Clinton ran the agency that is responsible for regulating U.S. arms exports.

State Department exports approvals substantially increased to governments that donated to the Clinton Foundation.

Federal law explicitly designates the Secretary of State as “responsible for the continuous supervision and general direction of sales” of arms, and early in her term, the State Department called one arms deal a “top priority” for Clinton.

Definition of offset agreement | FINANCIAL TIMES | LEXICON

“An offset agreement is a type of side deal, sometimes best described as a sweetener. This is an agreement between two or more parties that provides additional benefits and is ancillary to another negotiated contract.”

“The deal is between a government and company, often a defence company but it can also be used in big civil deals for items such as infrastructure and transport. The company ($$ COUNTRY-> CLINTON

“Companies (and the foreign countries in this case) do this because it boosts their chance to win lucrative government contracts, particularly in developing countries.”

“A company’s offset obligation is usually worth 50-100 per cent of the value of the contract and can be direct or indirect. Direct offsets are linked to the original defence contact. Companies often agree to transfer relevant technological knowhow or use local suppliers to build the equipment they are selling to the government.”

Clinton Foundation Donors Include:

Exporting destruction

US approved $40 billion in 2009 private arms sales | WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE | MAR 11 2011

The U.S. government approved $40 billion in worldwide private arms sales in 2009, including more than $7 billion to Mideast and North African nations that are struggling with political upheaval, the State Department reported.

From 2008 to 2009, the U.S. authorized increasing sales of military shipments to the now-toppled Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak and the embattled kingdom of Bahrain.

The $40 billion figure during the first year of the Obama administration reflects a rise in total approved arms sales over the final year of the Bush administration in 2008, when the State Department licensed $34.2 billion.

The $7.3 billion in U.S.-approved defense sales to Mideast and North African countries in 2009 totaled up to nearly a fifth of the entire $40 billion in licensed sales – indications of both the region’s strategic importance and their governments’ willingness to pay top dollar for American defense equipment.

Iraq, where U.S. forces are still drawing down and the fledgling government is struggling against militants, was the biggest buyer ($1.51 billion), closely followed by Turkey ($1.50 billion) and the United Arab Emirates ($1.09 billion).

U.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market | AUG. 26, 2012 | NY TIMES ARTICLE

Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies.

Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion.

The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.

Increasing tensions drove a set of Persian Gulf nations – Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman to purchase weapons at record levels.

The agreements with Saudi Arabia included the purchase of 84 advanced F-15 fighters, a variety of ammunition, missiles and logistics support, and upgrades of 70 of the F-15 fighters in the current fleet.

Sales to Saudi Arabia last year also included dozens of Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, all contributing to a total Saudi weapons deal from the United States of $33.4 billion, according to the study.

The United Arab Emirates purchased a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced antimissile shield that includes radars and is valued at $3.49 billion, as well as 16 Chinook helicopters for $939 million.

Oman bought 18 F-16 fighters for $1.4 billion.

Here’s who buys the most weapons from the U.S. | CNN ARTICLE | MAY 25, 2016

The U.S. is responsible for nearly 33% of worldwide exports — by far the top arms exporter on the planet — but which countries does the U.S. sell the most weapons to?

Saudi Arabia was the top recipient of American-made arms from 2011-2015, followed closely by the United Arab Emirates.

Experts believe the Middle East will remain a top destination for weapons for some time — it currently accounts for about 40% of U.S. arms exports — especially given the rise of ISIS.

The American exports include everything from small arms to fighter jet aircraft and tanks, to Patriot Missile batteries.

U.S. defense companies were explicit in their desire to boost international exports in the wake of recent defense budget cuts.

CEO of U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, Marillyn Hewson, said, “One area where we expect the majority of our growth potential to come from in the years ahead is our international customers.”

Under Clinton’s leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation | INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

Even by the standards of arms deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia, this one was enormous. A consortium of American defense contractors led by Boeing would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to the United States’ oil-rich ally in the Middle East.

At press conferences in Washington to announce the department’s approval, an assistant secretary of state, Andrew Shapiro, declared that the deal had been “a top priority” for Clinton personally.

In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed at least $10 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Just two months before the deal was finalized, Boeing — the defense contractor that manufactures one of the fighter jets the Saudis were especially keen to acquire, the F-15 — contributed $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to a company press release.