Trumps Emergency Arms Sales: Infographic and Details Share This /

With new details emerging regarding the President's recent announcement that he would be sidestepping Congressional opposition to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, SAM has put together several infographics to illustrate the traditional process for Direct Commercial and Foreign Military Sales the administration is bypassing, as well as the scale and nature of the sales the president is proposing the expedite.

 

The Arms Export Controls Act (AECA) requires that Congress be given a formal notification for certain sale of arms and major weapons systems, giving them 30 days to review and either pass a joint resolution to oppose the transaction. But by invoking an obscure emergency provision of the law, President Trump is bypassing that review, and invalidating one of the only instances in the arms sales process that provides the public with an opportunity to scrutinize the transfer of war-making materials to other countries. 

 

The President's decision, announced last month, contravenes a growing tide of opposition to the Saudi led war in Yemen, where airstrikes have killed scores of civilians and contributed to what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. In April, lawmakers passed a bipartisan resolution mandating an end to US military support for the Saudi led war effort, the first time ever Congress invoked the War Powers Resolution. Though the measure was vetoed, it signaled the Hill's discomfort with the Administration's unflinching support to Gulf allies despite their war conduct and other malign behavior, including the assassination of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, which implicated the Saudi Crown Prince. 

 

In invoking the AECA's emergency provision to send weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the Administration cited growing threats those nations faced from Iran. But many have questioned the veracity of these claims. Congressman Tom Malinowski, who was previously a senior human rights official in the Obama Administration, has said “The administration has presented us no evidence that Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. face any substantially new or intensified threat from Iran that would justify declaring an emergency.”

 

In addition to the immediate risk the arms transfers could pose to Yemeni civilians, these sales also include provisions that could threaten long term regional security and non-proliferation efforts. The emergency authorization would allow arms manufacturer, Raytheon, to build hi-tech Paveway bombs alongside Saudis in Saudi Arabia, possibly allowing the spread of technology that the U.S. has previously kept closely guarded for national security reasons. Moreover, the Paveway has been one of the primary weapons cited by human rights organizations as responsible for civilian casualties in Yemen. 

 

But Lawmakers are not being sidestepped without a fight. Last week, a bipartisan group of senators announced that they would introduce 22 separate resolutions of disapproval to oppose the arms sales and, this week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing entitled "What Emergency? Arms Sales and the Administration’s Dubious End-Run around Congress."