transferred to the 
                miscellaneous receipts account of the Treasury 
                of the United States.
          (2) Real property.--
                  (A) Designation as excess property.--In the 
                event that title to real property is conveyed 
                to the Government of the United States pursuant 
                to subsection (a)(1)(H) and is not required by 
                the Department of State, such property shall be 
                considered foreign excess property under title 
                IV of the Federal Property and Administrative 
                Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 511 et seq.).
                  (B) Treatment as gift.--In the event that the 
                Department requires such property, the 
                Secretary of State shall treat such property as 
                if it were an unconditional gift accepted on 
                behalf of the Department of State under section 
                25 of this Act and section 9(a)(3) of the 
                Foreign Service Buildings Act of 1926.
  (c) Losses in Connection With the Conservation of Estates.--
          (1) Authority to compensate.--The Secretary is 
        authorized to compensate the estate of any United 
        States citizen who has died overseas for property--
                  (A) the conservation of which has been 
                undertaken under section 43 or subsection (a) 
                of this section; and
                  (B) that has been lost, stolen, or destroyed 
                while in the custody of officers or employees 
                of the Department of State.
          (2) Liability.--
                  (A) Exclusion of personal liability after 
                provision of compensation.--Any such 
                compensation shall be in lieu of personal 
                liability of officers or employees of the 
                Department of State.
                  (B) Liability to the department.--An officer 
                or employee of the Department of State may be 
                liable to the Department of State to the extent 
                of any compensation provided under paragraph 
                (1).
                  (C) Determinations of liability.--The 
                liability of any officer or employee of the 
                Department of State to the Department for any 
                payment made under subsection (a) shall be 
                determined pursuant to the Department's 
                procedures for determining accountability for 
                United States Government property.
  (d) Regulations.--The Secretary of State may prescribe such 
regulations as may be necessary to carry out this section.


ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 1954

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Chapter 11--International Activities

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 132. AUTHORITY TO SUSPEND NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH NATIONS WHICH 
                    HAVE NOT RATIFIED THE CONVENTION ON THE PHYSICAL 
                    SECURITY OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL OR THE CONVENTION ON 
                    NUCLEAR SAFETY.

    The President may suspend nuclear cooperation under this 
Act with any nation or group of nations which has not ratified 
the Convention on the Physical Security of Nuclear Material or 
the Convention on Nuclear Safety.


NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION ACT OF 1978

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE VI--EXECUTIVE REPORTING

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 602. ADDITIONAL REPORTS.

    (a) *  *  *
    (b) *  *  *
    [The Department of State, the Department of Defense, the 
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Department of 
Commerce, the Department of Energy, and the Commission shall 
keep the Committees on Foreign Relations and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives fully and currently informed with 
respect to their activities to carry out the purposes and 
policies of this chapter and to otherwise prevent 
proliferation, and with respect to the current activities of 
foreign nations which are of significance from the 
proliferation standpoint.]
  (c)(1) The Department of State, the Department of Defense, 
the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the 
Commission, and, with regard to subparagraph (B), the Director 
of Central Intelligence, shall keep the Committees on Foreign 
Relations and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 
Committee on International Relations of the House of 
Representatives fully and currently informed with respect to--
          (A) their activities to carry out the purposes and 
        policies of this Act and to otherwise prevent 
        proliferation, including the proliferation of nuclear, 
        chemical, or biological weapons, or their means of 
        delivery; and
          (B) the current activities of foreign nations which 
        are of significance from the proliferation standpoint.
  (2) For the purposes of this subsection with respect to 
subparagraph (B), the phrase `fully and currently informed' 
means the transmittal of information not later than 60 days 
after becoming aware of the activity concerned.


OMNIBUS DIPLOMATIC SECURITY AND ANTITERRORISM ACT OF 1986

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE III--PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 301. ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEW.

