March 20, 1992
If Israel Sold Patriot Secrets . . .
The United States rushed Patriot missiles to Israel during the Persian
Gulf war to defend against incoming Iraqi Scuds. Now intelligence
re****ts say Israel sold Patriot technology to China. If so, that would
violate Israel's obligation not to transfer cutting-edge U.S. technology
to others -- a dismaying act by a valued ally.
The re****ts provide ammunition to Israel-bashers. And they disturb
experts concerned with keeping control of advanced military
technologies. Wa****ngton has long shown extraordinary tolerance toward
Israeli transfers of American technology, raising doubts about U.S.
commitment to stopping the spread of arms. If the latest re****ts prove
true, Wa****ngton needs to impose stern sanctions on Israel and the
companies involved.
Israel, of course, has the know-how to produce advanced weapons on its
own. It sells many of them to China and other nations to offset the
costs of defending itself. But installing U.S. components in such
ex****ts would violate its obligations. So would reverse engineering --
taking a U.S. weapon apart to discover its design secrets and then
making a copy for sale to others.
Any such sale cheats American defense contractors who jealously guard
their patents and markets. It also frustrates officials who are
justifiably concerned about arms proliferation.
Sometimes it's difficult to draw the line. Take the Israeli-built
Python-3 air-to-air missile. To some U.S. officials it looks
suspiciously like a knock-off of an American design, the heat-seeking
AIM-9L Sidewinder. Others are persuaded that the Israelis designed it
themselves.
Israel sold the Python-3 to China. China in turn designed its own
version, called the PL-8, and sold some to Iraq. The Israeli version
uses American parts, which it buys with U.S. military aid. But Israel
contends it replaced those parts in the version ex****ted to China -- a
claim accepted by some U.S. officials. The same U.S. officials don't
think that's the case with Patriot technology.
Even when Israel has clearly violated U.S. ex****t controls, American
officials have declined to crack down. In a notorious case last fall, an
Israeli-owned company ex****ted American ballistic missile components to
a South African company and used them in its own Jericho-2 missile.
The Administration imposed trade sanctions on the South African company,
but waived them for the Israelis. In exchange it wrested a pledge from
Israel to accept international controls against further missile
proliferation.
But the bargain may have perpetuated the belief that Israel could
transfer U.S. technology without retribution. Now comes the alleged sale
of Patriot technology. That would be dangerous because knowledge of how
the Patriot works could be used to design missiles that defeat it.
Official Israeli responses suggest the Administration may have winked
again. "We have ironclad commitments . . . not to transfer American
weapons technology to any country, unless we have an agreement with the
United States on that matter, " said Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli
spokesman.
Did the Israelis transfer Patriot missile technology to China? Did the
U.S. acquiesce? If the transfer took place without Administration
consent, stern sanctions would send an appropriate message: fair
punishment for all proliferators.
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