We Haven’t Won Yet on Export Control Reforms

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http://breakingdefense.com/2013/11/we-havent-won-yet-on-export-control-reforms/



The defense industry is hard-pressed for good news these days after budget cuts, sequestration and the government shutdown. But there is one bright spot. The industry received some good news last month when new export control reforms went into effect. The reforms involved transferring authority for key categories of arms exports, including military aircraft parts and engines, from the State Department to the Department of Commerce.

We Haven’t Won Yet on Export Control Reforms
By Bill Greenwalt
on November 21, 2013 at 4:30 AM

The move from State to Commerce means that companies wishing to sell these parts will face fewer burdensome regulations, helping to sustain exports and providing needed relief for America’s defense industrial base. But, as helpful as this change has been, the most important item on the export control reform agenda will be less about the ability of US defense firms to sell abroad than whether the US military has access to cutting edge technology from commercial firms who are not normally considered a part of the defense industrial base.

Export control reform will continue to be a critical national security issue because of changes in global research and development. In the past, the federal government dominated global R&D spending so strict export controls were created to protect this dominance.

Today, American R&D is predominately funded by the commercial market, one that is increasingly globalized. As commercial products and services become cheaper, more reliable and more advanced than their military equivalents, future military dominance will accrue from leveraging this commercial innovation for national security purposes. However, the commercial firms that control this knowledge will not necessarily support the U.S. government if export controls make it difficult or impossible to sell their products abroad.

Before the latest reforms, anything that fell under the State Department’s jurisdiction acquired an “ITAR taint” because they fell under the jurisdiction of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the US government regulations that control the export and import of defense-related articles and services on the State Department’s US Munitions List.