New House Task Force Gears Up to Look at Foreign Military Sales, Export Controls
A new task force that the House Foreign Affairs Committee created to improve how the government handles foreign military sales and export controls has begun its work, committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., said Feb. 25.
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Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who leads the task force, has started talking with representatives of industry, allies and the Bureau of Industry and Security to “get a feel from everybody [about] what they’re seeing,” Mast told Export Compliance Daily.
Mast said the task force will seek to streamline government processes that are widely considered cumbersome. “You can’t have allies outlaying all this capital and then not getting what they need,” he said. “You can’t have companies having to just sit on inventory because they’re supposed to deliver it but [are] not allowed to.”
Zinke’s office said in an e-mailed statement Feb. 26 that the lawmaker intends to begin holding industry working group meetings and full task force hearings in the coming weeks. The task force is "charting out a full legislative plate to streamline FMS and ensure our allies have a clear and functional process for procuring the vital defense equipment needed to keep the peace," the statement says.
Mast announced Jan. 22 that his committee was forming the task force (see 2501220086). The task force, which has both Democrats and Republicans, could provide input to a State Department authorization bill that the committee plans to take up later this year (see 2501240048).