18 U.S.C. § 2156
Section 2156 · Production of defective national-defense material, national-defense premises, or national-defense utilities
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Hutson v. Analytic Sciences Corp. (1994)
Most recently applied in Caltex Plastics, Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp. (June 2016)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Whoever, with intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense of the United States, willfully makes, constructs, or attempts to make or construct in a defective manner, any national-defense material, national-defense premises or national-defense utilities, or any tool, implement, machine, utensil, or receptacle used or employed in making, producing, manufacturing, or repairing any such national-defense material, national-defense premises or national-defense utilities, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(b) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as provided in subsection (a) of this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on section 106 of title 50, U.S.C., 1940 ed., War and National Defense (Apr. 20, 1918, ch. 59, §6, as added Nov. 30, 1940, ch. 926, 54 Stat. 1221).
Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title.
Words “upon conviction thereof” were omitted as unnecessary, since punishment cannot be imposed until a conviction is secured.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”.
1954—Act Sept. 3, 1954, inserted conspiracy provisions.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.
Cross References
Production of defective war material, see section 2154 of this title.