Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gave a speech Tuesday outlining the Administration’s proposals for modernizing the U.S. system of export controls. (Speech, Shopfloor coverage.)

Later that day, James Hursch, acting director, Defense Technology Security Administration, held a roundtable with bloggers explaining the policy proposals in more detail. The transcript is here. Excerpt:

The current U.S. export control system poses in our view a potential threat to national security, because the foundation is over 50 years old. It is essentially a system that was designed for the Cold War bipolar world and is not sufficiently focused on the most critical threats we face today.

The world has changed. The threats we face today are different, including global terrorism and the proliferation of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons. And these threats come not from a single block of countries but from individuals, entities and countries located throughout the world.

In addition, the leading edge of some technologies has spread to other parts of the world from the U.S. And there are competitors for many systems that the U.S. is controlling elsewhere in the world.

The National Association of Manufacturers has made export control reforms a top priority. Recent materials:

• Statement, “Manufacturers Encouraged by Administration’s Export Control Changes“
• NAM’s Blueprint for Fundamental Reform
• Near- and medium-term recommendations from the NAM-led Coalition for Security and Competitiveness.

The National Association of Manufacturers on Tuesday hosted a news briefing by members of the Coalition for Security and Competitiveness, a broad coalition of business groups that support modernizing the U.S. system of export controls.

Defense News summarized the day’s news, “U.S. Firms Launch Export-Control Reform Push“:

Declaring that the Obama administration presents the best opportunity in years to overhaul export rules that limit weapons sales, 19 industry lobbying groups have relaunched a campaign for sweeping reform.

The groups want to de-emphasize the current reliance on munitions and dual-use technologies lists, and base export decisions on such factors as whether an item can be bought from another country, whether it is widely used outside of defense and whether the buyer is a trusted partner.

The 19 groups, which represent hundreds of U.S. companies from warplane manufacturers to software coders, said Jan. 12 that a review of export control regulations now underway by the Obama administration offers real hope for change.

As the Coalition explained in the news release accompanying the event:

The United States export control system has not been significantly revised in more than twenty years. The result is a system that no longer fully protects our national security, has not kept up with accelerating technological change, and does not function with the efficiency and transparency needed to keep the United States competitive in the global marketplace.The Administration’s export control review, as well as impending legislative proposals, provides an opportunity to strengthen our security and give business the clarity and guidance it needs to comply with the rules and remain competitive.

(Photo: Chris Hansen, Tech America CEO (left); Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs, NAM.)

More …

• CSC Letter to the President…
• The CSC Issues Principles and Objectives for Export Control Modernization
• The Hill, “Coalition recommends export control reforms”
• Reuters, “US business gives Obama export control reform plan“
• The Journal of Commerce, “Trade Groups Ask Obama for Change”
• Seattle Post Intelligencer, “Industry groups push for easing export restrictions”

Speaking at the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Update Conference on Export Controls, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke proposed changes to the nation’s export control system, well described in the news release’s headline, “Commerce Secretary Gary Locke Proposes Reforms to America’s Export Controls System to Enhance National Security and Improve Competitiveness“:

WASHINGTON—U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke proposed reforms to modernize America’s export controls system, which will enhance national security and increase the competitiveness of U.S. companies, in a speech at the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Update Conference on Export Controls today. The United States export control system seeks to prevent sensitive items from falling into the hands of those who seek to do us harm.

“Our current system was designed in the 1950s and its Cold-War-era framework is ill-suited to manage the highly complex 21st century threats currently faced by the United States,” Locke said. “We need to fundamentally revise our export control system to account for the emergence of new foreign markets, competitors and multifaceted threats that have arisen over the past few decades.”

The release notes that a U.S. company recently lost two major sales to Italy for predictive maintenance imaging cameras — which is standard, widely available commercial technology — because the U.S. export control system takes too long to deal with. The Japanese got the sale.

Secretary Locke’s remarks are here.

Reuters did a story on the announcement, “US Commerce chief proposes dual-use export reform,” citing the NAM’s Frank Vargo, who calls Locke’s proposals important steps.

Modernizing export controls is one of the NAM’s priority issues, although it doesn’t get all that much media attention. (The issues becomes technical pretty quickly.) In 2007, the NAM helped create the Coalition for Security and Competitiveness to address the issue, and we have posted background information here.