Legal Authority for Sending Seized Ammunition to Ukraine

Legal Authority for Sending Seized Ammunition to Ukraine

Legal Sidebari

Legal Authority for Sending Seized
Ammunition to Ukraine
October 13, 2023
On October 4, 2023, the Administration announced that it had sent to Ukraine over one million rounds of
ammunition, seized from a flagless vessel on its way from Iran to Yemen. The announcement did not
specifically identify the legal authority for the transfer, but the announcement and a court document filed
in conjunction with the confiscation of the ammunition suggest a possible answer. The ammunition may
have been transferred to the Department of Defense to reflect the Navy’s contributions in the case, and the
Department could then have sent it to Ukraine as excess property under the authority of the Foreign
Assistance Act or the Ukraine Sanctions Assistance Initiative, as amended.
The Department of Justice’s announcement of the transfer stated that the United States had sent roughly
1.1 million 7.62mm rounds to the Ukrainian armed forces. The ammunition, originally shipped from Iran
and destined for a rebel faction in Yemen, had been intercepted by U.S. naval forces in the Arabian Sea.
Following the interception, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal court announcing the
intent to seek civil forfeiture of the ammunition and asking the court to invite anyone with an interest in
the property to file a claim. The complaint alleged that the property was subject to confiscation by
operation of 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(G)(i) as the assets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a
designated foreign terrorist organization that the complaint describes as having engaged in planning or
perpetrating federal crimes of terrorism, among other things. The civil forfeiture statute in § 981(d)
incorporates provisions in the customs laws to fill in the gaps in its procedures. That process is initially
governed by the Rules of Civil Procedure Supplemental Rules of Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset
Forfeiture Actions, under which those with an interest in the seized property were invited to file claims.
Absent a valid claim, U.S. customs laws allow the government to forfeit certain classes of property
administratively.
At that point, under the civil forfeiture statute (18 U.S.C. § 981(e)) the ammunition could be transferred to
“any other Federal agency,” including the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense could then
have transferred the ammunition to Ukraine under the Foreign Assistance Act, which authorizes the
President to transfer excess defense articles, here and here, or under the Ukraine Security Assistance
Initiative, as amended, which authorizes the Secretary of Defense to make weapons and other defense
articles available to Ukraine.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB11056
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

Congressional Research Service
2
Ultimately, the weave of statutory authority enabling the Department of Defense to transfer seized
ammunition to a foreign government is entirely of Congress’s making. Within constitutional bounds,
Congress is free to amend or repeal any of the weave’s statutory threads.

Author Information

Charles Doyle

Senior Specialist in American Public Law

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