Export Control Hearing

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on export control reform.

In a committee statement issued this morning, panel Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) said:

The U.S. has long maintained a system of strategic export controls, restricting the commercial export of both arms and "dual-use" items in order to advance our national security, foreign policy, and economic interests. Over the years, the system has become out of step with our own national security requirements, the pace of technological innovation, and the nature of the global economy. There is widespread agreement that our export control system needs fundamental reform. This hearing will examine the agenda for advancing export control reform, including implementation of current Obama Administration proposals and prospects for additional reforms in the future. The Committee, with broad jurisdiction over U.S. export controls, will seek to strike the right balance among U.S. national security, American jobs and economic growth, and the health of the defense industrial base.

In August 2009, President Obama directed a broad-based interagency review of the U.S. export control system, resulting in the Export Control Reform Initiative, according to the committee statement, which adds:

That plan took shape in April 2010 with a proposal to fundamentally restructure the system by ultimately creating a single export licensing agency, a single list of controlled items, a single information technology system, and a single export enforcement coordination agency. The goal of the reform effort is to better tailor U.S. export controls to our national security interests, while helping industry compete in a global military marketplace.

Witnesses scheduled include:

Thomas Kelly
Acting Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
U.S. Department of State

Kevin Wolf
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration
Bureau of Industry and Security
U.S. Department of Commerce

James Hursch
Director
Defense Technology Security Administration
U.S. Department of Defense

Inside the Pentagon reported last week that the Defense Department wants to more than double the funding for a pilot program designed to better harmonize the need for protecting critical technologies in American weapons while enabling their export to foreign governments, according to a DOD budget document.

The fiscal year 2014 budget request, submitted to Congress earlier this month, requests $3.8 million for the program that helps prepare warfighting systems for non-U.S. use, with nearly $19 million requested over the future years defense plan. ITP further reported:

More money is needed in FY-14 to expand the number of systems to be included in the Defense Exportability Features (DEF) pilot program, according to DOD. Defense officials will use the systems to "define and implement DEF 'best practice' program management, system engineering and program protection measures in the DOD acquisition process," according to the budget document.

The Pentagon is slated to determine later this fiscal year what programs to add to the pilot, DOD spokeswoman Maureen Schumann said.

The Pentagon had designated seven major defense acquisition programs in FY-12 and another eight programs in FY-13 to participate in the pilot, according to the budget documents.

"Early results of the DEF studies indicate there could be a significant return on [research, development, test and evaluation] investment from DEF through the economies of scale in production and sustainment from foreign sales," the Pentagon's budget overview states. "Increasing the sample size of MDAPs in the pilot program will provide us greater confidence in DEF prior to implementing DEF into acquisition policy."

Funds will be "replenished" through non-recurring cost recoupment in future foreign military sales cases, as well as cooperative programs memorandums of understanding or direct commercial sales contracts, the budget justification materials state.

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