Executive Order No. 14268. Reforming Foreign Defense Sales To Improve Speed and Accountability

• Published date: 15 April 2025
• FR Document: 2025-06464
• Executive Order No.: 14268
• Date: 09 April 2025
• Pages: 15631-15633
• Citation: 90 FR 15631
• Issuer: Executive Office of the President
• Section: Presidential Documents

Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 71 (Tuesday, April 15, 2025)

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 71 (Tuesday, April 15, 2025)]
                [Presidential Documents]
                [Pages 15631-15633]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2025-06464] Presidential Documents
                Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 71 / Tuesday, April 15, 2025 /
                Presidential Documents
                [[Page 15631]]
                 Executive Order 14268 of April 9, 2025
                
                Reforming Foreign Defense Sales To Improve Speed
                 and Accountability
                 By the authority vested in me as President by the
                 Constitution and the laws of the United States of
                 America, it is hereby ordered:
                 Section 1. Purpose. To serve the interests of the
                 American people, the United States must maintain the
                 world's strongest and most technologically advanced
                 military through a dynamic defense industrial base,
                 coupled with a robust network of capable partners and
                 allies. A rapid and transparent foreign defense sales
                 system that enables effective defense cooperation
                 between the United States and our chosen partners is
                 foundational to these objectives. Reforming this system
                 would simultaneously strengthen the security
                 capabilities of our allies and invigorate our own
                 defense industrial base. This mutually reinforcing
                 approach would enhance United States warfighting
                 capabilities by fostering healthy American supply
                 chains, domestic production levels, and technological
                 development.
                 Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration
                 to:
                 (a) Improve accountability and transparency
                 throughout the foreign defense sales system to ensure
                 predictable and reliable delivery of American products
                 to foreign partners in support of United States foreign
                 policy objectives.
                 (b) Consolidate parallel decision-making when
                 determining which military capabilities the United
                 States will choose to provide, and to which countries.
                 (c) Reduce rules and regulations involved in the
                 development, execution, and monitoring of foreign
                 defense sales and of transfer cases to ensure alignment
                 with United States foreign policy objectives.
                 (d) Increase government-industry collaboration to
                 achieve cost and schedule efficiencies in the execution
                 of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
                 (e) Advance United States competitiveness abroad,
                 revitalize the defense industrial base, and lower unit
                 costs for the United States and our allies and partners
                 by integrating exportability features in the design
                 phase, improving financing options for partners, and
                 increasing contract flexibility overall.
                 Sec. 3. Phased Implementation. (a) The Secretary of
                 State and the Secretary of Defense shall promptly:
                (i) Implement National Security Presidential Memorandum 10 of April 19,
                2018 (United States Conventional Arms Transfer Policy), or any successor
                policy directive.
                (ii) Reevaluate restrictions imposed by the Missile Technology Control
                Regime on Category I items and consider supplying certain partners with
                specific Category I items, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce.
                (iii) Submit a joint letter to the Congress proposing an update to
                statutory congressional certification (also known as congressional
                notification) thresholds of proposed sales under the FMS and Direct
                Commercial Sales (DCS) programs in the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C.
                2751 et seq.). The Secretary of State shall also work with the Congress to
                review congressional notification processes to ensure the timely
                adjudication of notified FMS and DCS cases.
                 (b) Within 60 days of the date of this order:
                (i) The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense,
                shall develop a list of priority partners for conventional arms transfers
                [[Page 15632]]
                and issue updated guidance to Chiefs of the United States Diplomatic
                Missions regarding this list.
                (ii) The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of State,
                shall:
                 (A) develop a list of priority end-items for potential transfer to
                priority partners identified by the Secretary of State in the list required
                by this subsection;
                 (B) ensure the transfer of priority end-items to priority partners would
                not cause significant harm to United States force readiness; and
                 (C) ensure the transfer of priority end-items to priority partners would
                advance my Administration's goal of strengthening allied burden-sharing,
                both by sharing the cost of end-item production and by increasing our
                allies' capacity to meet capability targets independently, without
                sustained support from the United States.
                 (c)(i) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of
                 Defense shall review, update, and reissue the lists of
                 priority partners and military end-items on an annual
                 basis.
                (ii) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense shall review and
                update the list of defense items that can only be purchased through the FMS
                process (the FMS-Only List) and the United States Munitions List, 22 C.F.R.
                part 121, to focus protections solely on our most sensitive and
                sophisticated technologies, and shall establish clear criteria for
                including an item on the FMS-Only List.
                 (d) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the
                 Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, in
                 consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall
                 submit a plan to the President, through the Assistant
                 to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA),
                 to: improve the transparency of United States defense
                 sales to foreign partners by developing metrics for
                 accountability; secure exportability as a requirement
                 in the early stages of the acquisition process; and
                 consolidate technology security and foreign disclosure
                 approvals.
                 (e) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the
                 Secretary of Defense, with the assistance of the
                 Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, shall
                 submit a plan to the APNSA to develop a single
                 electronic system to track all DCS export license
                 requests and ongoing FMS efforts throughout the case
                 life-cycle.
                 Sec. 4. Definitions. For purposes of this order:
                 (a) ``Parallel decision-making'' refers to the
                 granting of simultaneous certifications and approvals
                 during the FMS process, as opposed to sequential
                 decision-making where agencies wait for other agencies
                 to make decisions before taking action.
                 (b) ``Exportability'' means the process to
                 identify, develop, and integrate technology protection
                 features into United States defense systems early in
                 the acquisition process to protect critical
                 technologies, capabilities, and program information and
                 thus enable export to partners.
                 (c) ``FMS-only'' means defense articles that are
                 exclusively available through the FMS process as
                 opposed to the DCS process, as authorized in the Arms
                 Export Control Act and described in the Security
                 Assistance Management Manual (SAMM), Defense Security
                 Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Chapter 4.
                 (d) ``End-item'' means the final product when
                 assembled and ready for issue or deployment.
                 (e) ``Foreign defense sales system'' means the
                 enterprise devoted to the transfer of defense articles,
                 services, and training by the United States Government
                 and United States companies to international partners
                 and organizations.
                 (f) All other terms related to FMS cases shall have
                 the meanings given to them by the SAMM, DSCA 5105.38M.
                [[Page 15633]]
                 Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
                 shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
                (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
                the head thereof; or
                (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
                relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
                 (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
                 applicable law and subject to the availability of
                 appropriations.
                 (c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
                 create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
                 enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
                 the United States, its departments, agencies, or
                 entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
                 other person.
                
                
                 (Presidential Sig.)
                 THE WHITE HOUSE,
                 April 9, 2025.
                [FR Doc. 2025-06464
                Filed 4-14-25; 8:45 am]
                Billing code 3395-F4-P