    (a) In any case of serious injury, loss of life, or 
significant destruction of property at or related to a United 
States Government mission abroad, and in any case of a serious 
breach of security involving intelligence activities of a 
foreign government directed at a United States Government 
mission abroad, which is covered by the provisions of titles I 
through IV (other than a facility or installation subject to 
the control of a United States area military commander), the 
Secretary of State shall convene an Accountability Review Board 
(hereafter in this title referred to as the ``Board''). The 
Secretary shall convene a Board not later than 60 days after 
the occurrence of the injury, loss of life, destruction of 
property, or breach of security described in the preceding 
sentence, except that such 60-day period may be extended for 
two additional 30-day periods if the Secretary determines that 
the additional period is necessary for the convening of the 
Board. With respect to breaches of security involving 
intelligence activities, the Secretary of State may delay 
establishing an Accountability Review Board if, after 
consultation with the Chairman of the Select Committee on 
Intelligence of the Senate and the Chairman of the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
Representatives, the Secretary determines that doing so would 
compromise intelligence sources and methods. The Secretary 
shall promptly advise the Chairmen of such committees of each 
determination pursuant to this section to delay the 
establishment of an Accountability Review Board. The Secretary 
shall not convene a Board where the Secretary determines that a 
case clearly involves only causes unrelated to security.
  (b) Whenever the Secretary convenes a Board, the Secretary 
shall promptly inform the chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives--
          (1) that a Board has been convened;
          (2) the membership of the Board; and
          (3) other appropriate information about the Board.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



                        THE ASIA FOUNDATION ACT


TITLE IV--THE ASIA FOUNDATION

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                                funding

[SEC. 404.

    [There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 
of State $10,000,000 for the fiscal years 1998 and 1999 for 
grants to The Asia Foundation pursuant to this title.]

SEC. 404.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 
State $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 and 2001 
for grants to The Asia Foundation pursuant to this title.


                      TITLE 5--UNITED STATES CODE

TITLE 5--GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


PART III--EMPLOYEES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Subpart D--Pay and Allowances

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Chapter 59--Allowances

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


subchapter iii--overseas differentials and allowances

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 5927. ADVANCES OF PAY.

    (a) Up to three months' pay may be paid in advance to an 
employee upon the assignment of the employee to a post in a 
foreign area.
  (b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), up to three months' pay may 
be paid in advance to--
          (A) a United States citizen employee of an agency 
        (other than a United States citizen employed under 
        section 311(a) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 
        U.S.C. 3951(a))--
                  (i) who is assigned or located outside of the 
                United States pursuant to Government 
                authorization; and
                  (ii) who must, or has a family member who 
                must, undergo outside of the United States 
                medical treatment of the nature specified in 
                regulations promulgated by the Secretary of 
                State; and
          (B) each foreign national employee appointed under 
        section 303 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 
        U.S.C. 3943) and each United States citizen employed 
        under section 311(a) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 3951(a)) 
        who is not a family member of a government employee 
        assigned abroad--
                  (i) who is located outside of the country of 
                employment pursuant to United States Government 
                authorization; and
                  (ii) who must undergo outside the country of 
                employment medical treatment of the nature 
                specified in regulations promulgated by the 
                Secretary of State.
  (2) Not more than 3 months pay may be advanced to an employee 
with respect to any single illness or injury, without regard to 
the number of courses of medical treatment required by the 
employee.
  (3)(A) Subject to the adjustment of the account of an 
employee under subparagraph (B) and other applicable provisions 
of law, the amount paid to an employee in advance shall be 
equal to the rate of pay authorized with respect to the 
employee on the date the advance payment is made under agency 
procedures governing other advance payments permitted under 
this subchapter.
  (B) The head of each agency shall provide for--
          (i) the review of the account of each employee of the 
        agency who receives any advance payment under this 
        section; and
          (ii) the recovery of the amount of pay or waiver 
        thereof.
  (4) For the purposes of this subsection, the term `country of 
employment' means the country outside the United States where 
the employee was appointed for employment or employed by the 
United States Government.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Subpart G--Insurance and Annuities

