Project
Managing the Arms Trade
Promoting long-term stability and security through responsible arms sales and advancing transparent and accountable policies and processes for arms transfer decisions
About the Project
The international arms trade affects all aspects of international relations, as countries around the world buy and sell weapons to advance their foreign policy, national security, and economic interests. Yet the transfer and use of conventional weapons come with inherent risks. The international arms trade is too often poorly regulated and irresponsibly managed, creating an environment that in many cases increases the extent and deadliness of armed conflict, limits economic prosperity, and contributes to human rights abuses and humanitarian harm around the world.
The project seeks to reduce risk and minimize harm associated with the global arms trade. By bringing together governments, international and regional organizations, civil society, and the private sector in common cause, the project seeks to to address concerns surrounding conventional weapons and promotes responsible arms transfer control policies around the world.
Research & Writing
Commentary
How Trump’s use of emergency powers to rush arms to the Middle East raises concerns about necessity, timing, and congressional oversight.
March 23, 2026
Commentary
How the more frequent and substantial revisions to U.S. conventional arms transfer policies point to a strategic drift in U.S. security cooperation approaches.
February 19, 2026
Commentary
A newly released U.S. arms transfers strategy elevates economic and industrial priorities at the expense of strategic and foreign policy imperatives.
February 12, 2026
Commentary
What Denmark’s abortive purchase of a U.S. air defense system might say about the future of U.S. arms transfers to Europe.
February 2, 2026
Explainer
One year in, looking at the data, policies, and trends in the U.S. arms trade under Trump.
January 26, 2026
Commentary
How a 20-year agreement outlining billions in assistance to Israel undermines efforts to ensure U.S. security cooperation is strategically relevant and delivering a return for U.S. interests.
November 25, 2025
Commentary
How the shuttering of the Human Rights Reporting Gateway reimposes a blind spot for U.S. security assistance.
September 15, 2025
Commentary
After citing waste and fraud in U.S. foreign aid, the Trump administration is dismantling a key mechanism for transparency and oversight in international assistance
September 3, 2025
Commentary
How President Trump’s decision to defy the norms of Congressional consultation undermines one of the last meaningful mechanisms of arms transfer oversight.
June 4, 2025
Commentary
The $142 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia may have captured headlines, but lessons from Trump’s 2017 defense agreement with Riyadh suggest expectations should be much more modest.
May 19, 2025
Commentary
Biden’s 2024 decision to send antipersonnel landmines set the stage for recent European withdrawal from the global convention.
March 24, 2025
Commentary
How the absence of a Conventional Arms Transfer policy could disrupt the U.S. security cooperation and assistance enterprise.
March 20, 2025
Commentary
For four years, the Biden administration has missed an opportunity to reestablish its leadership and credibility over the international arms trade by rejoining the Arms Trade Treaty.
December 18, 2024
Commentary
In a surprising move, President Biden approved sending landmines to Ukraine, marking a reversal of long-standing U.S. landmines policy and painting a bleak picture for the future.
December 17, 2024
Policy Paper
Exploring the urgent need for transparency in the US arms trade and identifying pathways for reform.
December 16, 2024
Policy Memo
How President Trump can re-orient the U.S. arms trade to deliver stronger returns for U.S. interests.
November 20, 2024
Report
A framework for evaluating progress in the Department of Defense’s plan to prevent and mitigate civilian harm in U.S. military operations
October 31, 2024
Resource
How transparency can navigate and confront the most common justifications for weapons trade secrecy – risks to operational security and proprietary commercial information.
September 23, 2024
Commentary
Why preserving operational security need not be a barrier to better U.S. arms transfer transparency.
September 13, 2024
Commentary
How government claims of protecting commercial interest unnecessarily constrain arms trade transparency.
September 13, 2024
Commentary
Exploring the potential and challenges of the new U.S.-Ukraine security agreement amid growing political uncertainty
July 15, 2024
Commentary
The declining quality and quantity of public reporting on U.S. arms transfers undermines transparency, oversight, and accountability.
July 9, 2024
Resource
Deteriorating public reporting on U.S. arms sales and military assistance is adding to the opacity of an already obscure enterprise.
June 18, 2024
Commentary
A look back on U.S. military assistance to Ukraine and how the risks may evolve going forward two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine
February 21, 2024
Commentary
A look at how a bill raising the value threshold for arms sales notifications poses a risk to congressional and public oversight.
February 1, 2024
Commentary
What the Biden administration’s emergency arms sales to Israel say about congressional oversight.
January 8, 2024
Commentary
Considering the importance of a more responsible, restrained, and arms trade on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
December 4, 2023
Commentary
A guide to the humanitarian law conditions on U.S. arms sales and security assistance to Israel
November 20, 2023
Commentary
How the United States can learn from its experience in Ukraine to improve oversight and transparency of the military aid effort for Israel.
November 3, 2023
Commentary
As Washington delivers military aid to Israel, Stimson experts explore 70 years of a partnership underwritten by billions in arms transfers and security assistance
October 13, 2023
Issue Brief
Exploring how distributed ledger technology can offer governments and industry improved integrity and security for conventional arms transfers.
September 27, 2023
Policy Paper
Examining reporting patterns and identifying good practice for Ukraine’s arms suppliers
August 18, 2023
Commentary
The United States’ transparency on military aid in Ukraine demonstrates it can do the same for aid to other partners as well.
August 18, 2023
Commentary
How yet another coup involving U.S. trained forces reflects on U.S. security assistance efforts in the Sahel.
August 17, 2023
Commentary
A look at the humanitarian and strategic risks of providing cluster munitions to Ukraine.
July 24, 2023
Commentary
Looking for answers for the administration’s plan to reform foreign military sales.
June 7, 2023
Commentary
A look at how the Biden administration can implement commitments to restraint and human rights in its new Conventional Arms Transfer policy
May 31, 2023
Commentary
As Ukraine begins a much anticipated offensive, a look at U.S. military aid and how it must evolve to endure.
May 30, 2023
Commentary
25 years after Washington briefly ended security cooperation with India and Pakistan over their tit-for-tat nuclear testing, a look at the U.S. arms relationship with both countries
May 25, 2023
Commentary
Some of the assumptions that underpin this familiar refrain don’t hold water.
March 30, 2023
Issue Brief
Examining assumptions about dependence and influence in the U.S. security cooperation enterprise.
March 30, 2023
Commentary
Understanding the long history of U.S. military aid to Somalia amidst a surge in fighting.
March 20, 2023
Report
Accountable state security institutions are a cornerstone of good governance. For civilian victims and survivors of harm, accountability can reaffirm their humanity, promote healing, and reduce the likelihood that harm will recur in the future. Yet all too often, accountability for harm remains elusive.
March 1, 2023
Commentary
How Russia’s norm-shattering invasion of Ukraine may catalyze a risky acceleration of the international arms trade.
February 17, 2023
Commentary
A look at how the military assistance effort to Ukraine has evolved and the challenges that lie ahead.
January 30, 2023
Commentary
A look at Washington’s new plan to address arms diversion risks stemming from its military aid effort to Ukraine and where it leaves concerns unanswered.
November 10, 2022
Commentary
A look at the evolution of Washington’s unprecedented security assistance effort to Ukraine.
October 20, 2022
Commentary
With OPEC’s decision to cut energy production, a look at the historical “arms for oil” bargain that has shaped U.S. relations with the Arab Gulf
October 17, 2022
Commentary
The story behind the arms dealer the Biden team is offering in exchange for Britney Griner.
August 4, 2022
Recent Publications
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