State's 'Blue Lantern' Program Checks Heavy on Americas, Non-NATO Countries
The State Department's "Blue Lantern" end-use monitoring program checks were done in 88 countries in FY 2011, it said in its new report on the program. The report indicated fewer checks were done among North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries…
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with long-established trade patterns, whereas there are proportionally more checks in the rest of the world. In FY 2011, the proportion of checks conducted in the Americas was double that region's share of license applications (28% vs. 14%), due to a significant number of inquiries on firearms authorizations, where security and diversion of such weapons is an ongoing concern. In FY 2011, DTCC closed 592 Blue Lantern cases, of which 161 (27%) were determined to be "unfavorable." That means the findings of fact were not consistent with the authorization request or approval. The percentage was high because Blue Lantern checks are selected based on potential risk of diversion or misuse and are not a random sampling across all State Department licenses, it said. It also noted an unfavorable Blue Lantern does not necessarily mean diversion or illicit activity was involved. Detailed findings are available here.