Export Controls: System for Controlling Exports of High Performance
Computing Is Ineffective (Letter Report, 12/18/2000, GAO/GAO-01-10).

The U.S. government controls the export of high performance computers to
sensitive destinations on the basis of foreign policy and national
security concerns. The current control system for high performance
computers is ineffective because it focuses on controlling individual
machines and cannot prevent countries of concern from linking or
clustering many lower performance uncontrolled computers to collectively
perform at higher levels than current export control allows. The current
system uses the measure of millions of theoretical operations per second
as a way to classify and control high power computers meant for export.
However, this system, as well as three remedies suggested by the
Department of Commerce, do not solve the problems posed by clustering.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  GAO-01-10
     TITLE:  Export Controls: System for Controlling Exports of High
	     Performance Computing Is Ineffective
      DATE:  12/18/2000
   SUBJECT:  National defense operations
	     Foreign trade policies
	     Dual-use technologies
	     Exporting
	     Supercomputers
	     Computer networks
	     Foreign governments
IDENTIFIER:  Asia
	     Japan
	     Africa
	     Latin America
	     China
	     India
	     Los Alamos (NM)
	     Russia