Agence France-Presse,
Washington: President George W. Bush signed secret orders Tuesday aimed at accelerating the approvals process for exports of military equipment to US allies without undermining national security.
The orders support the National Security Strategy of 2006, which was devised to help the United States wage its war on terror, while helping ensure it maintains its economic and innovative edge in military exports, officials said.
“These new directives will advance a more efficient and transparent export licensing process,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement after the signing of the directives, which remain classified.
“They will also help ensure proper levels of control for continued US economic competitiveness and innovation while protecting national security,” according to the statement.
“The directives are intended to clarify and strengthen the ability of the US government to monitor and deny US controlled goods, services or technologies to a potential enemy,” it added.
Washington still faces “unprecedented security challenges, including terrorist threats from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons to unstable regions of the world,” it said.
“The United States also faces economic challenges from the increasing worldwide diffusion of high technology and global markets.
“As a result, the administration will continue to ensure that our export control system is focused to meet these challenges,” the statement said.
Under existing legislation, the State Department enforces controls of defense exports while the Commerce Department enforces controls for “dual-use” technology, which can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
A State Department official told AFP that the directives commit “additional financial resources” as well as require procedural reforms to speed up the export license applications.
“It's not a new system, it's just making the existing one work better,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity pending the formal release of a statement from the State Department.
“The concern is if you start speeding up the process of the licenses, not enough attention will be paid to the license and what it might entail. And these items could get diverted to the wrong people,” he said.
Citing excerpts of the statement, he said the reforms required by the orders will “improve the manner in which the US Department of State licenses the export of defense equipment, services and technical data.”
The move will enable “the US government to respond more expeditiously to the military equipment needs of our friends, allies and particularly our coalition partners,” he added, citing the statement.
