Carving Away at Conventional Arms Controls in the Name of Fighting Terrorism

The need to build international support for US counter-terrorism activities has provided a heyday for arms makers in this country as the Bush administration quickly turned to arms sales as the easiest way to make and keep friends. Soon after the attacks, when it became clear that Pakistan would be a key player in the counter-terrorism effort, President Bush lifted the nuclear-related sanctions on Pakistan, as well as India (to play fair). But because additional legal restrictions were still blocking arms exports to Pakistan and other states, the administration included a provision in the anti-terrorism bill sent to Congress in mid-September that would have swept aside all arms export controls for the next five years. Ironically, the proposed language would also have allowed counter-terrorism and non-proliferation aid to go to states that had not been cooperating on terrorism or that had particularly egregious human rights records.

After strong opposition was voiced by members of Congress and the arms control community (see below for FAS activities), this proposal was later amended to lift the remaining barriers on arms and aid to Pakistan only for two years. The law that eventually passed exempts Pakistan from a ban on aid to governments that undergo a military coup; allows for greater flexibility for Pakistan on sanctions related to Military Technical Control Regime or Export Administration Act violations; and exempts Pakistan from restrictions on aid relating to loan defaults. The law also shortens the congressional notification period for transfers of weapons of excess US weaponry to any country if the transfers would respond to or prevent international acts of terrorism.

The Arms Sales Monitoring Project (ASMP) helped fight off the Bush administration's original all-encompassing proposal and spoke out against the waivers for Pakistan and India. Project Director Tamar Gabelnick had a letter printed in the Washington Post opposing a blanket waiver. FAS also wrote a letter to Congress expressing concern about pushing aside long-term foreign policy goals in order to win short-term diplomatic gains. The ASMP and coalition partners put out an action alert to grassroots groups and organized a large "drop" of organizational statements and other information to all congressional offices. The ASMP also created a page on the relationship between US arms exports and the fight against terrorism as part of FAS' site on the subject (http://www.fas.org/terrorism/at/index.html).

The struggle to preserve export controls is far from over, however. Having lost the first major battle, the administration and some members of Congress seem prepared to pick off future targets one by one. The Senate recently approved an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill to remove restrictions on arms and military aid to Azerbaijan, which had been prohibited from receiving aid because of the ongoing conflict in the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The administration is already talking about lifting restrictions on military aid and arms to Indonesia put in place after the massacres in East Timor. Plans are also underway to increase military aid to the Philippines and to send more excess defense articles to Turkey.

Vigilance will now be key for those who monitor arms exports. From preventing incendiary sales to rivals India and Pakistan to deterring new waivers on critical export controls, we will need to keep a close eye on the administration's activities. FAS seeks to work closely with allies in Congress in this regard. We are planning a meeting with key congressional staff and other arms control NGOs in the near future to discuss a strategy for preventing the administration from winning their "salami tactics," where slice by slice the entire system of export controls are carved away.