Fixing the Failings of the Interagency Export Control Review System
By Steve Coonen As I established in my paper Willful Blindness released in May, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (the unit within the U.S. government primarily responsible for stopping the Chinese military from obtaining American technologies) has become a rubber stamp for the export of controlled technologies to China. Case in point: In 2022, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) approved over 91% of applications for the export of controlled technologies to China, even greater than 2021’s 88% rate. Yes, BIS needs to do a better job of denying tech exports to China. But BIS is not entirely at fault—it is just one cog in the broken federal machine tasked with defending U.S.… Read More