A Marie Kondo Moment for MTCR?

Tom Karako, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, shares his new paper on the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), entitled “A Marie Kondo Moment for MTCR: Tidying Up the U.S. Approach to Missile Proliferation.“ Tom recommends that the U.S. government find a way to overcome the “strong presumption of denial” at the core of MTCR in order to better develop allied and partner capabilities in an age of proliferated missile and drone systems, particularly among adversarial nations. He authoritatively covers the strategic environment of 1987, when the G7 first developed MTCR, compared to the world of today. Ola, Austin and I share our perspectives on MTCR, nonproliferation trends, and where strategic dynamics may require changed thinking in U.S. defense trade.If you’re interested in why the Marie Kondo reference makes so much sense, maybe you need to binge Netflix reality shows more frequently. We also cover recent actions by the Trump administration to treat unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as aircraft, not missiles, for the purposes of U.S. export controls, and what that could mean for U.S industry and allies seeking new UAS capabilities. As part of the discussion, we also recap actions taken by the Biden administration in January 2025 to preserve MTCR but unilateral adapt U.S. implementation to create more opportunities for U.S. missile technology exports to close allies and where AUKUS lessons may provide a model for a future MTCR that works for the U.S. and its alliance system, not against it.Please take a moment to read Tom’s paper, which can be found at the hyperlink below:* “A Marie Kondo Moment for MTCR: Tidying Up the U.S. Approach to Missile Proliferation.“Intro/outro music licensed by Soundstripe: “The Iron Curtain” by Wicked Cinema.Recording and edits through Riverside.fm. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit strategicsimplicity.substack.com