[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 24 (Monday, June 16, 2003)]
[Page 745]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Continuation of the National Emergency With 
Respect to Weapons-Usable Fissile Material in the Russian Federation

June 10, 2003

To the Congress of the United States:

    Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) 
provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, 
prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President 
publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice 
stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the 
anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent the 
enclosed notice, stating that the emergency declared with respect to the 
accumulation of a large volume of weapons-usable fissile material in the 
territory of the Russian Federation is to continue beyond June 21, 2003, 
to the Federal Register for publication. The most recent notice 
continuing this emergency was published in the Federal Register on June 
20, 2002 (67 FR 42181).
    It remains a major national security goal of the United States to 
ensure that fissile material removed from Russian nuclear weapons 
pursuant to various arms control and disarmament agreements is dedicated 
to peaceful uses, subject to transparency measures, and protected from 
diversion to activities of proliferation concern. The accumulation of a 
large volume of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the 
Russian Federation continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat 
to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For 
this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the 
national emergency declared with respect to the accumulation of a large 
volume of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the 
Russian Federation and maintain in force these emergency authorities to 
respond to this threat.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 June 10, 2003.