INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRADE INFORMATION.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00005R000300100039-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 8, 2012
• Sequence Number: 39
• Publication Date: August 11, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

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1 1 AUG 1988 OCA fILL r.......,...._?
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
VIA: Acting Deputy Director for Intelligenc
FROM:
SUBJECT: International Arms Trade Information.-
1. Action Requested: That you sign the attached
memorandum to William F. Burns, Director of ACDA, which
responds to his request for the declassification of arms
trade data. (Attachment A) n
2. Background: On 25 July 1988, William F. Burns sent
you a memorandum asking that the Agency make an effort to
declassify arms trade data. His request was prompted by a
letter from Senator Proxmire to Secretary Shultz.
3. We strongly feel that it would be inappropriate to
declassify the type of information being asked for. The
response we have prepared is consistent with the response we
prepared for the office of Congressional Affairs when it was
answering a similar request from Senator Proxmire via
4. For your convenience we have also attached a copy
of the guidelines that we-have developed for responding to
requests for detailed arms trade information. (Attachment C)
Attachments:
A. Memo to General Burns
B. Senator Proxmire Material
C. Guidelines
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SUBJECT: International Arms Trade Information
DDI/OGI/C/ISID/AT (11 August 1988)
Distribution:
Orig - Addressee, w/atts
1 - DCI, w/atts
1 - Executive Registry, w/atts
1 - ADDI, w/atts
1 - DI Registry, w/atts
1 - C/NIC, w/atts
1 - D/OCA, w/atts
1 - OD/OGI, w/atts
1 - OGI/ISID, w/atts
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Central Intelligence Agency ER 2875/1 88
23AUG1988
MEMORANDUM FOR: Major General William F. Burns, USA
(Retired)
Director, United States Arms Control
and Disarmament Agency
SUBJECT: International Arms Trade Information
REFERENCE: Your memo to DCI, dtd 25 Jul 88, Same Subject
1. I share your belief that arms trade and production in the
Third World will be of increasing concern to us in the years ahead
and deserves to be analyzed more extensively. The Intelligence
Community has taken several steps in the last few years to improve
its abilities to monitor and analyze arms transfers to the Third
World. We have taken major steps to improve our collection against
Soviet, and most recently, Chinese arms deliveries. New methodol-
ogies have also been developed to track arms sales on the gray arms
market that sere' rgoed nations like Iran, terrorist groups,
and insurgents.
2. Regularly disseminating less aggregated data than we
currently provide would jeopardize these ne
Place our monitorin capabilities at risk.
Please be assured, however; t at c asst a arm
in orma ion is broadly disseminated to experts with a variety of
perspectives.
4. As a result, I believe that efforts to tailor the data now
made available by the Intelligence Community for publication in
ACDA's World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers in some other
fashion, as proposed by Senator Proxmire, would risk more than
would be gained. We would, of course, be willing to review any
specific proposals you would like-to make in this regard.
Id WiMm IL WeL r
William H. Webster
Director of Central Intelligence
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WILLIAM PROXMIRE
United estate$ ostnate
June 13, 1988
The Honorable David Boren, Chairman
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Louis Stokes, Chairman
House Permanent Select Commmittee
on Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20515
On June 9, I gave a speech on the Senate floor on the subject
of arms transfers to developing nations. The idea for the speech
grew out of a Memorial Day column in the New York Times by James
Reston in which he cited a report that stated that the world was
engaged in 25 wars in 1987. Most of these conflicts took place
in underdeveloped parts of the world.
In preparation for that speech I sought information detailing
the value of the arms exported to these nations at war and the
countries that were the main suppliers of these arms. I
consulted the annual Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA)
publication on this issue, titled-World Military Expenditures and
Arms Transfers 1987, but I was unable to find this Information.
In fact, the most detailed-breakdown of nation-to-nation arms
transfers was a table that cumulatively covered the period 1982-
1986, but it did not even include all the arms exporting nations.
I contacted ACDA to get some-answers but much to my surprise,
I was told that this type of detailed information was classified
and unavailable to the public. Consequently, I was forced to use
aggregate figures that detailed the value of the arms transfers
from the communist and non-communist world to various regions of
the world for the ten-year period of 1977-1986.
I question the decision to keep classified this important
information. I propose that the U.S. declassify a list of all
the world's arms exports to countries at war. I believe that
this would provide the basis for negotiations with the Soviets on
limiting or eliminating the export of arms to nations at war. It
also'would provide a year-by-year public record of the major arms
exporting and importing nations, and the types of arms being
transfered.
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I am interested in the reasons that the U.S. government cites
for keeping this detailed arms transfer information classified.
I would like to see ACDA publish a yearly report citing the
total arms exports of all nations, the recipient nations of
these shipments, and the types of weapons transferred. As
Chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, could
you inquire of the administration the justification for
.classifying this detailed information on global arms transfers
and relay to me their response?
With best wishes,
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Senate
The Senate met at 9:30 a.m.. on the
expiration of the recess, and was
called to order by the Honorable Joan
Brerr-= a Senator from the State of
Louisiana.
rw.zrs
The Chaplain, the Reverend Rich-
ard C. Halverson. D.D. offered the fol-
lowing prayer.
