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. 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.

U.S. Arms Sales to Israel

NEW AND UPDATED: On May 5, the Biden administration notified Congress of a possible direct commercial sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, which became controversial as fighting in Israel intensified and the notification became more broadly public around May 17. Members of Congress have introduced resolutions of disapproval. On May 21, the licenses were approved. On June 8, more than 120 organizations sent a letter to the President encouraging him to block delivery.  See resource page.

Biden Arms Sales Review

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.
Josh Ruebner, "Opinion: A trickle of aid for Palestinians, a torrent of weapons for Israel," The New Arab, June 11, 2021.

Jennifer Spindel, "Trump’s Transactional Follies: The Consequences of Treating the Arms Trade like a Business," Policy Series 2021-38, H-Diplo, ISSF, June 10, 2021. 

William Hartung, "There is still time to stop the $735 million arms sale to Israel," Responsible Statecraft, June 9, 2021.

Annie Shiel and Chris Woods, "A Legacy of Unrecognized Harm: DoD’s 2020 Civilian Casualties Report," Just Security, June 7, 2021.

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, "Mine Warfare continues in Myanmar/Burma," Mine Free Myanmar, June 7, 2021.

Susi Snyder, Bonnie Docherty, Camilo Serna, Natalia Morales Campillo, Jeff Abramson, Chris Loughran, Alma Taslidžan Al-Osta, and Erin Hunt, "Lockdown Diplomacy: Reflections and Recommendations from a Humanitarian Disarmament Survey," June 2021.

Wanda Muñoz and Mariana Diaz in Discapacidad, conflicto armado y construcción de paz, National University of Colombia, June 2021.

Ray Acheson, "Protecting civilians by preventing conflict," Reaching Critical Will, June 4, 2021

Lauren Woods and Elias Yousif, "Ever-shifting Goalposts: Lessons From 20 Years of Security Assistance in Afghanistan," Security Assistance Monitor, June 2021.

Elias Yousif, "Enduring U.S. Support for Saudi-Led Operations in Yemen," Security Assistance Monitor, June 2021.

Jeff Abramson, "U.S. Arms Sales to Israel Challenged," Arms Control Today, June 2021.

Wim Zwijnenburg, "Data-driven environmental decision-making and action in armed conflict," Humanitarian Law and Policy, June 1, 2021.

Emma Soubrier, "The Gulf Cooperation Council at 40: Finally Ripe for a Regional Security System?," The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, May 27, 2021.

Quitterie de Labbey, Nils Duquet, and Lore Smets, "Stealing precious steel: Firearms theft in the European Union," Flemish Peace Institute, May 26, 2021.

William Hartung, "Memorial Day Can't Obscure Biden's Excessive Pentagon Budget," The National Interest, May 26, 2021.

Doug Weir, "Six ways to mainstream the environment in peace and security," Conflict and Environment Observatory,  May 26, 2021.

Iain Overton, "The Politics Of Torture & the Erosion of Truth," ByLine Times, May 26, 2021.

William Hartung, "America Dominant Again (in Arms Sales)," Tom Dispatch, May 25, 2021.

"A Decade of Explosive Violence Harm, 2011-2020," edited by Iain Overton, AOAV, May 25, 2021.

Dan Gettinger, "Weapons of the future: Trends in drone proliferation," Defense News, May 25, 2021.

Dan Mahanty and Allegra Harpootlian, "Breaking the Horrifying US Drone Habit," Fellow Travelers, May 24, 2021.

William Hartung and Salih Booker, "Israel’s Military, Made in the USA," the Nation, May 21, 2021

William Hartung, "Pentagon Waste Takes Many Forms," Forbes, May 20, 2021.

Jodi Vittori, "Mitigating Patronage and Personal Enrichment in U.S. Arms Sales," in "From Hardware to Holism: Rebalancing America’s Security Engagement With Arab States," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, May 18, 2021.

Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick, "It’s time to rethink US drone policy," Responsible Statecraft, May 18, 2021.

Wim Zwijnenburg and Roos Boer, "Explosive weapons and civilian harm in the Gaza conflict," PAX, May 17, 2021.

Elias Yousif, "Factsheet: US Arms Sales and Security Assistance to Israel," Security Assistance Monitor, May 12, 2021.

Josh Ruebner, Salih Booker, Zaha Hassan, "Bringing Assistance to Israel in Line With Rights and U.S. Laws,"  Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, May 12, 2021.

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

Meet the Emerging Experts

Emerging experts have expressed an interest in addressing the humanitarian, economic and other implications of arms transfers, security assistance, and weapons use...and are at an early stage in their career. Our latest cohort was announced June 15.  Meet them here.

Find experts who speak...

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: June 3 - Australia $3.5 billion for AH-64E Apache Helicopters and related equipment May 24 - Spain $110 million for MQ-9A (Reaper) support May 19 - Greece  $165 million for supply and support services for air forces May 10 - Canada  $1.7 billion for four (4) Shipsets of the AEGIS Combat System  April 30 - India  $2.420 billion for six (6) P-8I Patrol aircraft April 29 - Australia  $1.685 billion for one hundred sixty (160) M1A1 Tank structures/hulls; $259 million for four (4) CH-47F cargo helicopters April 23 - Australia  $1.651 billion for twelve (12) MQ-9B remote piloted aircraft 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. Annual total for 2021 is now more than $14 billion.
 --- 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.

Experts

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partnership indicate agreement with or endorsement of the opinions of other partners, listed experts, or resources produced by the Forum.