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For three decades, the United States has declined to sign on to a U.N. Treaty that would give unprecedented taxing and permitting authority over activity on international waters to a U.N.-created agency.

But the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been making its way though committee in the Senate, and a vote could come up before the end of the year. (RELATED: Trent Lott explains support for treaty he once opposed in the Senate)

National security analyst Frank Gaffney warns that signing the treaty would cede a significant portion of American sovereignty to an international body that is not electorally accountable to U.S. Citizens