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



Chapter 84--Federal Employees' Retirement System

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



subchapter iii--thrift savings plan

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 8432. CONTRIBUTIONS.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 8432B. CONTRIBUTIONS OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM MILITARY SERVICE.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 8432C. CONTRIBUTIONS OF CERTAIN PERSONS REEMPLOYED AFTER SERVICE 
                    WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

  (a) In this section, the term `covered person' means any 
person who--
          (1) transfers from a position of employment covered 
        by chapter 83 or 84 or subchapter I or II of chapter 8 
        of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to a position of 
        employment with an international organization pursuant 
        to section 3582;
          (2) pursuant to section 3582 elects to retain 
        coverage, rights, and benefits under any system 
        established by law for the retirement of persons during 
        the period of employment with the international 
        organization and currently deposits the necessary 
        deductions in payment for such coverage, rights, and 
        benefits in the system's fund; and
          (3) is reemployed pursuant to section 3582(b) to a 
        position covered by chapter 83 or 84 or subchapter I or 
        II of chapter 8 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 
        after separation from the international organization.
  (b)(1) Each covered person may contribute to the Thrift 
Savings Fund, in accordance with this subsection, an amount not 
to exceed the amount described in paragraph (2).
  (2) The maximum amount which a covered person may contribute 
under paragraph (1) is equal to--
          (A) the total amount of all contributions under 
        section 8351(b)(2) or 8432(a), as applicable, which the 
        person would have made over the period beginning on the 
        date of transfer of the person (as described in 
        subsection (a)(1)) and ending on the day before the 
        date of reemployment of the person (as described in 
        subsection (a)(3)); minus
          (B) the total amount of all contributions, if any, 
        under section 8351(b)(2) or 8432(a), as applicable, 
        actually made by the person over the period described 
        in subparagraph (A).
  (3) Contributions under paragraph (1)--
          (A) shall be made at the same time and in the same 
        manner as would any contributions under section 
        8351(b)(2) or 8432(a), as applicable;
          (B) shall be made over the period of time specified 
        by the person under paragraph (4)(B); and
          (C) shall be in addition to any contributions 
        actually being made by the person during that period 
        under section 8351(b)(2) or 8432(a), as applicable.
  (4) The Executive Director shall prescribe the time, form, 
and manner in which a covered person may specify--
          (A) the total amount the person wishes to contribute 
        with respect to any period described in paragraph 
        (2)(A); and
          (B) the period of time over which the covered person 
        wishes to make contributions under this subsection.
  (c) If a covered person who makes contributions under section 
8432(a) makes contributions under subsection (b), the agency 
employing the person shall make those contributions to the 
Thrift Savings Fund on the person's behalf in the same manner 
as contributions are made for an employee described in section 
8432b(a) under sections 8432b(c), 8432b(d), and 8432b(f). 
Amounts paid under this subsection shall be paid in the same 
manner as amounts are paid under section 8432b(g).
  (d) For purposes of any computation under this section, a 
covered person shall, with respect to the period described in 
subsection (b)(2)(A), be considered to have been paid at the 
rate which would have been payable over such period had the 
person remained continuously employed in the position that the 
person last held before transferring to the international 
organization.
  (e) For purposes of section 8432(g), a covered person shall 
be credited with a period of civilian service equal to the 
period beginning on the date of transfer of the person (as 
described in subsection (a)(1)) and ending on the day before 
the date of reemployment of the person (as described in 
subsection (a)(3)).
  (f) The Executive Director shall prescribe regulations to 
carry out this section.


                      TITLE 22--UNITED STATES CODE

TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Chapter 4--Passports

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 214. FEES FOR EXECUTION AND ISSUANCE OF PASSPORTS; PERSONS EXCUSED 
                    FROM PAYMENT.

