Gates Calls Out Dangerous Gaps in US Defense Exports

(April 20) -- In the fight to keep sensitive government technologies and equipment out of the wrong hands, the Obama administration plans a radical overhaul of a Cold War-era system more alert to the likes of Soviet spies than modern terrorists.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, discussing a review ordered by President Barack Obama last summer, said the current Defense Department and Commerce Department systems for licensing the export of such technologies are so deeply flawed, in fact, that they pose a national security threat.

"[Their] rules, organizations and processes are not set up to deal effectively with the situations that could do us the most harm in the 21st century: a terrorist group obtaining a critical component for a weapon of mass destruction or a rogue state seeking advanced ... ballistic missile parts," Gates said today in a speech to business executives in Washington, D.C. "Most importantly, the current arrangement fails at the critical task of preventing harmful exports while facilitating useful ones."

Gates spoke a month after a Government Accountability Office investigation found that a wide range of U.S. military and dual-use goods, including military aircraft parts, had been illegally shipped to Iran despite U.S. sanctions.

The current system is based on "two different control lists administered by two different departments, three different primary licensing agencies, [and] a multitude of enforcement agencies with overlapping and duplicative authorities," the White House added in a statement outlining the president's proposed fixes. Moreover, it said the agencies involved are using a tangle of conflicting information technology systems -- or no IT system at all.

Gates said that diffusion of authority means that those who are refused an export license by one agency can try their luck with another. "In one instance, an individual was caught intentionally exporting a controlled item without a license but escaped prosecution by presenting two conflicting determinations from two different government agencies," Gates said. The item in question, he said, was a carbon composite material used in ICBM nose cones.

At the same time, the system makes it hard for U.S. allies to get urgently needed parts in a timely manner, such as nuts and bolts for a plane whose export has already been approved. Even simple approvals can get tied up, as was the case in one recent mishap: A disabled British C-17 transport aircraft spent hours on the ground in Australia because U.S. law required the Australians to seek American permission before doing the repair, Gates recounted.

"These are two of our very strongest allies, for God's sake," he said.

To deal with the problem, the administration wants "to build high walls around a smaller yard," the White House said. The new system would feature a single export-control list shared by all participating offices at the Defense, Commerce, State and Treasury departments. It would create a single unified export-licensing agency, a single enforcement agency and one unified IT system to track it all.

"This single list, combined with a single licensing agency, would allow us to concentrate on controlling those critical technologies and items -- the crown jewels, if you will -- that are the basis for maintaining our military technology advantage, especially technologies and items that no foreign company or government can duplicate," Gates said.

The president plans to order an immediate start to the new regime of export controls, which will eventually require approval by Congress.

House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton said his and other committees would hold hearings in the coming months to evaluate the administration's plan.

"While controlling the export of sensitive technologies is fundamental to keeping our nation safe, it cannot be truly effective if the system is muddled and wrought with gaps and inconsistencies across agencies," Skelton said.