The head of a national defense think tank in Washington on Friday attacked the Trump administration's changes it its policies for selling drones overseas because they place "economic interests over foreign policy objectives and national security concerns" and not a nation's human rights record.
"Past transgressions are forgiven and governments receive the benefit of the doubt as long as the sale promotes U.S. economic interests," Rachel Stohl, managing director and director of the Conventional Defense Program at the Stimson Center, said in an opinion piece for Axios.
A nation's human rights record or history of democratic activities will be among "a variety of risk factors" to be considered in a drone sale, but they are "no longer determinative," she said.
Human rights would also be balanced against the needs of allied nations and any economic loss should the U.S. contractor not win the sale.
Under pressure from American drone manufacturers, the Trump administration said last year that it would develop new "Buy American" rules to make it easier to sell the U.S.-made drones overseas and compete against Chinese and Israeli rivals.
Stohl warned then against the White House easing the drone restrictions too much, telling Reuters that they could give more governments with poor human rights records the means to "target their own civilians."
The revisions were released last week — and a plan to implement them across executive agencies is to be developed within 60 days.
The full text of the new drone policy remains classified and a list of potential buyers being given fast-track treatment was expanding to include more countries, according to news reports.
The changes would primarily benefit such large U.S. drone makers as Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co., General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
In her Axios piece, Stohl noted that the new rules allow for the drones to be sold through the State Department, but gives manufacturers the freedom to negotiate deals directly with other nations.
The regulations also no longer require monitoring technology for the drones, which "checks whether weapons are in the right hands and the right places and being used in accordance with the terms of transfer."
Stohl concluded that the changes were "focused solely on the near-term benefits of arms sales and overlook the potential negative long-term consequences."
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