Final Language on Iran in the House Defense Authorization Bill

On May 22, the House of Representatives voted 384-23 to pass the Fiscal Year 2009 Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1224 of the bill requires that the Director of National Intelligence submit to Congress an update of the National Intelligence Estimate not later than 180 days after the legislation is enacted and then annually thereafter. Below is the full finalized text of Section 1224. The Senate must still debate its version of the bill and is expected to take it up on the floor in June.

SEC. 1224. REQUIREMENT TO UPDATE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR INTENTIONS AND CAPABILITIES.

(a) Requirement- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act , and annually thereafter, the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to Congress an update of the National Intelligence Estimate, entitled `Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities' and dated November 2007. Such update may be submitted in classified form.

(b) Elements to Be Considered- Each update submitted under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) The locations, types, and number of centrifuges and other specialized equipment necessary for the enrichment of nuclear material and any plans to develop and operate such equipment in the future.
(2) An estimate of the amount, if any, of enriched to weapons-grade uranium materials acquired or produced to date and plutonium acquired or produced and reprocessed into weapons-grade material to date, an estimate of the amount of plutonium that is likely to be produced and reprocessed into weapons-grade material in the near- and midterms and the amount of uranium that is likely to be enriched to weapons-grade levels in the near- and midterms, and the number of nuclear weapons that could be produced with each category of materials.
(3) A description of the security and safeguards at any nuclear site that could prevent, slow, verify or monitor the enrichment of uranium or the reprocessing of plutonium into weapons-grade materials.
(4) A description of the weaponization activities, such as the research, design, development, or testing of nuclear weapons or weapons-related components.
(5) A description of programs to construct, acquire, test, or improve methods to deliver nuclear weapons, including an assessment of the likely progress of such programs in the near- and mid-terms.
(6) A summary of assessments made by other allies of the United States of Iran's nuclear weapons program and nuclear-capable delivery systems programs.

(c) Notification- The President shall notify Congress, in writing, within 15 days of determining that--
(1) the Islamic Republic of Iran has met or surpassed any major milestone in its nuclear weapons program; or
(2) Iran has undertaken to accelerate, decelerate, or cease the development of any significant element within its nuclear weapons program.