The Forum on the Arms Trade is a network of civil society experts and a point of contact for strengthening public efforts to address the humanitarian, economic and other implications of arms transfers, security assistance, and weapons use. Managed from Washington DC, the Forum provides a venue for bringing its community's wide-ranging expertise together to amplify and strengthen its work, while also offering government and media members a one-stop resource for the latest information, analysis, and best contacts. Forum-listed experts are located around the world and work on diverse topics including human rights, development, arms control, humanitarian disarmament, cybersecurity, arms and the environment, anti-corruption, and related fields.

Biden Arms Sales Review

BREAKING On April 13, news broke that the administration had decided to proceed with arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, with details still to be agreed before any delivery takes place, at least a few years from now.

On February 4, President Biden announced that he was ending “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales." This followed a week after Secretary of State Blinken said that the United States was reviewing “pending [arms] sales, to make sure that what is being considered is something that advances our strategic objectives and advances our foreign policy.” See resource page for more details and commentary on this review.

U.S. Landmine Policy

On April 6, 2021, Department of Defense spokesperson Mike Howard stated that U.S. landmine policy remained unchanged and that antipersonnel landmines remain vital to the country. Follow up messages indicated that review was ongoing. See updated resource page for responses. 

Experts Publications

​Highlighting publications in which Forum-listed experts were involved. Inclusion on the Forum on the Arms Trade expert list does not indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of others.
A. Trevor Thrall and Jordan Cohen (emerging expert), "Don’t sell arms to the Philippines," DefenseNews, April 16, 2021. 

Seth Binder and Amy Hawthorne, “Biden’s 'Skinny Budget' Loosens Belt on Foreign Aid,” Project on Middle East Democracy, April 16, 2021.

William Hartung, "Issue Brief: Transferring Arms To The UAE Is Not In U.S. Security Interests," Center for International Policy, April 2021. 

Josh Ruebner, “Betty McCollum introduces historic bill seeking to end US complicity for Israeli human rights abuses,” Mondoweiss, April 15, 2021.

“Explosive violence trends and patterns in Afghanistan (2011-2020),” edited by Iain Overton,  Action on Armed Violence, April 14, 2021. 

William Hartung and Elias Yousif, "U.S. Arms Sales Trends, 2020 and Beyond: From Trump to Biden," Security Assistance Monitor, April 7, 2021.

William Hartung, “Are we pressing Saudi Arabia enough on the Yemen blockade?” Responsible Statecraft, April 7, 2021.

John Lindsay-Poland, "Mexican Police Who Massacred Guatemalan Migrants Get Their Guns from the U.S.," nacla, April 1, 2021

Jeff Abramson, "U.S. Largest Seller in Flat Arms Market," Arms Control Today, April 2021.

Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick, "Diversion and the Arms Trade Treaty: Identifying Good Practice and Opportunities for Progress," Stimson Center, launched March 2021.

Nils Duquet and others, “Cashing in on Guns: Identifying the Nexus between Small Arms, Light Weapons and Terrorist Financing,” The Hague: International Centre for CounterTerrorism - The Hague (ICCT), March 2021.

Erin Hunt and Farah Bogani, “Missed Opportunities: Disarmament and Canada’s National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security” in “Reflections on Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security: Gains, Gaps & Goals,” Women, Peace and Security Network - Canada, March 2021.

Jodi Vittori, “Mercenaries and Money Laundering in Libya,” Inkstick, March 29, 2021.

William Hartung, "In Yemen, 6 Years of Suffering and Death in an Ill-Fated War: Biden must do more to force Saudi Arabia to end its cruel blockade," The Nation, March 26, 2021.

William Hartung, "There’s Plenty of Room To Reduce the Pentagon Budget," Forbes, March 24, 2021

Verity Coyle, Anna Crowe and others, "The Arms Trade Treaty’s Gender-Based Violence Risk Assessment: A Questionnaire for Information Sources," Stimson and International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, March 23, 2021.

