House Committee Chairs Call for Expanding AUKUS Exemption

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., urged the Biden administration this week to expand the export control exemption it intends to give Australia and the U.K. under the AUKUS security partnership.

In a letter to President Joe Biden, the lawmakers said too many items are excluded from the planned exemption, which “jeopardizes the viability” of technology development collaboration activities envisioned under AUKUS Pillar II. They said the administration should remove as many items as possible from the excluded technologies list (ETL) “to unleash AUKUS’ full potential.”

“Half-measures pose an unacceptable risk to our national security,” the lawmakers wrote. “When the final AUKUS rule is announced in November, we expect to see significant changes to the [International Traffic in Arms Regulations] exemption that restricts the ETL to only that which is required by law or treaty.”

Their letter came less than two weeks after Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell testified before McCaul’s committee that he would look into the possibility of expanding the exemption (see 2409180025). Campbell made his comment after McCaul raised concerns about the ETL.

The State Department in August published an interim final rule granting the ITAR exemption (see 2408160019). To allow for further refinement, the rule includes a 90-day public comment period, which ends Nov. 18 (see 2408150052).