Prevention of Nuclear Terrorism Act of 2006
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Prevention of Nuclear Terrorism Act of 2006 - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide for the establishment within the Department of Homeland Security of a Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to vest in the Office's Director the primary responsibility for: (1) administering the Department's nuclear and radiological detection and prevention functions and assets; and (2) coordinating such administration with other federal detection and prevention activities.
Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate the government's implementation of a global nuclear detection architecture; (2) carry out a research and development program and a program to test and evaluate technology; (3) develop and execute a strategy for the acquisition and deployment of detection systems; (4) continuously monitor detection information received from foreign and domestic detection systems to maintain a situational awareness of all nuclear threats; (5) gather and archive detection data measurements taken of benign activities; (6) coordinate with other agencies to ensure that the detection of unauthorized nuclear explosive devices or radiological material is promptly reported; (7) assess nuclear threats communicated by federal, state, tribal, or local officials and provide adequate capability for swift and effective incident resolution; (8) develop and implement security standards for the protection of classified or sensitive information; (9) perform research, development, and acquisition activities pertaining to forensic analysis and attribution of nuclear and radiological attacks; and (10) utilize classified and unclassified threat assessments in designing the architecture.
Establishes within the Office an Advisory Council on Nuclear Detection. Requires the Director to establish an interagency coordination council.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 28, 2006. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 28, 2006: Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 109th Congress (2005-06), 482 of the 10,701 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.5 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JOHN LINDER (R-GA) introduced it on March 28, 2006, and 10 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 4 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 28, 2006, 7471 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7471 days ago, on March 28, 2006.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers