Group Urges Bush to Stop Exports To Israel Under AECA Rule
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) wants to deny weapons exports to Israel under the Arms Export Control Act that requires such weapons to be used for internal security programs and self defense purposes. The group sent a letter to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urging them to “comply with their legal obligations” and cease all sales and deliveries of weapons to Israel. Read their story here.
ITAR TRIAL – Defense Asserts Released Tech Data Was Public Domain
In Baltimore -Haji Subandi, 69, a citizen of the Republic of Indonesia, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, two counts of money laundering and attempted exportation of arms and munitions, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

“The disruption of the supply chain of this organization should reassure the public that the U.S. Government is committed to dismantling terrorist groups worldwide. The FBI will continue to work to prevent any person from using the United States to raise funds or procure arms to commit acts of terrorism.” Read the whole story on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.

ITAR Called “A Pain In The Neck” for Small Space Companies

(Excerpts from Lawyers, insurance, and money: the business challenges of NewSpace by Jeff Foust in Space Review )

Some discussion about export compliance at Space Access Conference In Phoenix :

“It’s a monster pain in the neck,” said Randall Clague, whose duties at XCOR Aerospace include export control compliance. During a panel at the conference about export control, he described having to go around the company’s facility on a regular basis, looking for papers left out in workspaces that might have sensitive information and marking them with a stamp labeled “ITAR” as a reminder that the paper should be secured. “I feel like a babysitter. It’s just stupid.”

Kerry Scarlott, an attorney who specializes in export control law, said that, while difficult, ITAR is something that even small companies can deal with. “It’s a narrow portal, not a wall,” he said. “It’s not necessarily the biggest issue you’re facing.” However, even he acknowledged that ITAR is like “a sledgehammer hitting a fly” and that some type of reform was needed.

Conference panelists were skeptical that the Democratic Party majorities won’t loosen export regulations because they might appear to be weak on defense. “Unless we can find a way to get some Republicans to take the lead and inoculate Democrats from any flanking maneuvers by other Republicans, I don’t see anyone taking the lead and actually trying to fix this in a serious way,” said Jim Muncy of PoliSpace.

Scarlott was similarly pessimistic of the odds of near-term reform. “There are a lot of changes potentially afoot in ITAR. I emphasize ‘potentially’ because it’s unlikely significant changes will occur in the next couple of years.”
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Defense In Export Violation Trial Says Tech Data Was Public Domain
Notes from ExportBlog.com coverage of the trial of Chi Mak

A senior engineer for a company with numerous American Navy contracts, Chi Mak, 66, is charged with attempting to smuggle designs for quiet submarines to China and with acting as an unregistered agent of China in America. Cliff Burns at ExportLawBlog comments on the defense assertion that the tech data was public domain:

Mr. Kaye [Chi Mak’s defense attorney] said the government made little effort to safeguard the material. “As you can see in the pleadings … every document in this case was distributed at a public conference,” the attorney said.

Material in the public domain is usually exempt from export controls, but the government argued that an embargo imposed on China after the Tienanmen Square massacre in 1991 made it illegal to share even widely disseminated defense materials with Beijing.

Read the commentary on ExportLawBlog.com.

Posted on March 26th, 2007 by keeton
Filed under: News