Assumptions that defense cooperation between Washington and Tbilisi has been downscaled in recent years are "almost completely made up" and "erroneous", Giga Bokeria, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said.
He said in an interview with the Georgian weekly magazine, Tabula, that President Obama's reservation over a section of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for "normalization" of military cooperation with Georgia, including the sale of defensive arms, was more a legal issue about constitutional authorities of legislative and executive branches and it should not be interpreted as if the Obama administration was against deepening defense cooperation with Georgia.
In his signing statement on December 31, President Obama listed the provision of the defense authorization act dealing with Georgia, among those sections of the Act, which he would treat as "non-binding" should any application of the provision conflict with his constitutional authorities. President Obama cited two reasons behind his decision; the statement said that these provisions of the Act could interfere with the President's constitutional foreign affairs powers and also said that these provisions "could be read to require the disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications and national security secrets."
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