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II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 1471
To bolster the AUKUS partnership, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY 4, 2023
Mr. RISCH (for himself and Mr. HAGERTY) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To bolster the AUKUS partnership, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
3
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
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‘‘Truncating Onerous Regulations for Partners and En-
5
hancing Deterrence Operations (TORPEDO) Act of
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2023’’.
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
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this Act is as follows:
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Statement of policy.
Sec. 5. Department of State personnel and resources.
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Sec. 6. Reporting requirements.
Sec. 7. Exemption for license requirements for export of defense items to the
United Kingdom and Australia.
Sec. 8. United States Munitions List.
Sec. 9. Open general license for the export, reexport, transfer, and retransfer
of certain defense articles to Australia, Canada, and the United
Kingdom under ITAR.
Sec. 10. License exception for export, reexport, and in-country transfer of items
on Commerce Control List to or between Australia, Canada,
and the United Kingdom under Export Administration Regula-
tions.
Sec. 11. Treatment of national technology and industrial base as domestic
source under Defense Production Act of 1950.
Sec. 12. Expedited release of advanced technologies to Australia, Canada, and
the United Kingdom through the Foreign Military Sales pro-
gram.
Sec. 13. Anticipatory disclosure policy for Australia, Canada, and the United
Kingdom.
Sec. 14. Report on AUKUS strategy.
Sec. 15. Australia, United Kingdom, and United States submarine security
training.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
1
In this Act:
2
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
3
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
4
mittees’’ means—
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(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations,
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the Committee on Appropriations, and the
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Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
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and
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(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the
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Committee on Appropriations, and the Com-
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mittee on Armed Services of the House of Rep-
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resentatives.
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(2) AUKUS; AUKUS PARTNERSHIP.—The terms
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‘‘AUKUS’’ and ‘‘AUKUS partnership’’ means the
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trilateral security partnership between the United
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States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, which
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includes the following two pillars:
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(A) Pillar One of AUKUS is focused on
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developing a pathway for Australia to acquire
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conventionally armed, nuclear powered sub-
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marines.
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(B) Pillar Two of AUKUS is focused on
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enhancing trilateral collaboration on advanced
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defense capabilities to include hypersonic and
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counter hypersonic capabilities, quantum tech-
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nologies, undersea technologies, and artificial
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intelligence.
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(3) AUKUS PARTNER.—The term ‘‘AUKUS
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partner’’ refers to a member of AUKUS.
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(4) DEFENSE ARTICLE; DEFENSE SERVICE.—
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The terms ‘‘defense article’’ and ‘‘defense service’’
17
have the meanings given those terms in section 47
18
of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794).
19
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
20
Congress makes the following findings:
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(1) The United States has entered into a period
22
of intense strategic rivalry with China that includes
23
military competition on a scale unseen in genera-
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tions.
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(2) The perpetuation of a military balance of
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power in the Indo-Pacific favorable to the United
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States and its allies and partners can no longer be
3
assumed as China continues to invest massive re-
4
sources in its military.
5
(3) China has undertaken a nuclear breakout,
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fields the world’s largest navy, and is fielding a fully
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modernized air force.
8
(4) North Korea remains an urgent and gath-
9
ering threat as it fields an increasingly diverse and
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advanced nuclear and missile force backed by a mas-
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sive conventional army.
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(5) Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapons
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capability while fomenting unrest in the Middle East
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and beyond.
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(6) While China remains the pacing threat for
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the United States, Russia’s unprovoked and brutal
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invasion of Ukraine makes clear that multiple dissat-
18
isfied powers are coalescing into an informal bloc de-
19
signed to challenge the existing United States-led
20
global order.
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(7) United States efforts to help Ukraine de-
22
fend itself against Russian aggression and strength-
23
en Taiwan’s ability to resist the coercion of the Chi-
24
nese Communist Party have exposed the production
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constraints inherent in the United States defense in-
1
dustrial base.
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(8) The capacity limitations of the United
3
States defense industrial base require urgent remedy
4
to include a renewed examination of burden sharing
5
roles with United States allies.
6
(9) To meet this comprehensive challenge to
7
American interests, we must act at the speed of rel-
8
evance to expand the resilience and capacity of our
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defense industrial base. United States allies should
10
be full partners in this effort and the AUKUS part-
11
nership is a necessary first step to share the respon-
12
sibility of perpetuating the existing rules-based
13
order.
14
(10) The security partnership between Aus-
15
tralia, the United Kingdom, and the United States
16
(referred to as the ‘‘AUKUS partnership’’) is meant
17
to bolster capability of the United States and allies
18
in the Indo-Pacific and beyond through technology
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sharing, cooperation, and defense exports.
20
(11) The AUKUS partnership’s focus on con-
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ventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines and
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advanced capabilities, known respectively as Pillars
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One and Two, rightly centers on cooperation at the
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highest end of security and geostrategic competition.
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(12) Pillar One, while bold, is complex, highly
1
contingent and unlikely to produce additive sub-
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marine capability in the Indo-Pacific until the
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2030s.
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(13) The Pillar One initiative will rely on the
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expertise developed by the United States and United
6
Kingdom in operating their submarine fleets to
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bring an Australian capability into service at the
8
earliest achievable date.
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(14) Pillar Two proposes that AUKUS partners
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will also deepen cooperation and integration on ad-
11
vanced defense technologies to include hypersonic
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missiles, space technology, artificial intelligence,
13
quantum technologies and additional undersea capa-
14
bilities.