    There shall be collected and paid into the Treasury of the 
United States a fee, prescribed by the Secretary of State by 
regulation, for [each passport issued] the filing of each 
application for a passport (including the cost of passport 
issuance and use) and a fee, prescribed by the Secretary of 
State by regulation, for executing [each application for a 
passport;] each such application except that the Secretary of 
State may by regulation authorize State officials or the United 
States Postal Service to collect and retain the execution fee 
for each application for a passport accepted by such officials 
or by that Service. Such fees shall not be refundable, except 
as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe. No passport fee 
shall be collected from an officer or employee of the United 
States proceeding abroad in the discharge of official duties, 
or from members of his immediate family; from an American 
seaman who requires a passport in connection with his duties 
aboard an American flag-vessel; or from a widow, child, parent, 
brother, or sister of a deceased member of the Armed Forces 
proceeding abroad to visit the grave of such member. No 
execution fee shall be collected for an application made before 
a Federal official by a person excused from payment of the 
passport fee under this section.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


[SEC. 216. RETURN OF FEES ON REFUSAL TO VISEAE1.

    [Whenever the appropriate officer within the United States 
of any foreign country refuses to viseAE1 a passport issued by 
the United States, the Department of State is authorized upon 
request in writing and the return of the unused passport within 
six months from the date of issue to refund to the person to 
whom the passport was issued the fees which have been paid to 
Federal officials, and the money for that purpose is 
appropriated and directed to be paid upon the order of the 
Secretary of State.]
                VIII. MINORITY VIEWS OF SENATOR SARBANES

    Important United States national interests are being 
seriously undermined by our continued failure to pay what we 
owe to the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. By 
refusing to meet our legal obligations while continually 
issuing new demands, we are squandering our own influence, 
damaging our credibility and international respect, engendering 
resistance to the reforms we seek, and complicating the U.N.'s 
ability to perform its duties in a timely and effective manner. 
We should pay our arrears promptly, in full, and without 
additional conditions.
    Unfortunately, this legislation does not achieve this 
objective. While the U.S. acknowledges we owe $1.021 billion to 
the U.N.--which is substantially less than the $1.5 billion the 
U.N. says we owe them--this bill authorizes only $819 million, 
over three years, plus an additional $107 million in credits. 
That still leaves us almost $100 million short of our 
acknowledged obligations (and far short of the U.N. figure), 
with no promise of ever paying it back. In effect, this bill 
resigns us to permanent default.
    To make matters worse, the Committee bill imposes a long 
list of arbitrary and burdensome conditions for paying even the 
reduced amount. These conditions have not been negotiated or 
agreed with the United Nations; rather, they are being 
unilaterally imposed by the United States. And they are being 
imposed on past obligations, on money that we agreed to provide 
without such stipulations. As a consequence, the U.N. has been 
unable to reimburse other countries for sending their troops on 
peacekeeping missions that the U.S. encouraged and endorsed. 
Other countries have put the lives of their own citizens on the 
line in order to accomplish our mutually-agreed objectives. The 
U.S. responsibility in most of those instances was to provide 
money to cover their activities, to fund the missions they were 
performing for us and the entire world. Those missions have 
been accomplished. The bill has not been paid.
    Third, this legislation creates new arrearages to the U.N. 
Not only do we fail to pay all the money we owe in arrears, not 
only do we establish preconditions for this partial payment, 
but we also begin to build up new debts by authorizing less 
than is needed for FY 2000. The administration requested $963 
million for assessed U.N. dues this year, while the bill caps 
payments at $940 million. Similarly, $235 million is needed for 
assessed peacekeeping operations in FY 2000, but the bill 
provides only $215 million. The result is $43 million in new 
arrearages, this year alone. If any other country, delinquent 
in its obligations, showed up with the demands we have placed 
in this legislation, lacking the intention of paying its debts 
in full and short of its current dues, we would be outraged at 
its audacity. Surely, friends and allies will be outraged at 
ours.
    This approach runs counter to that reflected in the 
exercise of American leadership at the end of World War II, an 
approach which I think ought to characterize our policy toward 
the United Nations today. It is my strongly held view that the 
interests of the United States have been served by our Nation's 
active participation in the United Nations and the U.N. system. 
Especially now, with the end of the Cold War, the U.N. has a 
genuine opportunity to function as it was intended to at the 
end of World War II. For many years, a constant Soviet veto in 
the Security Council effectively neutralized the United 
Nations. Between 1946 and 1970, for example, the Soviet Union 
vetoed Security Council actions more than one hundred times 
before the United States even cast its first veto. But the 
United States chose to persevere within the existing U.N. 
framework. The task facing us today is to assist the United 
Nations to adapt to the end of the Cold War and the challenges 
of a new century. The need for a United Nations remains clear, 
for as then-Ambassador to the U.N. Madeleine Albright 
commented: ``The battle-hardened generation of Roosevelt, 
Churchill and De Gaulle viewed the U.N. as a practical response 
to an inherently contentious world; a necessity not because 
relations among states could ever be brought into perfect 
harmony, but because they cannot.''
    This sense of realism seems absent from many of the current 
discussions of the United Nations. While many rail about the 
deficiencies of the U.N., they have not proposed a viable 
alternative. There has been a misperception that the U.N. can 
somehow dictate policies to the United States and force us to 
undertake actions that do not serve U.S. interests. This is 
simply not the case. Those who labored in San Francisco and 
elsewhere to create the United Nations half a century ago 
insisted, for example, that the United Nations organization 
recognize the reality of great powers by granting significant 
authority to a Security Council. In that Council, the U.S. and 
other major powers were given the veto power--thereby ensuring 
that the U.N. could not undertake operations which the United 
States opposed. Every U.N. peacekeeping operation requires 
prior approval by the United States.
    What is happening, in fact, is very nearly the opposite: by 
failing to meet our financial obligations we are abdicating the 
very powers available to us. We are, for example, in danger of 
losing our vote in the General Assembly--a status generally 
reserved for the world's lawless and pariah states. Since the 
General Assembly works on the basis of consensus, we are 
depriving ourselves of the ability to press for needed reforms. 
The influence we held in the past by our leadership, reflected 
in the large number of senior posts awarded to U.S. nationals, 
is being quickly eroded and subjected to challenge. As Bill 
Richardson explained in the course of his confirmation 
proceedings to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations,

