What May Happen Next?
Should the NDAA pass the House with Section 224, the Senate will need to pass the same language. If Congress enacts the legislation,
implementation will be up to the executive branch, although we can anticipate future legislative efforts to strengthen Section 224’s language and to create financial incentives for American industry to participate in the envisioned defense cooperation. Preventing such incentives would be an important part of limiting the program, and
it is plausible that future administrations will be less rosy about tight US-Israel ties and will pursue implementation with less vigor than the Section’s proponents envision. Even so, if this legislation passes, it will result in a series of contractual agreements between US and Israeli companies and institutions, and a gradual spreading of Israeli technologies into US military systems that would be very hard to unwind. It is also likely there will be an effort to amend US weapons export control regulations, specifically the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (
ITAR), to provide Israel with the same type of access to US military technology currently only enjoyed by Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This, too, will be hard to prevent, and any effort to do so, particularly once trade is flowing under such regulations, may face legal challenges.