Publication

High on Prime Minister Cameron’s agenda will be to return to London having secured a commitment from the White House that it will sustain a full court press in order to ratify the U.S.-UK defense trade cooperation treaty. This treaty layers a de jure ‘trust community’ on top of the ‘special relationship’ to rationalize defense trade by streamlining export control procedures. It guards against unwanted proliferation of military technology and reserves strict arms control scrutiny for only the most highly classified capabilities. The treaty was designed to provide the United Kingdom, the most important partner of the United States in global coalition operations, with the same tools and resources as the United States in an expedited time frame relevant to the battlefield.