          Growing resentment over our failure to pay our 
        assessed dues and arrears has put our continued 
        leadership and influence at risk. Our candidate for the 
        ACABQ was defeated and for the first time, we are not 
        represented on that important committee. Similarly, we 
        are facing a great deal of resistance in negotiations 
        to revise the U.N. scales of assessment. For example, 
        among the members of the Geneva Group, composed of the 
        U.N.'s largest contributors and a crucial source of 
        support for U.N. reform, there is virtually no 
        willingness to consider reductions in our dues for 
        peacekeeping or the regular budget until we pay our 
        arrears. If the United States fails to meet its 
        financial commitments to the U.N. system, it will 
        become increasingly difficult to set the U.N. 
        priorities for the future and to ensure that qualified 
        Americans serve in important U.N. posts.

    An effective United Nations serves U.S. interests--and U.S. 
leadership is essential to an effective U.N. Over the years the 
U.N. has negotiated over 170 peaceful settlements across the 
globe, helping to end wars, uphold ceasefires, protect 
civilians, reintegrate refugees, oversee the conduct of free 
and fair elections, monitor troop withdrawals, and deter 
intercommunal violence. From Iraq to Bosnia, assembling 
coalitions to repel aggression and keep peace would have been 
impossible without assistance and support from the United 
Nations. In Haiti, the introduction of U.N. peacekeepers meant 
that U.S. troops could be extracted without condemning the 
country to chaos, while in Cyprus, the U.N. prevents an 
outbreak of hostilities that could lead to conflict between two 
NATO allies. Perhaps it should come as little surprise that the 
Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded five times to the United 
Nations and its organizations.
    While the U.N.'s work for peace and prosperity has never 
been easy, the difficulty of the task has increased in part 
because the nature of the conflicts the U.N. is asked to 
address have grown more complex. Warfare is increasingly 
conducted within national borders by parties who do not respond 
to political or economic pressure, involving forces that lack 
discipline and clear chains of command. Civilians are not just 
caught in the crossfire but actually become targets and pawns 
of violence, leading to vast refugee flows and complex 
humanitarian emergencies. The U.S. seeks U.N. resolutions to 
sanction various actions we take around the world to serve and 
protect our national security interests because it provides an 
international mandate to pursue a course of action, and 
frequently elicits contributions from other countries. 
Sometimes, in fact, it is other countries who put their troops 
on the line in order to accomplish objectives that the U.S. 
regards as important. Without the U.N., it would fall to the 
U.S. to respond to such crises on its own, at greater cost and 
risk to Americans--or to suffer the potential consequences of 
doing nothing and allowing conflicts to spread and intensify.
    United Nations operations further serve U.S. interests by 
leveraging our resources and influence in order to achieve a 
much greater impact at lesser cost than we could unilaterally. 
The International Atomic Energy Agency, with our small annual 
contribution, has helped prevent nuclear proliferation by 
inspecting and monitoring nuclear reactors and facilities in 90 
countries--many of which would not allow access to the U.S. 
alone. The World Health Organization, working in concert with 
USAID and other bilateral agencies, led a 13-year effort 
resulting in the complete eradication of smallpox, saving an 
estimated $1 billion a year in vaccination and monitoring, and 
helped to wipe out polio from the Western Hemisphere. Through 
its High Commissioner for Refugees, Children's Fund, 
Development Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural 
Development and the World Food Programme, the U.N. has saved 
millions from famine and provided food, shelter, medical aid, 
education and repatriation assistance to refugees around the 
world. The U.N. Environment Programme and the World 
Meteorological Organization have brought countries together to 
begin addressing the damage to the earth's ozone layer, to 
develop regional efforts to clean up pollution, and to predict 
and respond effectively to natural and man-made disasters. 
Thanks to organizations such as the Universal Postal Union, the 
