MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR USE OF NATIONAL LABORATORIES FOR BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE PROGRAMS.

SEC. 3131. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR USE OF NATIONAL LABORATORIES FOR BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE PROGRAMS. (a) Memorandum of Understanding.—The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Defense shall enter into a memorandum of understanding for the purpose of improving and facilitating the use by the Secretary of Defense of the expertise of the national laboratories for the ballistic missile defense programs of the Department of Defense. (b) Assistance.—The memorandum of understanding shall provide that the Secretary of Defense shall request such assistance with respect to the ballistic missile defense programs of the Department of Defense as the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy determine can be provided through the technical skills and experience of the national laboratories, using such financial arrangements as the Secretaries determine are appropriate. (c) Activities.—The memorandum of understanding shall provide that the national laboratories shall carry out those activities necessary to respond to requests for assistance from the Secretary of Defense referred to in subsection (b). Such activities may include the identification of technical modifications and test techniques, the analysis of physics problems, the consolidation of range and test activities, and the analysis and simulation of theater missile defense deployment problems. (d) National Laboratories.—For purposes of this section, the national laboratories are— (1) the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California; (2) the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico; and (3) the Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico.