The U.S. should closely monitor Chinese attempts to steal sensitive information and technology from universities, but not in a way that will sacrifice open academic exchanges, said Christine Fox, a former Defense Department official, speaking during a July 7 Brookings Institution event. She said the threat of trade theft from China is real, but the number of foreign Chinese students and researchers who try to steal technology is just a small percentage of the total.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's recent shift in enforcement policies and strategy could “significantly” increase risks for companies, law firms said, especially those based in the U.S. The changes could cause businesses to invest more in compliance, they said, and could lead to a more aggressive BIS enforcement posture.
The Bureau of Industry and Security posted the presentation materials from panels during its annual update conference last week. The panels included update sessions on export enforcement (see 2207010010, 2207010025 and 2206300069), recently implemented export controls (see 2207010015), the foreign direct product rule (see 2206300005) and the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls’ regulations (see 2206300029).
The Bureau of Industry and Security this month updated its “Don’t Let This Happen To You” guidance, which includes summaries and case examples of past export control investigations. The 65-page document also includes an overview of the BIS Office of Export Enforcement, the agency’s various authorities and a section on BIS enforcement priorities, which specifically names China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is still reviewing export controls on facial recognition software, surveillance-related products and other goods controlled for crime-control reasons, but it may move forward on the rule soon, a Commerce Department official said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has received very few license applications and questions related to its cybersecurity export control rule since it took effect in March (see 2110200036 and 2201110025) but is open to issuing more guidance to industry if needed (see 2205050023), a Commerce Department official said during the BIS annual update conference last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security plans to add more attorneys to its chief counsel's office to keep pace with its Russia-related export controls, a Commerce Department official said during the BIS annual update conference last week. The counsel has about 15 lawyers but expects to add more “in the coming months,” said the official, speaking on background as part of a conference policy for career staff. “It really has been unprecedented times over the past six months,” the official said, adding that the counsel’s office wants “to make sure that we can match” the rest of the agency “as the amount and intensity of work continues.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security is using recently received funding to expand its U.S. field offices and send more officers overseas, said Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top enforcement official. Axelrod said BIS soon will launch a field office in Phoenix and has sent export control officers to the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki and the American Institute of Taiwan in Taipei. BIS also recently sent its first intelligence analyst abroad to work with the Canadian Border Services Agency.
The U.S. needs to build a new multilateral export control forum to “institutionalize” the licensing and enforcement coordination of the last several months, said Don Graves, the Commerce Department’s deputy secretary. Although Bureau of Industry and Security officials said they are unsure whether the cooperation will lead to a new, formal export control regime (see 2206290032), Graves was critical of the existing ones, saying the U.S. needs a more modern approach to respond to Russia and other global crises in the future.
The U.S. and its allies should be sharing more export control information to better align their licensing decisions, said Thea Kendler, the Bureau of Industry and Security's assistant secretary for export administration. Although the U.S. is already sharing some of that information through the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council to keep Russia from acquiring sensitive technologies and other items for its military, Kendler said more can be done.