[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1999)]
[Page 1186]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Continuation of the National Emergency With 
Respect to Weapons of Mass Destruction

June 25, 1999

To the Congress of the United States:

    On November 14, 1994, in light of the danger of the proliferation of 
nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons (weapons of mass destruction) 
and of the means of delivering such weapons, using my authority under 
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 
seq.), I issued Executive Order 12938, declaring a national emergency to 
deal with this danger. Because the proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the 
national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, I 
have renewed the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12938 
annually, most recently on November 12, 1998. Pursuant to section 204(b) 
of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1703(b)), 
I hereby report to the Congress that I have exercised my statutory 
authority to further amend Executive Order 12938 in order to more 
effectively respond to the worldwide threat of weapons of mass 
destruction proliferation activities.
    The new Executive order, which implements the Chemical Weapons 
Convention Implementation Act of 1998, strengthens Executive Order 12938 
by amending section 3 to authorize the United States to implement 
important provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of the 
Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on 
Their Destruction, a multilateral agreement that serves to reduce the 
threat posed by chemical weapons. Specifically, the amendment enables 
the United States Government to ensure that imports into the United 
States of certain chemicals from any source are permitted in a manner 
consistent with the relevant provisions of the Convention.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
June 25, 1999.

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