Effective Reform of the Export Control System

Ensuring America’s National Security in the Networked World

To ensure our country's continued prosperity and security in the Networked World, we need government policies that promote U.S. global economic, technological and military leadership.

To attain these objectives, the United States must modernize outdated export controls on information products and technology and adopt policies that ensure our military's information technology superiority. Reform of the export control system is critical because restricting access to computing power is not feasible and no longer serves the national interest - it needlessly undermines the technological preeminence of the U.S. IT industry without accomplishing any significant national security objective. It is only by "running faster and thinking smarter" that government leaders and the IT industry can ensure our nation's security and prosperity in the Networked World.

Living in the Networked World

The emerging Networked World -- where everyone and everything is connected at all times -- will profoundly affect all aspects of our society. Education, health care, government and national security will ultimately be based on platforms created by the Networked World, enabling societies across the globe to learn from one another and giving people in all corners of the world a better quality of life. These developments will bring us greater freedom, prosperity and opportunity.

The United States has led in developing and leveraging this world to our advantage and it is vital that we continue this leadership. In the Networked World, access to computing resources will be virtually universal and every nation will want to make full use of these resources to be an active participant in this new reality. Therefore, the U.S. must determine how best to advance our economic prosperity and protect our national security without relying on outdated export control policies that will not work in the Networked World.

Strengthening National Security in the Networked World

Today, the federal government is spending proportionally less on research and development, relying more and more on commercially designed technologies to provide our military with the capabilities to stay one step ahead of our potential adversaries. To maintain its superiority, the U.S. military must improve the speed and efficiency with which it capitalizes on the commercial innovations of the Networked World.

America's IT industry recognizes that it can play a vital role in providing the products and "know how" to transform the military's information technology capabilities, improve network security and infrastructure protection, and maximize systems integration to ensure battlefield dominance. Therefore, the IT industry is committed to a dialog with the government aimed at developing effective policies and initiatives to: (1) improve Department of Defense business processes; (2) devise new methods by which we can better defend our critical information resources and more effectively attack those of our adversaries; (3) develop initiatives to give our troops an advantage on any battlefield through real-time use of critical data; (4) attract and retain skilled IT personnel in the military; and, (5) provide adequate research and development spending that will keep us years ahead of our adversaries.

With a more effective approach aimed at retaining our superiority in information technology and creating more targeted export controls, the U.S. can fiercely protect those technologies that are most vital to our national interest, without limiting commercial innovation and IT leadership.

Focusing Export Controls Where They Work

The effectiveness of any export control system is based on the extent to which products or capabilities are controllable. Thus, the current system of controls governing computer hardware is based upon the idea that access to and utilization of computing power can be controlled. Advancements in technology are proving that it is not realistic to attempt to physically limit access to computing power. Controls on IT building blocks like commercial chips have also become unrealistic, given the massive production and worldwide distribution of these components. Pretending that the existing policies work is an illusionary strategy that hurts both U.S. national security and economic interests, a conclusion recently supported by the Pentagon.

Ultimately, long-term reform of U.S. export controls is critical. Congress and the new Administration should work together to overhaul the export control system for information products and technology. In the interim, the Administration should continue to increase the thresholds restricting sales in order to keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies. Congress can also make a major contribution to the reform effort by: (1) enacting an Export Administration Act that fully recognizes market and technological realities; (2) repealing National Defense Authorization Act language on commercial computer exports, while retaining necessary and effective controls on rogue nations and military computers. The government should also seek to remove controls on commercial chips exported to all but rogue nations

Our system of export controls must be modernized and made more effective. Rather than fruitlessly trying to contain ubiquitous technologies already available to other nations through technological advances and foreign competitors, we must refocus our resources from trying to restrict access to commercially available computer hardware to a "run faster strategy." This will allow us to set the pace of development and innovations, ensuring that America maintains its leadership in the Networked World.