
Originally Posted by
pinzgauer
Not to defend Sabre execs, they clearly conspired to bypass ITAR.
But part of the court record and emails is that they had applied for export legally, and state had been sitting on it due to policy, etc. At the time, and presumably even currently even semi AR's are considered "weapons of war", etc.
The execs (Savage) frustration about State sitting on their applications is apparently what lead to the conspiracy based on emails in the court record. (Again, I'm not defending)
They had three lucrative federal contracts, was selling everything they built, as fast as they could ship it. They got greedy, and lost it all.
Grassy knoll conspiracy? clearly not. Caught up in federal politics? Quite possibly.
But you are right, AECA/ITAR is the law, and the feds take it seriously. They should have known better.
We can't have AR parts out in the rest of the world, they are dangerous you know. :-) Just thinking of how silly it is to ban legal export of AR-15 components as "weapons of war" when there are unlicensed mfg's making AR parts in several countries, friend and foe.
ITAR is one of those crazy federal things that results in nonsensical behavior. Ex: PRC-77's are functionally obsolete radios. They are widely available surplus in the UK, Germany, etc. No restrictions, and dumped by the US military there. It would be to our advantage if bad guys tried to use them, as they are heavy, low power, and don't do encryption. IE: Bad guys would have no interest. Yet regularly US citizens unknowingly commit ITAR violations selling parts or radios to an individual on ebay, etc. And the feds come down hard, even on individuals. There are many similar examples.
What the Sabre execs did is indefensible. But that does not mean ITAR is a good thing, clear cut, easy to follow, etc.
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