Obama’s Arms Sales Policy: Promotion or Restraint?

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/02/14-0



The first U.S. Navy T-45A Goshawk (BuNo 162787) pictured on the assembly line at the McDonnell Douglas facility at Long Beach, California.

Obama’s Arms Sales Policy: Promotion or Restraint?
by William Hartung
Published on Friday, February 14, 2014 by Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON - The United States is the world’s leading arms trafficking nation, with $60 billion in arms transfer agreements last year alone. In 2011, U.S. companies and the U.S. government controlled over three-quarters of the international weapons trade.

The Obama administration regularly touts the role of U.S. officials in promoting U.S. arms sales. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Tom Kelly underscored this point in April 2013 testimony to Congress.

“It is an issue that has the attention of every top-level official who’s working on foreign policy throughout the government, including the top officials at the State Department …in advocating on behalf of our companies and doing everything we can to make sure that these sales go through . . . we take it very, very seriously and we’re constantly thinking of how we can do better.”

But according to administration officials, promotion is only one side of its approach to arms transfers. On Jan. 15, the Obama administration issued the first official policy directive on conventional arms sales since the mid-1990s. The document, Presidential Policy Directive 27, carries on the administration’s explicit commitment to promoting arms sales, but it also includes a pledge to show restraint.