Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Congress, citing threats by China and Iran, has become
concerned over plans to ease controls over U.S. arms exports.

The focus of congressional concern has been the Obama administration’s effort
to revise the U.S. Munitions List. The list, managed by the State
Department, would remove restrictions on entire categories of weapons and
munitions, which could enable their export to Middle East states.

Under the administration’s proposal, many of the items on the list would be transferred from State Department to Commerce Department oversight. Commerce also maintains its own export control list.

House and Senate leaders said they support plans by the administration of President Barack Obama to facilitate U.S. defense sales abroad. But they expressed concern that the proposed export reform could result in the delivery of weapons to Middle East and other countries deemed totalitarian.

“History has shown that, without such safeguards, country exemptions for defense articles are vulnerable to exploitation by grey market brokers, foreign intelligence entities, front companies, and even terrorists,” House
Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said.

“China and Iran pose especially grave concerns. Both countries are actively seeking
to acquire a wide-range of U.S. technology through a myriad of illegal
schemes that span the globe.”

“Iran, in particular, is dependent on the illicit acquisition of a vast
range of military spare parts for its inventory of U.S.-origin military
equipment,” Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said. “These include fighter aircraft, tactical airlift,
helicopters, corvettes, patrol ships, tanks, artillery, and trucks. With few
exceptions, these spare parts and components will be eligible for the proposed new license
exception — with increased risks of diversion.”

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said she opposes what she termed the “complete rewrite”
of the Munitions List, with 21 controlled categories.

“Because the administration has focused only on identifying what
technologies are to remain on the USML — and not what is to be removed —
the administration has not identified or informed the Congress of the full
range of items it seeks to transfer to Commerce,” Ms. Ros-Lehtinen told a
House committee hearing on Feb. 7.

So far, the State Department has completed discussions with Congress on
five of the 21 categories of the Munitions List. Officials said State aims
to complete consultations with Congress on the entire list by 2013.

For her part, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen has introduced legislation that would
distinguish between components and other defense items. She has called on
the administration to remove the least sensitive components from the
Munitions List, including “nuts, bolts and cables.”

“One major defense contractor agrees with this approach stating:
‘focusing on the numerous low-level parts and components’ could ‘yield
significant near-term benefits to U.S. manufacturers,’ ” Ms. Ros-Lehtinen
said.

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