Doug Hassebrock, the Bureau of Industry and Security's top enforcement official responsible for national security issues, retired last month. Hassebrock served as the deputy assistant secretary for export enforcement and left in early November, BIS official Hillary Hess said during a Dec. 8 Commerce Department technical advisory committee meeting. Kevin Kurland, director of BIS’s Office of Export Analysis, is acting in Hassebrock’s role, Hess said. A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment.

China reportedly has developed a supercomputer that gives it an advantage in quantum computing, an emerging technology category that the U.S. has sought to prevent China from dominating. The computer can perform certain computations 100 trillion times faster than the world’s fastest existing supercomputer, giving China a “quantum computational advantage,” or “quantum supremacy,” Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, reported Dec. 4. Chinese researchers also said the computer can perform certain processes 10 billion times faster than the quantum computer developed by Google. The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering export controls on certain technology related to quantum computers, with those restrictions in their final rule stage as of July (see 2007140027). A BIS spokesperson said the agency continues to “evaluate and identify technologies that warrant control.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security corrected its September revision of the Export Administration Regulations, which implemented export control changes made by the 2018 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary (see 2009100027). The corrections, issued in a notice released Dec. 3, address errors that were “unintentionally introduced” in Export Control Classification Numbers 3A001, 3A002, 3A991, 5A002, 7A005 and 9E003, BIS said. It said the corrections do not change BIS policy or affect licensing requirements.

The Bureau of Industry and Security should apply the “minimal” necessary level of export controls on foundational technologies to prevent impacts on U.S. academic research, universities said in comments to the agency. BIS also should reexamine which technologies it defines as “emerging” because some are already commercially widespread, a British aerospace company said.

As China continues to gain ground in technology competition with the U.S., Congress should pursue more investment and visa restrictions to prevent China from accessing sensitive U.S. technologies, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in a Dec. 1 report. Commissioners said China’s access to U.S. technologies is helping it innovate and export surveillance tools and other advanced technologies globally.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on how the Chemical Weapons Convention affected certain U.S. “commercial activities” this year, the agency said in a notice released Nov. 30. BIS plans to use the comments as it prepares its annual certification to Congress on whether CWC regulations on Schedule 1 chemicals harm “legitimate commercial activities and interests of chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms.” Comments are due Dec. 31.

The Bureau of Industry and Security expects to roll out a more multilateral approach to export controls under the Joe Biden administration but does not expect any major changes to its China policies or Entity List decisions, a senior Commerce Department official said. The official pointed to the strong bipartisan support among lawmakers for Chinese sanctions and export controls, which likely will continue under a new administration. “I don't see that going away. I think the Hill is engaged. I think at least from what President-elect Biden has announced with his Cabinet, these are folks who are familiar with the national security issues,” the official, who declined to be named in order to speak candidly about BIS, said in an interview last week. “So I don't expect a lot of substantive change.”

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Nov. 20 completed a review for a final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that will revise country groups for Ukraine, Mexico and Cyprus under the Export Administration Regulations. OIRA received the rule June 25.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began a review of a final Bureau of Industry and Security rule that would change the license review policy for exports of certain drones. The rule, received by OIRA Nov. 20, would change the review policy for exports of unmanned aerial systems to reflect the U.S. July decision to loosen restrictions over those exports (see 2007270035).

Cordell Hull, who has led the Bureau of Industry and Security for the last year (see 1911180040), will resign next month ahead of the incoming Joe Biden administration. His last day will be Dec. 4, a BIS spokesperson said. “I am proud of what we have achieved on important issues of national security at BIS and I have decided to look for the next challenge in the private sector,” Hull said in a Nov. 19 statement. “I am grateful to Secretary [Wilbur] Ross for giving me this opportunity to serve.”