Senate Advances AUKUS Legislation
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced legislation last week with an amendment that could expedite certain defense exports among the U.S., Australia and the U.K. The Department of State Authorization Act of 2023, approved by the committee July 13, now includes language that would authorize the transfer of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and other measures to implement the Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS) agreement, lawmakers said.
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One measure would allow the State Department to create a new license exemption for certain defense exports to Australia and the U.K. “so long as the Secretary of State certifies that their export control regimes are comparable to that of the United States,” committee leadership said in a news release. House lawmakers had hoped to tack on similar language as part of an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2307050054).
The legislation also would grant Australia and the U.K. “priority status” within the agency’s Foreign Military Sales process, lawmakers said, and expedite "clearance for the transfer of AUKUS-related technologies to Australia and the United Kingdom to speed up the FMS process.” Other provisions would establish an “AUKUS Senior Advisor” within the State Department and authorize exports of defense services to “help Australian private-sector personnel develop their own Australian submarine industrial base.”
The amendment “streamlines the export of U.S. military technology, while ensuring that technology is safeguarded from adversarial espionage,” said Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the committee’s top Democrat. He said he looks “forward to working with my colleagues in both the Senate and House to pass this bill which will cement the AUKUS partnership for decades to come.”
The Department of State Authorization Act of 2023 will next receive a vote from the full Senate.