State Dept. Previews New Arms Transfer Policy, Reviews Licensing Stats
The Biden administration is still working through a sweeping review of its arms transfer policies, which is expected to place more of an emphasis on human rights concerns while helping to remove foreign barriers to U.S. defense exporters, said Tim Betts, a senior State Department official. He said the agency is in the middle of an “intensive” interagency process and “wide ranging” discussions with industry and Congress to determine how best to revise its conventional arms transfer policies, which could represent a more cautious approach compared with the previous administration.
“What we're seeking to do is to elevate human rights, stress the principles of restraint and responsible use, and consider our partners’ security sector governance” when assessing proposed arms transfers, Betts, the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said during the Defense Trade Advisory Group’s Nov. 4 meeting. Betts, who was filling in for recently confirmed Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Assistant Secretary Jessica Lewis and reading the remarks she would have delivered, said the administration’s goal is to put “diplomacy first” while “respecting human rights and international law [and] revitalizing and reimagining alliances.”
Betts said the new policy will ensure the administration doesn’t approve arms transfers that carry a “risk of diversion, civilian harm, misuse or are contrary to” U.S. national interests. He specifically pointed to the Biden administration's decision in January to freeze arms sales to Saudi Arabia (see 2101280045 and 2102240043). “You need look no further than the administration's decision to recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia, indefinitely suspending two large precision guided munitions cases previously approved,” Betts said.
Betts stressed that the review will “represent a holistic approach” to how the agency approaches defense exports and “strengthen” the U.S. defense industrial base by promoting research and innovation in new technologies. He specifically said the U.S. will work to better “address impediments to bilateral defense trade relations” that may limit market access for defense contractors. The agency is also hoping the policy helps U.S. companies “maintain technological advantages over current and potential adversaries,” Betts said.
The DTAG also heard a brief update on defense export licensing statistics and operations from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Mike Miller, deputy assistant secretary for defense trade in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said the agency's overall volume of licenses has continued to decrease as a result of the transfer of certain weapons export controls from the State Department to the Commerce Department last year (see 2001170030 and 2006160040).
Miller said the total volume of adjudicated licenses will be ”slightly lower” this fiscal year than last. But he also said the agency is still seeing a large number of defense trade registrants at just under 14,000. He said that’s “very close to our all-time high.”
Miller also said the agency is working on six active consent agreements involving export violations and initiated more than 280 end-use checks on defense exports through its Blue Lantern program during fiscal year 2021. That work has been bolstered by the agency’s recent “unprecedented” effort to work more closely on end-use checks with the Defense and Commerce departments, Miller said (see 2107070010).
The State Department is also still working to publish a series of rules to reorganize the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Miller said. The agency has said for more than a year that it’s “very close” to releasing the first rule, which will reorganize and consolidate definitions in the ITAR (see 2010220049 and 2109290056). “This has been in progress for a while,” Miller said. “We are really in the final stages of review, so you should see that in the coming weeks to months. It's been a tremendous effort by the team.”