What do missiles and toilets have in common? Both are on the United States Munitions List.

Zodiac Group apparently learned this the hard way. Zodiac, best known for its inflatable water craft, also makes toilets for boats and airplanes. According to this article in Defense News, Zodiac told the European Institute’s Transatlantic Roundtable on Defense and Security yesterday that it found out that a toilet might be on the USML when it tried to export toilets for use on military aircraft.

Now before we all get out our pitchforks and storm DDTC, let’s look at the situation a little more closely. The item apparently in question is the rather descriptively named Evac 90 Kandre. That product can be found here on the company’s website, which describes the toilet as follows:

Evac 90 Kandre, with shock and vibration proof design, has been developed for navy/military use. It is equipped with proven fully pneumatic Evac 900 mechanism with flush memory and vacuum sensor technology. For spare parts Evac grants a lifetime support. Evac 90, Kandre, has passed the MIL-SPEC 901D (Navy) Grade B, Class 1, Type A shock test.

Not even a close question here. That stainless steel “shock-proof” baby needs a license, and Zodiac shouldn’t have been surprised that it did.

UPDATE: A reader sends in an image of another toilet that is on the USML:

The “Jules Verne,” the automated transfer vehicle (“ATV”) being designed by NASA and the European Space Administration (“ESA”) to ferry supplies to the International Space Station is, by definition, a defense article covered by Category XV of the United States Munitions List (“USML”). As such, technical assistance agreements must be in place for each transfer of technical data on the ATV from U.S. contractors to their European counterparts.

NASA has long complained about these requirements in relation to the International Space Station. In December 2006, NASA requested relief from ITAR requirements for transfers of technical data relating to the International Space Station but this request has not yet been acted on by State. The final report by the International Space Station Independent Safety Task Force, released in February of this year, concluded that these requirements jeopardize the safety of the International Space Station.

At the Washington Space Business Roundtable last week, William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, revealed what NASA believed to be a “feasible workaround” if the State Department fails to act on NASA’s request. According to Gerstenmaier:

We are actually training civil servants as a workaround. It’s not truly training unique civil servants, but we are utilizing civil servants more than we would have … if we had some of these restrictions removed.

According to Gerstenmaier, civil servants could, under existing rules, interact more freely with their non-U.S. counterparts.

It’s difficult to understand Gerstenmaier’s position here. There is no exemption for civil servants to export technical data. Perhaps what he means is that the private contractors, aware of the restrictions, will refuse to share information with the Europeans whereas a government employee will either be unaware of the restrictions or will believe that the “I was just following orders” defense will shield him or her from liability for export violations. I’m not so sure I would call that a feasible workaround.