U.S. export controls on artificial intelligence may not be the right strategy to hinder Chinese progress in certain AI subfields, including machine learning, Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology said in a report this week. While the controls may seem “attractive in the abstract,” the report said most decoupling regimes are “imperfect and frequently act as a hindrance, rather than an absolute bar, to a rival’s technological progress.”
Two technical committees that advise the Bureau of Industry and Security plan to work together on a proposal to create a "trusted exporter" program, similar to the trusted trader program for importers. Sensors and Instrumentation Technical Advisory Committee Co-Chair Jennifer O'Bryan said during a July 26 quarterly meeting of SINTAC that the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee wants to work on such a proposal.
The Bureau of Industry and Security extended by 30 days the comment period for an information collection on the agency’s surveys and assessments of U.S. industrial sectors and technologies (see 2204010008). The survey data will allow BIS to assess “industry performance” and gain insight into “diminishing manufacturing capabilities.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security named Greg Capella as its new deputy undersecretary, an agency spokesperson said this week. Capella, who officially started July 18, previously served as acting director of the Commerce Department’s National Technical Information Service. Capella replaced Jeremy Pelter, who is now acting chief financial officer and assistant secretary of commerce for administration.
Although the U.S. should be concerned about university espionage and research theft, it shouldn’t place restrictions on fundamental research, said Arati Prabhakar, President Joe Biden’s nominee for director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaking during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing this week. She said the U.S. has some “real issues” involving research security, which “have to be wrestled with” but not in a way that stifles innovation and hurts American competitiveness.
The Bureau of Industry and Security recently revoked export privileges for two people after they illegally exported controlled items from the U.S.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is looking to hire new investigators, engineers, trade specialists, analysts, enforcement and compliance officials and others, the agency said this week. Interested applicants should submit a resume and other “required documents” to workforceplanning@bis.doc.gov.
The departments of Commerce and Defense are establishing a new forum to better study potential controls for emerging technologies, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said, speaking during a July 19 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. He said he has asked DOD to help him stand up a “critical technologies review board” to coordinate over a range of evolving technologies, including semiconductors, biotechnology and quantum computing. “This board will help BIS to understand the technologies DOD is investing in for military use,” he said, “and to help us impose appropriate controls for those technologies.” BIS recently announced it would stop categorizing technologies as either emerging or foundational before a control is imposed, which it hopes will help the interagency process move faster (see 2206270007).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week published two public comments it received on a May rule that proposed unilateral export controls on four dual-use biological toxins (see 2205200017). One comment, from Raytheon BBN, addresses the “feasibility of regulating access” to nodularin, brevetoxin, palytoxin and gonyautoxin, the four toxins that BIS said can be weaponized to kill people or animals, “degrade equipment” or damage the environment. The second comment, from Bill Root, a frequent public commenter during the agency’s technical advisory committee meetings, includes recommendations for revisions to the rule. Root also said the controls must be accompanied by “major changes” to the State Department’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations and “the regulations of other affected U.S. agencies.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security should harmonize the Entity List with other lists across various agencies to better capture foreign companies that should be subject to strict trade restrictions, lawmakers told BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez this week. Others said BIS has failed to blacklist Chinese military companies that deserve placement on the Entity List, allowing the Chinese government to continue to buy sensitive American technologies.