‘Complex’ AUKUS Effort May Eventually Include Other Nations, but Not Yet, Officials Say

American, Australian and British officials were pressed this week about why they haven’t sought to include other close allies -- including Canada, Japan or South Korea -- in an ongoing effort to reduce burdensome U.S. defense export control requirements. Speaking during a summit of government and defense industry representatives from more than 25 countries, the officials said reducing restrictions as part of the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) partnership has proven complicated, and the nations aren’t yet ready to expand the group.

“I think there are about 80 people in the room that are looking forward to that process,” said Major General Odd-Harald Hagen, Norway’s defense attaché in Washington, adding that other countries are “on hold” until the AUKUS nations are ready. “We have something to bring to the table,” he said, “and we're on the same team.”

The U.S., the U.K. and Australia have been working for months on a pillar of the AUKUS agreement that is expected to create a pathway for the three countries to more easily share controlled defense technology, including items and services subject to rigorous license requirements under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Several audience members during ComDef 2023 this week, an annual conference of government and defense industry officials meeting in Arlington, Virginia, prodded the U.S., Australia and the U.K. about why other allies aren't involved.

Rosemary Gauci, an Australian defense official, said the process has so far been “complex,” and includes “a lot of moving parts.” Laura Farhall, a defense official with the U.K., called it a “foundational shift” in the nations’ approach to export controls. “We're going through a lot of detailed work at the moment to understand the comparability of our systems to make sure those can speak to each other,” she said. “And we can do that because of the long history we have operating together.”

Along with regular meetings among the three countries’ export control officials, they also are working with Congress on legislation that could expedite U.S. defense exports within the group (see 2309060028), but Australia and the U.K. would need to meet a provision in the bill that requires the State Department to certify both countries have export control regimes “comparable” to that of the U.S. (see 2309270007 and 2307140019). In the interim, the Biden administration also is working on implementing a temporary trade authorization tool to speed up some of those exports (see 2307100062).

“Quite honestly, it is an extremely heavy lift that we are involved with right now,” said Michael Laychak, director of the Defense Department’s Defense Technology Security Administration. Laychak, responding specifically to a question about whether Japan or South Korea will be included in the effort, said there “may be opportunities in the future” for more countries to join, but not yet.

“It's not no forever -- it's just no right now,” Gauci said. “We need to [first] set up that enduring framework, which as you can appreciate, is complex.” She added that AUKUS doesn’t “limit or disincentivize” any other countries from working with Australia, the U.K. or the U.S. on defense technology sharing issues outside of the group.

Asked specifically about why Canada isn’t included, Jae Shin, currently serving as the acting head of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, said: “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Laychak said Canada isn’t involved partly because the initial “impetus” for AUKUS was to deliver nuclear-powered submarine technology to Australia (see 2303130035), and the three countries are focused on that effort. He also noted that Canada has a “very, very close working relationship” with the State Department and already benefits from an ITAR exemption.

“I think there is an ability for us to look at in the future where we could expand,” Laychak said. “It is just extremely difficult, given the circumstances that we're under now with regard to working out ways of working together in adjusting the export control regimes with regard to the three countries themselves.”

Along with complex discussions among the three governments, Laychak and Gauci also noted the governments also must have similarly challenging talks with their industries to make sure any changes will be beneficial. “I think the work that we have to do with industry to understand the constraints that might inhibit their ability to support our outcomes is going to be really interesting,” she said.

Although AUKUS is focused on relaxing ITAR restrictions, Laychak said his agency is also working on ways to potentially ease certain restrictions with close allies under the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations, which covers a range of dual-use goods. He said DTSA is “looking at how we approach and how we look at technology transfer, especially with regard to ITAR, but it's not just going to be ITAR, it's going to be also EAR.” He is hoping to examine “ways in which we can work through the system” to “enable us to, quite honestly, develop innovative ways of working with and transferring technology and information sharing.”