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(15) Pillar Two, if executed with the vision de-
16
scribed by the three allies in the AUKUS announce-
17
ment of September 2021, offers the potential to
18
produce meaningful capability and increase indus-
19
trial capacity during the current decade.
20
(16) Pillar Two can also expand and build resil-
21
ience across the supply chain of the AUKUS part-
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ners.
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(17) However, certain statutory components of
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the United States export control and regulatory sys-
25
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tem are overly cumbersome for industries in the
1
United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom,
2
delaying and complicating the United States from
3
achieving national security objectives at the speed of
4
relevance.
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(18) Australia and the United Kingdom have
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legal, regulatory, and technology control regimes
7
that are sufficiently comparable to those of the
8
United States.
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(19) United States technology controls and ex-
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port licensing decisions must balance the relatively
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low risk of compromise that exists across all three
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AUKUS partners regulatory regimes against the re-
13
quirements to respond at the speed of relevance to
14
the rapid military advances made by the Chinese
15
People’s Liberation Army.
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(20) In order to implement the AUKUS agree-
17
ment and realize the value of increased cooperation
18
between the United States, the United Kingdom,
19
and Australia, the United States must ensure co-
20
operation is fostered, not inhibited, by the United
21
States regulatory system.
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(21) The United States export control system,
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encompassing both the International Traffic and
24
Arms Regulations and the Export Administration
25
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Regulations, is largely based on a bilateral govern-
1
ment-to-government relationship, is not optimized
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for a trilateral arrangement, and must reflect the
3
new era of allied partnership continuing evolution of
4
United States export control regulation.
5
(22) The Department of State, in concert with
6
the Department of Defense, the Department of
7
Commerce, and other relevant United States agen-
8
cies, should clearly communicate to our AUKUS
9
partners any United States requirements to address
10
matters related to the technology security and export
11
control measures of Australia and the United King-
12
dom.
13
(23) Further, the Department of State, in con-
14
cert with the Department of Defense, the Depart-
15
ment of Commerce, and other relevant United States
16
agencies, should work to reduce barriers to defense
17
innovation, cooperation, trade, production, and
18
sustainment with the governments and industry
19
partners of the United Kingdom and Australia.
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(24) These barriers include the overuse of ‘‘no
21
foreign nationals’’ (NOFORN) and Controlled Un-
22
classified Information (CUI) determinations that in-
23
hibit collaboration among AUKUS partners in deter-
24
mining requirements, design, development, acquisi-
25
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tion, testing, operation, and sustainment of capabili-
1
ties designed to be interoperable.
2
(25) The successful implementation of the
3
AUKUS partnership requires regulatory and licens-
4
ing changes on the part of all AUKUS partner coun-
5
tries and the continued enhancement of the export
6
control and technology security regimes of all three
7
nations.
8
(26) If AUKUS realizes its potential, it will set
9
a precedent and incentivize similar agreements with
10
other close United States allies, which will be nec-
11
essary if we are to prevail in the long-term competi-
12
tion with China, Russia and its partners.
13
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
14
It is the policy of the United States—
15
(1) to support a transformation and expansion
16
of our already close cooperation on a range of de-
17
fense and security issues with the United Kingdom
18
and Australia, including enhancing cooperation in
19
the development and fielding of advanced commer-
20
cial and defense capabilities and in pursuing deeper
21
integration of our defense industrial bases and sup-
22
porting supply chains;
23
(2) to use AUKUS to enhance trilateral co-
24
operation across the submarine fleets of the partner
25
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countries and to support Australian efforts to ac-
1
quire nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal
2
Australian Navy;
3
(3) to reassess, and as needed revise, existing
4
regulatory and legal regimes, to include licensing,
5
technology release and contracting procedures to
6
meet the objectives outlined in the September 15,
7
2021, announcement of the AUKUS partnership;
8
(4) to reinvigorate burden sharing with United
9
States allies as a key component of adopting a sus-
10
tainable long-term strategy to compete with China,
11
Russia, and other revanchist dissatisfied powers; and
12
(5) to modernize the United States export con-
13
trol system to reflect the new era of cooperation with
14
partners and allies, incorporating commercial and
15
defense technology that preserve, and enhance our
16
way of life.
17
SEC. 5. DEPARTMENT OF STATE PERSONNEL AND RE-
18
SOURCES.
19
(a) SENIOR ADVISOR AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT
20
FOR AUKUS.—
21
(1) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary of State
22
shall appoint a senior advisor at the Department of
23
State to oversee and coordinate the implementation
24
of the AUKUS agreement by the Department of
25
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State (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Senior Advi-
1
sor’’).
2
(2) REPORTING.—The senior advisor shall re-
3
port directly to the Secretary of State.
4
(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—It shall be the respon-
5
sibility of the senior advisor—
6
(A) to coordinate AUKUS implementation
7
between relevant Department of State bureaus,
8
directorates, and offices;
9
(B) to represent the Department of State
10
on matters relating to AUKUS in the inter-
11
agency process;
12
(C) to engage with relevant government
13
and industry entities in the United Kingdom
14
and Australia; and
15
(D) to issue guidance, including promul-
16
gating regulations, in order to reduce barriers
17
to defense collaboration, innovation, trade, and
18
production with the Governments and industry
19
partners of the United States, United Kingdom,
20
and Australia.
21
(4) SALARY.—The annual salary of the senior
22
advisor described in this section shall not exceed sal-
23
aries authorized in the Office of Personnel Manage-
24
ment’s Executive pay scale.
25
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(b) DIRECTORATE OF DEFENSE TRADE CONTROLS
1
STAFFING.—Section 45 of the State Department Basic
2
Aut
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