The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a name change notification on Jan. 7:

The State Department on Jan. 7 designated (here) Qari Saifullah a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for organizing and ordering terrorist activities in Afghanistan. U.S. citizens are now prohibited from engaging in transactions with Saifullah. State, in consultation with the Justice and Treasury Departments, froze all Saifullah’s property and interests. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also placed (here) Saifullah on the Specially Designated Nationals List.

All State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) external systems (i.e., DTrade, TRS, EFS, Mary, and Ellie) and DTAS Online will be unavailable to industry from Jan. 3 at 5:00 p.m. until Jan. 6 at 6:00 a.m. due to system upgrades in support of modifications to USML Categories VI, VII, XIII, and XX, said DDTC (here). DDTC will update the DS2032, DSP Forms 5, 6, 61, 62, 73, and 74 as well as the Common Schema. DDTC will also conduct an Export Control Reform WEBEX presentation, in conjunction with the Society for International Affairs, on Jan. 8 at 2:00 p.m. (here).

The State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) notified industry (here) on Dec. 24 that all DDTC external systems (i.e., DTrade, TRS, EFS, Mary, and Ellie) and DTAS Online will be unavailable from Jan. 3, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. until Jan. 6, 2014 at 6:00 a.m. due to system upgrades in support of modifications to USML Categories VI, VII, XIII, and XX. The DS2032, DSP Forms 5, 6, 61, 62, 73, and 74 as well as the Common Schema will be updated. DDTC will provide additional information on the offline period and updates on Dec. 30, 2014.

The State Department designated the Usamah Amin al-Shihabi a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (here). State determined no prior notice needs to be given to block funds transfers, originating from individuals or entities with a constitutional presence in the U.S.

The State Department’s Shipping Coordinating Committee (SCC) will conduct an open meeting on Feb. 11 at 9:30 a.m. in Washington D.C. The meeting is intended to prepare participants for the first Session of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW) to be held at the IMO Headquarters, United Kingdom, February 17 - 21, 2014. Among other topics, the SCC meeting will cover the following:

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued the following notification on Dec. 18:

The State Department, in consultation with the Attorney General and Treasury Secretary, designated the Al-Mulathamun Battalion a Foreign Terrorist Organization (here) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (here). State determined no prior notice needs to be given to block funds transfers, originating from individuals or entities with a constitutional presence in the U.S. The “designations include a prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to, or engaging in transactions with, the al-Mulathamun Battalion, and the freezing of all property and interests in property of the organization that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the control of U.S. persons,” according to State (here).

The State Department granted waivers of restrictions on assistance to Chad (here), Ethiopia (here), Gabon (here), Cameroon (here), Guinea (here), Niger (here). Nigeria (here), Somalia (here), Swaziland (here) and Republic of the Congo (here).

The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls published on Dec. 13 a clarification of International Traffic in Arms Regulations requirements regarding the reporting of political contributions, fees and commissions.