The report was released in September 2010 before Congress was notified
by President Barack Obama of a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Officials said the UAE was also expected
to submit a major weapons request under FMS, administered by the Defense
Department and State Department.
"Congress does not have a complete picture of defense exports under
current reporting — including which method of export is used more often by
individual countries or for certain types of items," the report said.
"State — which has overall responsibility for regulating defense exports —
and DoD, report to Congress in response to various requirements."
About 60 percent of U.S. arms exports have been conducted through direct
commercial sales. The report said Congress has even less information on
direct commercial sales, used heavily by the UAE.
"Although no data are available on the export of defense services —
such as technical assistance and training — provided through DCS, exports
of defense services through FMS were stable, accounting for about one-third
of the value of FMS exports," the report said.
GAO complained of information gaps and inconsistencies in Pentagon and
State Department reports on arms exports. The report, which examined export
data from 2005 through 2009, said the State Department has not obtained data
from U.S. companies on defense service exports under direct commercial
sales.
"These differences and limitations may inhibit congressional oversight
and transparency into the entirety of U.S. defense exports," the report
said.
The report said Britain, Egypt, Israel, Japan and the UAE account for
nearly half of all U.S. defense exports. Egypt and Saudi Arabia were also
regarded as leading clients of U.S. defense services, which have included
logistical support, repairs, training and technical assistance.
"By fiscal year 2008, the most recent data available, the value of
approved licenses for defense services almost tripled to over $71 billion,"
the report said. "However, State does not report on the value of defense
services exported under license authorizations because it does not have such
information."
The report did not include data on what was termed classified exports
under either FMS or direct commercial sales. The Pentagon banned the use of
classified data on FMS exports even when combined with other figures.
"We obtained and reviewed classified data for FMS and determined that
excluding the FMS classified data from our analysis would not materially
affect the high-level trend analysis and other information we discuss in
this report," GAO said.