International Telecommunications Union, the International Civil 
Aviation Organization and the International Maritime 
Organization, there are procedures to ensure the safety and 
reliability of worldwide travel and communications. By 
coordinating international sanctions against the racist regime 
in South Africa, the U.N. was instrumental in bringing an end 
to the apartheid system.
    Through the efforts of the United Nations, over 300 
international treaties have been enacted that set standards of 
conduct and enable cooperation in areas ranging from arms 
control to human rights and civil liberties, protection of 
copyrights and trademarks, determining maritime jurisdiction 
and navigation on the high seas, preventing discrimination 
against women, conserving biological diversity and combating 
desertification. Because of U.N. agencies such as the 
International Labor Organization and U.N.-brokered agreements 
such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American 
ideals of freedom, democracy, equality before the law and the 
dignity of the individual have become internationally accepted, 
and the rights and protections that U.S. workers enjoy are 
being aggressively pursued in other countries. International 
trade and commerce would be hamstrung without the World Bank, 
the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, 
and the regional development banks, not to mention the many 
agreements negotiated under their auspices. All of these grew 
from the U.N. system.
    The United Nations has been a favorite target of criticism 
and abuse. Certainly there are activities and practices that 
are wasteful or ineffective and require reform. But the U.S. 
strategy of unilaterally withholding funds until all our 
demands are met is arrogant and counterproductive. Since his 
election in 1997, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has 
instituted a large number of significant reforms, including a 
zero-growth budget, the cutting of administrative costs, the 
elimination of over 900 posts, the creation of an independent 
Inspector General, the consolidation of overlapping agencies, 
and the establishment of more budget oversight and tighter 
budget discipline. As the U.N.'s biggest deadbeat, we are now 
encountering increasing resentment against our calls for 
change. It is time for us to pay our obligations so that we can 
regain the credibility and respect needed to push for further 
reforms.
    It is both ironic and unfortunate that a country that holds 
itself and its citizens to the highest standards of law should 
find itself in default of its international legal obligations. 
Our democracy is founded on the primacy of respect for the rule 
of law, and we try to urge other countries to follow our 
example. It is often a tremendous challenge to get countries to 
respect the basic rights of their citizens and to act in 
accordance with international law. Yet we ourselves are not 
meeting those high standards as they relate to the United 
Nations. We undertook commitments under the U.N. Charter, and 
we have a responsibility to make good on them. If we want other 
countries to uphold their international agreements, then we 
must stand by our own commitments as well.
    As the Boston Globe editorialized last month, ``The $1 
billion-plus debt the United States owes for past dues is a 
shameful blot on the reputation of a country that prides itself 
on being a world leader.'' The United States is the great power 
in the world today. And with that role come important 
responsibilities in how we exercise that power. In my judgment, 
we are failing here to exercise those responsibilities in a 
manner that will strengthen our posture and serve our Nation in 
the international community. We have not only a legal and moral 
obligation to pay our dues, but a practical interest in doing 
so. I regret that this legislation, in offering only a partial 
and conditional repayment of the U.S. debt to the United 
Nations, does not enhance our interests and meet our 
obligations.
    Seven former Secretaries of State have written an open 
letter to the Congress urging that the U.S. honor its 
international commitments and pay its debt to the United 
Nations. I believe their letter is a powerful statement about 
the importance of U.S. leadership and the risks that nonpayment 
of our debt to the United Nations pose for U.S. security and 
international influence. The text of their letter follows:
                                                    March 16, 1999.
Hon. Dennis J. Hastert,
Speaker of the House.

