Guest: Kerry Scarlott. Topics: ITAR and ITAR reform efforts. Please note that you are invited to comment, ask questions, and rate this program on the new Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. We welcomed Kerry Scarlott for a comprehensive discussion on ITAR and the reform efforts underway to modernize the ITAR regime, especially for commercial space technology and products. In our first segment, Mr. Scarlott provided us with an expanded overview of export control in the United States. He talked about the three areas of export control including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and embargo & sanction programs administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) We focused in on ITAR which is very broad and involves the Depts. of State, Commerce, and Defense. This is an excellent discussion and overview of the ITAR and related regulations bringing us current to this point in time. Our guest distinguished sensitive military and battlefield technologies needing national security protection from less sensitive products that can be manufactured in other countries as many nations have similar technology capabilities to the U.S. A few of the sensitive items he mentioned were night vision devices and UAVs. Mr. Scarlott provided us with examples pertaining to parts going into a commercial satellite, including foreign made satellites and then the foreign satellite becomes subject to U.S. ITAR regulations. As we ended this segment, we fielded a question from a UK listener about allies of the United States being discriminated against and we talked about the Canadian exemptions to the ITAR. In the second segment, Mr. Scarlott talked about the ITAR today and the efforts to modify or reform it. Several of the ideas he talked about are in a paper which he co-authored, "U.S. Export Control Reform - What does it mean for you? This paper can be downloaded from his website at www.goulstonstorrs.com/NewsEvents/Advisories?find=40002. Among the ideas on the table are to combine the two control lists administered by the Departments of Commerce and State into one list, and to tier the risk associated with various technologies. Tier 1 would be the products and technologies that pose the most risk to national security if in the wrong hands, Tier 2 would cover products and technologies of moderate security risk, and Tier 3 would be cover products and technologies with the least security risk. As for the administration of the new control list, it is unclear at this point if that will be the responsibility of the State Department, the Commerce Department, or a newly created agency. We also talked about the politics of Congress in ITAR reform and the two schools of thought. These two schools represent the perspective of needing more and tighter national security as opposed to removing restrictions in favor of encouraging exports and domestic job growth. Later in this segment, we talked about the geopolitical risks associated with technology and the risk of technology espionage both in the United States and with our allies as this draws into question the very nature of being able to protect important technologies. In the final segment, we talked some more about ITAR in other countries but as you will hear, the U.S. has the most restrictive regime. Kerry discussed how companies, big or small, navigate ITAR. He explained how vague the rules are and compared the situation to the EAR which is quite evolved and detailed. Later Kerry brought up the case of the 72 year old Univ. of Tennessee professor convicted of an ITAR criminal act and sentenced to two years in prison. See www.djacobsonlaw.com/2009/07/tennessee-professor-sentenced-to-48.html for details. If you have comments or questions for Kerry Scarlott, please post them on The Space Show blog URL above. You can also email Mr. Scarlott at kscarlott@goulstonstorrs.com.
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