The Commerce Department will hold the first meeting of its Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee May 19, the agency said in a notice in the Federal Register. The committee will focus on identifying emerging technologies with dual uses for potential control by the Bureau of Industry and Security, which is working on restricting exports of both emerging and foundational technologies (see 2002040057). The first meeting is expected to feature remarks from BIS management. The meeting was originally scheduled for December and January before being delayed both times due to issues getting members their security clearances (see 2002240033).
The Commerce Department launched a portal for department guidance documents, the agency said in a March 4 notice. The portal provides all Commerce guidance issued, by individual agency, including the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The Commerce Department issued a correction to its final rule that revised the country groups for Russia and Yemen under the Export Administration Regulations (see 2002210031), the agency said in a notice. The notice corrects the rule to “provide an instruction” to remove Yemen from Country Group B, which was the intention of the rule.
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Morocco worth about $240 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 3. The sale includes 25 “Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System (HERCULES) vehicles,” 25 machine guns, global positioning systems, smoke grenade launchers and more. The principal contractor is BAE Systems.
The State Department approved a potential military sale to Israel worth about $2.4 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said March 3. The sale includes eight KC-46 aircraft and 17 engines along with receivers, radios and spare parts. The principal contractors are Boeing and Raytheon.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls’ Defense Export Control and Compliance System will be unavailable March 4 from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EST for system maintenance, the DDTC said March 3. The DDTC urged users to ensure “work in progress is saved” before the scheduled downtime. The DECCS launched Feb. 18 (see 2002190025).
Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross criticized a “blacklist” recently released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that lists 112 companies, including several U.S. businesses, that do business in a disputed Israeli-Palestinian territory. In a March 3 statement, Ross said boycotts against Israel and companies doing business with Israel “are contrary” to U.S. policy, saying the UN list is “anti-business” and ”seeks to isolate Israel, has no factual basis or legal force whatsoever, and should not be adhered to in any respect.” Ross said the U.S. “fully supports the U.S. companies identified on the list and encourages all U.S. businesses to continue to work with and invest in Israeli as well as Palestinian communities.”
The U.S. and Latvia issued a joint declaration agreeing to source only from “trusted” 5G suppliers, saying those efforts will improve national security and benefit their private sectors. “The United States and Latvia believe that it is critical for countries to transition from untrusted network hardware and software suppliers in existing networks to trusted ones,” the declaration, released Feb. 27 by the State Department, said. The declaration comes as the U.S. lobbies other countries to reject Huawei technology and seeks to further restrict foreign sales containing U.S. goods to Huawei (see 2002050047).
The State Department approved three potential military sales worth more than $700 million total, to Jordan, the Netherlands and Tunisia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Feb. 26. The sale to Jordan would include $300 million worth of “Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data” systems, while the sales to the Netherlands and Tunisia would include $85 million worth of “torpedo conversion kits” and $325.8 million worth of “Wolverine Light Attack” aircraft, respectively. The prime contractors for the Jordan sale are Raytheon and the Harris Corporation. The prime contractor for the Netherlands sale is also Raytheon, and the prime contractor for the Tunisia sale is Textron Aviation Defense.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released a recording of its Feb. 13 Defense Export Control and Compliance System webinar (see 2002070048), covering corporate administrators, user management, access groups, self service. The registration and licensing applications for DECCS launched Feb. 18 (see 2002190025).