Export Controls: License Screening and Compliance Procedures Need
Strengthening (Letter Report, 06/14/94, GAO/NSIAD-94-178).

The U.S. export control system is basically run by two agencies. The
Commerce Department licenses sensitive dual-use items, those with both
civil and military uses, and the State Department licenses munitions
exports. Both State and Commerce use computers to screen export
applications, but they did not include on the watchlists many ineligible
or questionable individuals and companies. Missing names included those
on a Justice Department list of fugitives for export violations, parties
for whom prelicensing checks had revealed derogatory information, and
parties identified by intelligence reports as diverters or
proliferators. Consequently, State and Commerce issued licenses to some
of these parties. Although State and Commerce exchange some information
on export policies and questionable license applications via interagency
coordinating committees, the sharing of their watchlists has been
limited. State is not monitoring manufacturing and distribution
agreements by routinely collecting or reviewing annual sales reports.
State attributes this lack of monitoring to staff shortages. In
addition, State's agreement files are in disarray. To fulfill the
statutory requirement that no munitions license be issued to a
foreigner, State relies solely on the application's certification that
the person signing the application is a U.S. citizen. State does not
require documentary evidence and does only limited telephone checks of
the certifications. State even approved some licenses when the
applicants lacked the required certifications. GAO summarized this
report in testimony before Congress; see: Export Controls: License
Screening and Compliance Procedures Need Strengthening, by James F.
Wiggins, Associate Director for Acquisition Policy, Technology, and
Competitiveness Issues, before the Subcommittee on Federal Services,
Post Office, and Civil Service, Senate Committee on Governmental
Affairs. GAO/T-NSIAD-94-203, June 15, 1994 (20 pages).

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

 REPORTNUM:  NSIAD-94-178
     TITLE:  Export Controls: License Screening and Compliance 
             Procedures Need Strengthening
      DATE:  06/14/94
   SUBJECT:  Dual-use technologies
             Export regulation
             International trade regulation
             Licenses
             Technology transfer
             Computerized information systems
             Customs administration
             Interagency relations
             Law enforcement
             Arms control agreements
IDENTIFIER:  Dept. of State Blue Lantern Program
             
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