The Insider

The Commerce Department is announcing long-awaited reforms to the federal export control system at a conference this week, something applauded by the Aerospace Industries Association in a statement released this morning:

"We are very pleased by the progress the administration is making in reviewing the U.S. Munitions List," said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. "The restructured list shows great promise in assigning the appropriate level of protection to technology exports across all levels of risk." 

In particular, the completed review of Category VII of the USML -- Tanks and Military Vehicles -- shows that about 74 percent of the 12,000 items licensed last year could have been safely processed under the less restrictive Commerce Control List. This indicates substantial potential savings in time and compliance costs to U.S. exporters in the future, with enormous benefits for our military and closest allies.

"The clarification and eventual consolidation of the Munitions and Commerce Control lists will have a dramatic impact on small- and medium-sized companies," Blakey said. "These companies rarely have the resources to ensure compliance with the current export control regime. Simplifying the system offers them the opportunity to be more competitive in the international marketplace."

The president's initiatives also include consolidating licensing policies, export enforcement and information technology systems to make the export control licensing system more efficient.

"These initiatives will greatly improve our national security," Blakey said. "Enhanced interoperability with friends and allies will increase our ability to defend our common interests, and better controls for truly sensitive items will help keep them out of the hands of our adversaries."

The current system was established during the Cold War, when many key war-fighting technologies were developed first by the United States and primarily by the government, White House National Security Adviser James Jones writes in an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal. "Today, our military is more dependent on technology initially developed by private companies for commercial purposes. It is therefore critical to our national security that our export control system enhances, not undermines, the competitiveness of U.S. industry," he adds. Furthermore:

. . . The current system is the product of layers upon layers of regulations adopted over the last few decades, with very little distinction between relatively low-tech and widely available items and the most advanced proprietary technology. Going forward, our goal is to focus our efforts on the most critical technologies and items needed to defend ourselves against current and anticipated threats, and to place more emphasis on protecting them effectively.

The foundation of our new system will ultimately include a single control list that distinguishes in tiers between the most sensitive items and technologies and everything else; a single licensing policy to be applied across all agencies; a center to better coordinate the many agencies involved in export-control enforcement; and a single IT system to make sure decisions are fully informed.

The development of a single, tiered, positive control list will allow us to closely and efficiently scrutinize the export of our most sensitive items and more effectively deny exports to those who mean to do us harm.

At the same time, such a system will allow the export of other items under less restrictive conditions, helping to ensure that the U.S. government can move quickly to respond to the needs of allies and coalition partners. The current system often makes it difficult for allies and partners to have the key items necessary for today's operations. We can do better. For example, if we decide to share a weapons system with our partners, we shouldn't require them to seek a license for every spare part.

The Pentagon announced last night that Raytheon has won a contract in the Excalibur 1B program. From the release:

Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded on Aug. 25 a $22,781,932 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for Excalibur 155mm increment 1B unitary warhead M982E1 Precision Enhancement Projectile Qualification Phase. Work is to be performed at Tucson, Ariz., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2013. One bid was solicited with three received. ACC JM&L Contracting Center is the contracting activity (W15QKN-08-0530; Serial No. 1771).

More to come.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn is OK with the media's focus on the portion of the Foreign Affairs article he wrote that deals with his declassification of a purported hack of U.S. military computer systems in 2008 (although some analysts are beginning to doubt that the hack was a foreign spy attack). That said, during a defense bloggers' conference call earlier today, he sought to highlight the article's focus on his "five pillars" of defending against cyber attacks:

1. Recognize cyberspace as a new domain of warfare (highlighted by the Pentagon's establishment of the new U.S. Cyber Command earlier this year);

2. Be able to respond "at network speed" to future cyber attacks;

3. Extend cyber protection to the U.S. civilian critical infrastructure;

4. Increase shared warning with international partners; and

5. Maintain U.S. technical dominance of the cyber domain.

The Pentagon is in the process of developing  a formal strategic document "over the course of the fall," with completion planned by the end of the year, according to Lynn.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on Defense Secretary Robert Gates' recommendation to eliminate U.S. Joint Forces Command when lawmakers return from their August recess.

Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) agreed to a request from Virginia Sen. Jim Webb (D) to hold the hearing in September, which in addition to the proposed JFCOM closure will also "cover the full range of efficiency initiatives announced by Secretary Gates Aug. 9, 2010," according to a statement from Webb's office released today.

"I commend Chairman Levin for agreeing to schedule this important hearing on the future of JFCOM and the additional efficiency initiatives announced by Secretary Gates," Webb, who chairs the personnel subcommittee, said in his statement. "Congress has an essential constitutional oversight role in such matters. I believe that further action by the president or Secretary Gates should be suspended until Congress has had ample opportunity to review the full scope of the Secretary’s actions."

In his Aug. 23 response to Webb's request, Levin wrote: "I share the secretary's objectives of reducing 'duplication, overhead, and excess in the defense enterprise,' and instilling 'a culture of savings and restraint' across the Department of Defense. At the same time, I agree that the far-reaching initiatives announced by the Secretary deserve close scrutiny from our Committee."

The Missile Defense Agency's intercept test of the Airborne Laser Test Bed scheduled for early this morning was postponed again, according to an agency statement:

The planned experiment involving the Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) today is delayed because of unsuccessful tracking beam calibration engagements by the ALTB against an airborne diagnostic aircraft (surrogate target). The calibrations must be successfully completed prior to firing the aircraft's main directed energy beam.

The target missile was not launched. Program officials will determine the next opportunity to conduct the experiment.

The delay marks the fourth time MDA has had to delay its test of intercepting a boosting ballistic missile. As InsideDefense.com reported Aug. 17:

The agency was trying to intercept a boosting ballistic missile at a range twice the distance from the previous shoot-down in February, MDA Director Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly said yesterday before the shoot-down test. The test delay marks the second postponement within the last 30 days.

The intercept attempt had been scheduled to take place two weeks ago, but was postponed due to a problem with the stand that holds up the target missile, O'Reilly told reporters at an Aug. 17 Defense Writers Group breakfast. A follow-up attempt was scheduled for Sunday night, but a software glitch in one of the system's tracking modules pushed it back again to last night. The test window opened at around 1 a.m. EST, he added.

The Pentagon has set up "Aristotle," an internal social networking site for its science and technology community, according to a statement released earlier this month by the Defense Technical Information Center and posted on the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's website:

Aristotle provides a secure environment for scientists, engineers, researchers and program managers to network, create and collaborate with other experts in the S&T community.

Aristotle is a Web-based social media tool that adds a new dimension to professional social networking for DoD employees. Users not only network with other individuals; they can link to Topics, Projects and Documents. Aristotle provides situational awareness of the larger DoD S&T community. This powerful application helps S&T professionals do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Users can organize and share information, and collaborate with colleagues around the world on Projects; gather, prioritize and utilize information; and keep up-to-speed on developments in areas vital to their work. Through Aristotle, users have access to DTIC's technical reports and research summaries.

Federal government and DoD employees and their contractors must register with DTIC to access Aristotle. In addition to the security provided by the requirement to sign on with a userid and password or by using a registered Common Access Card (CAC), users can assign permissions to everything they create in or upload to Aristotle.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) today issued a statement on the use of private security contractors in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently issued a decree calling for the dissolution of most private security companies operating in Afghanistan, and Levin says:

The reliance on private security contractors in Afghanistan too often empowers local warlords and powerbrokers who operate outside the Afghan government's control. There is even evidence that some security contractors work against coalition forces, creating the very threat that they are hired to combat. Not only do these contractors threaten the security of our troops, but they put the success of our mission at risk -- an assessment that Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, and Major General Nick Carter, the Commander of Regional Command South, both shared with me during my recent trip to Afghanistan.

President Karzai has said he wants to get rid of most private security contractors in Afghanistan.  I agree with that.  We need to work with President Karzai to come up with a realistic plan to accomplish that goal – one that not only shuts off the spigot of U.S. dollars flowing into the pockets of warlords and powerbrokers, but attracts rank and file contractor personnel to the Afghan national security forces.  The challenge is significant, but the risk posed by maintaining the status quo is greater.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is nearing completion of a year-long investigation into private security contracting in Afghanistan, according to Levin's statement.