This week China Tech Threat (CTT) launched a new campaign around the urgency for the Senate to confirm the next Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
It has been five years since the last confirmed BIS Director and seven months since President Biden nominated Alan Estevez, a national security veteran, to take the post.
We’ve written extensively about the importance of BIS, calling it the most important agency most Americans have never heard of. Tasked with ensuring an effective export control system to promote America’s strategic technology leadership, the agency and its leaders play an important role in the U.S. government’s response to China’s unabashed ambition to dominate semiconductor and other critical technology markets.
Anja Manuel, Executive Director of the Aspen Security Forum and a former State Department official, told us, “Without an Under Secretary in place, we are conducting export controls policy with one arm tied behind our backs. It’s time to confirm Alan Estevez now.”
The need to swiftly confirm Estevez was also echoed by Kevin Wolf, a top export control attorney who was once rumored for the post, and said, “BIS is advancing significant national security objectives in novel and complex ways.” Wolf, who also previously served as Assistant Secretary for Export Administration at BIS continued, saying, “It needs Alan Estevez in as its Under Secretary now. Seriously. Whatever issues are holding up his confirmation need to be set aside today so that he can get to work at BIS.”
To learn more, visit our new page and join us in calling on the Senate to #VoteEstevezNow.