Hon. Trent Lott,
Senate Majority Leader.

Hon. Richard J. Gephardt,
House Minority Leader.

Hon. Thomas A. Daschle,
Senate Minority Leader.

    Dear Congressional Leaders, As America's financial debt to the 
United Nations persists, we are deeply concerned that our great nation 
is squandering its moral authority, leadership, and influence in the 
world. It's simply unacceptable that the richest nation on earth is 
also the biggest debtor to the United Nations.
    We are writing to urge all Members of Congress to support full 
funding of the outstanding and current U.S. legal obligations to the 
United Nations and to alert Congress to the serious consequences if we 
fail to do so. U.S. leadership is at risk. Our ability to achieve vital 
foreign policy and security objectives is compromised. Our priceless 
reputation as the pre-eminent country committed to the rule of law is 
compromised. And, the critical work of the United Nations is 
threatened.
    As former Secretaries of State, we know first hand the importance 
of the United Nations and its agencies in securing global peace, 
stability and prosperity. And we appreciate that now more than ever, 
the U.S. must lead in the community of nations to turn back threats to 
peace and freedom, whether from war or hunger, terrorism or disease. We 
cannot lead if we ignore our basic international responsibilities.
    There are historic consequences to our continued failure to meet 
our obligations. The United States, one of the founding members of the 
United Nations, could lose its vote in the UN General Assembly.
    Important reforms have occurred at the United Nations, many at 
America's urging: a no-growth budget from 1994-98 and an actual 
reduction of $123 million for 1998-99, creation of an office of 
inspector general which has identified more than $80 million in 
savings, more than 1,000 positions cut, and other cost-saving measures. 
Payment of U.S. arrears is critical to continuing this reform.
    We urge you: honor our international commitments and pay America's 
debt to the United Nations. Great nations pay their bills.
            Sincerely,
                                Henry A. Kissinger,

                            Alexander M. Haig, Jr.,

                               James A. Baker, III,

                             Warren M. Christopher,

                                    Cyrus R. Vance,

                                  George P. Shultz,

                           Lawrence S. Eagleburger.

                               
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