ESSAYS
The past year saw two important developments in the policy of the United States Government regarding the control of conventional arms and associated dual-use goods and technologies. The first, in February 1995, was the formulation and issuance by the White House of the President's major new statement of overall U.S. policy governing exports, or "transfers," of conventional arms (see Note 1). The second, in December 1995, was the reaching of an international agreement on the initial framework of the "Wassenaar Arrangement," a new, global regime to increase transparency and responsibility of trade in conventional arms and dual-use goods and technology. It succeeds the so-called "COCOM" (see Note 2) regime for multilateral controls on exports to communist countries during the Cold War.
The U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, along with the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce, took part in the formulation, negotiations, and implementation of these new policies and actions. They are described in the following sets of documentary and discussion texts regarding each of the two developments.
Note 1 - Statement by White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry and fact sheets released by the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, February 17, 1995. Discussion by the Weapons Technology and Control Division, Nonproliferation and Regional Arms Control Bureau, ACDA.
Note 2 - The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls. See "The Wassenaar Arrangement," below.
Contents
* An address by Lynn E. Davis, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, given to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C. on January 23, 1996.
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