[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 26 (Monday, July 4, 2005)]
[Pages 1092-1093]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Message to the Congress on Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass
Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters
June 28, 2005
To the Congress of the United States:
Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50
U.S.C. 1701 et seq. (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an
Executive Order that takes additional steps with respect to the national
emergency declared in Executive Order 12938 of November 14, 1994,
regarding the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the
means of delivering them, and the measures imposed by that order, as
expanded by Executive Order 13094 of July 28, 1998.
This order is designed to combat WMD trafficking by blocking the
property of persons that engage in proliferation activities and their
support networks. It is intended to advance international cooperative
efforts against WMD financing, including with our G-8 partners and
through the Proliferation Security Initiative. This order also provides
a model for other nations to follow in adopting laws to stem the flow of
financial and other support for proliferation activities, as decided in
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540. It further implements a
key recommendation of the Silberman-Robb WMD Commission.
Executive Order 12938, as amended, authorizes the Secretary of State
to impose certain measures against foreign persons (individuals or
entities) determined to have materially contributed to the proliferation
efforts of any foreign country, project, or entity of proliferation
concern. The measures that the Secretary of State may choose to impose
under Executive Order 12938, as amended, are a ban on U.S. Government
procurement from the designated foreign person; a ban on U.S. Government
assistance to the designated foreign person; and a ban on imports from
the designated foreign person.
Recognizing the need for additional tools to defeat the
proliferation of WMD, I have signed the new order, which authorizes the
imposition of a new measure--blocking--against WMD proliferators and
their support networks. This action, sometimes referred to as freezing,
will apply to property and interests in property of persons designated
under the order and will deny such persons access to the U.S. financial
and commercial systems. Modeled after Executive Order 13224 of September
23, 2001, the new order provides broad new authorities to target not
only persons engaged in proliferation activities, but also those
providing support or services to such proliferators.
In particular, the order blocks the property and interests in
property in the United States, or in the possession or control of United
States persons, of (1) the persons listed in the Annex to the order; (2)
any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation
with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and other
relevant agencies, to have engaged, or attempted to engage, in
activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose
a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of WMD or their
means of
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delivery (including missiles capable of delivering such weapons) by any
person or foreign country of proliferation concern; (3) any person
determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the
Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and other relevant agencies,
to have provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material,
technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of,
proliferation-related activities or any person blocked pursuant to the
order; and (4) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury,
in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and
other relevant agencies, to be owned or controlled by, or acting or
purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any
blocked person.
In addition, the order amends section 4(a) of Executive Order 12938,
as amended, by conforming the criteria for determining that a foreign
person has engaged in activity described in that order to the criteria
for designations by the Secretary of State set forth in section 1(a)(ii)
of the new order. Executive Order 12938, as amended, will continue to be
an important tool to combat WMD proliferation.
Actions taken under the order become effective on June 29, 2005. The
new order recognizes the need for more robust tools to defeat the
proliferation of WMD around the world. The steps that we are undertaking
in this new order form yet another part of our evolving response to this
challenge.
George W. Bush
The White House,
June 28, 2005.
Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on
June 30.