In one of the most forward-looking speeches on export controls delivered by a Secretary of Commerce in more than a decade, Secretary Gary Locke, on October 1, laid out a fresh vision of how our export licensing system is not merely adversely affecting our nation’s competitiveness – but also how it is critically affecting our nation’s ability to preserve our national security. See Remarks at Bureau of Industry and Security Update Conference on Export Controls.
The effects of our country’s export control regime – rooted in the 1950’s Cold War threat scenario when the U.S. dominated key technology and know-how – has long been known to impinge on the ability of U.S. companies to compete, and Secretary Locke’s speech provided some excellent examples drawn out of mainstream commerce – and far from isolated cases.
What is significant about his speech (which received remarkably little coverage, beyond snippets in the so-called trade press) is that it also laid out the implications for our national security as well – to the detriment of the goal that underpinned the current regime when it was created more than 4 decades ago.
He cited the in-depth study produced earlier this year, BEYOND FORTRESS AMERICA: NATIONAL SECURITY CONTROLS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD, which was prepared by a Committee that included luminaries such as Brent Scowcroft, Bobby Inman, Anita Jones and John Hennessey, which concluded, among other things, that “the national security controls on science and technology are broken.”
Secretary Locke’s speech comes at a propitious time. Yes, there have been other calls for ‘reviews’ in past Administrations – they occurred in both Bush Administrations, as well as under President Clinton. This time, however, there appears to be a real and serious effort among the key principals involved in this – in addition to Secretary Locke, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – to work, at the very highest levels to take advantage of this alignment of US Government Interests.
This Executive Branch engagement also corresponds with renewed Congressional interest in looking at what statutory impediments may exist in this area.
Our nation’s innovation system, our economy and our national security all have high hopes for their efforts.
In the meantime, Locke has asked the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to initiate the following actions:
• First, consider eliminating certain dual-use export license requirements for allies and partner nations—consistent with statutory and international obligations. Sec. Locke said this would be a low-risk, high-impact change for American companies.
• Second, explore implementing a fast-track process for the review of dual-use export licenses for other key countries that do not pose a significant threat and have a strong history of export control compliance.
Watch this important space in the months to come.