Thursday, September 5, 2024
(note: there is a small distortion when Colby Goodman speaks in this combined English-language only version)
Defense “offsets” have long been understood as a source for corruption. These requirements for foreign defense companies to invest in the local economies of countries as a condition for the purchase of major weapons systems are typically highly opaque when they are not completely secret. In his April report for Transparency International Defence and Security (TI-DS) "Blissfully Blind: The new US push for defense industrial collaboration with partner countries and its corruption risks," Colby Goodman examines the many risks associated with increased offset demands in a lax U.S. regulatory environment. Byung-Ook Choi offers his perspectives on anti-corruption challenges in South Korea’s defense sector, including U.S. defense company offsets with South Korea. In a chapter of a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report from June, Jodi Vittori explores “Sovereign Wealth Funds and Arms Exports: The Case of UAE’s Mubadala and Tawazun.” All offer recommendations on how to improve transparency and tackle corruption that is currently endemic to offsets.
Panelists:
* Colby Goodman, Senior Researcher, Transparency International (TI) Defence & Security, and Transparency International-United States (TI-DS)
* Jodi Vittori, Non-Resident Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Professor of Practice and co-chair of the Global Politics and Security program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service
* Byung-Ook Choi, Professor of National Security, Sangmyung University in Seoul, and Director, Institute for Security and Unification Studies, a member of the Integrity Defense Committee of TI Korea
* Sara Bandali, Director of International Engagement, TI-United Kingdom (moderator)
This event was organized by the Forum on the Arms Trade and supported by Transparency International. The Forum provides a platform for expert views but does not itself take positions.
More information at www.forumarmstrade.org/events.html#Event_2024September5