18 U.S.C. § 832
Section 832 · Participation in nuclear and weapons of mass destruction threats to the United States
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case United States v. Culbert (1977)
Most recently applied in Freeman v. HSBC Holdings PLC (January 2023)
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, within the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, willfully participates in or knowingly provides material support or resources (as defined in section 2339A) to a nuclear weapons program or other weapons of mass destruction program of a foreign terrorist power, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be imprisoned for not more than 20 years.
(b) There is extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section.
(c) Whoever without lawful authority develops, possesses, or attempts or conspires to develop or possess a radiological weapon, or threatens to use or uses a radiological weapon against any person within the United States, or a national of the United States while such national is outside of the United States or against any property that is owned, leased, funded, or used by the United States, whether that property is within or outside of the United States, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(d) As used in this section—
(1) “nuclear weapons program” means a program or plan for the development, acquisition, or production of any nuclear weapon or weapons;
(2) “weapons of mass destruction program” means a program or plan for the development, acquisition, or production of any weapon or weapons of mass destruction (as defined in section 2332a(c));
(3) “foreign terrorist power” means a terrorist organization designated under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or a state sponsor of terrorism designated under section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979 or section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; and
(4) “nuclear weapon” means any weapon that contains or uses nuclear material as defined in section 831(f)(1).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, referred to in subsec. (d)(3), is classified to section 1189 of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality.
Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, referred to in subsec. (d)(3), is classified to section 2405(j) of Title 50, Appendix, War and National Defense.
Section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, referred to in subsec. (d)(3), is classified to section 2371 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 832, acts June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 738; Sept. 6, 1960, Pub. L. 86–710, 74 Stat. 809, related to transportation of explosives, radioactive materials, etiologic agents, and other dangerous articles, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 96–129, title II, §216(b), Nov. 30, 1979, 93 Stat. 1015.