EXPORT CONTROLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY / THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ( RECOMMENDED READING )

OPINION

AUGUST 30, 2010.

Export Controls for the 21st Century

The current system is a legacy of the Cold War and fails to distinguish between low-tech items and the most advanced proprietary technology

By JAMES L. JONES

This week, President Barack Obama will announce a major step forward in the administration's efforts to fundamentally reform the nation's export-control system so that we strengthen our national security and enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and technology.

Export controls constitute the regulations we have to restrict the export of certain products and technology for national security and other reasons. The changes that we are making—in what we control, how we control it, how we enforce those controls, and how we manage our controls—will help strengthen national security by focusing on controlling the most critical technologies, preserving the technological edge that U.S. forces enjoy on the battlefield, and strengthening our economic competitiveness.

Preserving our technological edge to meet our national security requirements is the key tenet and rationale for export controls. Advanced technology saves American lives in combat and is a necessity on 21st century battlefields. Preserving our edge gives our soldiers, seamen, airmen and Marines the tools and technology they need to win today's wars.

But the current export control system was established in another era, during the Cold War, when many key war-fighting technologies were developed first by the U.S. and primarily by the government. Today, our military is more dependent on technology initially developed by private companies for commercial purposes. It is therefore critical to our national security that our export control system enhances, not undermines, the competitiveness of U.S. industry.

Furthermore, the current system is the product of layers upon layers of regulations adopted over the last few decades, with very little distinction between relatively low-tech and widely available items and the most advanced proprietary technology. Going forward, our goal is to focus our efforts on the most critical technologies and items needed to defend ourselves against current and anticipated threats, and to place more emphasis on protecting them effectively.

The foundation of our new system will ultimately include a single control list that distinguishes in tiers between the most sensitive items and technologies and everything else; a single licensing policy to be applied across all agencies; a center to better coordinate the many agencies involved in export-control enforcement; and a single IT system to make sure decisions are fully informed.

The development of a single, tiered, positive control list will allow us to closely and efficiently scrutinize the export of our most sensitive items and more effectively deny exports to those who mean to do us harm.

At the same time, such a system will allow the export of other items under less restrictive conditions, helping to ensure that the U.S. government can move quickly to respond to the needs of allies and coalition partners. The current system often makes it difficult for allies and partners to have the key items necessary for today's operations. We can do better. For example, if we decide to share a weapons system with our partners, we shouldn't require them to seek a license for every spare part.

A single set of licensing policies across the government will streamline our processes and eliminate confusion about what is controlled and when a license is required. These reforms will make export controls more transparent to both U.S. industry and foreign customers, which will make it harder for illicit procurement networks to gain access to controlled items.

In addition, this new dynamic system will enable the U.S. government to recognize and adapt to rapidly changing technology developments. We can reduce control levels for technology that has matured and is no longer considered cutting-edge. At the same time, the system will be better able to apply export controls to emerging technologies that enhance our war-fighting and intelligence capabilities.

Finally, we will make improvements to export control enforcement, strengthening our government's ability to find violators and bring them to justice, and to deter those who might circumvent our laws. Improving coordination among law enforcement organizations, and between them and the intelligence community, will strengthen the new export-control system. Regulatory transparency and the coherence of export-control laws will eliminate jurisdictional uncertainty and enable prosecutors to better pursue violators.

These reforms constitute much-needed, common-sense change in the way we do business. They will focus our resources on the threats that matter most and help us work more effectively with our allies in the field—all of which bolsters our national security.

Gen. Jones (ret.) is the president's national security adviser.