Let us pray
Messed is the nation whose God is
the Lord ? ? t -Psalm 33:12.
Eternal God. just .nd holy in all
Thy ways. thank You that our Pound-
ing Fathers took seriously the words
of the psalmist-that nation is blessed
whose God is the Lord. The profes-
sional athlete calls it fundamenta+s-'.
the sociologist calls it roots-but by
whatever name it is indispensable to
self-understandirz. self-worth and dig-
nity. self-realization and progress, per-
sonally and collectively. Our Founding
Fathers debated long and hard as to
the relation between church and
state-but whatever their dews. they
believed earnestly that virtue and
faith in God were indissoluble. They
crafted our political system in the con-
viction that a Creator God endowed
human rights, which are lnahenable-
and to secure which is the mandate of
a government which receives its power
from the consent of the governed.
Help us, Righteous Father, to see that
at the heart of present frustration
with imponderable social evil is discon-
nection from our spiritual/moral
roots-that to return to these funda-
mentals which guided and nurtured
our unprecedented blessing as a nation
is essential to' our preservation. Hear
us and awaken us, 0 Lord. our God.
Amen.
APPOINTMENT OF ACTING
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
clerk will please read a communication
to the Senate from the President pro
tempore (Mr. Srax:trsl.
The legislative clerk read the follow-
ing letter.
U.S. SsicArs.
Parstncvr rRO TrN7OPE.
Washington. DC. Am e 4 J938.
To the Senate:
Under the provisions of rule I. seeU.n 3.
of the Standing Rules of the Serat2. I
hereby appoint the Honorable JcR4
THuasnay. JUNE 9,1983
Easavz, a t3enatw from the State of Ioulsl-
ans. to perform the duties of the Chair.
Joao C. 8rna1s.
Pruident sm ttmaore.
Mr. BREAUX thereupon assumed
the chair as Acting President pro teen-
pore.
RECOGNITION OF THE
MAJORITY LEADER
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Under the standing order, the
majority leader is recognized.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President. I ask
unanimous consent that my time be
reserved until later.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Without objection. It is so or-
dered.
RECOGNITION OF THE
REPUBLICAN LEADER
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Under the standing order the
Republican leader is now recognized.
bir. DOLE. I make the same request.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore. Without objection. it is so or-
dered.
MORNING BUSINESS
The ACTLNG PRESIDENT pro tem-
por e. Under the previous order there
will now be a period of morning busi-
ness not to extend beyond the hour of
10 a.m. with Senators permitted to
speak therein for not to exceed 5 min-
urd each.
Chair recognizes the, Senator
UR MOST DISGRACE-FM FED-
ERAL WASTE: ARMS TO DEVEL-
OPING COUNTRIES
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, re-
cently. senior New York Times column-
nist James Reston observed a chilling
fact. On last Memorial Day, when
many of us were speaking In our home
States about the blessings of peace.
much of the world was engaged In
deadly and heartbreaking wars. How
many wars were going on last year?
Answer. 25. That is the report of a
Washington research institute called
World Priorities. Reston reports that
Ruth Leger Sivard, who signed the
re,,)ort. asserts that more wars were
fought in 1987 than In any previous
year on record. Of course, practically
all of these 25 wars are still going on.
Already, World Priorities estimates
that 3 million people-7S perce:it of
them civilians-have died in these
wars. It also estimates that in all the
wars since the end of World War II in
1845. the death total exceeds 17 mil-
bon.
This wholesale and lamely senseless
killing has been going on In Latin
America. the Middle East. Africa. and
Asia. The location of these wars tells
us something. North America has been
spared this bloodshed. So has Europe.
The killing. the trarmma. the misery of
,war has been entirely imposed on the
people of -the nndcrdiweloped world.
But the efficient, deadly weapons to
fight many of these was came from
the United States and the Soviet
'Union. from France and Poland. from
West Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Much of the cost of these weapons was
extracted from the already Impover-
ished developing countries and all of
the profits from labricatins these
weapons of death went to developed
countries like the United States and
the Soviet Union.
The huge war casualties measure
only a part of the misery imposed on
these countries People in these devel-
oping countries are desperate for cap-
ital.. They suffer xrossly Inadequate
housing. 4fany are literally starving.
Most are able to afford only the most
ru i!nsntary kind of health care. For
them, war has been especially crueL
War has taken from these people
much of the pathetically limited re-
sourees they so urgenUlr -need to-
acre a bare living from the soil. War
bas brought widespread burning of
their homes. It has brought the killing
of their livestock. War has directed
the energies of their youngest and
strongest manpower from constructive
work to killing equally poor and miser-
able neighbors.
So what can we do about this gro-
tesque situation? Reston proposes as a
starter that the major nations that
dominate world communications pub-
lish an annual tally of those who have
been killed in war in the preceding
year. This Is a wise beginning. I pro-
pose that we go further- I propose
that the United States declassify a list
of all the world's arms exports to
countries at war. We should report
this- along with a record of the number
of human beings killed in each war in
the preceding year.
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