President Donald Trump shows a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Washington.

President Donald Trump shows a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in Washington. AP / Evan Vucci

Congress Needs a Veto, Not a Notification, on Arms Sales

The Trump administration’s efforts to evade oversight show why more is needed.

Though there is no shortage of examples of President Trump’s contempt for the authority of Congress, his administration's efforts to dismantle congressional oversight over U.S. arms sales are especially troubling. 

In May 2019, the President rammed through a sale of munitions and other arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, using a provision in the Arms Export Control Act meant to be reserved for emergencies. His administration did so despite bipartisan opposition to the sale and the clear contributions that U.S.-supplied weapons were making to civilian casualties in Yemen’s civil war. Congress rallied to vote down the sales, but its actions were vetoed by the president.

Now, more than a year after that sale — which elicited an inspector general’s investigation of potential improper influence — the Trump administration is poised to take another step towards thwarting Congressional oversight by eliminating a longstanding component of the U.S. arms sales process: early notification of pending deals. 

Tragic though these actions have been, they have served a useful purpose. They have thrown into sharp relief the degree to which congressional authority over arms sales is largely dependent on norms that can easily be evaded by a determined President, and how weak Congress's legally enshrined authority really is. 

The move to eliminate pre-notification is simply the latest iteration of the Trump administration's three-year effort to undermine Congressional oversight in the arms sales process. Earlier this year, the Trump administration moved the regulation of exports of certain firearms and firearms accessories from oversight by the State Department to the purview of the Department of Commerce, which eliminated any notification of these gun exports to Congress. In effect, the Trump administration has been determined to undermine, if not eliminate, the role lawmakers play in overseeing America’s arms exports. 

It is a troubling development. Lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, have helped moderate the risks of U.S. arms exports. On a number of key occasions, they have obstructed sales to abusers of human rights and international humanitarian law and provided the public their only window into the otherwise opaque world of the U.S. weapons trade. The role of Congress in the process is essential, worthy of being safeguarded and expanded. 

To be sure, lawmakers themselves are not without blame for the billions in American arms that have made their way to distant battlefields or have contributed to civilian harm. Many have bought into the fallacious claims of the economic benefits, have caved in to the powerful arms lobby, or have simply written off the risks these transfers pose to national security and international human rights practices. 

Nevertheless, Congress provides an important bulwark against any administration’s inclination to make sacrifices of American values for the momentary expedience of an arms sale. Fortunately, the president’s disregard for Congressional oversight has raised awareness of the arms trade issue, eliciting rare bipartisan pushback and providing an opportunity for lawmakers to take a stand to protect their own authority. Preserving the pre-notification process, flawed though it may be, is just a starting point. As was illustrated with last year’s emergency declaration, the barriers to the ability of Congress to block arms sales are far too high. Ultimately, to increase Congress’s role in the oversight of American arms sales, lawmakers need to “flip the script” on arms sales approval. Doing so would mean requiring a Congressional vote to approve certain major sales before they go forward, rather than a vote of disapproval that could require the ability to override a presidential veto.

It’s long past time to strengthen the hand of Congress in crucial decisions on whether to provide weapons of war to foreign military forces. Too often, these sales can fuel internal repression, as in the Philippines, or enable mass slaughter, as in the Saudi war in Yemen. Outcomes of this kind are devastating to those on the receiving end of U.S. arms, even as they undermine U.S. security by destabilizing key regions and bolstering repressive regimes. We need new oversight mechanisms to give Congress an equal role in these life and death decisions.

NEXT STORY: Happy Birthday to the Bomb

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.