William Hartung, "If Biden doesn't hold MBS accountable for the Khashoggi murder, Congress should," The Hill, March 20, 2021

Kate Kizer, "Biden's Choice on Yemen," Inkstick, March 19, 2021.

William Hartung, "A $700 Billion-Plus Pentagon Budget Is Fat, Not Flat," Forbes, March 19, 2021.

A. Trevor Thrall, "The Dangerous Global Marketplace for Conventional Weapons," Vital Interests Forum Issue 68, Center for National Security at Fordham Law, March 18, 2021.

Radhya al-Mutawakel, "‘Shall I Take You Back to War? You Know Exactly What War Means.’," The Nation, March 18, 2021. 

Rachel Stohl and Ryan Fletcher (emerging expert), "Opportunities to Regulate Conventional Arms in the Middle East and Horn of Africa," Manara Magazine, March 16, 2021. 

John Lindsay-Poland and William Hartung, "Trump made it easier to export U.S. guns. Biden must reverse these dangerous policies," Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2021.

"Report on the March 2021 consultations on a political declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas," with editorial by Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will, March 12, 2021.

"From Building Bombs to Building Futures: Anew U.S. approach to mass atrocity prevention," Caroline Smith and Kate Kizer, Win Without War Education Fund, March 2021.

Jeff Abramson, "A gun pledge Biden can easily keep," The Hill, March 9, 2021.

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, "Italian Ammunition Used in Myanmar Police Assault on Ambulance Raises Questions," The Irrawaddy, March 9, 2021.

John Lindsay-Poland, "U.S. gun export data update for 2020," Stop US Arms to Mexico, March 7, 2021

Sam Perlo-Freeman, "Business as Usual: How major weapons exporters arm the world’s conflicts," World Peace Foundation, March 3, 2020. 

"Explosive Violence Monitor 2020," by Jennifer Dathan, edited by Iain Overton, Action on Armed Violence, March 2, 2021.

Mandy Smithberger, "The Pentagon, First, Last, and Always," Tom Dispatch, March 2, 2021.



View the full list of recent and past publications featuring Forum on the Arms Trade-listed experts.

Upcoming Event - May 3

Join us for as we hit the 100-day mark for an examination of the new administration's and Congress' approach to the arms trade. See event page for details and registration.

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Latest "This Week in Arms Trade Publications"

Click image above for the latest collection of publications by Forum-listed experts, and other updates on arms trade, security assistance and weapons use. Sign up to receive directly via email and check archived editions here. 

Notification Tracker

Recent FMS notifications: March 19 - South Korea  $36 million for two hundred eighty-eight (288) Hellfire missiles March 16 - Netherlands  $315 million total: $190 million for AH-64 training program (Apache helicopters); $125 million for CH-47 pilot training (Chinook helicopters) North Macedonia $210 million for fifty-four (54) Stryker vehicles  Norway $36 million for one hundred twenty (120) Javelin FGM-148 missiles March 12 - Germany $1.77 billion for five (5) P-8A maritime patrol aircraft February 17 - Finland $91.2 million for twenty-five (25) guided multiple launch rocket systems February 16 - Egypt $197 million for one hundred sixty-eight (168) rolling airframe missiles (RAM) February 11 - Jordan $60 million for F-16 training February 5- Chile $85.0 million for sixteen (16) Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) Block IIIA missiles NATO - $65 million for five hundred seventeen (517) AN/PRC-158 Manpack UHF SATCOM radio systems.
 --- In 2020, the annual global total of nearly $135 billion in these notifications was the highest amount this century (2000-2020) see resource 

Resource Page - Int'l Trade of Firearms & Ammunition: Move to Commerce Control

Controversial changes that move export oversight on select firearms, including some assault weapons and sniper rifles, to the Commerce Department went into effect in March 2020..See resource page for concerns expressed and more information.

"Arms Trade FAQ" videos

See transcripts and more details here.

Experts

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The Forum is based at the Arms Control Association. Partners are not responsible for the work of the Forum nor does
partnership indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of other partners, listed experts, or resources produced by the Forum.