The United States has approved sharing Restricted Data with Finland and Sweden, under a NATO atomic agreement that took effect in 1965
A NATO agreement written in 1965 covers the countries that were in NATO in 1965. Everyone who joined afterwards has to be added.
On Friday the President signed the paperwork adding two of them. Presidential Determination 2026-22 approves United States implementation of the ATOMAL Agreement with respect to Finland and Sweden, and it was filed for public inspection at 11.15 on Tuesday morning, the only document to reach the Federal Register's inspection list after the day's ordinary eight forty-five batch.
What the instrument is
The full name is the Agreement between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty for Co-operation Regarding Atomic Information, with annexes. The determination states that it entered into force on 12 March 1965, with respect to the United States and the other members of the alliance at that time.
What it governs is the exchange of what the Atomic Energy Act calls Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data, inside NATO. Those are statutory categories rather than descriptive ones, and the determination does not gloss them, so neither does this item. It also says nothing whatever about what information will move, in which direction, or when.
The approval runs under sections 123 and 144 b. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. The document calls Finland and Sweden the New Parties throughout.
The findings, and the condition attached
Three things are ordered, and the order of them matters.
First, a finding: that performance of the agreement with respect to the two countries will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defence and security. That formula is the statutory test, and it has to be met before anything else can happen.
Second, approval of United States implementation with respect to the New Parties.
Third, authority for the Department of War to cooperate with them in the NATO context, and this is the paragraph a reader should slow down on, because the authority is not immediate. It applies upon satisfaction of the requirements of section 123 of the Act. The determination clears the way. It does not report that the way has been walked.
Ahead of the findings, the President records the Secretary's recommendation and concurs in the assessment that Finland and Sweden, by participating with the United States pursuant to international arrangements, are making substantial and material contributions to mutual defence and security. The memorandum is addressed to the Secretary of War, and it directs that the determination be published. It publishes on Wednesday.
