06 September 2001

Sen. Allen Advocates Liberalized
Export Regime for High-Tech Products

Washington -- Revisions in a single U.S. law could bolster the lagging high technology industry, boost the overall U.S. economy, and help make information technologies more available to people in lesser-developed nations, according to Virginia Senator George Allen. The law in question is the Export Administration Act, and Allen argued his case for change of the more than 20-year old law in a speech September 5 delivered at NetDiplomacy 2001, a conference sponsored by the Office of International Information Programs at the U.S. Department of State.

The Export Administration Act passed in 1979 places export controls on certain goods in order to protect national security, advance foreign policy interests or to prevent short supplies from occurring in the United States. Speaking to a State Department audience, Senator Allen called the current law "completely outmoded," emphasizing the restrictions that it places on the export of information technology. He said the current act harms the potential of U.S. companies to sell many of their sophisticated products in the global marketplace.

Allen is a co-sponsor of a bill that would replace the Export Administration Act of 1979 with a new law, changing the processes for assessing the risk of exporting some items, and removing some controls considered ineffective and unnecessarily restrictive of trade.

The Senate passed the new version of the bill September 6 on a vote of 85-14. It also has the endorsement of the Bush administration, but must still be considered by the House of Representatives

In a September 4 statement to the Senate urging rapid consideration of the legislation, Allen said, the bill "will remove punitive regulatory controls on mass market and foreign availability technology products that have hindered the competitiveness of our technology industries. Study after study has concluded that the present system of export controls has the unenviable distinction of harming private enterprise without enhancing security."

Like the existing legislation, the proposed revisions to export policy would still allow the President to limit or curtail the export of items in the interest of protecting national security.

The Allen statement continues, "At a time when our technology industries are seeing declining sales, it is imperative that the Congress remove unnecessary and ineffective barriers to exports that will keep technology jobs in this country."

Lifting restrictions on the export of high technology equipment would also serve the interests of democratization and freedom, Allen said, by creating greater availability of the most sophisticated information technologies in repressed societies.

"Totalitarian regimes want to keep the Internet genie in the bottle," Allen said. The Virginia Republican lawmaker said that improved information technologies have the potential to turn the "glowing embers of freedom ... into a bright torch."

Allen developed a reputation as a political advocate of the information technology industry when he previously served as governor of the East Coast state of Virginia, sometimes known as the Old Dominion. During his term from 1994-1998, Allen actively recruited IT businesses to his state, winning the state the occasional sobriquet the "Silicon Dominion."

Virginia is also the home of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States. Allen said he considers the Internet and advanced information technologies to be 21st century tools for the further pursuit of Jefferson's belief that free and informed citizens serve as the best guardians of the society.

"If Thomas Jefferson were around now, he'd love the Internet," Allen said.

Allen also praised Secretary of State Colin Powell for his initiatives to upgrade the information technology systems in use in diplomacy. The Virginia lawmakers said he'll support expanded funding for these initiatives in next year's federal budget.

The September 5-7 NetDiplomacy 2001 meeting is an international forum to examine the better integration of the Internet and information technologies with public diplomacy practices and foreign policy goals.