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.

Resource Page - Arms Transfer Initiative

(April 19) - The Trump administration has announced new policies on conventional arms transfer policy as well the export unmanned of unmanned aerial systems. See resource for more on the policy, expect reaction and experts to contact.

Annual Conference - May 22

Taking Aim: A Closer Look at the Global Arms Trade.
RSVP now.

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.
Rasha Abdul Rahim (contributor), "Deadly Assistance: The Role of European States in US Drone Strikes" Amnesty International, April 2018.  
William Hartung, "Trump's arms sales policy puts contractors above common sense," The Hill, April 19, 2018.
Caroline Dorminey, "Arms Bizarre: Selling Weapons in the Age of Trump" (podcast), CATO, April 16, 2018.
Iain Overton (editor), "The Burden of Harm: Monitoring explosive violence in 2017," Action on Armed Violence, April 12, 2018.
Dan Gettinger, "Study: Drones in the FY 2019 Defense Budget," Center for the Study of Drones, April 9, 2018.
CCW Meeting on Killer Robots (Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems) - April 9-13
Allison Pytlak, "Choices" (No.5), "Lethal [Autonomous] Weapon" (No.4), "Still in Pursuit of the Unizonk" (No. 3), "Two Sides, One Coin" (No.2), CCW Report, Reaching Critical Will Vol. 6, No. 2-5, April 10-15
Bonnie Docherty, "We're running out of time to stop killer robot weapons," The Guardian, Aril 11 April​
Erin Hunt, "The Right to Dignity and Autonomous Weapon Systems" (with Piotr Dobrzynski), CCW Report, Reaching Critical Will Vol. 6, No. 3, April 11.
Bonnie Docherty, "The Martens Clause: Incorporating Ethics Into Law" (with Annie Madding, and Paras Shah), CCW Report, Reaching Critical Will Vol. 6, No. 2, April 10
Mary Wareham, "Time is running out," CCW Report, Reaching Critical Will Vol. 6, No. 1, April 9
William Hartung and Eric Eikenberry, "Arms Sales To Saudi-Led Coalition Demand Scrutiny," Inkstick Media, April 9th, 2018.
Cesar Jaramillo, "Canada and Saudi Arabia: An arms deal no matter what," Project Ploughshares, April 3, 2018.
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William Hartung, "Donald Trump And The Art Of The Arms Deal," LobeLog.com, April 2 
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Jeff Abramson, "Trump Touts Saudi Arms Sales, Arms Control Today," Arms Control Today, April 2018. 
Visit the archive of past publications featuring Forum on the Arms Trade-listed experts.

Notification Tracker

New FMS notifications:    April 24 - Netherlands $110 million for F-16 training and $70 million for precision guided kits April 18 - Mexico $1.20 billion for 8 MH-60R helicopters and related equipment  April 9 - Qatar $300 million for 5000 advanced precision kill weapon systems (air-to-ground missiles) April 5 - Saudi Arabia $1.31 billion for one hundred and seventy-seven (177) 155mm M109A6 Paladin Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer systems April 4 - Germany $2.5 billion for four (4) MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Australia $148 million two thousand, five hundred four (2,504) rounds 155mm high explosive projectiles, Spain $1.3 billion for seventeen (17) CH-47F cargo helicopters; United Kingdom - $500 million for follow-on support to the MQ-9 Reaper program April 3 - Slovakia $2.91 billion for fourteen (14) F-16 aircraft and hundreds of missiles and bombs. 
Annual total for calendar year 2018 is now nearly $25 billion; 2017 was $63.1 billion (all countries).  see resource 

Travis Waldron: winner first quarter 2018 exemplary media poll

Travis Waldron's March 8 story for Huffington Post, “How Brazil’s ‘Lord Of Guns’ Armed Rio’s Drug War With U.S. Weapons,” was selected by voters as the best article in an online poll recognizing exemplary reporting from January 1 to March 31, 2018. Thanks to all media who are doing careful work on arms trade, security assistance and weapons use issues. See announcement.

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

In January, members of the House of Representatives took steps to block the transfer of some items on US Munitions List (USML) categories I-III to the Commerce Control List (CCL). See resource for concerns expressed and more information.

Resource - US-Saudi Arms Sales ($110 Billion Proposed)

Trump announces $110 billion arms deals with Saudi Arabia on May 20, 2017, many details of which are unclear. However, more than $17 billion in foreign military sales (FMS) have been notified to Congress, including a $15 billion sale of THAAD systems on October 6. On June 13, 2017, Senate voted on legislation (S.J. Res 42) to block the precision-guided munition direct commercial sale that was notified to Congress; the legislation failed by just 3 votes. Go to resource page.

Experts

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