The State Department has released a 10-point plan aimed at retooling its oversight of the foreign military sales process amid escalating strategic competition.
The action plan, called “FMS 2023,” issued by the department’s bureau of political-military affairs, includes initiatives that seek to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of FMS in the areas of strategic planning, case adjudication and implementation of current and future FMS cases,
The list includes developing a regional approach to arms transfers; prioritizing cases for FMS based on national security strategy goals; refining the implementation of the unmanned aerial system export policy; improving security cooperation officer training; modernizing the congressional notification process; and limiting special security arrangements.
The State Department said it evaluates and approves 95 percent of FMS cases and the action plan intends to improve how the process can be enhanced for the remaining 5 percent.
Wendy Sherman, deputy secretary at the State Department, said the department is working to push targeted reforms to address those remaining cases through the FMS 2023 strategy, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
“We are exploring how we can improve the remaining cases, how we can simplify complex policy issues, how we can coordinate with the Defense Department and other agencies to support your industry as you scale up operations,” Sherman noted.
