HR 1962 IH

To prohibit the export of high-performance computers to certain countries until certain applicable provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 are fulfilled.

May 26, 1999

Mr. HUNTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

To prohibit the export of high-performance computers to certain countries until certain applicable provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 are fulfilled.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Supercomputer Post-shipment Verification Act of 1999'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Section 1213 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (Public Law 105-85; 111 Stat. 1934) requires the Secretary of Commerce to conduct post-shipment verification of each digital computer with a composite theoretical performance of more than 2,000 millions of theoretical operations per second (MTOPS) that is exported from the United States on or after November 18, 1997, to countries specified in section 1213(b) of that Act.

(2) Section 1213(b) of that Act identified the countries covered by the post-shipment verification requirement as those countries listed as `Computer Tier 3' eligible countries in section 740.7 of title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on June 10, 1997. Computer Tier 3 countries are countries that have been identified as countries of concern for national security or proliferation reasons such as Russia, the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and Israel.

(3) Section 1213 of that Act also requires the Secretary of Commerce to submit an annual report to congressional committees on the results of post-shipment verifications required by that section during the preceding year.

(4) The Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives received the first of these reports on January 7, 1999. The report identified 390 high-performance computers as having been exported to Computer Tier 3 countries during the period beginning on November 18, 1997, and ending on November 17, 1998.

(5) The report also identified 286 supercomputer exports covered by the post-shipment verification requirement for which a post-shipment verification was not conducted.

(6) The report stated that 190 of the instances where a post-shipment verification was not conducted involved exports to the People's Republic of China. The Secretary of Commerce reported that the People's Republic of China did not allow post-shipment verifications to be conducted.

(7) Because post-shipment verifications were not conducted in a number of instances, the United States Government does not know if the computers in question are being used for benign commercial purposes, or for purposes that benefit military or proliferation promoting projects.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998.

(a) ANNUAL REPORT- Section 1213 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (Public Law 105-85; 111 Stat. 1934) is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:

`(c) ANNUAL REPORT- The Secretary of Commerce shall submit, on January 1 of each year, a report to the congressional committees specified in section 1215 on the results of post-shipment verifications conducted under this section covering exports carried out during the preceding fiscal year. Each such report shall include a list of all the items subject to the post-shipment verifications that were so exported and, with respect to each such export, the following:

`(1) The destination country.

`(2) The date of export.

`(3) The intended end use and intended end user.

`(4) The results of the post-shipment verification.'.

(b) MORATORIUM ON EXPORTS- Section 1213 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 (Public Law 105-85; 111 Stat. 1934) is further amended by adding at the end the following:

`(e) MORATORIUM ON EXPORT OF SUPERCOMPUTERS UNTIL POST-SHIPMENT VERIFICATIONS HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED-

`(1) FOR EXPORTS PRIOR TO OCTOBER 1, 1998- Until all post shipment verifications required by subsection (a) have been conducted for exports carried out during the period beginning on November 18, 1997, and ending on September 30, 1998, no digital computers with a composite theoretical performance of more than 2,000 MTOPS may be exported or reexported to a country specified in subsection (f).

`(2) FOR SUBSEQUENT EXPORTS- Until all post shipment verifications required by subsection (a) have been conducted for exports carried out during the period addressed in each report required by subsection (c), no digital computers with a composite theoretical performance of more than 2,000 MTOPS may be exported or reexported to a country specified in subsection (f).

`(f) COUNTRIES COVERED BY MORATORIUM- For the purposes of subsection (e), a country specified in this subsection is a country that has been the recipient of the export of any computer described in subsection (a) for which the post-shipment verification required by subsection (a) has not been conducted.'.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

(a) REPORT ON DELINQUENT POST-SHIPMENT VERIFICATIONS- When all post-shipment verifications are conducted with respect to a country to fulfill the requirements of section 1213(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, as added by section 3 of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report on the results of those post-shipment verifications. The report shall include a list identifying all the items subject to the post-shipment verifications that were exported from the United States to that country during the applicable time period specified in paragraph (1) or (2) of such section 1213(e) and, with respect to each such export, the following:

(1) The date of export.

(2) The intended end use and intended end user.

(3) The results of the post-shipment verification.

(b) REPORT ON IMPACT OF SUPERCOMPUTER EXPORTS ON NATIONAL SECURITY- The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report on the impact on national security of the export of digital computers with a composite theoretical performance of more than 2,000 MTOPS to countries listed as `Computer Tier 3' eligible countries in section 740.7 of title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on June 10, 1997. This report shall be submitted not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. The report shall be submitted in both classified and unclassified form.

END