May
12
Color Me Not Surprised
Posted by Clif Burns at 3:17 pm on May 12, 2011
Category: Export Reform
ABOVE: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and outspoken critic of any changes to the U.S. embargo on Cuba, today announced her opposition to the Obama administration’s proposed export control reforms.
Ultimately, new legislative authorities would be required to implement the administration’s plan – a plan substantially at variance with the current statutory scheme for controlling defense articles under the Arms Export Control Act and dual-use items under the Export Administration Act, and requiring Committee review. To date, a compelling case has not been made for the wholesale restructuring of our current system, especially one that would include the creation of a costly and perhaps unaccountable new federal bureaucracy.
One might easily question Ms. Ros-Lehtinen’s expertise in the export area by merely pointing out that from her quote she appears to think that the lapsed Export Administration Act is still in force. I bet she still refers to BIS as the Bureau of Export Administration too.
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5 Comments:
I say it never gets out of Phase 2. And that could be a good thing….
Those who’ve been on the receiving end of a series of US export control initiatives over many years have some doubt that the Obama reforms will ever see the full light of day. Congressional opposition was always a “given” where export control reform is concerned. But even if Congress were fully supportive, experience suggests that by the time the reforms are extruded from the State Department implementation machinery, they will be a very, very dim reflection of the Administration’s original announcements. Before that happens however, we can have some confidence that another reform initiative will emerge to distact us from our disappointment.
John is probably right. Given that SecDef Gates was pretty much the driving force and – being a Republican and Bush appointee – could give the initiative political cover from the right-wing, and further given that Gates is retiring in July, this thing is going to stall. SecState Clinton pretty much has been absent from the whole process even though in theory DDTC reports to her.
The initiative has already lost its way: The original stated intent was to establish bright line rules that would inform business precisely what needed a license to where from whom and whether it was likely to be granted; instead, what we got was wonk-drafted language that is even more complex and convoluted than the existing mess.
Maybe they should hire a grammar teacher at DDTC.
If I had more ambition, I’d probably advocate an exercise to redraft the ITAR, much in the way that struggling writers shop around “spec” scripts….
The transcript of the 12 May 2011 HFAC hearing is an interesting read. I got it through a paid subscription service or else I’d link to it. Anyone have a public domain link? My understanding is that these transcripts can take a long time to get published officially, but it’s worth it to get a copy….
