I’ve long said (to paraphrase Mark Twain) that ITAR is like the weather — everybody talks about it, but no one ever does anything about it. Well, that may be about to change:
The legislation gives the president the authority to remove satellites and related components from the US Munitions List (USML), hence removing them from the jurisdiction of ITAR. (It would not, though, allow the export of such items to China.) Other provisions of the legislation would direct an ongoing review of the USML “to determine those technologies and goods that warrant different or additional controls”, which could benefit the space industry even if the White House didn’t exercise the provision to remove satellites and related components from the list wholesale.
The legislation passed the House last year, but for several months has been sitting in the Senate, raising fears they may never consider it. But speaking on an ITAR panel at the Satellite 2010 conference last week, David Fite, a staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee but speaking only for himself, said things were going “somewhat on schedule” compared to authorization bills in previous Congresses. That schedule would have the Senate passing its version of the authorization bill by the summer and a conference report reconciling the differences between the two in September or October.
It’s unclear from the reporting whether or not this will fix the problem for launch providers, or just satellite manufacturers. For instance, will it make life easier for the suborbital folks? Of course, the biggest problem is this:
“We are in an election year,” cautioned Fite. In his 11 years on Capitol Hill, he said, “I have never seen an environment that has been this partisan.” Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, concurred. “The danger is that this will become a political issue in an election year, which means it’s not going to be addressed on its merits, it will be addressed by slogans.” That will make it harder for reform to make its way through Congress and could also hurt the administration’s other reform efforts.
I’ve also long said that, as it took Nixon to go to China, only the Republicans can fix ITAR (though Duncan Hunter made sure it would never happen all through the Bush administration) because the Dems can’t afford to look weaker on national defense than they already do. I do fear very much that this will become a casualty of the very ugly campaign we’re heading into.
Do you trust the Obama administration to determine which missile technologies it’s safe to give the Chinese?
Oh, never mind, the question answers itself….
BBB
Do you trust the Obama administration to determine which missile technologies it’s safe to give the Chinese?
The question is irrelevant. Satellite components are not missile technologies. They are satellite technologies.
Under ITAR, the Obama Administration already determines which space technologies can be exported. The State Department, which regulates munitions exports, is part of the Obama Administration, right? Removing satellites from the munitions list would not mean exports are unregulated, it would simply move regulation from one part of the Administration (State) to another (Commerce).
It’s unclear from the reporting whether or not this will fix the problem for launch providers, or just satellite manufacturers. For instance, will it make life easier for the suborbital folks?
The only likely benefit would be indirect, for those companies that are planning to use suborbital vehicles as the first stage for satellite launches. The language in the bill specifically refers to satellites, which have always been a separate legal issue from launchers. (Satellites were moved onto the munitions list; rockets were always on the munitions list.)
Launch vehicles require other approaches. In meetings with Congressional staffers this week, “Take Back Your Space Program!” suggested that Congress look to the “Ruling of Nonjurisdiction” obtained by Bigelow Aerospace as a precedent and create a categorical exemption for citizens of friendly nations who want to fly as passengers on commercial spacecraft.