WASHINGTON \u2014 The White House on Thursday updated the U.S. policy on conventional weapons transfers to other countries, adding a broader threshold to deny deals on human rights grounds even as the Biden administration seeks to bolster the competitiveness of the U.S. defense industry abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the new policy, the State Department will not authorize an arms transfer if it assesses it is \u201cmore likely than not\u201d the recipient country will use the weapons to commit or facilitate the commission of actions such as genocide, crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Conventions or serious violations of international law. <\/b>The previous arms transfer policy had a <\/b>more lax threshold, requiring the State Department to have \u201cactual knowledge\u201d of genocide or crimes against humanity to deny an arms transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The updated guidance also states that the U.S. \u201cwill exercise restraint in international arms transfers that may be destabilizing or threaten international peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff Abramson, a senior fellow at the Arms Control Association, told Defense News the policy update makes \u201cclear that this administration wants to put a focus on human rights and this new policy has language for human rights promoters to applaud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe proof will be in the actual implementation as it also contains language that will be usable for those who are less concerned about human rights,\u201d he added \u201cThat\u2019s always a balancing act in these conventional arms policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new guidance states that \u201cin an increasingly competitive market, the United States government will promote transfers when they are in the United States national interest, in line with the consideration of this policy, and consistent with defense trade advocacy procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The policy says the government should take into account \u201cthe transfer\u2019s contribution to United States innovation and technological advancement that helps improve United States and partner responses to security threats, as well as its effect on the United States defense industrial base.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior State Department official told reporters on a Wednesday call previewing the new policy the Biden administration plans to \u201cfocus on four areas in particular where we haven\u2019t seen much progress in ensuring our competitiveness on a global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The official said those areas include \u201ccompetitive financing (making sure that our products are affordable to our partners)\u201d and \u201cexportability (building exportability into the design phase).\u201d <\/b>The third area is a non-program of record, which refers to weapons systems a U.S. defense company no longer makes, \u201cto make sure that even if the United States military is not producing a certain system that we can be able to identify the needs of our partners and work with industry to be able to act accordingly.\u201d And the final area is \u201cour technology, disclosure and foreign release system deciding what the appropriate … risk tolerance is for technology and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House\u2019s new policy notes for the first time the U.S. government can stop an arms transfer before it\u2019s completed, even after the State Department has approved it, \u201cif it determines that a transfer is no longer in accordance with United States foreign policy objectives, national security goals or legal obligations.\u201d The State Department can also cease support for weapons systems that have already been transferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, the updated guidance places significant emphasis on strong security sector governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe United States recognizes that good security sector governance, including the transparent, accountable, and legitimate management and oversight of security policy and practice, is integral to the responsible possession and use of United States-origin defense materiel,\u201d the policy states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Biden administration updated its arms transfer policy as it identifies ways to make the U.S. defense industry more competitive in global weapons deals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[60,12,31,6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3230],"class_list":["post-33379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contracting","category-govcon","category-home","category-acquisition"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KUJFKMRXTNHOVMEV43IHXROMHI","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2023\/02\/23\/biden-arms-deal-policy-seeks-to-balance-human-rights-and-competition\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n