10 U.S. Code § 2278 - Notification of foreign interference of national security space

(a) Notice Required.—

(1) Except as provided by paragraph (2), the Commander of the United States Space Command shall, with respect to each intentional attempt by a foreign actor to disrupt, degrade, or destroy a United States critical national security space capability, provide to the appropriate congressional committees—

(A) not later than 48 hours after the Commander determines that there is reason to believe such attempt occurred, notice of such attempt; and

(B) not later than 10 days after the date on which the Commander determines that there is reason to believe such attempt occurred, a notification described in subsection (b) with respect to such attempt.

(2) With respect to intentional attempts by a foreign actor to disrupt, degrade, or destroy a United States critical national security space capability that are continuous or repetitive in nature, the Commander shall—

(A) provide the notice and notification regarding the first attempt by such foreign actor in accordance with paragraph (1); and

(B) during the period in which such foreign actor continues or repeats such attempts, provide to the appropriate congressional committees a consolidated monthly notice and notification of such attempts by not later than the tenth day of each month following the month in which the first notice under paragraph (1) was provided.

(b) Notification Description.—

A notification described in this subsection is a written notification that includes—

(1) the name and a brief description of the national security space capability that was impacted by an attempt by a foreign actor to disrupt, degrade, or destroy a United States national security space capability;

(2) a description of such attempt, including the foreign actor, the date and time of such attempt, and any related capability outage and the mission impact of such outage; and

(3) any other information the Commander considers relevant.

(c) Definitions.—

In this section:

(1) The term “appropriate congressional committees” means the following:

(A) The congressional defense committees.

(B) With respect to a notice or notification relating to an attempt by a foreign actor to disrupt, degrade, or destroy a capability that is intelligence-related, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.

(2) The term “United States critical national security space capability” means a national security space capability of the United States provided by an asset on the critical asset list established by the Commander of the United States Space Command pursuant to Department of Defense Directive 3020.40, Department of Defense Instruction 3020.45, Joint Publication 3-01 of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or such other relevant requirements of the Department of Defense.

(Added Pub. L. 113–66, div. A, title IX, § 911(a), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 823; amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVI, § 1604(d), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4044; Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title XVI, § 1604, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2160.)

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 2278, act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 127, related to purchases of sample aircraft, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–160, div. A, title VIII, § 821(a)(1), Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1704.

Amendments

2024—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 118–159, § 1604(1), designated introductory provisions as par. (1), substituted “Except as provided by paragraph (2), the Commander of the United States Space Command” for “The Commander of the United States Space Command”, inserted “critical” before “national security space capability”, redesignated former pars. (1) and (2) as subpars. (A) and (B), respectively, and added par. (2).

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 118–159, § 1604(2), added subsec. (c) and struck out former subsec. (c). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “In this section, the term ‘appropriate congressional committees’ means—

“(1) the congressional defense committees; and

“(2) with respect to a notice or notification related to an attempt by a foreign actor to disrupt, degrade, or destroy a United States national security space capability that is intelligence-related, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.”

2021—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “Space Command” for “Strategic Command”.