Arms Export Control Act
The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 gives the President of the United States the authority to control the import and export of defense articles and defense services. It requires governments that receive weapons from the United States to use them for legitimate self-defense. Consideration is given as to whether the exports "would contribute to an arms race, aid in the development of weapons of mass destruction, support international terrorism, increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict, or prejudice the development of bilateral or multilateral arms control or nonproliferation agreements or other arrangements." [1] The Act also places certain restrictions on American arms traders and manufacturers, prohibiting them from the sale of certain sensitive technologies to certain parties and requiring thorough documentation of such trades to trusted parties.
When the President is aware of the possibility of violations of the AECA, the law requires a report to Congress on the potential violations.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducts an industry outreach program called the Project Shield America to prevent foreign adversaries, terrorists, and criminal networks from obtaining U.S. munitions and strategic technology.[2]
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[edit] History
In 2005 the Government Accounting Office (GAO) did a study on arms exports since 9/11. The study noted that the system itself had not been changed since 9/11 since the system was already designed to counter such threats. The study did report that the processing time for arms cases increased starting in 2003.[3]
In 2006 Boeing was fined for $15 million for unlicensed foreign sales involving a gyroscopic microchip or gyrochip with military applications.[4]
From FY 2004 to FY 2006 there had been 283 arrests, 198 indictments, and 166 convictions based on AECA violations.[5]
In March 2007, ITT Corporation was fined for criminal violation of the act. The fines resulted from ITT's outsourcing program, in which they transferred night vision goggles and classified information about countermeasures against laser weapons, including light interference filters to engineers in Singapore, the People's Republic of China, and the United Kingdom.[6] They were fined $100 million US dollars, although they were also given the option of spending half of that sum on research and development of new night vision technology. The United States government will assume rights to the resulting created intellectual property.[7]
In January 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich sent a controversial notice to Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, that Israel’s actions in Gaza since December 27, 2008 may constitute a violation of the requirements of the Arms Export Control Act, based on casualties at a United Nations school complex.[8] The allegations about the case were repudiated by the IDF,[9][10] and no action has been taken under the act.[citation needed]
In July 2009 John Reece Roth, a former University of Tennessee professor, was convicted of violating the AECA and sentenced to 48 months in prison. The conviction was based on violations of sharing technical data that was part of a United States Air Force (USAF) contract Roth was working on related to plasma technology for unmanned air vehicles (UAV) also known as drones.[11][12]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ 22 U.S.C. § 2778(a)(2).
- ^ "About Project Shield America". ICE web site. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. http://www.ice.gov/about/investigations/nationalsecurity/shieldamerica.htm. Retrieved 13 September 2010.[dead link]
- ^ "Arms Export Control System in the Post-9/11 Environment". Government Accounting Office. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05234.pdf. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "Boeing Company Arms Export Control Act Violation (QRS-11 Gyrochip)". POGO.org. Federal Contractor Misconduct Database. http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,222,html?CaseID=913. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "Registration & Compliance". Office of Research Integrity. Florida International University. May 23, 2007. http://ori.fiu.edu/exportControls/presentations/exp_controls_trimble_cook.ppt. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070327/itt_fine.html?.v=3 "ITT Fined $100M for Illegal Tech Exports" Tuesday March 27, 8:44 pm ET; Sue Lindsey, Associated Press Writer
- ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/27/itt_fined_for_illegal_exports/ "ITT Fined for Illegal Exports" Tuesday March 27, The Register; Drew Cullen
- ^ http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=108151 "Israel May Be in Violation of Arms Export Control Act" Tuesday January 6, Press Release; Dennis Kucinich
- ^ "'World duped by Hamas death count'" (in English). The Jerusalem Post. 2009-02-15. Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. http://www.webcitation.org/5rQLjEh8w. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
- ^ "IDF releases names of UN school deaths" (in English). The Jerusalem Post. 2009-02-29. Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. http://www.webcitation.org/5rQKyAmQH.
- ^ "Former University of Tennessee Professor John Reece Roth Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Illegally Exporting Military Research Technical Data". FBI. July 1, 2009. http://knoxville.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/kx070109.html. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "University professor and Tennessee company indicted for Arms Export Control Act violations". US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/052108knoxville.htm. Retrieved 13 September 2010.[dead link]
