Secretary of State John Kerry has designated "Santoso," also known as Abu Wardah as-Syarqi, also known as Abu Warda, also known as Abu Yahra, as a terrorist threat to the U.S., Kerry said (here).

The State Department and White House on this week announced several sanctions targeting North Korea’s Strategic Force and its "Workers' Party of Korea." According to State (here), North Korea's Strategic Force engaged or attempted to engage in activities or transactions that have contributed or could contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their delivery vehicles. The Strategic Force is also known as "Strategic Forces," "Strategic Rocket Force," "The Strategic Rocket Force Command of KPA," and "Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People's Army."

The State Department is blocking transactions with North Korea’s Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry, Academy of National Defense Science, the National Aerospace Development Administration, as well as individuals Choe Chun Sik and Kang Mun Kil, under Executive Order 13382, State said (here). The entities and individuals have engaged or attempted to engage in activities or transactions that have contributed or could contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their delivery vehicles. State has also determined that North Korean Namhung Trading Corporation is an alias of Namchongang Trading Corporation, which has already been designated under the executive order.

The State Department will convene the Texas-New Mexico Regional Meeting of the U.S.- Mexico Binational Bridges and Border Crossings Group from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on March 16 in Chihuahua, Mexico, to discuss operations of existing and proposed international bridges and border crossings and their related infrastructure, as well as policy and technical information, State said (here). The meeting will bring together delegates from U.S. and Mexican governments, and state officials from Texas and New Mexico, as well as the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

The State Department has extended the designation of the Palestine Liberation Front as a terrorist organization, it said (here).

The State Department at 10:30 a.m. on March 22 will convene an open meeting to prepare for the 40th session of the International Maritime Organization’s Facilitation Committee to be held April 4-8 at IMO Headquarters in London, State said (here). State’s meeting will take place at the headquarters of the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Service (RTCM) in Arlington, Va. Agenda items include decisions of other IMO bodies, applications of the “single-window concept,” and technical cooperation activities to facilitate maritime traffic.

The State and Commerce departments are proposing to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Commerce Control List (CCL), respectively, to delineate types of military aircraft and military gas turbine engines subject to each control list, as part of ongoing Export Control Reform, the agencies announced (here and here). The departments are inviting public comment until March 25.

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls homepage’s external systems (i.e., DTrade, EFS, Mary, and Ellie), and DTAS Online will be unavailable to industry users from 6 to 9:30 p.m. EST for system upgrades, DDTC said (here). After the upgrades are complete, Mary and EFS will adopt new URLs, and stored links for both systems “should be deleted and replaced” with these URLs:

Thirty-five retail and advocacy entities urged the agency to downgrade Uzbekistan back to Tier 3 in the State Department’s 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, claiming a lack of action on its commitments to end forced labor, in a Jan. 30 letter (here) to the agency. The 2015 TIP report improved the country to Tier 2 Watch List. “Any other placement would reward the government of Uzbekistan in spite of its continued, flagrant disregard of its national laws and international commitments,” the association, dubbed the “Cotton Campaign,” said in its letter. “The Tier 3 placement would, on the other hand, communicate the need to end forced labor to the government of Uzbekistan.

The external Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP) for the State Department will meet 2-5 p.m. on Feb. 17 at State Department Headquarters to discuss recent subcommittee developments, State said (here). Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin and ACIEP Chairman Paul Charron will host the meeting of the group, which comprises subcommittees on sanctions, investment policy, and a stakeholder advisory board. The meeting will be held in conference room 4477 and is open to the public, with limited seating, State said.