Impact of Export Control and Technology Transfer Regimes: International Perspectives

Abstract

The U.S. International Trade in Armaments Regulations (ITAR) regime is a major national security and public policy issue. Exploring the ITAR environment through a set of case studies was the central idea in a project involving participants at Cranfield University (UK) and the Naval Postgraduate School. Our colleagues investigated the effects of ITAR within the ongoing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which involves the U.S. and a number of international partners, including the UK. The Cranfield report (under separate cover was based on a survey of UK stakeholders. The results were unambiguous and striking. Our British partners conclude ITAR is a good idea gone horribly awry. Section II provides a summary. Our main interest (Section III) is the F/A-18 tactical fighter program, which eventually involved many international partners. This collaboration was highly successful and managed to the general satisfaction of the parties involved. It was, in short, a significantly different outcome within the ITAR regime. An introduction (Section I) provides a brief overview of ITAR and illustrates the reasons for its being controversial. Finally, our concluding section summarizes the Obama Administration's initiative to reform ITAR and offers some questions for further research in export controls in the global defense marketplace.