State Dept. Nominee Seeks ‘Less Bureaucracy’ in Arms Sale Reviews
Thomas DiNanno, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be undersecretary of state for arms control and international security (see 2502120058), said April 9 that speeding up foreign military sales (FMS) will be a priority for him if he’s confirmed by the Senate.
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“In a nutshell, we need more capability and less bureaucracy when it comes to FMS,” DiNanno testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in response to questioning by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. “I know there’s been [a] tremendous amount of interest in this body in the Senate as well as in the House and I’ve heard … that the [Trump] administration is actively involved as well and working with the Congress.”
Hagerty said that when he was U.S. ambassador to Japan in the first Trump administration, he worked with the State, Defense and Commerce departments on “whittling down the extensive [FMS] timelines, but there’s still much work to be done.” Hagerty asked DiNanno to work with the Foreign Relations Committee on the matter, which the nominee agreed to do.
In the House, the Foreign Affairs Committee has set up a task force to improve how the government handles FMS and export controls (see 2501220086 and 2502260047). The task force held its first formal meeting April 2 (see 2504040013).