A couple of months ago, during the height of the list activity concerning
import of MV's, I took a few minutes and sent a letter to Senator Rod Grams
(R) (MN) asking him to look into the situation. He initially responded with
a letter indicating that he was pursuing inquiries at the State Department.
Yesterday I received a second letter from him. The following is a quote from
that letter.
"I recently received a response to my inquiry on your behalf from the
United States State Department regarding the importation of U.S. origin
military equipment. I regret to inform you of the unfavorable outcome of my
inquiry. Since the State Department has the final authority on this matter,
there is little else that I can do at this time."
Attached to the letter from Senator Grams was a letter from Barbara Larkin,
Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of State. I will
quote the letter, in its entirety.
"Dear Senator Grams,
I am pleased to reply to your letter of March 17, which forwarded the
inquiry of Mr. John J Hutterer concerning the import of U.S. origin military
equipment from foreign countries.
As you know, the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) generally prohibits the
return to, or sale in, the United States of U.S.-origin military equipment
furnished to foreign governments under the AECA or any other U.S. foreign
assistance or sales program.
Furthermore, at times, a law requiring the United States Government to
collect the net proceeds on U.S. supplied defense articles may come into
play. In light of this law, as well as important policy concerns such as
those relating to controlling the end use and retransfer of such articles,
the State Department, in accordance with a policy developed in 1987
regarding the import of U.S.-origin defense articles, has generally advised
the Treasury Department to deny import licensing for such U.S.-origin
significant military equipment to private parties.
It bears mentioning that this long-standing State Department regulatory
policy has been recently upheld in Federal Court.
I hope that this information will be helpful to you in responding to your
constituent."
Although I am not particularly pleased with the results of my inquiry, I am
gratified that it only took a couple of months for the entire process. We
all know how slowly the wheels of government can turn. I would also like to
point out that the letters were all written in a polite, non accusatory
manner. If anyone would care to contact Ms. Larkin, I would strongly suggest
that you do so in a polite manner, using the guidelines that were proposed
in earlier posts to the list.
Please note that the policy that Ms. Larkin refers to was not specifically
identified by title or author, but that it was originated in 1987. Although
I am not a fan of Mr. Clintons, it would seem that this policy pre-dates his
time in office. When compared to the great affairs of state that the State
Department is normally involved with (Trade Policies, NATO, Most Favored
Nation Status for China, etc.) the importation of a few surplus military
vehicles is probably considered pretty small stuff. I suspect that the 1987
policy was probably generated by some long-forgotten, small time staffer who
thought that he (or she) was helping to protect the American people from a
proliferation of military equipment in the hands of civilians.
I apologize for the length of this posting, but I felt that it was important
that I not paraphrase any of the information contained in the letters. By
the way, I don't even own a military vehicle myself (although I am looking).
I just felt that it would be a good idea to have some of the facts available
before anybody started writing to their Congress-people.
John Hutterer
Sen. Eng. Lab. Tech.
SIMS Deltec
651-628-7107
john.hutterer@deltec.com
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