Silver Shield Act of 2025

This legislation creates the Silver Shield program at the State Department to track how U.S.-made weapons and training are actually used overseas. The goal is to reduce civilian harm and stop serious abuses. The program must pull information from many sources—U.S. officials, photos and videos, satellite images, credible NGOs and media, intelligence, site visits, and an online tip portal—and check if U.S. arms were used in genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, or other serious violations. If there is credible information, the government must decide within 180 days whether that recipient is ineligible for more U.S. arms transfers.

Before any sale or transfer, the U.S. must get written promises that recipients will not use U.S.-origin arms to commit these violations. If the exact unit getting the gear isn’t known, the agreement must list units that are not allowed to receive it. The law also updates arms sale rules to promote “the safety of civilians,” improves coordination between State and Defense on monitoring, and sets up an outside expert board to advise the work .

Key points

• Who is affected: U.S. State and Defense Departments; countries and international organizations receiving U.S. arms; civilians in conflict areas; outside experts who will advise the program .
• What changes: A new monitoring program that uses multiple information sources and lessons from existing policies; stronger, written conditions on arms sales to prevent serious violations; required decisions within 180 days on possible ineligibility; yearly reports to Congress on costs, staffing, monitoring, and investigations .
• Funding: Authorizes whatever funds are needed and allows using existing arms sales and financing administrative funds to run the program.
• When: The program must be set up within 1 year of enactment; some legal changes take effect 1 year after enactment; a resource report is due within 180 days; annual implementation reports follow after the program is established .