Sharing America’s Defense Technology with China

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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While it didn't garner much global attention, one of America's larger multinational conglomerates was recently found guilty of sharing secrets with China, the newest threat to Washington's dominance as the world's sole superpower.

Here are the lead pages of the charging letter from the Department of State for Honeywell International Inc.'s alleged violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) as found on the U.S. Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls website:

Honeywell twice voluntarily reported that it was responsible for ITAR violations between July 2011 and October 2015 and again between June and July 2018.  All of the violations involved the unauthorized exports or retransfers of technical data resulting from the "failure to exercise appropriate internal controls."

Between 2011 and 2015, Honeywell Aerospace's Integrated Supply Chain organization sent Requests for Quotations to U.S. and foreign suppliers which contained drawings of parts for which suppliers were asked to supply price quotations.  By March 2017, Honeywell's internal investigation identified 71 ITAR-controlled drawings that had been exported to Canada, Ireland, the People's Republic of China and Taiwan.  These drawings contained engineering prints showing layouts, dimensions and geometries for manufacturing castings and finished parts for (but not limited to) the following aircraft:

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,

B-1B Lancer Long-Range Strategic Bomber,

F-22 Fighter Aircraft,

C-130 Military Transport Aircraft,

A-7H Corsair Aircraft,

A-10 Aircraft,

Apache Longbow Helicopter,

M1A1 Abrams Tank,

Tactical Tomahawk Missile, and

T55 Turboshaft Engine

After reviewing the 71 drawings, the U.S. government determined that exports to and retransfers in the PRC of drawings for certain parts and components for the engine platforms for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, B-1B Lancer Long-Range Strategic Bomber, and the F-22 Fighter Aircraft harmed U.S. national security.

In its second voluntary disclosure Honeywell described additional ITAR violations involving the additional exporting of 2 drawings to Canada, 2 drawings to the People's Republic of China and 23 drawings to Mexico which contained similar technical information as in the first offence for the following aircraft:

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,

F/A-18 Hornet,

F135 turboshaft engine,

F414 turboshaft engine,

T55 turboshaft engine, and

CTS800 turboshaft engine.

In these cases, after reviewing the documents, the U.S. government determined that exports to and retransfers in the PRC of drawings for certain parts and components of the CTS800 gas turbine engine harmed U.S. national security.

Charges were laid as follows:

Now, let's look at the penalties that were assessed as released by the Department of State on May 3, 2021:

A $13 million settlement for a company that had net income of $4.865 billion in 2020 is laughable at best as shown here:

Just for fun, let's look at Honeywell's  involvement in Washington's political theatre.  Thanks to Open Secrets, here is a summary of Honeywell's campaign contributions going back to 1990:

Honeywell's campaign contributions of nearly $4.7 million during the 2020 election campaign put it into 143rd place out of 21,691 contributors in Open Secret's database.

Here is a summary of Honeywell's spending on lobbying:

Honeywell's lobbying expenditures of $4.7 million put it into 71st place out of 5,561 lobbying groups in Open Secret's database.

So, as you can see, if you spend enough money on getting Washington to see things your way, somehow, Washington will find your "sins" nearly forgivable or at least forgivable after you pay a token sum to "buy" your way out of trouble, particularly if you are a key player in the nation's military-industrial complex.

Or, maybe it's all just a happy coincidence.

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