Federal

A bill to direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on implementation of the advanced capabilities pillar of the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Source: Congress.gov · 1,281 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires the Secretary of State to write a report about how the United States is working with Australia and the United Kingdom on advanced military capabilities through a three-country security partnership called AUKUS. The report must detail how quickly the government reviews requests to sell military equipment to these two countries and what security problems have occurred.

Who It Affects

The Secretary of State and Department of Defense. Congress receives the report. Potentially Australia and the United Kingdom as they work on the AUKUS partnership.

Key Provisions

• The Secretary of State must submit a report to Congress within 90 days on efforts to implement the advanced capabilities part of the AUKUS partnership (Sec. 1(b)(1)) • The report must include average and median times the U.S. government takes to review applications to export military items or services to Australia or the United Kingdom for calendar years 2021 and 2022 (Sec. 1(b)(2)(A)(i)) • The report must list how many export license applications from Australia and the United Kingdom were denied or approved with conditions from 2021 to 2022 (Sec. 1(b)(2)(A)(iii)) • The report must describe security violations involving military equipment or technology sent to Australia or the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2022, including unauthorized access, inadequate security and illegal transfers (Sec. 1(b)(2)(B)) • The report must list U.S. laws and international agreements governing military exports needed to carry out the AUKUS partnership (Sec. 1(b)(2)(D))

What Changes

Congress receives a detailed report on how the AUKUS partnership is being implemented, including data on export review times, denied licenses and security violations involving Australia and the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2022.

Important Definitions

AUKUS partnership: The enhanced three-country security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States intended to help peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region (Sec. 1(a)(1))

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1006 To direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on implemen- tation of the advanced capabilities pillar of the trilateral security partner- ship between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 28, 2023 Mr. BLUMENTHAL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on implementation of the advanced capabilities pillar of the trilateral security partnership between Aus- tralia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1006 IS SECTION 1. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ADVANCED CAPA- 1 BILITIES PILLAR OF THE TRILATERAL SECU- 2 RITY PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AUSTRALIA, 3 THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND THE UNITED 4 STATES. 5 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 6 gress that— 7 (1) the enhanced trilateral security partnership 8 between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the 9 United States (in this section referred to as the 10 ‘‘AUKUS partnership’’) is intended to positively 11 contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific 12 region through enhanced deterrence; 13 (2) to this end, implementation of the AUKUS 14 partnership will require a whole-of-government re- 15 view of processes and procedures for Australia, the 16 United Kingdom, and the United States to benefit 17 from such partnership and, in particular, to support 18 joint development of advanced capabilities; 19 (3) the Department of State plays a pivotal role 20 in the administration of arms exports and sales pro- 21 grams under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) and the Arms Export Control 23 Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.); 24 (4) the Department of State should work in co- 25 ordination with the Department of Defense and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1006 IS other relevant United States Government agencies to 1 seek to expeditiously implement the AUKUS part- 2 nership; and 3 (5) the Department of State, in coordination 4 with the Department of Defense, should clearly com- 5 municate any United States requirements to address 6 matters related to the technology security and export 7 control measures of Australia and the United King- 8 dom. 9 (b) REPORT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 11 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 12 of State, in coordination with the Secretary of De- 13 fense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 14 committees a report on efforts of the Department of 15 State to implement the advanced capabilities pillar 16 of the AUKUS partnership. 17 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 18 required by paragraph (1) shall include the fol- 19 lowing: 20 (A) For each of the calendar years 2021 21 and 2022— 22 (i) the average and median times for 23 the United States Government to review 24 applications for licenses to export defense 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1006 IS articles or defense services to persons, cor- 1 porations, and the governments (including 2 agencies and subdivisions of such govern- 3 ments, including official missions of such 4 governments) of Australia or the United 5 Kingdom; 6 (ii) the average and median times for 7 the United States Government to review 8 applications from Australia and the United 9 Kingdom for foreign military sales begin- 10 ning from the date Australia or the United 11 Kingdom submitted a letter of request that 12 resulted in a letter of acceptance; and 13 (iii) the number of applications from 14 Australia and the United Kingdom for li- 15 censes to export defense articles and de- 16 fense services that were denied or approved 17 with provisos, listed by year. 18 (B) For each of the fiscal years 2017, 19 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, the number 20 of voluntary disclosures resulting in a violation 21 of the International Traffic in Arms Regula- 22 tions (ITAR) enumerated under section 40 of 23 the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780) 24 or involving proscribed countries listed in sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1006 IS tion 126.1 of the ITAR, by persons, corpora- 1 tions, and the governments (including agencies 2 and subdivisions of such governments, including 3 official missions of such governments) of Aus- 4 tralia or the United Kingdom, including infor- 5 mation with respect to— 6 (i) any instance of unauthorized ac- 7 cess to technical data or defense articles; 8 (ii) inadequate physical or cyber secu- 9 rity; 10 (iii) retransfers or re-exports without 11 authorization; and 12 (iv) employees of foreign companies 13 that are United States persons that pro- 14 vide defense services without authorization. 15 (C) The value of any civil penalties as- 16 sessed from 2017 to 2022 for disclosures or vio- 17 lations described in subparagraph (B) on 18 United States applicants that involved foreign 19 persons, foreign corporations, and foreign gov- 20 ernments in the United Kingdom or Australia. 21 (D) A list of relevant United States laws, 22 regulations, and treaties and other international 23 agreements to which the United States is a 24 party that govern authorizations to export de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1006 IS fense articles or defense services that are re- 1 quired to implement the AUKUS partnership. 2 (E) An assessment of key recommenda- 3 tions the United States Government has pro- 4 vided to the governments of Australia and the 5 United Kingdom to revise laws, regulations, and 6 policies of such countries that are required to 7 implement the AUKUS partnership. 8 (F) An assessment of recommended im- 9 provements to export control laws and regula- 10 tions of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the 11 United States that such countries should make 12 to implement the AUKUS partnership and to 13 otherwise meet the requirements of section 14 38(j)(2) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 15 U.S.C. 2778(j)(2)), and the challenges Aus- 16 tralia and the United Kingdom have conveyed 17 in meeting these requirements including with 18 respect to sensitive defense technology security 19 controls. 20 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- 21 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres- 22 sional committees’’ means— 23 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 24 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1006 IS (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 1 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep- 2 resentatives. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

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