10 U.S.C. § 188 — Interagency Council on the Strategic Capability of the National Laboratories

(a) Establishment: This section creates the Interagency Council on the Strategic Capability of the National Laboratories — called "the Council." (b) Membership: The Council is made up of — (1) the Secretary of Defense; (2) the Secretary of Energy; (3) the Secretary of Homeland Security; (4) the Director of National Intelligence; (5) the Administrator for Nuclear Security; and (6) any other officials the President thinks fit. (c) Structure and Procedures: The President decides who chairs the Council, and sets its structure, staff, and procedures. (d) Responsibilities: The Council must — (1) identify and study the science, technology, and engineering skills of the national labs that each agency could use for national security work; (2) review and judge whether the labs' national-security science and engineering skills are good enough to support national security missions government-wide; (3) set up and oversee ways to make sure (A) skills the Council identifies stay at the right level, and (B) each agency gives the right level of institutional support to keep those skills strong; (4) following the acquisition rules for federally funded research and development centers, set standards for when each agency should use the national labs' services, including which missions and skills fit; (5) recommend to the President and Congress any regulatory or legal changes needed to better support (A) the labs' strategic skills, and (B) agencies' use of the labs; and (6) take any other action the Council thinks fits, about (A) keeping the national labs strong, and (B) using their strategic skills. (e) Streamlined Process: For the agency each Council member heads, that member must (1) set up ways to speed up considering and approving the use of national lab services on the right matters, and (2) make sure those processes follow the standards set under (d)(4). (f) Definitions: "Participating agency" means a federal department or agency represented on the Council by a member under (b). "National laboratories" means each national security laboratory as defined in the National Nuclear Security Administration Act (50 U.S.C. § 3281(1)), and each Department of Energy national laboratory.