[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 25 (Monday, June 21, 2004)]
[Page 1090]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Message to the Congress on Continuation of the National Emergency With
Respect to the Risk of Nuclear Proliferation Created by the Accumulation
of Weapons-Usable Fissile Material in the Territory of the Russian
Federation
June 16, 2004
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 to the Federal Register for publication, 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, 2004. The most recent
notice continuing this emergency was published in the Federal Register
on June 12, 2003 (68 Fed. Reg. 35149).
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 16, 2004.