U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducts an industry outreach program called the Project Shield America to prevent foreign adversaries, terrorists, and criminal networks from obtaining U.S. munitions and strategic technology.

[5] In 1973, Norvill Jones, a staffer of the Committee of Senate Foreign Relations, tried to interest members in establishing a procedure by which Congress could review large arms sales.

Finding no takers, Jones mentioned the idea to Paula Stern, then a foreign policy aide to Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, later the Chairwoman of the U.S. International Trade Commission (1984-1986).

Nelson has credited Stern with conceiving the amendment and supplying the persistence needed to steer the attention of the Senate to arms sales.

The time period of Congressional review had been found to be deficient and the dollar level of $25 million as a tripwire had prevented a number of smaller sales from avoiding scrutiny.

The fines resulted from ITT's outsourcing program, in which they transferred night vision goggles and classified information about countermeasures against laser weapons, including light interference filters to engineers in Singapore, the People's Republic of China, and the United Kingdom.

[13] In January 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich sent a notice to Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, that Israel's actions in Gaza since December 27, 2008 may constitute a violation of the requirements of the AECA.

The AECA requires that each nation that receives a shipment of arms from the United States must certify that the weapons are used for internal security and legitimate self-defense, and that their use does not lead to an escalation of conflict.

Kucinich said that this may have violated the AECA because they didn't further Israel's internal security or legitimate self-defense, but increased the possibility of an outbreak or escalation of conflict.

[citation needed] In July 2009 John Reece Roth, a former University of Tennessee professor, was convicted of violating the AECA and sentenced to 48 months in prison.

Roth had a United States Air Force (USAF) contract to develop plasma technology to reduce drag on airplane wings.