An article in today’s edition of the Financial Times reports on a press conference given yesterday by John Rood, Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, where Rood discussed the recently signed Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty between the U.S. and the U.K. (Don’t go looking for a transcript at the State Department’s website; usually only Sean McCormack’s daily press briefing is posted and other special press briefings, such as Rood’s on the treaty, are not.)

Rood had a few interesting things to say. First, he said that the administration hopes to get the treaty through the Senate before the end of this year. This seems optimistic at this point with the August recess nearly upon us. Additionally, it is unclear how functional the Senate will be after the slumber party planned for the next few nights.

Second, Rood said that the State Department and the Department of Defense hoped to have “implementation procedures” in place “within six months” to determine what companies and individuals would be part of the “approved community” that could receive and disclose ITAR-controlled technical data without formal approval by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC).

Finally, Rood more or less dashed the hopes of other countries — such as Canada and Australia — that might arguably wish to have similar treatment as the U.K. Rood said the treaty was entered into because of the “close relationship” between the U.S. and U.K. Then he said:

If other countries approach us we’d have to ask ‘Do they have the same close relationship?’ I don’t know if we’ll do anything like that or not.

I’m sure that remark was well received in Ottawa and Canberra.

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