A report released earlier this month by the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) criticized NASA’s efforts to control sensitive data when disposing of computers and other components of its IT systems. Significantly, the OIG found that computers from the Kennedy Space Center were being released to the public even though they still contained sensitive NASA data. One computer about to be sold to the public, pictured in the group to the right, still contained ITAR-controlled data relating to the Space Shuttle.

Of course, ITAR does not prohibit the release of ITAR-controlled data to U.S. persons in the United States. But it seems doubtful that NASA, which didn’t know this information was still on the computer, had procedures in place to assure that the computer was only transferred to a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident inside the United States. It’s hard for the government to insist that private companies assure that ITAR-controlled technical data isn’t illegally exported when companies dispose of their own equipment when NASA doesn’t take steps to guarantee that the government won’t inadvertently export such data.

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