NTI - Global Security Newswire, 7 Sep 2010.

U.S. President Barack Obama last week unveiled plans to dramatically alter the federal government's system for controlling sensitive exports, in part by consolidating listings of regulated materials and creating a new office for carrying out certain enforcement work.

The planned changes, issued following a one-year study by the Defense, State and Commerce departments, would affect the nation's aging framework for limiting sales of strategic missiles, nuclear submarine components and other military hardware.

The State and Commerce departments were working to assign controlled goods to one of three "tiers" determined by their military value.

The top tier would be reserved for items "that provide a critical military or intelligence advantage to the United States and are available almost exclusively from the United States, or items that are a weapon of mass destruction," the White House said in a statement.

"Items in the middle tier are those that provide a substantial military or intelligence advantage to the United States and are available almost exclusively from our multilateral partners and allies" the release states. "Items in the lowest tier are those that provide a significant military or intelligence advantage but are available more broadly."

An export license "will generally be required for items in the highest tier to all destinations," the statement adds. "Many of the items in the second tier will be authorized for export to multilateral partners and allies under license exemptions or general authorizations. For less sensitive items, a license will not be required more broadly."

"For items authorized to be exported without licenses, there will be new controls imposed on the re-export of those items to prevent their diversion to unauthorized destinations," says the release. "At the same time, the U.S. government will continue our sanctions programs directed toward specific countries, such as Iran and Cuba.

In addition, the reforms would aim to clearly divide responsibilities for enforcing export regulations. Various U.S. agencies have developed "very different control lists, with agencies fighting over who has jurisdiction," Obama said in prepared remarks. "Decisions were delayed, sometimes for years, and industries lost their edge or moved abroad."

The new system would be intended "to build higher walls around the export of our most sensitive items while allowing the export of less critical ones under less restrictive conditions," he said.

Obama is expected to order the establishment of an “Export Enforcement Coordination Center” aimed at bolstering enforcement and interagency cooperation, Bloomberg reported.

Creation of the unified licensing office and certain other proposed actions would require legislative backing, according to administration officials.

Back