Arms-Trade & Logistics Glossary
Plain definitions of the arms-trade and logistics terms behind Break the Chain's research: how weapons move, how exports are controlled, and where the supply chain is documented.
- Arms embargo
- A ban or restriction on transferring weapons and military equipment to a country, group, or party.
- People's arms embargo
- An arms embargo built from below by workers, unions, and communities at the points weapons pass through, rather than waiting for governments to act.
- Full military arms embargo
- A ban on all trade and transfer of military materiel with a state, covering sales, purchases, transit through third countries, parts, dual-use goods, software and services, not only finished weapons.
- Labor for an Arms Embargo
- The Democratic Socialists of America's national campaign organizing union members to pass arms-embargo resolutions in their unions and to stop the flow of weapons to Israel at the ports, airports, and workplaces that move them.
- Freight forwarder
- A company that arranges and coordinates the shipment of goods on behalf of others, handling carriage, documentation, and customs.
- End-user certificate (EUC)
- A signed document certifying who the final recipient of an arms shipment is, how the goods will be used, and that they will not be re-transferred without the exporting government's approval.
- End-use monitoring
- The US government's post-shipment checks on where exported weapons end up: the State Department's Blue Lantern program, the Pentagon's Golden Sentry program, and enhanced end-use monitoring (EEUM) for the most sensitive items.
- ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations)
- The US regulations controlling the export of defense articles and services on the United States Munitions List.
- United States Munitions List
- The official list of defense articles and services subject to ITAR export controls.
- Foreign Military Sales
- Government-to-government sales of US defense equipment and services, administered by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
- Direct Commercial Sales
- Licensed arms sales made directly between a US company and a foreign buyer, authorized by the State Department.
- Dual-use goods
- Items with both civilian and military applications, controlled for export under the Export Administration Regulations.
- USAspending.gov
- The US government's official open-data source for federal spending, including the contracts that record defense awards.
- Port of embarkation
- The air or sea port where personnel, equipment, and supplies are loaded for transport.
- Belly freight
- Cargo carried in the lower hold of a passenger aircraft, as opposed to a dedicated freighter.
- Prime contractor and subcontractor
- The prime holds the contract with the government; subcontractors supply components and services to the prime.
- Bill of lading
- A carrier's document that records receipt of cargo for shipment and serves as a receipt, a contract of carriage, and a document of title.