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1 Department of Homeland Security International Activities and Export Controls
Pages 11-20

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From page 11...
... DHS AND EXPORT CONTROLS For DHS, the future lies in large part in advanced technologies and equipment to carry out screening and detection activities. The volume of people and cargo moving in international channels, for example, requires increasingly capable screening devices just to make reasonably 1 Remarks by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano at the Council on Foreign Relations on July 29, 2009.
From page 12...
... These officials pursue efforts that span national borders to coordinate the protection of critical infrastructure, provide training and technical assistance to foreign counterparts, conduct outreach to private sector organizations and individuals in the local communities, assess security conditions at foreign airports and ports, screen inbound-to-theUnited States travelers, and liaise on investigations and share information. These international activities are rooted in different DHS components' core operational functions as well as in specific congressional mandates, bilateral and multilateral agreements, federal strategic directives, and DHS strategy.3 Operational Components Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
From page 13...
... U.S. Coast Guard The Coast Guard is an armed military service, and most of its export-related activities fall under the Foreign Military Sales Program of the Defense Department.
From page 14...
... 15 The S&T Directorate consults with international counterpart organizations to identify and develop countermeasures to emerging terrorist threats. Most export control challenges confronted to date by the directorate have concerned discussing emerging technologies with counterpart agencies abroad.
From page 15...
... Seeking to develop the most advanced screening technology, the S&T Directorate initially became involved in export licensing issues related to millimeter-wave technology in the context of several requests submitted by commercial companies to export this kind of equipment.18 Because there are existing commercial uses of this technology, the export licensing normally would be conducted by the Commerce Department. However, the Defense Department recommended that the technology should be subject to ITAR control even though there are no active military uses for the technology at the short ranges required for use in body-scanning equipment.
From page 16...
... According to State Department records, over the past 40 years, some 40 civilian aircraft have been struck by shoulder-fired missiles, sometimes with devastating results.23 MANPADS, such as the Stinger, RBS-70, SA-18 and Mistral systems, have been exported to conflict regions by the United States and other nations for decades.24 In early 2003, Congress directed DHS to study the feasibility of adapting DoD technologies to protect commercial airliners. Over the following six years, the S&T Directorate spent $276 million on related studies and tests.25 Although the final report to Congress in 2010 confirmed that "it is possible to adapt existing missile countermeasure technologies to protect commercial aircraft from the threat of MANPADS" it 20 The new CCL entry, ECCN 2A984, controls concealed object detection equipment operating in the frequency range from 30 GHz to 3,000 GHz and having a spatial resolution of 0.5 milliradian up to and including 1 milliradian at a standoff distance of 100 meters.
From page 17...
... Budget restrictions and time pressures to meet evolving threats require DHS to find and use existing technology -- even from foreign sources when that is the best available alternative. As in the United States, the science and engineering establishments of many countries are making continual improvements in detection, monitoring, and verification capabilities to counter terrorism threats; enhancing the resilience of their systems, infrastructure, organizations, and communities against attack; and working on 26 Of particular significance to this committee was the report's statements on the likely impact of export controls on deploying counter-MANPADS technologies: Compliance with the current ITAR/Export Administration Regulations requirements for counter MANPADS systems would cause serious operational, logistical, and financial problems for U.S.
From page 18...
... Moreover, American presence at international conferences is essential if the United States is to sustain a leadership position in developing homeland security best practices. Thus, scientists and engineers associated with the Science and Technology Directorate must be able to attend foreign conferences and U.S.-based conferences in which representatives of foreign countries participate.
From page 19...
... export control decision-making process, DHS should carry the primary responsibility for assessing when international collaboration is necessary to promote important homeland security interests and have an equal position to other cabinet-level agencies in assessing the conditions under which the United States should deploy selected sensitive U.S. technologies or equipment abroad for homeland security purposes.


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