Arms Export Control Act
|
| Other short title(s) |
Arms Export Control Act of 1976 |
| Long title |
An Act to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Foreign Military Sales Act, and for other purposes. |
| Nickname(s) |
International Security Assistance and Arms Exports Control Act |
| Enacted by the |
94th United States Congress |
| Effective |
June 30, 1976 |
| Citations |
| Public Law |
94-329 |
| Stat. |
90 Stat. 729 |
| Codification |
| Title(s) amended |
22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse |
| U.S.C. sections created |
22 U.S.C. ch. 39 § 2751 |
| Legislative history |
- Introduced in the House as H.R. 13680 by Thomas E. Morgan (D–PA) on May 11, 1976
- Committee consideration by: House International Relations
- Passed the House on June 2, 1976 (255-140)
- Passed the Senate on June 14, 1976 (62-18, in lieu of S. 3439)
- Reported by the joint conference committee on June 16, 1976; agreed to by the House on June 22, 1976 (258-146) and by the Senate on June 25, 1976 (agreed)
- Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on June 30, 1976
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The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (Title II of Pub.L. 94–329, 90 Stat. 729, enacted June 30, 1976, codified at 22 U.S.C. ch. 39) 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]
Contents
- 1 Application
- 2 See also
- 3 References
- 4 External links
Application[edit]
In the 1990s, after a report from RSA Data Security, Inc., who were in a licensing dispute with regard to use of the RSA algorithm in PGP, the Customs Service started a criminal investigation of Phil Zimmermann, for allegedly violating the Arms Export Control Act.[3] The US Government had long regarded cryptographic software as a munition, and thus subject to arms trafficking export controls. At that time, the boundary between permitted ("low-strength") cryptography and impermissible ("high-strength") cryptography placed PGP well on the too-strong-to-export side (this boundary has since been relaxed). The investigation lasted three years, but was finally dropped without filing charges.
From FY 2004 to FY 2006 there had been 283 arrests, 198 indictments, and 166 convictions based on AECA violations.[4] Dead Link
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.[5]
In 2006 Boeing was fined for $15 million for unlicensed foreign sales involving a gyroscopic microchip or gyrochip with military applications.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8]
In January 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich sent a 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 AECA. The AECA requires that each nation that receives a shipment of arms from the United States must certify that the weapons are used for internal security and legitimate self-defense, and that their use does not lead to an escalation of conflict. However, the AECA does not define "internal security" or "legitimate self-defense." Kucinich said that Israel's actions in Gaza killed nearly 600 and injured over 2,500, including innocent civilians and children in residential areas and civilian institutions like schools. Kucinich said that this may have violated the AECA because they didn't further Israel's internal security or legitimate self-defense, but increased the possibility of an outbreak or escalation of conflict.[9] The charges were denied by the IDF 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. Roth had a United States Air Force (USAF) contract to develop plasma technology to reduce drag on airplane wings. One application was for unmanned air vehicles (drones). Roth was accused of violating the law by sharing technical (not classified) data with Chinese and Iranian graduate students, and of having technical data on his laptop during a trip to China. Roth and others said that the AECA, as applied in his case, would violate academic freedom and force professors to discriminate against students on the basis of nationality.[10][11][12][13]
See also[edit]
- Foreign Military Sales Act of 1968
- International Traffic in Arms Regulations
References[edit]
- ^ 22 U.S.C. § 2778(a)(2).
- ^ "About Project Shield America". ICE web site. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Retrieved 13 September 2010. [dead link]
- ^ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/950403/archive_010975.htm
- ^ "Registration & Compliance". Office of Research Integrity. Florida International University. May 23, 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "Arms Export Control System in the Post-9/11 Environment". Government Accounting Office. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "Boeing Company Arms Export Control Act Violation (QRS-11 Gyrochip)". POGO.org. Federal Contractor Misconduct Database. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. 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
- ^ "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. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
- ^ "University professor and Tennessee company indicted for Arms Export Control Act violations". US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Retrieved 13 September 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Why the Professor Went to Prison By Daniel Golden, Business Week, November 01, 2012
- ^ From Ivory Tower to Iron Bars: Scientists Risk Jail Time for Violating Export Laws, By Sharon Weinberger, Wired, 17 September 2009
External links[edit]
- Text of the act
- Information on Illegal Arms trade from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- Details from the Bureau of Industry and Security, part of the Department of Commerce
- eCustoms Export Compliance Systems
- "Bureau of Nonproliferation - Export Controls". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
