Palmetto State News

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) announced his intention to work with colleagues to condition funding for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in the next appropriations bill and put a hold on all ODNI-affiliated nominations. This action is in response to ODNI's failure to submit multiple assessments of Iran’s nuclear capabilities to Congress, as mandated by law.

Graham stated that ODNI has missed two Section 5593 report deadlines and failed to notify Congress about significant enrichment activity by Iran. He emphasized that this constitutes a violation of the law.

The senator authored two sections of public law requiring ODNI:

- To report to Congress every 180 days on Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, nuclear weapons development activities, delivery vehicle development activities, and associated engineering and research activities, among other items. (Public Law 117-263, Section 5593(e)(1)(A) of the Iran Nuclear Weapons Capability and Terrorism Monitoring Act of 2022)

- To notify Congress within 48 hours if ODNI assesses that Iran has engaged in significant enrichment activity. (Public Law 118-31, Section 7413 Monitoring Enrichment of Uranium-235)

In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Graham wrote: "I am formally notifying you that I plan to hold all ODNI affiliated nominations and will work with my colleagues to condition ODNI headquarters funding in the next appropriations bill upon submission of these assessments. As the author of these two provisions designed to protect the national security interests of the United States, I find it unconscionable that the requirements to submit the assessments under Section 5593 and Section 7413 are being ignored.”

Graham also highlighted concerns from a recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report estimating that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has grown to 313.3 pounds. The IAEA noted that this amount is only a small technical step away from reaching weapons-grade purity uranium needed for creating a nuclear weapon. According to IAEA estimates, approximately 92.6 pounds of weapons-grade purity uranium would be sufficient for such a weapon.

The full text of Senator Graham's letter can be found HERE.