What is the role of the arms trade in the international system?
             The controversial arms trade continues to bedevil the international system. Although the world arms trade continues to decline in dollar value, the major arms supplying states have redoubled their efforts to export their weapons overseas. This decline has occurred in both the richer and poorer countries, although the rate of decline has been greater for the large industrial countries. The decline in arms sales could also relate to the increase in black and gray market arm sales, which may run anywhere from two to five times more than the legal sales in some countries. Also, not every country publicly reports all sales.
             Arms-control policy rests at the intersection of defense and diplomacy. During the cold war, arms control became a key tool for managing the strategic relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective alliance systems. Arms control also developed along multilateral lines, producing universal agreements intended to limit proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to stop nuclear testing. Today, there are major questions about the future of arms control.
             There are broad philosophical questions about the role of arms control in an evolving Western relationship with the East. To what extent do traditional arms control approaches tend to perpetuate the structure, if not the practice, of an adversarial relationship. Should the United States strive to replace negotiations on arms control with defense cooperation with the East, based on the assumption of common goals? This could lead to a degree of openness in defense planning and deployments.
             Both a strong defense and effective diplomacy depend on U.S. decision makers having access to the best possible intelligence. The U.S. intelligence community faces a continuing crisis. It is generally agreed that the United States still need the ability to retrieve, a...