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Blacksmith21 ago

People forget that State is part of the Intelligence Community (IC). Diplomats are often spies. Not the ambassadors. Most of them are idiots.

flyingcuttlefish ago

also - people don't realize that only the sec. of state can approve foreign weapons sales.... that fact plays a big part in the Clinton Foundation pay-for-play scandal.

Are_we_sure ago

This is completely false. Um, do you think the Secretary of State has more power that the President? Do you think only one person signs off on foreign weapons sales? Rex Tillerson can just say let Saudi Arabia buy $700 million of weapons? Anything they want off the lot?

Arm sales are an instrument of US foreign policy and occur according to laws set by Congress. There's an inter-agency process about approving foreign arms sales. Congress must be notified of sales over a certain dollar value and can block these arms sales by passing legislation or pass resolutions condemning the sale. State and DOD handle the details, but the State Department is acting on behalf of the President when they approve a sale.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM) oversees most government-to-government arms transfers and the commercial export licensing of U.S.-origin defense equipment and technologies, consistent with the Arms Export Control Act, the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and other statutory authorities and relevant international agreements.

The specific unit that looks into all this is Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers

The process is first a country must send a formal request.

This request is reviewed by the government....is the country on approved for this type of Sale, etc

Congress has to be notified for big sales. The notification limit is higher for NATO members and close allies. : The submission by the Department of State (on behalf of the President) of a preliminary or informal notification of a prospective major arms sale 20 calendar days before the executive branch takes further formal action.

That arms sale pay to pay is a whole lotta bullshit, it only works if you don't understand the above process and think one person approves US arms sales AND if you cherry pick the evidence.

Ireland gave a big, big donation and its arms sales went down 33% Algeria gave a small donation and its arm sales went up 400% Morocco gave a big donation and its arm sales stayed the same. Brunei gave the same as Algeria and its arms sales plunged 80%

It's almost like the donations to the Clinton Foundation had no effect at all on US foreign policy.

This is the type of deceptive bullshit politicos can get anyway with when people don't understand the details of how something actually works. Most everybody does not know how uranium is licensed or how the CFIUS board works or how arm sales get approved, so they have the complete jump on people and can frame routine actions into a scandal.

flyingcuttlefish ago

No it is not completely false.

Foreign Military Sales (FMS)

“Foreign Military Sales are one of two methods through which a country can purchase new military equipment from the United States; the other is Direct Commercial Sales, which are managed by PM/DDTC. FMS is a government-to-government program through which the U.S. Government sells conventional military weapons, equipment, and services to allied and friendly nations to assist them in meeting their legitimate defense requirements. Although the Department of Defense, through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), is responsible for implementing individual FMS cases, the Department of State must first review and approve them. DSCA forwards all FMS cases to PM/RSAT, which is responsible for ensuring that they are properly reviewed within the Department for consistency with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives. In close coordination with other Department bureaus and offices, PM/RSAT officers provide recommendations to PM leadership on whether to approve the potential sale of military equipment to foreign governments through FMS.”

– – – – –Third Party Transfers and Foreign Military Sales Teams and FunctionsShare, US Dept. of State website

https://www.state.gov/t/pm/rsat/c14021.htm

This is not deceptive bullshit. It is all sourced material that you didn't bother to look up.

There is so much bribery going on from State Dept. thru Clinton Foundation I had to make a separate blog just to follow SOME of it.

Are_we_sure ago

You don't understand your own evidence that cleary shows many, many people weigh in on FMS to ensure compliance with the law AND US foreign policy. Did you notice none of these people are the Secretary of State?

Did you skip all of this? Did you notice the Secretary of State is never mentioned?

DSCA forwards all FMS cases to PM/RSAT, which is responsible for ensuring that they are properly reviewed within the Department for consistency with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives. In close coordination with other Department bureaus and offices, PM/RSAT officers provide recommendations to PM leadership on whether to approve the potential sale of military equipment to foreign governments through FMS.”

All of that backs up what i said 100%.

flyingcuttlefish ago

you didn't follow the Clinton trail of corruption for the last 10 years .... hopeless ....

Are_we_sure ago

So your response to my evidence showing how you are wrong is to ignore it. Fabulous.

Did you realize that the PM/RSAT is the office mentioned in my post?