Reading Room Document

Presidential Discretion to Delay Making Determinations Under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991

The President is required to make a determination that would trigger sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 if he is presented with sufficient evidence to compel the determination. The President may delay making a determination that would trigger sanctions under the Act when the delay is necessary to protect intelligence sources or methods used in counter-proliferation activities. The President may delay making a determination that would trigger sanctions under the Act when no reasonable alternative means exist to protect the life of an intelligence source. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/20151/download.

November 16, 1995