II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1006 

To direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on implementation of the advanced capabilities pillar of the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2023 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a 

report on implementation of the advanced capabilities 

pillar of the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ADVANCED CAPA2 BILITIES PILLAR OF THE TRILATERAL SECU3 RITY PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AUSTRALIA, 

4 THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND THE UNITED 

5 STATES. 

6 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that— 

8 (1) the enhanced trilateral security partnership 

9 between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the 

10 United States (in this section referred to as the 

11 ‘‘AUKUS partnership’’) is intended to positively 

12 contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific 

13 region through enhanced deterrence; 

14 (2) to this end, implementation of the AUKUS 

15 partnership will require a whole-of-government re16 view of processes and procedures for Australia, the 

17 United Kingdom, and the United States to benefit 

18 from such partnership and, in particular, to support 

19 joint development of advanced capabilities; 

20 (3) the Department of State plays a pivotal role 

21 in the administration of arms exports and sales pro22 grams under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

23 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) and the Arms Export Control 

24 Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.); 

25 (4) the Department of State should work in co26 ordination with the Department of Defense and 


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1 other relevant United States Government agencies to 

2 seek to expeditiously implement the AUKUS part3 nership; and 

4 (5) the Department of State, in coordination 

5 with the Department of Defense, should clearly com6 municate any United States requirements to address 

7 matters related to the technology security and export 

8 control measures of Australia and the United King9 dom. 

10 (b) REPORT.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

13 of State, in coordination with the Secretary of De14 fense, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

15 committees a report on efforts of the Department of 

16 State to implement the advanced capabilities pillar 

17 of the AUKUS partnership. 

18 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 

19 required by paragraph (1) shall include the fol20 lowing: 

21 (A) For each of the calendar years 2021 

22 and 2022— 

23 (i) the average and median times for 

24 the United States Government to review 

25 applications for licenses to export defense 


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1 articles or defense services to persons, cor2 porations, and the governments (including 

3 agencies and subdivisions of such govern4 ments, including official missions of such 

5 governments) of Australia or the United 

6 Kingdom; 

7 (ii) the average and median times for 

8 the United States Government to review 

9 applications from Australia and the United 

10 Kingdom for foreign military sales begin11 ning from the date Australia or the United 

12 Kingdom submitted a letter of request that 

13 resulted in a letter of acceptance; and 

14 (iii) the number of applications from 

15 Australia and the United Kingdom for li16 censes to export defense articles and de17 fense services that were denied or approved 

18 with provisos, listed by year. 

19 (B) For each of the fiscal years 2017, 

20 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, the number 

21 of voluntary disclosures resulting in a violation 

22 of the International Traffic in Arms Regula23 tions (ITAR) enumerated under section 40 of 

24 the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780) 

25 or involving proscribed countries listed in secVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006

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1 tion 126.1 of the ITAR, by persons, corpora2 tions, and the governments (including agencies 

3 and subdivisions of such governments, including 

4 official missions of such governments) of Aus5 tralia or the United Kingdom, including infor6 mation with respect to— 

7 (i) any instance of unauthorized ac8 cess to technical data or defense articles; 

9 (ii) inadequate physical or cyber secu10 rity; 

11 (iii) retransfers or re-exports without 

12 authorization; and 

13 (iv) employees of foreign companies 

14 that are United States persons that pro15 vide defense services without authorization. 

16 (C) The value of any civil penalties as17 sessed from 2017 to 2022 for disclosures or vio18 lations described in subparagraph (B) on 

19 United States applicants that involved foreign 

20 persons, foreign corporations, and foreign gov21 ernments in the United Kingdom or Australia. 

22 (D) A list of relevant United States laws, 

23 regulations, and treaties and other international 

24 agreements to which the United States is a 

25 party that govern authorizations to export deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1006.IS S1006

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1 fense articles or defense services that are re2 quired to implement the AUKUS partnership. 

3 (E) An assessment of key recommenda4 tions the United States Government has pro5 vided to the governments of Australia and the 

6 United Kingdom to revise laws, regulations, and 

7 policies of such countries that are required to 

8 implement the AUKUS partnership. 

9 (F) An assessment of recommended im10 provements to export control laws and regula11 tions of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the 

12 United States that such countries should make 

13 to implement the AUKUS partnership and to 

14 otherwise meet the requirements of section 

15 38(j)(2) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 

16 U.S.C. 2778(j)(2)), and the challenges Aus17 tralia and the United Kingdom have conveyed 

18 in meeting these requirements including with 

19 respect to sensitive defense technology security 

20 controls. 

21 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE22 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres23 sional committees’’ means— 

24 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

25 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 


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1 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

2 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep3 resentatives. 

Æ 


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