The Biden administration should expand the Bureau of Industry and Security, establish a clear definition for critical technologies and improve information sharing to boost corporate due diligence as part of a national technology strategy, national security experts said. BIS specifically has a larger role to play to protect the U.S. technology supply chain, which should extend beyond just export controls, the Center for a New American Security said in a July 29 report.
The U.S. may need to create new, stronger tools other than its current sanctions and export controls to penalize foreign countries that violate international laws, said Nazak Nikakhtar, former acting undersecretary of the Bureau of Industry and Security. While Nikakhtar cautioned the U.S. against overusing trade restrictions, she also said they need to be bolstered because some foreign governments and companies are “easily” circumventing them.
President Joe Biden will nominate Thea Kendler, a Justice Department lawyer, to be the Commerce Department's assistant secretary for export administration, the White House announced July 28. Kendler works as a trial attorney in the Justice Department's National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, where she primarily prosecutes export control, economic espionage and counterintelligence cases. Kendler is also working on the U.S.'s criminal case against Huawei and its Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, according to Reuters. Before joining the Justice Department, Kendler worked as a senior counsel for the Bureau of Industry and Security, providing legal advice on export enforcement. If confirmed, Kendler would potentially work under Alan Estevez, who was nominated by Biden earlier this month to head BIS (see 2107130004).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is “very busy” working to implement the semiconductor supply chain recommendations (see 2107140047) that arose from President Joe Biden’s February executive order (see 2102240068), including directives to pursue more collaboration with industry and a review of export controls and investment restrictions, a senior BIS official said. Sahar Hafeez, a senior adviser at BIS, said the agency will continue implementing those recommendations “in the weeks and months ahead.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a proposed rule for interagency review that would impose export controls on certain additive manufacturing equipment used to “print energetic materials and related software and technology.” The rule, received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs July 23, would revise the Commerce Control List to classify the equipment as an emerging technology as BIS seeks to propose the equipment for multilateral control at the Wassenaar Arrangement. BIS said Export Administration Regulations define energetic materials as “substances or mixtures that react chemically to release the energy required for their intended application,” and subclasses include explosives, pyrotechnics and propellants. The rule will request public comments so the scope of the proposed controls “will be effective and appropriate,” BIS said.
The U.S. should pursue more cooperation around multilateral export controls to address the supply chain risks within the semiconductor industry, Bureau of Industry and Security Senior Adviser Sahar Hafeez told the Information Technology Industry Council. Hafeez, speaking to ITI along with technology policy officials from the European Union and South Korea during a virtual panel last week, also stressed the importance of domestic chip investment.
A Commerce Department technical advisory committee is considering proposing an exception for U.S. deemed export regulations to allow U.S. businesses to better compete with foreign companies. The potential exception, which hasn’t been finalized but was discussed during a July 27 meeting of the Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee, would authorize certain deemed exports to company employees, contractors or interns if the items are for “internal company use.” Committee members said the exception wouldn’t be eligible for deemed exports to foreign nationals from Country Groups E:1 and E:2, which includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week opened registration for its annual conference (see 2104290004), which will be held virtually Sept. 2, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT. The conference will include sessions on BIS’s military end-user and end-use rules, export enforcement, licensing information, export compliance and regulatory updates from the Census Bureau and the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Recorded sessions will be made available one month after the conference.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is again seeking comments on an information collection related to a survey to assess the competitiveness of certain U.S. industries in the defense industrial base, a notice said. The survey will help “small- and medium-sized firms in defense transition and in gaining access to advanced technologies and manufacturing processes available from Federal Laboratories.” BIS previously requested feedback in March (see 2103220005) but is allowing for an additional 30 days for public comment. Comments are due by Aug. 23.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection involving the Chemical Weapons Convention provisions in the Export Administration Regulations, the agency said in a notice. The collection describes the purpose of the CWC, U.S. reporting obligations and information on certain end-use certificates. Comments are due by Sept. 20.