CRS INSIGHT
U.S. Arms Sales to the Middle East: Trump
Administration Uses Emergency Exception in the Arms
Export Control Act
May 31, 2019 (IN11127)
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Jeremy M. Sharp
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Jeremy M. Sharp, Coordinator, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs (jsharp@crs.loc.gov, 7-8687)
Christopher M. Blanchard, Coordinator of Research Planning (cblanchard@crs.loc.gov, 7-0428)
Clayton Thomas, Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs (cbthomas@crs.loc.gov, 7-2719)
Overview
On May 24, 2019, the Trump Administration formally notified Congress of immediate foreign military sales and direct
commercial sales of training
, equipment, and weapons with a possible value of more than $8 billion, including sales of
precision guided munitions (PGMs) to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the gift transfer of PGMs
by the UAE to Jordan. Other notified sales include, among others: F-15 Engines and Support for Saudi Arabia and AH-
64 equipment, Javelin Anti-Tank Missiles, and Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles for the UAE.
In making the notifications, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo invoked emergency authority codified in sections 36(b)
(l), 36(c)(2), 36(d)(2), and 3(d)(2) of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2776). The
Secretary interpreted those provisions as granting the President authority to waive the specified statutory congressional
review periods for proposed sales under the AECA. If the President states in a formal notification to Congress that "an
emergency exists" requiring the sale, export license, or technical assistance and manufacturing license of arms and
related materiel, "in the national security interests of the United States," and waives the requirements for congressional
review, then the President is free to proceed with the sale, export, or licensing. The President must provide Congress at
the time of this notification a "detailed justification" for his/her determination.
These arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan coincide with heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions and renewed
Houthi attacks against Saudi infrastructure. In the justification for the use of emergency authority under the AECA,
Secretary of State Pompeo wrote to Congress that:
Iranian malign activity poses a fundamental threat to the stability of the Middle East and to American security at home
and abroad…. The rapidly-evolving security situation in the region requires an accelerated delivery of certain
capabilities to U.S. partners in the region…. Such transfers, whether provided via the Foreign Military Sales system, or
through the licensing of Direct Commercial Sales, must occur as quickly as possible in order to deter further Iranian
adventurism in the Gulf and throughout the Middle East.
