Speaking of Corporations . . .

U.S. Commercial Arms Exports: Policy, Process, and Patterns - by - Dr. Joseph P. Smaldone, Chief, Arms Licensing Division, Office of Munitions Control, U.S. Department of State

" (The following was reprinted with the permission of the publisher of Marketing Security Assistance: New Perspectives on Arms Sales, edited by David J. Louscher and Michael D. Salomone, Lexington, Mass: Lexington Books, 1987, Chapter 9, pp. 185-213.)

. . . In the mid-1980s commercial arms sales began to rival the long-dominant security assistance program. Licensed export authorizations approached the value of FMS (Foreign Military Sales) agreements, commercial arms exports were conservatively reported at more than 30 percent of FMS deliveries, and the number of U.S. contract personnel implementing commercial arms exports abroad was about double the security assistance personnel contingent overseas. If these trends continue, commercial arms exports will overtake the FMS program as the main channel of U.S. arms transfers in the 1990s.

The most remarkable feature of this growth of commercial arms sales has been its steadiness, notwithstanding the major shifts in legislative and policy directions since the 1970s. Neither the new and changing legal regime of the AECA (Arms Export Control Act) nor the abrupt arms transfer policy shifts of the Carter and Reagan Administrations has had discernible effect on this historical trend. Even more striking is the fact that this unprecedented expansion of commercial arms exports has occurred during a period characterized by more complex and comprehensive regulations, intensified enforcement of export controls, and declining license approval rates.

The implications of the trends and patterns are evident. As commercial sales assume even greater prominence, the State Department's munitions control function will require greater policy attention. Increased public, congressional, and interagency interest is also likely to accompany this continued shift from government-controlled to commercial arms sales. It is incumbent on the department to keep pace with these developments to preserve and carry out properly its statutory and institutional roles in the regulation of arms exports. A three-fold strategy seems to be in order to address this emerging policy and managerial challenge: sustained and determined interest in arms export control by department principals; continued investment of resources as needed to fulfill the department's administrative and leadership functions; and a strong and responsive organizational structure for policy direction and management."

http://www.disam.dsca.mil/pubs/Vol%2010-3/Smaldone.pdf 

From the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)

http://fas.org/asmp/profiles/worldfms.html

U.S. Arms Transfers: Government Data

For a general guide to key sources of data and analysis on the arms trade, check out the "For More Information" chapter of The Arms Trade Revealed: a Guide for Investigators and Activists.

FAS.ORG