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The following story is from the October 22 issue of International
Trade Reporter
Current Reports:
Export Controls
Administration Plans to Use Scowcroft Study
In Updating Export Controls, Clinton Says
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Oct. 16 that the Obama administration plans to draw on the results of a private-sector study released earlier this year calling for a major reform of the U.S. export control regime as it seeks to revamp the current system.
At a State Department luncheon, where she introduced former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, who co-chaired the blue-ribbon panel that prepared the study, Clinton said that Scowcroft has studied export control reform, “and we look forward to drawing on his ideas emanating from a study that he has just chaired on this important issue.”
The White House announced in August that the administration—specifically, the National Security Council and the National Economic Council—will be conducting a comprehensive review of the export control regime, which it called badly outdated
.(26 ITR 1116, 8/20/09).
“The United States has one of the most robust export control systems in the world,” the White House said in a statement announcing the review. “But it is rooted in the Cold War era of over 50 years ago and must be updated to address the threats we face today and the changing economic and technological landscape.”
The statement said that the review would involve a “broad-based interagency process” that would consider reforms to the system “to enhance the national security, foreign policy, and economic security interests of the United States.”
Earlier this year, the blue ribbon panel released a report—written by experts headed by Scowcroft and John Hennessy, president of Stanford University—that argued the current U.S. export control regime harms U.S. competitiveness without enhancing national security (12 ITD, 1/22/09).
The report—Beyond Fortress America:
National Security Controls on Science and Technology in a Globalized World—recommended retaining controls that work and eliminating those that do not and using caution in regulating exports of so-called dual-use products that have both civilian and military applications.
Economic Competitiveness Exemption
It also suggested creating an economic competitiveness exemption that would eliminate controls on exports of dual-use technologies that are already legally available on the global market; it also recommended implementing a “sunset” rule mandating the removal of items from the lists of controlled exports after a specified period of time maintaining on the lists can be justified.
The study, moreover, recommended creating two new government entities to make the export control process run more smoothly and to resolve disputes when they occur: a Coordinating Center for Export Controls that would coordinate interactions with businesses or universities seeking export licenses and manage agency processes with respect to granting or denying export licenses and an Export License Appeals Panel made up of active or retired federal judges, which would hear disputes on licensing decisions and sunset requirements.
Both entities would be part of the National Security Council structure, with the director of the Coordinating Center reporting directly to the national security adviser.
The study said that “openness and engagement”
should prevail “unless a compelling case can be made for restrictions.”
By Gary G. Yerkey
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