AUKUS Export Control Reforms Proposed in Senate

Two Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to speed up the process for by exporting US defense, dual-use and other controlled items and technology to the United Kingdom and Australia.

S.1471, the Truncating Onerous Regulations for Partners and Enhancing Deterrence Operations (TORPEDO) Act, is aimed at making it easier to cooperate with the two countries on advanced defense and other controlled technologies and hold the Administration to account on implementation of the AUKUS agreement.

Senate Foreign Relations ranking Republican Jim Risch (Idaho) is co-sponsoring the bill along with Rep. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn).

“There’s no doubt AUKUS is an ambitious agreement,” Sen. Risch said. “In order to effectively counter the threats posed by China, the United States must deepen the trilateral Australia-UK-US partnership and build capability that benefits our shared security objectives.”

The legislation will “speed up the implementation process by reforming the US regulatory system so we can cooperate in a timely and efficient manner on the capabilities we and our partners need. This is not the totality of all that is needed, but this is a step in the right direction,” he continued.

The bill would:

! create a State Department “AUKUS Senior Advisor,” similar to an existing Department of Defense role, to drive policy and coordination forward within State and the interagency;

! authorize State to use existing funds to hire additional personnel to review defense export license requests;
! expedite the process by which certain US defense, dual-use and other controlled items and technology may be exported and reexported to the United Kingdom and Australia;

• create a fast-track Foreign Military Sales process for defense articles destined for the United Kingdom and Australia and maintain Congressional notification FMS requirements for certain articles;

• reduce barriers to information sharing among AUKUS partners;
• add Australia and the United Kingdom, both National Technology and Industrial Base members, as domestic sources for the purposes of the Defense Production Act;
• require reports on AUKUS strategy and impacts on US readiness, details on implementation of both AUKUS pillars, and recommended changes to the export control regimes of each partner and
• include a State Dept. proposal to train private-sector personnel in support of Pillar One.