"The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is a United States regulatory regime to restrict and control the export of defense and military related technologies to safeguard U.S. national security and further U.S. foreign policy objectives." —U.S. State Department, Directorate of Trade Controls, 2/3/2010.

The administration, from Biden on down, either deliberately or with gross negligence gave to the Taliban (and, by extension, China) an almost incalculable amount of top-secret American military technology.  Under ITAR, which has no exceptions for presidential administrations, all need to be fined and locked up with the key thrown away.

In the past twenty years, I have worked for several corporations that directly manufactured ITAR-restricted defense and dual-use technologies that were strictly export-controlled.  ITAR-secure spaces, like the one I work in now, are pass-protected and totally barred to non-U.S. persons even if a non-U.S. person owns the company.  ITAR is a very serious business, and you have to stay on your toes at all times as a corporation.

If you manufacture sensitive technologies covered by ITAR, especially as relates to the U.S. Munitions List, you have to thoroughly vet every person and every corporation that seeks to do business with you or even asks for basic technical specs.  A lot of bad actors like Iran, Cuba, and China have set up shell corporations in the U.S. in order to obtain ITAR-restricted technologies via subterfuge. 

Many have been bitten.  In 2007, ITT was fined $100M for the retransfer of night vision technologies to China.  FLIR Thermal Imaging, a company I worked for only last year, was fined $30M for selling ITAR-restricted thermal imaging equipment to dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Cuba, and Lebanon — all nations banned from receiving ITAR-controlled exports.  Didn't matter that FLIR itself reported the suspected violations.

There have been severe criminal penalties for ITAR violations handed out as well.  On March 24, 2008, Chi Mak, a Chinese-American who worked for a subsidiary of L3 Communications, was sentenced to 24 and a half years in federal prison for passing on ITAR-restricted information that allowed China to build its own version of Aegis, the advanced radar system that protects American warships. 

What is key to the overall interpretation of ITAR is Article 121, the USML, which I've linked above.  Now, look at all the military equipment covered under that USML umbrella that the Biden administration just transferred to the Taliban.  You can't think in terms of just an APC or Blackhawk helicopter when it comes to ITAR.  You must think in terms of every ITAR-restricted technology involved.  Surveillance.  Radar.  Night vision.  Targeting.  Encrypted communications.  Even RF jamming systems used to defeat remote-detonated IEDs.

The Times/Sunday Times graphic of abandoned weapons.  Fair use.

As the old saying goes, ignorance of the law is no excuse.  And in the United States of America, not even the president is above the law.  I actually think a trillion dollars is a lowball figure for the collective ITAR fine here.  But as I've said, there are severe criminal penalties as well. 

I could go to jail for the rest of my life for providing an enemy state with a fully equipped APC or Blackhawk, if not outright executed for treason.  Looking at the Apocalypse Now Afghanistan that Joe Biden directly created, it's hard to sift through all the high crimes and misdemeanors his administration has committed there en banc.  Ergo, we have to sort it all out and break it down like a Mafia RICO case.

Anyone involved in facilitating the transfer of $90B in ITAR-restricted U.S. military technologies to our mortal terrorist enemies in Afghanistan, from Biden and Blinken to Austin and Milley, et al., is liable under ITAR for the most massive and egregious transfer of sensitive technologies to an enemy this nation and planet may ever see.  Anyone who knew of or played a part in this insane bequest is guilty under ITAR. 

Impeach, charge, prosecute, convict.  Then fine them all to Hell and send them to federal prison for the rest of their miserable lives.  It's what would happen to any of us if we gave a sworn enemy every prized sensitive technology America owns.  Maybe it doesn't sound like much to go on for many of you.  After all, the State Department prosecutes ITAR violations.  Yet ITAR is the law of the land, as I am reminded every day I go to work.

Maybe, just maybe, if there were any Republicans in Congress with stones larger than marbles, they might just build a solid ITAR case that could stick and do real damage.  Just remember that with all the murder and mayhem Al Capone was responsible for in 1920s Chicago, it was tax evasion that sent him to Alcatraz.

Are any of you Republicans in Congress listening out there?  Hello?  Bueller? 

Image: Abandoned helicopter.  YouTube screen grab.

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