US Needs 21st Century Arms Export System; Embrace Allies

The best term to describe arms export reforms, much touted by the Obama administration and some hopeful membersof Congress, is slow. Irrelevant to this century might be better.

The nature of the arms business has changed so much from the late 20th century because of the growth in global manufacturing that debating which widgets should be on a munitions list (even this nomenclature suggests the problem) is really out of phase with structural shifts in evolving global arms production.

In shaping a new regime for the control of defense exports, the reality of working with allies in a global supply chain needs to be prioritized, rather than debating which widgets they are “allowed” to get, which probably came from them in the first place.

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