The White House has issued a memorandum updating its policy on conventional arms transfers as part of efforts to enhance the security of allies and partners, improve global deterrence, promote research and development efforts and adhere to international nonproliferation norms.
Under the new policy, the U.S. government will not authorize an arms transfer if it finds that it is “more likely than not” that the recipient will use the weapons systems to crimes against humanity, genocide, breaches of the Genova conventions or serious violations of the international human rights law, the White House said Thursday.
The U.S. will continue to promote arms transfer control and transparency, including the development of controls on the international transfer of weapons systems containing sensitive technologies.
“The United States will exercise restraint in international arms transfers that may be destabilizing or threaten international peace and security and will also exercise restraint in transfers involving materials that might be used as delivery systems for WMD or result in adversaries obtaining capabilities that could threaten the security of the United States or of our allies and partners,” the memo reads.
According to the document, the U.S. government will pursue arms transfers “when they are in the United States national interest, in line with the considerations of this policy, and consistent with defense trade advocacy procedures.”
A senior official with the State Department said the current administration intends to “focus on four areas in particular where we haven’t seen much progress in ensuring our competitiveness on a global stage” when it comes to arms transfers, according to a report by Defense News.
Those areas are competitive financing, exportability, non-program of record and technology, disclosure and foreign release system.
