EconDefense
USC-56 / Security cooperation, assistance and education

Partner, grant and procure to account for missing personnel

Use recovery-focused public-private partnerships, grants, cooperative agreements, property support and gifts; separately assist and procure goods/services from foreign nations for missing-U.S.-personnel accounting.

Action briefPDF dossier · original 168Download record
Authority / instrument · USC-56

Missing-personnel recovery partnerships

Security cooperation, assistance and education

Statute & instrument
Authority holder

Secretary of Defense; Secretary of State concurrence or approval where specified

What this does not authorize / hard limit

§408 annual assistance ceiling is $15 million, subject to notified waiver—not the obsolete $5 million baseline.

Recorded executor

Designated Defense Agency agreements, grants and recovery offices (illustrative; delegation not verified)

Continue to actor →

Recorded executing role; this record-specific route is not an additional institutional office.

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedAvailable mission funds; gifts of money go to the DoD General Gift Fund under §1501a. Office budget figures are separate institutional context, not an allocation to this instrument.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementProgram unverifiedAdded in the October 5 statutory review; no current implementing program, intake or individual delegation verified.

Public evidence describes the institution and instrument; it is not approval of an individual transaction.

At a glance

Possible toolUSC-56 · Contracts & purchases

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense; Secretary of State concurrence or approval where specified

Contracts & purchasesGrants & cooperative agreements

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Statutory-review addition. Current program implementation, intake, available funds, and individual signing authority have not been verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Private assistance must support the designated missing-personnel Defense Agency; foreign partnerships need State concurrence.
  • §408 foreign assistance needs specific State approval; annual reporting and terrorism-related recipient prohibitions apply.

Limits & exclusions

  • §408 annual assistance ceiling is $15 million, subject to notified waiver—not the obsolete $5 million baseline.
  • §1501a gifts cannot compromise integrity or its appearance; sole-source grants/agreements and no-cost property support remain mission-limited.

Funding conditions

  • Available mission funds; gifts of money go to the DoD General Gift Fund under §1501a.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Missing-personnel accounting mission sponsor (illustrative routing lead)

Resources

  • Cognizant component comptroller; account and available balance unverified
    Office profile

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense; Secretary of State concurrence or approval where specified
    Office profile

Execution

  • Designated Defense Agency agreements, grants and recovery offices (illustrative; delegation not verified)
    Office profile

Partners & review

  • Department of State

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Mission sponsor → component counsel and comptroller → required statutory findings and approvals → authorized execution office. Routing is illustrative; verify delegation and available funds.

Actor and execution-role sources

October 5 statutory review

Added in the October 5 statutory coverage review. The cited legal mechanism and its conditions were examined; a current implementing program, intake, funding balance and individual delegation were not verified.

Section coverage and review findings

Legal basis

What this research establishes

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingRules recordedAvailable mission funds; gifts of money go to the DoD General Gift Fund under §1501a. Office budget figures are separate institutional context, not an allocation to this instrument.
Assigned rolesRoles recordedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementProgram unverifiedAdded in the October 5 statutory review; no current implementing program, intake or individual delegation verified.

Confidence: High on the cited statutory mechanism; no implementation or obligation-ready certification.

Currentness: Reviewed 2026-10-05 against full official GovInfo 2024 Code text and a targeted P.L. 119-60 reference sweep. Official OLRC indexed text used where accessible; direct OLRC pages returned maintenance or access errors. No comprehensive later-law certification or current funding/delegation verification. P.L. 119-60 §1041 and current OLRC §408 amendment notes expressly verified: adds foreign procurement and raises ceiling to $15 million.

Review scope: Record reviewed 2026-10-05. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.

Related tools in this family