Biden to Maintain Trump Policy That Loosened Drone Export Restrictions

The Biden administration will maintain a Trump-era policy that loosened export restrictions on certain unmanned drones, a decision that drew applause from the aerospace defense industry last year but sparked concern from some lawmakers.

The policy, implemented by the State Department in July (see 2007270035) and by the Commerce Department in January (see 2101110046), was expected by some industry officials to be reversed by the Biden administration, particularly as top Democrats criticized the change and said looser rules would help human rights abusers acquire U.S. weapons technology. But Biden officials have reviewed the policy and will keep it, said Mira Resnick, a senior official in the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. The administration earlier this year had reportedly been studying how to maintain the policy.

The Trump-era decision imposed a case-by-case review policy, instead of a strong presumption of denial policy, on exports of a subset of unmanned aircraft that fly at speeds below 800 kph. The State Department last year said the change could generate more U.S. drone sales and was finalized after the White House failed to convince members of the multilateral Missile Technology Control Regime to reform its controls, which the U.S. had called outdated.

Despite the loosened review policy, Resnick stressed that the administration will not “automatically approve an [unmanned aircraft system] export,” especially if it has human rights or terrorism concerns with the shipment. “We’ll consider the transfer's effect on U.S. national security interests, including human rights and other foreign policy objectives,” Resnick told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on counterterrorism Aug. 10. She said the agency will also consider “the recipient country’s capability and their willingness to effectively and responsibly use this technology, and of course to safeguard U.S.-origin technology.”

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the subcommittee's top Democrat, said the policy change has caused the U.S. to lose “a lot of our moral authority.” “It sort of feels like we've just sort of given up on this one. We've just said there are so many countries selling so many advanced drones that we might as well just be in the business as well,” Murphy said. “I'm not convinced that that's the right argument here.” Committee Chair Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J, who last year called the move “reckless,” didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Resnick told senators that State Department efforts to keep U.S.-origin equipment away from human rights abusers is a “key part of arms transfer decisions” and stressed that its export review process will remain thorough. Although Murphy said the administration “cares deeply” about end-use monitoring, particularly surrounding foreign military sales, he asked whether the agency can take steps to create a “tougher and stricter end-use monitoring program that allows us to have more visibility” on how U.S. weapons exports are being used. “Is there a better way to do this?” he said.

Resnick said the agency takes end-use monitoring “very, very seriously,” adding that U.S. trading partners know that arms sales “come with high expectations.” She also said the agency will continue to “evaluate the full range of consequences” for export violations. “We're looking at history of misuse, we're looking at history of end-use abuse” before approving an export, Resnick said. “We do understand that these issues are complicated, but we are always looking to do better.”

Senators also expressed concern about the United Nations’ decision last year not to renew its Iranian arm embargo, despite a strong push to do so by the Trump administration (see 2009210022 and 2008170017). Sen. Ted Young, R-Ind., said he has “no doubt” that the lapsed embargo has helped Iran. “There are Houthis or members of Hezbollah carrying around Russian and Chinese conventional armaments that they've received from the Iranians as that embargo has been winding down,” he said.

Dana Stroul, a Defense Department official overseeing the Middle East, said the U.S. has seen “reinvigorated interest” by both Beijing and Moscow in selling weapons to Iran after the embargo lapsed. Stroul suggested the U.S. may impose more sanctions to enforce its own version of the embargo.

“We of course have other tools at our disposal in the U.S. government, whether its sanctions, our alliances and partnerships, our trans-Atlantic partnerships, and our security partnerships in the Middle East, which can reinforce our security and attempt to push back on those weapons sales,” Stroul said. “But certainly it puts us in a position where we're going to have to double down on both our diplomacy, our security partnerships, and explore other tools to make sure that Tehran does not gain conventional military capabilities.”

Stroul also shed some light on U.S. efforts to convince allies against selling sensitive weapons and technologies to China. While the U.S. tells trading partners that it “understands [they have] an economic or trade relationship with China, just like the United States has,” certain exports should be off-limits.

“There are certain categories of activities or engagement that our partners may be considering with China, that if they do, will pose a risk to U.S. defense technology,” Stroul said. “Our partners need to be reminded that the U.S. is the security partner of choice. We will responsibly work with them to respond to their legitimate defensive needs, and turning toward China or Russia will not support their security or stability.”